The Devil To Pay (Hennessey.) (29 page)

Six heads and twelve pairs of eyes turned in her direction, she felt more on display than the mannequins in the window but she kept the smile saying, ‘good morning.’

Annie came rushing over took her arm and said, ‘come right in, Miss. Faraday and welcome.’ She introduced the three customers, all women, and the other employee Adela had not met the evening before.

Then Annie said, ‘what can we do for you today, Miss. Faraday.’

‘Well first, you can call me Adela.’

‘Well isn’t that mighty friendly of ya now.’ She called out to everyone present, ‘ain’t that  mighty friendly of her?’

They all nodded and agreed that it was indeed “mighty friendly.”

Adela could have stood here all day and just listened to them talking. She said, ‘I need a hat, this one is a little, well, dull, and obviously it’s too hot out there to go without so... 

She was interrupted by Annie, ‘that’s very sensible, very sensible indeed. Isn’t that sensible everyone?’

They all agreed that it was very sensible indeed. To have laughed as she so desperately wanted to would appear rude, so she just smiled a very big smile as Annie took her arm and led her towards a wide assortment of hats arranged according to size, not head, but hat size.

She picked up one that was very similar to the one she had given to Olivia but she wanted, or rather needed, something different.

She picked up a pale blue wide brimmed cloth hat, it had flowers around the brim as her own had had, but these were purple and lilac and orange, and the ribbons for tying the hat under the chin were dark blue rather than yellow. She liked it; she liked the contrast of colours.

She tried it on and the other women oohed and aahed and told her that it suited her just fine.

Adela looked at herself in the mirror turning this way and that and agreed with the ladies assessment that it did indeed suit her just fine. She told Annie that she would take it.

The women applauded her choice and Adela felt as if she should bow but restrained herself.

She was made to sit and drink a glass of lemonade and chat with the women, and so passed another very pleasant hour.

She eventually left Annie Bloom’s shop but not before she had promised to come back again very soon. She made the promise and meant it. As she left the shop she wondered if the three customers stayed in there all day just chatting.

She felt like singing as she made her way along the street, stopping to look in shop windows as she went. She saw a diner, barbers shop, a feed store and a computer shop, which seemed out of place somehow. A hardware store, a drug store and a police station not much bigger than the little barbers shop. As she passed she saw a man sitting at a desk a mug of something, probably coffee, in his hand, and a woman talking on the phone and laughing, they both seemed very relaxed. Maybe they didn’t have much crime here in Eden. Eden, she thought, it was aptly named. She was to remember that thought later.

                                                       **********

Hennessey having gotten rid of Sammy was sitting in his car his knees on the steering wheel, his laptop resting on his thighs. Getting information from Sammy had not been very difficult at all. Sammy was a talker and once he trusted someone that was it, they got everything, even stuff they didn’t need to know, or at least Hennessy didn’t. He had gotten frustrated with him but tried not to show it. He discovered that Sammy had seen The Target and a young girl in Mobile in a big white car. Two men had been with them talking. Then the older woman, (The Target obviously) had signed something then the men had gotten into another car and left. The two ladies had gotten into the big white car and driven down the street towards the interstate heading north, the younger woman driving.

Trying not to be too obvious, Hennessey had asked if he was sure it was the same lady who was doing a tour of the southern states. Sammy after frowning deeply had said he was very sure, well, as sure as he could be, he was almost certain. Hennessy had felt like doing him there and then but resisted the urge. He did not ask Sammy to describe the younger girl; wherever she went she would alter her appearance anyway.

So he had come to the conclusion that both women had left town in a hire car and headed north, but to where.  But Sammy did say that a lot of people seemed to be very interested in the foreign woman with the hat and at Hennessey's querying look told him about  being questioned by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, which Hennessey already knew of course, but it proved once again that Sammy was as he's thought, guileless and innocent.

