The day was simply full of pleasurable surprises, Sylvia thought. First, she had awakened to find that Bruce hadn’t come home at all last night and hadn’t even bothered to call. For a moment she had flared in anger and then abruptly recognized she didn’t care one way or the other any longer. The hell with him; she wanted only one thing and that was revenge.
The second and third surprises had come with the telephone call from the detective, Shelton, while she was still in bed. She was surprised at the effect his voice had on her body; it was almost as though he were lying in bed with her. Her abdomen and breasts both reacted as if they had been caressed. She closed her eyes and imagined him alongside her… that beautiful penis, hard and throbbing, pressed against her buttocks. She spread her legs out wide and flexed her vaginal lips, pushing her pelvis in the air. “What did you say, Mister Shelton?” she asked, shamelessly stroking her clitoris and waiting to hear his voice.
“I said I have the names of three different groups in Santa Barbara and two all-black organizations in Oakland.”
“That’s fast work for only two days,” she replied, feeling a hot dampness against her fingers.
“I was lucky,” he said. “Ah… I ok! This thing is rather involved for a written report. I think I had better just tell you about it.”
“All right. When can you come out?” And a wanton little voice within her mind cried silently out, “Come now, right now. I’ve got a present for you!”
There had been silence over the line and then Shelton’s voice came, “I have to be in court this morning and probably won’t get out until noon. It’s probable that I’ll be recalled to the witness stand in the afternoon session, so… well, are you free for a business lunch?”
Sylvia had paused, all of her upbringing scolding her not to get socially involved with an employee. Then she remembered what she had done to him, what he had done to her, what she was doing to herself right now as she listened to his voice… and what they were going to have to do together before this whole thing was over. It struck her as a joke… on herself… and she began laughing. There was genuine warmth and sincerity in her voice when she had answered, “I’d love to have lunch with you, Mister Shelton. Where?”
She was surprised and amused… at her feelings of anticipation as she dressed and drove to the restaurant he had named. This was, she abruptly realized, the first time she had lunched with a male alone other than her husband since her marriage. She was actually looking forward to it! The Barrister Restaurant was across the street from the Superior Court Buildings and the Police Department. Sylvia had heard of it and seen it mentioned in the various gossip columns, but she had never eaten there. She was pleasantly surprised when the parking lot attendent took her Porsche and she entered the restaurant itself. The exterior had been rather deceptive, the inside was impressive. Although there was a line of almost two dozen people waiting for seats, the maitre d’ immediately came over to her; there was a look of open admiration in his eyes. “You must be Mrs. Akron.”
“Why… yes?” She found herself flustered for a second; how could he have known who she was?
She got her answer. “Mister Shelton said you’d be here. He described you. We have your table ready.”
Sylvia followed him past the crowded tables and booths until they reached an alcove marked “Judicial Chambers.” It was quieter in here, the conversation was muted, and although every booth was occupied, the room didn’t seem nearly as crowded as the main section. Over in the corner, Sylvia saw the detective deep in conversation with a gray-haired man who had his back to her. She felt a strong tug of disappointment; Shelton had not told her there would be someone else.
Then as she came closer, she became aware of a change in Shelton. He was so different! His clothes looked as if they had been tailored for him. He seemed completely at ease in these surroundings… as if he belonged! It was almost as if he were a completely different man than that dreary little creature who had brought the photographs… and then she remembered that he had seemed changed when he came out of the bathroom that day and had… had… obeyed her instructions. She was blushing when she reached the table.
She saw Tod look in her direction. A broad smile of welcome and something else lit up his face as he stood. The older man stood also and Sylvia gasped in recognition. “Judge Morse?” she stammered.
“Sylvia? Good Lord! What a pleasant surprise!” He looked from the private detective back to her. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but then obviously thought better of it.
Shelton’s thick eyebrows had raised quizzically. “You two know each other?”
Sylvia merely nodded, feeling some embarrassment. Judge Morse had been a friend of her father’s family for over fifty years; he had performed the marriage ceremonies for her and Bruce’s wedding… even though she had overheard him telling her mother that he was sure Sylvia was making a mistake.
Shelton moved to her rescue. “Please sit down, Mrs. Akron. Judge Morse and I were just shooting the breeze.”
Sylvia moved into the designated seat and Shelton sat down beside her. She looked up, almost guiltily, toward the magistrate who continued to gaze speculatively at her.
Shelton said, without too much sincerity in his voice, “Tom, why don’t you join us for lunch?”
“No, Tod. I’ve other plans.” The judge stared at both of them and then asked the question he had obviously been holding back. “Sylvia, I’m dumbfounded. Have you two known each other very long?”
