They had lunch in their favorite restaurant on the Isle des Loisiers, one of four little islands in the Port of Cap d´Agde. They had spent a warm, passionate and romantic night together when she returned from Freiburg. Now, Helen told Sandy about her visit and what had happened there.
“…and, when we got back to the hotel, we found my room had been entered and disturbed – not plundered; I think they wanted to impress me.’ She looked at him across the table. “They did. Then Rummy made me take my vest off to be sure I wasn´t hurt more than I thought.’ She looked thoughtful. “That was a strange feeling. Until they came down here, I´d never thought of being even half-naked with him. But…’
“Don´t get off the subject,’ Sandy chided her, reaching his sandaled foot under the table and running his toes along her calf. “What did the police say?’
“They did a thorough check of the room, but I didn´t think they would find anything. Johannes says they didn´t even find any fingerprints. We think it was a warning.’
“Sounds like it, and a professional one. But, what happened at the site wasn´t a warning.’
“I don´t know, Sandy. That piece of re-bar was probably a fluke. We looked at it before the KP went off with it, and both ends were equally rusty. It hadn´t been cut recently; must have been lying about on that pile of re-bar for some time. I think that was just bad luck.’
“Well, I´ll give you a maybe on that. To my way of thinking, that whole load was supposed to hit you. The fragment may have been an accident, but only because you weren´t underneath the whole thing.’ Sandy said, doubtfully. Helen shuddered in the warm, congenially crowded restaurant. “The ladder was no fluke, either,’ Sandy added.
“No. No, it wasn´t. What I don´t understand, though, is why it didn´t break when I climbed it. I´m no lightweight. Rummy´s analysis makes sense, but, I´ll bet it would have broken if I´d started off with the other foot.’
“Can´t say. Well, they may just be handing out warnings, but I doubt it. It´s gone beyond that.’
“They?’ Helen looked at him quizzically as they settled the bill and left the restaurant. They began strolling along the Quai du Golfe, where the sun warmed their bodies.
“They,’ Sandy said emphatically. “Whoever they are, there is more than one of them, and they are after you, maybe Rummy and possibly after people like Werner, as well, though it may not have been him they were after. Just a general warning. That´s typical for these guys.’
They were walking along the quai toward the footbridge that connects the Isle des Loisiers with the city proper. The slips in the marina were filling up with sailboats and the muscular powerboats and yachts that populate the French Mediterranean shore in the summer. Sandy wore sandals and shorts with a contrasting shirt. Helen, typically, wore a tight top with spaghetti straps and light, long, clingy skirt. They were wandering along, looking about at the people, many of them tourists who were beginning to throng the streets. Some of the women were far more scantily clad than Helen.
Helen stopped and faced Sandy. “How much do you know about ‘these guys´?’
Sandy grinned. “I guess I´m sounding like someone who´s read too many Mafia books. However, that´s not it. That job I had – in Hamburg, you know – I was head of security for Schenker, a big international freight company. Before that, well, I told you I did security work while I was at college; my degree was in criminal investigation. Then I spent a few years in police work. I´ve had a number of years to learn how ‘they´ work. And what you´re telling me sounds just like them.’
Helen turned, continuing their stroll. She took his hand and looked out over the water, scanning the moored boats, then looked back at him. “Does Johannes know about you?’
“He called me yesterday, told me he´d checked out my background. He knows a couple of the KP guys I worked with in Hamburg; they gave me a clean bill of health, I guess. Asked me to look after you.’
“Bullshit, Sandy. That isn´t all he said to you. If he thinks you´re a pro, he´s got you on his team in some way.’
“Well, yes. And that´s all right with me, even though I´m out of that particular rat race. I´ve got the business to run, but Jean and Astrid can handle a lot of the routine. So, I can help Johannes out now and then.
“So, what did he say?’
“Without going into detail, we agree there´s ‘somebody´ behind this. There´s money in illegals, you know. So, we´ll have to follow this down. Or, at least Johannes will. I´m not really interested in being in the trenches any more.’
“Don´t want to get dirty?’
Sandy stopped and turned to her. “I don´t want to get dead, Helen. They´re not playing hopscotch. I´ve had all I want of that. It´s why I left Hamburg.’
