by Marnie Perry
‘Thanks, Jill, I know I will.’
She smiled at him as she turned to walk away and there was no doubting the invitation in her eyes. He smiled as he tucked into his food.
He needed to find this Sammy person, the goons had called him a dimwit and according to Jill it seems they were right. They’d also said he was a regular and had sat in the café for almost two hours the time they had seen him. They also said that he seemed to become suspicious suddenly and clammed up a little, therefore might know more than he had actually told them. He had checked her credit card transactions and he had discovered that she had taken thirty five grand out of her account in dollars and Euros…the Euros thing was interesting to say the least…in Tallahassee the day before yesterday, but there was no mention of a hire car company. Maybe she had paid cash, it was unusual these days but still in order. He intended to keep a constant check on her credit card activities so he might find something else later, she might have used it since for something else, plane tickets perhaps.
He spent over an hour in the café eating and getting three refills of coffee which he drank slowly.
In the end he knew he should leave, he did not want to question Sammy in here anyway and certainly not about the Faraday woman, it would look too suspicious. He rose and peeled a twenty dollar bill from his wallet and threw it on the table. He walked past Jill as she stood at another table taking an order from an elderly couple. He said, ‘nice talking to you, Jill.’
She looked disappointed that he was leaving but smiled, ‘I hope you enjoy your trip.’
‘Thanks, I’m sure I will.’
‘And if you’re ever back this way call in, the coffee’ll be on me.’ There she went again, being obvious, what was wrong with her, must be those damned eyes of his.
‘Thanks, Jill, bye now.’
‘Bye.’ Jill looked longingly at the door as he closed it behind him then sighed wistfully before reluctantly turning back to the waiting couple.
Hennessey sat in his car and leaned his head back against the headrest. He was tired, he had been awake for twenty four hours, although that was nothing, one time he had stayed awake for almost four days. He didn’t dwell on the fact that he had felt quite ill afterwards and had started to hallucinate, but still, he was quite proud of his stamina.
He checked his laptop again for any movement on the Faraday woman’s credit cards but as yet there was nothing, she was being very wily, probably paying cash wherever she could. He looked again at the paper Glissando had given to him with the name of the woman Glissando had hired him to kill at the top of the page. First he would go and have a look at this cabin Miss. Faraday had stayed in, make absolutely sure she wasn’t there. After that he would go and have a chat with the hermit in the woods.
He reached into his bag and pulled out a blonde wig and a case containing contact lenses, he selected the brown. He had parked in a quiet area of the hotel car park so was not concerned about being seen whilst he “changed.” When he was satisfied that he looked as unlike his normal self as he could he got out of his car and stood in the street where he looked up and down looking for someone who could be Sammy, but there was hardly anyone about. He crossed the street and made his way into the woods.
He found the cabin he had been told the German/Faraday woman had been staying in. He approached knocked on the door and waited. When no one answered as he knew they wouldn’t. He could always tell when a house was empty even from the outside, it was a sense he had. There was no German family staying here that was for sure. He knocked again just to be absolutely certain, then when again his knock went unanswered he made his way around to the right of the cabin and found the living room window. It had drapes over it so he couldn’t see inside, undeterred he made his way around to the other side and the bathroom window. This one was mottled glass so he couldn’t see in anyway. Still he had found out what he wanted to know, English spinster or German Freu whoever had stayed here was gone now.
He walked back around to the front door and after casting a swift but thorough glance around, he slipped a little silver pick from his pocket and in ten seconds flat he was in the cabin. He closed the door behind him and looked around.
The first thing he always noticed in any house he entered, either by invitation or stealth, was the smell. This place smelled of women, women’s shampoo, women’s perfume, women’s natural scent. And that was the tell, women’s odours. There had been two females sharing this place. He had been close enough to Desi to have smelt her perfume, both natural and chemical and he could smell her now. The other was Miss. Faraday’s obviously. He went into the bathroom and looked around, he drew back the shower curtain, there was nothing there, no shampoo or soap, no ladies shaver, no flannel, nothing. He went back out to the living room cum bedroom, he sat down on the bed and picked up the pillow, it smelled of Desi. So the ever considerate and kind hearted English woman had given her bed to the stranger in need. A real Good Samaritan.
