The Devil To Pay (Hennessey.) (106 page)

She hugged it to her and her voice was hoarse and raspy as she said, ‘thank you, Mr. Lando.’

He stood looking down at her frowning then went back into the kitchen where he made fresh coffee and brought two mugs over to the living room, he handed her one of them as well as some more painkillers then sat down in the armchair facing her.

She sipped the coffee then stared down at the liquid in the mug.

He said, ‘when you’ve finished your coffee you should sleep, you’re still not recovered completely from your ordeal. But I want to know one thing up front, are you running from the police?’

She looked up shocked, ‘no!, no!. I’m not…’ She caught herself. What if she was, what if Hennessey’s deception had worked, what if the police were looking for her as a suspect? He watched the confusion cross her features followed swiftly by fear. She said quietly, ‘as far as I know I’m not wanted by the police for anything, but…’ She shook her head, ‘I…he…I don’t know, Mr Lando.’ She turned her head to look at him, ‘but the police are the least of my worries, and if you keep me here the least of
yours
too.’

His expression did not alter as he looked at
her for a while before saying, ‘you need to rest, we’ll talk later.’

But to his surprise she shook her head, ‘no, Mr. Lando, you deserve to know what happened and when I’ve told you you’ll want to be rid of me as fast as possible. And the sooner you know the sooner you’ll let me leave’ He frowned but said nothing and she went on, ‘but first I want to say thank you for everything you’ve done for me, I know you hate having people invade your privacy.’ He raised his eyebrows slightly, ‘and I’m sorry for lying to you, but I thought it was best…for you.’

He said, ‘when you said “don’t hurt him,” you thought I was someone else.’ She nodded, ‘let’s get one thing straight from the start, I can take care of myself, lady, been doing it most of my life. So why don’t you put your concern for me to one side and tell me what happened.’

She hesitated and looked down at her mug. He said, ‘there’s no need for me to ask if it concerns that kid you were with and those two goons that were looking for her.’

She looked up quickly then narrowed her eyes before nodding her head. She took a deep breath and gripping the mug tightly in both hands as though it would somehow protect her from her memories she told him about Olivia, although she did not name her and when she had to refer to her she called her Desi. She told him how she had fooled them or thought she had. About how she had put her on a plane to France then gone to Eden and met a man there who befriended her.

At this point she stopped and shivered then pulled the blanket around her. Lando got up, picked up some wood from a metal bucket by the fireplace and began to make a fire.

It didn’t take him long to get the fire going but it gave Adela enough time to gather her thoughts and the strength to continue. He sat down again and said, ‘this guy you met, his name Sterling Hennessey?’

She dropped the mug, which fortunately was empty, not just at the shock of hearing Hennessey’s name but that Lando knew it. He watched the expressions chasing one another across her face before she stammered, ‘but how…

He interrupted, ‘don’t matter now does it.’ She continued to stare at him and he saw the suspicion appear once more in her eyes and thought he had better reassure her. He sighed, ‘I think I met him.’

She said, ‘at my cabin.’ It was his turn to be surprised, ‘he told me he had met you, that not many people got the drop on him as you did.’ She looked away and finished somewhat wryly, ‘he was impressed.’ But she was thinking there was still something left unsaid, something that did not quite make sense but she was so confused and shocked at the mention of Hennessey’s name that for now she couldn’t place it.

Lando said scathingly, ‘so you met Hennessey and he swept you off your feet with his charm, so what happened then?’

Her head snapped up the hurt look swiftly replaced by a haughty one. ‘We all make mistakes, Mr Lando…don’t we.’ She finished pointedly.

He gave that eyebrow raise again taken aback by her sudden burst of spirit, then he scowled. She felt awful and rushed on, ‘I’m sorry, Mr. Lando, it’s just that no one likes to be reminded of their stupidity, and I’ve been stupid enough for all of Alban put together.’

He was surprised by her apology he had deserved her rebuke,
but he said nothing and she added, ‘I fell for his charms yes, I believed him, trusted him and paid for it.’ She took another deep breath and told him, tentatively at first, what had happened, how he had sneakily extracted a promise from her to tell her secret. She lowered her eyes when she told him this part, ashamed of herself.

She told him how she had gone to Dean Maxwell’s shop and caught Hennessey beating Dean and her subsequent interrogation by the police.

So that was who Dean was he thought, an innocent caught up in this little web of deceit and lies and violence.

She told him that she had given Detective Leyton the raincoat Hennessey had loaned her and how excited Leyton had been because of the name that was in it. Duncan Blakemore.

Lando who had been sitting listening intently and impassively suddenly sat up abruptly as though she’d upped and slapped him. He barked, ‘what?’

She was surprised and a little frightened at the expression on his face, a cold almost threatening look and his voice w
as stone hard but low as he demanded, ‘what name did you say?’

‘Duncan Blakemore.’ She replied nervously not liking the look he was giving her.

He could not hide the shock he felt and he stared at her incredulous.

He swore under his breath and
looked away across the room as if trying to see something that wasn’t there. He stayed that way for a long time and for the first time she saw actual emotion on his face, repulsion, pain and hate, he looked dangerous.

Eventually his eyes returned to her as he snapped, ‘what else did Leyton tell you?’

‘Nothing, only he seemed very interested in, and excited about, the coat.

‘What did he do with the coat?’

‘He took it with him for forensic examination so he said.’

   Lando nodded and Adela told him that Detective Leyton had told her that Hennessey had

   used credit cards in various names.

But Lando did not seem to be listening; he seemed very preoccupied with his thoughts so she waited.

Lando had no television or radio and never brought newspapers or mixed with the locals in Alban or anywhere else come to that, he did however pay periodic visits to Montgomery and there caught up with the news of the day so he knew about Blakemore’s murder.

