The Devil To Pay (Hennessey.)

by Marnie Perry

  She wondered vaguely how Daniel would like it here; there were so many black faces. But then Daniel would never come here, not to the U.S and certainly not to Mississippi. He only just about endured Spain or Portugal when his girlfriend of the moment insisted that they went abroad for their holidays, and even then, according to the girlfriend, he spent most of his time in English bars.

  She strolled along the street listening to people chatting to each other loudly and exuberantly. She found the nearest travel agency and went in to pick up a brochure of things to do and places of interest in Biloxi. They were very helpful and told her of the Jefferson Davis home and presidential library. She said she would be very interested in seeing that and asked if it was far to walk. They said not at all and gave her directions. She bought some maps to add to her collection, thanked them and made her way to the Jefferson Davis’ house.

  She found it very easily and spent a very pleasant few hours there. She knew quite a bit about the American civil war but very little about Jefferson Davis and was always eager to learn new things.

  After that she strolled along the beach front and watched the boats go by. She knew that a lot of these vessels were gambling casinos but gambling had never been of any interest to her, except the lottery of course. She smiled to herself at the irony of that, she doubted any of the people on board those casino boats were going to be as lucky as she had been.

  She looked at her watch and realised that it was 2.45, she would get some lunch here then head back to Eden, she may even still have time to keep her promise to Dean Maxwell and join him for a cup of tea in his bookshop.

  She walked awhile until she found a reasonably quiet little diner and went in. She had to wait quite a while to be served and the waitress, who could not have been more than sixteen or seventeen, eventually came over to take her order looking very harassed and sweaty. She apologised to Adela for keeping her waiting but Adela assured her that it was no problem and not to worry. After giving Adela a curious look (the accent again) she smiled and took her order.

  She was gone a long time so Adela took out her maps whilst she waited. She looked up other places to visit whilst she was in Mississippi, such as Fort Massachusetts, which was in Gulfport on Ship Island, she would go there perhaps tomorrow. She studied the map of Gulfport she had picked up when she had booked her holiday to the states. There were some very interesting and exciting places she desperately wanted to visit while she was here.

  She decided to write down where she would visit next and when. She took out her notepad and pen and began to jot down the places that interested her most.

  After about fifteen minutes the waitress came back with her meal and Adela put aside her notepad, pen and maps and thanked her. The poor girl looked even more harassed and apologised again, and once again Adela told her not to worry, that she was in no hurry. Just then a man at a near by table yelled out, ‘hey, honey, when you’ve finished chatting about shoes and men maybe you could serve us, we been waiting here an hour or more.’ This wasn’t true as Adela had seen them walk in not ten minutes before. She smiled at the girl and whispered, ‘they’ve actually only just arrived, they’re just impatient.’

  The girl gave her a grateful smile but still looked worried. She said, ‘oh geez, I forget your coffee, I’ll get it.’

  Before Adela could say anything she had run behind the counter, grabbed the coffee pot and was hurrying back. As she poured the coffee a man came out of the kitchen area and called angrily, ‘hey you, Zoe or whatever, we have other customers you know.’

  Zoe or whatever jumped and spilt some of the coffee on the white tablecloth, she began to wipe it up with a cloth she had tucked into her apron apologising to Adela as she did so. Adela told her that it was not a problem and not to concern herself with it, but the girl continued to look agitated and scared. She said, ‘I’m new, this is only my second day and I’m not used to the pace yet.’

  Adela smiled in understanding, ‘you’ll get into it, if you can survive today,’ she nodded towards the table and the man who had yelled, ‘you can survive anything.’

  Zoe laughed and the impatient customer yelled again. ‘Hey you, little missy, get your cute little butt over here and take our order, some of us have work to get back to ya know.’

  Zoe turned to rush over to them but collided with the table directly behind her causing the coffee pot to fall from her hand and crash to the floor. Glass smashed and coffee spattered everywhere, including the loud man’s left shoe. He leapt up as though he’d been stung on the backside by a giant wasp. He yelled, ‘you idiot girl, what’s wrong with you.’

