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

men?’
    Olivia’s head bounced up and down as she tried to speak, ‘yes yes, they’re in there.’ She looked over her shoulder towards the trees.
    Adela’s heart gave a lurch and her stomach turned over but she said calmly, ‘come on, this way, we can lose them in the undergrowth.’ She pulled Olivia with her off the path and into the thick undergrowth. Fortunately she could just about recall which way she had walked with Lando the day before. They ran into the shrubbery and headed for Adela’s cabin. As they approached Jonas Lando’s place Adela pulled up sharply and drew Olivia behind a tree whispering, ‘hush, I think there’s someone outside Mr. Lando’s cabin.’
    They hid as best they could behind the tree , out of breath and hearts racing. They heard a dog barking and Adela knew it was Lando’s dog. They heard a door being opened and she knew by the squeaking noise it was the door to the old shack she had gone into and been virtually thrown out of the day before.
    They both tensed as they heard a voice say, ‘just hold it right there.’ The heard a clicking sound and looked at each other and even Adela, who knew absolutely nothing about weapons, knew that it was a rifle being cocked. They heard Jonas Lando say, ‘I’ll give you five seconds to get off my property.’
    Adela and Olivia held their breath as they waited for a response; they heard a shuffling noise then both jumped almost out of their skin as a shot rang out. They stared at each other in horror, Adela beside herself with fear that Jonas Lando had been hurt or killed. Then they heard his voice again, ‘you can either go right now or stay here permanently, but I doubt you’ll like the accommodations.’
    The two men in the outbuilding seemed to understand his cryptic message to mean they would end up six feet under the earth because they suddenly appeared outside. Adela and Olivia sprung back out of sight.
    One of the men spoke then and Adela knew it was the same one she had heard the night before telling his friend to “get her.” He said, ‘hey, man, we don’t mean no harm now, we’re private investigators on the trail of a runaway.’
    Then another voice that Adela recognised from the previous night spoke, ‘yeah, runaway with an old guy’s life savings.’
    Adela looked quickly at Olivia who looked back her eyes wide and pleading, she shook her head vigorously.
    The first man was speaking again, ‘supposed to be looking after the elderly gent then went and stole his money and skipped town. That was the day afore yesterday and we think she headed this way.’
    Lando said, ‘well she ain’t here, and I don’t harbour fugitives. And I don’t care if you’re P.I.’s or FBI’s you got no right to trespass. Now get, and don’t come back or next time I ain’t gonna be so understandin', you get me?’
    There followed a silence in which the two women held their breath wondering if they would all shoot it out, but to her relief one of the men said, ‘yeah, yeah okay, we got ya, we’re going. Here’s my card, if you see the girl we’d appreciate it if you’d give us a call. She’s about yea high, dark hair, dark eyes. There’ll be a nice little reward in it for you.’
    Adela could not see whether Lando took the card or not but he said, ‘just get, and don’t y’all come back.’
    They got, straight towards the women’s hiding place. Olivia gasped and turned to run, but Adela caught her arm and shook her head mouthing, ‘they’ll hear us.’ But as soon as she had said it she knew they would not only hear but see them any second now, there seemed no way out.
    Adela was just contemplating showing herself, try to divert them, hoping that with the hat she was wearing they would not recognise her from the night before, when Lando said, ‘not that way. That way’ll lead you to the path back to town.’
    They hesitated then turned and walked towards the trees away from the two women.
    Adela and Olivia stood rigid until