by KT Morrison
The Cayman Proxy
Box One
KT Morrison
Contents
Subterfuge
1. House Check
2. House Suite
3. Smoke
4. A Foursome
5. Kissing Rays
6. Euro Style
7. Pretences
8. Submarine
9. Ignition
10. Performance
11. Shell Shocked
Alone
1. Callaway Seven
2. Painted
3. Evening Out
4. Treading Water
5. Date Night
6. Plantation
7. Pretty Terrible Things
8. The Small Screen
Blackmail
1. Down In The Tube
2. Frosted Windows
3. Box Within A Box
4. Jay Shaker, Heart Surgeon
5. Water Tower
6. Black Silhouette
7. The Fairway House
8. Restraint
9. A Reflection
Bullfight
1. A Video
2. Maureen
3. Gold Coast
4. La Galaxie
5. Backpackers
6. Like Everyone Else
7. Torero
8. Ancient Ruins
Afterword
Other Books by KT Morrison
Copyright © 2016 KT Morrison
All rights reserved.
Subterfuge
1
House Check
The two British Airways tickets marked Destination: Grand Cayman had been laying in the flat brass dish in the hall for two days. Kate put them there while she'd been packing so that they wouldn't be misplaced. But so much had been happening in preparation that for the life of her that fact could not be retrieved.
“Are you sure they're not in your pocketbook?” Mitch said from the hallway.
“I checked Mitch, I told you that,” she said to the empty bedroom, though she knew he couldn't hear her. Mad at him, but she didn't know why. It was just defensive like throwing up sand in someone's face in a street fight. She'd seen her father do that one time in a parking lot. Grown man, knocked down in a fight with another Dad over a parking space.
She heard Mitch say, They’re here, and then knew right away where they were. She could picture them sitting in that brass dish below their wood framed wedding picture. She came out to the hall, Mitch standing there exasperated with her, leaning over the handle of his bag. He smiled and waved two fingers over to the tickets on the teak table.
“It’s going to be a rush,” he said but she knew they’d have plenty of time.
“All right, all right,” she said and picked them up, “Let’s go.”
She looked around at their beautiful, modern Campden Hill flat. It felt strange, like she was seeing it for the last time. What would they return to? She checked her pockets, did a brief little inventory. Mitch was already headed down the hall, and she took one last look at the little two-bedroom with a patio and manicured garden that cost more than her Dad had made in his entire life and she turned off the light.
They wheeled their bags to the elevator and down to the parking garage without running into anyone. She’d said to Mitch earlier to just call porterage but Mitch didn’t want small talk with anybody. Didn’t want anyone knowing their business. He was being more secretive about this than she thought he needed to be. As far as anyone would see from the outside they were two people going away on vacation. What did he think people would see? How did he see themselves?
It felt like they were sneaking out. As Mitch drove the black Range Rover out into the morning light she imagined he was glad their windows were so deeply tinted.
When Kate had got the little diamond stud in her nose he’d had to tell his friends she’d just done some travelling in India. People, other wives he knew, didn’t do things like that. Didn’t bother him in the slightest, but still, she had to keep up appearances. Did she have to give out a signal to everyone like that? Most of them were already talking about her behind the back of their hand.
Something had gotten into her recently. She’d always been aloof, unusual, and very unlike every other woman he’d met in his circle. That was why he loved her though—she was different than them in every way.
There were more than a few things—besides the nose stud—that hinted to him she was tired of playing the part of the proper wife of a former barrister turned Investment House co-owner. And she wasn't like that—it was truly just a role in a movie to her. She didn’t even look the part, stood out from the thin prep wives in their slim fitting dresses when at a function. She didn’t fit in with them socially either, isolated herself. Waited for Mitch to get home every night. That was fine with him. He didn’t fit in with them either even though he’d been raised amongst them.
He watched her walk a step ahead of him as they made their way from business parking to the pod that would transport them to the terminal. His beautiful wife. The person for whom he would do anything. And that wasn’t some rote phrase, he knew that. Whatever had made this bond with her he always had felt it had been made unbreakable. It was one of the greatest sources of power in his life. His stability.
She wore a black quilted Barbour jacket, skirt and leggings, and tall black Burberry riding boots with the house check along the cuff. Her beautiful, silky hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She looked gorgeous. She was his dream girl but there was more to it. She wasn’t just his pretty doll that he liked to see dressed up.
He’d met her while he was in pupillage and instantly fell for her. They dated quite a while and even Kate didn’t know how much he was tortured in that time; the sleepless nights, the twists in his stomach as he tried everything he could to win her over. That was mostly about her looks if he were honest. That was his hormones in overdrive.
