Death by Deceit (Book #5 in the Caribbean Murder Series) (3 page)

“Of course I want family and children,” Cindy
was stung to the core.

“Does Mattheus” Ann looked at her directly.

“We’ never discussed it,” Cindy said, realizing
that for the first time.

Ann seemed truly aghast.  “You’re telling me
you were about to move in with a guy and you never discussed where your
relationship was headed?”

“We were happy together,” said Cindy
emphatically.

“What does happy mean?” Ann looked as if she
were about to scream.

“We were happy, laughing, caring for each other,”
Cindy spoke breathlessly, “he got who I was. I got him. We had long talks that
meant a lot to me.”

“That’s not the whole story or you wouldn’t be
home.”

“It’s never the whole story,” said Cindy.
“Things come out later that can be shocking. They take time to digest.”

Ann held her hands out for Cindy’s. “Cindy, you’ve
been through one catastrophe already, and now you have to rebuild your life.
You can’t risk another disaster. You can’t afford to waste time with guys who
come unhinged.”

Cindy bristled. It was painful to think of
Mattheus as coming unhinged.  And, it wasn’t the whole truth about him.

“You won’t be able to have children forever,”
Ann went on, “and you don’t even know if he wants a family.”

“I loved him, Ann,” Cindy blurted out.

Ann looked alarmed. “Love is one thing,” she
said, “and great sex in the Caribbean is something else. It could become a drug
that helped you get over what happened.”  

“That’s cruel, Ann,” said Cindy bitterly.

“No, it’s kind. The truth is always kind.
What’s cruel is being dragged around in some kind of crazy dream.”

Ann always had a way of putting things that
left Cindy silenced. There was always some truth to what she said - but not all.

Cindy shrugged lightly. “Well, I’m back anyway
now, aren’t I?”

“I don’t know,” said Ann, “are you?”

*

The next day Ann insisted that the two of them go
into town to freshen up Cindy’s wardrobe. A shopping expedition would hit the
spot. The idea didn’t sound bad to Cindy, and she agreed.

She and Ann got into her car before noon and
drove slowly into town.  Cindy always enjoyed passing through the town of Cove
Bay. It was a quaint suburb and the people in it were well-groomed, charming
and reassuring, except for Clint’s family, of course. Cindy knew she should
give them a call and let them know she was back in town.  She didn’t want them
to hear about it from somebody else, but she dreaded talking to them.

She and Ann drove past the large clock in the
center of town and the small, charming, upscale shops and outdoor cafes that
lined the streets. They passed Ben and Jerry’s, and found a parking spot on the
street under an old, oak tree.

“We can shop for a while and then have lunch,”
Ann was excited. “It’s autumn already and you’ll definitely need warm things
for winter.”

Cindy let herself join in the festive
atmosphere Ann was creating, but had no idea where she’d be when winter
arrived. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to stay here for a while, see if her
old job was still open. It would give her time to sort things out. Ann was
right. Cindy loved working on cases when they came along, but they also took a toll.
Living so deeply in the dark under belly of the world, she needed time to come
up for air, unwind, wipe away the dark clouds that covered her mind.  She needed
to re-group, be nourished and filled once again with the goodness of life.  It
was appalling that Mattheus couldn’t

understand that.

Cindy tried to get him out of her mind, but
couldn’t. She’d been upset by the things he’d said about her, too. Did he resent
having to take care of a woman, having a woman make a home for him? Cindy
shivered. Her thoughts about him wandered all over the place now. What did
Mattheus really feel about women? What had his relationship with his wife
really been like? The shock of seeing the sudden change in him towards her set
off all kinds of alarms.  Cindy was proud that she left, she’d been self-protective.
But there was no way she could discuss this with Ann. Ann would be totally
horrified to hear these details, and she’d have a right to be.

The first shop Cindy and her sister walked into
was a charming boutique, with dresses in Cindy’s size, slacks, sweaters, bags.
Ann was delighted.

“We can find everything we need right here,” Ann
said.

The lanky, well groomed, sales woman came over
to greet them.

 “We need dresses for the fall, some skirts and
sweaters,” said Ann.

Cindy felt like a child being taken out by her
mother. She smiled at the sales woman and held up her hand.

“Just a couple of items,” Cindy said.

“No, this is on me, Cindy,” Ann whispered. “I
want to welcome you home.”

*

Three hours later as they returned in the car,
their hands filled with packages, Ann’s cheeks were flushed.

