Page 115 of The Other Lady Vanishes

She had the impression that he was about to put a hand on her shoulder, perhaps turn her around to face him. They were standing very close together. Anticipation made her a little light-headed. Luther Pell was a dangerous man but he had the hands of an artist.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Stop worrying,” he continued. “I won’t fire Romeo and Juliet. And, yes, I’ll pay for the surgery.”

She turned around and smiled. “I thought you would say that once you were familiar with the nuances of the case.”

“You know, until now, I never realized that I was a man who appreciated nuances,” Luther said.

“How odd.” Raina could not stop smiling. “I knew from the moment I met you that you were exactly the kind of man who appreciated nuances.”

Chapter 51

That afternoon Adelaide sat with Raina in the offices of Kirk Investigations. They were drinking coffee that Raina had made. Jake and Luther were meeting with Detective Brandon to give him the carefully packaged news that Paxton, Gill, Zolanda, and Thelma Leggett had been dealing drugs and that it looked like Leggett had murdered her boss. Paxton had decided to get rid of the other members of the gang and had pursued Jake and Adelaide to Rushbrook hoping to stop them from collecting evidence.

The hatbox full of celebrity secrets was presently concealed in the trunk of Adelaide’s car. Neither she nor Jake had wanted to risk leaving the box unattended at the cottage, and they had decided that no one else needed to know about the contents. Hiding a large container of blackmail materials had proven to be somewhat awkward, however. The trunk of her car seemed as safe a place as anywhere else. The plan was to burn the contents of the hatbox and her patient file that evening.

“I still can’t understand why Madam Zolanda predicted a death atthe end of an otherwise routine psychic act,” Adelaide said. “She had no history of adding such a dramatic touch to her show.”

Raina set her teacup down with a thoughtful air. “I realize I’m supposed to be the cynical private eye here, but what if Madam Zolanda really was psychic?”

Adelaide almost laughed. “Are you serious? Do you mean to tell me that you actually believe that she really did have some paranormal power?”

“No, but the only other viable explanation is that the prediction was somehow supposed to tie in with your disappearance or murder.”

“That’s what Jake says but I’m not sure I buy that explanation. Why would Zolanda risk calling attention to herself in that way? Yes, it would have been good publicity for her but she had to know that the police would immediately suspect her. And if that was her plan, why didn’t she at least set up a solid alibi for herself for the hours following the end of her performance? As far as we know, she was home alone.”

“Except that it looks like she had a visitor who murdered her. You said Paxton denied killing Zolanda, so obviously it must have been Leggett who did it. After all, she’s the one who ended up with the stash of blackmail secrets.”

“Paxton was convinced Leggett murdered Zolanda. That makes sense but it still leaves me with my question—what did Zolanda think she was doing when she gave that final prediction?”

“I have no idea. Let me know if you come up with any good theories.” Raina put down her cup and opened a desk drawer to take out a notebook. “Meanwhile, I’m going to start work on my new case.”

“You said you solved Luther Pell’s missing liquor problem.”

“I did.” Raina looked pleased. “There wasn’t much to it, really. But it turns out that handling Luther’s case made for some excellent word-of-mouth advertising. I got a call from Mr. O’Conner. He’s the head of security at the Burning Cove Hotel. He asked me to make some inquiries into the background of someone the hotel is considering for employment.”

Adelaide smiled. “You did it, Raina. You got your investigation business up and running. Congratulations.”

“What about you? Now that you’ve got access to your inheritance, surely you’re going to stop working at the tearoom.”

“I dropped in at the tearoom before I came here to see you. I wanted to let Florence know that I was back in town and that all was well. I told her I could work for her as long as she needed me and that I would continue to blend teas for people.”

Raina’s eyes widened. “What will you do when you’re not blending teas and tisanes?”

“I plan to establish a private library of herbals and other books on the medicinal uses of plants. It will be open to scholars and researchers.”

“Sounds like you’ve got a lot of new dreams,” Raina said. “What about Jake?”

“As it happens, he does have a job.”

Raina laughed. “Yes, I know, Luther told me that he writes those Cooper Boone spy novels. What I meant was, will he be staying here in Burning Cove?”

A sense of happiness sparkled through Adelaide. “Yes. He plans to stay in Burning Cove.”

“With you?” Raina asked.

“With me.”

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