Swim or Sink

"The sailing lesson. How did that go?"

Susan was now on high alert. Did they know, somehow? She made a rapid decision. "I have to say mixed. That is, In the light of what has happened. Victor thinks I'm natural sailor. That may have just been flattery since I then fell for his seduction on a beach in a nearby bay. In my defense, I was on a high from fun of the sailing, consumed half a bottle of champagne and saw Theresa with not top and disheveled hair sail out from the same bay with a smart young man at the helm of their dinghy. I may have jumped the conclusion that they have an open marriage lifestyle. I'm not proud of falling for Victor's charms, but it happened as a one-off. I have no plans to see him again. That answer your question?"

"More than I expected. An open marriage. Interesting."

"I don't really know that. In the moment, I just guessed. Woman's intuition?" Susan looked at DeVilliers for support, but none was forthcoming. The room was silent for a good minute. Susan frowned, "I know this will sound stupid, but isn't the probability that the fire was a natural cause?"

"Yes. That's a strong possibility. But why would you raise that idea?"

Susan pitched straight in, "On my first visit to Adam's house in January a blizzard blew up when I was visiting Theresa. The house went quite chilly. Theresa turned the heat up but incidentally also told me that Victor was responsible for both the design and construction of the house. Out of curiosity, when she was in the kitchen, I felt an outside wall, which was quite cold, and found a fair amount of cold air blowing in through a socket outlet."

The female detective, DeVilliers, interrupted with a bored, "Where's this going?"

"Stick with me. You must know I teach physics. When I was a kid, I wanted to be an architect or engineer. Let's say I like the practical side of physics. On my next visit to the house Victor showed me around. The property uses a geo-thermal system for heating and cooling. The control room for this system is an engineering mess. Victor's proud explanation went on about how he had found all these gauges, valves, and dials from all over. Nothing matched. He went on to say that he had built the house at twenty percent under budget. A huge amount below by any standard. He also admitted that the building inspector had been very helpful. In other words, he built the house on the cheap."

"So?"

Susan sighed, "If such important aspects of the building such as the heating and the exterior insulation were skimped over may not the electrics also been short changed? Poor electrical connections cause fires. Just a hypothesis on my part for your consideration." Susan nodded as knowingly as she could at them.

Johnston, the lead detective rose, "I think we have enough for now. Thank you for your assistance. We'll call ahead if we need any more." They left. As they walked away, Susan heard DeVilliers say, "Hear that diversion at the end? That's a load of bullshit."

Susan watched the two detectives have a heated discussion sitting in the car before they drove off. Despite the perceptive doubts DeVilliers had about Susan, no further contact was made. Susan anxiously awaited a follow up visit initially but that slowly faded over the months.

The following week Peter called from Boston to enquire how Susan was doing with apologies he hadn't contacted her earlier. He had heard from his cousin Allison who was in Hong Kong. She was doing fine after some psychiatric help. He also discovered from Allison that little Susan had been placed with her aunt, Victor's sister, somewhere in Washington state whilst Victor retreated into a two-year contract in the Philippines developing and opening a new mine. The conversation was simply chatty with no reference to earlier events.

Life developed into a regular routine for Susan much like the previous three decades but with a sexual overtone driven by her residual improved libido. She dressed slightly more provocatively at school and enjoyed the discomfort she brought on some of her, particularly male, students. Over the second semester Susan groomed one of the brighter yet shy eighteen-year-old students, Jason. He blossomed under her attention and was only too willing to attend to her needs after he had graduated during the following summer holiday. Jason responded well to the encouragement and post-curricular education he had received. When visiting Miss Smith, Jason did more than cut the grass. Susan gradually rebounded from the trauma she experienced and led a fuller life with closer involvement with her students.

Apart from her closer attention to her students, Susan made one other significant change to her routine. She folded into her somewhat programmed , initially, some official swimming lessons, and then kept in good shape regular swims in the local pool. A new life pattern emerged.

The following academic year, Miss Smith found another malleable student who responded well to her attention for his development. He greatly contributed to her private pleasure after he had graduated.

Early one Saturday morning two years after she her horrible yet awakening year, Susan answered a knock on the front door. It took a moment to recognize the tall well-built young man. She smiled, "Come in Jerome. You remembered." The thought of past students dropping in her pleased her more than she had expected. Maybe she'd also see Peter again. And Jason.

Author's Note

If you have not already figured out the final act of 'The Plan' Susan developed before it was derailed by her knock on the head write to me at Rockofpages99@gmail.com . I'll let you in on it.

You should also know that Detective DeVilliers kept an open file on Theresa Adam's death in the top drawer of her desk. After some further inconclusive enquiries with the local building department and continuing to seriously disagree with her boss, Det. DeVilliers was directed to close the Adam's file due to the many more other important priorities they had to address. She just could not let it go.

Oh, please rate this somewhat twisted tale.