The French Exit

Lucienne looked up at him and smiled and they walked out of Reception area together. Just before they were about to split to go to their separate rooms, Sal stopped and took her arm.

'Luce, I've had a lovely day today. I'm not going to ask why you've come over to me and befriended me quite like you have. I'm grateful you've been willing to spend the time with me.'

He paused for a second, nodding his head.

'Trust is a big thing for me.'

Lucienne went to speak and he shook his head.

'It's everything to me. I give out trust, that's how I want to be as a person. I'll leave the suspicion and questioning for work. But, if I get burnt, there's no coming back from it. Only one person has ever been given a second chance, and right now, I can tell you I'm regretting that.'

'Sal, I.'

'I know. You're totally legit. You've certainly not been put up to speaking to me and finding out what I know by your husband. I get it. At this moment, I've put trust in you. I've bet small. I've been honest with you.'

He gave her a grin.

'Well, mostly honest. I don't know you that well and as much as I like you, this is my marriage we're talking about.'

He looked her in the eye. 'You haven't burnt me yet. But I get a sense you've some thinking to do about what's important to you and who you want to be.'

He paused; he could see his words had landed. Good, he'd wanted them to. He liked her and had genuinely enjoyed spending the day with her. There was a relaxed chemistry between the two of them and he got a sense that she'd enjoyed the time as much as he had. He leant across and pecked her on her cheek.

'See you in a bit.'

Sal walked quickly away from her. He let himself into his room carefully and made his way to the bathroom. He locked the door and turned on the shower.

He took the phone out of his pocket and called the same number as the previous night.

'Hey Snoops. How is my favourite lady?'

'Flashman, I guess your marriage is in trouble if I'm your favourite lady.'

'That's harsh. You've always been my favourite.'

'Yeah huh. How're you doing?'

'Ups and downs. I went on the excursion today to keep me away from Ali. I don't trust myself to keep cool around her.'

'Where did you go?'

'There's a little island, some old pre-Mayan kind of civilisation ruins. Pretty as hell. Got a lot of shots of beautiful tropical forest if you ever need any.'

'Yep, living in New York that's the kind of thing I need. How good are we talking? Art gallery kind of quality?'

'Maybe. I've got that lady who's willing to take my pictures and sell them and I've got my website. I'll have some of the better ones for sale. The ones I got of the wedding were better though, they're more coffee table book kind of stuff.'

'Nice, so you've had a relaxing day away from the wife. Good for your blood pressure I guess.'

'Nah. Just gave me some time to think. Not a good thing, I can get a bit inside my own head if you know what I mean. Still, I did get a rather nice distraction.'

'Oh yeah? Tell me more.'

'Last night before our call when I was kind of losing my shit with Alice at the restaurant, I was talking with this woman who came in behind them with her husband. She was on the excursion, she's a Black ring like me. She was there and we spent the day together.'

'Very nice. Cute is she? You said married, husband?'

'She is very much married and to someone I recognise as well. Alice and Co tried to make out they'd just met him, but I've seen husband a few times before and it'd be some fucking coincidence for them to have met by chance.'

Snoopy laughed. 'So, you know him, but they don't know you know him. They try to make out they don't know him and today his wife is with you on the excursion? Sounds like they're trying to play you.'

'I know right? I'd not spoke to that woman before yesterday and then all of a sudden, she's on me today like a rash. I told her the story Charlie told me and that I was worried about it. I also let her know that I have a phone.'

'Clever. You think she was a plant?'

'No question, I got her a nice meal, one of the Gold ring ones and was as lovely to her as she was to me all day. I've given her the trust speech and it'll be interesting to see if she comes through.'

'But to be on the safe side?'

'You know it. Told her enough that she has some tempting dirt to dish on me. Now I wait to see if she sells me out. My fingers crossed she's legit.'

'Why? Do you like her?'

'Give it a rest. We spent the day together today and it was a good day. She's easy to talk to, fun to be with and cute. I liked her.'

'Flash has a girlfriend' Snoops sang in a sing-song voice.

'I'm married. At least right now I am. And so is she.'

'Yeah, to Mr I've seen you before.'

'Exactly, don't be fixing me up just yet.'

'You said your wife's lot know him, but they don't know you know they know him. Listen to me, I'm getting muddled trying to keep up.'

