Chasing My Shadow (13 page)

“Well, it looks like the key to the apartment is here. That ought to help—and he smiled grimly. Tara Lee came out of the bathroom then. “Hello,” she said, What’s up?”

Someone found the key to our apartment,” said Stone.

“Great! What a lifesaver,” then they all laughed. “Did you think we’d be laughing at anything at all today?” she asked in surprise.

“Might as well laugh as cry,” said the cab driver. Like I said it was a beautiful sunrise this morning. That’s a good sign,” and he left again.

“Thank you, thank you,” Tara Lee called to him as Stone stepped back and said, “It’s all yours. It doesn’t look as though anything else is useable.” She rushed to the sink and looked into the dirty pocketbook. “I didn’t have many bills and what I did have look like papiermache now.” Then she pulled out her check book, but it was saturated and checks stuck together. “Nothing,” she said, “but a nail file, a few coins, and an unreadable credit card. Well, we do have the key to the car,” she added, “and since we’re all dressed up,” as she looked down at her too-short shorts, then to Stones high-water pants, “we should go somewhere.”

Stone just hugged her tight. “And I’ve still got you.” Suddenly Stone said quietly, “Do you suppose anyone recognized me as the one in the newspaper picture?”

“I don’t think so, Stone. Everyone was so upset about the fire that I don’t think anyone gave it a thought, and you were called Mr. Derling. Some of these people must have a lot of personal things like family albums and gifts that they are thinking about. We are really lucky that we didn’t have anything of importance with us to lose.”

“You’re probably right, but I think I had better stay inside, don’t you?”

“Probably,” she sighed. “Do you know after I knew everyone had made it out safely I began to wonder if the shock and excitement of the fire might make you remember something. But I guess not.”

“No. I’m still as mixed up as ever,” he said.

“But you did a wonderful thing in saving those children. You were really level-headed. Those people were so panicked and by the time the firemen came I don’t think those little ones would have made it without you. I’m so proud of you.”

“What about that cab driver?” he suddenly asked in alarm. “He saw me after the soot was washed off. Do you think he will realize later who I really am?”

“All he’s thinking of right now is helping us, and I don’t think he really looked at us.”

“And what are we going to do about Chelsea?” We can’t contact him and he can’t contact us, so what do we do now?”

“I wish we had Clem’s number,” she said, “but I don’t think we ever had it. Don’t you think Clem or Chelsea will read about the fire?”

“Probably, but they won’t know where we have gone, and we certainly can’t advertise.” He hesitated, then said, “Did Clem or Chelsea ever mention Clem’s last name?”

“I think so when we first met them, but I don’t remember it as we never used it. We can’t even look him up in the phone book. We’ve been calling Clem by his first name and Chelsea by his last name—even though we know his first name is Raymond.”

“And that’s supposed to be my name now,” said Stone. “What a mess!” Then he said, “I do remember that Chelsea mentioned first and last names of both of them when he was telling me who they were, but I can’t remember Clem’s last name now. Guess I wasn’t really paying attention. I was just trying to make them look familiar.”

The next time the doorbell rang, Stone hurried into the bedroom as Tara Lee answered the door.

“Mrs. Derling?” asked an elderly lady.

“Y…yes,” said Tara Lee. She felt like they were asking for her mother.

“We all know about the fire,” said the lady “and I thought you might be settled in enough by now to be hungry so I brought your breakfast. I live up over this apartment, and I told Mr. Blaisman that I’d see that you had something.”

“That is so sweet of you. I know that’s exactly what we need.” The woman took the box over to the kitchen table and put it down, and Tara Lee gave her a hug. “You’re a dear. Thank you. Someone told us there were some lovely neighbors here, and they were certainly right.”

“I hope you enjoy it,” said the woman as she left.

In a few minutes, “Stone, come on out,” called Tara Lee. “Breakfast is ready.” There was a thermos of hot coffee and two plates covered with aluminum foil. There was crisp bacon, hash browns and scrambled eggs, and another plate with hot muffins. It looked delicious and they sat down to enjoy it. There was a note that told them to just leave the box outside their door when they were finished. “Isn’t that thoughtful of her?” asked Tara Lee, “but I’ll wash the dishes and take them upstairs to her.”

