A Gift to Remember (34 page)

Nate looked dubiously at her. ‘Me? How so?’

‘Well then, why did you say it? And why were you phoning him in the first place?’

‘To follow up. He was looking to do some business, and I put him in touch with a contact who could help him but,’ he chuckled, ‘believe me, this was no little wrapped package.
Unless . . .’ He took out his phone.

‘Unless what?’

‘I just want to check something with Stephanie; the contact I mentioned. See if Aidan did in fact get what he needed from her. Hold on.’

Thoroughly confused, Darcy stayed silent while Nate waited for the call to go through.

As he did so, she thought about what he’d said. Maybe he was right; maybe there was no big meeting, no special romantic occasion that Aidan was missing because he wasn’t the romantic
type. A part of her desperately hoped Nate was right. A big part, she secretly admitted.

Perhaps he’d let Melanie down somehow but it might have nothing to do with the gift or a meeting, and there was no denying that she did seem uncommonly angry for someone who Darcy assumed
was very important to Aidan.

Then there was the suggestion that Aidan was a womaniser, in which case the gift could have been meant for anyone.

And what did Nate mean when he’d said that his involvement in the whole thing was something very different?

‘I just got voicemail.’ Nate’s eyes narrowed. ‘Honestly, Sherlock Archer, I think there’s something off about your theory. We’re missing something –
apart from the fact that you have a crush, of course,’ he added with a mischievous grin.

‘I don’t have a crush,’ she said defensively. ‘I barely know Aidan.’

‘Oh sweetheart, please,’ Nate replied. ‘Tell it to someone else. You would have to be blind not to notice.’

Darcy was silent, not trusting herself to speak, while Nate tapped his fingers rapidly on the table. ‘No, something is definitely not adding up here.’

‘You think?’ she chuckled, as she tried to cover her embarrassment. ‘There is so much not right about this situation, I don’t even know where to begin.’

Nate thought for a second. ‘You said you have a picture of the woman you think is Melanie?’ She confirmed that she did as Nate continued, ‘Well, the other thing that I find
weird is that if Aidan travels in the circles that you say he does, I feel like I would have heard of him long before all of this. And frankly, I haven’t. On the phone, I certainly got the
impression that he was new money – but not big-shot arrogant like the way these guys can be sometimes. Can I see the picture of this alleged love interest?’

Darcy reached inside her bag. ‘So it
is
a rule that all rich people in New York have to know each other then,’ she said, extracting the picture and sliding it across the
table. ‘I mean, it is a big city.’

Nate took the picture and peered at it. ‘No, it’s not a rule
per se
, it’s just how things are. I’m not trying to sound like a snob, but it’s just a fact.
You see the same people at parties and events. Dullsville. It is what it is. People with money know other people with money.’

Darcy pointed at the picture. ‘So? Do you know
her
?’

Nate concentrated. ‘She looks familiar, but she also has to be older than me by at least eight or ten years, and that’s depending on what kind of work she’s had done.
Unfortunately, I’m not the right person to ask about this. I might know some of the players, but I’m not into the cocktail-party scene just yet. Did you show this to Tabitha Kensington
when you met her?’

‘No, I didn’t know if it was important at the time, and anyway Aidan had it at the hospital. Why, do you think she might be a friend of Tabitha’s?’ Now that
would
make some sense. But if Tabitha and Melanie knew each other, then why wouldn’t she have recognised Aidan’s name that time at Elizabeth Arden? It was all very confusing,
but interesting that Nate had mentioned Tabitha Kensington all the same. Clearly she tied into this thing somehow.

‘All right. That settles it.’ He grabbed his velvet jacket and extracted his wallet from a pocket. Throwing a couple of twenties on the table, he put his coat on and motioned her to
follow him. ‘I’ve left her a message. Come on. We’re done here. We can kill two birds with one stone. Stephanie is sure to be able to fill in the missing pieces.’

When all the details fit in perfectly, something is probably wrong with the story
.
Charles Baxter

Nate led Darcy through the gilded doors of a stunning Park Avenue apartment building. Feeling intimidated by the opulence of the lobby, she hung back momentarily, but her
companion continued on with the air of someone who felt completely at home in such an environment.

Still confused as to where they were going, she followed Nate to where he stood at the concierge desk. The man on the other side of the podium seemed to recognise Nate and allowed his eyes to
flicker over Darcy.

