Lost Girls (28 page)

She had to give
it to him, he was cool; he knew his goose was cooked but he was
determined to keep eating while the course was on offer.

It seemed the
heightened stakes improved his lovemaking, giving an added edge for
them both, knowing they were now playing for much higher
stakes.

The next week,
before he got down to business, he handed her a sealed envelope
with the ten thousand dollars. Their life continued peacefully for
a further month with ever more wild and adventurous sex.

Now the payment
was due again. She reminded him and even though she could see this
time it was hurting the money came again. Another month rolled
by.

This time, when
she indicated the date was due, he shook his head. “You have
cleaned me out. I have given you all that I can give. I can’t pay
that much anymore. It will have to come back to $1000 a month; that
is all I can afford from here.”

As she kissed
him goodnight after their best sex yet, he looked at her, almost
pleading. “You know I really can’t pay what you are asking.”

She shook her
head and turned away, “Well, you know what comes next; it is all
downhill from here. Goodbye career”

Amanda returned
to the Professor’s office at the same time next week. She had not
seen him in private and he had avoided her eyes in class which was
unusual as normally he looked at her way too much. It made her
uncomfortable, like he was seriously sweet on her. For her it was
just profitable sex, though she had started to increasingly look
forward to her weekly trysts for the pleasure they brought her. She
would sometimes think of him privately with affection remembering
these times.

It would be
nice if he could find the money to continue, she could not cave in
on that, better to move on to another person, she had two other
possible candidates in mind.

So she would
play hard ball if she must, not full and immediate exposure but a
trickle, first releasing less incriminating bits to keep the wind
up him and give him a chance to find at least part of the money
that would buy more silence. That would be best, she thought.

She found she
was unusually nervous today, not her normal super cool self. She
wondered if she had a premonition of a problem as she lifted a hand
to knock on his door.

She paused and
undid the top two buttons on her blouse, still feeling a desire to
keep the sexual thrill going; it was more pleasurable doing it for
high stakes than simple lust. Perhaps he was still trying to
assemble the money. If so she would give him another free sample to
keep him keen. She found this thought turned her on, big time.

When she
knocked she heard a muffled, “Come In,” but the voice was strange;
it sounded pained.

He was sitting
at his desk, still not really looking at her, his face drawn. He
pushed an envelope her way, it seemed skinner than usual.

He spoke, still
not looking up. “You need to take that money and get out of here.
My wife found out about you and the money, she checked my accounts
and demanded to know where it had gone. I ended up telling her
about our affair and that I paid you because you filmed us and
threatened to release it. She confronted me last night. She had
been suspicious and asking me questions all week. In the end I told
her as it seemed the only way to save our marriage and for me to
keep access to our children.

“She called the
police today; told them I am being blackmailed by you. They came
and met us this morning and questioned me. I told them what
happened. They asked when I would see you next and I said I
expected to meet you tomorrow. When that time comes they will be
here to arrest you, to charge you with extortion.

“As a result I
expect to lose my job and you are likely to end up in jail. My job
is as good a gone, but I do not want to see you in prison.

“On my way here
I got a small amount of extra money that my wife does not know
about. It is here for you. It will give you enough to cover your
travel and living costs for a couple weeks.

“So I strongly
suggest you leave town and go somewhere far away, overseas would be
best as they are likely to trace you and arrest you if you just go
to another state.

“Provided you
are not here tomorrow I can say I do not know where you are or
where you have gone. If they cannot locate you elsewhere it might
just go away for us both. If they arrest you I will be forced to
give evidence against you. That will be bad for me and even worse
for you.

“The funny
thing is, despite knowing what you are like, someone who uses and
manipulates people, I find myself very fond of you.

“You are very
bright and have great ability. I really don’t want you to end up as
a convicted criminal.

“Part of me
wishes I had enough money to set you up in a nice place and let you
enjoy a good life. Maybe that person would have become a better
you, someone who lived up to all the potential you have inside
you.

“However that
time is past and this is the only help I can give you.

“You must go
and go quickly. Even now you need to be careful as the police may
already be looking for you, though I think they have yet to seek an
arrest warrant. I understood that this afternoon they were going to
try and trace the money, to see if you deposited it. If they get
information that shows you receiving large sums of money I think
they will arrest you.

“So I suggest
you go back to your house very unobtrusively and collect anything
essential like a passport and vanish. Even better would be to ring
a friend from your house and ask them to get a few essential things
for you and meet you somewhere, make up a story that sounds
plausible and meet them in a local cafe.

“Then, as soon
as possible, you should leave town, perhaps take the Airtrain to
JFK where you will have the best choice of aeroplane options to
faraway destinations.”

Amanda found
herself struggling to take it all in, to comprehend how quickly her
world had turned on its head. She had thought she was so clever;
now she was a fugitive.

He was right.
She must get out of here quickly. Unexpectedly she felt sad about
saying goodbye to this man. As lovers it had started ordinary but
become increasingly good. But what most moved her was his
unexpected kindness. She knew that what he had done today would not
benefit him. It may even make his situation worse if it could be
shown that he had helped her.

But yet,
despite her using him in a get rich scheme, and him knowing it, he
had treated her with unexpected decency. She felt a tear in her
eyes at his goodness. It made a tiny chink into her otherwise
hardened soul.

She stood up
and walked over to him. He put out his hands and took her hands. He
pulled her into him and held her against him, stroking her head
like a favourite daughter for a long minute. Then he pushed her
away.

