The Devil To Pay (Hennessey.) (10 page)

He turned to Olivia who eyed him warily and looked ready to run at any moment. He said, ‘you who they looking for, huh.’

It wasn’t a question so Olivia did not answer but Adela did, ‘they lied about her, she’s not a thief, but they
are
bad men, they tried to abduct Ol…her, last night, I stopped them.’

Lando’s eyes widened at this and Adela saw the disbelief in them. This she took exception too, he obviously did not believe that
she
could do such a thing. She raised her chin and squared her shoulders, ‘I scared them off and prevented the abduction.’ Now Adela saw something she thought never to see in Jonas Lando’s eyes, amusement. This roused her ire as nothing else could and as if he’d actually laughed in her face she said angrily, ‘I don’t care what you think, it’s true, it happened, and now they’ve come back to finish what they started.

The amusement Adela had glimpsed disappeared as he turned to look at Olivia; his eyes raked her up and down, taking in her cut lip and bruised cheek, at her oddly fitting clothes, at the hat hanging down her back by the yellow ribbons. He had of course seen Adela wearing that hat on more than one occasion and possibly the T-shirt too. He stared into Olivia’s eyes as if searching for something, the truth probably. Olivia stood up straight as she endured his scrutiny then as if he’d actually spoken his thoughts out loud she said, ‘and
I
don’t care what you believe either, I’m no thief.’

Lando narrowed his eyes for a moment then said, ‘and
I
don’t give a rat’s ass who or what you are, but I
do
care that strangers come invading my privacy, so the sooner you get on your way the better,’ he turned to look at Adela before adding meaningfully, ‘for everyone’s sake.’

Adela knew that he was telling her, to distance herself from this girl, that she was trouble.

She said haughtily, ‘thank you for your help…and the advice, Mr. Lando, but I believe her and I’m going to help her.’ She turned to Olivia, ‘come on, let’s go back to my cabin and have something to eat and then we’ll decide what to do.’ She knew she did not have to ask Lando not to say anything to anyone about what had happened she knew he wouldn’t. He never interfered if he could help it, and he would most certainly not go to the police, he wouldn’t want them poking around his home.

Lando looked at her intently before shrugging and saying, ‘it’s your funeral.’ His words sent a shiver down Adela’s spine but she kept his gaze steadily hoping he would not see how his words had affected her. He let his eyes rest on Olivia for a moment before turning and walking away.

They watched him go then Olivia turned to Adela and said, ‘I’m sorry, he’ll cause trouble for you, I’d better go.’ She turned to walk away but Adela gripped her arm and swung her back round, ‘oh no you don’t, Olivia, not this time, you’re in danger and need help and by gosh you’re going to get it.’ She began to walk through the trees still holding onto Olivia tightly.

The latter said, ‘Adela, please, he’s right, I’m trouble, you have no idea how much trouble. You could be hurt…or worse.’

Adela turned to her, ‘you keep saying that, and when we get back to the cabin you can explain exactly what you mean and you’ll not leave until you
do
explain. And don’t try to get out of it either, I’ve had a lifetimes practise in getting stubborn people to cooperate. But right now I’m starving, so come on.’ She continued to walk pulling Olivia with her.

As they walked Adela thought about Jonas Lando and how he had stopped those men from approaching their hiding place, he had also effectively prevented them from walking in the direction of her own cabin. Had he done that deliberately? If so he was not as unmindful and uncaring of others as she had thought. She decided to think that he had indeed intentionally stopped those two men from discovering them. So that would mean that Jonas Lando was not such a bad guy after all. She liked that idea.

As they approached the edge of the trees which surrounded Adela’s cabin she halted and glanced swiftly around making sure they were not followed, or that the two men had not come snooping here as they had at Lando’s place. They saw and heard nothing so they entered the cabin and Adela locked the door and pocketed the key. She turned to Olivia who stood in the middle of the room looking defensive but afraid. Adela let out a long sigh, ‘look, Olivia, you need help and I want to help you, but you have to tell me what’s going on and who those men are and also who wants to see you.’