‘We’re here to see Stephanie Everly in the penthouse,’ said Nate.

The concierge picked up the phone, confirmed something and then nodded in their direction. ‘Ms Everly has said you should go straight up. Take this elevator for the penthouse.’

Darcy gulped nervously, wondering what to expect. Moments later they were whisked up from the lobby to the top floor, where the elevator doors opened immediately into a large reception area. A
woman stood, waiting to greet them.

Nate quickly made the introductions. ‘Darcy meet Steph. Steph, Darcy.’

‘Nice to meet you,’ said the beautifully dressed and perfectly made-up woman. She then turned to Nate. ‘I must admit, I was rather bewildered by your message.’

Nate put a casual arm around Stephanie’s shoulder. ‘Steph, like I said, Darcy here has had a mixed-up couple of days, to say the least. Can we go inside? Then we can tell you the
whole story.’

Stephanie agreed and led the way into a nearby living room. When all were seated comfortably, she looked in expectation at Darcy and Nate.

Darcy sighed forlornly at the realisation that she would have to tell the entire story of how she had come to know Aidan once again, but hopeful that she was close to finding some answers, she
went ahead. When she finished speaking, Stephanie was nodding thoughtfully.

‘Oh dear, I’m very sorry to hear about Aidan’s amnesia. He seemed like a nice man,’ she said.

Darcy sat forward, pleased that Stephanie had revealed that she’d actually met Aidan and also that her opinion of him concurred with her own. ‘Yes, he is.’

‘I’m not entirely sure how I can help you, though,’ Steph went on. ‘I only met him once last week when he came out to Westchester – where the main residence
is,’ she added for Darcy’s benefit, ‘to see Miller’s collection. I originally called him to set up a viewing and then afterwards to confirm the deal and arrange delivery.
Then once more a couple of days ago to confirm receipt of the wire, but I couldn’t get him on either his cell or the office.’

So it seemed this Stephanie was some kind of personal assistant to the guy Aidan had been dealing with, and was involved in the sale of something in her boss’s collection. Which explained
at least one of the missed phone calls to the house, Darcy thought, her mind racing now. The boss’s name ‘Miller’ seemed familiar for some reason, but she couldn’t recall
why.

‘Ah, so he did get all that figured out in time,’ Nate was saying.

‘Yes. Thanks for the recommendation, by the way,’ Stephanie smiled at him. ‘Miller was very pleased with the sale price.’

Now Darcy was even more intrigued about the gift. Given that Aidan had bought it from a millionaire’s ‘collection’, it seemed like her suspicions were correct, and it was
indeed some kind of rare or collectable book. But which book? she wondered, desperate to find out.

‘Arrange delivery?’ Darcy repeated, tuning back into their conversation. ‘So Aidan wasn’t going to deliver it himself?’ Delivery was an awfully impersonal word to
describe presenting an important gift to a girlfriend or someone you loved, she thought.

Stephanie smiled as if she’d said something funny. ‘Not if he needed it in LA by the following day, no.’

‘LA?’ Now she was baffled. Darcy studied Stephanie and asked the question that had been bothering her all the way over here, but which Nate wouldn’t reveal until he’d
spoken to his friend. ‘Stephanie, do you mind telling me what exactly Aidan was buying from you?’

‘I’m sorry – I thought you already knew that,’ she said. ‘And he was buying it not from me but from Miller, of course. It was a car. A special edition vintage
Shelby Mustang, to be exact.’

‘Oh.’ Now Darcy felt a bit silly. The rich truly were different. And so much for Aidan being eco-friendly.

She was about to ask Stephanie more about it, when somebody else walked into the room.

‘Stephanie?’ a woman asked in a harried voice – one which Darcy recognised immediately. ‘You haven’t seen that invitation to the Library benefit on New Year’s
Eve, have you? I remember the invite coming in and realise that it’s on both Miller’s and my calendar, but I’ve just received a call from the steering committee and they
said—’

Then Darcy understood exactly why the name ‘Miller’ rang a bell and exactly whose house this was.

Things were finally starting to fall into place.

It was Tabitha Kensington, this time without the Elizabeth Arden robe and mud mask, who was married to Miller Kensington, the man from whom Aidan had bought a car last week.

