Chasing Manhattan Read online

  “Give me one second, would you?” she said to Jennifer. Turning now to Delores, she said, “Excuse me, ma’am. A dog sitting at the table with all this food around; whatever would the health department say?”

  Delores picked up on her sarcasm immediately and replied, “Well, since I sit on several boards with both the health commissioner and his wife, I doubt they’d say very much.”

  Chase smiled. “I’m just teasing. How are you today, Mrs. Wainwright?”

  She smiled back while petting Penelope. “I’m well, Chase. Thank you.”

  Chase then turned her attention back to Jennifer and said, “First up, you look amazing. How are you?”

  Jennifer smiled and said, “You always were a good liar. I look exactly five years older than the last time you saw me, but you actually do look great. What is that farmer Gavin feeding you? Oats? Is it oats and barley?”

  Chase smiled again and said, “I think it’s more the running three miles every day. That and sushi. I live on the stuff down here.”

  After a few more minutes of catching up, Chase finally said with a wry tone, “Anyway, thanks so much for giving me Stonewall Jackson to talk to. Geesh.”

  Jennifer had a pained look, “No good?”

  Chase then changed her voice to sound very formal and snobby, “She said, and I quote, ‘Everything we care to say about Mr. Winthrop is in the press release. Good day!’”

  Jennifer nearly spit her coffee out. “She hung up on you!?”

  Chase nodded, “Oh yeah, big time. Good day and then click. Dial tone.”

  Jennifer thought a moment, then said, “So you never even got to tell her who you were, the best-selling novel stuff?”

  Chase reiterated for effect this time, “Oh I told her, and then, two words: DIAL TONE.”

  There was a pause when Chase said, “Listen, I’m sure Sebastian Winthrop is a fascinating guy with a great story to tell, but I can’t tell it based on some bullet points in a press release. That document makes it sound like all he did was buy and sell things and give the money away. I’m afraid if there’s a story there, we’ll never know it.”

  “Samuel,” a voice said from a few feet away. It was Delores speaking.

  “You two are looking for information on Sebastian Winthrop? Then you want to talk to Samuel,” she added.

  Both women in unison said, “Who is Samuel?”

  Delores, who could overhear their conversation, turned her chair to face them. “Samuel was his driver for, let me think, what had to be the last thirty years. He was also Sebastian’s best friend, next to his wife, of course.”

  Chase quickly replied, “And you know this how? Were you friends with Sebastian? I mean this Mr. Winthrop?”

  Delores gave another treat to Penelope, breaking it in half and saying to the dog, “Not too much, sweetie, and chew it slowly, we don’t want you to choke.”

  Then, turning back to Chase and Jennifer, Delores continued, “I didn’t know him well, but we did travel in some of the same circles, and I know for a fact he was close with Samuel. Very close.”

  Jennifer looked at Chase, knowing this was a promising lead, but before they could even ask, Delores offered up, “And now you want to know if I can put you in touch with him. Hmmm?”

  Chase, looking a bit sheepish, answered, “If I said pretty please with sugar on top?”

  Delores smiled and said, “My driver was friends with him. I think they played poker together or something. I can get you Samuel’s number. After that you’re on your own.”

  Chase and Jennifer both nodded and again in unison said, “Thank you.”

  Jennifer looked at the time on her phone and said she had to get back to the office. Chase gave her a hug goodbye and watched her friend from college push through the front door and disappear into a swirl of people outside. Chase was about to go back upstairs to Gavin when she looked at Delores and Penelope still sitting together, and something moved her to walk back over.

  “Delores? Is it okay if I call you that?” Chase began.

  The neatly dressed older woman smiled and said, “Of course.”

  Chase then shared a brief story.

  “Delores, back where I lived before this place, I used to drive past a Christmas tree farm all the time. And the funny thing was, people would go to this big field full of trees, sometimes in the summer, and they’d pick one out for Christmas.”

  Delores was listening, not certain where this young lady was going with her story.

  Chase continued, “They’d tie a ribbon around the tree that they wanted and write their name on it, so everyone knew it was theirs. And later, if they changed their minds, they could just take the ribbon off and the tree was free to go with another family.”

