The Devil To Pay (Hennessey.) (132 page)

She smiled once more at Lando before turning to the barn to rescue her friend from the dreaded Raccoons.

Lando watched her run back to the barn calling to her friend that she was coming.

The sheriff said, ‘everything is in hand, Jonas, you just concentrate on breathing for now let us deal with everything else.’

Lando just stared at him too stunned to speak, Lomax smiled in understanding. He knew Lando didn’t trust anyone and wanted them gone but admired the way he accepted that he needed help right now.

Just then someone shouted, ‘fires out, we’ll see what we can retrieve.’

Lomax called back, ‘thanks, Andy, well done.’

Lando put both hands on the floor to haul himself upright but was overtaken by another bout of coughing and sank back to his knees.

Lomax said, ‘take your time, Jonas; your animals ain’t going anywhere. Nor the woman either.’

Lando’s head snapped up and saw the sheriff's mischievous smile and knew what he was thinking. He gave him an exasperated look.

Lando once more made an effort to get to his feet this time he succeeded but staggered slightly. The sheriff put out a hand to steady him, ‘you need to see the doc.’

Lando shook his head, ‘I need to take care of things.’

‘Well look around you, pal, I think things are being take care of pretty damn well.’

Lando did look around and saw people running hither and thither busy with their appointed tasks. He couldn’t quite take in that this was happening all around him.

He took a step and began coughing again but continued walking towards the woman.

When he reached her he knelt down beside her and asked, ‘you okay?’

She removed the oxygen mask. Her face was very pale and her eyes bloodshot and watery and her breathing was laboured but she looked at him and said, ‘yes, I’m fine. Are you?’ Her voice was hoarse and she began coughing again, the doctor gave her some water.

Lando didn’t answer her question but looked at the doctor who said, ‘she should be in hospital ideally, and so should you. That arm needs seeing too.’

Lando ignored him and looked back at Adela for a moment as if to reassure himself she was all right then stood and faced Lomax. He asked, ‘how did you know to come here?’

Lomax hesitated a moment before saying, ‘an anonymous call.’

Lando met Adela’s gaze and knew she was thinking the same as him. Hennessey.

Just then a guy came running over out of breath and looking shocked but excited. He said, ‘it seems to have been more smoke than actual fire, Wendell.' Lomax nodded. The man shifted uncomfortably as he cast his eyes at Lando before saying almost in a whisper, 'we found several bodies in the house  and some just outside in the trees,’ he glanced at Lando again, ‘well, quite a lot of them actually.’

Lomax and the man looked at Lando expectantly. Lomax said, ‘you been busy, Jonas.’

Lando shrugged, ‘I’m entitled to defend myself and my property.’

‘With reasonable force, yes.’

‘
I
considered it reasonable.’

Lomax studied Lando’s impassive face before shrugging and turning to the other man saying, ‘anything else, Jim?’

‘Only that the vet says the dog will be okay.’

Lando closed his eyes with relief as did Adela.

The sheriff said, ‘thanks, Jim, carry on tidying up, I’ll be right there.’

The man nodded then turned to Lando and h
anded something to him, ‘I found this amongst the debris, Mr. Lando.’

Lando stared at him a moment then took the rifle from Jim’s hand. The man held his gaze for a moment then smiled taking Lando aback before turning and running back to the cabin.

Lomax said, ‘you have some explaining to do, Jonas, and not just to me.’ He nodded over Lando’s shoulder.’

The latter turned to see Sullivan and Leyton coming from amongst the trees. Lomax immediately took the weapon from Lando who looked at him but did not protest.

He rolled his eyes as they approached, Leyton his expression serious as his eyes alighted on Adela sitting on the ground looking as though she had been in a war zone. Sullivan looking smug and pleased with himself.

Leyton immediately squatted down beside Adela and taking her hand in his said
urgently, ‘are you all right, Miss. Faraday?’

She nodded and coughed again as if to prove herself wrong.

Leyton frowned as did Lando and his fist clenched tightly as he looked down at the detective and the woman their hands clasped together.

