Olivia and the Great Escape (14 page)

Chapter Thirty-One

Imy walked confidently up to the reception desk with Gem and Olivia behind her. The security guard sitting there smiled at her.

“Hello, Imy. Do you want to see your dad? I’ll see if he’s free, shall I?” He went to pick up the phone.

“Actually, he’s expecting us,” said Imy, quickly. “I’ve just spoken to him. We need to leave some stuff with him. He said to go straight up to the fifth floor where he’s doing some repairs.”

The man smiled. “No problem. You know the way, don’t you? Out the lift and turn right.”

The doors of the lift opened. Imy peered out cautiously to check there was nobody in the corridor and then she pulled the others
across the corridor and pushed them through an unmarked door. She closed the door behind them. They were in a narrow room with shelves stacked with files on both walls. At the end of the room was a window facing out on to the back of the hotel.

Olivia moved swiftly towards the window, pushed it open and leaned out. It was on a level with a room with a balcony that had a metal rail running along its top.

“See,” breathed Imy. “That’s Kasha’s room.”

“Are you absolutely sure?” asked Olivia. “This is
definitely
the balcony where you saw Kasha?”

“Yes,” said Gem indignantly. “We wouldn’t get something like that wrong. It’s too important. It’s definitely the right one. He was standing right there.”

“Good,” said Olivia. She looked down. There were several security guards milling around below, but they didn’t notice her looking at them. It was something Olivia had observed before: very few people ever looked upwards, particularly in London. The real threat would come if anybody looked out the window of the
offices and saw her. She just hoped that as it was Saturday nobody would be there, except Imy’s dad. She took off her rucksack, opened it and pulled out the wire.

“What’s that?” asked Gem, curiously.

“Wait and see,” said Olivia. She looked down again to check that the security guards weren’t looking, then she threw one end of the wire as hard as she could across the divide between the buildings. It hooked easily on to the rail over the balcony.

She pulled it tight and hooked it under the windowsill of the store room. It wasn’t ideal, but it would have to do. Jack would be furious with her if he saw her taking such a risk. But she had no choice, and she was confident it would hold.

“Look, Imy, Gem,” she said urgently, putting her rucksack back on. “This is my mobile number and I’ll need yours.” She reeled it off and Imy entered it in her phone and gave Olivia her number. “In a second I’m going to walk across the wire to Kasha’s room. When I get to the other side I’m going to unhook the wire and I want you to pull it back across here, unhook it from the sill and then leave, taking it with you. Go back to where you were at the front of the
hotel and I’ll meet you there in a short while, probably about fifteen minutes or so. I’ll call if there’s any problem.”

Imy and Gem were staring at her,
open-mouthed
.

“You’re going to walk across that wire to get into Kasha’s room?” stuttered Imy.

Olivia nodded. “It’s only a little walk. I know how to do it. It won’t be hard.”

“But if you fall, you’ll be killed,” said Imy, looking scared.

“Yes, but I won’t fall,” said Olivia, patiently.

“But to take such a risk, just in the hope of seeing Kasha. You must be his greatest fan ever,” said Gem, wonderingly, as Olivia jumped on to the windowsill.

“Well, I just hope he realises how lucky he is,” said Olivia, tartly. She stepped out on to the wire. Biggest fan? What she’d like to do most at this particular moment was wring Kasha Kasparian’s neck.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Olivia stepped over the rail and on to Kasha’s balcony. She looked down. As she’d guessed, the security guards below were completely oblivious to the fact that she had just walked straight above their heads on to the balcony of the person they were supposed to be protecting.

She didn’t know how she was going to get into his room. If the balcony door was locked, she was just going to have to knock. Carefully she put her hand on the door handle and pushed it down. It gave easily. She turned back to Imy and Gem, gave them the thumbs up, and unhooked the wire so the girls could haul it back to the store room.

“Good luck,” mouthed Imy.

Olivia gave them a wave, turned and,
as quietly as she could, entered the room. She realised at once that she was not in a hotel bedroom but in the living room of a suite. She had been in one before at the Savoy where the Hollywood twins, Cosmo and Cosima Wood, had been staying while they were in London. That had been very grand with a dining room, a vast living area, a kitchen and three bedrooms. It was like an apartment within a hotel.