For the first time in a long time he had almost laughed out loud when he had seen the news bulletin. How many times had he wished that guy dead and out of this world, put six feet under when he could harm no more kids with his drug dealing and child porn rings? He had secretly hoped that Blakemore’s killer would never be found. He knew as a cop, or even an ex- cop he shouldn’t think this way, a man had been murdered. Still, he wasn’t a cop any more so he could think what he damn well liked. But in all probability he had stood face to face with Blakemore’s killer.

He wondered now what he would have done if he had known.

CHAPTER 35.

           Adela watched Lando’s face as it flitted from shock to interest to something like satisfaction. She wondered if he had known Blakemore, Lando had been a cop after all so maybe he had had dealings with him. He looked distracted and thoughtful and she had the idea that he was no longer interested in her story, that he had even forgotten she was there, so she sat studying him.

She had been correct before when she had thought him handsome, he was, but the tight lines around his mouth and the hardness of his features somehow made one miss that. He looked tired and fatigued yet his eyes were bright and wide awake. They were very dark brown, so dark you could not see the iris, they were hard eyes you could see that immediately. But on closer inspection you could see something else there too, sadness and heartache. So engrossed in her study of him was she that she jumped when he spoke rather abruptly, ‘did Leyton tell you anything else?’

It took a moment to bring herself back to their conversation. She said, ‘No. But later Hennessey told me that he had killed Blakemore, he did not seem at all concerned, on the contrary he seemed very proud of himself. He also told me that he had killed another man who was reputedly Blakemore’s partner, a man called Stanton.’

Again he raised his eyebrows and said, ‘
Stanton?’

She nodded, ‘yes.’

‘Hennessey told you this?’

‘Yes. He said that his client had got two for the price of one on that particular assignment. That’s what he called his killing sprees, assignments.’ She finished with distaste.

He looked away as if thinking about this his mouth set in a grim line then said, ‘I’m surprised that Leyton would tell you about Hennessey’s fake names.’

She wondered if he didn’t believe that Leyton had told her anything, he might think that she was involved somehow, just as Hennessey wanted.

She said, ‘he didn’t want to but I insisted. I told him I needed to know as much as I could about Hennessey.’

He could understand why she might want to know, the worse Hennessey looked. The more heinous his crimes the sooner she would see him as he really was, a criminal, a killer. And the worse he looked the easier it would be to stop thinking of him as a charming, attentive lover and the quicker she could get over him and move on. But why a detective would impart important information to a witness like that he didn’t know. But then maybe this Leyton thought that she knew more than she was telling, that Hennessey had told her something, maybe inadvertently. Or perhaps he thought she was in on it with Hennessey. His gaze was considering as he said, ‘so after Leyton left what happened?’

This was the part she did not want to talk about; she looked away from his intense gaze and tried to gather her thoughts and her courage. He watched her make a monumental effort to pull herself together. She swallowed deeply then began to tell him about the night Hennessey had abducted her in her cabin, how they had fought, about the journey and the shack. She told him how Hennessey had told her that he was an assassin and that she was his target, how he had interrogated her about Olivia.

Her voice faltered when she told him how he had threatened her with the stun gun, how he had left her in the dirty room and how from there she had escaped. She left out certain details, such as how much Hennessey was paid, she still had the thought that so much money was tempting for anyone, even Jonas Lando, who didn’t seem to care about such mundane things as money. But maybe that was because he didn’t have any, he might feel differently when faced with five million dollars.

When she had finished she was shivering and sweating more than ever. He sat there his face impassive, through the entire story not once had he shown any emotion. He stood up suddenly and went into the kitchen coming back with a glass of water which he put into her tremulous hand. He sat down again in the exact same position looking at her in the exact same way as though he had never moved. She was thinking that maybe he was used to hearing stories such as her own, maybe he had heard them so many times that he was now anaesthetised to them, he had of course probably heard far worse.

Lando was not so unmoved as he was making out. Her whole story was incredible, he had called her crazy and stupid and maybe she was for getting involved with that girl in the first place, how many people would do what she had for a stranger? Not many. And he himself, would he have? Well, the answer was sitting right across from him looking pale and ill and scared to death. The difference was he had not wanted to get involved; he had resented the intrusion on his quiet, peaceful life, she had gone in with her eyes wide open knowing that she might be in danger. And she wasn’t a cop, or an ex -cop, she had probably been cosseted and protected all her pampered life, yet still she threw herself into the fray with gusto, spent her time and her own money to see the girl safe. But fuck, to confront those two men in a dark alley at night, what had she been thinking?

He couldn’t decide whether she was the craziest person he’d ever met or the bravest, maybe a bit of both. But brave or not she should have given the girl the money and sent her on her way then told the two goons she had no idea where she had gone, just as he would have. Wouldn’t he?

But this last part of the story, this was something else; that guy had kidnapped her from her home, subjected her to a terrifying ordeal, threatened her, humiliated her and frightened her half to death and yet still she had defied him and concocted a…he had to admit...quiet ingenious method of escape.

He realised now why she had not sat in the nearest chair at the table and why she had paled as she had, it must have been a similar chair to the one Hennessey had tied her to. He knew from his time as a cop, and from personal experience, that it was the small things such as that that would affect her for a very long time. But what she must have felt when she had sat there and Hennessey had told her that he was an assassin didn’t bear thinking about. And when she had told him about the stun gun and how he had rendered her unconscious he felt his stomach clench and his throat tighten. His face gave away none of these feelings, he had learned to hide them long ago, he had been quite successful at it as a cop, but he sure as hell had become an expert as a con.