Chapter Seven.
The hotel was a small, inexpensive but chic place off Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan, far from the boarding house in Queens where she and Deirdre had stayed that time so many years ago when they had come to New York. It was a place owned by someone's brother who was meant to give them a great deal but there had been a great misunderstanding. He had thought they were coming out to his place to give him the trade, not the other way round looking for a bargain. She had been so young then, Ella thought. Imagine them getting upset by that! If she had known what upset was really like!
Anyway, no point in brooding. She must enjoy the days in the hotel to the full. She had said she didn't really need to spend all this time in New York, but they had insisted. Nick and Sandy had said it was essential that she should be on the spot and available, in case Derry King needed to rethink something through with her. Deirdre had said that it took everyone at least fourteen days to get a head together, especially since Ella's head had been so battered and then tried to cure itself by overwork. Brenda Brennan said that she should make the most of it. New York City in autumn was everyone's dream. She must not think of running back. Her father and mother said she must write down some of the things she saw, they'd love to hear all about it when she came back. She realised that they were all afraid for her. They were afraid of Don Richardson and what he might do when he came back. Ella shared a taxi into town with a small, plump Dublin woman who knew every angle there was in the world. She was a dealer, she said proudly, had travelled over with four empty suitcases. She was going to buy stuff in bargain basements for the next four days, fantastic stuff you didn't see at home at all, slippers with pink fur on them, black underwear with red feathers. She'd sell it all at three times what she paid. She did it every year. She could not understand to save her life why there weren't more people in on it. It was the easiest money she'd ever made, and believe her, she had made money in many different ways.
She asked Ella what line she was in herself.
"I'm trying to raise money to make a film," Ella said.
The woman said her name was Harriet, and that if ever Ella was lonely, give her a ring at her hotel and they'd go out for a few drinks.
Ella tried to cover her amazement that Harriet named a very expensive, five-star hotel. There must be good money in importing exotic lingerie. Or was it smuggling? The lines were getting more and more blurred. If you could afford a hotel like that, why were you bringing over four empty suitcases to buy cheap gear? Why were you sharing a taxi with someone into town? Then again, maybe that kind of economy "was exactly why Harriet could afford the five-star hotel she was staying in. She settled into her own hotel and had a long bath. Deirdre had given her a very expensive oil, "to put you in a good mood". Its scent seemed to seep into every part of her body and all around the room. Ella didn't really believe that these unguents and lotions did any good, but she did feel a lot better. And maybe looked a little less drawn.
Then she called the hotel beauty salon to make an appointment for the next morning. She had promised Nick and Sandy that she would have her hair done before she met Derry King. On behalf of the company they said she had to do this. They didn't want her frightening him away before the negotiations started. And then she found herself wandering around the room, pacing like an animal in a cage. To her amazement, she felt restless and edgy. In need of company, any company. It might be midnight back home, but it was only 7 p.m. here. Outside her windows, a New York evening was just getting under way. If only Deirdre were here. They would have great fun. Or Nick and Sandy, she enjoyed their company. If they were here now, with a bottle of inexpensive wine that Sandy would have found in some liquor shop, they could sit and plan their strategy.
Or anyone else she liked. Brenda Brennan from Quentins, for example. She was surprisingly good fun when you got to know her.
She looked over at the laptop. No, she would keep her promise to herself. Don't look into all it contained until she had dealt with Derry King. There would be plenty of time later. And now at last she knew how to unlock its secrets. She really owed young Simon for that. Deirdre called around to the Bradys for solidarity. "It will do her no end of good, this trip," she said.
"I'm very anxious, Deirdre, our daughter to be running away from someone like as if we were all in gangland! Couldn't she have given the laptop to the Guards and be done with it?"
"She will do that when she comes back, I'm sure of that," Deirdre murmured. "She'll do the right thing. It will just take her a little time." "Deirdre, I've been phoning you all night."
"I was out, Nuala. But now I'm home. What is it?"
"Listen, Frank got a message from Don."
"He never did."
"Yes, late this afternoon. I've been trying to find you."
"And what did he have to say to Frank?"
"Apparently a lot of it was completely wrongly reported."
"Yes, I'm sure."
"No, really, he explained it was all taken out of proportion."
"Is this why you rang me, Nuala?"
"Well, yes and no. You see, Frank was wondering whether Don might contact Ella?"
"Why in the name of God would Frank think that?"
"Well, I said that she went off somewhere today and she didn't tell any of us where she was going."
"So?"
"So Frank thought she might still be carrying a torch for Don."
"Carrying a torch!" Deirdre screamed with laughter. "A torch, no less. What a ludicrous thing to say. Is Frank losing his marbles? If she was carrying a torch anywhere near him, she would gouge his eyes out with it. She hates him, Nuala, you know that."
"Love and hate aren't all that far apart," Nuala said prissily.
"I don't think so in this case, and did Frank get this idea out of the air or did you sow it in his mind?"
"No, I didn't sow it in his mind, but after he was talking to Don, he seemed to think it was a possibility."
"And he's all buddy-buddy with Don now?"
"I told you, there was a misunderstanding. Don has sent a sum of money to a PO box, one of Frank's brothers picked it up."
"So Frank has forgiven him."
"He's listening to him anyway."
"And what does he hear?"
"That Don wants to make it up to Ella. He'd like to know where she is."
"Well, I have no idea. She went to clear her head and I don't want to talk about it any more."
Deirdre sent up a silent prayer of thanks that they had told Nuala nothing. Suppose they had innocently said where Ella was going? One of Don's henchmen could have been waiting for her in the New York hotel this very minute. Nick and Sandy were just going to bed when Deirdre rang. "I know it's silly, but I'm just sitting here on my own worrying. She is all right, isn't she? It's just that Don's getting Frank and his desperate brothers to use Nuala to get to Ella. He even paid them the money they lost."
"Do you think we should tell her?" Nick asked.
"I don't know. Part of me thinks we should, but then it's your pitch. I don't want her to go to pieces on you out there."
"The job's not as important as her being all right. Look, I'll discuss it with Sandy and then we'll give her a call."
"Think about it, Nick. If she's on her own out there, it might be worse for her to know."
"Go to bed, Deirdre. Don Richardson can't ruin every night's sleep in the Western world." They called Ella's hotel, but she was not in her room. Nor was she in the hotel dining-room. "It's one in the morning," Sandy said disapprovingly. "It's only eight p.m. there. We're not her mother and father." "Still, who does she know there? Where can she be?" Ella was at a party in Harriet's suite, drinking cocktails and meeting some of Harriet's contacts. They were mainly women in their fifties, scouts that she had sent out looking for supplies. Some of them were younger and wearing a lot of jewellery and expensive jackets. Harriet had not been at all surprised that she phoned and had welcomed Ella warmly. Everyone was interested for a moment when she was introduced as a movie-maker, but they lost interest when they heard it was a documentary.