So much for the faint possibility that Massey really had come to make a deal.
Massey might have been drunk, but he wasn’t so far gone that he couldn’t see Jake briefly revealed in the headlights.
“Damn you, you’re not going to stand in my way,” he yelled.
He lunged forward, firing wildly. The thunder of the pistol shattered the unnatural stillness of the night. Again and again he pulled the trigger. Most of the shots went wild but Jake heard a couple plow into the wooden boathouse.
“Adelaide is mine,” Massey shrieked. “You stole her from me. Everything will be all right again if I get her back.”
“Who told you that, Massey?” Jake said.
“Gill explained everything. He needs her, too. It’s a matter of national security. Top secret. Very hush-hush. There’s a war coming. Gill says the government will need the drug. It will pay a fortune for a truth serum that works.”
Massey advanced another couple of paces and pulled the trigger again. Jake heard wood splinter in the dock.
“Gill already has the drug,” Jake said. “He can sell it to the government. He doesn’t need Adelaide.”
“The drug isn’t right yet. Gill needs to run some more experiments. Adelaide has to go back to Rushbrook. Don’t you understand? It’s a matter of national security.”
“If you want me to get out of the way,” Jake said, “you’ve got to answer a few more questions.”
“No more questions. You’re trying to trick me. You have to die.”
“That’s going to be a problem,” Jake said.
Massey responded by pulling the trigger again.
There was a faint but distinctive click. The gun was empty.
Massey screamed.
“No,” he shrieked. “Stay away from me. Stay back.”
He sounded like a man who was fighting a waking nightmare. Jake heard a car door open. There was another volley of gunshots. Someone had accompanied Massey to the pier.
Massey screamed again, this time in pain as well as fear. But he was still on his feet. He fled down the pier. When he went past the boathouse Jake was using for cover, he did not pause. He was a man fleeing demons.
He reached the end of the pier. Jake saw him silhouetted in the moonlight. He teetered for a moment at the edge, as if trying to stop himself from going over, but he had too much momentum.
Panic-stricken, he yelled one last time and then he was gone.
The screaming didn’t stop until he sank beneath the surface of the black waters of the cove.
Jake leaned around the edge of the boathouse again just in time to hear the door of the Ford slam. The vehicle made a tight turn and rocketed off into the night, heading back to the main road. It disappeared in the direction of Burning Cove.
There was a short silence before Luther emerged from the shadows of the shed. He slipped his gun into the holster he wore beneath his jacket.
“Well, that didn’t go according to plan,” he said.
Jake holstered his own gun and took his flashlight out of the pocket of his jacket. “I’m starting to think that the plan wasn’t a good one. I don’t suppose you got a look at the driver of the Ford?”
“Sorry, no. Too busy trying to dodge stray bullets. You’d be amazed how many people get killed by stray bullets.”
Jake switched on the flashlight. “It’s a damn shame we lost Massey. He could have answered at least a few questions.”
“Yeah, after he sobered up.”
“I don’t think he was drunk,” Jake said.
The screaming started again. Hysterical shrieks echoed up from the water below the pier.
Jake moved to the edge and aimed the flashlight beam downward. Luther came to stand beside him. Together they looked at Massey, who was clinging to one of the pier uprights. He stared up into the light, his eyes wide with terror. He screamed again.
“Demons,” he yelled. “Stay away from me.”
“He’s still alive,” Luther observed. “But I’m not sure he’s going to do us any good. Sounds like he’s lost his mind. He’s hallucinating.”
“Got a hunch someone slipped him a drug before putting a gun in his hand and pointing him at me.”
“A human weapon, huh?” Luther sounded intrigued. “It’s an interesting method for committing murder, but obviously a little unpredictable. One thing’s for sure. Massey will never make it to shore on his own.”
“I doubt that he was intended to survive tonight. I think the plan was for him to kill me and then make it appear that he took his own life by jumping into the cove. When things veered off course, the guy in the Ford tried to adjust the details of the scheme.”
“If we don’t get him out of the water, he’ll drown,” Luther observed.
“He won’t be any use to us dead.” Jake peeled off his jacket and unbuckled his shoulder holster. “It was my plan that went wrong. My job to clean up the mess. If he recovers from the delirium, we still might have a shot at getting some information out of him.”
“I’ll give you a hand.” Luther shed his coat and gun. “I’ve seen men panic like this when the firing starts. That kind of fear gives them an unnatural strength. Massey won’t even realize that we’re trying to save him. He’ll fight you.”
“I’d appreciate the help.” Jake picked up a coiled rope and a boat hook and started down the wooden steps. “This job just gets crazier and crazier.”
“Job?”
“Adelaide says I need to find a job. For now, this is it.”
“Sort of similar to your old line of work, isn’t it?”
“Sort of.”
“You were good at it, as I recall.”
“It got old,” Jake said. “Or maybe it was me who got old.”
“You and me both. Burning Cove is a good place to start something new.”
“Yeah, I’m getting that feeling.”