  Delores said, “I’m not following your meaning, dear. Why are you talking to me about trees?”

  Chase looked down at Penelope and said, “I can’t help but notice you’ve taken a liking to this sweet dog. You do know she’s here to be adopted out?”

  Delores put her wrinkled and shaky hand down on the pup’s back and said, “I know. And I know I could walk in here one day and she’d be gone.”

  There was sad reality in the old woman’s eyes now, realizing what she’d just said, as if saying it out loud somehow made it more real.

  Chase replied softly, “She doesn’t have to be. I don’t know your living situation, but I’m guessing, a woman of your means, you could make room for a pup like Penelope.”

  Delores shook her head. “Me?” she said. “No, I don’t think I could.” She paused, and then looked at Chase. “She’s a lovely dog, but seeing her here for an hour is different from taking her home. That’s a real …”

  Chase finished her sentence, “Commitment.”

  Chase then reached down to pet her dog, Scooter. “I know, believe me I know. But they do make great company. I’d be lost without my Scooter.”

  There was an awkward silence for a moment when Chase reached up into her hair and pulled out that purple ribbon that was helping to keep her ponytail in place. She turned her head toward the front counter of the café. “Deb, throw me a pen,” she called out firmly.

  Deb looked around her workspace and yelled back, “I only have a black Sharpie.”

  To which Chase replied, “That’s perfect, actually.”

  Chase took the marker and wrote D E L O R E S in big block letters on the purple ribbon that had been in her hair a moment earlier.

  “What are you doing?” Delores asked.

  Chase then tied the ribbon around the collar that Penelope was wearing, with Delores’s name facing out, for all to see the dog had been tagged. Chase touched the older woman’s shoulder gently and said, “Just in case you change your mind.”

  As Chase made her way toward the door, Delores shouted after her, “Thank you, dear.”

  Chase could see the old woman’s eyes were glistening, just barely holding back her tears. As old as she was, in that instant Delores’s face reminded Chase of a four-year-old who had just been given the very present she was hoping for.

  CHAPTER 10

  Meet Me at the Bow

  Gavin needed to head back up to Vermont to help his dad with the farm.

  “I promise, three days tops, and then I’m back down to be with you,” he said before hugging Chase goodbye. Just as he put his hand on the doorknob to go, Chase’s phone lit up and she said out loud, “What the heck?”

  Gavin turned, “What’s wrong?”

  Chase sat down on a kitchen chair never taking her eyes off the phone’s screen. She was staring, not speaking, her expression blank.

  “Chase, you’re scaring me, what’s the matter?” Gavin asked, more insistently.

  Chase broke her stare and looked up at her boyfriend and said, “So, Delores, the nice lady I told you about, she gives me the number for Samuel, the driver of the rich guy who died.”

  Gavin, still standing by the door, replied, “Okay, so?”

  “So I call him and get his voicemail a
nd I leave a detailed message. I name drop Delores and tell him I’m an accomplished writer and I’d really like to do a nice story on his former boss.”

  “Right, so what’s the message on the phone?” asked Gavin again.

  Chase held it up, but Gavin had to walk closer to see it clearly. He read aloud: “Checked you out and you seem like the real deal. Six o’clock tonight, meet me at the center of the bow. If you want the story, you’ll figure this riddle out. If not, oh well—Samuel.”

  Chase looked from the phone back to Gavin, “‘Meet me at the center of the bow’—what is that supposed to mean?”

  Gavin put his truck keys down on the kitchen table, knowing he might be staying a little while, and said, “No clue. This is Manhattan, though, and it’s a big city. Is there a street or theater named bow? I mean, like the Bow Theater or something?”

  Chase said, “No idea, but get your phone out, get on Google and start typing.”

  The two of them spent the next twenty minutes having no luck finding a place called The Bow in New York City.

  Finally, Gavin snapped his fingers at her and said excitedly, “Wait, your driver, Matthew, he used to be a cop and drives all over the city. He might know.” Gavin had barely finished the thought when Chase pulled his name up on her phone and hit send, putting the call on speaker.

