by Marnie Perry
They got in the car, Adela the passenger and Olivia the driver. She watched as Olivia adjusted the seat and rear view mirror and said, ‘Olivia, it’s a long drive to Memphis are you sure you’re up to it?’
‘I’ll be all right, honestly.’
‘Olivia?’
‘Hmm?’
‘Have you actually ever driven a car before?’
Olivia looked at her and for the first time since they had left Alban her smile was genuine, ‘I’ve seen other people do it, how hard can it be?’
Adela leaned her head against the headrest and blew out her breath. So they had hired a car that neither was licensed to drive. But that was a technicality Adela tried not to think about. She said, ‘this is going to be one very interesting journey.’
Olivia’s smiled turned into a grin as she pulled away from the pavement.
If Olivia had turned around she would have seen the man who stood looking at the car as they drove away. Well, not at the car so much as at the female passengers.
Sammy Know It All was wondering where the nice Foreign lady who had worn the pretty hat was going with the other young lady, and whether the two men had eventually found her and thanked her for what she had done.
**********
In the early hours of the morning following his evening conversation with Glissando, Hennessey was packed and ready to go, he didn’t have much, didn’t need much. He sometimes had to move quickly and suddenly and did not want to be encumbered with unnecessary stuff.
He had paid his bill having woken up the desk clerk who, despite the late hour and being still half asleep, was very polite and duly sympathetic when Hennessey told him that he had to leave right away as he had just had a call informing him that his father had had a heart attack and was very sick and he had to fly to Arizona immediately to be with him. The clerk had told him how sorry he was and added, ‘I hope he makes a full recovery, Mr. Cross.’ Hennessey had thanked the clerk and gave him a generous tip. He had learned way back that it was always best to have hotel clerks, chamber maids and waiters etcetera on your side.
Now he was ready to go he just had one more thing to take care of before he left. He knew he shouldn’t do this, but what the hell, live dangerously hey.
He picked up his bag and left the room, he did not look back, he knew he had not left anything and he had no sentimental feeling about this room. He had no room for such nonsense now, although at one time he been as sentimental and nostalgic as anyone else, when he had been young and foolish and impressionable, when he had been something like human.
He walked past the desk clerk waving as he did so, the man waved back calling out more best wishes for his father’s health as he did so. Hennessey nodded his thanks and walked out the door. Once outside he made his way around the back of the building, opened the door he had left unlocked earlier, and took the stairs to the twelfth floor.
Once there he found room number 1281 and knocked. He waited knowing they were in because he had heard the thumping and crashing and screaming just before he had left his own room. He was about to knock again this time harder when the door was thrust open and the guy who had disturbed his peace every few days since he had been here stood there. He was bare-chested and in the process of fastening up his pants over his huge white belly. Hennessey could hear the woman’s sobs emanating from the room to his right.
The guy glared at Hennessey obviously resenting being interrupted in the middle of his favourite pastime. Then as he looked closer he suddenly seemed to recognise the “asshole” from the elevator because the glare turned into a sneer. The guy snapped, ‘well? Whaddaya want?’
Before Hennessey could reply, if indeed he was about to, the guy turned to the bedroom door and yelled to the weeping woman, ‘shut the fuck up, ya stupid bitch, or I’ll give you a damn good reason to wail.’
Then speaking to Hennessey but still looking at the bedroom door he said, ‘well I’m waiting, asshole,’ he turned his face to Hennessey, ‘what you aft…
He never finished the sentence because he was suddenly looking straight down the barrel of Hennessey’s Glock. Gus only just had time to register that it was fixed with a silencer before the slug entered his brain. The sneer turned into amazement then disbelief then terror, then something almost like acceptance before he fell backwards into the living room where he lay looking up at the ceiling just as Hennessey had done almost every night for the last two weeks.
Hennessey stood for a second looking at the man before turning away; he pushed open the door to the stairway, and as he unhurriedly made his way down the stairs to the back entrance, it occurred to him that the moment he had pulled the trigger the woman had stopped crying.
***********
Just as Hennessey’s bullet had entered Gus’s brain Adela and Olivia were pulling into the parking lot of a small motel. Apart from one rather frightening incident about an hour into their travels, Adela and Olivia had had an uneventful journey. The incident in question lasted for three minutes and twenty seven seconds when a police patrol car followed them.
Adela had kept talking to Olivia to take her mind from the patrol car but she was as nervous as the girl. She tried not to think about Olivia’s fake driving licence and what would happen to them if the police pulled them over and examined it carefully. And if they should search her and find the fake passport too, what would happen to her, to both of them? She tried even harder not to think about what Olivia had said, that Glissando had police officers in his pocket. They both sat tense and uncomfortable and both nearly passed out with fear when the patrol car sounded its siren but their relief was great when the car overtook them and sped off along the highway no doubt in pursuit of some criminal or other.
Adela did not let herself dwell on the fact that she was a criminal of sorts now too, having been a willing participant in Olivia’s Fraud. She was also concerned about the 10,000 dollars or so she carried with her, not just that she might get robbed but what she would say if the police asked what all that money was for. There was no law in carrying a lot of cash around with you of course, but she did not want to have to answer awkward questions.