Tabitha was obviously in a rush, and was caught offguard by the fact that her husband’s assistant had guests. ‘Oh, I do apologise Stephanie, I didn’t realise you were in a
meeting, but— oh, don’t I know you?’ she said, gazing at Darcy for a moment as if trying to recall where exactly she had come across her before. ‘That’s right, at
Elizabeth Arden a couple of days ago. Daisy, isn’t it?’

Darcy stood up and shook Tabitha’s extended hand. ‘Darcy actually, and it’s nice to see you again.’

The woman’s gaze flicked to Nate. ‘Home for the holidays, I take it? How’s your father?’ The two duly exchanged niceties and once that was over, Tabitha turned again to
Stephanie. ‘So you’ll check on that invite?’ she asked again, before turning to leave.

Stephanie nodded. ‘Right away.’

Then Tabitha stopped and looked at Darcy again, as if only then remembering what they’d talked about. ‘So I hope everything worked out with your friend – what was his name
again?’

‘Aidan. Aidan Harris.’ And Darcy now understood that it was Stephanie who’d made the call to Aidan’s house on the day of the accident from the Kensington residence to, as
she’d said, ‘confirm the wire transfer’.

For a car. Her head was well and truly spinning. ‘Yes, I think I’m just about getting some answers,’ she added politely.

‘Aidan Harris is the man who bought Miller’s ’66 Shelby last week,’ said Stephanie, and Tabitha’s face lit up with recognition.

‘Ah. And this is the same guy you ran down with your bike, is that correct?’

She nodded mutely.

‘Well, Darcy, I’m awfully sorry for not being able to clear this up when you met me at Elizabeth Arden, but as you can see, I wasn’t involved in the deal. To be honest, I
can’t keep up with my husband and his dealings in any case. Boys and their toys, eh?’ she tittered pleasantly. ‘But I do know Miller was very pleased to see it splashed across the
papers in LA last week though. That Will Anderson seems quite a showman. Well, I’d better go and leave you to it – busy busy!’ she trilled. ‘But it was so nice to see you
again – you too, Nate.’ With that Tabitha Kensington left the room but Darcy barely noticed her go.

‘Will Anderson, the thriller author?’ she repeated. The one her aunt had tried to set her up with before. Now Darcy was seriously confused. Chaucer’s sold dozens of
Will’s books per week. Right now, their front window display featured the movie tie-in edition of his first novel
Thrill Seeker
. . .

Suddenly, something else clicked into place.

‘Yes,’ Stephanie said. ‘I couldn’t understand why Aidan was so desperate to secure the car, but then he explained all about how Will wanted it in time for the movie
premiere in LA.’ When Darcy remained silent she continued, ‘If you read the
Thrill Seeker
books, I’m sure you know that Max Bailey drives a ’66 Mustang Shelby.
Aidan said Anderson was desperate to roll up to the première of his own movie in it.’

‘Like James Bond and his Aston Martin?’ Nate raised an immaculate eyebrow. ‘I must admit I’ve never read the books, but it sounds like the guy has style.’

‘Oh, you really should,’ Stephanie said. ‘Max Bailey is amazing.’

Darcy was dumbfounded. And yet, little by little, things began slotting into place: the name of the company – Thrill Seeker, after Will Anderson’s series of super-successful books.
And then . . . Bailey. Named after Max Bailey, the action hero star of those same books?

But then how did Aidan come into it all? Was he an author too, a friend of Will’s who worked under a pseudonym maybe?

The discovery was very exciting, and completely fit with Aidan’s apparent fixation on literature, and of course his wonderful book collection, Darcy thought happily.

He truly was a kindred spirit.

‘I know Aidan was really delighted to have secured the car in time, though relieved too, I’d imagine,’ Stephanie said before Darcy had a chance to say anything further.
‘Will Anderson has a reputation for being . . . difficult, and I’m guessing an egotistical multi-millionaire author isn’t the easiest person to work for. I don’t envy your
friend’s life. Not for one minute.’

The truth is rarely pure and never simple
.
Oscar Wilde

Afterwards, Nate offered to travel back in the taxi to Chaucer’s with Darcy, lending her his ear and letting her talk through her confusion about all that she’d
just learned.

‘So Aidan works for Will Anderson? I can’t believe it.’

Stephanie Everly seemed 100 per cent certain that Aidan was Anderson’s assistant, business manager, fixer and general dogsbody. ‘All of the usual things people like us are employed
to do,’ she’d explained with a patient smile.