  Zoe just stood looking down at the mess around her feet as though if she stared at it long enough it would miraculously disappear.

  The man said, ‘well, don’t just stand there like an idiot, get something to wipe this crap offa my shoes.’

  This seemed to penetrate the girls stupefied stare because she immediately bent down and started to pick up the glass saying, ‘I’m sorry, so sorry.’

  Adela stood and up and rushed over to the girl and crouching down next to her put her hands on hers and said, ‘no, don’t, the coffee will still be hot and you’ll cut yourself on the glass. We need a dustpan and brush, could you go and get one, and a mop too?’

  The girl gave her a grateful look liking that she had used the word, “we.”

  The man said, ‘what about my shoes.’

  Adela stood up as the girl rushed off to get the dustpan and said, ‘it was one shoe and they’re synthetic not suede or anything, they won’t be ruined.’

  The man positively bristled, ‘and what would you know. Anyway, that hot coffee burnt my foot.’

  Adela almost laughed, ‘nonsense, it splashed on your shoe, not your foot, if you’d been burnt you’d have complained about that first and not your silly shoes.’

  The man couldn’t believe that this foreign piece had the nerve to talk to him like this. He took a menacing step towards her, ‘who you calling silly, bitch?’

  ‘Not you, your shoes, but now that you mention it.’

  Adele couldn’t believe she was confronting the man this way, she hated conformation and avoided it whenever possible, and he was a big man, a trucker by the looks of him. But he had made her mad with his rudeness.

  He took another step towards her but just then another man stepped in front of him. She had noticed him as he had entered the diner just after her, she recalled thinking how very tall he was, but not wanting to be caught staring she had looked down at her maps again. Now he had his back to her and was facing the rude man. He said very calmly, ‘now, why don’t you just use a napkin to dry off your shoes. And if you dislike the service in here so much perhaps you should go elsewhere to eat lunch.’

  The man’s face was almost purple as he spluttered ‘who you think you are, telling me where I can and can’t eat.’

  ‘I’m the guy whose gonna put you out on your ass in five seconds flat if you don’t haul it outta here right now.’

  The man gave a derisory laugh, ‘you and whose army pal?’

  The stranger took the rude man’s arm in a firm grip, took him a step to the side then leaned forward and said something in the man’s ear. Adela watched as the colour left the rude man’s face like paint being peeled off a wall with a paint stripper. He leaned back as if in shock then swallowed deeply before taking a step back. After looking at the tall man a moment longer he very quickly turned and left the diner.

  His friend, who had said nothing but had watched with amusement his friends ridiculing of the young waitress looked at the stranger who looked back, he said nothing but the man got the message; he stood up quickly and followed his friend out of the door.

  Adela was about to thank the man and ask him what he had said to the rude guy, but just then Zoe came back out of the kitchen carrying a dustpan and a mop. She was followed by the man who had shouted at her earlier. He was saying, ‘and when you’ve cleaned up your mess you can get yourself out of here, you�
�re hopeless, you’re useless and you’re fired.’

  Adela said, ‘now wait a minute, this wasn’t her fault, that rude man made her nervous, it was an accident.’

  The man looked at her for a moment taken aback then said, ‘she burned him with hot coffee.’

  ‘No she didn’t, he wasn’t burned at all, he was putting it on. Probably trying to get a free lunch or something.’

  The man looked around as if waiting for someone to back him up, no one did. Instead the stranger who had come to Adela’s rescue said, ‘she’s right, it splashed on his,’ he looked at Adela and smiled, ‘silly shoes, that’s all.’

  The man didn’t know what to do, his face flushed and he mumbled to the girl, ‘well, get this cleaned up anyway and get back to serving, there’s folks still waiting.’

  The girl bent down and began sweeping the glass into the dustpan and Adela said, ‘oh, and by the way, her name is Zoe.’ The man turned to look at her over his shoulder opened his mouth to say something, but his eye caught that of the tall man standing behind her and changed his mind, muttering under his breath he went back into the kitchen.

