The Devil To Pay (Hennessey.)

by Marnie Perry

  She could only stare at him in stunned amazement. She eventually found her voice and said quietly and with concern, ‘did you kill the policeman outside my cabin?’

  He kept her gaze for a moment as if considering something before saying, ‘no. I just shocked him then knocked him out, he’ll be all right. I don’t kill people for no reason.’

  She didn’t quite know how to take that but said, ‘no, you just beat them senseless.’

  He shrugged. When she didn’t speak again he said, ‘I am very sorry about the discomfort you suffered on the journey. But I was afraid you might start struggling again and I didn’t want to hurt you any more than I already had.’

  Sarcasm was not something she indulged in too often but her fear seemed to have brought it to the fore. ‘And I’m feeling very comfortable right at this moment.’ She turned her head to glance over her shoulder at her bound hands.

  'I’m sorry about that but I don't want you to start fighting me again and I need you to sit and listen while I explain.'

  'Oh I think it's pretty self explanatory.'

  He smiled a rather sad smile, ‘you know, Miss. Faraday, you’re much too nice, not too mention too smart to resort to sarcasm. However, I do get your point and once again I apologise.'

  She could feel the anger growing in her and she snapped, ‘stop saying that, stop saying you’re sorry for my discomfort, stop saying you’re sorry for hurting me, you’re not sorry or I wouldn’t be sitting here now like this and you wouldn’t be sitting there saying it.’

  He arched his eyebrows in surprise then his face darkened for a moment and Adela felt a ripple of fear pass through her which replaced the anger. But he said quite gently, ‘I’ll loosen the bindings if you give me your word you won’t try to fight me again or to escape, it won’t do you any good and I don’t want things to get any worse for you.’

  The ripple increased to a shudder at his words but his expression was not threatening only placating, almost pleading.

  She glared at him then took a deep breath before saying, ‘I give you my word.’ She crossed her fingers behind her back.

  He stared into her eyes for a moment as if weighing up her words then stood up and walked behind her taking a knife out of his belt. Adela startled and frightened tried to jump up but he pushed her gently back down with his free hand saying, ‘don’t worry, I’m just using the knife to cut the tape, okay?’

  She didn’t reply but he felt the tremble pass through her. He cut the tape binding her hands to the chair then the tape holding her wrists together. She bowed her head as the blood began to flow back into her hands bringing pain; she moaned and bit her bottom lip hard. Then to her surprise he began to massage her wrists and lower arms.

  She jerked forward and tried to pull her hands away but he held on, ‘you’ll be more comfortable with some feeling back in your hands.’ She had to admit even now that he was very gentle, but then he always had been, specially when, no, she wouldn’t go there, she was in enough turmoil as it was. She told herself that his gentleness, his concern and compassion meant nothing, it never had.

  She made one huge effort and pulled her hands free. She heard him sigh as he said, ‘suit yourself.’ Then holding both of her wrists with one of his own she heard the tape being pulled from the roll again. She didn’t try to fight him as he wrapped the tape around her wrists this time though this time not as tightly as previously nor did he tie them to the chair. Then he walked around her and squatting down cut the tape keeping her feet secured to the chair releasing them. Again she bowed her head and bit her lip as feeling once again came back into her feet.

  He hesitated a few moments but this time he did not attempt to massage her feet instead he said, ‘move your toes back and forth.’ She was in two minds not to do as he said, but knew that was stupid, it wouldn’t harm him if she refused to help herself. He gave her a few moments before tying her ankles together again with the tape, this time not tying them to the chair.

  The words “thank you,” came to her lips but she swallowed them, she would be damned before she showed gratitude to this man again. He rolled the used tape up into a ball and tossed it onto the floor.

  She looked down at the ball of tape; he followed her gaze and smiled then bent down to pick it up and threw it into the empty fireplace, ‘sorry, bad habit, I’m not a very tidy person and I’m not used to having guests.’

  She looked at him incredulously but before she could say the inevitable he held up his hand, ‘I know, bad choice of words.'