His eyes were drawn to Lomax and that man was smiling a knowing smile and looking down at Lando’s fist.  Lando’s frowned deepened as he followed Lomax’s gaze then quickly uncurled his fingers before looking back at the sheriff and giving him a “be careful” look.

Without preamble Sullivan said, ‘well, Mr. Lando, this is some kinda mess you got going on here.’

Lando didn’t answer and Sulliv
an looked down at Adela, ‘nice to see you again, Miss. Faraday.’ He looked back at Lando, ‘oh, I’m sorry, where are my manners? Miss. Faraday this is Jonas Lando, Jonas Lando, Miss. Adela Faraday.’

Neither Adela nor Lando reacted to Sullivan’s sarcasm so he said to Adela, ‘you need to come with us to Mississippi, there are questions that we need to ask and I’m sure you have the answers.’

Lomax answered for her, ‘she needs to go to the hospital, they both do.’

Lando appreciated Lomax’s efforts on their behalf but, although part of him dreaded being in an interrogation room again, he wanted to get this over with.

But before he could respond Sullivan said, ‘your doc here can fix up his arm, and Miss. Faraday will get all the medical attention she needs in the lock up back in li’l ole Miss.’

The doctor gave him a hostile look and Lomax began to protest but was interrupted by Lando, ‘it’s all right, sheriff, the woman has nothing to hide, and I’ll tell them what they need to know.’

Lomax said, ‘I’d rather he stayed here in Alabama.’

Sullivan shook his head but the sheriff persisted, ‘you have no jurisdiction here, Sullivan, and Jonas has committed no crime in Mississippi.’

‘Maybe not, but the lady is a suspect, sorry witness, in a very serious assault, as well as being intimately involved with a man we now believe to be a professional killer, suspected of murdering at least seven people in the last two years alone. And Mr. Lando here has been aiding and abetting the lady. She might have confided vital information to him.’

Lando said, ‘being involved with a man, intimately or otherwise, don’t necessarily mean she knew what he was. And she had nothing to do with what happened to Maxwell; in fact as I believe it, she saved him from further harm. And if you’re right about Hennessey being a killer, at great risk to herself. She’s a victim of Hennessey too.’

There was silence while everyone looked at Lando, who had spoken calmly and quietly but with an edge to his tone as though warning Sullivan not to try to pull a fast one on him.

He knew that Sullivan wanted the woman back in Mississippi and away from the feds, he would have to hand her over eventually but in the meantime he would get as much information from her as possible, maybe even enough to enable him to crack the case and further his career. And Lando knew the methods would not be pretty or pleasant for the woman. Especially when the FBI got hold of her.

But Lando didn’t want her to go with them, once in their custody she might be in great danger. Hennessey might have been completely wrong about Leyton and Sullivan being decent, honest cops and either or both could be on Glissando’s pay roll. So two good reasons to keep her from leaving the safety of Alban.

Lomax was speaking, ‘Jonas, if you knew she was wanted by the law for questioning, why didn’t you tell them she was here with you? Why did you lie to them?’

Lando turned to Lomax, ‘because I didn’t trust them.’

Dr. Javier turned away to hide his grin at Lando’s forthrightness but Lomax’s face remained serious. He said, ‘so why didn’t you come to me for help? I told you you could.’

Lando’s eyes never left the sheriff’s and for the life of him he couldn’t tell the old guy that he didn’t trust him either. Besides he wasn’t sure that it would be the truth.

But Lomax said quietly, “I see.”

Before Lando could reply Adela spoke up, ‘he wanted to, sheriff but I begged him not to.’

She attempted to rise but sank back down as her legs gave way beneath her. Leyton who had remained silent so far said, ‘steady, take it easy, you’re still suffering from the after effects of the smoke as well as shock.’ He looked at the doctor, ‘we need to get her to the hospital.’

The doctor nodded but Sullivan looked at his partner impatiently, they all knew that Leyton was contradicting his partner’s demand that she be taken to Mississippi immediately. As for Lando he was looking at Leyton as though he could cheerfully throttle him, he didn’t look at Lomax so didn’t see the second knowing smile on his face.