  Matthew was buying a hot dog from a vendor on Canal Street on the lower end of Manhattan when he saw Chase’s name appear on his phone. He checked his watch and said into the receiver, “I lost track of time, is it 50th or 59th?”

  Chase shook her head and said, “No, no, I’m not out for a run. Besides, I’m done staring at church windows. Listen, quick question.”

  Matthew took a healthy bite of the dog covered in spicy mustard and onions and said with his mouth full, “Shoop.”

  Chase looked at Gavin then back at the phone and said, “What?”

  Matthew swallowed, cleared his throat and said, “Sorry. I said shoot, meaning go. What’s your question?”

  Chase grabbed Gavin’s hand and pulled him closer, she felt like Nancy Drew in one of those mystery stories she read as a child. “Okay, listen. I have to meet a man, but he’s being all cryptic. He said to me I’m to meet him at the center of the bow.”

  Matthew didn’t quite catch it, “At the center of the boat, like a ferry?”

  Chase, now yelling impatiently, replied, “NOT BOAT, BOW, B-O-W. BOW. Like a bow you’d put on a present.”

  There was silence for long time on the phone, and then Gavin spoke, “Matthew, it’s Gavin. We checked out theaters, buildings, nothing in Manhattan is named bow. So, we’re lost.”

  Matthew said, “Wait a minute. Read me the whole message exactly as you got it.”

  Chase swiped her finger across the phone bringing up the text message again and said, “The guy said and I’m quoting now, ‘Checked you out and you seem like the real deal. Six o’clock tonight, meet me at the center of the bow.’ Then he acknowledges that this is a riddle I have to solve if I want to meet him.”

  Matthew got back into his car, which was double parked with the flashers going, thought a moment, then said, “I think I know what he means. In Central Park, there’s a bridge called the Bow. If you’ve watched a movie in the last twenty years you’ve seen it, trust me. They use it all the time in movies; it’s pretty there. He must want you to meet him at six in the center of that bridge.”

  Chase, in an excited voice, said, “You just doubled your Christmas bonus.”

  Matthew snipped back, “I don’t think you gave me one last year.”

  Chase giggled, “Well, then you just earned one. Thank you, Matthew.”

  Before she could hit “end” to finish the call, Matthew shouted, “WAIT UP. Who is this guy? You aren’t going alone. GAVIN, don’t let her go alone.”

  Gavin smiled because he liked this protective side of Chase’s driver. “No way, Matthew, I’ll be with her.”

  Matthew let out the breath he’d been holding, then said, “What’s this about, anyway?”

  Chase chimed back in, “Tell you when I see you, gotta go.”

  Matthew shouted again, “YOU’LL SEE ME IN TEN MINUTES ’cause I’m coming to get the two of you. I’m driving, unless either of you knows where it is in the park.”

  They both nodded in agreement and said, “See you in ten.”

  Once in the car, Chase explained to Matthew the reasons behind the clandestine meeting, and he parked as close as he could to their secret destination. Chase agreed to let Gavin walk her onto the bridge for the meeting, but she insisted he keep a respectable distance, once Samuel arrived, so the old man wouldn’t feel ambushed or surprised.

  Matthew was right when he told them the bridge was beautiful, nearly a hundred feet long, stretching out over the tranquil water below. The trees were deliberately cut back on both ends so the bridge stood out in the park. It was crowded today, lovers walking hand in hand, tourists taking photos, and Chase and Gavin both feeling like a bit like Jason Bourne meeting up with a spy. There was so much foot traffic on the bridge, and neither of them saw the man in his early seventies in a dark wool coat and knit driver’s cap walk right up on them.

  “You’re prettier than the picture on your book,” he said with a smile.

  Chase and Gavin both turned, as she said, “Samuel?”

  He took off his hat like a gentleman and extended his hand to shake hers, “Pleasure to meet you, miss. And I’m guessing this is Gavin.”

