by Marnie Perry
‘The man,’ Adela’s voice was a mere whisper.
‘Yes, the man he always sent for when he wanted someone removed…permanently.’
‘You mean he had people killed, that “The man” was a hitman. An assassin?’
‘Yes, exactly that. I hope you never meet him, Adela, I wish I hadn’t. He used to stare at me as though he could see right through me and know what I was thinking. He had such eyes; sometimes in a certain light they looked almost black. He came a few days before I decided to run away thirteen months ago. He looked at me and he had a twisted kind of smirk on his face as though he knew somehow what I was planning. This last time I tried to stay out of his way when I knew he was coming but Dashiel kept me with him.’
‘Dashiel, that’s the man who took you from the first house?’
Olivia frowned as if she had only just realised that she had named the man for the first time. She nodded, ‘yes, that’s his name. Dashiel Glissando.’
Adela said the name softly to herself as if it was forbidden or bad luck like an actor saying Macbeth before a performance, which was appropriate she thought since this Glissando person liked Shakespeare so much. ‘So this man, the hitman, you couldn’t avoid him?’
‘No. I tried not to look at him but, oh I don’t know, it was as though he willed me too. Oh I know that sounds stupid, crazy even, but if you saw him you would understand what I mean. I called him Chirtoff, that’s Russian for devil.’
‘And did he look at you that way again, as if he knew what you were planning?’
‘Yes.’ Olivia paused and stared down at her cup, which was empty although she didn’t seem to realise this. She was seeing something else, something not pleasant, something dangerous, something evil. Adela sensed that it wasn’t Dashiel Glissando she was seeing but “The man.”
Adela said, ‘do you think he told this Glissando person what you were up to?’
‘I don’t know, but I don’t think so. If Dashiel knew what I had planned he would have prevented it.’
‘Unless he wanted to see if the man was right, and to test you.’ Olivia looked at her and Adela could tell she hadn’t thought of that. ‘Maybe that’s why they caught you so quickly, but they had not reckoned on me coming along and messing up their plans.’
‘I…I hadn’t thought of that.’ She shook her head, ‘but no, I don’t think so. The man, when he looked at me, it was as though he knew but found it amusing. And besides, he hates Dashiel; what’s more he doesn’t attempt to hide it either. I can’t see him warning him.’
‘If he hates him why does he work for him?’
‘He doesn’t, not really. He’s what you would call self- employed; Dashiel just contracts him to do a hit. He always comes and he never refuses a contract.’
Adela shivered then gave an uncertain laugh, ‘an assassin with no principles, unusual.’
Olivia smiled, ‘well I suppose he has more than some, I heard that he never does women or children.’
‘Oh, well, that puts him in line for humanitarian of the year for sure.’ Replied Adela sarcastically.
Olivia looked at her for a moment eyebrows raised then suddenly she laughed. It sounded strange to her ears and she fought the urge to look around to see where that unfamiliar sound had come from.
Adela knew Olivia had taken herself by surprise and she felt a funny glowing feeling in her stomach that she had been the cause of her laughter. But Olivia was quickly serious again, ‘you know, sometimes I dreamed about getting enough money together to hire Chirtoff myself.’
Adela leaned back as her eyes widened, ‘to…to kill Glissando?’
Olivia nodded, ‘yes. But like freedom, it was just fantasy. Besides…’
‘Besides what?’ Adela encouraged.’
Olivia raised her eyes to Adela’s, ‘besides, even then it might not have been over.’
‘What do you mean?’
Olivia was silent for a moment before saying, ‘in the world in which Glissando lived, in the world in which I lived, if a crime boss died his possessions were handed over to his successor, and I was a possession, a chattel. I would never have been free,’ she managed a watery smile, ‘unless of course I hired Chirtoff to do away with them all.’
Adela was so stunned she was speechless, that such things could happen in this day and age, it harkened back to Roman times when slaves were passed from person to person, as gifts or rewards.
