Chapter Twenty-Eight
The damp weather affecting Ireland seemed to have disappeared and London was looking down the barrel of a July heatwave. The tabloids were already reaching for SCORCHER! and pictures of girls in bikinis in city parks. She had dropped off her luggage and Ohana’s new purchases, then driven back to the car hire company. They had offered to drop her off at her apartment, but she didn’t want to risk them hearing Ohana in her travel bag. She was fairly certain that was against the terms and conditions of her hire contract. She was already living on the edge; she didn’t want to push her luck. Smiling to herself, she set off. Breaking rules made her come out in a cold sweat, but it also added a tiny bit of danger. Letta the Bold indeed.
She checked her phone for the umpteenth time but there was still no reply from Gabe. She had forced herself not to message him again until he replied but it was hard. Usually, she was a good judge of people and every instinct had told her he was genuine. Maybe he was just freaked out by her crying fit. She couldn’t blame him, but he had seemed fine the following day. Frowning, she just couldn’t work out what had caused him to change his mind about her and then she chided herself. It almost certainly had nothing to do with her. Maybe someone had died, and he had his hands full. He didn’t need some holiday romance pestering him right now.
As she crossed the road, the heat of the tarmac rose up and smacked her in the face. The familiar oily smells of the city in summer reminded her of Clem walking into the kitchen with tar on her bare feet and getting it all over the lino. Their mother had been furious and had made Clem scrub it all off. God, the fuss she made!
Was this summer going to get that hot? Leaving the pavement, Nick decided to cut across the park. Scooping Ohana out of her bag, she put her lead on and started a few small exercises, patting her every time she returned to Nick’s ‘heel’. For the umpteenth time she did wonder why she had to be so tall and Ohana so small – but this was proving to be a great work out for her glutes and calves.
As they walked along, she smiled as people stopped and pointed at the little dog, its long body whipping and bouncing away. A few dog walkers asked if she was happy for their dog to say hello, and when she agreed Ohana started jumping and playing like a little flea.
An older woman with a pug stopped to say hello. Ohana and the pug appeared to be instant best friends.
‘Sociable little one you’ve got there,’ said the woman. She was wearing a long cheesecloth dress and a pair of heavy leather sandals. Her long white hair was unbraided and a pair of sunglasses were pushed back, holding it off her face. Nick wondered if that’s what her grandmother looked like. She had found that since she had possibly discovered her father’s mother she was determined to track her down. She shook her head and focussed.
‘Yes, I’ve only just got her. I’m a bit of a beginner and would love any tips. The books and websites only go so far.’
The older lady nodded agreeably .
‘The most important issue you have right now is the heat. Keep her hydrated and don’t let her walk on the pavements. They’ll be too hot for her little paws.’
Nick looked at the woman in alarm – she hadn’t even considered the heat might hurt Ohana’s paws.
‘This grass is okay though, isn’t it?’
‘It is, but after a few more days of this weather I tend to only walk Bubbles here in the early mornings and evenings and not for long. He doesn’t breathe so well so I keep his walks short and sweet. Better a bored dog than a dead one.’
‘What if it’s already too hot in the morning?’
Nick was thinking back to last year’s heatwave. How did a city dog cope then?
‘Then we don’t go out at all. I’d advise the same for your little one. Everything is a bit tougher for a small dog, but just keep her hydrated and cool and you’ll be fine. And you might want some toys for her to chew. If she can’t get out, she might build up a lot of energy and develop bad habits.’
Thanking her for her advice, Nick got to the other side of the park and hailed a taxi to take her the rest of the way home. Best she get Ohana indoors immediately, neither a stuffy bag nor scorching pavements seemed a good choice. Entering her flat she put the mail by the kettle and opened the windows. She would switch on the air-con later if needed but the smart design of this building meant it managed the heat pretty well. She knew some flats had dreadful heating problems and she was once again grateful for this one.
Settling Ohana down, she ran a shower and enjoyed the tepid water. At one point she looked through the glass door. Ohana was leaning up against it, her tail wagging, making her body flip from side to side with her long ears waving.
‘You won’t like it in here, silly.’