Stone ate automatically but was too worried to be hungry. He expected the police would be there any minute.

The cab driver arrived a little later with some twenty-dollar bills that he said Mr. Blaisman had sent as he knew the tenants had lost everything.

“I never heard of anyone like him,” Tara Lee said. “This will certainly take care of a few things until we can replace our checks and pay him back. What a wonderful person!”

“This would be a better world if there were more guys like him,” he said. “If you need anything else he’ll want to know. He’s still at 354 Jersey Street, and when you want to go for whatever you need, just call him. I’m at your service. You’ve probably lost his number, so here’s another card.” Then, as he started to leave, he said, “The regular tenants in this building all have phones and will be glad to let you use them.”

“Thank you,” said Tara Lee, “but we have the key now to our rental car so we can take that if it still runs. If not, we’ll surely call Mr. Blaisman from one of the phones. Please tell him how much we appreciate everything, won’t you?”

CHAPTER 12
 

They were very grateful for the car key, and especially the loan from Mr. Blaisman, so Tara Lee could go out and get some groceries at the Empire and get a few items of clothing at Scotman’s that fit them. After washing the dishes, Tara Lee took them upstairs to the thoughtful neighbor, and thanked her again, then she walked down Alandra Street and around the corner to where the car was parked. It was a little blistered on the side toward the house that had burned, but it started right off, and she drove it to their new apartment. She went inside to report to Stone that it ran fine, then left to do some shopping.

Stone stayed inside and decided if anyone knocked he would pretend to be asleep or gone. It seemed like a long time to him, and he was relieved when he finally heard the key in the door and knew Tara Lee was back.

“Well we have a few things that fit us and enough groceries for a while,” she said, “and I called my parents while I was out and Mom’s going to the bank for checks to send me. I gave her this address but told her it was only temporary. I also called the motor vehicle department and told them my driver’s license was accidently burned and they will replace it as soon as possible. I told the woman I talked with that we were on vacation but to mail it to my permanent address. Mom will check my mail and send it to me wherever we are when it comes. In the meantime I won’t drive. I was so happy that we had the key to the car that I completely forgot that I was driving without a license. We can’t go to the police station without a driver’s license and it would be better if we could wait until Chelsea gets back with your mail anyway. We might find some answers in it.” She sighed, as she flopped into the recliner. “What a strange situation.”

“I know,” and all we can do is sit here and hope that Chelsea can find us when he learns that the apartment house has burned. One consolation, probably the police can’t find us either,” then he added, “Oh, I’m sure Chelsea will find us some way.”

“He certainly won’t go to Mr. Blaisman,” she said thoughtfully, “as Chelsea was the original Raymond Derling, my husband. Remember? He and I were the ones who rented the apartment.”

“Oh, Lord, yes.”

“I’m sure he’ll think of something,” she said. We have to believe that. He will certainly call Clem who will have read about the fire.” Then she thought for a minute and said, “If he hasn’t come by the time I receive the checks and driver’s license, we’ll go to the police station and settle this thing if you want to—before they can find us here.”

After another day with no news and Stone hiding every time anyone arrived with goodies or an offer of something, Mr. Blaisman, himself, came and left a newspaper. “Thought you’d like to get the news and the praise heaped on your husband. I’m dropping one off at each of the tenants who lost their homes. I hope this apartment is satisfactory, Mrs. Derling.”

“Oh, yes, it’s fine. Almost exactly the same as the one we rented, and we can’t thank you enough for all your help. My mother is sending us some checks and as soon as we get them we can pay….”

“No hurry, no hurry at all. Don’t worry about it,” and he rushed off to deliver the other papers.

She found the picture of Stone on the front page and breathed a sigh of relief. It showed the mother of the little boy hugging Stone—and even she wouldn’t have recognized the little part of him that showed and was covered with soot. She called Stone out and he looked at it with the same relief.

“Only Chelsea and Clem would know that was me,”he said.“Now we can only hope that Clem sees the paper and will notify Chelsea.”

“He won’t be able to call him in New York though, but I’m sure when Chelsea gets back he’ll call Clem. So we just wait and hope.”

“I’m sure grateful for that picture,” he said, as he looked at it again. I saw the flash and knew a picture was taken and I don’t mind telling you I have been plenty worried about it.” They also learned from the article that the fire was started by a faulty toaster oven in the apartment directly over them.