She said, ‘well, you’re out of there now, Olivia, away from that dreadful man and all that horror.’
Olivia’s laughter had been abrupt and short lived and now her face was very serious. She stood up, ‘look, Adela, I know you want to help, and you have, but this is where your involvement ends. I don’t know what I was thinking to come back here with you, to even come here with you in the first place. I was stupid and selfish; I could have put you in terrible danger from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.’
Adela stood up too, ‘I don’t care about that.’ Olivia looked at her disbelievingly, ‘well yes, all right, I do care obviously. But that doesn’t mean I can let you just walk out of here. Those men could be anywhere right now, staying in the town, hiding in the woods waiting for you to make a move. No, Olivia, you have to stay here until we know it’s safe.’
Olivia was angry now, ‘don’t you get it? It will never be safe; they will never stop looking for me, never. Glissando doesn’t tolerate failure, if Rosencrantz and Guildenstern don’t find me he’ll send someone else; he’ll get his contacts at the F.B.I involved. They’ll come here and interrogate you, and Mr. Lando too. Even if you don’t betray me, he will.’
She took a deep breath then hurried on, ‘look, the best thing you can do is leave here, go on to the next part of your tour. Even if Mr. Lando tells them I was with you and the worst comes to the worst and they do find you, you can tell them I was here but then I left. Tell them I robbed you or something, act all put out and betrayed. Those two are thick, they’ll fall for it.’
Adela stared at her and Olivia could see the indecision in her eyes and the fear too. She knew that what Olivia had said was true; those men would come here eventually. Adela turned from her and began pacing up and down, her hands clenched tightly together.
Olivia thought she was on the point of winning the battle so pushed home her point, ‘and even if they don’t recognise you, they heard you, how many people in this small place speak with an English accent? They’re not thick enough that they haven’t noticed your accent. They’ll know it was you that was there last night as soon as you open your mouth.’
If Olivia thought this would be the catalyst, that this was the battle that had won the war she had misjudged Adela completely, because that lady stopped pacing and turned slowly to face her a huge smile on her lips. Olivia frowned, ‘what, why are you smiling, did you not hear what I just said?’
Adela’s smile became a grin, ‘oh yes, yes I heard you. And that’s what will save us; give us some time to get you out of here and away from Dashiel Glissando…for good.’
Olivia frowned then shook her head as if to say “I give up.” Adela laughed knowing she’d won...for now.
CHAPTER 6.
Dashiel Glissando was furious, but it did not manifest itself in either his demeanour or his expression, only by the tightening of his stomach and the blood thundering in his ears. There was nothing he hated more than to be caught showing his emotions, he liked to disconcert people with his coolness, with his icy calm. To show emotion, especially anger, was repugnant to him. In his view it was a sign of weakness, a sign that one was not in control, and for a man such as he to appear weak or out of control would be his undoing.
He sat silent and still in his chair behind the desk his back to the two men, willing the almost unbearable anger and frustration into submission.
He tried not to think about their failure or the girl that had given him so much trouble, too much trouble, instead he thought of the punishment he would inflict on them if they did not find her. This brought him half
way back to his usual tranquillity. He then thought of what he would do to her when they brought her back and suddenly he felt the calmness envelope him.
He slowly swivelled in his seat to face them. He said nothing but gave them the full force of those cold, almost colourless eyes. He stared at them for a full two minutes letting them shift and tremble before him. He almost laughed, but amusement was an emotion too so he resisted.
Eventually when he thought they might both drop dead with fright in front of him, he said, ‘what is the name of this town?’ His voice was low and lispy and had a trace of South America in it, maybe Venezuela or Argentina. No one knew exactly where Glissando hailed from and no one dared ask, but his complexion was dark and swarthy so one immediately assumed he was from Spanish descent. His face was gaunt, bordering on sickly looking, with a long chin very high cheekbones and thin lips. He was not an ugly man but neither was he handsome.
The taller of the two men said, ‘it’s called Alban, it’s just a small place, hardly on the map. The nearest big town is Montgomery.’
