Chapter Twenty-Six

Friday 28th June

'This time I'm gonna take it myself and put it right in her hand.
And if it comes back the very next day then I'll understand,'

Harry stood at the bedroom window of his apartment squinting up the street to see the flags from the UN building in the distance. They had comforted him when he first arrived, a sign that the rest of the world did still exist even if most Americans thought their country was the centre of the Universe. Now his time was over and everything was changing.

Jorge and Beto were leaving.

Leo was gone.

The Lyell Centre would be adrift without Leo, his imagined other life, the one he would have had, had he never left would have been in uproar or over.

The school year at NYU was over, the students had left.

He had not renewed his contract and having made the decision he didn't have one regret.

Candy had bullied him and pushed him around for the last time. He didn't have to take her intimidation any longer.

This was going to be new, different.

A new life.

Last time he'd tried to make himself a new start he'd not really considered what he actually wanted, he'd settled for something different to what he had. Anything different to what he had, had been good enough then. But this time he'd taken the trouble to think through what he wanted and this was going to be better. No managers to boss him around, his own place, his own rules and his Nikki.

That was the only part of his plan he had no guarantees about. He knew the change he wanted to make between them. They'd agreed they were lovers months back. By moving to London, they would at least have the opportunity to develop their relationship. But would she want to? He knew how he felt. Had he left it too late?

He called his letting agency and asked for a valuation on his flat and given them instructions to put it on the market for sale when then current tenant's lease expired. He'd already had estate agents give valuations on Leo's place so he would be able to sell it when he'd had a chance to empty it. With the money from the two properties and a business loan he would be able to buy a house with office space and put his master plan into operation.

Except it wasn't really his master plan.

It was Leo's.

Harry had thought often about his last conversation with Leo and his idea of going solo, examining the cases that no one else wanted, being the independent investigator. It all seemed like a perfect business plan. He'd spoken to a couple of London universities about the possibility of a part time lecture post. LSSE had begged him to consider the now vacant role at the Lyell Centre. But that would be going back and he had made his decision to move forward. He would take on just enough teaching to make the bills manageable and gradually develop his business. The more the business thrived the less teaching he would need to do.

He would need Nikki's help. She had part shares in the house according to Leo's will. She'd have to agree to sell it and split the profits with him. He was sure she wouldn't want to keep it. Its location made it no good for Harry. If he was going to start his own business he needed a place that people could find easily and enough space possibly so they could park. One of those old Georgian places just out of town could work. Blackheath maybe? Wasn't that where the plague victims were buried? It would be a great location for an independent pathologist.

But it would mean that Nikki would have to agree to sell Leo's house. He was sure she wouldn't want to live there. Would she?

How would he know? He'd not spoken to her for months and each Sunday as he sat by his computer waiting and hoping that her Skype icon would show she was online was torture. He didn't miss one though even though not hearing from her cut deeper and deeper into his soul.

"Don't come back for me, come back for her," that's what Leo had asked Harry to do and for once he was going to take Leo's advice. Maybe he should have paid more attention to the man when he was alive. It was still hard to imagine that he was really gone.

'Come back for her,' he knew he could make her happy, if only she'd let him. That time they were together in New York, they had been happy. But it was a holiday romance. Even Nikki had described it as such. Anyone could be happy for a weekend in a big city with a beautiful friend. His challenge now was to return to England, rebuild his life into something new and prove that he was worthy of her and address the insecurities that she had voiced. Her worries that she was unlovable, that she didn't deserve to be happy.

He could turn up at her door he supposed with a bunch of flowers, barge his way in and kiss her, tell her everything would be alright now he was back. But even he wasn't fool enough to try that plan. That might be what he felt like doing but if he really wanted her he would need to be prepared for the fact that it would take time. He knew he'd grown sick of thinking all he wanted was impossible, it might turn out to be impossible but he wouldn't know until he'd tried and it was time to stop thinking and time to start doing.

He still hadn't been able to tell her the terms of Leo's will despite the emails, she hadn't replied and he could only think she'd been deleting them without opening. Or maybe she'd marked his name as junk and she never even got to see them. He wrote it all down in a snail mail, all his plans for his business, a copy of the details of Leo's will, the date of his return flight. She would read a letter, wouldn't she? He'd get a copy of the will sent from the solicitor too, that she might open.

He'd arranged for his furniture to be collected, his leaving date with the apartment building, taken any electrical items and anything else he didn't want or couldn't fit in his suitcase to the church he'd gone to the day of Leo's funeral. He'd paid off his utility bills and emptied his cubicle at NYU.

He'd taken Jorge and Beto out to dinner and Ruby out to lunch. He'd filled in a recommendation form for Chantelle to join a programme allowing her to take her junior year at an overseas university, and had been pleased to hear that his old college had accepted her. She was ecstatic and terrified in equal measure.

"You'll be fine," he assured her.

"Will everyone there be like you Professor?" she'd asked.

"I really hope not for your sake," he'd laughed. "Thanks for all your help," he added.

"You're welcome."

He was slightly worried about what Mrs Finkelstein might think, but when he explained his intentions, he saw such a look of pleasure sweep across the old lady's face that he'd even stooped down to give her dog an affectionate pat.

"Mazel Tov!" She'd exclaimed. "You're a good man Harry. I wish you every happiness."

"You make it sound as if I've just got engaged!" Harry had laughed.

"But that is your plan?" Mrs Finkelstein had clarified.

Harry had sat back in his chair thought for a while and then smiled.

"Now you mention it. I think it might be."

"See, I was right all along. Mazel Tov!"

"I hope your new neighbour will be alright."

"Don't worry about me, Harry. You have enough to worry about. I'm really pleased for you and I hope that business of yours takes off."

His life in New York was tidied up, no loose ends, no regrets.

He closed the window and lowered the blind.

It was time to go.

Return to Sender: Elvis Presley