Death by Engagement (12 page)

“Just
as you wish,” said Mattheus lightly, trying to cover a moment of disappointment
that Cindy saw flicker across his face.

“So,
have you found your wedding venue yet?” Cindy’s mother asked Cindy as soon as
she sat down, barely acknowledging Mattheus at all.

“Not
yet,” Cindy replied, playing with the water glass before her.

“Well,
that’s a relief, anyway,” Cindy’s mother replied.

“A
relief? Why?” asked Cindy, surprised. “I thought you wanted to look at them
with us.”

“Let’s
order dinner first, Claudia,” Frank interjected.

“You
order for me, Frank,” her mother said calmly. “It’s all too much for me to go
through the menu right now.”

Mattheus
shot a quick look at Cindy, who didn’t know what to make of all this. This was
not her mother’s usual behavior. Cindy had to believe that it was the loss of
Ann that was affecting her.

“What’s
good on the menu?” Frank asked Mattheus.

“Everything,”
said Mattheus. “That’s why we invited you to this restaurant. It’s the best in
town. We wanted to celebrate.”

“Celebrate
what?” Cindy’s mother shivered.

“Thanks
for the invitation,” Frank interrupted again, looking up at Mattheus
sheepishly.

“Celebrate
our engagement, of course,” Cindy chimed in, not wanting to let such an
important question go unanswered.

Cindy’s
mother pursed her lips and looked down at the table.

“Your
mother must be quite hungry,” Frank intercepted. “We’ve had a really long day.”

Why
not let Mattheus order for all of us,” Cindy replied. “He knows this place, has
been here before.”

Cindy’s
mother perked up suddenly. “Mattheus is the quite the man around town, isn’t
he?”

“Excuse
me?” said Cindy, alarmed by her mother’s acerbic tone.

“Your
mother’s not quite herself.” Frank tried to cover for her again. “Too much is
happening, too quickly, for her.”

“What
are you talking about?” Cindy faced Frank directly.

“We
came down here for a reason,” Cindy’s mother struck out then, bypassing Frank
completely.

“What
reason?” Cindy asked, trying to shield herself from the piercing glance her
mother gave her.

“Let’s
order first, Claudia,” Frank repeated. “We’ll have a bite to eat and talk
things over gradually.”

“Talk
what over?” Mattheus now seemed unnerved as well. “If there’s something
bothering you, Claudia, let’s get it out now.”

Cindy’s
mother winced. “I don’t appreciate being called Claudia by an almost perfect
stranger,” she commented, throwing Mattheus a nasty glance.

“Whoa,
what’s going on here?” Cindy jumped in, but Mattheus held out his hand to keep
her back.

“What’s
wrong? Let’s have it.” Mattheus’s jaw clenched as he addressed Cindy’s mother.

“Just
what I said,” Cindy’s mother went on rapidly. “I barely know you at all. None
of us do. It’s actually outrageous that Cindy would plan a wedding with someone
who’s a stranger to us all. And, to make matters worse, to do it so quickly
after her sister Ann has died.”

Cindy
threw a quick glance at Frank, who was glued to every word her mother said. Why
wasn’t he stepping in to defend Cindy? Had he forgotten that she was the one
who’d saved him in Bermuda? Had he morphed into Ann, the beloved daughter who
hung on every word her mother said?

“What
do you think of this, Frank?” Cindy tried to toss the conversation his way.

“Ann
wouldn’t have liked you to get married so quickly.” Frank couldn’t help but
agree with her mother.

“Quickly?”
Mattheus interrupted. “Cindy and I have been working together for a long while.
Our engagement has been a long time in coming.”

“But
no one in the family knows the first thing about you!” Her mother’s voice grew
strident. “And we doubt that Cindy does. She’s had rotten judgment and luck
with guys her entire life long. The last thing she needs now is another
disaster. She couldn’t survive it, and neither could we.”

Mattheus
stood up from the table then, his hands clenched into fists. “Are you calling
me a disaster?”

“You
definitely could be,” Cindy’s mother replied provocatively, “from what I see
right now.”“Look in the mirror,” Mattheus exclaimed. “I’m not the disaster, you
are.”

Frank
jumped up then. “How dare you talk that way to Claudia,” he spluttered.

 “It’s
okay for her to talk that way to me, though?” asked Mattheus, inflamed.

