Death by Deceit (Book #5 in the Caribbean Murder Series) (10 page)

 Despite the warm, humid
weather, when Cindy arrived back at the hotel, she felt chilled to the bone. The
lecture had impacted upon her in more ways than one. The sight of the women who
lived there, trailing out of the auditorium after the lecture was devastating.
Many of them looked forlorn and abandoned. A few tried to be positive.

Barbara had introduced her
briefly to some of the women, who seemed surprised when they found out who she
was. Each had something good to say about Shelly, and how disturbed they were
about her death. There was nothing she did to deserve it, they said again and
again. The senseless killing reminded them of their own situation and frightened
them. Who would be next? You never knew. 

 All kinds of rumors floated
around the Shelter about who might have killed Shelly. Everybody had a
different idea. Once again, Cindy was amazed that the cops had not come and spoken
to these women in depth.

“I don’t get it,” Cindy said
to Barbara as they were walking to the front door to get Cindy a cab back to
the hotel. “Tell me why the cops aren’t sprawling all over the place,
questioning every single woman?”

“The cops don’t much like to
come here,” Barbara said, lowering her voice.  “We’re a blot on the community,
a reminder that there’s a world of violence going on beneath the radar that the
police can’t stop.”

The image horrified Cindy, a
sub world of pain and terror that no one wanted to face.

 “Battered women are outcasts,”
Barbara continued, “no one wants to spend time with them. And, for law
enforcement, it can be a waste of time. Whatever these women say can be
dismissed in court by a good lawyer. They invalidate the witness, just like the
women’s partners did, say their testimony can’t be trusted because they’re
emotionally unstable now. These women don’t have any clout.”

Cindy was horrified. The two
of them stepped out of the building onto the curb, and despite the sun that was
shining brightly through the trees, it seemed as if heavy clouds had settled
over the place.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” said Barbara
smiling, as Cindy got into the cab that was waiting for her.

“You certainly will,” said
Cindy, leaning out the window, waving.

“Thanks again for everything,”
said Barbara, once again. “You’re a trooper. We really need you here.”

*

 By the time the cab pulled up
at the hotel it was almost time for dinner, and to Cindy’s surprise, Mattheus
was waiting for her in the lobby. He was dressed in a fresh blue shirt and
slacks and looked more like himself than he had in a while.

The minute Cindy walked in,
Mattheus came over to her. “You were gone twice as long as I expected,” he
said, greeting her.

Cindy nodded. She felt solemn
and sad.

“Still up for dinner?” he
asked.

Actually, Cindy felt quite
hungry and tired. “Dinner would be perfect now,” she said, “I’m hungry and
sad.”

For a moment it was like old
times. Mattheus took her elbow and lead her gently to the main restaurant in a
lovely garden in the back of the hotel.

“I made a reservation for us”
he said as they walked quietly through the lobby, out onto a trail that led to
the restaurant.

“Don’t I need to fresh up and
change first?” Cindy asked as they walked.

“Not at all,” said Mattheus,
quietly. “You’re beautiful, just as you are.”

Cindy was touched, but didn’t
want to be. She wondered what his change of mood was due to, and decided to
just let the comment go. There was no point in getting sidetracked. It about
her and Mattheus, it was about Shelly’s murder. Cindy wanted to focus on the
Shelter, tell him about it. She wished she’d taken notes, there were so many
details she needed to remember.

When she and Mattheus got to
the restaurant they were led to a perfect table, overlooking the ocean.
Mattheus seemed pleased and again, for a moment, it was as if nothing had ever happened
between them, as if they were still working together beautifully going to
wonderful places, talking over cases, walking arm in arm.

The waiter came over quickly.

“Let’s order some drinks
first,” Mattheus suggested.

“I’ll have a glass of white
wine,” said Cindy. She didn’t want to drink much, needed to keep her head
clear.

Mattheus ordered a Marguerite.

When the waiter left, they
just sat quietly looking at each other. It was the first time they’d done that since
Cindy had moved out of his home in Grenada. Somehow the tension between them,
the anger and fear had subsided.

“I was beginning to get
worried about you,” Mattheus started. “I felt strange thinking of you alone
over there at the Shelter.”

“It was a long, disturbing
lecture,” Cindy said quietly.

Mattheus became more available.
“Why?”

“The Shelter’s a devastating
place,” said Cindy. “Battering and abuse leave a terrible toll.”

“I’m sure they do,” Mattheus
said quietly.

“Would you like to come with
me tomorrow, when I go back for the tour?” asked Cindy. “I think it’s
important.”

Mattheus eyes glazed over for
a moment. “You’re going back again tomorrow? Why?”

“Why not? Shelly worked there
for three years. The people there knew her well.  They have all kinds of ideas
about who may have killed her. Frankly, I can’t understand how the police
didn’t spend hours there talking to the residents. They belong there right now.”

Mattheus’s jaw clenched. “The
cops can’t be everywhere. They have to focus on the leads they think will pay,
the ones that are hot.”

“I guess it’s not hot to be in
a Shelter for abused women,” Cindy took offense.

“Listen, I didn’t mean it that
way,” Mattheus said.

“I want you to come back with
me tomorrow,” Cindy repeated, rankled.

“I’m going to Rancher’s Bar
tomorrow,” Mattheus said. “I want to talk to Tommy, the bartender there. He’s
Anthony’s friend. Anthony asked me to go, and I promised.”

“Anthony, the main suspect?”
Cindy was puzzled. Mattheus hadn’t said a word about his interview with him until
now.

“Yeah, I liked the guy,” said
Mattheus, flatly. “Don’t think he did it.”

“That’s huge,” Cindy was
amazed. “What happened to make you feel that way?”

