Nirav has disappeared. Smart kid. “Yes. I uh—just new to New York is all.”Where did that come from?“A bit uneasy, I suppose.” I chuckle nervously—it’s not a stretch to do so.
“Ah, where you from?”
Say Newark.
“Newark.”
The officer lights up. “My old stomping grounds. You know the world’s best bratwurst is there. Oh, what’s the name of that place?” He snaps his fingers, and this seems like a small test.
“Gelman’s,” I hear myself say. Spirit decided to take the lead on this one.
“Yeah, Gelman’s,” the police officer says. “The world’s best brat.”
“Outside of Germany, I s’pose!” my voice says. Whew, is Spirit laying it on thick.
He laughs, then suddenly falls serious.
“Can I help you with your bag, miss? Where’re you headed?”
I’m shaking my head before he finishes asking the question. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the woman who spotted me; she’s pointing at me and talking to another in her group. I bounce on my toes. “No, thank you! I’m headed to the Hotel Knickerbocker.”
The woman who ratted me out and the man she’s recruited are trying to cross Park. A clanging trolley stops them.
The policeman scowls. “Be careful, miss,” he shouts over the trolley bells. “I shouldn’t say nothin’, but, well, we’re on the lookout for some dangerous criminals. Don’t let any of them delinquents steal your stuff, you hear?”
I cringe. “Yes, sir. Thank you.”
The officer stands there, obviously waiting for me to gather my senses and move along, so he can protect my departure.
I shift the heavy satchel on my hip. I lift up a small plea thathe doesn’t hear all those jewels jangling inside, that none of them topple out. As I adjust myself, a slip of paper drifts to the sidewalk. I pray it isn’t a hundred-dollar bill.
The officer stoops to pick it up. My throat catches.
The couple has started crossing the street, half a block down.
“Stella,” he says, reading the name inscribed on the outside of a folded piece of tissue paper. “That you?”
“Yes,” I say. Everyone at the party knew me as Lady Rose. I’m hoping that they haven’t drawn the connection between the two names yet.
The officer smiles. “Lovely name, that. ’Twas my grandmother’s.” He laughs. “Mean old biddy.”
And you were always a spoiled, whiny brat who wasn’t toilet trained until the age of four.
I gulp. I really wish other people could hear this stuff sometimes. “Oh, but look!” I say, batting my eyelashes and motioning to the badge on his chest. “Her firm hand led you to become an officer of the law. Her sternness obviously worked.”
Both the officer and Spirit smile.
The two zealots have made it to City Hall Park and they storm up the sidewalk. The officer hands me the tissue paper with my name written on it. “Carry on, then.”
I duck into the City Hall subway station and lose the zealots in the crowd by hopping on a train. This was unplanned, but I’ll make it work. Once I’m on a train headed north, I open the scrap of tissue. It’s a letter, written on toilet paper in splotchy ink, likely from one of the fancy gold pens in this loot bag.
My eyes glass when I see the neat handwriting.
Dear Stella,
I’m not gone forever—I’d miss you too much! I’d like to think I’ll be missed, too. I’m simply taking some time away until things calm. I wasn’t prepared for how that plan went awry, and I’m not used to all those eyes on me. I’m sorry if you thought I was gone. You were my first consideration when I realized that’s what my escape might look like. I hope it caused you no distress.
I love you and Nirav like siblings, Stella. I want you both to know that. Take care of him for me. I’ll find you when I return.
