November

She didn't know exactly how much he knew, but he knew something and they wouldn't last much longer.

"Hey Honey, I thought about you all day," she cooed. "It's been a few days since we uh..."

"I'm kind of tired," he said, looking back to his car. She now knew the extent of his knowledge. The pain she'd seen on his face was jealousy. He suspected that she was fucking around on him. He would probably get someone to follow her around. If they looked too closely they might find something. She'd have to bolt tonight. She wouldn't get all of the money this early in the game though. She'd have to settle for a few hundred grand.

Luckily, her backup puppy would be home tonight. He was a sailor and could probably smuggle her away, if she pressed him. She'd already fucked him on that huge ship that he wasn't supposed to take her on.

"But, Baby, don't you want..." she began. She really wanted to try to save this if possible. Her best chance at getting all of the money was to convince him to put up with her shit for a few more weeks. To be honest with herself she hated to admit it but she really wasn't ready for her time with Cliff to end. Yeah he was Clueless, but he loved her unconditionally. She'd never had that before either. She'd proabably miss that more than the house. She put an expression of regret and pain on her face, as if he'd hurt her badly.

Her performance was so good that she could see he was beginning to cave. Maybe she'd even let him have her ass this time. Everyone else she'd fucked had just taken it, so why not give it to her husband. She almost laughed about it. She started walking towards him and let her towel open just a bit. And then it happened. His cell phone rang. He looked at her apologetically and said, "I have to take this."

Ramona knew Cliff like she knew the back of her own hand. She had him so well trained that he usually told her everything. If he had a business call, he had no qualms about discussing it in front of her. But he didn't want to take this call with her present. That could only mean one of two possibilities. The first was that it was something he didn't want her to know about. And the second was that it was directly involving her. Of course it might have been a surprise that he was planning for her, but better safe than sorry. She had to assume that he knew about her and this phone call was not good news for her.

She tip-toed over to him even as he turned away from her and shielded the phone. She kissed him lightly on his cheek and left the room. She made a big show of silently closing the door behind her and then dropped a pan in the kitchen. The sound carried througout the house.

She knew that he'd think she was making something to eat. Then she quickly walked back to the door that she hadn't fully closed and listened. She heard him talking about pictures and video. She couldn't make out the entire conversation but hearing his side of it let her know that her instincts had been correct.

She went back to the kitchen and made herself a sandwich. As Cliff came over to her she smiled and asked him if he wanted something to eat too.

"Maybe when I get back," he said. "There's something I need to talk to you about too, okay?"

She nodded her head and smiled. "I love talking to you Honey," she said. "I'll be waiting."

Her smile was so bright and the look she gave him told him that she'd do anything for him. He left the house. He got into his Mustang and thundered out of the garage. God Damn it, she wished that he'd driven a different car. She'd have taken that one with her in a heartbeat.

Before he'd gotten to the end of the block, she was putting her clothes on and had grabbed several of his credit cards that she'd hidden. He, like a number of people, used the same ATM pin on all of his cards. That would make it easier for her to drain them.

She tucked the cards into her purse, and then hit the safe. He usually kept between ten and twenty thousand dollars in cash there for emergencies. He also had a couple of easily redeemable CDs. She'd max out all of the credit cards with cash advances and then cash out the CD's in her next town. She'd probably come out of this with about a hundred thousand dollars. It wasn't chicken feed but she didn't have access to the main bank accounts yet.

She'd been planning on pretending to buy him a really expensive car for his birthday. She'd already spoken to the man who handled their accounts at the bank. She was going to give the idiot the impression that she was buying Cliff a Ferrari. That would kill two birds with one stone. It would give the idiot at the bank the impression that he was more attractive to her than he was or would be. She might even give him the impression that she might give him something extra for helping her. On the other hand, poor, stupid Cliff would have thought that she was buying him something. He'd think that she didn't know that he'd had to release the money. By the time the car was supposed to be there she'd have been long gone.

Oh well, next time, next sucker she thought. She really was going to miss him though. He really did love her and her heart wasn't completely stone. But she'd get over it, they both would. And in a way she was doing him a favor. She was teaching him a very important lesson. He'd learn that he had to be far more careful with both his money and his heart.

