“Maybe she’s just busy. I know that Reluven launch is driving her crazy,” Dana said.
“But all those appointments are on the schedule. These aren’t. And Gemma said that whenever Eleanor gets back, she shuts herself in her office and gets right on the phone. But not the office phone—her cell phone.”
Dana leaned back to consider the information. It certainly was suspicious.
“You know, I’m meeting with her and the Reluven reps today about the launch. Maybe I can dig a little.”
Ashlee clucked. “She’s not going to tell you anything.”
“No, but I can probe a bit and see how uncomfortable she gets.”
“And then what?” Ashlee said.
Dana shrugged. “Margaux is still my best hope. I have to figure out a way to find her.”
“We will. But in the meantime, let’s figure out what’s goin’ on with Eleanor. I could follow her the next time she sneaks out. I just have to tell Gemma to give me a heads-up.”
Dana had to stifle a laugh. The idea of a six-foot-tall goddess who looked like Charlize Theron on steroids trying to be inconspicuous while tailing someone didn’t make a whole lot of sense.
“How about this,” Dana suggested. “The next time Eleanor sneaks out for one of her secret excursions, give me a heads-up and I’ll follow her.”
* * *
“And here she is!” Eleanor announced to the Reluven reps when Dana showed up at the meeting.
All heads turned toward Dana, and despite herself, she absorbed the warmth of Eleanor’s admiration. Because in her entire life, she had never felt even a fraction of that pride from her own parents. She almost wished she could have captured the moment and replayed it for her father. See? she would have said to him. See what the world thinks of me?
The excitement in the room was electric, and it did wonders for her dark mood. The Reluven people were clearly overjoyed to sell their products through the Shopping Channel. It was a major coup for them. And Eleanor simply beamed. It was a dream come true. She was selling skin care, she was saving the company. And Dana was helping her make it all happen. For the next hour, while the products were discussed in great detail so that Dana would be loaded with info she could use on her show, she was so caught up in the excitement she forgot all about her suspicions. That is, until the meeting ended, and Eleanor said, “Isn’t it amazing how everything fell into place!”
“Amazing,” Dana repeated, realizing that Eleanor had no idea how much she sounded like someone who had the motivation to send Ivan Dennison off the roof.
27
Two days later, Dana was awoken from a deep sleep by her cell phone. It took her a moment to get her bearings. Was Ari next to her? She glanced over and saw that she was alone in bed. Then she remembered that she had wanted a good night’s sleep because it was the day of the Reluven launch, and had told Ari she needed her space. It was just as well, because she was still trying to sort out her memory about Ivan. She could go back and forth on it ten times in a single minute. She did it. She didn’t do it. She must have done it. She couldn’t have done it.
And poor Ari. He deserved to know the truth. Her secret was putting his career in terrible jeopardy. He was a homicide detective who could well be dating the murderer he sought.
But then, it was all probably a big mistake. A false memory. And if she told him, it would be a nuclear explosion in their relationship. How could she possibly risk that?
At very least, she had made one big decision: she was not going to let her uncertain but traumatic memory get in the way of her Sweat City show. She would play Penny Harte. And she would crush it.
For now, though, Dana just wanted to go back to sleep and forget all about it. But her phone rang again. Who the hell was calling her on the very day she wanted to let herself slumber until the last minute?
When Dana glanced at the caller ID and saw that it was Ashlee, she had a moment of panic. Had she overslept? She glanced at the clock. No, she didn’t need to be at the studio for at least another hour.
“Everything okay?” she said.
“Were you sleepin’?” Ashlee asked.
“Trying to.”
“Well, you’re going to want to get up for this. Eleanor just sneaked out for a secret meeting and I followed her.”
“Followed her where?” Dana asked.
“To Central Park. It’s like some scene from a movie. She’s sittin’ on a bench waiting for someone. And it’s cold enough to freeze the balls off a pool table.”
Dana sat up. “Where in Central Park?”
“You know that arch? Where they shot that film?”
That did little to narrow it down, but as Dana pressed her for more info, she was able to figure out the precise location. It wasn’t that far from her new apartment—a fact that gave Dana a tingle. In the near future, some of the most beautiful vistas in the city would be an easy stroll from her front door.
“I think I know exactly where you are,” Dana said, as she picked up a pair of jeans from the floor and shimmied into them. “I’ll meet you there.” She looked under her bed for shoes, and pulled out a pair of ankle boots with a stacked heel. They had seen better days, but they weren’t nearly as bad as her combat boots. They would do.
“You sure?” Ashlee asked. “’Cause I can report back.”
“I want to see for myself,” Dana said.
She got dressed as quickly as she could, dashed out the door, popped into the local bodega for a cup of coffee and hailed a yellow cab. All the while, she was getting texts from Ashlee with updates.
She’s looking at her wrist. Think she wears a Fitbit?
Dana typed back:
I think she wears a WATCH.
Ashlee responded with three coffee emojis and three laughing emojis, and Dana caught her drift. She had missed the joke and needed coffee. She took a sip from her steaming cup.
A few minutes later, another text came through.
She’s pacing.
And then:
It looks like she’s texting someone.