'That's right. His name is Donald Frost and he's a property developer type in Boston. He went to college with Reuben. He's part of the same fraternity and he was one of Reuben's groomsmen when he got married. I did the pictures for their wedding. I guess they don't think I would remember him.'

'Keep them in the dark. You and your memory for faces.'

'You get a good memory for them when you take pictures of them all the time. He's a damn good-looking guy and walks around like he owns the world. You remember that. Well, I do any way. Right, what do I need to know?'

'First Flash darling, in the spirit of open press and all that good stuff, I'm not alone.'

Sal groaned, 'Snoop, you could've bloody told me.'

He heard a chorus of greetings.

'Sal, I've got Ding, Mick and Sean from Legal with me. You OK with that?'

'Yeah, no worries. Hey guys thanks for coming in on this.'

'Sal, before we start.' It was a deeper, older male voice. 'I want to ask you if you're sure you want to do this. At the moment you're married and you've got ten years in. You don't know that she's done anything, you have a few suspicions and a sense that she's avoiding you. This is a speed bump right here, right now. You have a choice to make. Please take a moment to think about this.'

'Thanks for that Mick. I want to know. I can't be in a marriage where I don't know if I can trust the woman, I'm with. It'd eat at me. I'd rather find out now and deal with the consequences.'

'OK. I wanted to make sure and give you a chance to step back. OK Snoops, over to you.'

'Hey Sal, so I did a bit of digging, you know, quiet news day. I'm sorry, it looks like it's a swinger resort.'

Hearing the words was like being punched in the chest. He breathed in deeply. 'How sure are you?'

'One hundred percent. I went on their website and got kind of stymied. I couldn't do anything. There was a member area. So, I had a word with Jason. You know Jason. Jason from Accounts.'

'I know Jason, why'd you speak with him?'

'He's got an open marriage.'

'Does he? I never knew that.'

'Yeah, him and his wife are in the lifestyle as they call it. I wondered if he'd know anything, turns out he could act as a reference for me and got me an in. They now think I'm a swinger.'

'Burnt him?'

'He wasn't worried. He went there for a holiday about five years ago. He enjoyed it but he went as a Gold ring and his wife had a Gold ring and they had fun together. He's onto fresher pastures now.'

Sal shook his head at Snoopy's comments.

'Ok. So, what did you learn?'

'The whole lot. I know the itinerary; I know how it works. I know where your wife is going tomorrow with her little friends. Your mate Charlie was right. Sorry, dude.'

Sal took a deep breath to keep himself calm.

'Thanks Snoops. I guess I know what I've got to do now.'

'What's your plan?'

'I was chewing it over today. I've got suspicions. Pretty damn strong suspicions, but that's all I've got. Now it's all about the proof. I want to get proof before I leave here.'

'Leave her or leave here was that?'

'Both.'

'Do you need any help from any of us?' Mick asked.

Sal chuckled. 'Nope, this is my bag. I do this shit every damn day.'

There was laughter from the other end of the call.

'OK guys.' Sal began to wrap up the call.

'Hang on a moment.' Snoopy cut across him. 'You ain't the only one with skin in this game. You're not the only person whose been played by these bastards.'

Sal laughed; he hadn't thought of that.

'You suggesting we shine a light into a dark place, there Snoop?'

'You up for it? There's a story here. You want to help out other Black rings?'

'I hadn't thought of that, I was thinking of my marriage. Yeah, Yeah I'm up for this.'

'Your story then Sal. You're lead on this one. Let us know how we support you getting this one in.' Mick said.

Sal stopped to think. He hadn't expected that, normally a story like this would go to someone experienced like Snoopy. As a photographer, he'd be a support. There was a real opportunity for him here.

'I'm open to ideas people. I'm open to ideas.'

'Hey Sal. I can email you a Trojan. If you can get it onto their system, I'll be able to take a wander through their network. Dig up the dirt from their system. Get guest list, information, all that jazz.'

'Send it Ding, I've been working a guy and I'll be able to get that on tomorrow. Send it over and I'll let you know when it's in place. I take it I need to load it and run it?'

'Yep, once it's clicked it'll disappear and I can then remotely access their system. Piece of cake.'

'Nice, that will give us names, dates and the core of how this works. I can get all the photos that we need of the resort to identify it. If I'm getting evidence of Alice cheating then I can get photos.'

'Sal, the excursion she's going to be going on either tomorrow or the day after. Tomorrow I think.'

