The Devil To Pay (Hennessey.) (152 page)

Leyton smiled, ‘still, I’m grateful to you both. Although I know you really came for Adela, I’m sure glad you showed before I got flayed alive.’

Lando suppressed a wince as he said, ‘if you hadn’t been with her you wouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place.’

Leyton’s face darkened as he snapped, ‘it wasn’t
her
fault.’

Lando snapped back, ‘that’s not what I meant.’

Leyton sighed, ‘I know, I’m sorry. It’s just that she blames herself too, kept saying she was sorry.’

Lando let out a breath, ‘it’s a natural response from most people, but particularly someone like he
r who cares a great deal and takes the burden of everyone else’s suffering on her own shoulders.’

Leyton looked at him with a mixture of surprise and speculation. Lando looked away for a moment before saying, ‘I meant she was where she was because of Hennessey, if he hadn’t kidnapped her you wouldn’t have become involved, you wouldn’t have come to Alabama and none of this would have happened to you. But I apologise for snapping.’

Leyton shrugged, ‘most of what happened happened because of Glissando, at least Hennessey tried to put right the wrong he’d done.’ Lando looked oddly at him but Leyton gave a rueful smile, ‘well anyway, what’s done is done, and if I never see Hennessey again it will be too soon.’

La
ndo smiled too, ‘amen to that, detective.’ He wondered if Leyton noticed that he hadn’t called him by his first name or asked him to call him by his.

But Leyton just grinned,
‘well; now we’ve got the thanking and apologising over with, tell me something, Mr. Lando. Why didn’t you give up Hennessey?’

‘Why didn’t you?’

‘For the same reason you didn’t I suppose. Besides, by the time I’d recovered he’d long gone.’

Lando shook his head, ‘if you ask me that same question in a hundred years I don’t think I would be able to answer it, not logically anyway.’ Leyton said nothing so Lando said, ‘I should get going.’

‘You going back to Alban now?’

‘Not yet, I want to tell the woman what happened. If I don’t she’ll follow me home and dog me the rest of my life.’

Leyton laughed, ‘she would too.’

Land
o stood, ‘well, take care, Detective.’

Leyton pursed his lips
, ‘yeah, you too…Detective.’

Lando mirrored Leyton’s
expression then smiled, ‘see ya.’

‘See ya.’

Lando left the room and made his way to the chapel again, he had some thanking to do.

CHAPTER 47.

          Adela awoke again at 5.30. The headache was still there but had considerably reduced in intensity. But her shoulder hurt like hell and her stomach felt as though someone was sitting on it, someone who weighed at least three hundred pounds. But when the nurse came in, not Zara but a new face, she told her that she felt fine, asked her what time it was and if Mr. Lando had called

The nurse replied that apart from calling on Detective Leyton and going down to the cafeteria to eat, he had been in the waiting room all evening and most of the night..

This amazed her; he had waited all this time for her to wake. Maybe because the sooner he kept his word and told her what had transpired while she had been unconscious the sooner he could go home to Dante and his other animals. She wondered what he would do with the cabin, rebuild perhaps. Or maybe move somewhere else. Her guilt returned with a vengeance.

She asked the nurse for some water and when she had handed it to her she said, ‘can I get you anything else, Miss. Faraday, some painkillers?’

Adela would have killed for some, but didn’t want to be muzzy headed when Lando arrived to tell her everything, so refused but asked if she could possibly sit up. She didn’t want to be lying down when Lando came in, it made her feel vulnerable and embarrassed remembering the last time she had lain on a bed and he had taken off her clothes.

The nurse had hesitated but Adela had given her a pleading look and the nurse had smiled and helped her to sit up.

Adela gritted her teeth to keep from moaning out loud. Once sitting up the nurse plumped up her pillows and Adela thanked her and asked if she saw Mr. Lando would she tell him that she was awake. She said she would and left the room leaving Adela staring at the door awaiting Lando’s arrival. She wished she could shower, or at least comb her hair, but then he had seen her at her worst hadn’t he. He had seen her covered in leaves and slime and blood, he had seen her with a knife sticking out of her side for goodness sake, what did a little dirt and tangled hair matter now. He probably never noticed her anyway, at least not as a woman, only as the crazy foreigner who wandered around the woods alone, or as an encumbrance who had landed on his doorstep in the dead of night bringing nothing but trouble and heartache in her wake.

She took deep breaths and was blowing one out when he entered so that she caught it in her throat and started coughing. He came striding over to the table picked up the glass of water and handed it to her. She coughed so much her hand trembled and it took all her willpower not to spit the water back out.

Eventually she regained control of herself and automatically went to put the glass back on the table but cried out as a pain shot through her entire body, or so it seemed. She wasn’t sure which hurt most, her stomach, her shoulder or her head.

He grabbed the glass from her and put it back on the table and said, ‘I’ll get the doctor.’

He turned but stopped in his tracks as she cried out urgently, ‘no!’ Then quieter, ‘no please, I’m all right, really.’

He looked at her doubtfully
but stayed where he was. ‘Please sit down, Mr. Lando,’ she urged.

He hesitated studying her pale face obviously still debating whether to fetch the doctor or not but then did as she bid.

After a long silence in which he looked down at his hands and she looked down at hers he said, ‘the doctor says you’re doing well.’ He said this as if he didn’t believe it.

‘Oh yes. I’ll be out of here in next to no time.’

He looked at her as though he believed that assertion less than the doctor’s.

She said, ‘the nurse tells me you’ve been to see Ellis.’

His head shot up, “Ellis.” Ellis?” Excuse me, but whose house had she come to? Whose bed had she slept in? Who's home had been burnt to the ground by the thugs she had brought? Who had risked everything to rescue her? Not Leyton. Yet Leyton was Ellis and he was Mr. Lando. Typical. He knew he was being extremely unfair both to Leyton and to her but couldn’t help his irritation. He told himself it was because he was tired and wanted to go home, such as it was, he told himself this so as to eradicate the real reason from his mind.