Olivia frowned perplexed and Adela went on, ‘that’s what one of those men said last night, “
He
wants to see you.”

Olivia looked away, ‘I never robbed anyone, that was a lie.’

‘I know that.’

Olivia’s head came up sharply and she said abruptly, ‘how do you know? You know nothing about me do you?’

Adela smiled, ‘sit down, Olivia, please.’

Olivia stared at her for a moment obviously exasperated then sighed and sat down at the table, Adela joined her there. She slid her hand across the table and took Olivia’s. Olivia looked down at their hands as if waiting for the pain that followed the tenderness. ‘Olivia,’ Adela said, ‘I know we’ve just met but I know, and don’t ask me how I know, that you’re not a bad person. And even if I wasn’t sure I know that those two men lied about being private investigators. I saw what happened last night and if you were wanted for a crime they would not have tried to abduct you in an alleyway and they would not have hit you like that. And I also know you need help.’ Olivia opened her mouth to protest but Adela held up her hand and rushed on, ‘I know, I know, you don’t want my help. I’m in danger if I help you. I’m not going to say I’m not afraid because I’d be a lying if I did. But sometimes we have to put the fear aside in order to do the right thing. I would never forgive myself if I turned my back on you and something really bad happened, I would never be able to look at my reflection in a mirror ever again.’ She smiled, ‘although that might not be such a bad thing.’

Olivia tried a small smile, Adela encouraged by this asked, ‘so tell me, what happened after you left here.’

Olivia took a deep breath, ‘I walked into the town, pretty certain that with these clothes and the hat no one would recognise me. I was about to flag down a cab when I saw the same car as last night, a black Mercedes.’

Adela grinned, ‘not too bright of them, a Mercedes would stick out like a sore thumb in a small place like this.’

Olivia smiled too, ‘they’re not…too bright that is, ‘her smile disappeared, ‘but they
are
good at what they do, they can track anyone, find anyone, and they can
hurt
anyone.’

Adela once again felt that tingling along her spine but tried not to let her fear at Olivia’s words show in her face. Olivia went on, ‘I hid until they had turned a corner then ran for the woods. I swear Adela I had no intention of coming to you, I ran in the opposite direction away from your cabin. But I got lost, I was running in circles then I saw them. How they knew I was there I don’t know, whether they saw me or someone told them a girl had run into the woods I don’t know, but I told you they were good. I ran hoping they had not seen me, I still don’t know whether they did or not. Perhaps they were at Mr. Lando’s cabin just to make sure I wasn’t hiding there.’

‘Firstly, don’t worry about Mr. Lando,’ said Adela, ‘he won’t tell anyone about you or about what happened, he’s a recluse, he never ventures into town, and even if he did he wouldn’t tell, I don’t think he’s a snitch.’ Adela of course did not tell Olivia that she had heard that Lando was an ex- cop.

Olivia didn’t look too convinced but said nothing. Adela went on, ‘so if they were searching the woods, they’ve either been frightened off by Mr. Lando or given up, it’s a pretty big area for two men to cover, or…’

‘Or they’ll come here.’

Adela nodded, ‘but having said that, they did go the other way. I believe Mr. Lando deliberately sent them away from my cabin. But they may double back of course.’

Olivia looked quickly at the door as though the two men were already there.

Adela said, ‘don’t worry, they couldn’t have got a good look at me last night it was too dark, if they come knocking I can wear my sunglasses and hat. I’ll tell them that I haven’t seen anyone then they’ll just think you sneaked out of the woods and disappeared again.’

‘But how did they trace us here? How did they know I would come here to this town? As far as they know I got away from them. They know I’m not stupid, I could have put five hundred miles between us by now.’

