The Devil To Pay (Hennessey.) (13 page)

‘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.