The Devil To Pay (Hennessey.) (117 page)

He cursed himself for saying what he had. Why had he? He had no answer except that he was angry with her for considering paying off a man like that, who had used her, lied to her, hurt her both physically and emotionally, even to save her own life. He hardly knew her but in the short time he had he'd thought better of her. But he had also wanted to know what their relationship had been, platonic or sexual? It had been hard to tell by her reaction. He chose to ignore the sharp stab somewhere in the region of his chest at the thought of she and Hennessey together.

He watched her closely, he expected her body to be rigid and tense, instead she appeared composed, almost at ease as she stared at the picture which she seemed to find fascinating. Her hands were in front of her body not clenched but laced together, she looked as though s
he was at an art exhibition casually admiring a painting. Despite what he had just said to her this was the most relaxed he had seen her since she’d been here.

He wondered if it was because she had decided on a cause of action and this had put her mind at rest. The silence laid heavy on him and he wished she would speak and tell him of her decision and when he could stand it no longer he said, ‘so, which option is it gonna be? The local police, the embassy, the long trip to
Washington or paying off a stone cold killer with cash?’

She seemed to come out of her reverie and her shoulders stiffened slightly but she didn’t turn to him as she said very quietly, ‘when Hennessey asked me if I wanted to make a deal with him I told him I would never lower myself to give him money, and that’s what I’d be doing isn’t it, lowering myself to their level, to the level of liars and slave traders and killers.’

She turned to him, ‘Mr. Lando, I would very much appreciate it if you would escort me into town and point me in the direction of the sheriff’s office.’

He sat up straight and his eyes widened in surprise as she went on. ‘I have to talk to the FBI, tell them everything that happened, everything I know, it’s the right thing to do, it’s the
only
thing to do’ She gave a wry smile, ‘it’s the only option that makes sense.’

He said nothing but the respect was clear in his eyes. She had amazed, shocked, astounded even stunned him since the moment she had arrived here but never more so than at this moment. He had not expected this, but then when had she said or done anything that he had expected since arriving here. She wasn’t anything like he thought she was.

She sat down again, ‘although I have to admit your idea of hiring Hennessey to do away with Glissando was almost as tempting as your offer to stay here.’

He tipped his head to one side and regarded her speculatively. But then she smiled the first real smile since she had seen Josie and her foal although as then not with her eyes something he had noticed from the first that she did.

He said, ‘I’m glad you chose not to go down that path because I would have been very tempted to find Hennessey for you.’

It was her turn to be surprised but then his lips twitched and her smile grew wider.

As for Lando he was thinking about what she’d said. She looked very calm now, at peace somehow; as though a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders now that she had made her decision.

He couldn’t help but think of what she’d said about staying here with him. As he watched, the last remnants of the smile disappeared from her lips. She had a nice smile, lovely in fact, she looked very pretty when she smiled; she looked very pretty when she didn’t smile. She was in fact far more attractive on closer inspection that on a first impression. There was just something about her that drew one to her.

Fuck, what the hell was he doing? She had just made a decision that might change her life forever, no, not might,
would
change her life forever if Glissando had any say in it. And here he was thinking about her lips, those full, sensual, inviting lips that smiled that soft smile. Here he was thinking about his disappointment that she had decided not to stay a while longer. God, but he must stop having these thoughts about the woman before he lost the battle with his common sense and his libido completely.

He stood up quickly and went into the bedroom, Adela watched him leave wondering why he had gone in there. A few seconds later he returned and handed something to her. She looked down at it startled.

As she took the comb she looked up at him. He said hurriedly, ‘it’s not mine.’

It was a silver wide
- toothed comb with little diamanté worked into the handle; it was very pretty and very obviously not a man's. As she took the comb she looked up at him and smiled, ‘I sincerely hope not, Mr. Lando.’ He gave her an exasperated look but she knew it wasn’t serious. She stood up and added very softly, ‘thank you.’

He nodded and went into the kitchen where he made coffee while Adela went into the bathroom to use the comb on her knotted hair. As she looked at herself in the mirror she wondered why he had done that, why had he given her the comb, and why now? Why not when she had first washed her hair? Maybe it was some kind of reward for making the right decision, or what as an ex -cop he would consider the right decision.

She looked at the comb, it was indeed very pretty, the first thought that came to her when he had said, ‘It’s not mine,” was that it had belonged to his wife, his dead wife. Funnily enough the thought that she was using a dead woman’s comb didn’t make her shudder or even hesitate to use it. She had far more pressing things on her mind that getting all freaked out over things like that. But still, it had been a nice, a very nice, gesture on his part.

He was a strange man, one minute offering to go with her to another state and to pay for the bus fare, or offering to escort her to the embassy. The next minute he could be sarcastic and acerbic and downright nasty. Like when he had said that maybe she could pay Hennessey with sex, that had shocked her she had to admit, it had hurt her too although she wasn’t sure why, why should she care what he thought of her? Perhaps the comb had been a means of apologising without actually saying it. But
still she felt as though she was walking on eggshells around him.

Although she had to admit she felt a little better now, more relaxed. Maybe because she had made her decision about the best course of action to take, or maybe because the more time went by the less likelihood of Hennessey showing up.

She also had to admit that even though they had been discussing her situation for the last hour she had not really thought about Hennessey overly much, it was as though they had been talking about a stranger, which she supposed he was. Or perhaps she felt better because now she knew that Lando was on her side, that he believed her. She didn’t feel quite so alone any more.

CHAPTER 38.

        Lando was trying not to think about why he had done what he had, given her the comb. He knew she would think that it had belonged to his dead wife, it had of course but she had never used it. Maybe the woman was at this moment repulsed by the thought of using someone else’s comb, if she was she had not let it show, in fact she had appeared very grateful.

