by Marnie Perry
She returned Mrs. Hosewater’s greeting and gave her a list of things she required saying, ‘if you don’t have the compass don’t worry, I could perhaps get one in the next town.’
Mrs. Hosewater looked very much put out at this and said somewhat imperiously, ‘I think we can accommodate you in that regard.’
Adela fought desperately to suppress the laughter rising up in her and said plactingly, ‘I knew that if anyone could help me it would be you, Mrs. Hosewater.’
Mrs. Hosewater almost preened and bestowed on Adela a wide toothed smile saying, ‘and you call me Rose, honey, all my friends do.’
This time Adela’s fight with her laughter was almost fatal, she dug her nails into her palms until it hurt and said, ‘thank you…Rose, and please call me Adela.’
Rose Hosewater beamed, ‘Adela, why ain’t that nice now.’
Adela thanked her and asked, ‘can I call back later for those, I want to go to the post office and then to the book store.’
Adela was Rose’s new found friend so said, ‘of course, Adela, you run along and do your other chores and I’ll have these ready for you when you get back.’
‘Thank you, Mrs. Hose…I mean Rose.’
Before she really embarrassed herself Adela left the shop and made her way to the post office. She chatted a while with Mr. Stebbings and the few other customers that were in there, then made her way to the clothes shop a few doors down to buy a new hat, preferably one similar to the one she had given to Olivia. Unfortunately they had nothing like it; in fact they had a very limited selection in hats. She ended up with one made of brown cloth with a narrow brim and no flowers. It was certainly not as nice as the one she had given to Olivia but it would suffice until she could get into the next town where they had more shops therefore maybe more choice. She paid for her purchases and walked down the street to her favourite place, the book shop.
She spent half an hour and thirty three dollars fifty cents in there then made her way back to Mrs. Hosewater’s shop where she picked up her order, including the compass; she was assailed by a warm feeling as she was told to “have herself a nice day now.”
She made her way back to the cabin where she put her usual things into her backpack, adding one of the books she had just bought from the little book shop in the town earlier. This one was the latest Fenn Llewellyn story. Her fantasy hero, charming, witty and romantic as well as sensitive, but very tough when the need arose. Her perfect man.
She would walk a while then maybe go back to that café she had found yesterday and sit outside with a cup of ice tea and read some of her book, maybe she would have some lunch there, it would be nice to see Jill and Sammy Know It All again.
As she walked, and as was to be expected, she thought about Olivia, wondering where she was and if she was all right. Indeed, she had not been far from her thoughts all morning, even when she had been laughing in Rose’s shop, the image of Olivia’s sad, scared countenance was still paramount in her mind. She felt a little odd, spaced out as Daniel would call it, no doubt the aftermath of the previous night’s events. She finished her tea then left for her walk.
She wished Olivia had stayed, she wished she had let her help her. What was it that she was running from? Or more to the point from whom was she running? An abusive ex husband or boyfriend? Were the would-be abductors his friends? Is that what they'd meant by, “He wants to see you?” All questions she desperately wanted to know the answer too but now never would. She said out loud and with feeling ‘be safe, Olivia.’
Adela had walked maybe an hour and saw several foxes and a raccoon; she was very pleased to have seen that, it was so cute. But her mind was distracted and this time she did not really notice the beauty of her surroundings, or the ever present noise that was part of this place.
She had not seen Jonas Lando, but thoughts of him suddenly brought her up sharply, she must not let her mind wander and get lost again. Oh gosh, the thought of having to rely on that surly man to help her out once more was enough to clear her head. She looked around, no thank goodness, she was not lost, she knew where she was. She looked at her watch it read 12.30; she reached into her backpack for her water. It was not quite as hot today but still hotter than she was used too.
She decided to head back and get some lunch. She turned around and made her way back along the path. She was about a quarter of a mile from her cabin and quite close to Jonas Lando’s place when she heard a noise to her left; someone was running through the trees…fast. She expected to see Lando emerge maybe in pursuit of an animal. But to her shock the figure emerging through the trees was not Lando, but Olivia.
Adela gasped in astonishment. Olivia had not seen her because she was looking over her shoulder into the trees so careered straight into her. She let out a small scream and began to flail her arms pushing at Adela and gasping. Adela grabbed her upper arms, ‘Olivia, Olivia it’s me, Adela, calm down, what is it, what’s happened?'
Olivia continued to struggle as though she had not heard her. She was sweating and obviously very frightened. ‘Olivia,’ Adela said firmly, ‘please, it’s all right, it’s only me.’
This time she must have got through because Olivia became still then her eyes opened wider still in panic as she gasped, ‘they’re here, the…they’re coming, we have to ge...get out of here.’
‘Who, who is coming, those two men?’