She didn’t get a chance to answer, for Shelton interrupted, “This is strictly business, Tom.”
Judge Morse peered at her and said slowly, “I see. You and Bruce… a… thinking about…?”
“I’m leaving him,” she said simply, feeling that honesty was probably the better policy. Then she added rapidly, “Mother doesn’t know about it yet. No one knows. Not even Bruce.”
The Judge nodded. “I shall say nothing.” He gazed at the two of them then smiled paternally. “For a moment there I thought that perhaps the two of you…” he shrugged, then grinned. “Hell, I’ve known the two of you for about thirty years. When an almost old man sees two of his favorite young people together, he obviously begins to hope that… that maybe… “ He said nothing else, but Sylvia could feel herself blushing. She looked over toward Shelton and saw his face was colored as well. The magistrate patted her hand paternally. “Well, Sylvia, I must say that if you need assistance in a divorce matter you’ve certainly come to the right man. Tod, here, is the most honest, the most capable… He’s in the wrong business, of course. I keep telling him that he should go back to school and get his law degree, but he’s really quite stubborn.”
Sylvia sat through it all, listening with amazement at the good-natured and obviously affectionate banter between the two men. It was not until the Judge left them alone that the detective turned his full attention on her. She felt a jolt of pleasure shoot through her. He was a goddamned handsome man, she thought… handsome and virile, too. He had come up in her estimation considerably. Judge Morse had called the detective one of his “favorite” people; that meant Shelton was o.k. all the way down the line.
“What will you have to drink?” he asked.
Shelton merely held his hand up about shoulder height, and a waiter almost immediately appeared carrying two Tarnquerays with a lemon twist.
Sylvia knew her earlier pose of snobbish superiority had been shattered; even so, she tried to regain her composure and command of the situation… after all, he was working for her. She toyed with her drink, refusing to look directly at him. “How did you and Judge Morse come to know each other?” she asked.
“I used to deliver papers to his office. He was just a struggling attorney at the time. Horribly poor. Near starving. We used to share cheese crackers together.” Shelton laughed in remembrance, and Sylvia suddenly realized she liked his laugh. “It was the Depression then. He didn’t have any money, so I gave him credit. I was only nine years old, living with an uncle. My folks died when I was six, I guess I felt sort of protective toward Tom. He couldn’t pay his bill for almost nine months, then he finally won a case, his first big one. When he paid me, he tried to give me ten bucks extra. I refused to take it.”
Sylvia looked at him then, and he turned his eyes away as if he were ashamed of his own emotions. “It seems kind of stupid now, but I was just a kid. I remember that I got mad at him and started bawling. He asked me what was wrong and I answered something like I had given credit because I thought he was a friend who needed help, and you can’t pay friends for helping you. I ran out of his office, blubbering. He chased and caught up with me three blocks away. Funny thing… I remember… he had tears in his eyes, too, when he asked me to forgive him. World War II came and he went… wrote to me regularly every week’ about Africa, Italy, Germany… wherever he happened to be, just like an older brother… or a father. He helped me get a scholarship at Pomona College, then sponsored me in my first two years at Boalt. I was going to be a lawyer, too… but the Korean War came along.” He shrugged. “When I came back I discovered that all these punks who had gotten deferments had crawled out of the woodwork from as far away as New York to get into Boalt, and now the school had a waiting list of two years. I got married, went to work as a cop, then got involved in a shooting beef one night with a joker who hit me in the left arm with a.44 slug. They gave me a forty percent disability and told me I wasn’t suitable for active police work any longer.” He laughed and for a moment his bitterness showed. “They offered me a job inside as a record clerk. I told them what they could do with that job. Then I used my disability pay to start my own investigation agency. So here I am.”
“And your wife?” It was said casually, too casually. “We couldn’t hack it together. We’d been married about seven months and she was constantly bitching about my working nights as a policeman; she took off with a boyfriend… sent me divorce papers from Mexico. She wiped herself out about ten years ago in an automobile accident in Germany.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Not for me. Or for her! She went out the way she would have wanted to go… taking an internationally famous movie star with her. It made headlines throughout Europe. They’d been living together while she was trying to get her fifth divorce.”
Sylvia listened to him talk. Odd, she thought, I’ve been married to Bruce for ten years and I never understood or felt one damned thing about him. Yet, here I am sitting with almost a stranger, and I’ve gotten more insight into this man’s character in fifteen minutes than I’ll ever have about Bruce… even if we were married for another ten years. She found herself in empathy with the detective. When he had been talking about the newspaper delivery episode she’d actually found herself reaching impulsively for his hand to show him she understood. Fortunately he hadn’t noticed her abortive movement.