He searched through the drawers of the dresser and looked under the bed, nothing. They had done a very good job of hiding the fact that Desi had been here.
He then went and sat on the coach picked up one of the cushions and pressed his face into the soft fabric. It smelled differently than the bed, so this then was where the woman had slept, he breathed deeply of her fragrance. Nice. Not too heavy on the perfume, natural, womanly, he liked that.
He rose and squatting down looked under the coach and chairs then searched the kitchen, everything was clean and tidy, exceptionally so. They had either gone over-board trying to hide Desi’s presence or the Faraday woman was a stickler for cleanliness.
He made his way to the door and had half opened it when something caught his eye.
He crouched down and reached under the cabinet that stood against the wall by the door. His opened his fingers and saw what lay between them, a small buckle, obviously from a shoe. He had no need to ask whose it was, he had seen the shoes with these very same buckles, two on each shoe. Desi had worn them on several occasions in his presence. This of course only confirmed what he already knew, but it was proof, proof he needed to shove under Miss. Adela Faraday’s nose if she tried to deny she had had Desi here.
He smiled to himself as he very quietly let himself out but the smile froze on his face as he felt a hard prod in the small of his back. He knew immediately what that prod was, the barrel of a rifle.
A voice right behind his left ear said, ‘keep absolutely still, Mister.’
Hennessey complied and stood rigid, the door knob still in his hand, while the guy searched him; he found his weapon immediately of course, but he still had the buckle and the pick in his other hand. The guy said, ‘who are you and what were you doing in this cabin?’
Hennessey, although wary, was not scared; he had complete faith in his ability to talk himself out of just about anything. And on the rare occasion talking didn’t work he fought his way out, talk or fight it was all the same to him, but right now he would rather not draw attention to himself, not until the job was done at least. But this guy was good to have gotten the drop on him; he had never even heard him approach.
He feigned nervousness and stammered, ‘I…I was just…I’m from the realtor’s, we deal with this cabin and a few others nearby.’
The man did not relax the barrel of the rifle in Hennessey’s back but said sarcastically, ‘a realtor who carries a Sig?’ Hennessey congratulated himself on not bringing his Glock, it wouldn't do to be caught walking around town with a specially made and expensive weapon.
He said, ‘hey, look man, this job is a lot more dangerous than you think, and this is an isolated area, I’ve been attacked three times in the last two years, a guy has to protect himself.’
The man ignored that, ‘what’s the name of the owner of this cabin and the person who rented it?’
Hennessey was for once grateful to the goons, they weren’t much use for anything else but they certainly knew how to make out a detailed report, must be a throw back to their governme
nt agent days. He spoke quickly as though really frightened ‘the owner is a Mr. Sam Cartwright he rented it out to Miss. Adela Faraday, an English woman, for seven days, she’s staying here until she moves onto the next leg of her tour, she’s going to…
He was interrupted, ‘okay, okay, just shut up and open the door.’
Hennessey hesitated. The man dug him painfully in the back with the rifle, ‘open the door.’
He had not locked the door again and his hand was still on the door knob. He turned it saying, ‘it was already open when I arrived.’ If the man asked to see the key he would show him his own and hope that he didn’t ask him to use it, if so he would have to alter his plan, ditch the talk and start fighting.
‘Raise your hands.’ The man said then pushed him over the threshold of the door with the rifle. Hennessey staggered inside the man following.
Hennessey said, ‘she’s gone, the woman I mean. Left yesterday for Mississippi. I came by to check on everything, make sure there was no damage, that kind of thing.’