  She stared at him until he turned and sat down again in the same position he had been in previously. Adela was astonished at how calm he was, so in control, so unconcerned by what he’d done. He said, ‘feel a little better now?'

  She didn’t reply just continued to look at him. He said, ‘I wish you’d take some of the pills I offered.' Again she didn't reply. He sighed, 'look, I'm sorry for keeping you restrained but it is for your own safety, I don't want you fighting me again, and we do need to talk. I want to explain...everything. Then maybe you'll understand.'

  'Oh I think it's pretty self explanatory.'

  He gave a wry smile, 'believe me, it is anything but.'

  She looked surprised and sceptical at the same time but she took him by surprise when she asked ‘why did you use that phoney French accent?’

  He gave a sheepish smile, ‘it was just an extra precaution, I thought that if my plans went wrong and you escaped me somehow you wouldn’t have known it was me, therefore couldn’t tell the cops that I was your would be abductor, I didn’t want them to know I was still in Mississippi.’ She was amazed afresh at his forward planning, ‘but I forgot how smart you were, how perceptive. I thought my accent was almost perfect, after all I’ve been speaking French most of my life.’

  ‘You accent was perfect, but even the very best of us slip up and use terms in a foreign language we use in our own.’

  ‘Oh? And where did I slip up?’

  “Is all.”

  He gave an almost embarrassed laugh, ‘oops.’

  ‘Yes, oops.’ She agreed ironically.

  She looked around her and nodded at the two lamps saying, ‘nice ambience.’

  He laughed, ‘I know it’s not very, what was that word you once used? Oh yes, salubrious, but think of it as camping out, you did say you would like to go camping with me didn’t you?

  She looked away from his teasing gaze and didn’t answer that but instead asked, ‘where are we?’

  His eyes narrowed as he studied her face obviously wondering how much to tell her, apparently he thought it safe to tell her something because he said, ‘suffice it to say we’re a long way from your cabin?’

  Her heart sank, ‘where exactly?’

  He smiled, ‘you mean in longitude and latitude terms?’

  She gave him an impatient look, ‘no, just where in Mississippi?’

  He looked down at his hands before looking back at her, ‘we’re not in Mississippi any more.’

  Her shock was plain to see as she stammered, ‘not…not in Mississippi.’ He shook his head. ‘You’re lying. We couldn’t have driven out of the state; you wouldn’t have taken such a risk transporting me so far.’

  ‘Depending where you are in a particular state the next isn’t really so far.’

  He could see her trying to figure out how far they might have been travelling and where they might be in relation to Eden. He was right, she was, but she was also thinking what a consummate liar he was, he might be lying now, he probably was. They might have only been driving twenty minutes before all she knew, they could even be in Gulfport. Yes, he was just trying to disconcert and scare her, as if she wasn’t disconcerted and scared enough as it was. She said. ‘I still don’t believe you. Taking a kidnap victim over a state line is a federal offence; you wouldn’t want to have the FBI hunting you as well as the Mississippi police department.’

  He looked at her for a moment his face impassive before he smiled, ‘I forgot your fondness for
crime novels. But your concern for me is very heartening.’

  She glared at him, ‘I’m not in the least concerned about you. In fact I hope we have crossed the state line then you don’t stand a chance of escaping.’ She tried to sound confident but her eyes belied her words.

  He smiled and shrugged simultaneously, ‘having a federal agency hunting me is an occupational hazard.’

  Her blood turned cold at his words, so he was a criminal, a con man, a fraudster, she didn’t even want to think about what else he might be. She wondered whether to mention the raincoat she had given to Detective Leyton but thought that was something she should keep to herself for now. She said, ‘I still think you’re lying, if we’re so far from civilisation why the need for this?’ She gestured over her shoulder to her bound hands.

  He leaned towards her over the back of his chair, ‘they're mostly for your protection, I don’t want you thinking you can just leave this cabin and find help, you’ll get into trouble out there.’

  ‘And I’m in no trouble in here of course.’

