He Locked Me Out and Let Her In novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: The Seventh Floor Party

On Saturday night I walked into the Marlowe's lobby at seven with Bea, three women and Reuben beside me.

The doorman stood up.

"Ms. Donahue." His eyes went over the six of us. "I have a list from Lydia's father's office. All of you are on it."

"Who approved us?" I asked.

He glanced at the screen.

"The building manager, on his word. Not the unit owner."

"Good," I said. "For once it isn't her."

We rode up to seven in the glass elevator, Janie in her navy dress, the tall bird woman in her leather jacket, and the girl with the braid, who had brought her own cardigan and her own nerves.

Bea stood beside me, chewing gum.

"If this goes badly," she whispered, "the Getaway is parked at the curb with the engine on."

"It won't go badly."

"You said that about the dinner."

"The dinner went fine."

"You got a cat scratch and a standing ovation," Bea said. "Fine is a strong word."

The club room had white couches, a long bar, and a wall of windows that looked over the river.

About forty people stood in it with wine glasses.

I recognized the owner of Eastside by the door, in a good black dress, and she looked uncomfortable.

I recognized two board members from the donor dinners.

At the far end, beside the window, stood Lydia in a silver dress.

She was holding court.

She had a hand on a woman's arm, and she was laughing the soft laugh I had heard in the elevator a hundred times, and when she saw me, it did not stop.

It got louder.

"Oh, look who it is!" she said to the room. "Maddie, honey! You came."

Forty heads turned.

Lydia's father sat in an armchair near the bar with a glass of whiskey he was not drinking.

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