“Victory!” Ann exclaimed.

Cindy was grateful for her sister’s love and
smiled at her warmly.

“You’re a wonderful sister, Ann, you always
have been.”

“I wish I could stay here longer,” Ann
whispered. “I want to support you in every way I can.”

The telephone rang then, startling both of
them.

“Who can that be?” asked Cindy. “Nobody knows
we’re here.”  She picked up the phone quickly.

“You’re back, and you didn’t let us know? I
can’t believe it,” the voice had an edge to it. It was Marge, Clint’s sister.

“I just returned,” said Cindy.

“My friend Tobey saw you and your sister
shopping in town. Obviously, your sister had plenty of time to find out and
join you. Why didn’t you call us?” Her voice was shrill, just as it always had
been. Cindy shivered.

“Well, now you know that I’m here,” said Cindy.

“Don’t take an attitude with me,” Marge
declared. “Is there some reason you chose to come back to Cove Bay now?”

“No particular reason,” said Cindy.

Cindy remembered the harsh, invasive behavior
of Clint’s family. From the moment she’d met them, she’d been the enemy. They
felt she was out to take away not only Clint, but everything they had. Nothing
could have been further from the truth, but no one ever gave her a chance.

 “We haven’t known where to even reach you for
over a year,” Marge went on petulantly. “There was no way to let you know about
dad’s funeral.”

Cindy grew quiet. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“How sorry could you really be if you kept
completely out of touch? How do you think it looked when you didn’t show up at dad’s
funeral?  The whole town talked about it for days.  So, now that the will’s
being probated you think you can just return?”

Clint’s family was back to square one, money.
It was all they ever thought about. Obviously Marge thought Cindy had come back
to claim Clint’s portion of the inheritance.

Cindy bypassed her remarks. “When did your
father pass away?” she asked.

“The funeral was two weeks ago,” Marge’s voice
had a raspy tone. “It was an awful death. He suffered terribly, the drugs
didn’t work. Mom is totally wrecked. She hasn’t even begun to recover. If she
hears you’re back now, it’ll make things worse.”

“I’m sorry, Marge,” Cindy said. “I really am.”

“Why are you here? How long are staying?” Marge
wouldn’t let go.

“I have no idea,” said Cindy.

*

Cindy sent a condolence basket to Clint’s
family and did not receive a reply. Nothing had changed between them and Cindy
had no desire to step back into the undercurrent of pain and resentment they
lived in. They weren’t her family and never had been. Now that Clint was gone,
there was nothing left, no child to bind them, no happy memories.  There were
no financial ties either. This house was hers, even though they initially tried
to take it away. And now it was paid for in full. Cindy had received Clint’s
life insurance as well. This kept her going beautifully. She had no interest in
claiming Clint’s part of his father’s inheritance. Better to sever all ties to
them she thought, and be on her own.

Ann stayed another three days. They were
wonderful days, they went to the movies, and took long walks down near the
water and shared old stories about growing up.

“Seems like you don’t want to talk about Mattheus,”
Ann commented lightly at one point. “Whatever happened must still be quite raw
and painful.”

“Yes, it is,” said Cindy, “I don’t want to talk
about it at all.”

 While Ann baked cookies, Cindy worked in the
garden, planting autumn mums. Word got around town quickly that Cindy was back
and to her surprise, she received a call from Al, Clint’s best man. He wanted
to take her to dinner and find out how things had been. Even though Ann
encouraged her to go, Cindy couldn’t bring herself to do it. Too much water had
passed under the damn.  It was surprising and relieving for her to realize that
she no longer wanted or needed old ties to Clint. Life here would have been
different with him, but he wasn’t here anymore and she had to find a way to
move on. She had to find a place and life where she was welcome and fit in.

When it came time for Ann to leave, Cindy drove
her to the airport, and promised to stay in close touch. As Ann walked through
the gate, Cindy felt her stomach drop, as though a trusted anchor was floating
away.

Cindy drove back slowly, taking detours and
winding side roads, looking at the trees, homes and neighborhoods, wondering
what she was doing here. Once she came to her house, she pulled up into the
driveway and sat in the car. Did she really belong here anymore? Was she simply
a ghost now, haunting old places, re-visiting old memories?

She got out of the car and went into the
house.  Cindy drifted through the rooms alone now, trying to gain her bearings.
 As she walked, her eyes fell on the beautiful bible the pastor, Tom Mallard,
have given her after Clint passed. She went to the end table, picked it up and
opened it randomly. To her amazement the page had one of the same passages that
had she loved and that had struck her so forcefully before.

