The Devil To Pay (Hennessey.) (92 page)

He remained there for a long moment then leaned back slightly. She did not let herself believe that he had given up. She was wise not to.

He had seen the range of emotions in her eyes just before she had looked away. He had seen those same emotions many times in the eyes of the men he had killed just before he had pulled the trigger. Enlightenment, fear, pleading, sometimes even acceptance. Although of course he had not seen the latter in her eyes. So now she knew at last, knew him for what he really was.

He reached across her and dragged the bag from the table. She flinched as it hit the ground close to her head but did not look round.

She felt him rummage around in the bag until he pulled something out, she did not turn to see what it was, she did not want to know.

When he spoke it was in that same sympathetic almost pitying tone he had used earlier but she was not fooled, she would never be fooled by him again. He said, ‘I was going to say look at me but maybe it’s best if you look the other way.’

Her hear
t began that now familiar sledge hammering at his words and she bit her bottom lip hard. He leaned over her and put something in front of her face so close that she had to blink to bring it into focus then wished she hadn’t.

He said, ‘you know what this is don’t you? Of course you do, you with your love of crime books must have read about them. And of course you’ve experienced its effects for yourself.’
She bit her lip so hard it bled, ‘I put it on a low setting earlier and maybe I’ll begin with that then move on to the medium then, well, maybe we won’t have to go that far, I sincerely hope not.’

Her new found courage evaporated as quickly as it had come. Her body began to tremble uncontrollably. With his other hand he pushed the hair from her face, his touch was soft and gentle as his fingers moved down her forehead to her cheek, her nose, her lips.

She was rigid as he put his lips close to her ear and whispered, ‘maybe that won’t be necessary after all. Maybe there’s another way to get you to tell me what I want to know and at the same time giving you some much needed pleasure before…’

He deliberately left the sentence unfinished. She raised her upper body and tried to throw him off but it was a futile effort. He said, ‘what’s the matter, not comfortable? Never mind I’ll soon make you forget your discomfort, I’ll soon make you forget everything, just like I did twice before.’ He kissed her cheek then ran his tongue down the soft flesh between her ear and her shoulder.  She twisted her head from side to side and heard him chuckle. His voiced sounded muffled when he spoke, ‘what? Don’t tell me you don’t like this, you went wild the last time I did it. Begged me for more if I remember right.’

She was incensed now, ‘don’t, don’t
touch
me.’

She felt the lips on her neck turn into a smile, ‘you didn’t say that last time, on the contrary. I think I might have made a mistake there, I should have asked you my questions then, when you were begging and pleading and willing to give me almost anything, even your body.’

Now she did turn her head and faced him. She summoned up as much contempt and conviction as she could, ‘I don’t know which of us I hate most, you for the cruel, wicked killer that you are, or myself for letting you anywhere near me,’ now the contempt was easier than the conviction, ‘I’d rather be electrocuted to death than have you touch me again.’

Any other time she would have laughed at the look of astonishment on his face. Then she saw anger in his eyes before that now familiar mask came down over his features. But it was her turn to be amazed as he suddenly took her mouth in a kiss that was fierce and brutal making her already cut lip bleed again. She tried to wriggle free but it was hopeless, she had no choice but to endure it.

She hated it and hated him with all her being. But despite her repugnance a part of her mind was back at her cabin in Mississippi, in her bed, with him. If she closed her mind to her situation, to why she was here and what he intended to do to her she could almost feel that joy and pleasure she had experienced there. This time the struggle was not with him but within herself.

Eventually he ended the kiss and wiped his hand across his mouth then looked at his blooded fingers.  He looked down at her a smug almost sympathetic look on his face.

He said, ‘you may regret a lot of things, Miss. Faraday, but not feeling as you did when you were in that bed, in my arms, in my power.’

Although her face flushed she summoned up every ounce of willpower and met his eyes full on; she just hoped her hatred was mirrored in them.