  Adela turned to the stranger and was about to speak when she stopped dead her mouth open, arrested by a pair of astonishing blue eyes surrounded by very long black eyelashes. She blinked several times to bring herself out of her haze and as usual when nervous found an outlet in humour. She said, ‘thank you for your assistance. I was just about to throw him out myself, but you saved me the trouble and prevented me from hurting him too.’

  The man said mock seriously, ‘well that’s why I intervened; I saw the way it was going and didn’t want my lunch spoiled by a lot of blood being spilt.’

  Adela looked at him for a moment in surprise then laughed, ‘thank you anyway.’

  ‘You’re welcome, Ma’am.’

  Adela with great difficulty turned from those dark blue eyes and took the mop Zoe had propped onto the table and began to mop around the other tables where the coffee had splashed. The other patrons near by moved their feet for her and grinned, they had enjoyed this little diversion very much.’

  Zoe said, ‘you don’t have to do that, Miss.’

  ‘I know, but it’s a habit, once a cleaner always a cleaner.’

  The girl gave her a curious glance then smiled, ‘thank you, ma’am.’

  Adela returned her smile, ‘you’re welcome.’

  The man took the dustpan from Zoë then bent down and held it for her as she brushed shards of glass into it. She gave him a shy look as she thanked him.

  Together they soon got everything in order and Zoe, her dustpan full of glass said to Adela, ‘I’ll get your coffee now and warm up your lunch.’

  Adela looked at her watch and said, ‘oh don’t worry, really, I have to catch a bus to at 4.30 and it’s almost that now.’

  ‘I’m so sorry; it’s my fault you haven’t eaten.’

  ‘Well I’m sure I won’t starve to death between now and the time I reach home.’

  Zoe laughed then turned to the man, ‘you haven’t eaten either.’

  He smiled and said, ‘I only wanted coffee, but I think I’ll pass. I’ve seen enough coffee to last me for a while.’

  Zoe blushed and he said quickly, ‘though it’s a pity you didn’t pour it over the guy's head, give him something to really complain about.'

  Zoe said, ‘maybe next time.'

  They all laughed and the guy said, ‘I’ll hold you to that, Zoë.’ The man once more yelled from the kitchen door, ‘hey you; haven’t you done with cleaning up that mess yet? Get in here.’

  Zoe said, ‘I’d better go, and thank you both again.’

  Simultaneously they said ‘you’re welcome.' Zoe turned to walk away but Adela took her arm, ‘listen, Zoe, it’s early days you’ll get better at it, but don’t let people like that rude customer put you off, not everyone is as bad mannered as he is, most people are really rather nice.’

  Zoe smiled, ‘I know,’ she turned to include the man in her glance, ‘I met two of them today.’

  Adela’s face turned pink, ‘goodbye then.’

  Zoe said, ‘bye, and thanks again. Then ran back into the kitchen.

  Adela turned to the man and said, ‘once more, thank you for your help. Goodbye.’

  The man nodded but said nothing so she turned and went back to her table to collect her things and leave a twenty dollar tip for Zoë. When she turned around the tall man was still standing where she had left him, looking at her. She smiled at him as she went to walk past him to the door but he kept in step with her. He said, ‘I thought I’d walk out with you, make sure that silly, rude guy isn’t waiting outside.

  She frowned knowing he was making fun of her. She said, ‘I’m sure he isn’t,’ and made to open the door but he reached around her and opened it for her and they stepped out into the street.

  He looked up and down the street, seemingly satisfied that the guy wasn’t hanging around he turned to her, ‘I wasn’t making fun just then, you were right he was rude and he was silly.’ He put his head on one side in a very endearing way before continuing, ‘I just wanted to make sure you were all right, that’s all.’

  ‘It has been proved to me over and over since I’ve been here that southern manners is no myth.’

  He grinned, ‘we have to look after our tourists. If everyone was like that guy in there no one would ever come here and the economy would be in serious trouble.’