“Listen
to this, do you hear Mattheus, Cindy? Do you hear?” Her mother stood up,
fiercely. “This is the man you’re planning to marry? This is the person you’re
looking for wedding venues with?”

Cindy
stood as well then. “This is the man I love and respect,” she said
emphatically.

“Love
is one thing and good sense another,” her mother declared. “Frank and I came
down here to ask both of you to put off this wedding for a while. Give it time.
Give us time to get to know him, so we can all work things through.”

“That’s
out of the question,” Mattheus declared. “You didn’t come down here to work
things through but to bad-mouth me to your daughter. Your mind is made up. You
figure the longer you stop the wedding from happening, the more chance you’ll have
to pull her away from me.”

 “Cindy
is my only daughter now,” Claudia replied ferociously. “I have a right to be
careful of her well-being.”

“Suddenly
you have a right to be careful, eh?” Mattheus spoke in a scornful tone.

“I
didn’t see you for two years after Clint died,” Cindy responded, trying to fill
in the gaps. “How concerned were you about my well-being then?”

“Are
you going to hold that against me forever?” her mother cried out. “Has he
brainwashed you already? Turned you against me? Of course there have been rough
spots between us. Won’t you let me make them up to you now?”

Cindy
was completely aghast and blindsided. This was the last thing she expected or
wanted to deal with.

“It
would make Ann happy to see you and your mother closer,” Frank chimed in. “If
she were here now, this would break her heart.”

“I’ve
had enough of this,” said Mattheus, reaching for Cindy. “I’m being demeaned and
I’d like you to leave the restaurant with me now, Cindy.”

Cindy’s
mother gasped. “Leave now?”

Frank
looked over at Cindy with searching eyes. “Don’t go,” said Frank, “please
don’t. We came all the way down here to talk to you both. We need you to agree
to postpone this wedding.”

“But
you didn’t talk to us, did you?” said Mattheus. “You jumped all over me. You
came down to break up our relationship, didn’t you? Tell it like it is.”

Cindy
could barely listen to the discussion anymore, had no idea how they all could
ever repair things and regroup after this.

“So,
are you going to leave with him?” asked Cindy’s mother. “A man who runs away
with his tail between his legs?”

Cindy
had never seen her mother so acerbic and vindictive. She had no idea why she
disliked Mattheus so.

“You
don’t know the first thing about Mattheus,” Cindy retorted.

“So,
you’re choosing him over me, then?” Her mother looked irate.

“I’ll
stay and have dinner with you and Frank when you treat the man I love with
respect,” Cindy replied.

“But
he’s not respecting me or you, is he?” her mother flung back. “It’s not
respectful to ask you to marry him without knowing your family, and receiving
their blessings or consent, is it? What kind of man does that? Look deeper,
Cindy. Don’t be a fool.”

Cindy
was completely speechless for a long moment, while Mattheus took her hand.

“Give
me a minute, Mattheus.” Cindy felt frightened.

“A
minute to hear me further maligned?” he asked.

“No,
no,” said Cindy. “A minute to say good-bye.”

How
did a night that was supposed to be so beautiful turn into such a nightmare?
Cindy would never know. As she and Mattheus drove in silence back to the hotel,
she played the events over and over again in her mind.

“You
told me about your mother, but I had to experience her firsthand for myself to
realize what you’ve been through,” Mattheus broke into her thoughts.

“I
had no idea this would happen, Mattheus,” Cindy protested, “none at all.”

“Of
course you didn’t.” He took her hand. “You would never have let me go through
something like that. This has to have hit you as hard as it’s hit me.”

“As
hard?” Mattheus had to be kidding. Cindy felt as if she just lost her family
forever.

“It
was bad for both of us,” Mattheus acknowledged.

“I
feel like I’ve just lost my family forever,” Cindy said.

“You
can’t lose what you don’t have.” Mattheus shook his head. “These people are not
family. Family do not treat you that way.”

“They’re
worried about me.” Cindy tried to explain it.

“They’re
worried about themselves, Cindy,” Mattheus interjected.

“I
don’t have a good history with guys.” Cindy’s voice grew softer.

“That’s
just part of the story they want you to believe.” Mattheus wasn’t buying into
it.

“You
have a great history with me, and you married a guy who loved you tremendously.
You loved him too. It wasn’t your fault that he was killed on your honeymoon.”

