Page 140 of Two Kinds of Stranger

I put my arms round her, said, ‘You have a family here. Whether you own half of the business or not. These people will always be here for you. Me too. Whenever you need me.’

She stepped back, wiped away a tear.

I said, ‘I’ll split the business with you any way you want. You can take half of what’s in the business account and I’ll buy out—’

She waved her hand at me. ‘Don’t worry. We’ll work it out. I don’t care about money. I just want to clear my head. See my dad.’

She turned, opened my office door and stepped out.

‘Kate,’ I called after her. She swung round. ‘Take Harry and Bloch to lunch. When you feel up to it. They’ll be broken-hearted. When you’ve decided what you want to do, let me know and if I can do anything to help you I will. But you owe me coffee, once a week at least.’

‘Deal,’ she said.

I grabbed my coat. I couldn’t watch Kate clearing out her desk. Harry picked up Clarence’s lead, forced a smile, said, ‘Let’s take a walk.’

We stepped out into the dying winter chill of Manhattan. I threw my collar up and started walking.

We hadn’t got to the end of the block when I stopped. Something wasn’t right.

Clarence and Harry halted too. It was then that I realized what was bothering me.

‘You forgot your cane.’

Clarence stared at me. Then Harry.

‘I’m okay now. The physio said I could leave it behind for a while. Clarence agrees.’

Sure enough, he hadn’t barked when we’d left the office without Harry’s walking stick.

Just then, he reached into his jacket pocket. Checked his phone.

‘Look, Elly posted a new video.’

He angled the screen so we could both watch. Elly was in her hotel room. This was the first video she’d posted since she’d been arrested.

‘Hi,’ said Elly. ‘Thank you for all of your messages of support. It’s meant so much to me. Now the truth is finally out there, I am so relieved. I’m going to be posting more from today, but it’s not going to be about me. I just heard from my agent that she’s sold the book rights to my story, so you can read all about what happened over the last few months. I’m going to be okay, thanks to my legal team. So I’m only going to post here about my random acts of kindness. Most of you don’t know what happened to me on the subway when I tried to help a stranger. It almost cost me everything. But that doesn’t mean people are all bad. That’s just one sick person. It doesn’t undo all the good that comes from helping people in need. So I want you all to share with me your random acts of kindness. I’ll be doing the same. It’s how my parents raised me. To help others. We could all do with more kindness in the world. Help me spread a little of it. . .’

The video ended. Harry put the phone away.

We walked on in silence, crossed the street and Clarence came to a stop outside a bar.

He sat at the entrance and stared up at Harry.

‘This dog has more sense than I do,’ he said. ‘I’m going to go and get good and drunk, then probably get into some trouble. Would you care to join us?’

‘I’m going to walk for a little while longer. Get my head straight. Ask the bar tender to put on a pot of coffee. I’ll be there soon.’

‘Kate is going to be okay, you know?’

‘I know,’ I said.

Harry followed Clarence into the bar.

I didn’t know where I was going. I let my feet carry me through the streets.

All I knew was that from now on things would be different around here.

Kate had made a choice to turn away. To do what was right for her.