Wait Until Midnight (33 page)

Reed opened his eyes and stared up at Caroline. "Sarah. You have haunted me all these years. Now, at last, I will join you on the Other Side."

Reed closed his eyes. He did not open them again.

FORTY

The following afternoon they sat together in the library at
Laxton Square
. Adam poured brandy for Wilson, Richard, Elsworth and himself. Caroline, Julia, Emma and Milly contented themselves with tea.

He examined Caroline's face covertly while he replaced the decanter. Her eyes were shadowed, and the strain of last night's harrowing events etched her face but he could see that her strong, resilient spirit still burned with a bright flame. She was recovering nicely.

He was not nearly so certain of his own progress in that regard. He suspected that he would have nightmares of those last few moments in the corridor of Wintersett House for years to come.

If he had arrived only a few minutes later or if he had not eventually stumbled onto that flight of servants' stairs .. .

Don't think about it. You'll go mad.

He swallowed some of the potent brandy and sat down behind his desk.

"It was the fact that Toller and Delmont were each involved with both Reed and Elsworth that complicated the situation," he said to the others. "It seems that Elsworth here had established a relatively straightforward business connection with a number of mediums, including Toller and Delmont."

"But that was all there was to the arrangements" Elsworth took a sip of brandy and lowered the glass. "I make it a practice never to become romantically involved with my business associates. In my experience such liaisons always lead to financial disaster."

Caroline looked at him. "Did you know that Mr. Reed had established a more intimate sort of connection with both Delmont and Toller?"

"I had my suspicions," Elsworth admitted. "It seemed to me that Reed was a little too generous in allowing Toller to advertise her rather amateurish services with those ridiculous demonstrations of the planchette at the Society's headquarters. But I also suspected that the arrangement was rapidly coming to an end. Reed was paying more and more attention to Delmont."

"Did he ever approach you to request a séance in hopes of contacting his dead wife?" Julia asked.

"No." Elsworth swirled the brandy in his glass. "I made it clear from the outset that I do not claim to be able to con-tact the dead. My powers are of another sort altogether."

Richard eyed him skeptically. "As a matter of sheer curiosity, how many other mediums in
London do you use to carry out your investment schemes?"

Elsworth contrived to appear both innocent and affronted. "You cannot expect me to reveal a professional secret, sir."

Adam looked at him. "Elsworth has, however, agreed to repay those clients of Delmont's and Toller's who gave him money to invest. Isn't that right, sir?"

Elsworth sighed. "Indeed."

Wilson drummed his fingers on the leather arm of his chair. "If Toller and Delmont were inept mediums, why did Reed favor them?"

Elsworth wrinkled his elegant nose in disgust. "Reed was remarkably obtuse in such matters. The fool did not know a fraud when he saw one. After all, he married a medium, if you will recall. He may have done so to secure her fortune, but he genuinely believed that she had powers."

Adam hefted the large volume on his desk. "This is Reed's private journal. I found it in his study this morning when I met there with the police. It appears that Reed had little interest in male mediums. He had concluded that a female would be more likely to be able to contact the spirit of his dead wife"

Elsworth shrugged. "Most people in the field of psychical research are convinced the women are, generally speaking, more adept at communicating with the Other Side."

Adam turned a couple of pages, noting names and dates. "Reed appears to have systematically worked his way through any number of attractive female mediums in recent years. He makes no secret of the fact that he established an intimate liaison with each one because he believed that such a connection enhanced the medium's powers."

Caroline shuddered. "It is a common assumption in certain quarters."

Adam turned another page. `After a suitable period of seduction and testing, as it were, he gave his favored medium

the final test in Sarah's old bedchamber. He was convinced that his dead wife haunted that room. If the medium failed the last test, he moved on to another candidate"

"He murdered Sarah in that bedchamber on their wed-ding night," Caroline whispered.