As Dana was getting out of the cab, Ashlee called.
“She’s on the move.”
“What do you mean?” Dana asked.
“I think they picked another spot to meet. Or maybe she realized she was waitin’ in the wrong place, because she looked fit to be tied. Anyway, she’s walking now, but not back toward the office.”
Shit, Dana thought. This could be trouble.
“What direction is she moving?”
“She’s headin’ north.”
Oh god. Oh god. The cab had let Dana off just north of the arch, which meant she could run smack into Eleanor any minute. And then she’d have some explaining to do. She looked down the path, and thought she saw a figure that looked like Eleanor. Dana needed to make a quick decision. She dashed down a path that headed east. But running while holding a coffee cup and trying to avoid other people in the way wasn’t easy. And suddenly, Dana found herself tumbling forward. She tried to wrench her body, and her coffee cup went flying as she windmilled her arms to keep from hitting the ground. At that moment, though, the heel broke off her right boot and her ankle twisted in half. Dana heard an actual crack as a searing pain shot though her leg and sent her tumbling to the ground. Dear god, it hurt.
Fuck, she thought. Fuck, fuck, fuck, as she remembered, too late, why she hadn’t worn those boots in so long. They needed to be fixed.
“Are you okay?” a jogger asked, running in place as Dana writhed.
Dana could hardly breathe for the agony. “I...need...help.”
The man stopped jogging and pulled Dana up by both her arms.
“That...bench,” she said, nodding toward it.
“This one’s closer,” he said, indicating a bench that could be seen from the path heading north.
“Other one,”
she breathed. “Please.”
She leaned on the man as she hopped her way to the bench, each bounce sending an excruciating jolt through her. She thanked him and he went on his way. The pain. Sweet fancy Moses, the pain. It was like an entity. A thing that wanted to kill her. As she tried to breathe into it, a million thoughts rocketed through her mind. But mainly: How the hell am I going to do my show?
When she could catch her breath, Dana called Ashlee. “We need to abort the mission,” she said, and explained what had happened.
“Should I call an ambulance?” Ashlee asked.
“God no. Just get over here.”
They stayed on the phone while Ashlee tried to wend her way to Dana’s location. After several minutes it became clear she was walking in the wrong direction, and had to double back. By the time she reached her, almost twenty minutes had passed, and it was getting dangerously close to airtime.
“Oh lord,” Ashlee said, when she saw how swollen Dana’s ankle was. “You really did a number on yourself.”
“I think it was a mistake to take off the boot,” Dana said. “I’ll never get it back on.”
Ashlee scratched her head. “Are you going to call Sherry?”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because she’ll need to find a replacement host fast.”
Dana was incredulous. There was no way in hell she would miss today’s show, no matter how much pain she was in. “Ashlee, I’m going on the air at one o’clock today, come hell or high water.”
“Are you sure? I think you need to get that x-rayed.”
“I’ll go to the hospital after the show. For now, I just have to figure out how the hell I’m going to make it to the studio.”
“Aren’t you in pain?”
Dana shook her head. “No, this is not pain. This is something much worse. We need a new word for what this is. But I’ll take some Advil and I’ll manage.”
“At very least, you need to wrap that up. I could run to a drugstore and get an Ace bandage.”
“We don’t have time. Maybe we can wrap my jacket around it.”
“No ma’am,” Ashlee said. “That is simply not going to work. But I have an idea.” At that, she stood up and took off her faux shearling jacket. Then she reached under her top to pull a strap out over one arm and then the other. At last, she shimmied something beige down below her top and over her hips, and Dana saw what it was—high compression Spanx shapewear. It would make the perfect bandage.
“Genius,” Dana said.
“First things first,” Ashlee said, and rummaged through her purse. She pulled out a little pill box. “Good thing for you I take this stuff for cramps,” she said, and spilled three pills into Dana’s palm. She swallowed them dry.
Ashlee folded her Spanx garment and wrapped it tightly around Dana’s ankle, slipping the straps under her foot and around to hold it in place. Tears rivered down Dana’s face as she endured the agony of the procedure. But by the time it was done, she decided it was better than any drugstore bandage.
“Now let’s see if we can get that boot back on.”
This, Dana knew, would be the hard part. But she had to do it. Ashlee held the broken ankle boot under Dana’s foot and she tried to point her toes into it.
A burn of agony tore through her and she screamed.
“You okay?”
“I just need a minute,” Dana said. She was queasy from the pain, and worried she might vomit up the pills she just took. Ashlee looked down at her phone, and Dana knew she was surreptitiously checking the time.
“I know we have to hurry,” Dana said. “Just...give me a sec.” She closed her eyes and took some cleansing breaths.
“Okay,” she announced, when the nausea passed. “I’m ready.”
“If I had a bullet,” Ashlee said, “I’d let you bite on it.”
“If you had a bullet,” Dana said, “I’d want you to put me out of my misery.”
At last, she held her breath and drove her foot into the boot. It was the worst pain she had ever felt.
“One day,” she said, “I’m going to tell some woman about this, and she’s going to insist it’s not as painful as childbirth. Then I’ll have to punch her in the throat.”