‘Sometimes people don’t look for what’s right under their nose. But they might have got the idea of starting close and working their way outwards. They just got lucky with one of the first places they looked. But don’t worry; if they come here I’ll convince them that I’ve never seen you. Now, I think we should eat.’ At this point Adela did not feel in the least like food but did not want Olivia to know how scared she really was. She said, ‘look, Olivia, you’re safer here than anywhere else, look what happened when you tried to leave last time. But we’ve learned our lesson, next time we’ll be smarter.’ She smiled, she hoped reassuringly.

Olivia still looked unconvinced but could not help but return Adela’s smile. She said, ‘you know what I think?’

What’s that?’

‘I think you’re one crazy lady.’

Adela laughed out loud and in a fair imitation of a southern accent said, ‘y’all better believe it, man.’

Olivia shook her head and said, ‘that was terrible.’

‘Thanks. Just for that you can peel the onions for the salad. Oh and Olivia,’ Olivia looked up at her, ‘you’re younger and bigger and probably stronger and faster than me, if you’d really wanted to get away from me just now, you would have.’

Olivia stared at her and Adela saw confusion cross her face closely followed by annoyance, then her lips turned up but it was more like grimace than an actual smile, still Adela took it as one and laughed.

CHAPTER 5.

Jonas Lando stood amongst the trees watching the two walk along the path to the English woman’s cabin. He scowled, shook his head mumbling, ‘women.’

He began to walk back towards his own place thinking about what had just happened and about those two men. If they were private investigators he was The Dalai Lama. But having said that, they both screamed feeb and that worried him, ex- feebs or not. They might look dumb and act thick, but they knew what they were doing, they had tracked that girl here hadn’t they?

The girl. He could smell trouble a mile away and that girl stank of it. Well, what business was it of is? None. If that crazy English woman wanted to get involved in whatever that girl was tied into then that was her problem. He had diverted the two guys from taking the path to her cabin, he had warned her and that was more than he should have done, that was tantamount to throwing himself into the middle of it in his view.

He opened the door to his cabin and was almost thrown backwards by a huge bundle of fur. Dante, the black lab he’d found in the woods abandoned and injured almost four years ago, was annoyed at being kept waiting so long for his walk. He had been gone longer than he intended, what with throwing strangers off his property and scrapping with females, he couldn’t blame Dante for getting impatient. He didn’t like to take Dante with him when he went out hunting or searching, he got in the way and scared off the other animals. He said, ‘hey, boy, sorry about that, got caught up in something, but I’m here now so go and do what you have to do, then we’ll get something to eat, huh?’

Dante barked in approval and ran past Lando but stayed near the house. He never went too far from home; he got nervous and agitated, maybe recalling when he had been taken into the woods and abandoned. Lando stood on the porch of his cabin and looked around scanning the immediate area and the periphery of the trees, he didn’t think those men would come back any time soon, but he would be on his guard.

Unbidden and against his will thoughts of the English woman came to him. He thought about the first time he’d seen her, four days ago. He had been walking through the woods minding his own business…as usual, when he saw her; she was in the middle of the stream jumping from one stone to another to get to the other side. She had been concentrating so intently on what she was doing, and obviously trying not to fall into the stream, that she had not seen him until she was almost across when she glanced up and saw him. He had heard that there was an English woman staying at old Cartwright’s cabin for a week or so, he had wondered what kind of woman would rent a cabin in the middle of the woods all alone. Well, as he was so fond of saying, it was none of his business, as long as she kept out of his way he didn’t give a rat’s why she did what she did.

He watched her now looking at him. Her initial expression was surprise but he could see the moment she suddenly realised that she was here alone in the middle of the woods and there was a strange man looking at her. She looked to her right then to her left searching for a means of escape. Then she looked back at him and he saw the realisation of who he was dawn on her, he expected to see panic commingle with the fear, but as he watched, to his surprise, she looked relieved. Then his surprise changed to amazement as she smiled then waved. He had not returned her smile nor her wave but stood looking at her for a few more moments before turning abruptly and walking away.