Page 74 of The Other Lady Vanishes

“Just some farmer trying to get home before the conditions get worse,” he said.

The wait for the long-distance operator to establish the connection seemed an eternity but Adelaide knew that it was probably no more than a minute and a half or two minutes. Finally the phone rang on the other end of the line. Once. Twice. Three times. At last someone picked up.

“Douglass 4981.”

The voice on the other end was that of a middle-aged woman. The housekeeper, Adelaide thought.

“Long-distance calling for Mr. Massey,” the operator said.

“Mr. Massey isn’t home,” the housekeeper said. “He’s away on business. May I take a message?”

“Yes, I’ll leave a message,” Adelaide said quickly.

“Go ahead,” the operator said.

“It’s very important that I get in touch with Mr. Massey,” Adelaide said to the housekeeper. “Would you please tell me where he is?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know,” the housekeeper said. “He got a long-distance phone call from a woman the day before yesterday. He had me pack his suitcase and then he left. He said something about a business emergency. If you’ll give me your name—”

“No, that won’t be necessary,” Adelaide said. “I’ve decided not to leave a message.”

She hung up quickly.

“I take it you were right?” Jake said. “The number belongs to Conrad Massey?”

“Yes. The housekeeper said he’s away on business. She doesn’t know when he’ll be back. She said he left the day before yesterday, immediately after receiving a long-distance call.”

“And yesterday afternoon he turned up in Burning Cove,” Jake said. “I think we can assume that the phone call he got was from Thelma Leggett. She probably offered to sell him information about your current whereabouts.”

“Maybe he’s the one who murdered her.”

“I’m not so sure,” Jake said. “We’ve got plenty of suspects to go around at the moment. Let’s get back on the road. We need to place another long-distance call but it can wait until we find an auto court.”

“What other call do you want to make?”

“The Rushbrook Sanitarium. It will be interesting to find out if Gill is also away on a business trip.”

“Why don’t we call right now? The secretary will have gone home for the day but one of the night orderlies might answer.”

“If we don’t get back on the road now, we’ll be spending the night in the car,” Jake said.

He wrapped a strong, sure hand around her arm and eased her out of the phone booth.

“The auto court is only a couple of miles from here,” Adelaide said.

The low rumble of a slow-moving car made her glance toward the farm road. The beams of the headlights shot through the fog. The vehicle was coming from the rural area beyond the gas station, heading toward the highway.

“I think that’s the same car that pulled off the road a few minutes ago,” Jake said.

“The driver must have realized he took a wrong turn in the fog.”

“Maybe.”

Jake switched off the flashlight. The fogbound night enveloped them like a dark, incoming tide.

“Why did you do that?” she asked.

“Come with me,” he said.