“It’s the truth,” Conrad said. But he took a step back, putting a little more distance between them. “Surely you remember our wedding in Reno. You were so happy. I gave you a gold wedding band. You were wearing it when you went into the sanitarium.”
“I know a private investigator who can discover the truth. If it turns out that you actually managed to bribe some Reno judge to marry us while I was under the influence of the drug, I’ll go back to Reno to file for divorce. Oh, wait, I can get the marriage annulled on the grounds that it was never consummated.”
“There was a wedding,” Conrad insisted. “That gold ring is proof.”
There was a slight movement in the kitchen doorway. Adelaide turned her head and saw Jake. He was not looking at her. Instead he watched Conrad with ice-cold eyes.
“If Adelaide ends up on the train to Reno, she won’t be alone,” he said. “I’ll be with her to make sure she gets there safely. The judges in Nevada don’t ask a lot of questions. She’ll get her divorce—assuming she actually needs one, which I doubt. I can personally testify to the fact that your marriage, if it ever took place, was never consummated.”
Conrad’s face reddened with fury. “You must be Jake Truett. I’ve heard all about you. You took advantage of my poor wife’s delusional condition to seduce her. You’re after her inheritance. Admit it.”
Jake fixed Conrad with an intense curiosity that Adelaide decided could only be described as predatory. It was the expression of a wolf that was about to go for the throat.
“Is that right?” he asked very softly. “Who told you that?”
Conrad took another step back. “Dr. Gill, the head of the Rushbrook Sanitarium, phoned to tell me that Adelaide had been located here in Burning Cove. He warned me that there were rumors that a businessman from L.A. was trying to seduce her. You obviously figured out who she is. You know she inherited a fortune.”
“Dr. Gill told you that, did he?” Jake said. “And just how did Gill discover that Adelaide was here in town?”
“How the hell should I know?” Conrad shot back.
Adelaide did not wait for Jake to respond. “Speaking of my inheritance, Conrad, I’ll be hiring a lawyer soon. He’ll explain things to the bankers who are handling my money. They will probably prosecute you for fraud and embezzlement.”
Conrad was seething now. “Don’t you understand? Truett is the one who is trying to con you. He wants to marry you for your money.”
“Who said anything about marriage?” Adelaide shot back. “I have every intention of controlling my own money and my own future. Now go away and leave me alone.”
Florence gave Conrad a steely smile. “You’ve got to the count of ten before I call the cops and have you locked up for trespassing. One . . . two . . .”
Adelaide gestured toward the door with the knife. “Get out of here.”
Jake folded his arms and lounged against the doorjamb. “You heard the ladies.”
Conrad looked as if he wanted to commit murder but he did not say another word. He swung around and stalked back across the tearoom and outside onto the sidewalk. He slammed the door so hard the glass rattled.
An eerie silence descended on Refresh. No one moved for a few beats. And then Adelaide realized that she suddenly felt very light—excited and thrilled.
“Thank you,” she said softly. She did not take her eyes off the front door. “Thank you both.”
“You don’t have to worry about the likes of him,” Florence said. “You’ve got friends here in Burning Cove.”
“For the past two months I’ve been terrified that Conrad would find a way to make me vanish again, just as he did the first time,” Adelaide said.
“That trick may have worked in San Francisco,” Jake said. “But this is Burning Cove. The rules are different here.”
Florence peered at Adelaide. “Did that man really have you committed to an asylum so that he could get his hands on your inheritance?”
“Yes,” Adelaide said.
Florence shuddered. “It’s like something right out of the movies. Thank goodness you escaped.”
Adelaide gave her a shaky smile. “You mean, thank heavens I’ve got friends like you.”
Jake looked thoughtful. “That brings up a question I’ve been meaning to ask you. You do have friends here in Burning Cove. You must have had friends in San Francisco, too.”
“I did,” Adelaide said. “Most of them were my colleagues at the botanical library.”
“Why didn’t they ask questions when you suddenly vanished?” Jake said.
“I wondered the same thing,” Adelaide said. “A few weeks ago I finally worked up my nerve to place an anonymous phone call to the library. I asked for Adelaide Blake. I was told that she had moved back east to live with relatives.”
“Huh,” Jake said.
Adelaide looked at him. “What?”
“I’m wondering exactly when Gill located you.”
“I can tell you one thing for sure,” Adelaide said. “You can’t believe anything Conrad Massey says.”
Chapter 41
Conrad lit another cigarette and contemplated the martini on the table in front of him. The glass did not look clean.
It was Gill who had insisted that they meet at the Carousel. It was a dark, grimy, smoke-filled dive. He figured it had probably been a speakeasy during Prohibition. Not his kind of place, he thought. He would have much preferred the swanky bar at the Burning Cove Hotel or the Paradise Club. But Gill wanted to stay out of sight.
It was early evening. The Carousel was still empty except for the handful of customers hunkered down on the bar stools. The bored cocktail waitress was making idle conversation with the bartender.
A shadow fell across the table. Conrad looked up.
“I take it your plan did not go well,” Gill said. He lowered himself into the booth on the opposite side of the table. “I warned you that it wouldn’t be so easy this time. She’s on guard now and Truett is keeping an eye on her.”
“He wants to control her inheritance.”
“Certainly. His motive is the same as your own. The problem is that possession is nine-tenths of the law and, for the moment, at any rate, he’s got possession of her.”
“All I need is ten minutes alone with Adelaide,” Conrad said. “Just long enough to slip the drug into her drink. Ten lousy minutes. Once she’s under the influence, I can make her trust me, at least long enough to get her back to Rushbrook.”
“That’s certainly where she belongs. She is a very fragile patient. She never recovered from the shock of her parents’ deaths.”
“You told me back at the start that she was unstable. She needs help.”
Somehow that had made the scheme seem almost all right, he thought. Gill had succeeded in making him believe that he would be doing Adelaide a favor by marrying her and then sending her to Rushbrook for treatment.
When he realized that she was going to refuse his offer of marriage, he had panicked. The plan had been to slip just enough Daydream into her champagne to make her highly suggestible. Gill had assured him that the stuff had strong hypnotic properties and that once she was under its influence he could convince her to marry him.
But everything had gone wrong. In hindsight he wondered whether Gill had deliberately miscalculated the dose or if the drug was inherently unpredictable. Maybe a little of both. Whatever the case, after drinking the drugged champagne, Adelaide had plunged into a delirium. Gill and Ormsby had taken charge of her that night.
“As her doctor, I can tell you that she’s liable to suffer another nervous breakdown at any moment,” Gill said. “But I doubt very much that you’re going to get another shot at trying to convince her you are passionately in love with her. Truett would be a fool to let her out of his sight now that he knows you’re in the picture. Adelaide is worth a lot of money.”
“I know.” Conrad snorted in disgust. “Truett doesn’t need her inheritance. I’m the one facing bankruptcy.”
“I understand,” Gill said. He lowered his voice. “There may be another way to rescue poor Adelaide from Truett’s clutches and return her to the sanitarium where she belongs.”
One last chance to save Massey Shipping, Conrad thought. He downed the last of his martini and lowered the glass.
“I’m listening,” he said. “How do we get Adelaide back to Rushbrook?”
Chapter 42