Once they were committed he saw something else in her. When he’d won her away from the others, and she’d promised herself to him, that was when they started to grow together; into one another. She took to his mum, who was used to being sort of left out but who was the most important person to him. She’d raised him, with a little help of course, but his mum was an older woman when he was born, and she had nothing but time for him. They spent all their days together when he wasn’t in school. Museums, zoos, art galleries; they’d travelled all over Europe before he was eleven. Mitch was the youngest son by far, ten years younger than Derek and the others. Growing up it was just him and his mum, while the men seemed to be in and out of the house, off doing their very important things.
When his mum got sick Kate was there for her when Mitch couldn’t be. Went with her to her appointments, sat with her in the park, brushed her hair and did her makeup when she had to go out. When she was in the hospital Kate was there every day. She was there holding her hand when she passed while Mitch was at work.
Mitch held Kate’s hand at the funeral. Looked over at her, saw her through the veil. She wasn’t just a spouse, or girlfriend at that time, she felt like blood. Family.
His dad and brother, Derek, hadn’t been so quick to take her in. At first he hadn’t been sure why. Who wouldn’t like her? In a fight with his dad, late one drunken summer evening when a party had dwindled, Derek Sutton Sr referred to her as a slapper. It had crushed him that he would think like that.
But she wasn’t your typical prep school waif, like most of the others he’d dated. She was petite but full-figured. Built like a woman. Big breasts, narrow waist; voluptuous. She drove him crazy.
They checked themselves in and headed to the Galleries
Club Lounge. Mitch got himself a coffee and Kate didn’t want anything. She settled into the crook of his arm as they sat and watched planes out on the tarmac. She pat him on his chest, told him, See, plenty of time to spare, closed her eyes and fell asleep.
Her figure, and perhaps sometimes her manner, might have led his father to the insult, but there was a small truth to it. It was probably why it hurt him. It hurt that his Dad could see it in her. She’d had a lot of boyfriends and quite frankly she was ruthless in bed. He’d never encountered anything like it. And, over the last few months, she’d really kicked it into high gear.
They boarded the plane and took their seats in business class. There were no first class options. Mitch could have arranged for something, had Derek make some calls to get something private, but this was all right. They had their seats together in little pods but facing each other. He looked around at the other passengers as they started to taxi. This was better. Quieter. If he kept this as low key as possible it would be for the best.
Over the last maybe eight months she would bring it up. In the beginning he would think not this shit again. But she was consistent, maybe once a week she would offer. Bringing someone else into their bed. But Kate was all he wanted, he had no real desire to fuck some other girl. He’d told her this so many times. Sure their lovemaking had tapered off somewhat, but it wasn't that he'd lost any sort of desire for her, he was just, at times, overwhelmed with work. He wanted her to know he was faithful and that he hadn't lost any interest in her at all but he thought it would sound funny saying it in those words.
Although of course that would be simplest, sometimes, he had learned, the direct approach was not always best with Kate. He felt like sometimes her feelings were hurt easily. If he’d stated that he wasn't losing interest she might accept it but inside a voice would tell her that he’d said it because that was how he felt. How else would he have known to say it? Sometimes the straight path was indeed the least efficient route through his relationship with Kate.
Then, not too long ago, Kate was back on again. Back on like Old Kate. Kate that would put her hand down your pants in public while she said dirty things in your ear, or stand naked in the hall as you came home and tell you to fuck her. That was really how she got him to agree to this. Not recoiling from him, saying no or acquiescing, but advancing, taking. Instead of demanding this from him, or pouting, she inspired him to want it. Now he did want it. This last while he’d felt like he was twenty-one again. He’d lost a stone, was sleeping better, and he woke up with a smile most mornings.
When she’d told him it was arranged he’d just nodded, eyebrows raised, in agreement. He’d agreed, somewhere along the way there, that it would be fun. He thought of it as an idea, a concept, not something that would ever become a reality. But here it was. And it was intriguing.
Not just some girl. Her best friend. Her Maid of Honour. Kiley Beckett, her almost constant companion since they were nine. She’d been her roommate when Mitch was dating her. He’d never thought of her like that at all. Pushed it out of his head because she was Kate’s best mate. But her charm was undeniable. Tall, slender, a great mane of beautiful hair. And she was lovely as a person, he felt warm towards her, felt like he could trust her. She would be perfect.
Kate said that Kiley was into it and that put a tingle into him. The thought that he could do this, that this was a possibility, would have been something unimaginable to a young Mitch. He was not that sort of guy. But he wanted to be. The idea that his wife’s friend would agree to this was so flattering too. Had she thought of him before as well? Had she pushed away intimate feelings while they were together? Didn’t act because he was her best mate’s husband? It was heady thinking.
The arrangement was made quickly, only a few days ago, the opportunity falling into Kate’s lap. A small window of time, a place warm and far away. Kiley worked in America now, a sales rep, pharmaceuticals. She was doing well but always busy, they didn’t really see her any more. Their schedules overlapped only one week, it could be now or never. But Kiley was seeing someone. And like that it was off. All of Mitch’s excitement dashed on the rocks. He hadn’t wanted this for himself, but once it was arranged, he had to admit, he was crestfallen when it was cancelled.