Chapter 44
“In the end I had to clip him one on the jaw just to get him out of the water,” Jake explained. “We got him tied up and the bleeding under control while he was groggy. But when he came to, he was in this weird state.”
Adelaide gripped the bars of the jail cell and studied Conrad. She and Raina had arrived a short time earlier, escorted by two of Luther’s security people. Jake and Luther were standing nearby. Detective Brandon and one of his police officers were also present. So was the doctor that Brandon had first summoned to examine Madam Zolanda’s body.
Dr. Skipton had managed to get Conrad’s shoulder bandaged while officers restrained the patient. He had offered to inject Conrad with a strong sedative to try to quell the hallucinations, but he had warned them that it might not work. He had no idea how the sedative would react with the unknown drug. That was when Jake had telephoned the Paradise Club, where Raina and Adelaide had been anxiously waiting.
Conrad was huddled in a corner of the cell now, whimpering. His wrists were secured with handcuffs. His shoes and belt had been removed. Detective Brandon had explained that it was for Conrad’s own good. Dr. Skipton had said that if they set Massey free, he might try to harm himself or anyone who got close.
At the moment he did not appear to be a threat, Adelaide thought. Conrad murmured softly and rocked back and forth. He seemed oblivious of his injured arm as well as what was going on around him.
“He’s trapped in a nightmare,” Adelaide said quietly. “He’s almost paralyzed with fear. He’s making himself as small as possible, trying to hide from things that only he can see.”
Raina watched Conrad with a grim expression. “It would serve him right if he gets permanently trapped in that other world.”
Adelaide tightened her grip on the jail bars. “I know what it feels like to be lost in a nightmare. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.”
“Unfortunately, you seem to have a number of enemies
,” Raina said.
“Hard to figure out which of them is number one,” Jake added.
“I’ve done all I can do for him,” Dr. Skipton said. He looked at Adelaide, who was standing next to him. “You’re sure you don’t want me to give him a sedative?”
She shook her head. “You’re right, there’s a good chance that it would make things worse. The drug he took is very unpredictable. A sedative might not be effective at all, or it might put him into a coma that could last for days. It might even kill him. There’s just no way to know.”
“If he goes into a coma or dies, we’ll never get any information out of him,” Jake said.
“I’ll try to get him to drink the antidote,” Adelaide said. She glanced at Brandon. “I brought the herbs with me but I’ll need hot water to make the tisane.”
“We’ve got a kettle in the lunchroom,” Brandon said. “I’ll be right back.”
He disappeared down the hall.
An officer appeared at the door. “Call for you, Dr. Skipton. It’s your wife. She says Mrs. Ortega has gone into labor.”
“Tell Betty I’m on my way,” Dr. Skipton said. He hoisted his black satchel and turned to leave. He paused to give Adelaide a stern look. “Promise me you won’t take any chances. There’s no telling what Massey might do in his current state. You heard what Mr. Pell and Mr. Truett said. He lashed out at them when they tried to save him. He might lash out at you, too.”
“I’ll be careful,” Adelaide said.
Jake looked at Skipton. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure Massey doesn’t get his hands on her.”
“I’ll be off, then,” Skipton said. “Good luck with that tisane, Miss Brockton. Do let me know if it works.”
“I will,” she said.
Detective Brandon returned with a steaming teakettle and an empty mug. “Will this do?”
“Yes,” Adelaide said.
She went to a nearby table, opened her handbag, and took out the small packet of herbs that she had brought with her. She emptied the packet into the mug and added the hot water.
“Now to see if I can convince him to drink the antidote,” she said. “I’m going to try to get into his nightmare.”
She carried the mug back to the cell and looked at Conrad through the bars.
“Conrad, can you hear me?” she said softly.
He flinched at the sound of his name but he did not respond. He did not make eye contact, either. He appeared transfixed by the shadows under the bunk.
“Where are you, Conrad?” she asked
He jerked again. “Hiding. I have to hide.”
“You don’t have to hide from me. I’m very naïve, remember? I trust you. Remember how easy it was to make me fall for you? I really believed you loved me.”
Adelaide heard Jake swear softly under his breath. She shot him a warning glance and mouthed the word quiet.
He subsided but his expression was grim.
In the corner of his small cell, Conrad was struggling to focus on something other than whatever he saw under the bunk.
“You tricked me,” he said at last.
“We were both tricked by Dr. Gill,” Adelaide said. “He lied to both of us, didn’t he?”
“Yes,” Conrad said eagerly. “Gill insisted that you had to go to Rushbrook. He said it was for your own good. He tricked both of us. That’s exactly what happened. The bastard tricked me.”
Conrad’s face contorted with sudden rage. The drug was an emotional roller coaster, Adelaide reminded herself.
“Did he tell you that you should pretend to love me?” she asked.
Conrad straightened to a sitting position. “I had to do it. You understand that, don’t you? I had to do it for the sake of my family. And for reasons of national security. I had a duty to make you fall in love with me.”
He was pleading now.
“Yes, I understand,” she said. “You did what you had to do to save the family business. You have a responsibility to the Massey name. I met your relative at the Rushbrook Sanitarium. She explained things to me.”
