The Devil To Pay (Hennessey.) (95 page)

He continued to stare into her frightened eyes for a while longer then as quickly as he had lurched forward he moved back.

She took a deep breath as did he which seemed to calm him. She sensed he was embarrassed by his outburst because he said quite gently, ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell.’ He sighed, ‘maybe I was angry because I know you’re right. But right or wrong what’s done is done, I can’t change it or myself, and wouldn’t if I could.’

She tried to quieten the thudding of her heart by taking silent deep breaths. He still had the power to confuse and bewilder her with his swift change of moods. Maybe that was the idea, he wanted her disconcerted, wary and on edge. She saw now in his face that which Angela Carter and the trucker in the diner had seen, the malevolence, the well concealed rage.

He wore the cloak of amiability and charm but beneath it was anything but, underneath there was concealed menace and violence, he exuded it, radiated it. But she knew she had turned the tables on him somewhat and that he was as disconcerted by her as she was by him.

He said, ‘if it’s any consolation I never lied about my uncle, he
was
all the things I said he was and more, oh so much more. My mother and I lived with him and his wife and kids.’

Her head shot up, ‘you said your mother died when you were seven.’

‘As far as I was concerned she died the day we left Crystal Springs and went to live with her brother- in -law near Baton Rouge.’

Adela frowned in confusion, not
Hattiesburg or Lafayette then as he had said. He said, ‘she was a good woman before we went to live with him, a decent, kindly, Christian woman until
he
turned her into a whore.’

‘I don’t understand,’ Adela said softly.

He smiled, ‘oh I think you do, I think you understand better than most people what it’s like to live with someone you want to respect but don’t, want to love but can’t.

Someone who should protect and care for you but instead turns a deaf ear to your pain and suffering because they’ve found comfort elsewhere. In your case it was the bottle that was your enemy, in mine it was sex.’

‘Your mother and your uncle had an affair?’

He laughed out loud, ‘an affair? An affair would necessitate some kind of emotional feeling, a mutual fondness; this was just sex, just lust, primal, animal lust. He took one look at her and wanted her; it took her less than a month to give in to him.’

‘But what about your aunt?’

For the first time since he’d started speaking about his mother and uncle his features softened, ‘my aunt? My aunt was a good, kind, loving woman. When he did what he did to me she tried to intervene, but she was under his thumb, she had to obey him, that was the rule in that house, obedience and subservience. He just beat her into submission, he beat us all except my mother.’

‘Maybe your mother was afraid of him too; maybe she had to go along with him to protect herself, to protect
you
.’

He gave her a patronising look, ‘you’re very naïve, Miss. Faraday, that’s what I believed, at first, I thought that she had to do what she did with him to prevent him beating me, but I was seven years old not twenty eight and should know better.’

Despite herself she blushed at the rebuke. She realised now why he had been so angry with Angela Carter that day in the gazebo, because she was acting like a whore, like his mother had done. She said gently, ‘I’m so sorry.’

He looked taken aback for a moment before shrugging, ‘anyway, he beat me once too often, he still thought I was a kid, he forgot that boys grow into men, or maybe he didn’t care. He thought he was all powerful, that I would continue to be under his thumb, under his control for the rest of my life, but he was wrong wasn’t he. He was about to beat my aunt…again. I intervened and he hit me then tried to force me into the punishment box.’

She didn’t want to interrupt this flow of information but couldn’t stop herself, ‘punishment box?’

He looked at her and she could tell he was trying to decide whether to continue or not then he shrugged as if it didn’t matter whether she knew or not. 'The punishment box was a small chest with chains attached to it that could be locked once the "sinner" was inside, it was kept in the barn with the animals. I spent a lot of time in that box as a kid, naked, deprived of food and water and not once did my mother come to let me out, or even to talk to me except to ask me if I was sorry that I had sinned against my uncle and was I repentant yet? The shortes
t time I spent in the box was three days the longest five.'

She recalled when he had made love to her in her cabin and she had run her hands down his chest and stomach and felt the gnarled, rough skin. Not injuries received in the marines then but injuries inflicted by his uncle. She felt a wave of compassion for the poor tortured boy he had been.

He saw the sympathy in her eyes and went on abruptly, ‘anyways, he tried to get me in there and I stabbed him, I got lucky, just one blow is all it took, straight through the heart. Then I ran, to Carson. He was still recovering from his injuries but he helped me, hid me until I could get away. Later I went to Atlanta, Georgia, got in with the wrong crowd, or the right crowd, whichever way you prefer to look at it.’

‘How…how old were you when…’

He smiled, ‘when I did away with the evil uncle?’ She nodded, ‘fourteen.

I lied about being sixteen when
Carson was injured I was fourteen then too. He still feels responsible for how I turned out, he thinks it’s all his fault, but it isn’t, I was always capable of it. I am what I am, always was, always will be.’

She said nothing
, she was too shocked. Of course she could not help but see the comparison in his story and Olivia’s. They had both been locked in cages, both been treated vilely, they had both suffered at the hands of adults. 

He continued, ‘when I was eleven I ran away to
Ship Island, I camped there for a week before I was caught and returned to my uncle. She recalled his words when she’d asked him why he had camped out there all alone, “It was necessary.” ‘And F.Y.I one of those law enforcers you spoke so fondly of returned me to my uncle. He returned me to more punishment and no one will ever convince me that he was ignorant of what went on in that house.’

She looked at him appalled, thinking, that’s why he had looked at Sheriff Taylor with contempt and loathing.

She bowed her head and shook it before looking back at him and saying again, ‘I am
very
sorry.’