Cindy
began trembling. “No, I suppose not,” she murmured.

“You
suppose not?” Mattheus looked startled. “Are you still carrying that guilt
along, Cindy? Is that why you can’t stop working? Are you still trying to make
up for what happened to Clint?”

Cindy
pulled her hand away. “Cut it out, Mattheus,” she said sharply. “Stop attacking
my work. I need it, I like it. If it’s a problem for you, just tell me now.”
Mattheus caught himself short. “You’re right, I’m sorry. I’m just as flustered
as hell. Never went through something like that before with the family of a
woman I cared for. I kind of hoped your family would become my family, too.”

“We
don’t get everything we hope for though, do we?” Cindy felt a wave of
bitterness rise within.

“Cindy,
let’s put this aside as best we can for now.” Mattheus’s voice became soft and
consoling. “It won’t do any good to turn on each other. That’s just what
they’re hoping for.”

Mattheus
was right and Cindy knew it. His comment snapped her back to reality.

“You’re
right,” Cindy said. “My mother and Frank came down with the lousy idea of
stopping our wedding. They had no right to do that.”

“It
was selfish as hell,” said Mattheus, “and we don’t want to give them a
victory.”

“You’d
think they’d be happy that I had someone to be with.” Cindy’s voice dropped
low.

“They’re
not happy about anything, right now,” Mattheus went on. “So they can’t let
anyone else be happy, either.”

Once
again Mattheus put things in a way that made sense. What Cindy was having a
harder time with, though, was that the rift between her and her mother had
deepened. It seemed to have turned into a chasm that there was no way to cross.
Cindy couldn’t even see how she could invite her mother to her wedding now. If
Ann were alive, none of this would have happened. Ann had always been a port in
a storm who stopped oncoming waves from engulfing the family. She’d been
Cindy’s stalwart protector. Even though Ann might not have fully liked
Mattheus, she never would have behaved that way.

“Thinking
about your sister, Ann?” Mattheus asked then, quietly.

“Are
you a mind reader or something?” Cindy asked.

“No.”
Mattheus smiled wanly. “I just know what you’re thinking when you’re upset.
When you love someone, you can see it written all over their face.”

Cindy
couldn’t help but smile and reached back for Mattheus’s hand.

“We’re
going to move right along, Cindy,” Mattheus said then. “This is nothing more
than a bump in the road. You can’t keep dwelling on it. Besides, remember,
you’ve got a case to be solved in a few days?”

Mattheus
was smart, he knew how to put things in perspective and get Cindy right back on
track. As soon as she focused the case, the dinner with her mother and Frank
would fall into the background and take its rightful place.

“So,
what are the next steps you’re going to take on the case?” Mattheus continued.

Cindy
nestled closer to him. “I want to speak to Kate, Doug’s sister,” she started,
“and I’m also looking forward to talking with Tad.”

“Good.”
Mattheus was encouraging. “And after that?”

Cindy
scanned her mind for what could be left to go over then. “I haven’t gone to the
scene of the crime yet,” she commented. “We could do that together, look
around.”

“Fine,”
said Mattheus. “What else? Does that about do it?”

Suddenly
Cindy wondered if Mattheus was simply trying to get the case finished with
again, so they could move forward with their plans.

“Depending
on what we find, that might do it,” Cindy remarked, unwilling to be pushed into
a timetable now.

*

Cindy
and Mattheus awoke early the next morning to the phone ringing.

“It’s
not even nine o’clock yet.” Mattheus rolled over in bed as Cindy reached out
and picked up, suddenly frightened it might be her mother or Frank with
something else awful to say.

Thankfully,
Shari’s father, Edward, was on the other end.

“Am
I calling too early?” was the first thing he asked.

“No,
it’s fine,” Cindy mumbled, both tremendously relieved and also sad that it
wasn’t her family.

“Good,”
said Edward. “I have news for you. The coroner finally called me back yesterday
and we had a chance to talk. He agreed to let you come down, look at the photos
they have and talk to him about what they found.”

“I
thought they didn’t find anything to disprove the idea that Shari’s death was a
suicide,” Cindy mumbled, suddenly sleepy again.

“I
want you to go talk to him about it,” Edward continued. “When I pressed him he
told me there was a bruise on Shari’s left arm. They even have a photo of it.”

