The Devil To Pay (Hennessey.)

by Marnie Perry

  The voice spoke again softly and solicitously, ‘lie down please and try not to panic, you’re all right, the restraints are just a precaution, I didn’t want a repeat of what happened in your cabin.’ His voice became low as though he was speaking to himself, ‘it was not my intention to hurt you.’

  She froze as the details of what had happened at the cabin came back more clearly to her. She moaned again. He put a hand on her back, she flinched and tried to move back but the top of her head hit something, something hard. He removed his hand and muttered, ‘merde.’ The he added, ‘won’t be long now, we’re almost there.’ This time his words registered, she knew now she was lying in the front seat of a car and it was the seatbelt that was keeping her from sitting up. She was in a car going God’s knows where with a man who had kidnapped her from her own cabin in full view of other cabins and a watchful cop. She recalled then what he had said about her bodyguard as he had called the cop, that he wouldn’t be coming to her rescue, what had he done to him, hurt him? Or worse? Her heart began to thump painfully against her ribs as she whimpered. He said, ‘try to relax, another few miles is all.’

  She froze and her heart pounded even faster in her chest as the truth came to her. A truth that in her heart she had known from the second she had sensed the strange presence in her living room. A truth she had known all through the fight in her cabin. A truth she did not want to acknowledge. What Frenchman would use the idiom “is all?” None. But she had heard it said many times since she’d been in this country, and most recently from Sterling Hennessey, she recalled how she had laughed when he’d said it.

  Her throat tightened threatening to choke her and she thought her heart would beat right out of her chest. She tried to push the gag out with her tongue but it was too tight, a knot had been tied in the cloth across her mouth. She tried desperately to calm herself by taking deep breaths, but it was very difficult with the cloth over her face. She tried desperately not to think of her last conversation with Detective Leyton and what he told her. She tried to concentrate on something else, but that was hard also when her entire body ached and the fear was like a living breathing entity enveloping her bit by bit until it almost consumed her.

  She tried to listen to any sounds that might give away their location, people, traffic, animals, water, anything, but all she could think about was what did Sterling Hennessey want with her. Why had he risked coming to the cabin to kidnap her? Where was he taking her and what would he do to her when they got there? She began to tremble and her teeth chattered as much as they could with the gag between them.

  He noticed and said gently, ‘look, I know you’re frightened, but it’ll be okay. Two miles or so and then we’ll be at our destination.’

  If he thought that fact would reassure her he was sadly mistaken. Two miles, two miles to God knew what. The only thing she could think of to explain his actions was that he wanted to keep her from testifying against him if he was caught. But why do that? He could have left the country by now, why risk coming back for her. And why if he wanted her silenced didn’t he just kill her at the cabin, why kidnap her? It made no sense.

  Just then a jolt sent her almost through the roof of the vehicle; she groaned painfully through the gag and buried her face in the seat as a pain shot through her legs and arms, particularly on her thigh where she had fallen in the bathroom.

  His tone was very sincere as he said, ‘I’m sorry, this place is off the beaten track and full of holes, I tried to avoid them but in the dark it’s almost impossible. Are you all right?’

  If she had not been so numb with terror and in so much pain she would have laughed, he had sounded so solicitous as though he was genuinely concerned, but then hadn’t he always. He said, ‘sorry, that was a stupid question. But I’ll try to go slower.’

  How considerate he was she thought sarcastically, I must remember to thank him just before he does whatever he’s going to do to me. The trembling increased and she jumped again as she heard a noise behind her then something was put over her legs. She flinched thinking it was his hand, she tried to throw it off, but he said in that fake French accent that was really beginning to irritate her, ‘it’s okay, it’s just a jacket to keep you warm, you’re shivering.’

  If she could have she would have said, “oh really? I wonder why.”

  She tried to throw the jacket off but he put it back on and tucked it around her. She had no energy for another attempt, besides he might get angry and…and what? Hurt her? Kill her? He was going to do that anyway, that much was obvious.

  She felt tears begin to work their way up from her throat to her eyes and her nose began to tingle as she tried to suppress them, but it was hard when she thought of what was about to happen to her. She would never go home again, she would never live in her new house. She would never see Daniel and David and Sally and their children again. All that money she had won that had enabled her to take this trip of a life time, this trip she had dreamed about since childhood all it had brought her was heartache and pain and terror. She felt the tears begin to trickle from her eyes and she gave a little sob. She felt him move beside her and thought he was about to touch her again, she flinched and heard him sigh then move back.

  At that moment a wave of bitterness washed over her, a revulsion that was almost palpable which turned into a hatred so strong it almost choked her. And in it that moment she decided that she would fight him in every way she could, she wouldn’t beat him in a psychical fight but she would fight with everything else left to her.

  She would not let him see her mental anguish, her fear, her heartache. And she would look for any opportunity to thwart his plans, to beat him, to escape, she would probably fail but in the words of one of her favourite fictional characters, at least she would die trying.