Adela looked at Olivia’s hands still gripped tightly to the steering wheel as though she would pull it out of its fixings. She said. ‘I don’t think I’m cut out for a life of crime.’
Olivia gave her an odd look as Adela’s lips curled into a smile then she watched in surprise then exasperation as Adela began to laugh, then she too laughed, just a little “huh” at first then as Adela’s laughter increased so did hers and the next two minutes were taken up with both woman trying to control themselves before they caused an accident.
There were no more incidents and they did not see another patrol car. However both women were vigilant and studied every vehicle for signs that a particular car was following them for any length of time. Adela had read many times that people who wanted to “tail” someone sometimes swapped cars alternately so as not to arouse suspicion, but she didn’t think this was the case here, why would they go to so much trouble? If anyone wanted to stop them they could easily have pulled them over or forced them off the road when they came to quiet almost car free areas.
Nothing like this happened and they arrived in Memphis at 12.30 in the morning.
Adela had not booked a hotel in advance not wanting to use her credit card until she absolutely had too, so they found a quiet off the road motel about a thirty minute drive from the private airfield. She paid in cash which did not seem out of the ordinary here. That was one useful tip she had picked up from her crime novels anyway.
The room was nothing to write home about, but it was clean, well, relatively so. But even if it had been filthy with cockroaches crawling all over the place they wouldn’t have minded, they were both so tired and drained. Adela commented that life on the run was very wearing. She smiled at Olivia who sat on the bed looking worn out and worried.
Adela sat next to her and took her hand in hers and squeezed it comfortingly. ‘
Just think, Olivia, we’re nearly there. We’ve left Alabama behind us and we’re almost there, in a few hours we’ll be home free.’
‘There’s that “we” again.’
Adela laughed, ‘I think of us as in this together, the “we” part just comes naturally.’
Olivia didn’t smile but said, ‘maybe after…after this is over and I’ve gone, you should go home instead of carrying on with your vacation.’
Adela’s smile disappeared, ‘no, if I leave they will suspect something. If this Glissando is as vengeful and determined as you say, he might follow me home thinking I’m running from him because I have something to hide. But if I stay it’ll look like I have nothing to hide. And if they find me in any of the other states I’m going too, I’ll just do as I said and tell them I said goodbye to you in the town where I found you after you refused my help. They won’t even connect me to the German woman.’ She patted Olivia's hand, ‘don’t worry about me, you’ve seen what a good story I can spin, even in a foreign language. I’ll just lie and lie until even my knickers are on fire.’
Olivia couldn’t help it; she burst out laughing, ‘you’ll never get to heaven you know.’
Adela shrugged, ‘God will understand that it was in a good cause. Besides, if he didn’t mean us to lie he would never have created politicians would he?’
Olivia laughed again and Adela said, ‘right, let’s get some sleep; we both have a lot of travelling to do tomorrow. You take the bathroom first.’
Olivia rose and went into the bathroom. When she’d closed the door Adela’s smile slid from her face. The fact was that she was a little worried, although she knew she could convince the men that she had no idea where Olivia went she did not relish the idea of confronting them again. On the other hand something within her, something that had lain dormant inside her all her life was growing in her, a sense of adventure, an indescribable feeling of excitement, since that night in the alley she was stimulated as she had never been before. She couldn’t explain it, it was just there. She had the almost irresistible urge to shout, ‘bring it on,’ but restrained herself. First and most importantly she had to get Olivia to that plane and away from this country, away from that evil man, that was the most important thing, nothing else mattered.
Adela came out of the bathroom yawning, Adela laughed ‘I echo that feeling,’ as she walked past Olivia and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed.
***********
As Adela and Olivia were waking from their much needed sleep Hennessey was parking his car outside a café in the little town of Alban. He got out and locked his car then stood looking around. It was a very small town, a village really as Glissando had said. His gaze swept down the street his eyes coming to rest on the woods obviously the same ones in which Glissando’s two goons had chased the girl and also where Miss. Adela Faraday’s cabin was situated.
He wondered again why a lone woman would rent a cabin in so dense and lonely a place where only an unfriendly rifle toting loner resided. He would check out this guy later, but right now he needed coffee and something to eat.
He went inside; there were very few people at the tables, probably because it was early morning and a work day, it probably filled up later at lunch time.
He walked to the back of the café and, unbeknownst to him of course, sat at the exact same table where Adela had had coffee and had spoken to Jill and Sammy.
Jill was on duty today too and walked over to him with a friendly smile, ‘what can I get for you today, sugar?’
Hennessey smiled at the endearment, a common enough one in this part of the world. He said, ‘I’ll take a full breakfast, coffee and orange juice, freshly squeezed if you have it.’
Her face said she approved of his choice and said, ‘freshly squeezed it is, I’ll get that and the coffee while you wait for your food.’
‘Thank you.’ He looked at her name badge and added, ‘Jill.’