He did not want her pity, he had told her what he had because he wanted her to know how ruthless he was, how pitiless, how remorseless. He wanted her to know that he had killed four men by the time he was fourteen and now that is what he was, a killer, he wanted her to realise that it meant nothing to him to take a life. He said sarcastically, ‘and so I began my career as an assassin. I hope that satisfies your curiosity, Miss. Faraday.’

She said, ‘your story makes what you’re going to do even more reprehensible.’

When he raised his eyebrows questioningly she elaborated, ‘you share your experience with Desi, you of all people should have an affinity with her,
you
of all people should be sympathetic to her plight. You spoke about the sheriff who brought you back to more punishment, you carry your resentment to this day, yet you want to do exactly what that odious law official did, and bring back that young girl to more abuse and horror.
You’re
that sheriff, only worse, because you of all people should have compassion for someone like her, instead you’re using her for personal gain.’‘

He looked startled then frowned as she saw his eyes cloud with anger but then he shrugged. This time however, Adela was not fooled; she had seen something else besides anger in his eyes before the veil came down that convinced her that he was not quite as indifferent as he made out.

He said nothing for a moment but continued to stare at her. Eventually he said, ‘If I went around feeling sorry for everyone who had experienced the same “horror,” as you put it, I’d go mad. Besides, I can’t allow my feelings to interfere with my job.’

She remained silent but continued to look at him with what looked to him suspiciously like pity. He read her expression and snapped, ‘I think that’s enough about me, we have other things to discuss.’

She said, ‘I have just one more question.’

He sighed heavily then waved his hand as if to say, go ahead.

‘Were you ever a marine?’

He put his right foot up on his left thigh and said, ‘that wasn’t a lie either. I joined the marines under an assumed name and did what I liked doing best, killing people, only this time it was government sanctioned killing and I got paid for it. I liked the idea of getting paid for killing. I was an amateur before but the marines made a professional of me.’

She shook her head as though trying to understand something that was beyond her scope, which it was of course. She said quietly, ‘how much did Glissando promise you? How much am I worth to you dead?’

He raised his eyebrows in surprise but said, 'that's two questions.'
He leaned back in his seat smiled a rather sad smile. 'But do you really want to know?' She nodded, ‘all right, I think you’ll be impressed.’ He paused for effect then said, ‘five million dollars.’

Her eyes opened wide in astonishment and she stammered, ‘fi…five m…
million’

His smile widened at the expression on her face, ‘told you you’d be impressed.’

She closed her eyes as if that would enable her to accept that the price of a madman’s revenge was so high. He said, ‘in all fairness you share that with Desi, so you’re worth a mere two and a half mil each.’

‘There you go again with your belittling of so much money.’

He laughed, ‘so why did you want to know? Were you thinking of offering me more to spare you?’

She looked at him in amazement then her head came up and her neck straightened as she said rather haughtily, ‘I wouldn’t demean myself, it would put me on a par with you and that madman Glissando.’

It was his turn to be dumbfounded. He had wondered how long it would take her to offer him more money to renege on his promise to Glissando. But she had put him in his place with a few well chosen words. Good for her. He said, ‘so if I offer to cease my search for Desi for, say, three million you wouldn’t be interested in entering into a transaction with me?’

She stared at him and he could see her mind working, first thinking about his offer then wondering if he would keep his word once he had the money. She said, ‘perhaps I would if I thought you would keep your word, but what’s to stop you taking my three million then carrying on your "Quest" for Desi’s whereabouts and getting paid by Glissando as well?’

He shrugged, ‘I could give you my word.’

She actually laughed and shook her head, ‘anyway, I don’t believe you’ll find her; she’ll lose herself in
Europe somewhere. I told you what name she had in her passport but she won’t be stupid enough to keep it. She’s smart and savvy, she must be to have got the passport in the first place and hide it right under Glissando’s nose. No, I’ll keep my money, but thanks for the offer though.’

He should be angry, he should be furious but he couldn’t help it, he laughed out loud.

He said, ‘see, right there, that’s why I couldn’t do it that first day, why I felt compelled to get to know you and I’m so happy I did. It’s been a treat, no, more than that, an
honour
to know you, Miss. Faraday.’

‘You’ll forgive me for not returning the compliment, Mr. Hennessey.’

Still smiling he contemplated her, his check resting on his fist in that casual and relaxed posture that frightened Adela more than any amount of anger. He said, ‘you didn’t always think that though. There was a time when you felt differently.’

She didn’t blush as he expected her too but said, ‘to my everlasting shame.’

He frowned then gave a grim smile, ‘well you won’t be shamed for too long now, Miss. Faraday.’

He thought he would feel a smug satisfaction at his own words and her reaction to them but he didn’t, instead he felt something of what she had said she was feeling...shame.

To quash this alien emotion he said, ‘so will you satisfy my curiosity and tell me how a cleaner came by so much money?’

‘No.’

He chuckled and in a childish voice said, ‘oh, please.’

‘No.’

‘All right, keep your secret…for now. But how about this, I give you what you wanted me to give you the other night? I show you the time of your life and you give me your bank account numbers. It seems a shame to waste all that cash you so diligently
saved
. I mean, if you’ve gotta go at least go on a high.’

She stared at him as though he was a creature from another planet, a malevolent, sadistic, vile creature. She raised her head and putting as much pride and disdain in her tone as she could said, ‘maybe, but at this late stage I’d rather not risk the wrath of God, and coupling with you would be like selling my soul to the devil and for what? A quick tumble in the hay.’

He leaned back in his seat his eyes wide, he didn’t know whether to laugh or get really angry. She hadn’t gotten embarrassed as he thought she would but had once again made him feel cheap and dirty. As if her words had not bothered him he smirked and said, ‘as you wish. Now no more questions, no more distractions. She sighed resignedly and he said, ‘right, first, how did this Detective...Leyton? She nodded, ‘what made him connect me to Blakemore?’