'Yeah, its tomorrow. I found out about it today.'

'It's a full moon orgy, basically full-on partner swapping, anything goes at this small island. They've got a villa on the beach and they stay there. There's some outdoor pavilion kind of thing they set up and they get to all fuck together under the stars.'

'Good enough for me. I'll look at how I can nail them on that.'

'You write it up Sal, have a think about how you turn the facts into a story.' Mick said. 'You've got Snoopy who can give you some support once you've written it. Yeah? Don't let her write it, you do it. It'll be a good challenge for you.'

'Cool. Thanks guys. Anything else?'

'Yeah, take care, OK? I don't want you getting hurt or doing anything stupid alright?'

'No worries, thanks for being on my side Snoop. Thanks guys.'

Chapter Five

Sal took a quick shower, then wrapping a towel around his waist he quickly downloaded a picture he'd taken of Lucienne and the attachment from Ding. He put them onto a memory stick. He dressed and ran down to Reception. He caught Mr Jacobs and was able to persuade him to do him a favour and print off the picture he'd taken. Speed of execution, if you're going to do something, do it now and get the benefit, don't procrastinate.

Whilst he waited for the picture to load up and Mr Jacobs wasn't paying attention, he downloaded the attachment. With profuse thanks he took his picture and nipped out. He looked over to the restaurant and with no surprise saw that Lucienne was sat with the group as they ate their meal. He could see she'd quickly changed, but she was a lot quicker back than he was going to be. She was leant into the group talking animatedly. He was far too far away to hear what the conversation was, but he saw her there.

He walked back to the room and powered up his laptop. Whilst he waited for it to load, he sent a text to Ding letting him know that his parcel had arrived. Ding could now do his stuff.

He wanted to see the recording his laptop had made. He had set it that noise would activate it, it was a gamble, but sometimes they paid off. He clicked onto the recording; it was quite long. It started off by capturing Alice snoring. It wasn't loud, but it made Sal smile as he listened to her rhythmic snoring. It shut off and came back on again with her dressing, filming as she moved around, clinked a glass of water on the side. Next was later in the day, he could tell that from the lighting in the room, the sun was in quite a different spot.

It was Sarah he could see, he slowed it down, fingers crossed. She was talking to someone out of the shot. Alice, he guessed.

'.... Choices, you can do nothing, enjoy the holiday, and then make it up to him when you get home. That was everything stays the same. Nothing changes and you're good with that. He knows nothing, you get what you want.'

Alice's reply was a murmur and no matter what he did with the volume and the sound he wasn't able to get what she'd said.

'Then tell him. I think he's a limp dick, if you tell him what the score is, I think he'll accept it.'

Sarah was walking around the room and he missed the next part of the conversation, then Alice walked into shot. She was just in a pair of panties, walking around with a dress in her hands.

'..... a gamble. I do love him, he's a good husband, he's a good man. I don't know. I feel bad for him, I'm mistreating him here and he knows that. I don't think he's dumb. He's already suspicious.'

Alice walked into shot and plonked herself down onto the side of the bed.

'You've managed for a while to keep the two sides separate and it's been stressful as hell for you. Do what I do. Reuben knows the score. I have lovers and he's made his decision. He accepts that the price he pays for me in his life, in his bed, is that he shares me with other men.'

'Sal isn't Reuben.'

'No, but you've got him into chastity. He's wearing that cage, you own him. Start dropping hints about other men, do it slowly, make it good for him. Six months from now he'll be cleaning you up after Donald has stayed the night.'

Alice laughed. 'I don't think so. You saw him last night; he's pissed at me. I don't think I've seen him this angry in our marriage, in our whole time together. We've got each other's back.'

'So, after the orgy, give him some honey. Make him feel good. Show him he's appreciated.'

'If he's still here. He's going to freak out when he hears we're going to be gone.'

'Sell it to him. This is his chance to enjoy the resort, get what he's been missing.'

'Yeah, but he wants to spend time with me.'

'I know, he's so sweet. Imagine that you've a husband that you've been married to for ten years and he still wants to spend time with you.'

'Stop it Sarah, I feel bad for this whole thing. It was a silly idea to think we could get away with it. He's pissed at me and the way I've been treating him. I don't want to lose him, I love him.'