For whatever is hidden is meant to be
disclosed, and what is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open
.

Cindy sat down and stared at the words as evening
began falling. She shivered as she realized that the long, lonely nights of
winter were close by. The passage she read was a perfect description of the
work she’d been doing, the direction her life had taken her in. What were the
chances that she’d open to exactly the same page that had meant so much to her
then? What was it telling her about her life today?

 Early the next morning Cindy went out into the
garden, first thing. Being close to the earth always calmed her and brought the
insight she needed. She was going to put a decision about what to do next on
back burner for now, and focus on planting autumn flowers.

 As she scraped the earth in a soft rhythm, her
cell phone rang. Cindy took it out of her pocked. It was probably Ann checking
in to see how Cindy was doing. She looked forward to saying hello and thanking
her again for being so wonderful.

“Cindy? Is that you?” To her horror it was
Mattheus.

Cindy took a deep, painful breath. “Yes,” she
said in a perfunctory, business like tone.

“Listen this is crazy,” Mattheus started. His
voice sounded strange, a bit slurred.

Cindy had no desire to get into a conversation
with him first thing in the morning. She had plans for the day. She wanted to
stay calm.

“Mattheus, what are you calling about?”

“I want you to come back,” he said bluntly.

Cindy shivered. “Not now. I can’t.”

“You’re being stubborn and unreasonable,” he
went on.  “We’ve always gotten past our differences before.”

“What’s unreasonable about expecting you to
keep your word?” Cindy flared up, as a cool breeze played with her face.

“Nothing,” he said, suddenly sorrowfully. “I
said we’d have some time alone together. We did. I thought it was enough.”

Enough? Cindy had no idea what to do with that.

“You had your fill?” she asked flippantly.

“You’re building a case against me,” Mattheus’s
voice sounded strained. “I just meant we always got excited to go out on a new
case together.”

“Mattheus, I’m busy now, I have things to do.”

“Why are you being so stubborn?” He sounded
exhausted.

“I’m not the one who was stubborn,” Cindy
corrected him.

“Okay, you’re right,” he went on, sounding
defeated. “Look, we’ve both had a hard time with love. We’ve made our mistakes.
We’ve been defeated.”

What’s this, Cindy thought, a litany?

“You’re right about everything,” Mattheus
persisted, “just please come back.”

There was no point in having this conversation
now, Cindy thought. She’d just barely returned. They both needed plenty of time
to digest everything. What made the most sense was to hang up the phone.

“Mattheus, I have to go now,” said Cindy as she
prepared to disconnect.

“Don’t hang up,” he called out in a hollow
tone. “Wait a second. It’s not what you think.”

This was an awful way to start the day, Cindy
started to feel agitated.

“We’ll talk about it later,” she said, “some
other time.”

“Cindy. It’s urgent. I wouldn’t have called you
if it wasn’t. I have a new case. I need your help.”

“Mattheus, I need time.  I’ve told you over and
over again.”  

“It’s not what you think,” he repeated roughly.

Something in the tone of his voice jarred Cindy.
He didn’t sound like himself.

“What is it?” she said, exasperated.

“They’ve found Shelly’s body,” he could hardly
get the words out. “I got a call late last night.”

“What?” An ice chill went through Cindy’s body.
 “They found your wife’s body?”

“In Key West, Florida, yesterday.  She was
brutally strangled. There were signs of a struggle. They’ve got all kinds of evidence.
The case is being re-opened.”

“Oh my God, Mattheus!” Cindy was in shock. Mattheus
had lived for the day they would find his wife’s killer. “They found her in Key
West?” Cindy could barely breathe.

“Yeah. Who knew? The last place we expected. No
one even looked there.”

Mattheus had gone over the details of the
search with Cindy many times. He and his wife had lived in New Orleans and the
search had taken place there within a hundred mile radius of their home. In the
beginning there were leads and all kinds of theories, but nothing had panned
out. It had been hard to get a beat on why someone would have wanted to kill Shelly.
Friends all said that she and Mattheus had a wonderful marriage; they were
beautiful, smart, fun, and gracious to all they knew.

The possibility of a robbery was quickly discounted,
nothing in the home was missing and there was no sign of a break in. All sex
offenders living in the area were checked and cleared. Shelly did have one girlfriend
from college, Lana, who always hated her, but she was overseas at the time
Shelly disappeared.