Adela said, ‘I’m all right, really.’ And as if to prove it made a valiant effort to rise, and this time made it to her feet assisted by Leyton’s arm. She turned to him and gave him a shaky smile before looking at Lomax. Her voice was barely audible as she said, ‘I’m sorry, sheriff but it’s true, it was I who didn’t trust you not Mr Lando, he wanted to bring you in but I pleaded with him not to. He said you could be trusted but I was afraid, afraid to trust you or anyone. He didn’t like it but then those men came and we were trapped and the decision was taken out of his hands.’

She turned to Sullivan, ‘Mr. Lando has done nothing wrong, Detective Sullivan. He didn’t invite me here; I came here unbeknownst to him and hid in the barn. He didn’t lie to you when you came because he didn’t know I was there at that time.’

Lando’s eyes widened at the blatant lie and felt his anger growing. There she went again trying to protect him and he didn’t like it. He opened his mouth to refute her statement but she rushed on effectively preventing him from speaking. ‘And Mr. Lando had nothing to do with what Hennessey did. So he can give his statement to his local sheriff about what happened here. There’s no need for him to come with us to Mississippi.’

Sullivan was about to argue but then picked up on what she had said, “Come with
us
.”

He wanted to talk to Lando too because not for a moment did he believe that he had no idea she was hiding out in his barn. He knew he had lied to them earlier but she was the important one, if he could get her back to Mississippi he could get the upper hand over those damn feds, for a time anyway.

Leyton said, ‘let’s get her to the hospital first, there’s no hurry to get back to Mississippi. She won’t go anywhere will you, Miss. Faraday?’

Adela still looking at Sullivan shook her head. ‘I really don’t need to go to the hospital; I just have a sore throat that’s all’

Leyton looked doubtful and Sullivan satisfied.

Lando wanted her to get checked out at the hospital but that was just one more place she could be at risk. He was about to set the record straight about his role in harbouring her but then changed his mind. He would let them take her to Mississippi but he would follow them, and he couldn’t do that if he was in custody for lying to a police officer in the commission of his duty or for harbouring a fugitive could he? He knew he had a lot of explaining to do to the sheriff about what had occurred here, and why there were so many dead bodies in and around his cabin. But that was for later. For now he had to think of a way to ditch Lomax.

He turned to Adela, ‘go with them. But lady, tell them the truth all right, tell them everything about Hennessey and what he did to you. About the girl and Glissando and what happened here. Leave nothing out.’

Sullivan and Leyton gasped and Sullivan said, ‘Glissando?’ He almost choked on the name, ‘what the hell does he have to do with this?’

Lando ignored him as he said added to Adela, ‘tell them
everything.
’

He looked at Sullivan and Leyton in turn his eyes finally rested on Sullivan for a moment before turning back to Adela ‘but don’t say a single word until you have a lawyer present, a good lawyer. Have him stay with you at all times whilst you’re being interviewed. Then try to get bail as quick as you can then your attorney will provide you with protection.’

She listened attentively and the scared lost look came back into her eyes. He knew what she was thinking. She had not wanted him to get into trouble with the police that’s why she had lied. She had not wanted them to take him for questioning, but perversely she wanted him to come with her to Mississippi. He understood and wanted to tell her he would be with her every step of the way, but couldn’t of course without giving himself away. He knew she was thinking about him, he saw in her eyes that she worried for him and wanted to protect him, just as she had from the start.

He put a curt almost dismissive note into his tone as he said, ‘I’ve done what I can for you, now it’s time for you to rely on someone else.’ He looked over at what was left of his cabin before looking back at her his eyes cold, ‘this is where we part ways, lady, before I lose what little I have left.’

Adela’s eyes opened wide with shock at his words and her bottom lip trembled slightly. She stared into his eyes for a moment longer then took a deep breath straightened her shoulders and raised herself to her full height before saying calmly, ‘I’m very sorry for the trouble I’ve brought to you, Mr. Lando, if there’s anything I can do to help you please let me know. You can probably contact me through the Mississippi Police Department.’