The man said, ‘turn around slowly.’ Hennessey did and got his first look at the only man who had got the jump on him in a very long time. Even without the rifle he would have known instinctively that this was the hermit the goons had met. He suppressed a smile when he thought of those two tough ex-feds being run off by a dirty, scruffy, long haired loner. But then there was something about this man, in his confident bearing, in his calm expression and in the cold hard depths of his eyes. He reminded Hennessey of himself.
The man looked quickly around, taking everything in. Then his rifle still trained on Hennessey looked in the bathroom.
Coming back into the centre of the living room he looked directly into Hennessey’s eyes and it was as though the guy somehow knew that he was lying and even who he was and what he did. That was crazy he knew, but the uncomfortable feeling remained.
He said, ‘you can see that she’s gone. She left a day early, didn’t explain why, but hey, she’s paid up to the end of the week so my firm still gets its money and I get my commission. Not that it’s worth much, ten percent of…
He was cut off, ‘stop talking, you’re irritating me.’
‘Sorry.’
The man looked down at the gun in his hand then back up at Hennessey, ‘what’s your name?’
‘David Somers.’
‘Where you from?’
‘Mississippi originally, but I live in Louisiana now.’ He thought it best to tell the truth about where he was born and raised, this man was very astute and might pick up on his accent.
‘They sent you all the way from Louisiana to Alabama just to check on this cabin?’ The guy asked with suspicion.
‘Oh no, well, not just for that, as I’ve said we have other properties here and in Alabama and Louisiana, I’m just killing two, well, several, birds with one stone as they say. I’m actually on my way to Florida for my vacation, but thought I’d get these job done first since it’s on the way so to speak.’ When the guy continued to look at him with scepticism he said, ‘look, I’ll give you my firm’s number you can call them on your cell phone.’
‘I have no use for phones, cell or otherwise.’
Hennessey had banked on that, ‘oh, I couldn’t live without mine.’ He went to get his phone from his pocket saying, ‘here, you can use mine.’
But hesitated as the guy raised his rifle and said, ‘don’t bother.’
Hennessey had hoped that the guy wouldn’t take him up on his offer because then it could get really messy.
The guy narrowed his eyes, ‘who would say they were a realtor if they weren’t?’
Hennessey laughed thinking, two for two. ‘Yeah, who? Look, I’m sorry but I really have to get going, I have some more places to check out and reports to write and calls to make before I head off for Florida. Plus, I’ve been driving all night and I’m pretty beat.’
The man ignored that, ‘you don’t know why the woman left early?’
‘No, she just informed us that she was leaving, she didn’t have too, just a courtesy really.’ Hennessey thought he would push his luck a little and asked,’ did you know her?’
‘Saw her around, but didn’t know her.’
‘Nice lady by all accounts.’
The guy shrugged, then one handed he emptied Hennessey’s gun and walked towards him still with the rifle aimed at his chest. Hennessey tensed ready for whatever came next, but the guy just held out his gun to him butt first. He said, ‘you want to be careful carrying that thing around, I imagine it wouldn’t go down to well with your boss if you accidentally shot a client.’
Hennessey laughed more with relief than anything else. ‘Yeah, you’re right, it’s just for show really, I’d probably wind up shooting myself anyway.’
The guy didn’t laugh nor even smile but gestured towards the door with his rifle. Hennessey took the hint and walked to the door hoping the guy wouldn’t expect him to lock it with the key or at least look the other way while he locked it with his pick.
They went outside and Hennessey said, ‘this is a lovely place to vacation, quite and peaceful.’ His gaze swept around the surrounding area.
As he had hoped he would the guy looked over at the trees and Hennessey spied his chance and locked the door with the pick then turned around with his own key in his hand.
He turned the doorknob as if testing it and said, ‘there all safe and secure again.’ The guy looked back at him but said nothing. Hennessey thought, three for three, he was on a roll today. He said, ‘but as lovely as it is here, it’s a little isolated for a woman alone.’