The cops also looked into Shelly’s family. Her parents
lived in Oregon with her retarded brother, Mike.  The one strange note that
Mattheus couldn’t come to terms with was that Shelly’s parents never came down
to help with the search. When asked about it, her father mumbled that he always
knew she would come to no good.  Mattheus never knew what to make of that. After
she went missing, Shelly’s parents didn’t stay in touch with Mattheus. He didn’t
know why, but it hurt.

 “I’m leaving for Key West later today,”
Mattheus’s voice sounded garbled and distraught on the phone. “I can’t do this
alone.”

“Of course not,” said Cindy.

“I need you badly,” said Mattheus. “Will you
come and help me find the killer?”

“I’ll be on the next plane down,” Cindy said.

*

Key West, the last stop, down at the furthest
tip of the gulf stream, was surrounded by beautiful warm waters, palm trees and
history going back to the 17
^th
century, when pirate ships came to
shore.  Now it was bustling and crowded with tourists, conferences, and those
who came for vacation to hang out at one of the great bars or cafes.

The airport was small and funky. Cindy changed
planes at Miami to a small shuttle which headed down to the Keys. The flight
was quick and bumpy.  All the way down Cindy kept telling herself that she
wouldn’t stay long, just a few days, long enough to offer Mattheus support and help
him get back on his feet. Who else could he turn to?

Mattheus’s own parents had both died in a car
crash when he was young. His only living relative, his sister Lily, had called
every day after Shelly had gone missing, and then came to spend the first month
with him. After that, she returned to Alabama. Once Mattheus moved away from
Grenada, he barely heard from Lily either.

Cindy had no plans to tell Ann that she was
down here now, either. Ann would go crazy, and maybe she was right? It was hard
to see certain things clearly when you had a murder to solve. Your priorities
shifted in the flash of a second. Things that mattered a lot before suddenly seemed
unimportant, little details you would never have noticed quickly took center
stage. Your day was organized around them. There was no way she could explain
that to her sister.

  Cindy got out of the plane, slightly rattled,
not only by the ride, but by the idea of seeing Mattheus again so soon. But,
after all how could she not go down and be there with him when he had to go
through something like this.

A wind had blown up as they were landing and
got stronger as she stepped out of the plane. Her skirt ruffled up around her
knees and she put her hand over her eyes, to keep the sand from blowing into
them.

“Cindy,” she heard Mattheus calling out to her
almost immediately after she stepped out of the plane.  

He wore old khakis, his hair was messy, and he
looked unshaven and disheveled, not crisp and suntanned as usual.

Cindy was amazed at how happy she was to see
him. She wanted to throw her arms around him, but he stopped as he got a few
feet from her.  

 “Great of you to come down,” he mumbled, brushing
the ground with his foot.  

“Mattheus, I’m sorry.”  Despite herself Cindy
reached out her hands.

He didn’t take them. Why would he? thought
Cindy. After all, we’ve just broken up.  I’ve come down to work with him as a
detective now. He’s respecting that.”

“Let’s go,” he said, nervous. “I’ve got a jeep
waiting.”

They walked a few feet together to a red jeep
that was parked nearby. Mattheus opened the side door and she climbed in.

“I told them to send your luggage to the Key
House Hotel,” he said as he jumped in and started the motor. “I’ve got you a
room on the same floor, next to mine.”

“Okay,” said Cindy.  It was as if the time
they’d shared together had faded, now it was all business again.

“I’ll never forget that you did this for me,”
Mattheus said, as he looked out over his shoulder and pulled out of the
airport, onto a long, narrow road. The road stretched out under palm trees, and
led to the main highway. “We’re about ten minutes from the hotel. It’s a great
hotel, right on the beach. As soon as you’re settled we’ll go down to the
Police Station. I’ve been there once already, for a quick check in. I told them
you were coming down to be on the case with me. They were fine with it.” His
words rolled out one after another as if there was no stopping them. Obviously,
he was in distress. How could he not be?

“This has to be a huge shock for you,
Mattheus,” Cindy said.

“Yeah, when the shocks start coming there’s no
end to them,” Mattheus mumbled, “lose one woman and find another – the body of
another that is.”

Cindy shivered. It was gruesome to hear him
speak this way.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, so am I. Sorry, but also relieved. At
least I have Shelly’s remains. That’s something, isn’t it? Better than having
nothing at all.”

Cindy felt slapped in the face.