Adam nodded. "According to the journal, he dressed the body and carried it into the park to be found the following day. None of the servants reported her missing the next morning because they all believed that, like any proper bride, she was so strongly affected by the traumatic events of her wedding night, she had slept late to recover. Later it was assumed that she had left the house unnoticed to take a walk"

Julia tilted her head slightly to one side. "Reed was certainly not the most handsome or charming of men. I won-der why Toller and Delmont and the other mediums he employed were so eager to accept his advances?"

"There were certain decided advantages for any medium who formed a relationship with Durward Reed," Elsworth said, very matter-of-fact. "While each was in favor, she reaped the benefits of the Society's sponsorship, which, in turn, enhanced her own reputation and resulting income."

"Yes, of course," Milly murmured. "One can under-stand the motivation, I suppose."

"It is a very competitive business," Elsworth allowed. "Especially at the lower end."

"But Irene Toller made the fatal mistake of falling in love with Reed," Caroline said quietly. "When she discovered that he was preparing to leave her and move on to Elizabeth Delmont, she became distraught and enraged."

"I expect the situation was especially painful to her be-cause she had long viewed Delmont as a serious professional rival," Emma observed. "Toller saw herself as a woman scorned."

"She knew Wintersett House well, especially Sarah Reed's bedchamber, having conducted her own final test séance there for Reed," Adam continued. "She must have made her way upstairs one day without Reed's knowledge and stolen the brooch and the wedding veil from the wardrobe."

Caroline nodded. "She took them with her the night she murdered Elizabeth Delmont and left them at the scene. They obviously had significance to her because they had be-longed to the dead woman with whom Reed was obsessed"

"What about the pocket watch that was also found with Delmont's body?" Julia asked. "The one that was reported in the papers?"

"It belonged to Elizabeth Delmont," Adam said. "It had been a gift to her from Reed. Irene Toller must have known that and deliberately smashed it in her rage. I was the first one to arrive at Delmont's house that night after the killer had left. When I found her, the veil, brooch and watch were all still there"

"Reed was the second one to arrive,"
Wilson said. "He was no doubt horrified to find his dead wife's brooch and veil at the scene. He must have guessed immediately who had stolen them and murdered Delmont. He took the brooch and veil but he left the watch. It meant nothing to him."

"I was the last to arrive," Elsworth continued. "I called after returning from a long evening on the town. It was al-most dawn."

Milly looked curious. "Why on earth did you go to her house at such a late hour?"

"I had concluded that Delmont, having learned a few tricks from me, was preparing to set up her own financial scheme without my assistance. I wanted to make her think twice about such a move. My intention was to threaten to

expose her if she tried to go into business on her own. When I got there, the door was open. I went inside and found the body."

"And Maud's diary," Adam added.

Elsworth moved one hand in a what-do-you-expect? fashion. "I am not one to overlook an opportunity. But as I told you, when I read it I decided it was not the sort of project I wanted to pursue. Much too reckless."

"By then it was too late, though, wasn't it?" Milly said cheerfully. "You knew that Adam was already on your tail."

Elsworth grimaced. "When I saw him together with Mrs. Fordyce after Irene Toller's demonstration, I knew I confronted a disastrous situation. I did my best to redirect everyone's attention and generally muddy the waters by giving the psychical consultation to the police. I was certain that the papers would make a great sensation of it. When I saw you in the audience that day, Mrs. Fordyce, I tried to warn you that there was danger afoot. I thought that might distract you and Hardesty both. When all failed to have an effect, I resorted to stronger tactics."

"You paid two villains to attack Adam," Caroline said with an accusing look.

"Yes, well, what can I say, madam? I was desperate"

"Reed was even more desperate," Adam said. "According to his journal, he had great hopes that Elizabeth Delmont would prove to be the medium who could make contact with his dead wife's spirit. But before he could hold his final test séance with her in Sarah's bedchamber, Toller murdered her. Then Toller sent him a message ordering him to come see her. He suspected that she intended to blackmail him by threatening to take the story of his bedchamber séances to the press"

"So he killed her," Julia concluded. "And made the murder scene appear just as it had been described in the newspapers, knowing that the press would seize on the similarities."