“A
bruise?” That had to be the bruise Cindy’d heard about. Doug had said it had
been there a few days before Shari died, that she must have bumped into
something. “They knew about it before, though, didn’t they?”

“Sure,
they knew about it,” said Edward. “But it’s one thing to know about it and
another to have someone who’s investigating and cares about what it might
mean.”

Cindy
took a deep breath. “You’re right,” she agreed. “When can I see him?”

“This
morning,” Edward spoke quickly. “He’s waiting for you to call him and make a
time to come in. And when you go, also ask about the medical examiner’s final
report. It’s due in any minute now. There could be some other finding, for all
we know. If we don’t ask, they won’t tell. It’ll get brushed under the carpet,
like everything else on this island.”

Cindy
hung up, got out of bed swiftly then and left Mattheus asleep. She went to the
bathroom, washed up, and looked at herself in the mirror, feeling as though she
must have aged about ten years after the dinner with her family last night. To
her surprise, she didn’t look much different than she had the day before, just
a little bit more tired, maybe. But she couldn’t dwell upon that now. She was
actually glad that Edward had called so early. It got her right on track. The
coroner was waiting to hear from her, and it was possible that the bruise on
Shari’s arm could amount to something, after all.

Cindy
decided to leave Mattheus sleeping, have a quick breakfast alone and go to the
coroner’s office without delay. She called, made an appointment and then left a
note for Mattheus about where she was headed, and when she would return. Mattheus
would probably appreciate the time to himself as well, Cindy thought. After
their ordeal last night, a little time alone to decompress could be just what
the doctor ordered.

*

The
coroner’s office was located down the hall from the medical examiner, and had
the same antiseptic feeling about it Cindy had experienced other times she’d
made visits to coroners. And there was also the same unnatural chill in the
air.

 As
she entered, to Cindy’s surprise, the coroner barely looked up, let alone got
up to greet her. He was a medium-sized, hefty guy who sat behind his desk and
kept writing, almost as if she weren’t there.

“Thanks
for your time,” Cindy said as she sat down on a rickety chair opposite him.

“No
choice about it,” he mumbled, as he finally looked up. “Something’s wrong with
the dead girl’s father. He’s keeping after me like a rabid bulldog, insisting
that I see you. I know you’re working for him, but I told him and I’ll tell
you, I don’t see a reason for our meeting. Nothing’s changed since I gave him
the report.”

“Edward
told me you found a bruise on his daughter’s upper arm,” Cindy commented.

“Yeah,
so what? He knew about it before. I already told him,” the coroner defended
himself and leaned back in his chair, finally taking in a full view of Cindy.

Cindy
responded evenly and professionally. “Edward hired me to find out if it’s
possible that his daughter’s death could have been caused by foul play.”

“That
much I know,” the coroner mumbled. “I told him and I’ll tell you again, there’s
nothing here in the least that indicates foul play.”

“I’d
like to see Shari’s photo, though,” Cindy continued, “take a look at the bruise
for myself.”

“Why?”
The coroner now began slowly rubbing his belly with his right hand.

“Because
that’s what I’m hired to do,” Cindy answered abruptly.

“Listen,
honey, I don’t want to bust your chops.” He finally pushed his chair back, got
up and ambled over to the filing cabinets. “I’ll show you the photo and it
won’t mean a thing. There’s no sign of a struggle, a fight, or any kind of
violence. The young lady had a little bruise that could have been there for a
very long time.”

“Can
we find out just how long?” Cindy asked deftly.

The
coroner yanked opened the file, pulled the photo out, and tossed it over to
her.

Cindy
caught it on the fly and looked at it. Shari was lying there, motionless and
stiff. Her body was quiet and alabaster, and the bruise on her shoulder also
looked pale.

“Could
be she got that bruise when she fell down along the rocks,” the coroner
commented, bored. “I’ve seen much worse than this, believe me, and they still
called it a suicide. When people are depressed they do all kinds of things and
Aruba seems to be the perfect place to do it.”

“Wait
a minute.” Cindy stopped him in mid-sentence. “You say Shari fell down along
the rocks? That’s what they definitely decided?”

“Yeah,
something like that,” he mumbled.

“Then
her body should show other scrapes and bruises. They would have to if that’s
how she died. It’s impossible that she would be untouched, like she is in this
photo.”