* * * * * *

Cliff met with his PI, Frederick Sandford.

"Sit down, Mr. Darden," said Sandford. Fred Sandford was a grizzled old vet who went into the investigations business after leaving the military. Through the years he'd seen it all. He'd seen men who cheated on their wives so often, that chasing strange pussy was like buying a hamburger to them. He'd also seen men who loved the women who cheated on them so much, that even after they caught them, they gave them chance after chance until it became more a game of "Don't ask, don't tell."

He was sure that Darden would be one of those. The guy loved that bitch so much it was crazy, but who wouldn't. The woman was hot. Hell, Sandford himself would have fucked her if he'd gotten the chance and then told Darden that she wasn't doing anything. It would probably have been better for the guy anyway. That way at least he could have kept his self-respect.

It was not going to be fun telling this guy that the woman he loved was fucking anything and everything that crossed her path. Age, sex, race, appearance, none of those things seemed to matter. If it was breathing she'd fuck it.

He'd seen women before who were bi-sexual, but this woman was Quadra-sexual. She'd try anything sexual for a quarter.

"Mr. Darden, I have some bad news for you," said Sandford. He'd put on his professional, sad sounding voice because it made the clients think that he really felt their pain. In reality, the clients paid better when they thought that he was sad for them.

"Your wife is definitely playing around on you. But the good news is that it's not one special guy. That would be far worse," said Sandford.

"Okay, I'm lost," said Cliff. "Wouldn't it be better if it was just one guy?"

"Hell no, much worse," said Sandford. "If she's fucking one guy all the time, there are feelings involved. She probably likes him or loves him even. If you put her back against the wall she might even leave you for him. But if it's a bunch of guys then she probably loves you, but needs more sex or more excitement or something like that. Things like that can easily be fixed. You might even be able to save your marriage."

"In a case like that, maybe her sex drive is just way higher than yours and rather than trying to hurt your feelings, she just goes out to get what she needs and then comes home to you. When you're together, how does she treat you?" asked Sandford.

"Well, she does treat me well," said Cliff. He was beginning to see this totally different from the way he'd thought it was. Maybe things weren't so cut and dry. "She seems to just light up when I come into the room."

"So there you have it," said Sandford. "Take this folder. Go home and show her the pictures and the videos. Scare the shit out of her. Make her think that you want a divorce and get some counseling to help you work through this."

Cliff's mood was substantially better as he headed home.

* * * * * *

Jimmy had sacked out on his berth for a quick nap after helping the other deck hands unload most of the cargo. It was heavy physical labor and very tiring. He'd had a quick nap before he called Melissa, his woman in town. She was a few years older than him, but she was so hot that it didn't matter. Jimmy also knew that she was married and that didn't matter to him either. He was fucking her, not her husband, so it was none of the husband's business.

Even though there was a large crane that lifted most of the cargo, Jimmy and the other deck hands as well as the loading crew from the docks, had done hours of exhausting work to unload the ship. They'd moved thirteen thousand tons of pellets and loaded almost that same weight of un-milled castings. Both the castings and the rest of the pellets would go on to Wisconsin with the ship. They'd head for Wisconsin first thing in the morning, so Jimmy would only be able to get together with Melissa for one night. On the return trip, he'd be staying for three days so maybe they could actually have a real date of some kind. But tonight would just be about taking the edge off.

"Jimmy, there's some broad waiting for you," yelled Carl Jones. Carl was another deck hand. He'd been aboard the ship for only a few weeks more than Jimmy had. Carl had the reputation of being sneaky. Most of the crew had already decided that he was an okay guy, as long as you didn't trust him with anything you didn't want to lose. Carl also seemed to be very likely to break any rule that he thought he could get away with.

"Do you want me to bring her down to your room?" called Carl.

"Hell no," said Jimmy. "The captain would kill us both."

"The old guy is ashore. What he don't know won't hurt him," snickered Carl.

"Okay bring her down," yawned Jimmy.