'Take him to bed tonight and be appreciative. I know he can't do anything, but he can do things for you. I'm sure you'll appreciate a gentle tongue after the last few days.'

'He won't. He's said he won't touch me whilst he's in chastity. He's cut me off.'

Sarah laughed long and loud. 'He's cut you off? Oh, my word, he's so simple. He doesn't get it at all does he?'

Alice pulled the dress over her head.

'No. No he doesn't and do you know why he doesn't get it? Because he trusts me, because I'm his good wife, because I've got his back. He doesn't doubt me because I've never given him a reason to. That's why this trip is so fucking stupid. I've given him a reason to.'

He saw her pick up a bag from the bed and the two women walked out of shot.

Sal sat back and thought about what he'd seen. There was still more to see, he paused it to give him a few minutes to reflect. It was clear that she was cheating on him. Pretty clear it was Donald that she was cheating on him with. That confirmed his thoughts around Reuben and Sarah being complicit in this and that Lucienne wasn't an innocent. It was good, but it wasn't the proof he was looking for. It was damning but not unequivocable.

He restarted it. He saw a maid come in and singing to herself, she made the bed and cleaned up. He fast forwarded through her time. Next, he saw Alice come into the room. She went over to the bed and shimmied out of her dress.

'Ready to see him?'

It was Sarah's voice; she was out of shot.

Alice nodded as she pulled down her panties and stepped out of them. Sal watched as Donald walked up to her and slapped her ass.

'Keep winking at me like that and I'll have you on this bed.'

Alice slapped at his hands. 'Get off Don. Sal could walk through the door.'

'I'd kick his ass if he said anything. He's half my size. Right Reuben?'

Sal realised that Alice had undressed in front of Reuben as well as Donald. He was shaking his head as he watched. She was pulling on a pair on panties.

'I don't think you would. I've seen him fight. Reuben may like to make out that Sal caught him by surprise but Sal would beat him hands down.'

'He's a little chap. Small man. Reuben wasn't paying attention, were you?'

'Don't push him, Donald. We've gone this long without him realising because he's had no reason to doubt me. Don't make a bad situation worse. Please let me sort this out with him.'

'You don't need him Al. Even part time, I give you more than he can. Even when he's not caged, I can give you more.'

'He's my husband Don, my husband.'

'Poor fucker made a bad choice, didn't he?' Donald laughed.

Alice pulled the dress over her head and turned, lifting her hair out of the way so that he could zip her up.

'Look, don't stress. Luce has been with him today, I told her to be extra nice to him. She'll be able to find out whether he knows anything or if he's just pissed.'

'He's going to be pissed when he finds out we're away for the next few days, so please, please don't be a dick.'

Donald gave her a peck on the lips 'Baby doll, I'm not a dick. I told you this resort would make a great vacation for all of us and I haven't disappointed, have I? Sending your little cuck away so we can fuck each day makes what we do even more fun. Having him starting to get edgy, that ramps it up.'

'It doesn't feel like fun to me, Don. I'm hating this. I want a marriage when we get back home, not a divorce. Don't fuck my marriage up. Be nice to him.'

'I'll be a good boy, I promise.'

'You better. Now let's see if we can find him and Lucy so we can eat together.'

They walked out of shot. The next clip was of him coming in earlier.

He looked at his watch. He was already running late. He cleared down what he was watching, saving it carefully to the cloud. He put his laptop away safe and went and located his passport and aeroplane ticket. Better under his control than under hers, he thought to himself as he secured them. He could see that his marriage was over, there was enough in that scene that he knew what the score was.

He left his clothes where they were. He didn't want her to get suspicious of him and what he was going to do. He hoped that Lucienne was going to sell them a line that he was pissed at them, but he didn't realise that she was cheating. He had the session with Charlie tomorrow night and he didn't want to miss that. Charlie should be able to help him sort out a boat so he could get to the little island where they were having their fuck-fest.

Tomorrow he wanted to lose Lucienne fast. He wanted to get off the resort, it was going to be a busy day. He stood himself up and stretched, now he had to deal with those idiots at the bar. This was going to be tough. Still, game face on. He'd done this shit before with Snoopy. Scamming bad guys, investigating different situations. He'd never imagined he'd be doing it for his own marriage.

He walked down to the bar, taking slow deep breathes as he went. He saw them sat as a group and walked over to join them.

'I see you managed to beat me back down here.' He said to Lucienne as he walked over.