“Nothing’s
impossible,” the coroner objected, “believe me, nothing at all. There’s no way
of knowing how she jumped, where she flung herself from, or what rocks were
there. She was found at the bottom of the cliff with a few bones fractured in a
way that was consistent with a fall.”

“No,
I don’t buy it,” murmured Cindy. “She could have been thrown, someone could
have tossed her. Or better yet, she could have been killed somewhere else and
dumped there.”

That
stopped the corner cold. “What are you trying to tell me?”

“If
you’re saying she fell, I’m saying we have to know what angle she fell at and
what the effects on her body would be,” Cindy demanded.

“Sweetheart”—he
became more engaged now—“do you know how many people come down here, get drunk
or high and jump off cliffs? If we had to figure what angle each of them fell
at, we’d have no time for anything else.”

“But
there was no evidence of liquor or drugs in her body, was there?” Cindy zeroed
in.

“No,
there was not,” he agreed, “but depression acts like a drug. It whacks your
body chemistry until you don’t know what you’re doing. We talked with her
psychiatrist about it, and he agreed.”

“Is
the psychiatrist down here?” Cindy suddenly wanted to talk to him badly.

“No,
I spoke to him on the phone,” the corner said. “But Edward’s now paid the guy
to come down here and talk to Shari’s mother. She’s not doing well and Edward’s
scared.”

Cindy
was relieved to think that she’d have a chance to talk to Shari’s psychiatrist
herself.

“So,
is there anything more I can do for you?” The coroner was obviously eager to be
through.

But
Cindy wanted to spend a few more minutes with Shari’s photo. She glanced at it
sadly, remembering the lively, charming young woman she’d met.

“So,
how do you figure this bruise got here?” Cindy asked then.

“Still
with the bruise?” The coroner got impatient.

“Yes,
I want to know if it was there before she died,” said Cindy.

“Well,
how in the world are you going to know that?” he asked brusquely, reaching out
his hand for the photo. “For all you know she had rough sex with the guy she
was about to marry,” he continued, and grinned, “or someone else.”

Cindy
let him take the photo back slowly, feeling as though she were relinquishing
Shari to someone who couldn’t care less and who was ready to insult her without
a second thought.

Disgusted,
Cindy stood up to leave then. “How about the medical examiner’s latest report?”
she asked, before leaving.

“Yeah,
yeah,” the coroner grumbled as he tucked the photo back into its folder.

“What
do you mean, yeah, yeah?” asked Cindy.

“We
got a few more details,” the coroner said reluctantly, then, “nothing
important.”

“What
details? Tell me.” Cindy was all over it.

“Seems
like the time of death was an hour or two earlier than we thought originally,”
the coroner said grudgingly. “You never know with these things exactly, there’s
always room for guessing. It doesn’t make a difference, though.”

“Doesn’t
make a difference?” Cindy looked at him
askance
[cl10]
 
. “The time of death makes a huge
difference.”

At
that the coroner spun around and glared at her. “Why?”

“If
Shari died a couple of hours earlier, then her fiancé doesn’t have an alibi
that I know of,” Cindy said, breathlessly.

“Oh,
give me a break, that’s crazy,” the coroner blurted out. “Enough’s enough!
What’s wrong with you lousy detectives, prowling around and making trouble for
nothing. Doesn’t the family have enough heartache?” Then he slammed the file
drawer shut and turned his back toward Cindy, letting her know in no uncertain
terms that it was time to go.

*

Cindy
shivered as she walked down the long hallway. Even though Shari’s bruise was
relatively slight, she couldn’t get it out of her mind. Had they fingerprinted
it? Probably not. True, there were many ways Shari could have gotten it, but
Cindy wanted to know how. It didn’t seem to be something to make light of the
way the coroner had.

Cindy
walked out of the coroner’s building into the bright light of day, where people
were walking to and fro, happy, laughing, making plans for what they’d do for
dinner and dancing that night. Shari wasn’t among them anymore, though, and
Cindy wanted to know why.

As
she crossed the street to get a taxi, a car started honking at her. Cindy
looked over and to her surprise it was Edward, parked outside, obviously
waiting for Cindy to come out.

“I’m
over here, here,” Edward called, waving his hand from the open car window.
“Come on over, come in, I’ll give you a ride back to the hotel.”