by Marnie Perry
‘Now, Miss. Faraday,’ Said, Sullivan, Sheriff Taylor tells us you were there when the assault took place and that you know Sterling Hennessey, er, quite well.’
She didn’t like the tone of his voice which was almost sneering nor the way he had said, “Er, quite well.” As though it was a crime to know someone quite well.
She said, ‘I really didn’t know him, "Er, quite well," I only met him five days ago.’
Detective Leyton’s lips twitched but Sullivan’s face remained impassive as he said, ‘we’ll let’s just say you knew him better than most people in Eden, would that be a fair assumption?’
She nodded, ‘yes, that would be fair.’
When she said nothing further Sullivan said, ‘well?’
‘Well I don’t really know what I can tell you. He was on his way to North Carolina for his cousin’s wedding, but since that wasn’t until the day after tomorrow and he had vacation time, he decided to do a quick tour on his way there. He was born here in Mississippi and lived here until he was seven.’
‘Did he tell you where?’
‘Yes, Hattiesburg. But he now lives in Galveston, Texas. He’s a terminator by trade.’
They both looked oddly at her and added, ‘he kills bugs.’
Sullivan nodded as though she had said something profound and asked, ‘did he tell you the name of the company he worked for?’ She shook her head, ‘what about his cousin’s name, or where in North Carolina the wedding was taking place?’
Again she shook her head, ‘no, I’m sorry, he didn’t say.’
'Did he know Maxwell, maybe from before he came to Eden?'
'No, I don't think so, no, I'm sure of it, they would have said.'
'Had there been bad blood between them, arguments, disagreements that kind of thing?'
She hesitated uncomfortable with the question. Sullivan raised his eyebrows questioningly. She said, 'they seemed to take an instant dislike to each other. But there was no arguments between them, no.'
'They disliked each other, why?'
She looked distinctly uncomfortable and looked down at her hands again before answering, 'that happens sometimes doesn't it, when two personalities clash.'
'And these two certainly clashed didn't they.'
She looked up sharply but did not answer his question and to her relief Sullivan changed the subject.
'So on this tour of his, where had he been before he came to Mississippi?’
‘Nowhere, this was his first stop.’
The younger detective was writing things down in his notebook but looked up quickly at that and asked his first question. ‘So what made him set aside his plan to take a quick tour of his home state and elsewhere and stay here in the first place he landed do you think, Miss. Faraday?’
She tried not too but she couldn’t help but blush she lowered her eyes but raised them again when Sullivan said, ‘Miss. Faraday?’
‘I…I, maybe he liked it here.’
‘Oh come now, Miss. Faraday don’t be modest.’ This from Sullivan.
‘What do you mean?’
His eyes raked her up and down rather insolently before he said, ‘just that maybe it wasn’t the town he liked.’ His words sounded like a compliment but his tone suggested he couldn’t understand why Hennessey would interrupt his vacation to spend time with her.
Again she tried not to but her face flushed, although her embarrassment didn’t prevent her from squaring her shoulders and looking Sullivan directly in the eyes giving him a rather scornful, superior look which seemed to take him by surprise.
The younger detective coughed and looked impatiently at his partner before asking, ‘you were there when the assault took place is that right?’
She nodded, ‘yes.’
‘Can you tell us what happened?’
‘Yes, no, I mean some of it. I saw the door to Dean’s shop open and went in to speak to him, but I heard voices, Sterling’s, I mean Mr. Hennessey’s, and Dean’s. They were arguing.’
‘About what?’
She looked down at her hands again and didn’t answer. ‘About what, Miss Faraday?’ Leyton insisted.
Her eyes still lowered her voice a whisper she said, ‘I think about me.’
‘About you?’
She nodded and Leyton said, ‘what were they saying about you?’
She wanted to ask what did that matter, but knew they wanted an answer so she raised her eyes and looked not at Leyton but at Sullivan, ‘Mr. Hennessey said that Dean was,’ she hesitated before finishing self consciously, ‘jealous.’