The smile she gave him was coy as she walked away shouting out his order to the cook while she saw to his coffee and juice.’
Hennessey looked around but could not see anyone that resembled the description of Sammy he had been given. No matter, he would track him down.
Jill came back with his coffee and Hennessey wanting to engage her in conversation while she was not too busy said, ‘it looks like it’s going to be another hot one.’ Referring to the weather.
Jill said, ‘yep, certainly looks that way. We could certainly use some rain.’
‘Really? I actually like the heat, it doesn’t bother me. Maybe because I’ve lived in even hotter climates.’
‘Oh really, hotter than this?’
‘Yes. Take Saudi Arabia or Egypt, it can get into the high thirties or low forties even in their winter.’
‘Really?’ Jill seemed put out that other places could get even hotter than Alabama.
‘Yes, although I like the sun, I also enjoy the cooler places, and even the rain, it makes a nice change from too much heat. In fact I’m visiting Europe next week for a vacation, and I hear it’s only fourteen or fifteen degrees there.’
‘Well, that’ll certainly make a change from hot old Alabama now won’t it?’
Hennessey laughed. He put his head on one side and gave Jill an appraising and appreciative look.
Jill, no amateur at steering unwelcome advances away from her did something she had not done in a long time, she blushed.
She had seen quite a few handsome men come and go in this little café over the years, some very handsome, some devastatingly so, but this stranger was not just handsome but compelling, and those eyes, as blue as, as blue as what? She did not think there was a word to describe what kind of blue they were, but they were certainly something to behold.
Hennessey knew what impression he was making on Jill, he had seen that expression in the eyes of many women in his lifetime and he had taken advantage of it more than once. He wanted to find out whether Miss. Faraday had been back here, maybe even yesterday. He did not believe that she was stupid enough to bring Desi in here of course, but then he had learned over the years that people did unexpected and very stupid things sometimes.
Jill said, ‘where about in Europe are you heading if I may ask?’
‘You may ask, Jill. I’m starting in France then Germany then onto England, well, London to be precise. See if the Queen of that fair country is at home and in need of a southern boy's company.’
Jill laughed out loud, ‘if it’s your company you’re referring to I’m sure she’ll give you a private audience.’ Jill could have kicked herself, why had she said that? She was being much too obvious.
Hennessey laughed now too, ‘why thank you, Jill.’
Jill blushed again, my goodness she thought, I never blush and now twice in as many minutes, she must watch herself she was losing her usually cool demeanour.
She said, ‘it’s funny because we had an English lady in here a few days back, she was doing a tour of the south. And there’s you a southerner doing a tour of Europe, and both coming in here for refreshment. She actually sat in that very seat.'
‘Now that is a strange coincidence. Was she staying around here?’
‘I’m not sure, she only came in the once, but she was a very nice lady,’ Jill grinned, ‘and a great tipper.’
Hennessey returned her grin, ‘a real pity she didn’t come in more often then.’
Jill missed the sarcasm because she was still having trouble dealing with the fluttering in her stomach. Just then a man called, ‘Jill, full breakfast for one.’
Part of her was relieved to get away from those probing, experienced eyes and part of her was disappointed to turn her back on them. She said, ‘that’ll be you.’
She went to fetch his meal and when she returned he thanked her and said, ‘it’s a pity that you don’t know where the woman is staying I could have asked her advice, places to see, where to go and where to avoid, that kind of thing.’
‘Yes, that would have been nice and you coul
d have done the same for her.’
‘She was travelling alone then?’
‘Oh yes, but she’s probably moved on now, she said she was staying seven days or so in each state, the next stop was Mississippi.’
Jill was telling him things he already knew but he wanted to find out for himself that the “German” woman was in fact Miss. Faraday and not an authentic German tourist. If so the Faraday woman might still be here thinking she had fooled the goons completely. Something else he had discovered in his time was that people once they had gotten away with something became complacent and too full of their own cleverness.
He said, ‘really? Another coincidence, Mississippi is my home state.’
‘How strange. You could have returned the favour and advised her on where to go, what to avoid and so on.’
Hennessey laughed, ‘pity she isn’t here now.’
‘Yes. Although she hasn’t been in here since, a friend of mine saw her in Mobile only yesterday.’
Hennessey was an old hand at not giving away his feelings, so his surprise nor excitement showed in his expression. ‘Mobile?’
‘Yeah, with a young girl apparently, she said she was travelling alone but maybe she met up with someone, maybe even one of her own countrywomen.’
‘Yes, maybe.’
‘But then you have to take some of what Sammy says with a pinch of salt, he’s a bit, well, you know, simple like, he sometimes gets a little confused.’
Hennessey thought, Sammy again. He said, ‘he didn’t speak to her then?’
‘No, she was in a car, so he said.’
Hennessey did not question her further for fear of appearing too inquisitive about a woman he had never met. But it seemed he wasn’t going to get much more out of Jill anyway. He smiled, ‘this looks great,’ he nodded down at his food a subtle hint that he was ready to eat.
Jill said, ‘oh, oh yes. Well, I hope you enjoy it.’