He said, ‘while your idea with the stun gun is not a bad one, I don’t intend to kill you with it, I tend to stick to the weapon I know best. I know you believe I’m going to kill you, but you can make it much easier on yourself, there’s no need to suffer.’

Once more her body betrayed her to him as it trembled beneath him, this time no
t with passion but with terror, ‘you said something about needing to pee earlier.’ She was taken aback by the change of subject and didn’t answer. He held up the stun gun and went on, ‘after a few jolts of this you won’t need to visit the bathroom.’

He knew that peeing one’s self would be a humiliation for anyone but for someone like her who was so clean and particular, not to mention shy of even speaking about such things, it would be twice as humiliating.

He moved his weight putting pressure on her bladder increasing the discomfort she already felt. She tightened her stomach muscles hoping to relieve the discomfort. He put the stun gun against her neck saying, ‘just two names, first and last, that’s all I want and I promise I’ll make it quick and painless, you’ll never even see it coming. So what do you say, quick and clean or prolonged and nasty? Just two words, why make it harder for yourself.’

When she remained silent he began to unfasten the buttons on her blouse with his free hand, she squirmed but it was a tired effort. She didn’t even move when he opened her blouse and took her left breast out of her bra. He looked down at her exposed breast for a moment before once again raising his eyes to her face.

He pressed the stun gun into the skin of her neck then began to lower it slowly downwards towards her breast bringing it to a halt on her nipple. She tensed waiting for the shock to shoot through her breast and into the rest of her body and praying that she would not be shamed and wet herself. Suddenly in her fear and humiliation she heard a voice in the room, not his, a different voice. The voice was low as if coming from a long way off but she recognised it of course.
“I always said you were useless and look at you now, what a mess you’ve got yourself into,”  her mother laughed that croaky, hoarse laugh caused by too many cigarettes and too much booze before adding, ‘you’re more stupid than even I took you for, as if a man like that would be interested in you. You, who’re so smart and must have read a least a million crime books fall for the oldest trick in the book, a man’s charm. You were so desperate for attention and flattery that you fell for the first man who flattered you, fell for his lies and honeyed charm and failed to notice the evil beneath. And look at you now lying there helpless and humiliated and terrified.”
The laughter grew louder and louder. Adela knew that it was not really her mother’s voice she heard but the voice of her own conscience

Her eyes involuntarily opened wide then closed tight shut and a small tear squeezed its way out of the corner of one eye and worked its way down her cheek.

She opened her eyes and met his, her own were so blurred she did not see the look in his  nor did she feel the pressure of the stun gun ease from her skin. She whispered, ‘Olivia, Olivia Llewellyn.’

CHAPTER 30.

        
Adela hoped and prayed with all her might that he would believe her. She had chosen Olivia because it was the name she knew her by and hoped and prayed Olivia would not use it in her new life, and Llewellyn for her hero hoping that he would bring her luck.

As she kept his gaze she prayed, just this once don’t let my eyes betray me, just this once let him not see the lie. He searched her bright tear filled eyes for what seemed like hours, and just when she prepared herself as best she could for the jolt of electricity to surge through her, she was suddenly upright again. Although he had not righted the chair roughly it still jarred the bones in her back and buttocks almost causing her to do what she had most dreaded and wet herself.

She gave a grunt of pain then sat tense waiting for him to speak or to shoot her in the head. He did neither but walked slowly around her chair and standing in front of her pulled her bra down over her breasts and refastened her blouse. His touch felt like a jolt from the stun gun and had the same effect. Then he sat down in his own chair the stun gun still in his hand.

She forced herself to look at him even though it was getting more and more difficult not to show the relief she felt that he seemed to have believed her lie.

He contemplated her thoughtfully for a few moments then said, ‘Llewellyn? That’s an unusual name for a person from the eastern block.’