But Sammy looked also looked concerned and Hennessey came to the conclusion that Glissando's two goons had probably said too much and aroused even Sammy's suspicions. Hennessey did not make that mistake and said no more about the woman.

Now he was checking on credit cards transactions that The Target might have made in the last few hours. He didn’t really expect anything so he was surprised when an amount for twelve thousand dollars came up. When he saw what the twelve grand was for he laughed so hard he expected a passer-by to knock on his car door asking if he was all right and did he need a doctor?

A private plane, of course. This woman had money then, more money than she had transferred into an American bank account to use as spending money while she was here, a lot more.

Again he let his admiration for this woman take hold of him. She would not be the easy prey he had thought she would be. She was smart and savvy, but she had a weakness, a weakness he didn’t have, she was compassionate. She cared about people, cared enough to spend fifteen thousand dollars on a private plane for a stranger in need. And this weakness had enabled her to be tracked down and would ultimately lead to her downfall.

He said out loud, ‘it’s a shame, Miss. Adela Faraday, under normal circumstances I would have liked to get to know you better, but right now you’re just an information receptacle, a job worth five million dollars to me. Pity.

But had she gone with the girl to wherever the plane was heading? And if so would she come back or go home? He picked up his cell phone and dialled a number when it was answered he gave no preliminary greeting but said abruptly, ‘I need you to check something for me.’

The person on the other end of the phone was hesitant but said, ‘what do you need?’

‘I need you to check the flight manifest for a private plane that may have left yesterday or early today,' he gave him what details he had, 'I want to know when it will take off if it hasn't already and where the plane is headed. I want the name or names of the passengers. Also, check with Hertz and find out where a car that was leased by them to Adela Anne Faraday was driven too and if she’s bringing it back to Alabama.’

There was a deep sigh at the other end of the line, ‘I’ll call you back.’

The phone went dead and Hennessey switched it off. His source didn’t like him, was afraid of him, but he didn’t need him to like him as long as he continued to get information for him as and when he required it. And it was sometimes a good thing to have people afraid of you; they worked all the harder to please.

While he waited he sat and thought about how he would spend his five mil. Maybe he would write a book about his exploits. Maybe he would buy his own island. He would certainly buy his own plane, not a big Lear jet or anything poncey like that, no, a little light aircraft, just to take him from A to B. Or maybe the idea of the ranch like his grandparents had would be the best way to go. Somewhere in Mississippi perhaps, somewhere isolated. But he knew he would never do that, if he had learned nothing else it was that you could never go back, could not and should not,
ever
go back.

Just as he was daydreaming about planes and islands his phone rang, he said, ‘what kept you.’

The guy said, ‘if you want things done right try to learn a little patience.’

‘Oh aren’t we feeling brave.’

‘I’m just saying is all.’

‘Well say what you’ve found out, and keep the rest to yourself.’

There was a short silence and Hennessey knew the guy was contemplating hanging up, but as he knew he would thought better of it. Smart guy.

The man said, ‘Adela Faraday paid for a private plane that left at 10.30 a.m. today, it went to Charles Degaul airport, that’s in France.’

‘I know where it is, thank you.’

‘Okay. Well, there was a lone passenger on board, a woman.’

‘Name?’

‘Don’t know.’

‘What?’

‘Look, since 9/11 they won’t just give information out like that to just anyone. All I could get is the name of the person who hired the plane. I did try and I’ll keep trying.’

Hennessey was silent for a moment thinking, then asked, ‘the plane hasn't been scheduled to stop anywhere to refuel or anything, before landing in France?’

Why would it?’

‘Just answer the damn question.’

‘No.'

There followed another silence into which the guy asked sarcastically, ‘anything else I can help you with?’

‘No, just keep working on finding that name,' he finished just as sarcastically, ‘thanks for your help.’

‘Any time.’

‘Right. Oh and Bennett?’

‘Yes?’