‘And you saw her there?’
They both shuffled their feet and looked down as the same man mumbled, ‘we can’t be sure it was her. The girl we saw was wearing different clothes than the night before, and a hat, we couldn’t see her face clearly, but she was about the right height and had the same shaped legs and she walked similar. We followed her into the woods but some guy shot at us and told us to get.’
The man wondered if he’d gone too far by mentioning her legs, although Glissando knew that he had seen them more than once, when he’d stripped her and tied her down for him. But then Glissando might have not have expected him to notice such things.
Glissando did not comment on this however only stared at them some more until they both thought they would die right there and then if he did not blink. He said very quietly, ‘some guy shot at you so you just left, is that what you’re telling me?’
They couldn’t look at him but the shorter man said, ‘we don’t know that it was her.’
Glissando’s voice became quieter still. ‘Ah, you see, “Therein lies the rub.” You did not know that is was her, but left anyway, unconvinced, unsatisfied and under duress.’ He sounded as though he was sympathising with the two men and their dilemma, but neither man was fooled for a moment.
They said nothing so Glissando continued, ‘you just left without following through on your suspicions.’
‘Th…the guy had a gun and…’ he broke off and swallowed deeply as if preventing his heart from popping out of his mouth.
The taller man offered, ‘those woods, they’re huge and dense; it would take days to find her. We think the guy with the gun was telling the truth, he didn’t look the type to mix with people, especially young girls, and I don’t think she would have gone to a guy like that. He was weird.’
Glissando stared some more then said, ‘you know what I hear, Rosencrantz? I hear “I think,” “I think” this and “I think” that. I don’t like “I think,” I hate “I think.” “I think” is nothing, it’s cautious, it’s circumspect, it’s neither here nor there, it’s cowardly.’ He stood up, and leaned over the desk like a headmaster lecturing wayward pupils. ‘You know what I do like? I like I know, I love I know, I know is firm, it’s brave, it’s heroic.’
The two men glanced at each other and two pairs of eyes said the same thing, this guy is mad, and in their world mad meant dangerous.
Glissando caught the look and read it perfectly; after all he had seen it many times in the eyes of his employees and associates and even his own family. But he was not made angry by it; on the contrary, it elated him. Again he was tempted to laugh but again he controlled himself. He stood and stared out of the window.
Rosencrantz tried to control his breathing but his voice came out on a croak, ‘would…would you like us to go back and scour the area, make sure?’
Glissando turned to them his eyes narrowed, ‘it’s not a matter of what I would like, Rosencrantz, but of what is right. That girl defied me, she lied to me, she deceived me and that is not right, Rosencrantz, no, no, no. That has to be put right, don’t you agree.’
It was not really a question but both men nodded enthusiastically anyway.
‘But you know what I would do if I were you? I would find that Australian woman; the one who you say prevented you from accomplishing your mission last night. Find her and ask her if Desdemona said where she was going. We know she did not take her to the hospital, I’ve checked with all the local ones. And Desdemona would not go to the police.'
Glissando sat down again, ‘what about the person or people she called out too?’
‘First find the woman and ask her who it was, get a name. Use the private investigator story again. But be discreet, go carefully.’
‘Carefully? You mean you don’t want us to…you know’ Rosencrantz sounded confused as well as disappointed.
‘Yes, Rosencrantz, carefully, just ask questions, don’t hurt her, we don’t want the local cops snooping around asking questions.’ His lips twitched into the semblance of a smile, ‘we can leave the fun for later, if she’s…uncooperative. But initially, be nice, be polite, you can do that can’t you?’
They said, ‘yes, Mr. Glissando,’ in unison then turned to leave but halted when Glissando said, ‘oh and boys?’
‘Yes sir?’
‘Don’t hurt Desi…too much, that pleasure will be all mine.’
This time both men grinned then left the room.
