Adelaide’s voice came from another dimension.
“There’s nothing to worry about,” he said. “We’re going to find all the answers when we get there.”
“Where are we going?” Adelaide asked.
She was concerned. He did not want her to worry. He would protect her.
“Everything will be all right,” he said. “Can’t you see the moonlight highway? We can follow it to the truth.”
“Jake, listen to me. You must stop the car.”
“But we’re not there yet. Look at all the colors around us. Who knew there were so many shades of night?”
“I said, stop the car.”
She leaned toward him. For a few seconds he thought she was going to kiss him. Instead, she yanked the key out of the ignition. The roar of the engine ceased abruptly. The car began to slow.
Adelaide grabbed the wheel.
“Let go,” she ordered.
He obeyed, letting his hands drop to his knees. She was climbing over him now, taking control of the wheel.
He laughed. “You should have told me you wanted to drive.”
“Move your foot out of the way,” she said. She kicked the side of his leg with one silver sandal. “Do it now, Jake Truett.”
Obediently he moved his foot. Adelaide was half sitting on his thigh. He could feel the lush curve of her hips. Filled with wonder, he raised a hand to touch her bare back.
“You’re so soft,” he said. “And warm.”
She got one silvery foot on the brake and steered the car onto the side of the road. It came to a full stop. The glorious night closed in around them.
“Are we going to make love now?” he asked.
“No,” she said. “We’re going to get out of the car.”
“Good idea,” he said. “We can make love on the beach.”
“No,” she said again. She scrambled back to her side of the seat and used his keys to unlock the glove compartment. He watched with interest as she took out his gun and a flashlight.
“Do you want to do some target practice on the beach?” he asked.
“Pay attention, Jake, and do exactly as I say.”
“All right. Are we going to follow the moonlight road?”
“Yes. But it will be easier to do that if we get out of the car.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“The car is faster.”
“But it will take us in the wrong direction.”
That made sense, he concluded. He opened his car door and climbed out. The colors of midnight grew ever more dazzling, swirling around him like an old-fashioned magic lantern show. No, not a magic lantern show; a kaleidoscope. That was it—he was inside a giant kaleidoscope and he was perceiving the secrets of the universe. He could watch the brilliant, shifting waves of light forever as long as Adelaide was there.
She rounded the car to join him. She had his pistol in one hand and the flashlight in the other.
“The end of the moonlight highway is down on the beach,” she explained.
“You’re sure?” he asked.
“Absolutely.”
“Why are we taking my gun?”
“Because I think someone is trying to kill us.”
Chapter 29
This is my fault, Adelaide thought. She had brought this danger down on Jake.
Later there would be time enough to contemplate the enormity of her guilt. First, she had to keep them both alive and safe.
“Don’t worry,” Jake said. He came to a halt in the sand. “If someone tries to hurt you, I’ll kill him.”
She was relieved to see that her words had succeeded in penetrating some of Jake’s drug-induced delirium. But if he had been poisoned with Daydream, as she suspected, the hallucinatory effects were nothing if not unpredictable. His mood was already undergoing a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn. He was switching from goofy but harmless to potentially dangerous and uncontrollable. If he turned on her, he would easily overpower her.
“You can kill him some other time,” she promised.
“Now would be better,” he insisted. “Then we can follow the moonlight to the answers.”
“Jake, you must listen to me very carefully. You’ve been drugged.”
He shook his head, as if trying to clear it. “I’m not drunk. I didn’t have even one martini.”
“Not drunk, drugged. Never mind. Follow me and stay very close.”
The drug had hypnotic properties and, heaven help her, she’d had enough experience with it to know that anyone under the influence was highly suggestible. The trick was to get inside the person’s delirium dream and try to shape the otherworldly reality of the visions.
“Can you see the moonlight highway now?” Jake asked.
“Yes,” she said. “It will take us someplace where we’ll both be safe. But we must hurry.”
“I’ll take you to the safe place, and then I’ll come back here and kill anyone who tries to hurt you.”
“We’ll talk about that plan later.”
“Sure,” Jake said.
She was familiar with the beach and the path that led down to it. During her time in Burning Cove she had walked most of the local beaches.
“The moonlight highway leads this way,” she said.
Jake concentrated for a beat and then became riveted by something only he could perceive.
“Oh, yeah,” he whispered. “It’s beautiful.”
“I’ve been here before,” she said. “When the tide is out like it is now, there are some caves above the waterline. We can hide in one of those if someone decides to look for us.”
Fortunately, Jake did not seem inclined to argue. He shook his head again, as if trying to clear it.
“Caves at the edge of midnight,” he said.
“What? Never mind.”
“I’m hallucinating, aren’t I?”
She was astonished that some part of his rational brain had managed to break through the delirium. But that was exactly how she had survived, she reminded herself. The trick was to cope with the real world and the hallucinations simultaneously. It took an enormous amount of willpower. The experience was disorienting. It was also exhausting. Ultimately the desperate attempt to steer a logical path through the strange inner cosmos of the Daydream-drugged mind led to a growing sense of panic that could easily slide into full-scale paranoia.
“Yes,” she said. “Just remember that nothing you see is real.”
“Except you.”
It was not a question.
“Except me,” she agreed. “Concentrate on sensations you can feel. Rely on your sense of touch because you won’t be able to trust your eyes.”
She switched on the flashlight. The descent to the beach wasn’t very steep, but it was a tricky maneuver at night because of the loose pebbles and rocks. When they reached the bottom, they would have to move carefully to avoid the tide pools.
Jake followed close behind her. Even in his delirium he had no trouble keeping his balance.
Adelaide heard the roar of a car engine in the distance just as she and Jake reached the rocky beach.
“The person who drugged you might be in that car,” she warned.
“There’s still time for me to kill him.”
“It might also be an innocent motorist who will stop to try to help. You don’t want to kill an innocent person, do you?”
“Nope. Just the bastard who wants to hurt you.”
“Right, so we will stay out of sight until whoever it is gives up and goes away.”
“You look like a fairy-tale princess,” Jake said matter-of-factly.
“It’s the shoes.”
“I like the shoes. They’re made of moonlight.”
“They’ll never be the same again after this little hike.” She aimed the flashlight toward the far end of the beach. “The caves are in that direction. Hurry. Whoever is driving that car might stop, and if he does, I’ll have to turn off this light.”
They wouldn’t be able to trust any stranger who stopped, she thought. She was still trying to come to grips with the fact that Conrad Massey was in Burning Cove. If he was there, maybe Gill was, too.