He said rather spitefully, ‘yeah, but I didn’t stay long, I was getting in the way of all the flirting going on with the
pretty
young nurses.’

Her eyes narrowed and she flushed and he was instantly ashamed at the wounded look in her eyes, ashamed and angry.

To her credit she recovered quickly and managed a small smile, ‘flirting with nurses is  always a good sign of recovery.’

Damn the woman for her indefatigable attitude.

There followed an uncomfortable silence, but then thought Adela, every silence was uncomfortable with him, in fact, every
thing
was uncomfortable with Jonas Lando.

Eventually she said, ‘you mentioned the FBI before. Did they question you?’

He didn’t speak for a moment still trying to shake off the feeling of shame he felt at his infantile remark. Finally he said, ‘yeah, they took me to their headquarters. Lomax got his lawyer friend to represent me.’

‘Oh that’s good.’

‘Yeah. Although I didn’t need him as it turned out.’

‘Oh?’

‘No. Turns out the feds want this kept quiet, they don’t want it to become public knowledge that a vicious, sadistic, not to mention very powerful crime boss was brought down by a lone cop, an- ex con and a
woman
.’

She said quietly, ‘I see. And what about Hennessey?’

‘What about him?’

‘Well, do they know about him?’

He shrugged, ‘they have their suspicions but they want that made public knowledge like they want another 9/11. I mean, add an assassin into the mix and you’ve got the public thinking they’re being protected by cons, murderers and foreign
women
.’

Her eyes widened at the way he had said “
women
,” and “
woman
” as though that would be far more shocking to the public than cons or murderers. She said again, ‘I see.’

He watched her face for a moment then said, ‘anyway, I suppose we have Hennessey to thank for getting us out of trouble.’ She raised her eyebrows, ‘yeah, he left some very incriminating stuff in my cabin about Glissando and several more influential people. Along with names of corrupt officials in the police department and the FBI. They’re very interested in all of that as you can imagine. Fortunately he left it in the metal coal bucket which didn’t burn. So you could say I owe my freedom to Hennessey.’

She was completely pole- axed by this news. When she could speak she said, ‘well, it’s no more than he owed you.’

Lando shrugged
, 'also you might be interested to know that they're gonna take care of Sullivan’s family. And they’ve promoted Leyton in return for his silence.’

‘And you, what have they done for you?’

His eyes narrowed then he shrugged, ‘there’s nothing I want…or need.’

She was silent thinking, yes there is, you just don’t know it, or just don’t want to admit it.

He seemed to read her mind because his face darkened but before he could speak she asked, ‘and what about me?’

He seemed genuinely surprised by the question before he said sharply, ‘You? Don’t you have enough? What can they give
you
that you don’t already have?’

She was stung by his misinterpr
etation of her question, ‘that’s not what I meant. I meant what’s going to
happen
to me?’

He was immediately contrite and said more mildly, ‘the agent in charge told me to tell you that you’re free to go wherever you wish. To go home or,’ he looked into her eyes as he said pointedly, ‘stay.’

He did not then add as Montayne had done, to finish your vacation, but left the words hanging in the air between them.

She swallowed very hard and her voice a mere whisper repeated, ‘stay?’

The silence seemed to go on for a long time while they just stared into each other's eyes. When he did speak it was to repeat Montayne’s words, ‘yeah, to finish your vacation.’

He had no idea why he had done that, why he had caused her to think he was asking her to stay because of him. He was angry and frustrated and had a childish wish to disconcert her, to unnerve her. In a perverse way he wanted to gauge her reaction and felt an inexorable satisfaction by her response.

Adela very slowly let out the breath she’d been holding. She tried to conceal the intense disappointment she’d felt when he had added those last words. Oh what was she doing, had she learned nothing under Hennessey’s tutelage? Hadn't she learned that not everything was as it seemed, that Lando had helped her because that was the kind of man he was…whether he knew it or not…that it was inbred in him as a policeman and as a man to protect someone in trouble. That the look in his eyes when he looked at her sometimes meant nothing, nothing but concern for someone who had shared terror and danger with him. She took a deep breath and regaining her equilibrium said very sincerely, ‘I’m very relieved and happy that there will be no repercussions for either you or Ellis.’ Fucking Ellis again. She added with an ironic smile, ‘and relieved for myself too. Although I loved Mississippi I didn’t really want to spend my life there.’

He was still thinking about “Ellis” but met her half way. ‘Well no one would blame you for that.’

Her smile widened slightly but more with relief than anything else that they had gotten off the previous subject. Lando said, ‘the agent I spoke to told me to tell relay his thanks for your part in bringing Glissando down, he sends his respects.’

She looked surprised but said nothing and there followed another silence.

He let out a long sigh and said, ‘there’s something else I have to tell you, whether it relieves you any depends on whether you believe it or not.’

She tensed knowing instinctively that what he had to tell her concerned Hennessey and Olivia.

He nodded and raked his fingers through his hair in an agitated gesture. ‘He told me to tell you that he
does
intend to go after the girl,’ Adela closed her eyes and her fingers gripped the blanket tightly, ‘he hurried on, ‘but he wanted me to tell you that he has no intention of hurting her, on the contrary, he wants to reassure her that there’s no need for her to worry about Glissando any longer, that she’s safe now.’

Her expression was one of great scepticism as she said, ‘and you believed him?’
Her question was part enquiry and part accusation and he bristled. ‘Why lie? What point would there be in bringing her back now, the man who paid him is dead. And he’s not betraying his principles; he wasn’t paid to kill
her
was he?’