Glissando could now let the anger out. He clenched his hands until his fingernails dug into his knuckles and drew blood. That bitch, that ungrateful, traitorous whore. She had outwitted him, lured him into a false sense of security with her false words of love and devotion then when his defences were down, when he had trusted her again she had spied her chance and ran, ran from him. “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth is it to have a thankless child.” Well, when he had her back she would whisper no more words of love, no, she would scream them, then she would beg for a death that he would not grant her, not for a long, long time.
The phone on his desk brought him out of his fantasy; he took a deep breath and picked it up. He didn’t speak, but the slightly nervous voice of his secretary said, ‘Mr. Glissando. He’s here.’
Glissando was afraid of no man, or woman, he was afraid of nothing and no one so had to ask himself why his stomach did a somersault with trepidation whenever he heard those words, which to his relief was not too often. He very much wanted to say, tell him to wait, or even, I’m in the middle of something, ask him to come back later. But he didn’t and that troubled him.
He said, ‘send him in.’ He leaned back in his chair looking relaxed as though the discomfort he’d felt at the words “he’s here” had never happened.
He wanted to turn his back and stare out of the window like he had with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, but somehow he couldn’t bring himself to do it and he despised himself and the man who made him uncertain. But he did look down at some papers on his desk and did not glance up as the door opened and the man entered.
The man hesitated at the door and smirked when Glissando did not look up from his papers. He knew he was doing this on purpose; he was making a point, although who he was making the point to he wasn’t sure but then he didn’t think Glissando did either.
He had seen those two goons; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, God, what was that crap anyway, calling people by names from Shakespeare’s plays? They had looked sheepish and scared so something must have happened to upset their boss; he liked the idea of the asshole being upset.
He walked forwards and spent a moment looking down at the top of Glissando’s head. Glissando felt a chill as the man cast a shadow over him, he told himself it was because he had blocked out the sun, but he knew better. He could see the man’s reflection in the polished gleam of his mahogany desk. The man then hooked a foot around a chair, dragged it towards him and sat down.
Glissando did look up t
hen and stared at the man who had done what no one else dared to do, sit in his presence without being invited too. He so much wanted to ask him what the hell he thought he was doing, to tell him to get the fuck up and out of his office, but he didn’t. He didn’t even want to analyse why he didn’t, just as he didn’t want to analyse why he hadn’t told him to wait in the outer office, because if he did he knew he would have to admit that the man scared him. He would also have to admit that was why he hated this man so much, because he was the only person alive who did.
He tried to convey his displeasure as he had with his two heavies, by staring; he wanted to disconcert the man, to make him uncomfortable. It wasn’t working, the bastard just stared right back with those dark blue eyes that seemed to look right through him. It was Glissando who blinked first. He held onto his anger with difficulty, using every trick in his repertoire to control himself.
He said, ‘well, Mr. Hennessey, how are you?’
Hennessey shrugged, ‘well enough.’ He did not return the pleasantry and ask how Glissando was, mostly because he didn’t give a fuck how he was. Just as Glissando didn’t give a rat’s ass how he was, unless each told the other he had only hours to live of course.
‘It went well I take it, no problems?’ Glissando said.
‘I wouldn’t be here if there had been.’
‘No, of course not. But it was a tricky one, the…subject, was an important man, well guarded.’
Hennessey shrugged again but said nothing.
Glissando turned to his computer and said, ‘so, I suppose you’ve come for your payment,’ a smile accompanied this statement, ‘unless that last one was pro- bono of course.’
Hennessey’s lips turned up at the corners as he gave an even falser smile than Glissando’s. ‘Well I would, but then every other killer for hire would start doing freebies, we’d never be taken seriously again.’
Glissando smiled but there was no humour in it. God how he hated this man, with his disturbing blue eyes, a blue that he had never seen before, so dark a blue that sometimes they appeared black. Hated him with his hard, cold face and his total disregard for his, Glissando’s, superior position, he disrespected him at every turn, it was not to be tolerated. And yet he did tolerate it…for now anyway.’