The next day, sitting at the kitchen counter, Kate had a new idea. It was quietly presented to him, shy but hopeful. The threesome became maybe a foursome. And how do you feel about that, Mitch? He didn’t like it, but he saw what the idea was doing to Kate. She was excited. Kiley called back. It was definitely a foursome. And ever since then he was looking for a way to call it off. But the thought of him and Kate fucking another couple together, of seeing Kate being pleased, her face when she was in ecstasy; despite how his stomach hurt when he thought about it, part of him wanted to see it happen. He almost enjoyed the fear, the worry, the lust.
Kate wanted to get this done. Needed it. It wasn’t easy that was for sure. She wasn’t convinced it was a settled deal yet. There was plenty left that could go wrong. She knew that.
She’d thought Mitch would balk at doing a blood test. She thought that would be where it ended, but he didn’t. He didn’t even ask that much about Kiley’s guy friend. The only thing he made her swear was that there were to be no cameras. She got that, the business could be vulnerable.
Mitch was next to her, deep in thought. She saw him looking off with his hand gripping and rubbing his chin. He worked so hard, had so much on his mind. And now she’d given him more to trouble himself over. She wanted this to be fun, she wanted him to have a good time, to open up.
Things had just changed too much recently. Changed for both of them. But really everything in her life was a by-product of Mitch and the things that he made happen or had happen to him. She was along for the ride. That sounds bitter. She wasn’t, knew she wasn’t. Too grateful for this man in her life and all that he helped her escape from.
She could see out the window, the afternoon sun glinting off the ocean. Surprisingly dark for such a sunny day. Ten hour flight, a double touch, stopping in Nassau, and another hour and a half now meant they must be almost there. She looked over her shoulder saw the little white embarkation cards getting passed around.
Mitch had given up lawyering, worked now with his much older brother Derek, brought into the family’s owner-managed Investment House. Their father’s really. But a heart attack had brought him down on the twelfth hole at St. Andrews five years ago and Derek ran with it. Had been groomed to. Mitch had come on three years past.
It had twenty-one billion in funds, trusts, and portfolios. Three billion more than when their father was manager. One billion since Mitch had come on board.
She could see the white dashes of rolling waves now through the haze as they descended towards Owen Roberts Airport. She put away her things and eyed Mitch doing the same. They looked at each other, well they were here.
While Mitch was also a co-owner, Derek had started him out as an analyst in compliance and risk management, then half a year under the chief investment officer doing oversight. Learning as he went along. He acted as co-manager now for a year and a half. They better watch out for Mitch though, he was more than he seemed. More than the little brother. He was smarter than Derek for sure, and no one would out-work him. Strategies and schemes. He could look at things and see all the potential outcomes at once, predict a result no one could see. And he was never wrong.
2
House Suite
They walked down the metal stairs rolled into place on rubber wheels, onto the tarmac and crossed to the airport. It was oppressive, like stepping into a sauna in your street clothes. By the time they’d made it to the steeple-roofed terminal their clothing was sticking to them.
Her stomach had flipped as the plane dropped and it never had settled. Just an anxious twist inside her. When they were in the line for passport control Mitch leaned in and kissed the top of her head. She looked up and he said, “Nervous?” He could feel it off her. She put her arm around his wais
t and squeezed him.
“Just another vacation,” she said.
By the time they made it to baggage she was dying from the heat. She’d taken the leggings off in the bathroom in the plane, and her jacket was away into her carry on, but she needed to take her boots off very soon. It was urgent.
They got through handling quite fast and she swapped out the boots for a pair of little Prada ballerinas, leaning against the wall with one hand in the crowded little room.
They got outside, back into that thick tropical air and Mitch pointed out the car that the rental company had sent for them.
The driver, a skinny kid in a Hawaiian shirt, held the door for them and got their bags into the trunk. He told them where the company had left a Jeep for him at the resort and handed him a set of keys. Mitch signed some things for him, putting the clipboard on his knees.
He sat back in the seat and closed his eyes and there he was off again. Working away in his head.
She leaned in to the front and asked the driver if the air conditioning could go up any higher. He laughed before he turned it up, seemed like he was used to pasty Brits who couldn’t take this heat.
She sat back with Mitch and used a compact to try and sort out her hair. She was a mess. Could see the unkempt wisps in mutiny from the humidity. Her face was a glossy, damp sheen with no makeup. She closed it up and turned to look at Mitch.
“What is it you’re hard at work on?”
“Maybe I’ll tell you sometime,” smiling but not looking over at her. She moved in and kissed his neck, put her hand on his chest. She ran her hand down his stomach, between his legs and squeezed him through his pants, felt him flinch.
“Hey, it’s broad daylight,” he said, trying to keep it quiet so the driver wouldn’t hear.