“You didn’t know that Paxton planned to kidnap me or kill me that same night?”
“No,” Vera said. “Not until the next day. Up to that point I had been obsessed with my revenge. It was all I could think about. But the day after Zolanda went off that roof, I overheard some of Paxton’s phone call to Gill. That was when I realized exactly who you were. By then it was obvious that Jake Truett was more than he seemed—he was friends with Luther Pell, after all. It was also clear that Truett was going to keep a close eye on you. I hoped he could keep you safe.”
“You knew there had to be some reason why a man like Jake Truett would take a personal interest in a tearoom waitress.”
Vera smiled a cool smile. “Truett is not the only one with hidden depths. You are a very brave, very resourceful woman, Adelaide. You have no idea how much I admire you for pulling off that escape from Rushbrook. I understand why Mr. Truett is so interested in you.”
“If you admire me so much, why are you holding that gun on me?”
“Because I am well aware that you have no reason to trust me or help me. Where is my patient file?”
“It’s there on the table.”
Vera did not lower the gun, but she moved to the table and used her free hand to riffle through the contents of the file. She froze when she saw the photos.
“Those bastards,” she whispered.
“Don’t worry, the negatives are there as well,” Adelaide said. “Gill and Paxton raped you while you were on the drug.”
“Night after night. Back at the start they considered the photos trophies. They were having sex with a famous star. But they also realized they could use the pictures as blackmail to control me.” Vera looked up from the file. “Did Gill and Paxton rape you, too?”
“No.”
“I wonder why not.”
“I realized right away that I dared not sleep at night,” Adelaide said. “I wasn’t afraid of Gill and Paxton. They didn’t have any interest in me, not in that way, probably because I wasn’t a star and, therefore, not a potential blackmail target. But I was terrified of the night orderlies so I stayed awake while they were on duty. Every time they came near my door I pretended to hallucinate wildly. To be honest, it wasn’t always an act. The drug did cause me to hallucinate. The orderlies thought I was insane. I think they were afraid of me. Maybe Gill and Paxton were, as well. After all, they had no way of knowing exactly how the drug was affecting me.”
“I’m glad you were spared that much, at least,” Vera said. “Unfortunately, the drug left me in a sort of waking dream at night. I knew what was going on but I could not react.”
“But in the end you were the one manipulating Paxton and you used him to get your revenge on the others,” Adelaide said. “How did you get control of him?”
“Gill and Paxton took turns with me at first. They were thrilled to know that they were getting away with raping the most beautiful woman in Hollywood—and that the next morning she never seemed to remember that they had abused her. She thought she was hallucinating.”
“But you did remember.”
“Oh, yes,” Vera said softly. “I remembered everything.”
“How did you get released?”
Vera shrugged. “Paxton became obsessed with me. He also saw me as great advertising for his awful diet drink. That gave me all the power I needed to manipulate him. I pretended that I was equally obsessed with him. He wanted to believe that he had seduced the most beautiful woman in Hollywood. In any event, they had to let me go eventually. I was a famous movie star. I couldn’t just vanish. If I did, I wouldn’t have any value as a blackmail target.”
“How did Zolanda get your file and those pictures?”
“I asked Zolanda that after she laughed about her plans to blackmail me. She said it had been very easy. She contacted one of the orderlies who worked on ward five and offered him a thousand dollars for the file. He told her that Gill also had some pictures in his safe that might interest her. She said she would pay him another thousand for those as long as he got the negatives, too. I understand he took the money and quit his job.”
“Jake and I found Zolanda’s stash of blackmail material in the trunk of Paxton’s car. We are going to burn everything that is in that hatbox.”
Vera glanced at the hatbox. “Do you know, I actually believe you.”
“Well, that’s the plan—assuming you don’t kill me first. But you aren’t going to do that, are you? There’s no need to take the risk of getting arrested for murder. After all, at this point there is nothing to connect you to Zolanda’s death or the drug ring operating out of Rushbrook.”
The gun in Vera’s hand wavered a little. After a few seconds she lowered it.
“No, I’m not going to kill you,” she said. “I just wanted to find that damned file.”
“And now you’ve got it. What will you do with it?”
“Burn it, as you suggested. And then I’m going to disappear.”
“Why? You’re a famous movie star. You’ve got a brilliant future ahead of you in Hollywood.”
“Don’t you understand?” Vera said. “It was Hollywood that nearly destroyed me. Hollywood is the reason I ended up at the Rushbrook Sanitarium. I just want to be free. The only way to do that is to vanish.”
“If you succeed, you’ll become a legend. People will never stop looking for you. You’ll spend your life hiding from the press.”
Vera smiled at that. “You don’t know Hollywood as well as I do. I’ll give the press one last good story, a suitably dramatic ending for a sadly troubled movie star. In a few months the gossip magazines will declare another actress to be the most beautiful woman in Hollywood. Within a year no one will remember my name.”
“How will you survive financially?”
“I’ve been planning this for the past few months,” Vera said. “I’ve made three very successful films. I didn’t get paid much for the first two, but I got better terms on the last one, Lady in the Shadows, so I wouldn’t have starved in any event. But I’ll let you in on a small secret—Paxton kept a fortune in cash in a safe in L.A. He didn’t entirely trust the banks. I found the combination weeks ago when I searched his study. I cleaned out the safe before we left for Burning Cove because I knew I would be disappearing after my plans were complete here.”
“Will you stay in California?”
“No. I’m going to move to Seattle. Who would think to look for a faded movie star there?”
“If you ever do decide to return to Burning Cove, will you promise to come and see me?”
Vera’s eyes widened. “You’re joking. You really want to see me again? After all the trouble I’ve caused you?”
Adelaide held out her hand. “You’re the only other person on the face of the earth who really understands what I went through at the Rushbrook Sanitarium.”
Vera hesitated and then, cautiously, she put the gun on the table and held out her own hand. Tears glittered in her eyes.
“You’re the only person who understands what I went through at that damned asylum,” she said in a choked voice. “I suppose that is a bond of sorts, isn’t it?”
Adelaide grasped Vera’s hand and squeezed gently. Vera returned the silent gesture. They let their hands fall to their sides.
“Tea?” Adelaide asked. “A cup of Tranquility before you leave to find your new life?”
“I’d like that,” Vera said. “I’d like that very much. It has been a long time since I’ve had tea with a friend.”
* * *
? ? ?
Jake came through the doorway, a gun in his hand, just as Adelaide was pouring a cup of Tranquility for Vera. He stopped and looked at both women.
“What the hell?” he asked.
Vera ignored the gun in his hand. She smiled her enigmatic smile. “Hello, Mr. Truett.”
“We were just having tea,” Adelaide said. “Would you care for some? I’ve got your favorite green.”
Jake glanced at her. “I tried to call you. Your phone was out of order. I was . . . concerned.”