  He sounded a little exasperated now, ‘all you need to know is that we’re a long way from civilisation, the nearest town is fifteen miles away and that’s so small it isn’t even on the map, the inhabitants probably haven’t even heard of phones. Not to mention that we’re surrounded by thick dense woods full of dangerous animals, panthers being only one of them. And surrounding the woods are dangerous swamps.’ He leaned back and finished, ‘so please don’t get any ideas about trying to escape; you wouldn’t get half a mile.’

  She kept his gaze with difficulty but she wanted her eyes to convey her disgust for him.

  He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, ‘look, I am telling you this to frighten you, but only because I don’t want you to get any stupid ideas about running from me, you’ll get hurt or worse, far worse.’

  She looked away not wanting to look at his face or hear his words any longer.

  There followed a short silence until she said, ‘do you know that Dean might be crippled for life.’

  Again he seemed taken aback by the sudden change of subject but shrugged, ‘he got what he deserved.’

  She sprung back in her seat astounded, ‘what he deserved? Because you don’t like him, because you resent him, that makes it all right for you to beat him into unconsciousness?’

  ‘My not liking him or resenting him had nothing to do with it.’

  ‘Then what did?’

  He studied her for a long moment then shrugged, ‘it really doesn’t matter now. But the only thing I regret about that day is hurting you, I never meant that to happen.’

  She ignored the last part, ‘maybe it doesn’t matter to you, you’re not the one lying in hospital waiting to hear the results of tests to tell you whether you’ll be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of your life or not.’

  ‘I’ll bet if I ask if you wish I were you wouldn’t say no would you?’ She opened her mouth then closed it biting her bottom lip and looked away. He smiled an ironic smile and said, ‘see.’

  She looked up and into his eyes before saying, ‘I would never wish such a fate on anyone, no, not even you.’

  He looked back frowning obviously trying to figure her out. He said, ‘you care a great deal about people, that much was obvious from the start when you defended that silly little waitress.’

  She said nothing but lowered her eyes not wanting to be reminded of that day, the day she had met him. Eventually she

  said, ‘I don’t understand. I don’t understand why you would take such a risk to kidnap me just to prevent me from testifying against you. You could have left the state, even the country by now, why risk being caught?’

  His eyes searched hers and hers his, what he saw in hers she didn’t know, but what she saw in his was a certain gentleness and also a touch of sorrow mixed with regret and this frightened her more than any amount of menace or anger could have done.

  His tone was gentle but firm as he said, ‘that’s not why I abducted you, this has nothing to do with Dean Maxwell.’

  She frowned not understanding. If that wasn't the reason he had abducted her then why? The only other thing that came to mind was that he was going to ask her family for a ransom for her.

  He took a deep breath and said, ‘this is about Desdemona, I believe you would know her as Desi.

  CHAPTER 29.

  He watched the emotions flicker across her face, confusion, realisation, horror, panic then the blood drained slowly from her face leaving it white and blanched and for a moment he thought she was about to pass out. He made to rise from his chair to catch her before she fell but she suddenly took a deep breath and seemed to rally although she couldn’t hide the shaking of her body. She swallowed several times before saying not very convincingly, ‘I...I have no idea what that means.’

  He sat back down and smiled, ‘of course I would expect you to deny it, you’re hardly likely to admit it up front. But I know that you know exactly who I’m talking about.’

  Her voice was slightly firmer that it had been, ‘I don’t. The only Desdemona I know is a character in Shakespeare’s Othello.’

  ‘Only that Desdemona was never called Desi was she, and this one was. However, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and say you might have known her by another name. But whatever name she gave you her name is Desi, although that wasn’t her given name of course. So since I am giving you the benefit of the doubt I’ll describe her to you, about five eight or nine, slim, shoulder length dark hair, brown eyes, very pretty, very pretty indeed.’

  ‘I still don’t know…The denial died on her lips as he held up his hand, ‘please, Miss. Faraday, don’t deny it again, your face, not to mention your reaction when I mentioned her name gave you away. You went as white as a sheet.’

  ‘That’s because I…I feel unwell.’ There was a lot of truth in that statement.