  She tried again to concentrate on where they might be, he had said this place was off the beaten track, so maybe that meant woods, he had said he spent a lot of time in Mississippi and liked to explore the woods. And by the jolting they were obviously driving over very rough ground consistent with a wooded area, and with her tied up like this he would hardly risk driving through populated areas.

  The vehicle was obviously a Jeep or truck of some kind with no back seats, otherwise he would have put her in the back or even in the trunk, that thought made her shiver again but she gritted her teeth and pulled herself together. She strained to listen for sounds of

  any kind, but it was hard to hear anything because of the material covering her face. But she thought she heard a motor, maybe an aeroplane, not overhead but not in the far distance either, and not a large aircraft but maybe a light plane, it sounded as though it was either landing or taking off, so maybe there was an airfield nearby. Or, she thought with sudden clarity, a motor boat. She listened for sounds of a river or stream, anything to give her a clue as to where they might be.

  But he had said that she had been out longer than he had thought she would be, so she had no idea how long they had been travelling, it could have been thirty minutes, an hour, two hours, maybe longer.

  Suddenly the vehicle slowed and she heard gravel beneath the wheels then they slowed as the vehicle turned then stopped completely. She felt as though her heart had stopped too as he said, ‘we’re here at last.’ She felt him release his own seatbelt then open his door and get out of the vehicle.

  She heard his footsteps on the gravel as he walked around to her side of the car and her heart began beating again hard and painfully. She felt a breeze blow the material which covered her face as he opened her door; she flinched as he reached across her and he hesitated before unfastening the seatbelt. Then he removed the jacket from her legs and she heard him put it on. Her whole body tensed as he put one arm under her legs and another around her waist and began to lift her up.

  This was the first time she noticed that she was wearing her sandals; he must have put them on her after he’d knocked her out because she had definitely been barefoot before that. She was pleased about that, now was t
he time to show him she wouldn’t go easily, as he lifted her out of the car she shifted her body so that her knees were drawn up and with her bound feet kicked out at him, she only caught the side of his body but she heard him gasp not with pain but surprise. She kicked her legs and threw her body back and forth, but he was very strong as well she knew and he drew her further to him in a firm hold so that she found it hard to breath. She felt him lift his foot then heard the car door slam shut then she was being carried still struggling across the gravely path. He climbed up three steps and stopped, she heard a door being opened and he carried her like a bride over the threshold into a room. He walked a few paces before the door banged shut behind them, then they were inside somewhere.

  Through the cloth over her face she could just make out that they were in a small room but not much else. He carried her across the room then placed her still struggling down onto a chair. She tried to get up, a futile gesture since her ankles were bound together but it was a gesture of non-compliance and that’s what she wanted to show him. He held her down easily with one hand and with the other he reached for something from the floor. Then she heard the sound of tape being torn from a roll and then he was wrapping it around her hands binding them to the back of the chair, she struggled and tried to kick out at him on as he fastened her feet to the bar underneath the chair. The he stood up straight and she could just make out his silhouette standing still looking down at her.

  He said quite gently, ‘struggling like that won’t help you and you’ll only hurt yourself.’ Then she saw his hand come up and she snapped her head to the side thinking he was about to hit her. His hand immediately became still in mid air, then he slowly reached out and pulled the cover from her head.

  Although the room was not brightly lit what little light there was hurt her eyes from being in darkness for so long, she blinked rapidly trying to bring everything into focus. She could just make out that he had something in his hand, her first thought was that it was a gun and that this was it, he was going to shoot her right now. But to her surprise she realised it was a phone. He put it in his pocket then moved behind her and once again she tensed and once again he paused before untying the knot that held the gag in place.

  The pain shot through her jaw and despite her resolve not to let him see her discomfort she bowed her head and moaned. He said softly, ‘I’ll get you some water and some pain killers.’ He walked past her but before getting the water he walked to the front door, turned the key in the lock and drew across two bolts top and bottom. Then he went into another part of the room which she supposed was the kitchen, although it was so small kitchen hardly described it accurately.

  She looked around her and saw the place was a very small cabin nothing more than a shack really although it was clean; the light came from two oil lamps one behind her and one in front on a small table. There was a makeshift bed in the far corner with what looked like clean fresh linen on it. She was sitting at the far side of the room away from the front door next to a small fireplace which was not lit but was very dirty and obviously hadn’t been used for a long time, like the cabin itself. She noticed the windows were boarded up, obviously so that she could not see out and also no one could see in, of course he would want privacy for what he intended to do, her heart sank. To her left there was another door which probably led into a bedroom or maybe the bathroom.

  He brought a bottle of water over to her pulled off the cap and held two pills and the water to her very dry lips. More than anything in the world right now, apart from her freedom of course, she wanted to drink that water, she was so thirty it was painful but she would not give him the satisfaction of taking anything from him. She looked away and he said, ‘now don’t be stupid, you must be almost faint with thirst, and in pain, take these and you’ll feel much better.’

  She looked up at him, ‘at least you’ve dropped that phoney French accent.’ She had tried to sound disparaging but her voice came out nothing more than a hoarse croak.