“You met crazy Aunt Eunice?”
“She was kind to me.”
“They had to have her committed when she was eighteen. She’s insane, you know. Family secret. Don’t tell anyone.”
“I won’t.”
“Can’t have any rumors about a streak of insanity in the bloodline, you see. That kind of thing can destroy a family.”
“Yes, your aunt explained that.”
Conrad nodded solemnly. “I did what I had to do when I let them take you to Rushbrook. Future generations of Masseys will be grateful to me for saving the family business. My grandfather would have been proud of me.”
“You’re just like him, aren’t you?”
“Yes.” Conrad nodded several times in an agitated way, as if trying frantically to convince himself. “Just like my grandfather. Not like my father. He was weak. But I’m not.”
Jake spoke quietly. “Ask him if he knows Paxton.”
Adelaide looked at Conrad. “Did Calvin Paxton trick you, too?”
Conrad scowled. “Who’s Paxton? I don’t know anyone named Paxton.”
“Why did you go to the Paradise Club the other night?” Adelaide said.
“Because I saw you shopping that afternoon,” Conrad said. “I talked to the saleswoman after you left. She said she had just sold you a gown that you planned to wear to the nightclub. I thought if I could find you at the club, I could talk to you. Make you understand that you had to go back to Rushbrook. But Truett never let you out of his sight.”
“You went into the gardens.”
“I saw you go out there with Truett. I followed you. But I couldn’t find you. I went back inside. I was going to ask you to dance when you came back into the club. You loved to dance with me, remember? But you and Truett left a short time later.”
“Did you put a drug in Mr. Truett’s glass that night?” Adelaide said.
“No.” Conrad sounded irritated, almost petulant. “I don’t have any drugs. Gill is the one with the drugs. Listen, you have to protect me, Adelaide. Truett wants to kill me. You have to stop him. I was only doing what I had to do for the sake of national security.”
“You’re safe behind these bars,” Adelaide said. “Mr. Truett won’t kill you.”
“Truett’s not the only one who wants to kill me.”
“Who else wants to kill you?” Adelaide asked.
“Gill. He said that everything would be all right again if we met Truett at the dock. He said Truett was a businessman. That we could do a deal with him. But when we got there, Gill gave me a gun. He said I had to kill Truett. He said it was the only way to get you back.”
“So it was Gill who drove you to the dock tonight and put the gun in your hand?” Adelaide asked.
“Yes. He said that after I killed Truett, everything would go back to the way it was.” Conrad broke off. He shivered violently. “But he lied. I remember now. I was supposed to put the gun to my own head after I killed Truett. Gill lied to me.”
“Everything will be fine once you have some tea,” Adelaide said.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” she said. She handed the mug through the bars. “Here you are. You’ll feel much better after you drink this.”
Conrad hesitated and then lurched awkwardly to his feet. He crossed the cell and took the mug from her fingers. He drank some of the tea and then looked at her with frantic eyes.
“You understand, don’t you?” he said. “I didn’t want to put you in that place but I had no choice. I had to save the family business.”
She did not answer. She waited in silence until he had finished the tea.
“Give me the mug, Conrad,” she said.
He handed it back to her. “You understand, don’t you?”
“No,” she said. “I don’t understand. I might have understood if you had done what you did to me in order to save the life of someone you love. But to save a company and your family name? No. I don’t understand that at all.”
He looked stunned. “You said you understood.”
“I lied.”
“You can’t lie to me,” Conrad raged. He seized the bars in his cuffed hands and shook them with a drug-enhanced strength. “You’re too naïve, too trusting, too dumb to lie.”
Adelaide sensed Jake moving. In the blink of an eye he was at the cell door, key in hand.
She grabbed his arm.
“No,” she said. “Please.”
Jake glanced down at her fingers on his arm and then raised his burning eyes to look at her.
“Don’t you see?” she said quietly. “He’s like a maddened bull right now. Let the tisane take care of the situation. When it wears off, he’ll be facing bankruptcy and charges of fraud and kidnapping and who knows what else. He’ll be ruined. That’s all the revenge I need.”
The brew was working quickly. Conrad gripped the bars and stared at her. He made a visible attempt to focus his eyes.
“You lied to me,” he mumbled. “You said it was tea but it was poison.”
He released the bars, stumbled to the bunk, and collapsed on the thin mattress.
Adelaide became aware of the acute silence around her. She turned, walked across the room, and set the empty mug on the counter.
“I gave him a very heavy dose,” she said, keeping her voice expressionless. “He’ll probably sleep for a few hours.”
She stared at the wall in front of her and wondered why she felt numb.
Jake came to stand beside her. He turned her gently in his arms.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“I almost let you go into that cell,” she whispered. “But you might have killed him. I couldn’t allow you to do that. Not for me.”
“There’s no one I would rather kill for than you.” Cold steel underlined the words.
She managed a teary smile. “Thank you but it’s not necessary. I’m not alone now. I don’t have to hide any longer. I’ve got friends here in Burning Cove.”