The Other Lady Vanishes (Burning Cove #2)(78)

“We were both tricked by Dr. Gill,” Adelaide said. “He lied to both of us, didn’t he?”

“Yes,” Conrad said eagerly. “Gill insisted that you had to go to Rushbrook. He said it was for your own good. He tricked both of us. That’s exactly what happened. The bastard tricked me.”

Conrad’s face contorted with sudden rage. The drug was an emotional roller coaster, Adelaide reminded herself.

“Did he tell you that you should pretend to love me?” she asked.

Conrad straightened to a sitting position. “I had to do it. You understand that, don’t you? I had to do it for the sake of my family. And for reasons of national security. I had a duty to make you fall in love with me.”

He was pleading now.

“Yes, I understand,” she said. “You did what you had to do to save the family business. You have a responsibility to the Massey name. I met your relative at the Rushbrook Sanitarium. She explained things to me.”

“You met crazy Aunt Eunice?”

“She was kind to me.”

“They had to have her committed when she was eighteen. She’s insane, you know. Family secret. Don’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t.”

“Can’t have any rumors about a streak of insanity in the bloodline, you see. That kind of thing can destroy a family.”

“Yes, your aunt explained that.”

Conrad nodded solemnly. “I did what I had to do when I let them take you to Rushbrook. Future generations of Masseys will be grateful to me for saving the family business. My grandfather would have been proud of me.”

“You’re just like him, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” Conrad nodded several times in an agitated way, as if trying frantically to convince himself. “Just like my grandfather. Not like my father. He was weak. But I’m not.”

Jake spoke quietly. “Ask him if he knows Paxton.”

Adelaide looked at Conrad. “Did Calvin Paxton trick you, too?”

Conrad scowled. “Who’s Paxton? I don’t know anyone named Paxton.”

“Why did you go to the Paradise Club the other night?” Adelaide said.

“Because I saw you shopping that afternoon,” Conrad said. “I talked to the saleswoman after you left. She said she had just sold you a gown that you planned to wear to the nightclub. I thought if I could find you at the club, I could talk to you. Make you understand that you had to go back to Rushbrook. But Truett never let you out of his sight.”

“You went into the gardens.”

“I saw you go out there with Truett. I followed you. But I couldn’t find you. I went back inside. I was going to ask you to dance when you came back into the club. You loved to dance with me, remember? But you and Truett left a short time later.”

“Did you put a drug in Mr. Truett’s glass that night?” Adelaide said.

“No.” Conrad sounded irritated, almost petulant. “I don’t have any drugs. Gill is the one with the drugs. Listen, you have to protect me, Adelaide. Truett wants to kill me. You have to stop him. I was only doing what I had to do for the sake of national security.”

“You’re safe behind these bars,” Adelaide said. “Mr. Truett won’t kill you.”

“Truett’s not the only one who wants to kill me.”

“Who else wants to kill you?” Adelaide asked.

“Gill. He said that everything would be all right again if we met Truett at the dock. He said Truett was a businessman. That we could do a deal with him. But when we got there, Gill gave me a gun. He said I had to kill Truett. He said it was the only way to get you back.”

“So it was Gill who drove you to the dock tonight and put the gun in your hand?” Adelaide asked.

“Yes. He said that after I killed Truett, everything would go back to the way it was.” Conrad broke off. He shivered violently. “But he lied. I remember now. I was supposed to put the gun to my own head after I killed Truett. Gill lied to me.”

“Everything will be fine once you have some tea,” Adelaide said.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” she said. She handed the mug through the bars. “Here you are. You’ll feel much better after you drink this.”

Conrad hesitated and then lurched awkwardly to his feet. He crossed the cell and took the mug from her fingers. He drank some of the tea and then looked at her with frantic eyes.

“You understand, don’t you?” he said. “I didn’t want to put you in that place but I had no choice. I had to save the family business.”

She did not answer. She waited in silence until he had finished the tea.

“Give me the mug, Conrad,” she said.

He handed it back to her. “You understand, don’t you?”

“No,” she said. “I don’t understand. I might have understood if you had done what you did to me in order to save the life of someone you love. But to save a company and your family name? No. I don’t understand that at all.”

He looked stunned. “You said you understood.”

“I lied.”

“You can’t lie to me,” Conrad raged. He seized the bars in his cuffed hands and shook them with a drug-enhanced strength. “You’re too na?ve, too trusting, too dumb to lie.”