He was not a big or tall man, being about 5' 6" or 5' 7" and probably 150 lbs. He was reasonably good looking and was impeccably dressed as you would expect with a high-powered banker. But it was his obviously expensive clothes and his self-important bearing that set him off from the crowd around him. He seemed, to Mark, to have a supercilious and condescending look on his face as he was surrounded by all of these common people - but Mark admitted to himself, hat he was hardly an unprejudiced observer!
One thing that Mark noticed was that there was nothing of the intimacy and closeness he had expected between him and Julie. There was an occasional touching or friendly gesture, but no more than any two friends might do. The relationship still seemed to be of a cool, composed Johnstone responding to Julie while she was - well, fawning over him is a bit too much, but something like that. Certainly this was nothing of a loving relationship of equals. What struck Mark was seeing his extremely intelligent and highly competent wife accepting, seemingly embracing, a secondary position and playing up to Johnstone like a student to a teacher. She still seemed to be in that mentor- protégé role, with Johnstone in the dominant position and she the supplicant. If that were the case, it would explain some of her behavior.
Mark could see no reason to follow them around and went out onto an open deck to watch the ship depart. He leaned on the railing, looking down on the dock workers as they began to free the ship from the dock. He stood there, one deck above the balcony where Julie and Henry also watched. He saw the ant-sized workers scurry around and mused about the changes in cruise ship departures.
His only previous experience in such events was in movies, usually musicals, in which hordes of friends and relatives filled staterooms drinking champagne served by obsequious waiters. Eventually the ship's horn would blow, a steward would go down the corridors calling out, "All ashore who's going ashore!" With handshakes and kisses, the friends and relatives leave and join the crowd cheering on the dock. A band would be playing and streamers would fly down from the upper decks. A major event to be covered by the press and enjoyed by the throng waving as the ship left port.
Now no one got on board unless they were a passenger and had cleared security. The dock was just an immense platform of concrete, empty except for those workers pulling in hawsers and freeing the ship to silently depart. No cheers, just the blast of the ship's horn. The change was depressing in a way, but, on the other hand, only the rich leaned on the rails in those earlier days - the poor were in steerage - and cruise ships were rare. Now, anyone with a passport can afford a cruise, particularly if they can accept an inside cabin like Mark's.
In any case, when Mark returned to his cabin, the laptop was sitting on the bed and surveillance was begun. He turned on the audio bug just in time, unfortunately, to hear Julie say, with a giggle, "Now stop that! There will be plenty of time for that later tonight! Now, we chose the early seating in the main dining room and we have to locate it. Let's see, it's on three levels and we are in the De Gama section on deck four. It's almost time and I'm hungry. Maybe our suitcases will be here when we get back." She giggled again, adding, "You'll like same of the stuff I have in mine!" Mark did not like hearing that and he definitely wanted to be listening when she discovered the "stuff" that was actually in her suitcase!
He ate at the buffet and returned to his room and eagerly awaited their return, particularly since he saw her suitcase outside their door. He listened with a smile on his face as he heard Henry speculating about his suitcase, but, surprisingly, that smile faded as he heard the cry of dismay from Julie as she opened hers. He found himself feeling sorry for her disappointment, particularly when she clearly understood and accepted his motives. The same thing was true when she made the connection with her rings. She wasn't even angry, just sad. Her profession of love for him sounded completely sincere with no possible ulterior motive.
It certainly was nothing that Henry would want to hear. On the other hand, Mark did enjoy hearing her loving statement just as he relished Henry's outburst about his suitcase. He thought, with pleasure, of how Henry would react tomorrow when no suitcase could be found! However, that pleasure was short lived and faded away completely when he heard Julie's answer to Henry's suggestion about sleeping naked!
He listened with dismay as Julie begged off screwing tonight but promised it for tomorrow and offering nudity and cock-sucking that night, including swallowing. In the one conversation she had expressed her unstinting love for Mark and, shortly afterwards, promised her body to Henry! Nothing further was said of interest until Julie announced, "Ok, I'm ready. Why don't we go down to that Aquarium Bar near the dining room? Deck 4? I like looking at the fish.