Adam nodded. "After Delmont was killed, Reed concluded that Caroline's recent association with Wintersett House was no mere coincidence. He believed that psychical forces had directed her to him so that he could use her to reach Sarah. Yesterday he lured Caroline into his trap"

Emma frowned. "I don't understand. Did he really expect to get away with kidnapping Caroline and using her in some dreadful séance? He must have known that you would investigate her disappearance, Adam."

"When he was finished with Caroline, he intended to kill her in a manner similar to the other two murders,"
Wilson said, his mouth tightening with quiet anger. "He planned to leave her body and another broken pocket watch in her own house with more evidence pointing to Adam."

Julia shuddered. "The press would certainly have seized upon a story that involved a sensation novelist being murdered by her lover."

Milly was aghast. "He actually expected such a scheme to work?"

Elsworth shook his head. "You do not understand how it is with those who are willing to suspend all logic and common sense in their desire to believe in the possibility of communicating with the Other Side. Trust me when I tell you that Reed was one of the most gullible people I have ever met"

Caroline looked at him. "Were you the one who sent the messages to Adam and me summoning us to Toller's house on the morning after she was murdered?"

"No" Ellsworth raised both hands, palms out. "I plead innocent to that charge."

"Reed sent them." Adam closed the journal. "He also sent an anonymous message to the police and several members of the press. He wanted to create a sensation."

"He no doubt hoped that you would be arrested,"
Wilson said. "At the very least, you would be placed under a heavy cloud of suspicion and scandal. His primary goal was to drive a wedge between you and Caroline. He assumed she would be shocked and horrified when she discovered that you were linked to a murder. He thought she would turn her back on you to protect her own reputation."

Adam smiled slowly and looked at Caroline. "Reed obviously had no psychical talent of his own. He failed to foresee that you would supply me with an alibi even though it meant that you would become more deeply entangled in a great scandal."

Laughter lit her eyes for the first time since her ordeal at Wintersett House. "He obviously knew nothing about sensation novelists. We thrive on that sort of thing"

FORTY-ONE

One month later .. .

"I say."
Wilson's loud exclamation reverberated off the walls of the breakfast room. He slapped the copy of the
Flying Intelligencer
down onto the table. "This is indeed a very surprising turn of events."

Adam scooped jam out of a pot. "It is too early in the day to be shouting. What is it that has alarmed you? Bad financial news?"

"Hang the financial news. This is a far more earthshaking matter."
Wilson stabbed at the newspaper with a forefinger. "This is the last chapter of
The Mysterious Gentleman.
You will not credit it, but Edmund Drake has emerged as the hero."

Adam felt something inside him go very still. Hope flared. He lowered the knife that he had been about to use to spread the jam on a slice of toast.

"I thought Drake was the villain of the piece," he said carefully.

^"
So did I and everyone else who is following the story, I'll wager."
Wilson reached for the coffee. "But there you have it. I just finished the last chapter in which Drake rescues Miss
Lydia and unmasks that priggish Jonathan St. Claire."

"The character everyone assumed was the hero?"

"Yes. Never did like him. Too well-mannered and so excruciatingly proper. Quite a boring chap, really. I should have realized that Caroline would never allow him to marry Miss
Lydia. Drake was the right man all along."

"Edmund Drake marries Miss
Lydia?"

"Yes, indeed"
Wilson grunted. "All very exciting stuff. Can't wait to hear what Julia has to say about it. I'm sure that all over
London this morning readers are astonished and amazed. Once again the clever Mrs. Fordyce has thrilled us with a final, unexpected startling incident. The woman is brilliant, I tell you."

Adam whipped his napkin off his lap and tossed it onto the table. "You must excuse me, sir."