The man gave him a piercing look then said, ‘some of us like to be alone…and isolated.’
Hennessey nodded as if in understanding, ‘that’s true.’ He was thinking that if this guy had seen the Faraday woman with anyone he wasn’t saying, and was too quick to be caught out. He gave up, ‘well, it was nice to have met you, Mr…’
There was a very telling hesitation before the man reluctantly supplied, ‘Lando.’
‘Do you live near by, Mr. Lando?’
‘Near enough.’
And that was all he was going to get Hennessey thought. He said, ‘see ya then.’
Lando merely nodded as Hennessey descended the few steps to the path and walked away through the woods but he could feel Lando’s eyes boring into his back until he was out of sight.
When he’d gone Jonas Lando gave a deep sigh. The guy was good and very convincing.
But there was something about him that was out of place, something about the eyes that didn’t look right. No, something didn’t quite gel with him, he had not been a cop for nothing; he could spot a liar when he saw one. But then he wasn’t a cop any more and he had been wrong before, with disastrous results.
Still, he might make one phone call, see what he could find out, he still had a few friends in the Alabama P.D, well, one friend anyway. Where would be the harm in calling Dan Rivers and giving him a description of the guy, see if he’s in the system and also that of the two fake P.I’s. He could also ask Dan to get his colleague’s in the Mississippi P.D. to check on the woman too. Then his conscience would be clear. He could then wash his hands of her problems confident in the knowledge that at least he had done everything he could, and then he could forget all about her and all of this and get on with his own life, such as it was.
But wait a minute, what was he doing? What the fuck was he doing even getting involved with whatever was happening here, that woman and her young friend were no concern of his. She had gotten herself into this mess she could damn well get herself out of it.
Angry and impatient with himself he made his way through the woods to his own cabin sure he was making the right decision. But as though compelled too he couldn’t help but look back at the woman’s cabin. One phone call couldn’t hurt could it?
CHAPTER 11.
Whilst Hennessey was having his conversation with Jonas Lando, Adela and Olivia had arrived at the private airfield without any dela
ys interruptions or frights. Adela was talking to the pilot who was a very tall handsome fifty something man with a full head of silvery hair. Olivia was standing nervously clutching her bag against her chest as Adela had seen her do in the town as they waited for the hire car.
The pilot told them that they had clear weather and were ready to go when Olivia was.
Neither the people in the office who took Adela’s details nor the pilot asked any questions of either woman.
Olivia said that from France she would make her way somewhere else, maybe Spain or Italy as Adela had said. Adela had said that maybe she should change her name too, try to get a new passport and identity papers and Olivia said she intended too.
Then came the part that Adela was really nervous about, checking Olivia’s passport.
She tried not to stare at the woman looking it over but attempted to appear casual and unconcerned, she just hoped Olivia didn’t panic. She certainly looked very on edge as the woman looked from the passport photograph to Olivia whose knuckles were almost white around the handles of her bag.
Adela said to the pilot loud enough for everyone to hear, ‘my cousin has never flown before and always swore she never would, but she must go to France to see my aunt, her mother. Aunt Sarah has been rather poorly so Olivia is going to be with her in Toulouse.’
The pilot said, ‘I’m sorry to hear that her mother is ill,’ he looked at Olivia kindly, ‘but we’ll take the greatest care of you, Ma’am, we have all kinds of amenities on board to take your mind of things, T.V. DVD’s, computers,’ he smiled, ‘alcohol.’
To Adela’s relief Olivia smiled back, ‘thank you very much, Captain Jennings.’
Just then the woman said to Olivia, ‘well that all seems to be in order, thank you, Miss. Rushkova.'
Adela just about held in check the huge sigh of relief she felt escaping. She smiled at Olivia, ‘I wish I was going with you, Orla, but I’m needed here as you know.’
Olivia looking much more relaxed now said, ‘I know, but I’ll be back shortly, just as soon as I know mother is okay.’