This was smaller but very swish. There were two closed doors leading off the living room, and Olivia guessed that one was a bathroom and the other was a bedroom. She glanced around. From the state of the room, she knew that this was definitely where Kasha was staying. The place was a tip. Several pairs of jeans,
half-drunk
cans of Coke and discarded magazines were littered all over the floor. Kasha’s beloved, battered old guitar stood in the corner, and there was a stack of photos of him on a small table, ready for signing.

So where was he? She suddenly realised how awful it would be if someone came into the room and found her there. They would probably think she was a stalker and have her arrested. For a moment she wished that she hadn’t asked
Imy and Gem to remove the wire. Now she had no escape route.

Maybe Kasha had gone out? Maybe he was somewhere else in the hotel? She moved towards one of the doors and as she did so, she heard a sound. It was such an odd sound. It sounded like a small animal, maybe a rabbit or a hamster in pain. Slowly and carefully she pushed the door open. The curtains were drawn and the room was in darkness, but she could make out the bed with its rumpled covers. She took a step further into the room, peered into the gloom and realised that Kasha was curled up in a ball on the bed, a picture of abject misery.

He suddenly realised she was there. For a moment, they just looked at each other in shock, and then he said: “Have you come to kill me, Livy? It would be the kindest thing to do. Just put me out of my misery.”

Olivia could tell from the hopeless tone of his voice that he wasn’t entirely joking. But she was irritated nonetheless. “Don’t be so dramatic, Kasha. Besides, killing is way too good for you. Do you know what you’ve done? You’ve made the sweetest, nicest, kindest girl in the world look like a thief and a cheat.”

Kasha looked up at her, his beautiful eyes dark with despair. “I know exactly what I’ve done, Livy. As soon as I got your messages, I knew.”

“Well, stop whimpering, then, and put it right.”

“But I don’t know how to!” said Kasha.

“I’m going to help you sort things out,” said Olivia. “And
then
I’m going to kill you, Kasha Kasparian.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

Kasha had been to the bathroom, washed his face, and was looking far more presentable. Olivia had thrust two of his photos at him as soon as he appeared and ordered him to sign them.

“I don’t think this is the time for autographs,” complained Kasha.

“I owe someone,” said Olivia, “and, unlike some people, I always acknowledge my debts.”

Chastened, Kasha did what she asked without a murmur.

“Right,” said Olivia, brusquely, as soon as he was finished. “Let’s get out of here. We’ve got to hurry, or we’ll be too late. The contest will be over and Aeysha will have lost her chance and her reputation will be in tatters.”

Kasha stared at her. “But, Livy, I can’t just walk out of here! If I try to leave by the front, I’ll be crushed by all the girls out there, and there’s loads of security at the back of the building. They wouldn’t let me leave.”

Olivia frowned. “You mean, you’re some kind of prisoner?”

“No, not exactly,” said Kasha, “but with the first concert next week the record company and the promoters are taking no chances. It’s been made quite clear that I’m expected to stay here and not go anywhere except for rehearsals at the venue. I reckon that if I try to leave the hotel with you, I’ll be turned back. Ever so politely, of course, but very firmly.”

“So this room is really a sort of luxury cell,” said Olivia, shaking her head in disbelief.

“I guess that’s one way of putting it,” said Kasha. “They think of it as protecting their investment. They’ve put a lot of money into me. They want to make sure they don’t lose it. So if I say that I’m just popping out for a bag of crisps, let alone to ’fess up to stealing somebody else’s song, I don’t think they’re going to be keen to let me go. They’ve sold squillions of pounds worth of tickets for the concerts. I’d be putting all that
at risk.”

“So how are we going to get you out of here?” asked Olivia. She’d been so taken up with trying to get into the hotel that it had never crossed her mind that Kasha might not just be able to stroll out of it.

‘I don’t have a clue; ideas are strictly your department,” said Kasha. “How did you get in?”

“Over the wire and on to the balcony,” said Olivia.

“Ah,” said Kasha. “And there was I wondering whether you’d added lock-picking to your increasingly wide range of skills. But the wire definitely isn’t an option for me.”

“I haven’t got it anyway,” said Olivia, gloomily. She checked her phone. Time was ticking by. She had a couple of texts from Tom, who was at the
Midsummer Night’s Dream
rehearsal and wondering where she was.
Dream!
Suddenly Olivia knew just how to get Kasha out of there. She opened her rucksack and began to pull out the contents.