“Sorry,’ Helen said with genuine regret. “You had a lot of reasons for getting out of the freight business.’
“Maybe.’ Sandy looked down and, with an effort, relaxed. He turned and moved on toward the footbridge. Helen let it go and regained his hand, walking close.
“How was it with Doris? You never told me much.’
Sandy laughed. “Great. We had a grand time. But, she wasn´t after my body. It´s the absolute truth that we found those videos while I was showing her the system. I should have known they were there, but it just didn´t occur to me that Astrid and Jean had been caught in it. I guess I owe them an apology, but I don´t even want to tell them about it. Uh, thanks for calling so we could get to her place and find some clothes for dinner. I´m amazed and pleased that Rummy´s so accepting. It didn´t seem to bother him that she and I might have been making love.’
“Well, it´s sort of like you and me, isn´t it?’
“Yeah, I guess, except I thought – then – that Rummy would be the jealous sort.’
“We all make our own rules, Sandy. I´m beginning to find that out. I probably ought to ask you…’
Sandy´s interruption was deliberate. “Anything come of that training center you and Doris were talking about?’
“Oh, yes.’ The change of subject did not escape Helen, but she went along with it. “I´ve made some calls and talked to the people. I have to go to Orange next week for a day, maybe two,’ she told him. “That´s where the foundation that´s organizing the center is located. I´m getting into the design competition and they want a presentation.
“They want a new building or really a group of buildings. They need administrative space, dormitories, dining hall, a big gym with practice areas, showers, locker rooms – all that stuff. It´s a design-and-build job, so I would do the whole thing. It´s another turnkey job, the budget is good, and I´d be managing the project again, if I get it. And of course, I´ve got the Wald Sauna in Freiburg.’ She looked down at the water. “I´m probably going to need some help. I haven´t done two things this ambitious at once before. But, I know I can do it.’
“How did you get into this? Not the architecture, I mean the saunas and such.’
“Easy. You know I grew up in Germany – Stuttgart. I went there for gymnasium and university. I got used to the saunas – you know me and the body. My friends and I would hang out in the sauna; I even used to do my homework there. You know how it is – the German sauna culture – and there were about a dozen neat sauna complexes in Stuttgart – Das Leuze, Cannstatt, there was even a Wald Sauna out in the woods. Going to a sauna meant I could spend the time without clothes. I´ve never been much for wearing clothes.’
“Sitting around naked with your boyfriends,’ Sandy said, just checking.
“Sure. And my girlfriends. I was no virgin when I married Theo – who is?’ She looked at him with a sort of crazy grin. “I don´t think I ever had a date with someone I hadn´t been naked with first. And that includes you!’
Sandy chuckled, and she returned his smile. “And, after university, I got a job with an architectural firm. I learned the ropes. I got involved in a project designing a sauna club in Hilversum, and I loved the whole concept.’ Her face darkened as she went fast-forward through a period that still troubled her. “When I got back to Paris, after Theo died, I did a couple of others, and since I´ve been on my own, I´ve worked hard to make that my specialty.’
“And, that´s what you do, in Geneva and Paris and London and all. You build saunas.’
“Well, yes, I certainly do. And good ones.’ They had paused on the footbridge to talk and now Helen pushed away from the railing and moved off along the bridge, keeping him close, his hand on her waist. “I used to do the usual things, offices and that sort for the firm. You know, before… And one day, just after I got to Paris, a man I knew,’ she grinned up at him, “asked me to design a spa for his stately home out in Surrey. It came out well, and since then, I´ve done quite a bit of that. In Britain, anyway, they´ve mostly been good-size country places with plenty of grounds. So, there´s plenty of outdoors space, too. It´s turned into a pretty good business. In fact, that´s how I was able to go on my own.’
“And you got to stay and play at these private spas?’
“After the job was finished, yes.’ Helen fell silent and watched a boat move out toward the ocean. “That man, the one in Surrey, was one of my lovers, you know.’ She looked at him, her face serious. “I don´t think I´m going to be doing much of that any more. Johannes has made me stop and think, you know. I won´t say I´m suddenly a one-man woman, but I´m clearing the slate until I think about it. A lot.’
“And now you´re off to Orange. You´re not thinking of moving, are you?’
