As was Beth, when she realised that this was exactly what she’d been waiting for.
She took the envelope from him and without hesitation ripped it open, then put her hand in and extracted two items. A ticket and what looked to be a programme or leaflet of some sort.
‘Oh, perfect!’ she exclaimed delighted.
Billy bit his lip and raised his eyebrows expectantly. ‘Something you were expecting, then?’
‘Yes. Absolutely. A friend of a friend was sending this over for me. I didn’t expect to get it so soon, though.’
‘Very good. Right then, much ado about nothing. Sorry, had my radar up. That’s all. Some of these bike messengers, you know how they can be; some of them act weird.’
Beth laughed and playfully patted the concierge’s arm. ‘Ah, Billy, I think you might be getting paranoid like the natives. But thank you for looking out for me all the same. I appreciate it.’
She put the ticket to the Manhattan Sailing Exhibition and the accompanying programme – which described the boats that would be on display, and provided owner biographies and the like – into her bag and headed in the direction of the elevators. ‘See you later,’ she called over her shoulder as she started typing out a text to Jodi. She wanted to let her friend know that she’d got the ticket and to thank her for obviously communicating the need to Trevor so quickly. She hadn’t mentioned anything that day at work about talking to him, so Beth just assumed she’d pick up her ticket on the day.
Hey, thanks. A messenger dropped the ticket off for the exhibition earlier. I appreciate it. Tell Trevor thanks from me.
She punched the button for the elevator and waited. A second later her phone buzzed in her hand, signalling an incoming text.
???? No idea what you are talking about, was Jodi’s reply.
With a furrowed brow, Beth wrote,The ticket? To the boat show? Arrived earlier by messenger. Assuming it’s from your friend Trevor.
Seconds later, another text.
I haven’t spoken to him yet about it. If you got a ticket, it’s not from him…
As Beth read Jodi’s words, a fresh shiver of excitement ran up her spine. She pulled the ticket and the accompanying programme out of her bag and looked at them again. The ticket was straightforward enough – just a simple pass to grant her entry. But then there was the programme.
Maybe this was another part of the clue? Maybe she had to use the programme to figure out what she was supposed to see at the exhibition? Beth, thanks to Jodi, had been assuming there must be a boat named theAngelina –but maybe it wasn’t that simple?
The elevator dinged in front of her, signalling its arrival, and the doors opened. But Beth ignored it. Instead, she returned to the front lobby. She had to talk to Billy again. With flushed cheeks, she approached his desk. ‘Billy. The messenger who delivered this. He was a bike messenger, yes?’
Startled afresh, he looked around. ‘Um… yes. Bike messenger. He worked for A to Z Messengers, he said. Why? Is something wrong after all? Do you want me to call his employer?’
Beth shook her head. ‘No, no, it’s OK, don’t worry. I just need to know. Did he say anything else when he dropped that envelope off? Anything at all?’
Billy thought for a moment. ‘Yes, he said that his company did work for all sorts of companies and private individuals – and he knew where you worked too. At Carlisle’s. I thought that was a bit suspect at the time. Is he pestering you, Beth? Is he a stalker? Do you want me to call the cops?’
Beth placed a placating hand on Billy’s arm, touched by his concern. ‘No really, it’s OK, honestly. But he definitely mentioned I was the same person he’d made a delivery to the other day?’
‘Yes, he said, and I quote. “She’s a cute little blonde, right?” Beth, are you sure you don’t want to me to deal with this?’
‘No, seriously, it’s absolutely fine.’
After she’d reassured Billy again that all really was OK and her honour didn’t need defending, Beth made her way back to the elevators, fresh excitement bubbling in her stomach.
It was the same delivery guy. The same one who’d delivered the first clue before. Which meant that the whole package – ticket and programme – had to form part of the latest clue.
Beth smiled happily. The treasure hunt was now well and truly on.
Chapter 14
Saturday afternoon was a day of sunshine and an obscenely cold front. A biting wind blew through the air, which made the temperature feel way below zero. Despite the prospect of a chilly few hours around the waterfront, Beth was in a cab on her way to the exhibition, determined to stay on the hunt.
She felt guilty about the little white lie she’d told Danny, who’d planned to visit his parents in Queens today. While Beth got on brilliantly with Mae and Rick, and usually enjoyed family visits to the Bishop household, once she’d found out about the exhibition she had cried off going along with Danny by explaining that Jodi really wanted her to meet her new man.
Having agreed to meet Jodi and Trevor at the exhibition itself, she reached the marina and immediately spied Jodi, dressed in a beautiful faux mink coat and Prada boots, and holding the hand of a forty-something man whom Beth assumed to be Trevor.