He looked up as she came into the room and sat down opposite him. Her hair was now
neat and tidy and tied back in a ponytail. He was struck once again by how beautiful her hair was; even dirty and dishevelled it had looked lovely, why she had wanted to cut it was a mystery to him.

But
maybe she hadn’t really wanted to; there had been a certain relief in her eyes alongside the annoyance she had felt towards him for stopping her. Maybe she had merely been doing everything she could think of to protect herself.

She held out the comb to him saying once again, ‘thank you for that, Mr. Lando, I feel much neater now.’ She smiled, ‘if slightly uneven.’

The sides of his mouth curved upwards ever so slightly as he handed her the mug of coffee, ‘it’ll grow again.’

‘Yes, but so will the other side, so I’m going to be permanently lopsided.’ She tipped her head to the side.
His smile widened just for an instant before it disappeared completely as she asked, ‘why did you stop me from cutting it?’

He l
ooked at her in surprise then gave her an impatient look, making her wish she had not asked knowing he would not appreciate being put on the spot. But he shrugged, ‘I told you, you’d regret it later. And it would probably have served no useful purpose.’

That didn’t altogether answer her question but she knew better than to persevere.

She said softly, ‘well thank you for stopping me.’

He shrugged
again and they sat in silence for a moment then as if getting his own back for her surprise question he asked, ‘are you sure going to the cops is what you want?’

She looked up quickly; ‘no.’ The reply was abrupt and honest. She smiled albeit a little shakily, ‘no, Mr. Lando, I’m not sure, but I’m still going to do it. If Detective Leyton is still here I’ll ask to speak to him, he seemed to believe me, to like me I think. But then obviously Hennessey hadn't set me up to look guilty when last I spoke to him, he might feel differently now. On the other hand I gave him the raincoat and why would I do that if I were involved with Hennessey’s murderous lifestyle? But I’ll need a lawyer, someone very good. I should contact one before the FBI arrive, if they haven’t already. Perhaps Detective Leyton could help me with that.’

There it was again, Leyton this and Leyton that. Why Leyton? Lando thought, why him and not Sullivan? Why not Sheriff Lomax? He probably knew as many lawyers as Leyton did. He felt that stab again in his ribs but shrugged it off as a touch of stress, which was not surprising considering.

But what was wrong with this woman, had she not learned her lesson about trusting people? This thought, or so he told himself, made him speak more sharply than he intended, ‘you should call a lawyer yourself, not rely on others to do it for you, Id'v
e thought you’d learned not to rely on others so much.’ She looked perplexed so he enlightened her, ‘according to you everyone could be on Glissando’s payroll, cops, feds, lawyers, yet you’re going trust a cop to recommend a lawyer for you. I can see now how you ended up in this situation, Miss. Much- Too- Trusting.’

She looked down chastened. He was right, she
was
too trusting, she should learn to start relying only on herself. ‘You’re right, I’m sorry, it’s just so hard when you don’t know anyone or how to go about things, it’s just sometimes easier to lean on others, to trust them.’

He regretted his outburst but if he had gotten through to her then all to the good. She said, ‘I’ll try not to be so reliant and trusting in future.’ She gave a half smile, ‘except you of course, I do trust
you,
Mr. Lando.’

His face darkened as he barked
, ‘well don’t.’ She frowned, ‘did you not hear what I just said? It’d pay you not to trust anyone, even me,’ he added as though to himself, ‘
especially
me.’

She didn’t understand, why shouldn’t she trust him of all people? He had helped her, she desperately wanted to know what he had meant but thought it best to let it go.

As for Lando he was thinking that yet again that he shouldn’t have snapped at her like that. He tried to see it from her point of view, that she needed to trust someone, anyone. And of all people she had chosen him, him with his track record. She knew of course that he’d been in prison for murder, the murder of a woman no less, and yet she had not run screaming from him when they had first met in the woods, on the contrary she had smiled at him, even spoken to him with only the slightest trace of the nervousness that would have been natural with anyone she met in a lonely place. And she had trusted him enough to tell him her story. How many women would have done all that? Not many.

She brought him out of his reverie by asking, ‘Mr. Lando, why do you think Hennessey hasn’t shown up yet?’

He was nonplussed by her change of subject and scowled as he said, ‘how should I know?

She ignored his brusqueness
, ‘well, I just thought you would be able to deduce what he might do next. If he suspected I would come here why he would wait so long before coming for me? How his mind might work, that kind of thing.’

‘And why would I know how his mind works?’ He raised his head and his voice was dangerously low, the same tone Adela had heard before when he had answered Sullivan’s accusation’s earlier. ‘I see, because we’re both killers, right? I can get into his mind because I have the mind of a murderer too?’

Adela’s face was a portrait of shock and dismay, whatever she had expected him to say it wasn’t what he had. She stammered, ‘no, no, that’s not it at all, I only meant…

‘I think it was very clear what you meant,
ma’am
.’ He interrupted.

She was desperate to reassure him, ‘I assure you, Mr. Lando that thought never…

Again he cut her off, ‘it goes without saying that the good folk of Alban have been kind enough to warn you about me, stay away from that crazy bastard in the woods, Miss. Faraday, he’s a nutcase, a murderer, killed his own wife no less.’

She winced but said firmly, ‘I’ve told you before, Mr. Lando, I don’t pay any attention to gossip or rumour.’

He snorted derisively, ‘you obviously listen to it though or you wouldn’t know about me would you? You wouldn’t have said what you did about me getting away from my memories and my guilt.’ His eyes challenged her.