The Devil To Pay (Hennessey.) by Marnie Perry Page A

he was. She must have heard the gossip about him, she must have heard that he was a crazy hermit and been warned to steer clear of him but that hadn’t seemed to deter her. Maybe she was crazy and recognised a like mind. He had grunted something unintelligible and walked quickly past her.
    He thought that would do it, that his rudeness and unsociability would put her off speaking to him again. It didn’t. He had seen her again the next day, this time she was looking upward at something through binoculars, birds probably. He had turned to walk in the opposite direction but she must have heard him because she said, “ good afternoon, Mr. Lando.” He had half turned to her then carried on walking. Undeterred by his ignorance she had added, “it’s a beautiful day isn’t it? ” He had pretended not to hear and continued walking, faster this time. She called after him, “ good day then, Mr. Lando. ” And there was definite amusement in her voice as she said it.
    The next time he’d met her was the day before when he had come upon her after she had strayed from the path. He had been very rude and intimidating that day he had to admit, and he had left her there knowing she was lost and uncertain, and although she had tried to hide it behind humour, a little afraid. He had been taken aback when she had grabbed his arm, it had been a long time since a woman had touched him, it had been a long time since anyone had touched him come to that.
    He had expected her to follow him but when she didn’t he knew he could not leave her there, she might wander around all day, maybe for days, going round and round in circles. So he had gone against his better judgement and waited for her. It was lucky that he had because she would have ventured right into the swamp. She had given him that haughty look but hadn’t spoken to him so maybe she had been angry with him, he couldn’t blame her for that.
    Then of course he had acted like a nutcase when she had entered his outhouse, his sanctuary. He wasn’t sure why he had acted as he had towards her, maybe because he thought she might tell everyone in town that he kept animals in one of his buildings and took care of them. He wasn’t sure why he cared whom she told and he didn’t know why he didn’t want the townspeople to know about his little animal hospital, he just didn’t.
    But somehow deep down he knew she wouldn’t tell anyone what she had seen, that she would respect his privacy.
    Maybe she was of the same mind; she was alone on her vacation in an isolated cabin after all. But then he had been wrong about people before, people he thought he knew better than he knew himself. He had once upon a time prided himself on his ability to read people, until he had been let down, lied too, deceived, betrayed. Or maybe the people he had misjudged were just very good at hiding their true feelings. Still, maybe he shouldn’t have acted as he had towards her; she had been embarrassed and very contrite.
    He thought about the last time he had seen her, with that girl; she had put up quite a fight when she had thought he was one of those two men. He respected a fighter.
          But every fibre of his being, every instinct he had honed and perfected both as a cop   and as a con, was telling him that the girl was going to cause real trouble for the English woman. Well, as long as they and those men didn’t come back and bother him again, he didn’t give a fuck what happened to any of them. He had warned the woman, what more could he do, she was none of his business after all.
    He ran his fingers impatiently through his hair, donned his hat, called Dante and together they set out for their walk.
     
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    Adela and Olivia sat in the living area, Adela on the armchair leaning forward listening intently as Olivia on the sofa talked. She had finally convinced Olivia to talk and to tell her