It was Sullivan who asked ‘jealous? Of Who?’
She wanted to say it’s whom not “who” but didn’t want to alienate either of these two detectives. She had the strange feeling that they somehow thought that she was involved in what had happened to Dean. Indeed they kept looking at her hands which were still bloody from wiping Dean’s face and holding his head. She lowered them into her lap.
She looked down yet again knowing this was the wrong thing to do, it made her look, if not guilty, then of trying to hide something. She brushed stray hairs behind her ear; it was a self conscious gesture that was not lost on either man. She didn’t look at them as she said quietly, ‘of Mr. Hennessey’s relationship with me.’
They both tried to hide it but she caught the incredulous look they gave each other and she knew what they were thinking, that although she was not elephant man ugly she was no Angelina Jollie either, nor anywhere near close.
Before they could say anything she hurried on, ‘then Dean said something I couldn’t catch and Mr. Hennessey replied which again I couldn’t catch, then Dean spoke again, his tone sounded disdainful and sarcastic. Then I heard the commotion and ran into the yard and that’s when I saw Mr. Hennessey leaning over Dean, he was…hitting him.’ She sounded almost pleading now, ‘I tried to stop him, I really did, but he threw me off and pushed me down to the ground, I thought he was going to hit me, but then he seemed to come too…
She was interrupted by Leyton, ‘come too?’
‘Yes, that’s the only way I can describe it, he seemed to be in a sort of daze, as if he wasn’t aware of anything or anyone. Anyway, that’s when I called the ambulance but when we heard the siren he leapt over the wall and ran away.’ Both men heard the note of disgust in her tone. She finished, ‘that’s all I can tell you about him or about what happened. Can I go back and sit with Dean now please?’
They detectives looked at each other before Leyton said, ‘just one or two more questions then you can go.’
She sighed, ‘all right.’
‘Thank you. You had been with Sterling Hennessey earlier in the day is that right?’
‘Yes.’
‘Where had you been?’
‘Silver Run.’
‘Really? That’s a pretty place.’
‘Yes it is, very pretty.’
‘And how did Mr. Hennessey seem to you.’
She frowned perplexed, ‘seem to me?’
‘Yes how did he act, was he on edge, in a bad mood perhaps, twitchy, preoccupied, that kind of thing?’
She steeled herself not to look away as she recalled the scene with the Carters; Leyton had asked that question as though he knew something. Had they been talking to Angela or Paul Carter, had they told them how he had been rude to them, rude and angry? No, surely not, they wouldn’t have interviewed them this soon would they?
They were both looking speculatively at her but she wasn’t about to tell them about the scene in the Gazebo so she said, ‘no, he seemed fine, happy and relaxed, we both were. We had a very nice day.’ She could feel the heat rising up her body when she recalled what had happened by the lake. It seemed like a dozen years ago now that he had held her so tenderly and kissed her so softly and spoke to her so gently and had pleasured her so wonderfully, so beautifully.
She had the distinct impression that these two detectives could see right into her mind, into her heart. She had to summon up all her willpower not to
look away from those sharp, seemingly all knowing eyes. So much for being able to hold her own in a police interview, all those years of reading about police interrogations and what tricks they used, how to conduct oneself so as not to get caught out, had availed her nothing. If he could see her Sterling Hennessey would be laughing his head off right now. But she was much too distressed for playing games.
She knew they remained silent deliberately, waiting for her to continue, to say something incriminating but she couldn’t help herself she had to speak, ‘we arranged to meet at my cabin for dinner at eight. That’s why I was in town to buy some things to make a trifle. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been there and St…Mr. Hennessey might have, Dean might have been…’ She broke off realising what she was saying.
The fact was she didn’t know what had happened she didn’t know why Sterling was in Dean’s shop. Why he went to visit a man he disliked and she hadn’t heard what Dean had said to him to make him react as he had, to cause him to beat Dean senseless.