“I’ve just had an idea,” she said. “It’s so brilliant, it may just work.”

“Ready, Kasha?” asked Olivia, as the lift descended to the lobby.

“Yes,” said Kasha, “but don’t go too fast or I’ll fall flat on my face. Walking’s quite tricky in these high-heeled boots.
And
they’re totally killing my feet. And this stupid veil means I can’t see where I’m going.”

“Here we are,” said Olivia, as the lift doors opened. “Whatever you do, try and avoid speaking to anyone, and keep your head down so your face is hidden.”

They stepped out into the busy lobby. Kasha stumbled and grabbed Olivia’s arm for balance. “Careful,” she hissed.

They walked across the wide expanse of the lobby. Olivia felt as if everyone was staring at them, but nobody seemed to be taking any interest at all. They reached the front entrance of the hotel and through the glass doors Olivia could see the waiting girls and the security men. She took a deep breath.

“Here we go,” she whispered. She guided Kasha towards the doors but just before they got there, a doorman wearing a top hat and livery stepped towards them. For a terrible moment Olivia thought that he was going to stop them
from leaving, but he simply held the door wide open, raised his hat and said: “Have a lovely time, ladies.”

Olivia gave him a dazzling smile and replied, “Thank you, we will.” She looked firmly ahead as they stepped towards the sea of girls. The girls craned their necks to see who was coming through the door but lost interest as soon as they could see it was just a girl accompanied by an elegant young woman. The woman was dressed in a smart 1930s style suit, button boots and a rather dashing little hat with a veil and a small feather stuck jauntily in it. The hat was tilted at such an angle that it almost totally obscured her face.

Olivia and Kasha started walking down the path between the crash barriers. The security guards merely glanced at them. Olivia held her breath. They had almost reached the end of the path when Olivia saw the pair of security guards who had stopped her entering the hotel looking with interest at them. One of them stood up, and walked steadily towards them. Olivia tried to look nonchalant.

“We may be going to have to run,” she hissed out of the side of her mouth.

“Run?” hissed back Kasha. “In these heels?”

The security guard loomed up in front of them, blocking their way. “You’re the girl from earlier, aren’t you?” he said. “The one who said she had an aunt staying in the hotel?” Olivia nodded. “Is this your aunt?” Olivia nodded vigorously again.

“Well, I don’t know how you got into the hotel, but I clearly owe you an apology. I’m sorry I didn’t believe your niece, madam.”

Something like a squeak came out from under Kasha’s hat, and Olivia quickly covered it by saying: “She’s got terrible laryngitis. She can’t speak. But there’s no need to apologise. It was my fault. I forgot Belinda was using her maiden name. But everything’s fine now.”

The man smiled. “And I don’t suppose you got lucky and saw Kasha Kasparian, too, did you?”

Olivia shook her head. “Oh, I’m not all that bothered about him. He’s no great shakes.”

She felt Kasha tug furiously at her sleeve, and they walked through the crowd and on to the street. In front of them, she saw Imy and Gem, their faces shining with excitement.

“What happened? Did you get into Kasha’s room? Did you see him?” they asked, taking absolutely no notice of the woman standing at Olivia’s side.

Olivia nodded and felt around in her rucksack. “These are for you,” she said, producing the two photographs that she had got Kasha to sign.

Imy and Gem looked at them. “To Imy, all my love, Kasha,” whispered Imy.

“And he’s done one for me, too,” smiled Gem, dreamily.

“He’s the kindest, most generous, most amazing boy in the entire world,” said Imy.

“Mmm,” said Olivia dryly. “I wouldn’t go quite that far.” She paused. “Listen, you’ve been really brilliant but my … aunt and I have got to run.”

“But we want to hear everything that Kasha said to you and what his room is like and everything,” said Gem, her voice full of disappointment.

“Disgustingly untidy,” said Olivia. “Listen, I’ll tell you more, but not now. I promise. I never forget a favour and you’ve both done me one today. Call me later. Kasha is going to make sure
that you get tickets to his concert and meet him afterwards.”

Imy and Gem were squealing so loudly that they didn’t hear Kasha yelp: “Is he?”

“Yes,” said Olivia, very firmly, “he is. It’s the very least he can do after all the trouble he’s put everyone to.”