Over lunch they chatted about inconsequential things. When they both fell silent at the same time, it was a warm, companionable silence, with neither feeling any need of conversation. Someone had once told Sylvia that when lovers are silent and not speaking, their bodies are talking to each other. While it had seemed nonsense at the time, she could almost believe it now. She was all too aware of his body next to her. She imagined she could feel the heat of his thighs radiating against her own. And although she fought against the remembrances, she found herself recalling her reactions to him when he had been taking the photographs. It had taken her hours of soul searching that night before admitting that she had, for the very first time in her life, truly enjoyed sex. She didn’t know if it was the result of some mental quirk on her part… of having “paid” for a sex servant who did her bidding… or whether the man’s body and her body were that compatible. One way or the other, she thought, I’ll find out for sure before this thing is over.
Sylvia was forced to concentrate on his report about the Santa Barbara group. Twice she found herself watching his lips move not hearing his words… remembering how his lips had felt against her body. With considerable dismay, she realized there was a hot dampness between her legs, and she flushed as she knew it came from her arousal.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t hear that, would you mind repeating.”
Shelton nodded and glanced down at his notes again. “I said you might think the group best suited to your purposes in Santa Barbara is one led by a couple named Liz and Ed Hunt. They own a yacht called the “Jolly Rogue”, and it would appear that some of the parties are held aboard the boat. They have a three-day party coming up over the long weekend next month, and they’re presently seeking two new couples.”
“How did you find all this out?” Shelton smiled. “Electronics.” “Can you think of any way of… of meeting them socially?”
The detective thought a minute, then pursed his lips and answered, “We could wait until the Hunts are on board some evening, take a water taxi out, get on board and dismiss the taxi, then claim that we’ve accidentally gotten on the wrong boat.”
Sylvia thought about it. The plan should work, would definitely work, if the Hunts had any social graces at all. The couple would invite them to have a drink while another taxi was en route. Then… well, they’d have to play it by ear from there. Finally she nodded. “All right. When shall we do it?”
Shelton shrugged. “We should infiltrate as soon as possible, if we’re going to be included in the three-day party.”
“This weekend?”
Shelton blinked; he actually seemed uncertain himself “We’ll have to register someplace as “Mr. and Mrs.,” in case the Hunts run a check on us.”
A sudden shock of alarm surged through Sylvia’s body. She scolded herself silently, “Silly, what else did you expect?” Then she recognized, with more surprise than ever, that she was actually looking forward to it. She wanted to be in bed with him; she wanted to spend an entire night with him. She wanted him to… to… and she framed the words in her mind, “Fuck me half to death!”
“All right,” she said, hoping that none of the throbbing excitement was showing on her face.
Shelton paused, staring at her thoughtfully. “You know, of course, what’s involved? The Hunts will probably want to swap that first evening; you’ll have to… to… cooperate.”
“You mean I will have to let him make love to me.”
“Yes.”
“And presumably you and Mrs. Hunt will be alongside us in the bed or on the floor… doing the same thing?”
“Yes.”
The thought of the lewd spectacle they would present sent a shiver of forbidden excitement up her spine. To actually watch Shelton’s monstrous penis pile-driving into another woman’s naked vagina! “My God,” she said to herself in sudden dismay, “what’s happening to me that I would want to witness a perverted thing like that.” Part of her dismay came with the knowledge that she was not only eager to watch it, but eager to participate in it.
Her hands were trembling noticeably when she finally nodded again. “This weekend. I’ll meet you in Santa Barbara on Friday afternoon’. Will you take care of the accommodations?”
Shelton relaxed then and grinned. “It’s already taken care of We’re staying at the Ambassador. A king-sized bed… just in case the Hunt’s try to check on us or want to come up for a drink.”
“Of course,” Sylvia said, refusing to look at him. And suddenly very suddenly she knew that even though it was only three days away, it was going to take forever for Friday to arrive. She wanted Shelton to come back to the house with her now; she wanted him to undress her… to peel her panties slowly and tantalizingly down over her buttocks, around her knees to unfasten her bra… to kneel… She swallowed. Realizing the wickedness of her thoughts, she told herself that she was glad the detective had to get back to court that afternoon.
But then, when Sylvia analyzed her thoughts, she knew she wasn’t “glad” at all.
She was disappointed!
It was a disappointment that gradually turned to a smoldering excitement that continued to grow during the next three days… growing in strength and heat until her entire body was aflame with a passionate impatience when she stepped off the elevator at the Ambassador Friday afternoon and followed the bellboy with her bags to her “husband’s” suite.”