She recalled the night they had gone to the CC club and how he had reacted to those three men, how he had acted afterwards, so nonchalant, so unconcerned about their injuries, just as he had about Dean’s.
And more than anything she did not want to tell them about that night, not only because she felt guilty and awful about it, but because they would use that against Sterling, make him out to be a violent man when all he had done that night was defend and protect her. And also they might think she had wound him up to hurt those men, flirted with them perhaps and made him jealous. Maybe they thought that she had set him off again, perhaps made him jealous by talking about Dean and that was why Sterling has gone to see Dean to settle the matter once and for all. None of this was true of course, but she could not deny the guilt she felt at what had happened to Dean. They might think that one violent incident was an unfortunate event, but two, and so close together, was cause for suspicion. Plus, she did not want to involve Carson Bentley; he didn’t deserve to have trouble brought down on him, and she knew he would be in trouble for not reporting the incident.
Some of what she was thinking must have shown in her face because they both looked oddly at her. She knew they were both waiting for her to speak again but this time she didn’t.
But it was very difficult not to visibly recoil when Leyton asked, ‘has Mr. Hennessey ever been violent before?’
It was though they had read her mind, and knew that now she either had to tell the truth about the CC club, or lie. She recalled the conversation she and Hennessey had had about lying to protect yourself…or someone else. She wasn’t sure why she felt the need to protect Sterling, what he had done was inexcusable, horrible, but still she could not bring herself to add fuel to the fire so she edged, ‘he was a marine, in the first desert storm, so I suppose he must have been.’
They looked at one another and Sullivan said, ‘he told you he had been a marine?’
‘Yes.’
Sullivan said, ‘so that’s why he could beat a guy, a big guy at that, almost to a pulp.’
Adela winced but said nothing so Leyton said, ‘anyway, we didn’t mean violent in the past, we meant since you’ve known him.’
This time she did not prevaricate but said simply, ‘no.’
They did not believe her she knew. Leyton asked, ‘do you have you any idea why Mr. Hennessey would seek out Dean Maxwell, a man he hardly knew, why he would go to his store?’
She shrugged, ‘maybe he wanted to buy a book.’
Sullivan smirked, ‘at that time of evening, why go shopping? And in a book store too when he was meeting you in an hour or so…for dinner?’
Again she was annoyed at the hesitation before finishing a sentence, as though he didn’t believe anyone would want to meet her for dinner or anything else.
She said, ‘perhaps he needed a book to take with him on his journey, something he couldn’t get elsewhere. Maybe even a gift for his cousin.’
‘A strange thing to buy for a wedding present.’ He scoffed.
She shrugged again, ‘I didn’t say for wedding present, it was just an example that’s all.’
‘I see,’ said Leyton.
She said rather heatedly, ‘anyway, I can’t speak for him; you’ll have to ask him that question yourself.’
‘Oh we will,’ Sullivan said, ‘when we apprehend him.’
She looked at him then at Leyton then down at her hands but her head shot up when Leyton said, ‘you liked him didn’t you?’ His voice was gentle and sympathetic but there was an underlying speculation there too.
The question obviously flustered her and the two men watched as a range of emotions flitted across her expressive face, pleasure, tenderness, wistfulness, fear and regret.
Her tone was soft as she answered candidly, ‘yes, yes I did.’ But suddenly her voice gained a hardness as she realised what he was implying, ‘but that doesn’t alter the fact that I want him “apprehended” as much as you do. What he did was wrong, very wrong, and should not go unpunished. And he ran, that’s not the thing a man, a real man would do, that’s cowardly.’
They both looked startled whether at her words or at her tone was unclear. But suddenly her shoulders slumped and she ran her bloodstained hands through her hair and said, ‘this is all my fault.’
The two detectives looked at each other then Leyton asked, ‘your fault, what do you mean, Miss. Faraday?’
‘If I hadn’t accepted a lift from him that day, if I hadn’t had dinner with him, if I hadn’t formed a friendship with him this would never have happened,’ she shook her head despairingly, ‘I knew he didn’t like Dean, but I never thought he would go this far. Dean never had a chance to protect himself against a man like him.’