Ten minutes later, Ramona, who Jimmy knew as Melissa, was rubbing her pussy against Jimmy's mouth as he licked as fast and as hard as he could. She had to stick a pillow against her face to keep from crying out. Then Jimmy got up and pushed her back down on his berth. He pulled her legs apart and started fucking her. Ramona was still sore from the men she'd met at the motel earlier but was doing her best to make Jimmy think that she was horny as hell. What Jimmy was doing to her actually hurt, but she'd long ago learned that moans of pain and moans of pleasure sound a lot alike and most men can only perceive what they think they want to hear.

So when Jimmy felt her jump as his dick hit a still raw area, he believed it was pleasure. When she moaned, "Ohh!" as he touched still raw nerve endings; he thought that he was the best lover she'd ever had. He really believed that she'd missed him so much that she'd waited on the dock for him, when she really needed to convince him to sneak her away to Wisconsin that night or early the next morning.

She was sure that Cliff would have the police and his PI looking for her over the money she'd stolen. Even though Cliff could afford to lose it, that amount of money would send her to jail for a very long time if she was caught.

When Jimmy got done with her and rolled over, she snuggled herself against him. She noticed right away that he seemed to roll away from her. She immediately realized that unlike Cliff, Jimmy didn't want any form of intimacy with her. She was pussy, pure and simple. Now that he'd had some, Jimmy no longer needed her.

This put her in a precarious position. She needed a place to hide and a way to get out of town at the same time. She should have waited until they were away from the dock to fuck him. Now she was at his mercy and basically had nothing to trade except for the promise of more of what he'd already gotten.

It actually made her realize that she'd done something really stupid. She'd walked out on and stolen from a man who really loved her with all of his heart and soul. What did she have to show for it? She got some money. He'd always given her all of the money she wanted anyway.

Cliff was good looking, nice and rich. What more could she ask for? Unlike the man lying next to her trying to figure out a way to get rid of her, Cliff had melted every time she touched him. She would be thirty soon. She was getting too old for all of this running and hiding from the law. Isn't it time she settled down and had all of the things that everyone else had?

It was too late this time, but it was time for her to find a life of her own and give up stealing little chunks of everyone else's.

"Jimmy, I missed you so much," she lied. Jimmy yawned and looked at his watch.

"We'd better get you dressed, babe," he said. "I wouldn't want you to be late."

Babe, she thought. The bastard probably didn't even remember the name she'd given him. The funny thing was that she didn't either.

"What's my name, Jimmy?" she asked.

"Uhm...Uh," he began.

"Mmm," she growled angrily.

"Melissa," he snapped quickly. "I didn't forget, I'm just used to calling you babe."

"Jimmy, can I stay with you? I don't want us to be apart for this long again," she asked making her voice sound very innocent and very needy.

"I'll see if I can swing it," he said. "You'd have to be very quiet and very careful because I could get in real trouble if we were caught. I don't know how you'd be able to wash or even go to the bathroom."

"Don't worry about it Jimmy," she crooned. "I just want to be with you, okay."

Ramona planned to do what she always did. A ship full of men would be no problem. She'd charm some of them into keeping her secret and fuck the rest of them. They'd reach Wisconsin in less than three days even as slowly as the big ship moved, so all she needed was a chance and a place to hide.

Jimmy had ideas in mind as well. He liked the idea of having all the pussy he wanted for the next few days. There was also the fact that her husband was rich. If he was nice to her maybe she could get him a job doing something else. Unlike Ike, Jimmy didn't intend to load and unload this ship for his whole fucking life.

"Alright babe, we'll try it. Why don't you go and get some of your stuff and bring it back here. Meet me in three hours at the same place you waited for me before," he said.

"You won't be sorry Jimmy," she gushed. Three hours would be perfect. She'd already been to the bank and transferred as much money as she could out of Cliff's account. Now she just needed to hit as many ATMs as she could until she'd reached her limits there as well. Add that to the cash she'd taken and the CDs and she was in very good shape.

