Page 49 of The Other Lady Vanishes

“Not a lot,” Raina said. “Not yet. But I’ve been doing some thinking and there are a couple of things that bother me. The first is that Thelma Leggett was not a big or muscular woman. She was, in fact, shorter and more slightly built than her boss. So how did she manage to overcome Zolanda and push her off the roof? For that matter, how did she manage to convince Zolanda to go up to the roof in the first place?”

Adelaide lowered her coffee cup. “You don’t believe that Thelma Leggett murdered Zolanda, do you?”

“Anything is possible and we still don’t have many facts, but, no; themore I consider the question, the more I’m inclined to think that Leggett wasn’t the one who pushed Zolanda off that roof—assuming she was pushed. Jake Truett seems convinced that Zolanda was in the blackmail business. If that’s true, it leaves us with a lot of suspects.”

“That’s what Jake says.”

“I am not convinced that Thelma Leggett murdered Zolanda but I agree with Truett—we need to find her. She’s the only one who can shed some light on the death of her boss. I’ve done some research. Leggett and Zolanda both lived in L.A. but Leggett wouldn’t dare go home. It’s the first place the police would have looked.”

“Then she’s on the road? Maybe holed up in an auto court someplace?”

“Maybe, but there may be a more likely possibility. My contact in L.A. says he talked to one of Leggett’s neighbors who told him that a few years ago Leggett’s mother died and left her some property on the coast. The neighbor said there was a cabin on the property. I’m trying to find out where it’s located.”

“Do you think that Thelma might be hiding out there?”

“It’s possible. When I worked as a secretary for a legal firm, I was frequently asked to locate individuals. In my experience, when people run, they tend to head for a place that feels familiar, a place that feels safe.”

Adelaide tightened her grip on the coffee cup. That was exactly what she had done, she thought. She had run to Burning Cove because it felt somewhat familiar, somewhat safe. When she was a little girl, her parents had taken her there every summer for a vacation. Her father and mother had often talked about retiring in Burning Cove.

Her mouth went dry. In retrospect, taking refuge in the seaside town might have been a huge mistake. If the people who were looking for her had used the same logic that Raina was using, they might have already found her. It would certainly explain why someone had spent a night lurking in the fog, watching her house.

“Adelaide?” Raina leaned forward a little. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

Adelaide forced herself to focus. “I was just thinking about what you said. You’ll let us know right away if you track down the location of the property that Thelma Leggett inherited, won’t you?”

“Of course. Meanwhile, do me a favor.”

“What’s that?”

“I know why you and Jake Truett are going to the Paradise Club tonight, but try to have a good time, anyway.”

Adelaide managed a shaky smile. “I’ll do my best.”

They finished their coffee and walked back to Raina’s convertible. They stored the shopping bags in the trunk, and Raina got behind the wheel.

Adelaide opened the passenger side door. She was about to make a comment on the very fine weather, when she felt a ghostly shiver of awareness on the back of her neck.

She paused and glanced back over her shoulder. The shopping plaza was still busy, still filled with shoppers and people enjoying the pleasures of the sidewalk cafés. But at the very edge of her vision she glimpsed a man in a fashionable dark blue linen jacket and tan trousers. She could not see his face because he was in the process of turning away from her. In addition, he was wearing a straw hat angled so that it concealed his profile.

She got only the briefest of glimpses before he disappeared around a corner, but that was enough to ice her blood.

She slipped into the passenger seat of the car and closed the door very firmly. She had not been hallucinating. The man in the blue linen jacket had carried himself and moved in exactly the same way that Conrad Massey did.

Chapter 26

“You’re sure the psychic didn’t jump,” Luther asked.

“I’m sure,” Jake said.

He selected his putter and positioned himself in front of the golf ball. He took a moment to absorb the feel of the green.

The great thing about a golf course was that two men could have a private conversation without worrying about being overheard. He and Luther were alone on the green. The caddies waited a respectful distance away.

It was an ideal day for a game of golf. The weather was perfect, sunny and warm, and the elegantly manicured course was in prime condition. The fairways were lush, the greens were smooth and fast and mostly true, but this one had an almost imperceptible slope to the right. His ball had landed a yard away from the hole.

He lined up the putt, compensating for the small slope and the fast green, and ushered the ball into the hole with a gentle tap. He straightened and saw Luther watching him with an amused expression.

“How the hell do you do that?” Luther said.

---