“Go now;
perhaps one day you will realise that this was a good life lesson
and you will remember me with kindness. Perhaps you could send me a
postcard from a far away and exotic destination. I won’t promise to
come and meet you but you never know.”

She reached
forward and kissed him gently on the lips, a kiss of affection
rather than passion. “Thank you, you have been good to me. I will
send a postcard when I can, signed with a big A and carrying my
affection.”

Over six months
had passed. Amanda found herself working on an island resort in the
far north of Queensland.

Fortunately she
had kept the money that she had been paid by her Newark professor
in cash, not having lodged it into a bank account.

In the late
afternoon when others were off having a drink she had slipped
unobtrusively into the share house and gone to her room, quickly
packing an overnight bag with her best clothes, anything else
valuable and her passport and cash, still over fifteen thousand
dollars, plus another four thousand in the envelope.

She made a snap
decision, as she was packing, to head for Australia via the West
Coast. So she booked an evening flight from Newark to LA. In LA she
bought an open return ticket and arranged a holiday visa for
Australia. By lunch time next day she was airborne, flying over the
Pacific Ocean knowing that her next touchdown was Sydney. It had
been so easy it was hard to believe that there could be any
problems following her.

She had only
stayed a week in Sydney, it was an expensive city and she wanted to
ration her money for now. So first she went down to Melbourne, the
other main city, and got work in a bar for a couple months. Then,
when Christmas came, she returned to Sydney for the fireworks show,
reconnecting with a few casual friends she had made when she first
came here. She stayed at a backpacker hostel next to Bondi Beach
during the heat of summer, doing odd jobs as they turned up.

By February,
with the heat of summer easing, she decided to go north and follow
the sun; that was the way the other backpackers talked of it. She
worked her way up the east coast, stopping here and there and
taking odd jobs to replenish her money.

Learning to
dive interested her so she booked a diving course on the Barrier
Reef in Queensland at a place called Airlie Beach. With her
qualification in hand and using her friendly manner, inside a
second week she had a job offer at a resort at a place called
Hamilton Island.

It was an hour
and a half by ferry from the mainland town. She had now worked here
for two months and found it easy and enjoyable, with the chance to
practice her diving in the afternoons or when tours were going out
and they had an extra space.

Her job was in
customer service, booking local tours and island activities for
overseas visitors, particularly the rich American world traveller
clientele. Her American accent always ensured good tips when she
gave service with a smile to fellow citizens.

Now she had a
stable address she sent a post card to the Prof and a letter to her
Mum telling her of her decision to make an unexpected trip to
Australia and defer her studies for a bit.

Her Mum wrote a
letter back which came two weeks later, telling local news which
said nothing said about the police or other authorities looking for
her. Perhaps with her gone and no money to trace it had just faded
away, like she and the professor had both hoped.

She would like
to know she decided, she could stay here for another month but
ultimately she wanted more from her life than jobs in holiday
resorts. It would be good to know if there was an arrest warrant
that would cause problems should she return home.

She tried to
ring the Professor but the University receptionist merely informed
her he longer worked there. They would not provide information on
where he had gone, only that he left unexpectedly late last year.
She realised this was due to her and felt a bit sad about it.

She was
starting to find life dull on the island, she had done most of the
tours and activities, she had added an additional $3000 to her bank
balance since coming here, she had a couple very transient affairs
with other tourist staff, but all in all it was becoming
boring.

One night, a
mid-week night when business was quiet, she was sitting in the
resort bar where she worked, having a drink with a Canadian girl
who worked with her. There was something comfortable in their
accents and backgrounds that made them each enjoy the company of
the other.

She noticed a
man in his thirties, buy a drink, a rum and coke. He took it to a
corner table, in the furthest corner away from the bar. There was
something incredibly self possessed about him.

He was not
exactly handsome, quite weather beaten looking, tanned from many
long days in the sun, but there was a sense of physical power and
toughness that she found appealing. His body had that hard look of
a person doing manual work.

She tried to
catch his eye, to see if she could draw a smile. It was as if he
sensed her interest and avoided it. She felt her interest
piqued.

She asked her
friend if she knew who he was, few came to the island as unknowns
except the tourists and he did not look like a tourist.

Her friend
replied. “He just arrived today. I think he is here for three days
to do some maintenance on the resort machinery, maybe the air
conditioners. I heard his name was Mark, Mark something. That’s
right, he was talking to the Resort Manager when I was on the front
counter and he was introduced to our head of maintenance as Mark
Brown.”

Amanda said,
“Let’s go and introduce ourselves to him. If he is here on his own
he might be looking for some company. God knows, interesting men,
who are not jet setting tourists, are few and far between.

So they went
across and said hello, smiling brightly in their best girlie way.
He nodded politely but evidenced little interest in keeping them
company. He was not rude but it was as if a dark spirit sat on his
shoulder, giving him a serious demeanour and little ability to
smile.

He sat and
talked to them in a low key way for a few more minutes while he
finished his drink then said, in a quaint and almost courtly way,
“Well, nice meeting you ladies. Got a big day’s work tomorrow,
replacing several air conditioning units in the west wing, then the
same the next day in the east wing. So, at this stage of the
evening, I will wish you good night.”

Amanda felt her
interest doubly drawn. He had the edges of a nice smile that she
had almost glimpsed a couple times, as if in response to her
obvious pickup lines which he clearly saw through. It was like he
was saying
. I have been around lots of bad places and tough
motherfuckers and I have seen it all before
. There was an edge
to his manner. It spoke of challenge and maybe danger. She refused
to accept his brush-off.