In the back of her mind she had a thought though. It was very insistent and also very persistent. "It doesn't have to be this way. He loves you a lot. He'll forgive you and you can both be happy." She turned the thought off, it simply wasn't her way. She'd been on the run and stealing and conning people for most of her life, why change now? She wasn't sure that she even knew how to live any other way.

* * * * * *

Jimmy walked into a dirty little river side bar called the Sailor's Arms. There were four things he liked to do when he was ashore. He liked to drink, he liked to play games, he liked to fight and he liked to fuck. He had one down, so he was looking for the opportunity to do the other three.

He looked around the room and saw a couple of guys playing pool, a few more throwing darts and a few gathered in front of a beat up television watching the Red Wings game. He was surprised to see that, with Detroit being such a big sports town. Not even New York or any city in California had as rich a variety of sports teams as the motor city. The Red Wings were probably the best franchise in the NHL. The Tigers were battling the Rangers in the ALCS to see who would go to the World Series. The Lions had unbelievably started the year off 4-0. They'd won eight straight regular season games dating back to last year and had won 12 straight games if you counted the pre-season. Michigan and Michigan State were playing this weekend in football. Wherever you looked, there was great sports action. Only the Pistons sucked.

The Sailor's Arms was not the kind of bar that catered to a high class clientele. The wood was old and the furniture was beaten down. The floors were scuffed and they didn't serve food, just drinks and bar snacks. Most of their customers were mariners who worked the great lakes. No one who came here dressed up because women rarely ever set foot in the place. Even when women did, they were usually either lost or trying to drag their drunken husband home.

Even in those two situations, they left as quickly as they could. It was as if they could sense, that they didn't belonged here. Maybe that was why it was so strange when a huge gust of wind blew the door open and left her framed there in the entrance with the moon shining behind her.

The men in the bar drew a collective gasp and there was a low murmuring heard throughout the room. As she moved towards the bar, the men there moved to tables and some left as she cleared the doorway. Without seemingly staring at her, every eye in the room was on her. The wind from outside howled as someone struggled to close the door against it.

Jimmy looked at her. He didn't avert his gaze or try to hide he just looked straight at her. She was okay looking he thought. Her long hair was a mousy brown color and it was plastered to the sides of her head as if she'd just come in from the rain. But it was a clear evening. Maybe she'd been washing a boat or a car or something.

She was thin to the point of being skinny. There was something crazy about her eyes though, he thought. He'd never been with a really skinny woman before. He could probably split her in half if he fucked her too hard. The thought that he had uhm...Melissa waiting for him, never entered his mind.

The thin woman walked straight over to where Jimmy stood. She tilted her head to the side and looked at him strangely. Then she smiled at him. Her clothes looked like they'd seen better days. They also seemed to be very old fashioned. Even the way her long hair was cut seemed to date back at least 20 or 30 years or more.

She was either very poor or a hooker or both. Now, Jimmy had a game he could play. He had a new game in mind. He'd see if he could get some free pussy from a hooker. He smiled very broadly back at her. He did kind of notice that some of the men around him were crossing themselves. It never failed to surprise him how fucking superstitious most of the mariners were. This one probably had something to do with women in a sailor's bar. There was also one about women on board a ship, but he'd fucked Melissa on the Maitland several times and nothing bad had happened. Fuck superstitions.

He noticed that what he'd thought was some kind of necklace was actually several strands of underwater plants that grew in the lakes wrapped around her neck. That was a little odd. She was probably one of those "Green" people with their "save the planet," bullshit.

He reached out and grabbed her hand and pulled her over to a table. He shivered a bit as she went with him. Her hand was as cold as fucking ice. She smelled strange too. She smelled like something very fucking familiar to him but he couldn't place it.

"So what brings you in here, Babe?" he asked.

""You," she said.

Jimmy smiled even bigger. This would be like shooting fish in a bucket, he thought. Within 10 minutes, she'd grabbed his hand and led him outside. She hadn't mentioned a price but they both knew what they were going out there to do. Even as they tried to slam the door against the wind Jimmy thought he heard someone say something about, "the witch." He laughed again at their stupid superstitions.