The Other Lady Vanishes (Burning Cove #2)(58)

She watched him with her shadow-filled eyes for what seemed like an eternity. And then she threw her arms around him, rested her head on his chest, and held him as if he had just saved her from drowning. He folded her close.

“Thank you,” she mumbled into his shirt. “I’m so sorry I dragged you into this situation.”

“You didn’t drag me into it. I came to Burning Cove to look for Madam Zolanda. Now she’s dead and that perfume bottle stopper we found at her villa indicates she may have had a connection to the bastards at the Rushbrook Sanitarium. If that’s true, it’s all tied up together and we might finally be able to figure out what is going on here.”

Adelaide sniffed a couple of times and raised her head with obvious reluctance. There were tears running down her cheeks. She stepped back and used the hem of her apron to dab at her eyes.

“I knew that, sooner or later, I was going to have to find a way out of this mess, but I figured as long as Gill and Conrad were pretending that I was still a patient, I was safe. But last night everything changed.”

“Yes,” he said. “Until now you’ve been worried that someone would drag you back to Rushbrook. But it looks like we’ve got an even bigger problem.”

“I know. Someone tried to kill you.”

“And you, as well. Whoever drugged me last night had to know there was an excellent chance that I would drive straight off Cliff Road into the ocean. If that had happened, we would probably both be dead. The original plan may have been to kidnap you and take you back to Rushbrook, but obviously that has changed. Whoever is after you is evidently willing to murder you.”

“But I’m no good to Conrad unless I’m alive. Under the terms of my father’s estate, if I die with no offspring, my inheritance goes to some very distant relatives.”

“Massey might want you alive but it doesn’t look like the others do. I think they’ve decided that if they can’t grab you, they have to try to silence you.”

“But who would believe my story?” Adelaide said.

“I believe it. Trust me, that’s enough to create serious problems for Gill and Massey and the guy in the surgical mask. I’ve got one more question.”

“What is it?”

“What made you pick that particular night—the same night that a killer was prowling the halls of Rushbrook—to try to escape the sanitarium?”

Adelaide smiled a watery smile. “The Duchess warned me that something terrible was going to happen that night. She said that if I didn’t leave, I would not survive until morning. She said I would become the next ghost.”





Chapter 33


Adelaide was washing teacups in the big sink in the tearoom kitchen when the phone rang. She wiped her hands on her apron and crossed the pea green linoleum floor to pick up the receiver.

“Refresh Tearoom,” she said.

“Adelaide, it’s Raina. I have a possible location for Thelma Leggett.”

“That’s great.”

“No guarantees but here’s what I’ve got. I located the property that Leggett inherited. I made a phone call to a local real estate firm and pretended that I was looking for a place to rent for a week. I mentioned that I had seen an empty cabin the last time I drove through the town. I gave them the address of the property that Leggett owns. The secretary who took my call said that the place has had a For Sale sign in the window for about two years but the day before yesterday a woman moved in. Her car is still sitting in the driveway.”

“Raina, you are absolutely brilliant.”

“It might be a huge coincidence that a woman moved into Leggett’s cabin a couple of days ago,” Raina warned.

“It must be Leggett.”

“That’s what I’m assuming. I checked a map. Looks like the town is about a two-hour drive from Burning Cove.”

Adelaide glanced at the wall clock. “It’s a little after ten. I’ve got to call Jake. He’s talking to Luther Pell. If we leave now, we can be there before one o’clock.”

“What about your job?”

“Flo will understand when I tell her I need the day off. She’ll probably assume that Jake and I are sneaking off for an afternoon tryst at some unnamed auto court.”

“When nothing could be further from the truth, right?”

“Right. Got to go, Raina. Thanks.”

“I’ll send my bill to Mr. Truett.”

“No, that wouldn’t be right. Send it to me.”

“You can’t afford me, pal. Drive carefully.”

Raina hung up the phone.





Chapter 34


The shot to the temple had done a lot of damage but there was enough left of Thelma Leggett’s face to identify her.

“Another suicide,” Jake said. “What an amazing coincidence. But this time the victim used a gun. Someone evidently decided to rewrite the script.”

Adelaide turned away from the sight of Thelma Leggett sprawled on the thin, blood-soaked bed. For a moment she was afraid that she would be sick.

“Are you all right?” Jake asked.

“Yes. No. But I’m not going to faint, if that’s what’s worrying you.”

Jake rounded the end of the cot and put an arm around her shoulders.