  Gavin was surprised he even knew his name and extended his hand. The older man continued, “I must confess, with such short notice, I could only scan your novel, but I could tell from what I read that you are the handsome boyfriend.” He then turned his eyes toward Chase and added, “And you, my dear, have a good soul.”

  Samuel was short, five foot five at best, impeccably dressed, with shiny, tan slip-on loafers and a neatly trimmed gray beard. His green eyes twinkled like those of someone half his age.

  They both felt comfortable with him instantly, as Gavin said, “I came along just in case, you understand.”

  Samuel looked him in the eye and nodded with respect the way knights might on a battlefield, and then said, “I do, sir. Most prudent. Very wise.”

  Gavin replied, “Why don’t I go sit on the bench over there and let you two talk?”

  Chase gave him a quick peck on the lips and said, “Would you do me a favor and text Matthew, so he knows we weren’t kidnapped?”

  She turned back toward Samuel. “My driver, Matthew, very protective of me.”

  Samuel smiled and said in a hushed voice, “It’s nice to have friends.”

  After Gavin found a seat, Samuel and Chase both turned toward the railing of the beautiful cast iron bridge that crosses the lake in Central Park, leaned forward in a relaxed posture, and began their chat.

  “I’m talking to you for three reasons. Would you like to know what they are?,” Samuel began.

  “Sure,” Chase said with a smile.

  “Delores says you’re a nice person. I mostly know her by reputation, but she’s a good woman. Second, I skimmed your book and read a couple of articles about you and saw that you helped the people in that little town in Vermont. Which means you’re a good woman.”

  Chase felt warm inside, having this nice man speak so kindly of her. She asked, “And the third reason?”

  Samuel took a deep breath. “Because when it comes to Sebastian, my best friend, they all got it wrong,” he said.

  “They?” Chase inquired.

  “The newspapers and magazine and talking heads on TV. All they rambled on about was the money and giving, and trust me there was plenty of that, but the real story is a love story. That’s why I had you meet me on this bridge.”

  Chase ran her hands back and forth on the railing and replied, “This bridge? Why?”

  “Because this is where Sebastian asked his wife of fifty-three years to marry him. Vida. Vida Bushey, who then became Vida Winthrop.”

  Even
though Samuel was in solid shape for his seventy-three years of age, he said, “Would you mind if we walked over near Gavin and grabbed a seat on one of those benches? My back sometimes …”

  Chase instinctively took him by the hand and said, “Of course, walk with me.”

  As they made their way to the bench, Samuel looked down at her young hand with smooth skin holding his, and he felt a sense of nostalgia.

  As they reached the bench and sat, he said, “Thank you, dear. That was kind of you. It gave me déjà vu of all the times I drove Sebastian here to the park, and he and Vida would walk hand in hand. Sometimes they’d come here for a concert or a play. Sometimes they just enjoyed splitting a hot pretzel from one of the carts and looking at the pretty chalk drawings on the sidewalks.”

  Chase thought she should be writing this down, but she couldn’t risk ruining this moment of honesty.

  “Go on,” she said hopefully.

  Samuel looked around at the park and said, “I can’t possibly tell you the man’s whole life in one conversation, but here’s what you need to know. The newspapers said he turned one building into five and that into five hundred and built half of Manhattan and got rich. All true. But Vida, when she came into his life, his heart grew larger than this whole city. She changed him.”

  Chase asked, “Changed him how?”

  Samuel went on, “Well, he never again stayed late at work to chase down some deal or another pile of money. His whole purpose in life seemed to be pleasing her. He was constantly buying her flowers or gifts and leaving them for her as a surprise. If she went to the salon to get her hair done, a dozen roses were already there waiting. As they sat in a Broadway theater, at intermission a man would walk in and hand her a box with diamond earrings inside.”

  Chase was smiling and said, “He adored her!”

  Samuel shot back, “Yes, he did, Chase. And when he lost her, about five years ago, he realized the true riches in his life were not money or possessions, but Vida. So, he took the money and all the trappings of wealth and gave it all away to reset things.”

  Chase looked confused, and asked, “I’m not sure I know what you mean.”