They lay on the floor of the cabin panting, working to catch their breath as their heart rates came back to normal.
“You can take the mask off now if you want,” said Vicki.
Peter Marcus pulled the mask from his head and tossed it toward his backpack. His hair was drenched with sweat.
“I could have shot you,” she said as she drew herself closer to him.
Marcus smiled. “But you didn’t.”
“But I could have.”
“And that’s what made it exciting,” he said, and then added, “for both of us.”
“Do you remember the first time you gave me Mountain Irises?”
“I do,” he replied. “I also remember showing you how their roasted seeds could be used as a coffee substitute.”
“Ummmm,” she said, closing her eyes.
They lay in silence next to each other, listening to the storm rage outside. The gusts of wind were so strong they shook the little cabin.
Vicki ran her fingers across his chest. “I don’t suppose you’ve got any Power Bars in your pack, do you? I’m starving.”
“Why don’t you go check?”
She gave him a long kiss on the mouth and then pushed herself to standing. Even in the almost pitch-dark he could see how beautiful she was.
She picked up the pack and looked inside. “Oh, my God,” she said. “Are you kidding me?”
“Did I do well?” he asked.
“I love it!” she cooed as she pulled a bottle of wine and a small cooler bag from his backpack. “It’s a little early in the day, but who cares, right?”
“Bring the whole pack over,” he told her. “There’s silverware and dishes and a picnic cloth in there.”
“Picnic blanket,” Vicki corrected.
“Picnic blanket,” Peter repeated dutifully.
Suffolk handed him the bottle of wine along with the corkscrew she had found at the bottom of the pack with a few other items. He laid out some candles and lit them.
“Can you find my cigarettes, please?” he asked.
“You’re smoking again?”
“Victoria, you’re not my mother.”
“Of course not. I’m way too young to be your mother,” she responded. “Seriously, Peter, I thought you had quit.”
“Please, Victoria. May I just have my cigarettes?” he asked.
Suffolk rummaged around in the backpack.
“They’re in the outside pocket,” he said.
When she found the pocket in question, she unzipped it and pulled them out. “I really thought you had quit. You said you were going to do it for me.”
Marcus shrugged.
“You know what? You’re going cold turkey. Right now.”
“What if I get a craving?” he said with a smile.
Vicki smiled back at him and said, “You let me worry about your cravings.” With that, she crushed the cigarettes and pitched them over her shoulder.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he said.
“Peter, please. How stupid do you think I am? You trained me, after all. Do you really think I would leave something like that behind? We’ll take it all with us when we leave. Speaking of which,” she said as she gestured to her naked body, “you better have brought an extra set of clothes for me.”
Marcus began working on the wine bottle. “We’re in the middle of a forest. There’s bound to be a few fig leaves around.”
Vicki laughed and kept digging. She found a shirt and pair of women’s running pants, brand-new, with the tags still on them. Thanking her paramour, she set them off to the side.
As Peter poured them each a glass of wine, he said, “Bring the cigarettes over to me, would you please?”
“No,” replied Vicki.
“Trust me,” he said as he handed her a glass.
Vicki gave in and reached over to pick up the crumpled package. “I don’t even like touching these things,” she said as she offered it to him.
“Open it up.”
She started to ask why, but the look in his eyes stopped her. Gently, she lifted the lid. The inside was stuffed with cotton, like you would find in an aspirin bottle. “Peter, what is this?” she asked.
“You’ll see.”
Pulling out the lumps of cotton, Vicki quickly realized that the package hadn’t contained cigarettes at all. “It’s gorgeous!” she said as she removed the necklace. “Where did you find it?”
“Do you remember that jewelry store you liked?”
“The one in Naples?”
He nodded. “The woman remembered you. In fact, when I walked in, the first thing she asked me was where you were.”
Suffolk smiled as she held up the necklace and put it on. “You’re a liar, but I still love it. When were you in Naples?”
“About a month ago,” he replied. After a beat, he added, “Alone.”
“I’m not naïve, Peter.”
“It’s true.”
Vicki allowed herself to believe it and she pressed the necklace to her bare chest.
“How about you?” he asked. “Your reports have been very professional, very clinical. Are you sleeping with him?”
Suffolk took a sip of her wine as she decided how to respond. “That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”
Peter Marcus smiled. “You’re a very attractive woman, Victoria.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
Marcus took a sip of his wine. It was important that she felt the decision pained him and that he had trouble talking about it. “We don’t make the rules of the game. We are just forced to play by them.”
“Oh, puh-lease!”
He loved how direct she could be. “Okay, yes. I did say that you were authorized to sleep with him. Secretly I hoped it wouldn’t be necessary, but perhaps it was. At least you appear to have been successful. I will comfort myself with that.”
Suffolk moved back over and rubbed her body against his. “You can also comfort yourself with the fact that when I was in bed with him, the only way I could do it was if I pretended I was with you.”
She leaned over, her breasts brushing against his chest, and kissed his lips. As the tiny tea candles burned, they ignored the food and made love once more.
An hour later, the wine almost gone, Marcus stared at the ceiling and said, “We need to have a talk.”
Suffolk propped herself up on an elbow. “About what?”
He took his eyes from the ceiling and looked at her. “What you’re going to do with Ben Matthews’s body.”