  He frowned whether at her words or her croaky voice she wasn’t sure but then he smiled a rather self deprecating smile, ‘sorry about that, but I thought it necessary until we were safe.’

  Her voice was high pitched and croaky now as she said, ‘safe?’ She pulled at the bonds that held her to the chair, ‘oh yes, I feel very safe.’

  He sighed deeply, ‘I’m sorry about that, but that’s also necessary, for now anyway.’

  She opened her mouth to speak again but instead began to cough; he held the bottle to her lips again, ‘drink some of this, please.’ She was taken aback by the “please.” Looking at the water she couldn’t prevent herself from licking her lips but then pursed them stubbornly.

  He was obviously trying to control his impatience as he said, ‘we need to talk, and I’d rather you could speak without that frog in your throat, and at least if not comfortable, then not dying of thirst.’

  She looked up sharply when he said “we need to talk.” But remained stubborn.

  He gave another heartfelt sigh and said, ‘all right, maybe we can talk tomorrow instead, if you’ve stopped being stubborn by then and feel more like drinking some water of course.’

  She stared at him then at the water and once more licked her lips before nodding.

  He didn’t smile or smirk as she had expected him to at her compliance but looked relieved and held the bottle to her lips. She was ashamed at how eagerly she drank the water; the feeling of the cool clear liquid sliding down her throat was exquisite. She drank deeply until she spluttered and the water ran down her chin and onto her chest. She pushed the bottle away with her tongue. He held out the tablets saying, ‘stick out your tongue.’

  As much pain as she was in she would not give in to him again. She said, ‘I don’t want any pills.’

  ‘They’re not poison you know. Would you like me to take one to prove it.’

  ‘If they were poison I would say please do, take them all.’

  He stared at her for a moment then gave a wry laugh, ‘I understand how you feel.’

  She said softly but with conviction, ‘no, I don’t think you do, you never really did.’

  He stared at her for a moment a look of surprise and something else she could not define on his face. Then he turned, hooked a foot round the leg of a chair, dragged it towards him and sat straddling it leaning his forearms on the back of it. He said, ‘oh, I think I got to know you pretty well in the time we spent together, Miss. Faraday.’

  She fought against it but could not control the heat that rose from her chest to her face and forced her eyes to the ground. He knew what she was thinking of course and said quickly, ‘for instance I know you’re quiet and shy, a bit of shrinking violet, I know you don’t like confrontation, but I learned that you don’t let any of those things stop you from speaking your mind, from intervening when you see an injustice being done. You’re gutsy and feisty as you proved just now and at your cabin earlier. But even though I know those things about you I keep underestimating you, your strength and your fighting spirit. I thought back at the cabin that you would be too terrified to fight, that you would just comply with my demands, but I was taken by surprise when you fought back.’

  She stared at him keeping his gaze, determined to show him she would not be intimidated by him or her situation. ‘Well next time I’m abducted from my home I’ll try to be more accommodating.’

  He chuckled then was quickly serious again, ‘but please believe I never meant to hurt you, and if it’s any consolation… which it probably isn’t…I didn’t hit you as such. I used a technique I learned, there are certain pressure points on the body and if manipulated correctly cause a person to black out. But it leaves them with a pain in the place where pressure was exerted, in your case neck pain, and a headache.’

  She said, ‘you’re right, it is no consolation,’ she coughed and swallowed painfully before adding, ‘pain is pain however it’s inflicted.’

  He had the good grace to lower his eyes for a moment and nod in
agreement. He said, ‘I know. I’m sorry that I had to do what I did.’

  ‘Oh really? Did someone have a gun at your head forcing you to do it?’ She returned, her tone rich with sarcasm, ‘oh no, of course not, you’re the one who carries the gun.’

  He looked into her eyes, noting the tension and the dark shadows around them before saying, ‘I did what I did to prevent you from being hurt any more than I could help. I didn’t want to…

  She cut him off, ‘you shocked me with something.’

  Again he lowered his eyes for a second before looking back at her, ‘yes. I did intend to use that to immobilize you momentarily, but as I said things got out of hand. I believe you thought I was going to rape you when I pulled you towards the bed, but I did that only so you wouldn’t fall on the hard floor when I…

  ‘Immobilised me?’ Again she cut him off and he gave a deep heartfelt sigh and nodded, ‘I see now that was a bad idea since it caused you to start fighting back. My intention was to overcome you when you were asleep in bed but of course you slept on the sofa, ‘his expression told her he knew why she had slept there and not in the bed, ‘I was going to grab you then but you got up and went into the bathroom and I thought I’d better not stop you since we had a long journey ahead of us. Then I had to act quickly because you sensed my presence in the house didn’t you?’

  He was good she thought, she had sensed a presence in the cabin and he had sensed that she had. She said, ‘I didn’t before that.’

  ‘No, I was under the floor.’

  She frowned and knowing what she was about to ask he satisfied her curiosity, ‘I discovered that some of those cabins have a trapdoor under the floor which comes out in the kitchen. In fact it was those awful Carter kids who put me on to it, I saw them sneaking in and out of their own cabin when I called on you one day.’