  He looked at her for a moment then got up and reached for the water bottle he had put on the table, unscrewed the top and put the bottle to her lips. This time she did not refuse but drank until the bottle was almost empty.

  He removed the bottle from her lips and put it back on the table and sat down again. He said softly ‘better?’ She nodded, ‘look, I know bringing up Desi’s name was a shock to you,’ she opened her mouth to refute his claim that she knew Desi but he held up his hand again, ‘no please, don’t waste your breath. Whichever name she gave you I know for a fact that you know who I’m talking about. So let’s not waste time and energy arguing about it.’

  She closed her mouth again and he said, ‘thank you, or should I say, much obliged?’

  She gave him a disdainful look and he smiled then reached into his pocket and pulled out something which he held out in front of him his arm extended towards her, ‘I found this and I recognised it immediately. It’s a buckle from a shoe I’ve seen Desi wear a few times; there were two on each shoe. Now of course there’s one shoe with a missing buckle.’

  She stared at the buckle; she too had seen it before, on Olivia’s shoes when she had been in the cabin in Alabama. She fought the wave of nausea that overcame her as she stammered, ‘you…you’ve been in my cabin in Alabama.’ As soon as she’d said it she knew she had made a mistake, but her fear and terror was so great she was incapable of thinking rationally. He gave a rather pitying smile, he had her and she knew it, she bowed her head in defeat. She was doomed.

  He said, ‘I met your friend there.’

  Her head snapped up, ‘m…my friend?’

  ‘Yes, Jonas Lando.’

  He didn’t think it was possible but her face whitened still further and her voice came from deep in her throat as she said, ‘you…you didn’t…didn’t…

  He helped her out, ‘kill him?’ He shook his head, ‘no, I didn’t kill him. In fact he got the drop on me as I was coming out of your cabin, held a rifle on me while he searched me, he found my gun of course but I talked my way out of it. Told him I was the realtor, it helped that I disguised
myself as the real agent. Although I’m not sure if he bought it, probably not, but then he knew where you were going next so if he had been suspicious he would have found some way to contact you, or called the police. But then he being the unsociable, unfriendly hermit he is he perhaps wouldn’t bother, too much like getting involved with something that doesn’t concern him. Anyway, I was most impressed by your Mr. Lando. You know I was right about him, he is an ex -con, he’s also an ex -cop but had to quit the job on account he had to spend time in prison for murder.’

  Her eyes widened, ‘mu…murder?’

  ‘Yes, killed his wife, apparently.’

  She was stunned but said, ‘you’re lying, if he’d been to jail for murder he would still be there.’

  ‘There were mitigating circumstances apparently. But he got the maximum sentence for his particular crime, three years.’

  She looked away from him thinking about Jonas Lando. She did not right then realise the incongruity of thinking about someone else’s problems whilst she herself looked death in the face. Because she suspected that Hennessey intended to kill her, but not before he had squeezed every last piece of information about Olivia out of her. Well that was one thing she wouldn’t tell him, she knew now there was no use lying about her connection to Olivia, she had walked right into his trap…again. But there was one thing he couldn’t get out of her and that was where Olivia went.

  But maybe he wouldn’t kill her. He was an expert at deceit and subterfuge but she had seen sincerity in his face and eyes when he had told her he never meant to hurt her. Maybe when he had got what he wanted or at least all she could tell him he would just leave her here, calling the police anonymously once he was out of the country.

  Hennessey watched her face closely. There was shock there, about Lando being a murderer no doubt, but there was also something else that surprised him…although knowing her as he did it shouldn’t have, there was compassion in her eyes too, compassion for Lando.

  Although he had come to know her quite well in the days they had spent together she still had the power to amaze him, which was rare with the women he met. He had expected her to cry and plead and beg to be released when she had realised her situation but instead she had looked at him with a disgust she did not attempt to hide. She had stood up to him and told him what she thought of him in no uncertain terms. Although she had been terrified when she had woken in the truck she had not panicked and cried, except for that one little sob which had wrenched at his heart before he had hardened it again.