Stone was in his room trying to get some rest and wondering what would happen when he got to the police station remembering nothing. It had been four long and frightening days since Chelsea had called—and terrible dreams for Stone. Tara Lee was on the sofa wondering how things could possibly straighten out, when there was a knock at their door.

The time was 9:30 P.M. and when she answered the door Chelsea was there with a big grin and sailed into the living room accompanied by a man and a woman. Tara Lee didn’t know what was going on, but immediately knew her faith in Chelsea had been right, and she knew by his face that he had brought good news.

“Come on out, Stone, wherever you are,” he sang out, and Stone came out of his room.

He took one look and yelled, “Jerry, you son of a gun, you look as good as new. Are you okay now?” and he rushed to embrace his old friend, who assured him he was fine. Then he turned to Tina and gave her a big hug too. He looked at Chelsea and asked, “How did you find us?”

“When we heard the building had burned Clem went over to Blaisman’s apartment and asked him where his friends, the Derlings, had gone, and here we are. According to him, you’re quite a hero.”

“What is it Ray?” asked Stone. “Do Jerry and Tina know the whole story?” Then, “Oh, I’m sorry, Darling,” as he pulled Tara Lee to him. “These are my old friends Jerry and Tina Holmes, and this is Tara Lee Derling, my fiancee.”

After greetings, an excited Tina said, “I’m sorry it’s such a late hour, but by the time we found out where you had moved after the fire none of us wanted to wait until morning. We couldn’t call you, and we wanted to do it in person anyway.”

“Sit down, sit down. Anywhere,” said Tara Lee, and we could sure use some good news.”

“It should help,” said Chelsea, “Tina will tell you.” He took a seat on the sofa beside Jerry and Tina. Stone pulled two chairs together and he and Tara Lee sat across from them. “Tell us, Tina,” said Stone.

“Well,”she began, “neither Jerry nor I knew that you and Selina Avery were sort of enemies. Honest, we knew you used to live in her house, and we just naturally assumed you were friends. I told Jerry I’d like to meet her and he finally arranged for us to see her—only because we were friends of yours I’m sure. I admit I was excited meeting a big movie star. Jerry mentioned the Collectibles business you had started and that he was joining you—also that as soon as you could get some backing it should really take off. We couldn’t believe it when she offered to lend him $100,000.”

“I never would have taken it, Stone, if I had known how things were,” said Jerry.“I was keeping the books then and was just happy that I could get enough investors to get things off the ground. Of course I entered all of the details in the books and never thought of mentioning to you or Ray where the money came from, and I guess you were both too busy to ask or really care. I sent each investor monthly interest payments.”

“I found out when I took over the books,” said Stone, “and was able to pay her back the whole amount due plus the interest for the current month as soon as I found out what had happened.”

“You remember?” everyone exclaimed together.

“Yes, thank God. I remember,” he said in relief. “As soon as I saw Jerry and Tina I was back.”

“Does that mean you remember everything? Then where did you get all of that money?” asked Tara Lee.

“Well, it started with some modeling jobs.”

“Modeling? Modeling what?” asked Chelsea.

“I thought of telling you, Ray, but somehow I knew the ribbing I would get if I did. The first job was modeling underwear, then a small commercial for tea bags, and….”

They all burst out laughing. “Wonderful, wonderful,” said Tina, laughing. “I love it.”

When they had calmed down and got serious again, Chelsea said, “Who was the dollar sign that Tara Lee asked about? I never heard of that one before.”

“Oh, that was the way Janet Kirkland, the head of the Commercial Department for Airways Inc. started signing her notes to me. She kept the commercials coming my way, some of them including famous people and one assignment with Beauty Pageant finalists. I don’t know how she managed it and couldn’t believe the amount of money they paid for those assignments and said so. She laughed, and said, “you aren’t complaining, are you? Just call me old dollar sign.” After that she signed all notes with a dollar sign. She got a kick out of it. I’ll have to call her and explain what happened, and that I can’t be doing any more commercials. Those notes she sent were apparently referring to more work she had lined up for me. You have to admit it was amazingly good pay, but not what I really want to do. How long could I do it anyway? Until my hair got grayer and thinner? No, not for me.”