She opened the door and Ohana quickly jumped in, skidded around the tray and then jumped out again. Nicked turned the water off and followed Ohana with a towel mopping down the little wet footprints that now covered half the flat. Well, at least they’re clean , thought Nick, as Ohana promptly peed on the blue silk rug.
‘Oh, you monster!’ groaned Nick. As she cleaned up, she wondered if a furnished apartment was a good idea with a dog. In fact, was she even allowed a pet? She would need to check her rental agreement.
Swapping her towel for a pair of shorts and a racer back T-shirt, she let her hair dry naturally. The idea of the hair dryer in this heat made her feel sweaty. She flicked open her laptop and remembered her mail. It was so unusual to get actual letters and she wondered what it was about. Then, after adding some ice to a pint of water, she settled down at her desk and opened the letter.
A few seconds later she started swearing. Normally, she didn’t believe there was any need to swear – there were enough words in the English language to properly express your feelings without resorting to expletives. Now she cursed like a navvy.
The letter was from her property agent informing her that she had violated her contract by having a dog on the premises and that she was being ordered to vacate the apartment within forty-eight hours. She was flabbergasted. How did they know? She had had Ohana less than a week and the little dog hadn’t even spent a night in the flat yet. In fact, no one even knew she had a dog except for Gyeong, whom she’d told whilst trying to track Daisy down. This seemed ridiculous: why would Gyeong tell anyone and how could they evict her without even discussing it? What evidence did they have?
She got up, drank her water and grabbed her trainers before she realised she couldn’t run this out – Ohana would be left alone, and she had no idea if that were acceptable with a dog. Watching Ohana yawn, she picked her up and moved her into the dog crate that she bought in Ireland. She put down some water and some toys and closed the latch. Ohana didn’t so much as flinch. Quickly, Nick grabbed her trainers and hoped to God that this was one of Ohana’s long naps. Closing the door softly she began jogging straight away to the lifts and then once she was out of the main entrance she remembered the heat. Like any sensible person she avoided running in full heat but what choice did she have? She needed to think this out. Heading towards the river in search of a slight breeze she began to consider her upcoming eviction.
People said things came in threes. Well, she was being investigated, she’d been kicked out of her offices and now she was facing eviction. Was there a connection? She knew she was losing the offices because of the investigation, but now she was losing her home as well. It just seemed like a horrible coincidence, but she realised that she needed to sit down and look at her contracts. Backtracking she headed for home, already dripping sweat – but now she knew what she needed to do, her mind was clearer, and she had a plan. She didn’t believe in coincidences; it was time to wake up and see what was going on.
After another shower and an espresso, she pulled out both property contracts and started to look through them. As expected, she was in violation, but the speed of enforcement was surprising. The office space had a clause about ‘disrepute’ – she could fight it and probably win but her heart wasn’t in it, not with the ongoing FCA investigation as well. She read through the residential contract and the terms were clear about no pets, but Nick knew of several pets already in the flats; maybe they had acquired a dispensation prior to moving in?
However, she couldn’t find a link between the two contracts. She paused, turned both contracts over and started scanning each document from the back pages forward, ploughing through all the small print. As she got to the front pages she still had nothing. She made another cup of coffee. Ohana was still snuffling, gently curled up towards a fluffy rabbit. Gabriel said that Ohana was bred to chase down rabbit holes which astounded Nick but for now she was ready to take him at his word. She looked at her phone again but still nothing from him.
Sitting down again, she pulled up the company details online and within a second she had the connection. There was no point in being annoyed in the time wasted looking through the individual contracts, research was never a waste. She had learnt that both evictions were legitimate but now she also had the connection. Both firms were owned by the same parent company and that parent company was a subsidiary of Harrington Holdings .
Nick threw her pen on to the desk and watched as it skittered across the top and fell to the floor. Of course it was Harrington’s. Sodding bloody Harrington’s! How had they known?
Now they had a fight on their hands. Five minutes ago she was prepared to walk away from the contracts but now she wanted them to know that she wasn’t going to make it easy for them.
Adding some food to Ohana’s bowl, she turned the radio on, pulled the blinds and headed out the door. Ohana was safe, had food and water, was cool and had the voices of Radio 4 for company. Nick felt bad leaving her, but she had business to attend to and heads were going to roll.