Sullivan’s voice was sharp now, ‘a man like him?’
‘Yes, an ex marine, who would be able to defend themselves against a man trained to… to inflict injury?’ She knew they realised that she had been about to say kill and she looked away.
The two men looked at each other again then back at her. She thought to dampen the fire she had started before it got any fiercer by saying, ‘he saved my life.’
They both arched their eyebrows and Leyton said, ‘he did? How?’
She related the story of the panther and they listened attentively she finished, ‘so you see, he’s not a bad person; he just has a bit of a temper when pushed.’
‘You can say that again,’ said, Sullivan sarcastically.
She said heatedly, ‘but don’t we all, don’t we all have a cut off point, a point that we don’t allow others to cross?’
They both looked surprised then Leyton smiled, ‘of course we do, but most of us don’t use violence to get across the point that others have crossed that line. Most of us just say so with words not fists.’
Adela had to concede this point and said nothing further.
Leyton said, ‘you said that Mr. Hennessey scared the panther away?’
‘Yes.’
‘How?’
Adela frowned then realised what she’d started and stammered, ‘h…how?’
‘Yes, how did he scare him away?’
She felt the heat rush up her face and couldn’t answer.
Sullivan said sarcastically, ‘well? Did he throw a stone, use harsh language?'
She looked at him and said curtly, ‘no.’
Sullivan looked impatient now and snapped, ‘Miss. Faraday.’
She swallowed and said quietly, ‘he fired a shot from his gun.’
She expected them to look at each other as they had done whenever she had said something that interested or surprised them, they didn’t. Instead they stared at her for what seemed like forever before Sullivan said, ‘he had a weapon with him?’
‘Yes.’ She spoke very fast now, ‘he said he always carried one just in case, he said he never went into uncharted waters without a weapon.’
They did look at each other now and she rushed on, ‘I hate guns, but I’m glad he had his with him that day or I
might not be here now.’ They knew she was wishing she wasn’t here, not here with them anyway.
‘Do you think it’s normal thing for a man to do, to take a gun with him when out walking with a lady, Miss. Faraday?’ Sullivan asked.
She shrugged she hoped nonchalantly, ‘I don’t live here do I. It’s not normal at home to carry a gun anywhere let alone whilst out walking with a woman, but here things are different, I don’t know what’s normal and what isn’t. I mean, here even children have guns for hunting etcetera.’ They both stared at her but before either could say anything she went on, ‘besides, it’s not against the law to carry a weapon is it.’
Leyton answered, ‘no it isn’t, but it is illegal to carry a concealed weapon without a permit, and why would a “terminator” carry a concealed weapon. I take it Mr. Hennessey didn’t have his gun on display for all the town to see when he was out and about with you?’
The little spirit she’d shown went out of her and her shoulders slumped as she shook her head.
A silence ensued then suddenly Leyton spoke, ‘well, as you say, his having a weapon illegal or not, saved your life, and we can only be grateful to him for that.’
Adela looked sharply at him wondering if it was his turn to be sarcastic but his face was soft as if he felt sympathy for her, or maybe pity, probably pity. She would have preferred sarcasm. But she knew what they were doing, playing good cop, bad cop.
Just then a knock came on the door and Sullivan sighed but nodded to Leyton who got up and went to answer it. Adela heard a man’s voice then Leyton stepped outside and closed the door leaving her with Sullivan and a very uncomfortable silence.
After what seemed like an eternity but was in fact only four minutes Leyton returned. He looked at neither person as he came back in but sat down and flicked through his note book. Still looking down at it he said, ‘Miss. Faraday, you say you liked Sterling Hennessey.’ She nodded, ‘and you spent a lot of time with him, talked to him and he to you, about family, friends, your home, your work, shared experiences, is that right?’
She nodded again wondering where this was leading and if it had anything to do with the man who had knocked on the door and spoken to Leyton.