‘Next time, go easy on the sarcasm, or I might have to pay a visit to that sweet wife of yours. Again.’ He didn’t wait for a
reply; he knew there wouldn’t be one. He switched off his phone and smiled to himself. Bennett was a great source of help to him, and he knew he shouldn’t get him all riled up but he couldn’t let him think he could get away with sarcasm and impatience with him; he had his reputation to consider after all.

The threat of a visit to his Missus was just that, a threat. Although he had had to do it once before, only once mark you. Bennett had refused to help him with a rather tricky problem, so he had arranged to be in his home when Bennett returned home from work and had caught him chatting quite amicably with his pretty, albeit dumb, wife.

He had told her that he and Bennett were old friends and he would be very happy to see him. He had almost asphyxiated trying not to laugh at the sight of Bennett’s white petrified face when he saw Hennessey sitting on the coach all cosy with his Missus. Luckily the wife had been too busy giving him the big come to bed eyes to notice anything was wrong. Well, he deserved it, bad things sometimes happened to dirty cops.

He thought about the information Bennett had gotten for him. At least he knew now that Desi was alone on the plane, which meant that The Target was still in the country otherwise a plane ticket would have shown up on her credit card.

So Desi had fled to France, but that didn’t mean anything, she could go just about anywhere from there.

He wondered how she had obtained a passport and driver's licence and from whom.

He had the feeling that she had had it since her last aborted attempt; she must have had the forger make two of each. She was certainly very far thinking, and inventive and yes, gutsy. But how had she been able to hide it from Glissando all that time. Inventive indeed.

But now along with the buckle he had found in her cabin he had even more ammunition to confront The Target with, the private plane. That at least was one less thing he would have to pry out of her, one way or another.

He had her number on his speed dial and pressed the number. If it again went to voice mail he might leave a message, something like. “Hey, are you, Adela Faraday and are you in a cabin in Eden, Mississippi? I need to know because I’ve been hired to extract information from you then kill you. Call me.”

He was so taken aback when the phone was answered almost immediately that he was startled into silence for a moment. He quickly pulled himself together and asked, ‘is this Miss. Adela Faraday?’

‘Yes, it is.’

‘Oh good morning, Miss. Faraday, this is David Somers from the realtors office. This is just a courtesy call to ask if everything is to your satisfaction there at the cabin.’

‘Oh how thoughtful of you, yes thank you, everything is perfect. And thank you for the food.’

‘Oh you’re welcome. Well I’m very pleased that you’re happy with everything. I hope you enjoy the rest of your vacation, Miss. Faraday.’

‘I’m sure I will, and thanks again for the call.’

‘Again you’re welcome. Goodbye, Miss. Faraday.’

‘Goodbye, Mr. Somers.’

He hung up. Well, she was there anyway, and enjoying herself by the sounds of it, probably revelling in her own philanthropy. There’s nothing like giving a stranger in need a helping hand to boost your ego.

But he had to admit she had a sexy voice, must be the accent, or maybe that slight lisp on the s’s. But then he always had a thing for a woman with low, husky tones to her voice.

He put on his sunglasses, yanked up the air conditioning and set off for the little town of Eden. He took his time; there was no hurry, not now.

He turned the key in the ignition swung the car around and leaving a cloud of dust behind him headed towards Mississippi.

CHAPTER 12.

      
Jonas Lando was angry, angry and humiliated and he blamed that foolish English woman and her delinquent friend. He had gone against his better judgement and called his old friend Dan Rivers in the Alabama P.D but had been told he was on vacation for a few days, he had gone fishing and could not be reached. He asked to speak to Detective Mahoney and was told to wait, he did, for ages before someone came on the line, not Mahoney but a detective with whom he had never gotten along, who in fact he had had several run- ins with during their time as colleagues. He told him who he was and that he was after information on David Somers. The detective whose name was Lester said sarcastically, ‘you back on the job, Lando? If so I’m quitting ASAP.’