Page 106 of The Other Lady Vanishes

“The perfume bottles that I saw on this desk that night,” Adelaide said. “The killer took them. They were full of Daydream, not the usual drug.”

“That’s how Paxton came by the Daydream he’s been using in Burning Cove.” Jake did not look up from the appointment book. “Damn,” he said very softly. “It’s all here, Adelaide. Names, dates, all the details of the drug operation they were running out of this place. This is everything we need to tie Paxton to the ring.”

The howls and moans on the floor below escalated sharply. The eerie, mournful chorus reverberated up the stone staircase. Adelaide shivered.

“The patients are becoming more agitated,” she said.

She knew the dreadful cries would only get worse before the orderlies managed to calm the wretches in the cell-like rooms.

Jake closed the appointment book with an air of grim triumph. “Ormsby’s note says that Paxton ordered the dozen vials of Daydream. It’s all clear now. I’ve been trying to figure out the link between Rushbrook and Madam Zolanda and Thelma Leggett. I couldn’t understand how they came to know each other. Gill worked here at the asylum. Zolanda lived in Hollywood. It’s not as if they would have moved in the same worlds. Paxton is the connection.”

“That makes sense,” Adelaide said. “He’s a Hollywood doctor. He would have known about Zolanda’s psychic business. I wonder how Paxton and Gill met.”

Paxton spoke from the top of the laboratory staircase.

“I’ll be happy to answer that question,” he said. “Gill and I met in medical school.”

Startled, Adelaide swung around. Paxton took a few steps into the laboratory. He had a gun in his hand. It was aimed at her but he spoke to Jake.

“The orderlies told me that you were armed,” he said. “Put the gun on the floor. One false move and I’ll shoot Adelaide.”

Chapter 48

“Take it easy,” Jake said. “My gun is in a shoulder holster. I’ll have to reach inside my coat.”

“Get it,” Paxton said. “Slowly. Put it down on the floor. One false move, Miss Blake dies first.”

Jake took out his gun and crouched to set it on the floor. Adelaide caught a flash of lapis blue in his hand. She realized he had palmed his fountain pen when he reached for the pistol.

Paxton looked at Adelaide. “Kick it over here, out of Truett’s reach.”

She used the toe of her shoe to nudge the gun out of the office doorway. Her handbag containing her pistol was sitting on the edge of the desk. The weapon might as well have been a thousand miles away.

“Good girl,” Paxton said approvingly. “Now, both of you, come out of the office where I can get a clear shot if I need one.”

“Do as he says,” Jake said quietly. He did not take his eyes off Paxton.

Adelaide moved first. Jake followed. Together they faced Paxton.

“You’re the reason the patients suddenly got so agitated a few minutes ago,” Adelaide said. “They recognize you. They know you’re a murderer, don’t they? You were the man in the surgical mask who frightened Ormsby so badly he jumped out the window.”

“I spiked Ormsby’s coffee with some of the drug,” Paxton said. “When he started hallucinating, I followed him up here, lit a Bunsen burner, and aimed it in his direction. His mind did the rest.”

“You killed all of them,” Jake said. “Ormsby, Madam Zolanda, Thelma Leggett, and, last night, Gill.”

“I can take credit for all of them except Zolanda,” Paxton said. “Leggett is obviously responsible for that. She evidently was tired of playing second fiddle to the psychic to the stars.”

“You tried to murder us, too,” Jake said. “Where did you get the expertise with dynamite?”

Paxton gave him a thin, icy smile. “Don’t you know? I’m a hero of the Great War. Dynamite was everywhere on the battlefields.”

“You murdered all those people because you wanted to control Daydream,” Adelaide said. “But how will you produce it without Ormsby and a lab?”

“In my own lab, of course. The drug is still in the experimental stage, but I’m sure I can perfect it. I’ll use transients and vagrants for my test subjects this time—people no one will miss.”

“You’re a fool,” Jake said. “And you’re too late.”

“What are you talking about?” Paxton demanded.