  She laughed and said, ‘well, whatever the reason, thank you again.’ She looked down the street then at her watch before saying, ‘I really must go now, I have a bus to catch.

  He said, ‘which way are you headed?’

  ‘Towards Gulfport, I’m staying near there.’

  ‘I’m headed that way myself, I could give you a ride.’

  She didn’t want to appear rude or ungrateful to this man, this man with the oh so handsome face and the blue, blue eyes, but she didn’t know him, he could be lying about heading her way. He seemed nice and genuine and had helped her out today, but she knew she had to be so careful, and accepting lifts from a strange man was not being careful.

  She said, ‘oh no, really, the bus will be along shortly.’

  He put his head on one side again, ‘I know what you’re thinking, but I swear I have no ulterior motive except to see you safely home. Look, I’m staying in a place called Eden so…

  ‘Eden?’ She interrupted in amazement.

  ‘Yes, why?’

  ‘I’m staying there too.’

  His surprise matched hers, ‘at the Horse and Hind?’

  ‘No, in a cabin nearby.’

  ‘Oh yes, I’ve seen those, they look very nice, you’re very lucky to be staying there.’

  ‘Yes, they are nice. But I’m sure the Horse and Hind is a very nice hotel too.’

  ‘Yes, it’s very comfortable, and Izzy Roebuck is a very charming hostess.’ He nodded to her bag, ‘I noticed your maps spread out on the table in the diner. Did you get them from the little book store next to the barbers shop?’

  ‘No, from the travel agent, but I…’ she stopped talking realising what he’d done. She smiled, ‘okay, okay, you’re staying in Eden.’

  He grinned knowing he’d won,’ He put his hand on the small of her back and gestured with his arm saying, ‘my car is this way.’

  She smiled at him, ‘my name is Adela Faraday and I thank you, Mr…?’

  ‘Hennessey, Sterling Hennessey, and it’s no trouble, Miss. Faraday, no trouble at all.’

  CHAPTER 13.

  Hennessey wondered for the tenth time if it had been a good idea to use his real name on this particular assignment, he never had before, but had had an overwhelming urge to use it one last time. Only his real first name granted, but Hennessey was a family name too... his mother's maiden name in fact...which he used most of the time, at least that was the name his clients, such as Glissando, knew him as. Maybe it had not been wise, but a little devil had gotten hold of him and he had thought, why
not, this would be the last time he would ever use it. When this “assignment” was over he would never use it again. It would be kinda book- ending his career.

  Besides, once he had done what he intended to do he would be long gone, never to come back to this country and it felt good to use his real name for once, it had been a long time.

  He had watched through binoculars from his hotel window as she walked around Eden before she caught the bus. She was wearing white shorts and a T-shirt almost the exact same colour as the hat she had purchased the day before, and the T-shirt emphasised her ample breasts over which hung a necklace of big beads in blue and white and a pair of binoculars.

  She had great boobs, quite big for a such a small woman, high and well rounded and he had to admit that she had a fine pair of legs on her, slim yet muscular and just the right shade of brown. The plait she had pulled her hair into swung back and forth against her ass as she walked. He noticed the distinctive watch she was wearing; it had a big square face and a wide red strap. Again he could not see her face properly for the hat but he could see her smiling and chatting to people as they passed. She was certainly a very friendly woman, and he would use that friendliness to his advantage, it would no doubt help him to catch her alone. A chance always came along you just had to be prepared when it did, and this trip to Biloxi might just be that chance.

  He had intended to wait for The Target to leave and then search her cabin; he might be lucky and find something that would help him in his search for Desi. Although he didn’t think she would leave any incriminating evidence like a diary lying around, she was too smart for that, but you never knew.

  He had also wanted to check out the best place to conceal himself in the cabin so as to take her by surprise. If there was no safe hiding place his next step would be to check out the woods, he knew she would get to exploring them eventually. Jonas Lando had not actually said she explored by herself, but if he had seen her it was only one small step to the conclusion that she had met him in the woods, he could not envision Lando making house calls.