Page 100 of The Other Lady Vanishes

Jake put down his coffee mug and got to his feet. “We need more answers and there’s only one place left to look for them.”

“Where?” Adelaide asked.

“Back where it all started, the Rushbrook Sanitarium.” He glanced at the wall clock. “If I leave now, I can be in Rushbrook by dawn. Luther, look after Adelaide until you hear from me, all right?”

“Of course,” Luther said. “She can stay in a guest room at my place. There’s plenty of security around the Paradise.”

“No,” Adelaide said. She got to her feet and looked at Jake. “I’m coming with you.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Jake said.

“You’ll need me. You don’t know your way around Rushbrook. I know every inch of it. I know where the keys are kept. I also know some of the patients and the staff. You’ll be able to search the place much more efficiently if I’m with you.”

“She’s right,” Raina said.

Luther nodded. “I agree with Raina. It would be helpful to have someone with you who knows her way around the sanitarium. Raina and I can keep an eye on Paxton while you’re gone.”

Jake hesitated and then surrendered to the logic.

“All right,” he said.

“You’ll need a good, fast, reliable car,” Luther said to Jake. “Iwouldn’t trust that secondhand Oldsmobile you picked up when you tracked down Thelma Leggett. Adelaide’s Ford isn’t in great shape, either. You can take my car.”

“Thanks,” Jake said.

Adelaide headed for the stairs. “I’ll get my gun.”

Jake groaned. “I was afraid you were going to say that.”

Chapter 47

The Rushbrook Sanitarium loomed in the dawn fog, a monstrous gargoyle frozen in stone. Adelaide had spent the past three hours trying to fortify her nerves, but when she saw the asylum, she knew that nothing could have prepared her for the cold shock. The Duchess’s words rang in her ears.You should not return to this place. You don’t belonghere.

Jake brought the car to a halt near the front gate and shut down the engine. He sat quietly for a moment, his hands resting on the steering wheel, and contemplated the sanitarium.

“Looks like a movie set for a horror film,” he said.

“According to the Duchess, the house has a very odd history,” Adelaide said, trying to distract herself with facts. “It was built by a man who made a fortune in oil. He set out to construct a Gothic castle that he thought would please his East Coast bride. The story is that when she saw it for the first time on her honeymoon, she was horrified. She announced that she would never live in such an ugly place. There was a quarrel. The husband went mad and pushed his bride out one of the tower room windows. She was killed, of course.”

“Just like Ormsby,” Jake said.

Adelaide looked at him. “Yes, just like Ormsby.”

“I can see someone inside the guardhouse at the front gate.”

“That will be Oscar,” Adelaide said. “He works the night shift. The day man, Pete, won’t arrive until seven.”

“Not a lot of security for a secret drug manufacturing facility.”

“I don’t think there was much need for security, at least not until recently. Most people aren’t even aware that Rushbrook exists. There are two orderlies on every floor and they are all hired for their muscle. But I’m quite sure they aren’t involved in the drug ring.”

“What makes you so certain?”

“For the simple reason that none of them is getting rich,” Adelaide said. “They grumble constantly about the low pay. The only real security is on ward five, where the most insane patients are housed. That ward is locked twenty-four hours a day. The entrance to the tower room lab is on that floor.”

“You said you know where the keys are kept.”

“Yes. They are in Gill’s office on the second floor.”

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