Mark waited a few minutes and followed them. The Aquarium Bar was between the entrances to the De Gama dining room and the casino and, as would be expected the first night of the cruise, it was crowded. Fortunately they had managed to find a comfortable two-seater couch and were talking with another couple across from them. The entrance into the casino was thirty or forty feet away from where they were seated and that was where the traffic was headed. There were two large pillars marking that entrance and Mark stood half-sheltered by one of them. He waited for gaps in the crowd passing through and over about five minutes he was able to make several telephoto close-ups of Julie and Henry, glasses in hand, enjoying a relaxing drink. He quickly made his way back to the elevators and hurried back to his cabin.
Downloading about ten snapshots, he selected the best one and, using the laptop's software, prepared a print with text added. He printed it out and, as before, put in in an envelope and taped it to the door of 1640. About an hour later, Julie and Henry approached the door and she cried out, "Oh no, not another one of those!" Taking it into their room, she ripped it open and read:
THE EB & T BULLETIN
AS PROMISED, THE EB & T BULLETIN IS FOLLOWING THE ACTIVITIES OF MRS. JULIE SCHAFER AND MS MABLE SYNTHRON AT THE EXPLORER OF THE SEAS BANKING CONFERENCE. HERE THEY ARE, ENJOYING A NIGHTCAP BEFORE RETIRING TO THEIR STATEROOM! YOU UNDOUBTEDLY WILL BE ASTOUNDED ABOUT HOW CLOSELY MS SYNTHRON RESEMBLES HENRY M. JOHNSTONE OF THE ASSET MANAGEMENT DIVISION!
Oh my god, Henry, somebody was right at the bar with us. And it was taken right in front of us, but I didn't see anyone taking a picture! And they know your name! This is scary!"
"It still has to be a joke, but it's not funny! It has to be someone from our damn bank and when I find out who, there is going to be retribution!' He stopped, hesitated and added with a rueful smile, "Unless it's Jim Devon and he decided to come on this cruise and he's teasing me. Then it would be funny."
"You're certainly flexible, but I understand. I just hope that it is nothing but a joke and I can't think of anything else it can be. Anyway, the registration is at 10:00 tomorrow morning and I have to decide about what I can wear out of the clothes Mark packed for me. I'm not going to be happy!"
"Speaking of which, I need my blasted suitcase so I can get some clean clothes to wear. I'm going to raise hell tomorrow morning unless it's at our door. Now, let's turn to something more pleasant! We both need showers, but we certainly can't take them together! One person is almost too much to squeeze into that little thing, much less two! I'll go first and wait great anticipation!
Julie woke first, before 7:00 AM, as she usually did to get ready for her commute into the city. She had gotten cold during the night and put on a pajama top, but a naked Henry lay beside her. Her memory of last night's activities immediately flashed through her mind. Henry was lying on his back only partly covered by a sheet, giving Julie her first look at a naked man in her life - other than Mark, of course. "My god, I actually slept with him last night! I spent the night in bed with someone other than Mark! How the hell did I get myself into this situation? I can't see how he will ever forgive me - or me forgive myself!"
Actually, for a 54 year man in a sedentary job, he wasn't too bad - but not too good either. He had no real muscle tone, had a paunch and "love handles." Last night his cock had been hard and ready and, as she had known from the office, it was about the size of Mark's. Actually, there had been no real pleasure last night. She had sucked it mostly as a duty and with virtually no enjoyment or sense of sexual excitement. Still she actually had felt no repulsion as it went off in her mouth and she had swallowed the ejaculate without consciously deciding to do so. She really had been more excited in the office kneeling at his feet. She had sucked Mark many times, going back to her freshman year in college, and it was always was a sexual act with meaning to her, but last night there was none of that.