The two hobbled out of the park together, and saw a man in an expensive overcoat with his hand on the door of a taxi.
“Excuse me, sir!” Ashlee called. “My friend here just had a terrible accident in the park and we need that taxi to get her to the hospital. I know you don’t mind. Thank you so much for your kindness!”
Without waiting for a response, she helped Dana into the cab.
“Mount Sinai?” the driver asked, referring to the closest hospital.
“Well, aren’t you sweet?” Ashlee said, as she slammed the door shut. “Thank you, but we just changed our minds.” She gave him the address of the Shopping Channel, with instructions to get them as close to the entryway as possible.
28
Thirty minutes later, Dana was on set, standing behind a display of Reluven bath sets that were beautifully packaged in shimmery gold baskets threaded with pale silver ribbons. The set was adorned with a brightly decorated Christmas tree, blinking gaily behind her to promote the spirit of holiday giving. The two mature models who had been hired to help demonstrate the products were seated stage right. Dana wore a red cardigan over a cream top, as if dressed for a homey holiday party. She also wore a pair of soft slippers that had been provided by Irini, the wardrobe supervisor, but the viewers wouldn’t see them, as the tech director had been told to make sure Dana was only shot from the waist up.
Before the camera blinked on, Dana focused on her breathing. She knew that there was something about being before an audience that could make pain recede. It didn’t matter if the people were in the studio in front of her or in homes across the country. An audience sent the pain scurrying. Not that it went away entirely, but it found a different place to reside. A box in which to remain until the lights went down and the performance ended.
And that’s the way it was for Dana when the camera went on and she launched into her breathless, exuberant pitch for this brand new life-changing product, offered at such an incredible price. It was the perfect holiday gift. The beautifully packaged luxuriant bath set every woman wanted. Dana talked about the bubble bath (so decadent!), the shower gel (liquid satin!), the scrub (refreshing!), the shampoo bar (perfection!). She practically fainted from joy at the light, delicious scent. She oozed and cooed and was nearly orgiastic in her delight.
Demo the eye serum, Jessalyn whispered through the earpiece. And that’s when Dana knew she could be in trouble. Because she had been on the air for over twenty minutes, and had been standing on one foot the entire time. Now she had to walk halfway across the set to reach the first model.
Dana stalled for a few more minutes, extolling the virtues of exfoliating before moisturizing. She went over the prices again, explaining the unprecedented value the Shopping Channel offered on this bath set. She couldn’t guarantee this gift basket would ever again be offered at such a low price. By the time she took a breath, it almost seemed as if not purchasing this item would be the most foolish extravagance anyone could make.
The demo! Jessalyn whispered again. She sounded frantic, and Dana knew she couldn’t delay any longer.
“And I want to talk about the eye serum,” Dana said into the camera. “It’s not the usual product you find in a bath set, but I am such an incredible fan of this miraculous liquid gold I made a special request to include it. I wanted this opportunity to introduce it to you. And I’m delighted that our beautiful model Vanetta is here so we can see exactly how it works.”
That was the cue for the camera to focus on the sixty-eight-year-old model they had brought in for the demo, while Dana hobbled across the set.
Before taking a single stride, Dana looked at the monitor t
o be sure it showed Vanetta’s lovely but lined complexion. She breathed in and sidled a few steps over, holding onto the display table for support. But once she reached the end, the model was still eight feet away. Dana exhaled.
You can do this, she told herself.
And then, she did. She put actual weight on the foot. The pain shot through her like a jagged dart and Dana gave an involuntary yelp. And it wasn’t a small yelp, either. It was more like a shriek. Even the models jolted. So much for putting her agony in a box on the shelf.
When the camera was back on her, Dana tried to laugh it off. But there were tears of pain in her eyes. And though she continued with the demo, she sensed a shift in the atmosphere, as if her agony had rearranged the molecules in the air.
People are calling in, Dana! Jessalyn said into her earpiece. Somehow, she managed to sound frantic through a whisper. They’re worried about you. Make up some excuse. Say something. You stepped on a tack or whatever.
Dana smiled into the camera as she thought about it. What on earth could she say that wouldn’t derail the entire launch? She didn’t want to take the focus off the products and put it on herself. That wouldn’t do at all. In fact, it would be a disaster. She thought about the board of directors and their decision to give the Shopping Channel brand one last shot. If she failed now, that was it. They’d probably follow Ivan’s course and make the change to electronics. Half the people here might be out of a job—including her. Especially her, because she’d be the one responsible. No, she couldn’t let it happen. She wouldn’t.
At last, Dana got an idea. She wasn’t going to wade into this pool. She was going to swan dive. She wasn’t sure it would work, but it was her only option. Standing on the edge of the diving board, Dana took one last breath, and then she launched.
“I have to apologize,” she said into the camera, as if speaking to a friend. “I was pretending everything is okay. And that wasn’t fair to you.” She paused, then spoke directly to the tech director. “Tony, can you pan down and get a close-up of my ankle?” There was a moment of hesitation, and Dana watched the monitor as the camera panned down to her injury. The studio was eerily quiet, as if no one even dared breathe as they waited to see what she was going to do.
The Rooftop Party Page 18