“Oh, no. Orange is just another project. First, I have to get the award. Then, these jobs can take a couple of years: design it, argue with the customer, build it, argue with the contractors and the customer, make sure they´re happy, make sure you get paid. I´ve got a bookkeeper and accountant in Paris, and my atelier there, with the two women who do my support work.’
She spun around in the sunshine, her skirt flying. “I may have to move that down here if I get this new job. And, if I do, I´ll be on site a lot once construction really begins, but hey, it´s only about a three-hour drive. Not like Freiburg. And, of course, I´m still not sure where they´re going to put it. Maybe not Orange.
“And the Freiburg job. That´s taking a lot of time.’ Another long look over the harbor. “Yes, I may need to move things around.’ She looked back at Sandy. “Any chance I could rent that extra space in your building for a while?’ She wiggled her shoulders. “I could make it worth your while.’
Sandy watched her breasts jiggle slightly in the tight top. “I think we can work something out.’ Helen stopped walking and leaned back against the rail. The gentle breeze from behind him pressed her skirt against her body.
“Look,’ he said, “when you go to Orange, will Rummy be with you?’
Helen frowned a little. “I don´t imagine so. He´ll probably be in Freiburg, checking the concrete work. Why?’
“Well, if he´s not with you, I will be.’
“This is what you´re doing for Johannes.’
“Right. And, by the way, I am personally pleased you´re thinking carefully about your, uh, sex life. As long as I´m still in it, that is.’
Helen stopped and leaned against him, his back to the railing, her body warm against his. “You will be,’ she said, looking up at him. “Yes, that´s becoming a real thing for us, isn´t it? I´m going to have to think very carefully about some of my Paris friends… and so on.’ She looked out across the port, then back up at him, her face grave.
“Am I right that you don´t have a problem with my having lovers? I mean, it´s really the health risks, isn´t it?’
“That´s a big thing, Helen. No, I understand how you are – how you have been since Theo. I can´t change that, only you can, and only if you want to. I´m not exactly monogamous. I´ll be honest, if Doris had been interested, I certainly was. We need to talk about it, understand it as we go along.’
Helen nodded and moved beside him along the quai. “While you were with Doris, Rummy and I talked. It surprised me: he´s totally accepting of Doris. If she´d jumped you he wouldn´t have been upset.’ She looked up at Sandy. “I´m really fond of Rummy, but I just don´t see my partner as my lover. And, to give us both credit, it´s never come up. Not even in his room in Freiburg when I was half-naked.
“As far as you coming to Orange,’ she went on, “well, I´m not sure it´s necessary, but okay. At least I won´t have to sleep alone, and it´ll be fun to have you with me. But, what about the store? Can Jean and Astrid really handle it?’
“Actually, Jean is very capable, really good and knows his stuff. But, Astrid´s the spark plug. She´s a wonder. She goes out on the beach in her ‘uniform´ – have you seen the new one?’
Helen shook her head.
“We´ve gotten in a bunch of bikini bottoms in different colors with the store´s name across the ass. Sort of in the shape of a horseshoe. We give them to customers and sell them to others. Well, you should see her in that. It´s all either of them wear during working hours – well, Astrid does wear a bra in the office, but it doesn´t cover much. I´d give you one, but you´d never wear it.’
“Try me.’
“Anyway, she goes out on the beaches ‘in uniform´ and hands out literature. We´re getting business like crazy from the vacation crowd, both naturists and not, and the business guys are coming in like flies, just to get her to sign them up.’
“I guess big tits are a real advantage.’
“For some people they are. But, she´s smart as hell, Helen, and honest. She understands that she´s using her beauty for business, but she enjoys it in a real sense. She´s not a woman who´ll let herself be exploited. If anything, she´s using her body to exploit our customers.’
“She still fucking Jean?’
“Oh, yes, I´m sure they are. We´re closed for lunch from 12 to 2. Gives them plenty of time for screwing.’
“And you have it all on your computer.’
“I guess. Well, since I found it, I´ve looked it over. But I only saved the good stuff.’
Helen gave him a playful punch in the arm. “Bastard. You´ve got to show me some of those.’ She gave him a sidelong look. “Do they know about the camera?’
“I think Astrid does. Sometimes she waves.’