There’d be nopoint in confronting him straight away, that was for sure; and itwould be easy enough to let him think he was in control. She’d playup to him, maybe even flirt a little on their final evening onboard; pander to his basic arrogance. And she’d sort something out,there was no way he would get away with it – that money wouldn’t begoing anywhere with him. Gemma was annoyed with herself for nothaving seen anything like this coming, she had let herself getcarried away with planning the move to London and maybe to Simontoo.
Gemma was kind ofsurprised that she’d actually quite enjoyed the rest of the day byherself. She felt one step ahead and surprisingly composed; and shewould make sure she got her money back. After grabbing a sandwichand can of coke it was getting time to head back to the harbour andshe wanted to get there before Mark, for no particular reason butperhaps just to feel more in control.
Even thoughthe tourist trade had virtually ended for the winter, the harbouritself remained surprisingly busy: baskets of fish were still beingunloaded from a variety of sized crafts, most of which had clearlyseen a good few years’ service. Gemma wandered across to therailings overlooking the steps down to the usual mooring positionfor the cruise ship tenders. She lit her second cigarette of theday and even though it tasted as bad as the first she enjoyedseeing the smoke drift over the harbour walls. Before she hadfinished she noticed Mark heading through the gated entrance fromthe old city. She stubbed the cigarette out and flicked the dog endinto the water; she didn’t want him to sense anything was amiss. Helooked pleased with himself, the big-headed bastard, and Gemmacould see it was pretty obvious he had no idea she was onto him.Well, he wouldn’t till tomorrow either; she’d bide her time andconfront him on their trip to Lokrum.
Annoyingly hehad seen her put the cigarette out on his way across to thejetty.
‘Hey, strange to seeyou smoking a fag.’
Gemma forced asmile.
‘Well, we’reon holiday and I just fancied one. Anyway, how’s your daybeen?’
Mark decidednot to mention meeting Howard; he reckoned the less Gemma knew thebetter.
‘Yes, what abeautiful city, I’ve just pottered around and met some of thelocals. I had a couple of glasses of some local red wine in alittle bar I found.’
Mark was fullof himself; his misplaced belief that he was in control and aboutto get away with ripping her off amused but also irritatedGemma.
‘Yes, it isreally nice. You know I’m looking forward to our last meal of thetrip on board tonight, apparently there’s going to be some kind ofband, or DJ anyway, so it should be fun. Then we’ve got a day outto the island tomorrow before flying home.’
Gemma couldn’t resistit. She wanted to check for any kind of reaction from Mark. Therewasn’t even a flicker of what might pass for guilt. He certainlyseemed to have got over the apparent despair he had shown whenshe’d told him she’d had enough and wanted to move on andaway.
‘Glad you’relooking forward to it, you look great you know, Gemma. I know we’reover but I can say that, can’t I?’
The Uganda’s tenderwas just pulling in and Gemma let it pass as they scrambled downthe harbour steps along with a few other of their fellow cruisersarmed with the various trinkets they’d been harangued intoacquiring.
***
As well asMark and Gemma, quite a few of the passengers were also celebratingtheir final evening and night on board. It wasn’t the end of thecruise itself, with some staying on for further stopovers atPiraeus harbour, for Athens, and then Istanbul. Nonetheless, theship had put on a slightly wider choice of meals than usual and adisco of sorts. Between courses there’d been a somewhat grandlyentitled debarkation talk, and those leaving the next day were toldthat they needed to sort out the extra costs they might haveincurred while on board.
The initialshock of finding that Mark had emptied their bank account hadsubsided and spurred Gemma into action mode. She kept Mark’s glassfull and made sure the second bottle came pretty quickly. As wasusual and really still quite quaint, passengers were expected todress smartly for the evening meals and entertainment on board.Gemma had made sure she’d be able to get Mark where she wanted;she’d put on a low-cut party dress and curled her hair to falltantalisingly down either side of her still slightly tanneddécolletage and deep cleavage. By contrast, Mark always managed tolook uncomfortable in a shirt and tie, but she wasn’t going to letthat get in the way. It was clear he had no suspicions that hisskulduggery had been discovered and Gemma knew the best bet was toget him drunk, add a bit of flattery and flirting and keep an eyeon him when they got back to their cabin; he’d be bound to check onhis stash of his, or actually her, money and no doubt to try and doit surreptitiously.
The mealitself had been nicely presented – and if a roast followed by BlackForest gateau was a little unambitious it was pleasant enough. Theguests had made an effort to dress up and there was certainly moreof a party atmosphere than usual. Gemma could see the waitershovering with jugs of tea or coffee.
‘Come on Mark, let’sleave the coffee and have a couple of shorts, I’ll get usdoubles.’
She ushered him overto a table near the DJ, apparently a local resident who offered hisservices to visiting cruise ships, and went to the bar.
‘A doublevodka and Coke and I’ll have a plain Coke.’
It wasn’t as if he wasgoing to monitor her drinks but she didn’t want him to see shewasn’t getting drunk too; from now on she was going to be incontrol.
‘You know Mark, I’vequite enjoyed this holiday and thanks for sorting it all out. Ifeel like having a really good time tonight and enjoying ourselveslike we used to. Let’s down these and go for it.’
He really wasquite absurdly easy to manipulate. Gemma even felt a littlelight-headed herself and that was after only