Adela prayed again for the strength to lie convincingly, ‘she had read it somewhere she said, in a book, apparently he was a hero of some kind, she liked the name. That’s all I know.’ She finished she hoped wearily as though she had given up and told him what he wanted to know and now wanted to be left alone, she looked down at her feet to add emphasis to this.

He studied her some more then stood up and she watched his feet move towards her steeling herself for the blow or the electric currant or even the bullet. She felt his eyes burning a hole in the top of her head. He put the stun gun on the table and picked up the knife he had put there earlier after cutting the tape that held her to the chair. She sucked in her breath, so it was to be a knife was it, he had lied even about a quick death for her. Then to her surprise he bent down and cut the tape securing her ankles together.

Again she gritted her teeth in pain as the blood once more flowed back into her feet.

He said, ‘you’d better take that bathroom break now before there’s an accident.’

Even with all that had happened and was happening to her right now she still found it in herself to blush at the personal content of his remark.

She looked at him expecting to see him grinning at her embarrassment but his face was expressionless.

She stood up but fell back into the chair unable to stand on her numb feet. It felt like a hundred wasps stinging her. He said, ‘wiggle your toes.’ She did and the numbness began to recede leaving her with pins and needles but she was able to stand. He took her arm and walked her slowly to the other room she had seen earlier. He opened the door and guided her inside the darkened room. For a moment she panicked thinking he was going to lock her in there, or worse. He let go of her arm and she heard a match being struck then the room was illuminated with a soft light from a small oil lamp. She blinked bringing her surroundings into focus and saw a small dirty room with cobwebs in the corners and hanging from the ceiling, it had dingy once white walls and a small bedside table but no bed, only a sleeping bag that had seen better days.

He picked up the lamp and taking her arm again led her towards another door at the far side of the room; he opened it and put the lamp on a chair standing by an old rusted bath which someone had tried to clean, not too successfully. To her surprise apart from the window the room was relatively clean and smelt nice. The flooring was old tiles which were broken but also clean, or as clean as they could be, as was the sink. The mirror above although cracked had been polished to a shine. It was as if someone had suddenly decided to do a spring clean, not to her standard of course, but they had made an effort, of course she knew who that person was.

She turned to him and asked
, ‘will you untie my hands please?’

To her dismay he shook his head, ‘no, sorry, I don’t want you getting any ideas about escaping.’ She followed his gaze to the window which was not boarded up but cracked and stained. Even now she felt the urge to get some cleaning equipment and wash it. But it was very small, maybe too small for an adult to squeeze through if it could be opened, which judging by the rust around it would be an almost impossible feat.

She turned back to him, ‘I would never get through there, and anyway you said we were miles from anywhere surrounded by swamps, I wouldn’t get far before you caught me again.’ She indicated her bound hands, ‘this is unnecessary.’

He shrugged, ‘still, I prefer to take no chances, it’s for your safety as much as anything else.’

Again that word “safe.”

He seemed to read her thoughts because he said, ‘being eaten alive by alligators is a very slow and painful death I should imagine, although not as slow or as painful as dying of thirst perhaps.’

Her eyes widened but she tried another tack, ‘I would like to wash my face.’

He said, ‘maybe later.’

Later, she thought, what did that mean? She said, ‘I won’t be able to…’ she looked down at her jeans and the button and zip at the front.

He took a step towards her and without speaking began to unfasten the button she jerked back and he raised his hands saying, ‘okay, but as you so rightly said you won’t be able to…’ He also left the sentence unfinished.

The anger and hatred beginning to grow in her frightened her, he was doing this deliberately to humiliate her. But why, he had what he wanted why didn’t he just get it over with and kill her? The answer that came to her turned her blood from hot to cold in an instant causing a shiver to pass through her entire body. Maybe that was why he let her use the bathroom, and why he wouldn’t untie her, he didn’t want her to fight him when he took what he could have taken days ago but didn’t. Maybe he didn’t want a willing partner in his bed, maybe a frightened woman struggling helplessly beneath him turned him on.