Page 122 of The Other Lady Vanishes

The gun in Vera’s hand wavered a little. After a few seconds she lowered it.

“No, I’m not going to kill you,” she said. “I just wanted to find that damned file.”

“And now you’ve got it. What will you do with it?”

“Burn it, as you suggested. And then I’m going to disappear.”

“Why? You’re a famous movie star. You’ve got a brilliant future ahead of you in Hollywood.”

“Don’t you understand?” Vera said. “It was Hollywood that nearly destroyed me. Hollywood is the reason I ended up at the Rushbrook Sanitarium. I just want to be free. The only way to do that is to vanish.”

“If you succeed, you’ll become a legend. People will never stop looking for you. You’ll spend your life hiding from the press.”

Vera smiled at that. “You don’t know Hollywood as well as I do. I’ll give the press one last good story, a suitably dramatic ending for a sadly troubled movie star. In a few months the gossip magazines will declare another actress to be the most beautiful woman in Hollywood. Within a year no one will remember my name.”

“How will you survive financially?”

“I’ve been planning this for the past few months,” Vera said. “I’ve made three very successful films. I didn’t get paid much for the first two, but I got better terms on the last one,Lady in the Shadows, so I wouldn’t have starved in any event. But I’ll let you in on a small secret—Paxton kept a fortune in cash in a safe in L.A. He didn’t entirely trust the banks. I found the combination weeks ago when I searched his study. I cleaned out the safe before we left for Burning Cove because I knew I would be disappearing after my plans were complete here.”

“Will you stay in California?”

“No. I’m going to move to Seattle. Who would think to look for a faded movie star there?”

“If you ever do decide to return to Burning Cove, will you promise to come and see me?”

Vera’s eyes widened. “You’re joking. You really want to see me again? After all the trouble I’ve caused you?”

Adelaide held out her hand. “You’re the only other person on the face of the earth who really understands what I went through at the Rushbrook Sanitarium.”

Vera hesitated and then, cautiously, she put the gun on the table and held out her own hand. Tears glittered in her eyes.

“You’re the only person who understands what I went through at that damned asylum,” she said in a choked voice. “I suppose that is a bond of sorts, isn’t it?”

Adelaide grasped Vera’s hand and squeezed gently. Vera returned the silent gesture. They let their hands fall to their sides.

“Tea?” Adelaide asked. “A cup of Tranquility before you leave to find your new life?”

“I’d like that,” Vera said. “I’d like that very much. It has been a long time since I’ve had tea with a friend.”

• • •

Jake came through the doorway, a gun in his hand, just as Adelaide was pouring a cup of Tranquility for Vera. He stopped and looked at both women.

“What the hell?” he asked.

Vera ignored the gun in his hand. She smiled her enigmatic smile. “Hello, Mr. Truett.”

“We were just having tea,” Adelaide said. “Would you care for some? I’ve got your favorite green.”

Jake glanced at her. “I tried to call you. Your phone was out of order. I was... concerned.”

“No need to be,” Adelaide said. “Sit down. Why did you try to call?”

Jake did not take his attention off Vera. “Luther told me that the reason he found out that Paxton had stolen a car and slipped out of town was because someone on his staff received a mysterious phone call from a woman. When Luther got the message, he immediately phoned the Rushbrook police. Can I assume it was you who made that call, Miss Westlake?”

“Yes,” Vera said. “I owe you a debt of gratitude, by the way. I am very glad that Calvin Paxton is dead.”

“It was an accident,” Jake said without expression.