“That guy loved Shelly, like I
did –“, his voice caught. For a second it was hard to go on.  “My gut tells me
he didn’t do it.” 

Cindy was relieved Mattheus
was actually speaking his truth. “You loved Shelly a lot?”

“Yes, I did,” said Mattheus,
looking over her shoulder at the darkening sky.

His words went through Cindy,
he’d never actually said it in that way before.

“I loved her more than a lot,”
Mattheus added, drumming his fingers on the table.

 “I’m sorry, Mattheus.”

“Actually, I didn’t know how
much I loved her until she was gone,” he added abruptly.

“No one ever does, do they?” said
Cindy.

“Guess not,” he said. “But I
never had any inkling Shelly didn’t feel the same way. Not for one second.”

Cindy believed him. So many
people thought they knew their partners completely and didn’t have the least
clue. It was incredibly painful when they started to find out.

“Are you sure you don’t want
to come to the Shelter with me, tomorrow?” Cindy asked again. It would be good
for Mattheus to confront the reality of who Shelly was, where she worked, the
people she knew.

“Of course I’m sure. Why would
I want to come?” he snapped. “What do I care about the life Shelly lived apart
from me?”

Cindy was startled by his
vehemence. All of this was still too close to home.Mattheus wasn’t ready to learn
more about who his wife really was. These things took time, lots of time - lifetimes,
maybe. But ready or not, he’d have to face it as the investigation proceeded.
Cindy wondered what it would do to him.

The waiter came with the
drinks and Cindy and Mattheus picked up their glasses, clinked them together
briefly, and drank.

“Great drink,” said Mattheus.

Cindy agreed.

“Can I order dinner for you?”
asked Mattheus.

“I’ll order my own,” said
Cindy quickly.

Mattheus looked surprised.
Usually Cindy enjoyed him ordering for her. “Whatever you like,” he said.

The waiter came back and he
ordered his dinner and she ordered hers. Then turned to her, clearer and more
focused.

“I just want to thank you for
being down here with me,” Mattheus started, “it means the world to me.”

Cindy didn’t know exactly what
brought that on, but he spoke in such a heartfelt manner that tears sprang to her
eyes.

“It means a lot to me, too,”
said Cindy.

Mattheus reached out and put
his hands over hers then.

A glow of warmth and desire flushed
through her body. This was an emotional time and she knew she should pull her
hands away. But at that moment, she could not. She needed the strength and
comfort Mattheus’s touch brought her.

Mattheus closed his eyes a
second, happy not to be pushed away.

 “I acted like a jerk in
Grenada,” he said then.

Cindy was totally taken off
guard.

“Any woman worth her salt
would have just packed up and left,” he continued, from nowhere, pulling at
Cindy’s heart.

Cindy wanted to say it was
fine, to soothe him again, but fought against the impulse and stayed silent. 

“But you left too quickly,”
Mattheus continued, “it knocked me off my game.”

“It was too much too soon for
both of us,” Cindy replied.

“I don’t know about that,”
said Mattheus, “we were doing great, we were happy. I just wanted to go out on
that next case and solve it. That’s not so terrible, is it?”

“There are always cases,” said
Cindy.

“That one was important,”
Mattheus argued.

“They’re all important. We
were also important. A relationship needs time and attention to grow,” said Cindy.

“So, you’ll never forgive me?
Ever?”

“You couldn’t take the intimacy,
Mattheus” said Cindy. “You basically wanted action and space. You wanted me to
be your business partner, with benefits on the side.”

He laughed. “I love having you
as my business partner. We’re good at this.”

“Yes, we are,” said Cindy
sadly, “but we went further than that.”

Mattheus looked contrite a
moment. “Was it a mistake?”

“I don’t know,” said Cindy. “You
were still a married man.”

“I had no idea Shelly was
alive,” Mattheus flared up.

“I know you didn’t,” said
Cindy.

“Do you think I would have
been searching for the murderer if I didn’t think she’d been killed?”

“Of course not,” said Cindy.

“If she’d just wanted to get
away from me and live somewhere else, what the hell? I would have said, go,
good riddance.  She never said anything like that.” Mattheus pulled back in his
seat, looking alarmed. “You don’t actually think I lied to you?”

“No, I don’t,” said Cindy.  “I
don’t think you lied, but I think you omitted a lot of details.”

Mattheus stared straight at
her. “Like what?”

“You blocked a lot out,” said
Cindy.

Mattheus looked shaky again.
“Obviously, I did,” he said slowly, “that’s what I’m finding out now, isn’t
it?”

Cindy put her drink down. “A
woman doesn’t just disappear for no reason, Mattheus.”

His jaw locked again. “What
are you implying?” a flash of indignation flared up.

“I’m implying that there was a
lot going on in Shelly’s life that you didn’t know anything about.”

“So string me up! Kill me for
it!”

“It’s not about accusing you.
It’s about finding out what! When you love someone, when you trust them, it’s not
easy to realize they have another life,” Cindy said, trying to settle him down.
The same thing had happened to her with Clint, she knew how devastating it was.
“It happens to lots of people. They think everything is wonderful in their
relationship, they believe every word their partner says, then they find out
differently.”

“So?” said Mattheus.

“So, it can ruin your trust in
love forever,” said Cindy.

“Yes, it can,” said Mattheus,
calming down. “But if a person’s really strong, they won’t let that happen.” And
he looked at her directly.

Cindy’s eyes filled with
tears. She had tried not to lose her trust in love after Clint had died, but it
had been difficult. Then when Mattheus came along, everything changed. The
trust came back on its own.

  “You’re not going to let
your trust in love be ruined because of what happened between us in Grenada,
are you?” asked Mattheus.