Olivia’s head bounced up and down as she tried to speak, ‘yes yes, they’re in there.’ She looked over her shoulder towards the trees.
Adela’s heart gave a lurch and her stomach turned over but she said calmly, ‘come on, this way, we can lose them in the undergrowth.’ She pulled Olivia with her off the path and into the thick undergrowth. Fortunately she could just about recall which way she had walked with Lando the day before. They ran into the shrubbery and headed for Adela’s cabin. As they approached Jonas Lando’s place Adela pulled up sharply and drew Olivia behind a tree whispering, ‘hush, I think there’s someone outside Mr. Lando’s cabin.’
They hid as best they could behind the tree, out of breath and hearts racing. They heard a dog barking and Adela knew it was Lando’s dog. They heard a door being opened and she knew by the squeaking noise it was the door to the old shack she had gone into and been virtually thrown out of the day before.
They both tensed as they heard a voice say, ‘just hold it right there.’ The heard a clicking sound and looked at each other and even Adela, who knew absolutely nothing about weapons, knew that it was a rifle being cocked. They heard Jonas Lando say, ‘I’ll give you five seconds to get off my property.’
Adela and Olivia held their breath as they waited for a response; they heard a shuffling noise then both jumped almost out of their skin as a shot rang out. They stared at each other in horror, Adela beside herself with fear that Jonas Lando had been hurt or killed. Then they heard his voice again, ‘you can either go right now or stay here permanently, but I doubt you’ll like the accommodations.’
The two men in the outbuilding seemed to understand his cryptic message to mean they would end up six feet under the earth because they suddenly appeared outside. Adela and Olivia sprung back out of sight.
One of the men spoke then and Adela knew it was the same one she had heard the night before telling his friend to “get her.” He said, ‘hey, man, we don’t mean no harm now, we’re private investigators on the trail of a runaway.’
Then another voice that Adela recognised from the previous night spoke, ‘yeah, runaway with an old guy’s life savings.’
Adela looked quickly at Olivia who looked back her eyes wide and pleading, she shook her head vigorously.
The first man was speaking again, ‘supposed to be looking after the elderly gent then went and stole his money and skipped town. That was the day afore yesterday and we think she headed this way.’
Lando said, ‘well she ain’t here, and I don’t harbour fugitives. And I don’t care if you’re P.I.’s or FBI’s you got no right to trespass. Now g
et, and don’t come back or next time I ain’t gonna be so understandin', you get me?’
There followed a silence in which the two women held their breath wondering if they would all shoot it out, but to her relief one of the men said, ‘yeah, yeah okay, we got ya, we’re going. Here’s my card, if you see the girl we’d appreciate it if you’d give us a call. She’s about yea high, dark hair, dark eyes. There’ll be a nice little reward in it for you.’
Adela could not see whether Lando took the card or not but he said, ‘just get, and don’t y’all come back.’
They got, straight towards the women’s hiding place. Olivia gasped and turned to run, but Adela caught her arm and shook her head mouthing, ‘they’ll hear us.’ But as soon as she had said it she knew they would not only hear but see them any second now, there seemed no way out.
Adela was just contemplating showing herself, try to divert them, hoping that with the hat she was wearing they would not recognise her from the night before, when Lando said, ‘not that way. That way’ll lead you to the path back to town.’
They hesitated then turned and walked towards the trees away from the two women.
Adela and Olivia stood rigid until the men disappeared then let out their breaths, which Adela was sure they’d been holding since they’d first heard Lando’s voice.
Adela grabbed Olivia’s arm and began to walk quickly towards her own cabin when a figure suddenly appeared in front of them. Blinded by fear Adela responded automatically, she shoved Olivia aside whilst simultaneously pushing the figure backwards, or at least tried too, but it was like pushing a tree. She hit out but her wrist was caught by a huge hand and held firmly. She tried to kick out but he smoothly sidestepped her foot. Then the man said, ‘stop that or I’ll put you on your butt.’
She sopped fighting instantly as she recognised Lando’s voice. She looked up at him and went limp with relief. She said breathlessly, ‘Mr. Lando! Oh good gosh.’
By now Olivia had picked up a big stick and was about to hit Lando on the head. But still holding onto Adela’s wrist with one hand he wrenched the stick from Olivia with the other, spun her around and pushed her away, only the tree she bumped into keeping her from falling flat on her face.
Adela held her left hand out to her and said, ‘it’s all right Ol…it’s all right, this is Mr. Lando. He won’t hurt you.’ She looked up at Lando, ‘unfortunately I can’t say the same for myself.’ She nodded at her wrist still in his grasp. He gave her the same scathing look he had the day before then abruptly released her.
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 rush
ed 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.