Death by Obsession (6 page)

The door to the suite opened slowly and in walked a
beautiful Caribbean woman, Bala, with a little boy at her side. The boy had
huge dark eyes, curly hair and a wonderful smile.

The entire room fell totally still.

“This is Paulie,” said Bala, unflinchingly.

Paulie looked up at everyone and grinned, his huge
eyes sparkling.

Not a word was spoken and no one moved.

“We were told you wanted to meet us,” said Bala, now
slightly on edge.

Cindy stepped forward to welcome them. “Thank you for
taking the time to come,” she said.

“How are you, Paulie?” and she smiled at the
wonderful child, who gave her his little hand.

“I’m good,” said Paulie, looking around, an obviously
unwelcome guest.

“Would you like something to eat?” asked Cindy,
playfully.

“Okay,” he remarked.

Cindy took some chocolate that was in a basket on the
table and handed him a piece.

“Thank you,” said Bala.

“And how about you, Bala?” Cindy asked.

“I don’t need anything,” Bala remarked, not even
looking over at Lynch one time.  Lynch did not look at her, either. “What did
you want us here for, anyway?” Bala went on.

“Tara wanted to meet you,” said Cindy. “Do you know
who she is?”

Bala nodded softly, looking down. “She’s Lynch’s
bride to be.”

Cindy motioned to Tara to come over, but Tara could
not stop staring at the child. He’d captured her attention completely.

Raina, however, had no compunctions about stepping
forward though. “Okay, what’s this, blackmail?” she hissed, directing her fury
at Bala.

At that, Lynch stepped forward and pulled his mother away.
“Bala has nothing to do with this,” he remarked. “She’s a good person, a
wonderful mother.”

“Bala has nothing to do with what?” asked Raina
incensed. “And who is this child exactly?”

“Paulie is my son,” said Lynch, unable to look at him
at all.

Raina’s face twisted into a shock of horror, pain and
outrage, as she glanced at the child for a quick moment.  “He’s your son, according
to who?” she demanded.

“Mother, please,” said Lynch.

“You’ve had paternity testing, I assume?” Raina
continued.

“Yes, I have,” said Lynch.

But with or without the testing, it was obvious to
Cindy when she looked at the child, that he was directly related to Lynch.
Aside from his light brown skin, his eyes, smile and nose were a carbon copy of
his father.

“So you had a fling with an island woman,” said
Raina, “and now you’re telling us that you’re saddled with this child?”

“I’m not telling you anything like that,” Lynch
protested.

“So, why are we gathering? What’s all this about?”
Raina refused to honor the significance of it.

Lynch turned to his mother slowly then. “This is your
grandson, mom,” he said.

Raina stopped in her tracks and looked at him
horrified.

“Don’t talk like that, Lynch, not now. Don’t ruin
everything we’ve worked so hard for. You’re about to marry Tara. The wedding is
set, only a couple of days. Important people are arriving. This is not
something we want announced.”

“But it’s public knowledge now, Raina,” Aldon stepped
in.

“Oh no, it isn’t,” Raina glared at him.

“Aldon dug this up, those are his private detectives
over there,” Lynch filled his mother in.

“So, all of us in this room know about it,” Raina
spit out. “But not anyone else. And no one else will! Over my dead body.”

“It’s not a matter of who knows or doesn’t know,”
Tara stepped forth.

“What is it a matter of then, dear?” Raina took her
on.

“I never knew a thing about the child,” said Tara, trembling.
“In all the time we were together, Lynch never said a word.”

“So, the child didn’t know a thing about you, either,
did he?” Raina quipped. “What’s the big deal?”

“Who knows what else Lynch is hiding? How can I trust
him now?” asked Tara.

Raina was completely unmoved by the question. “Listen,
I’ll take care of this, so that neither you nor Bala will know anything further
about each other’s lives.” Then Raina turned directly to Bala. “You are the
mother of this child, I assume?” she said in a totally businesslike fashion.

“I am,” said Bala, quietly.

“You and my son had some kind of encounter?” Raina
went on.

“We went out for two years,” Bala replied. “I was his
girlfriend. Lynch loved me.”

“Immaterial,” said Raina.

 “And I said it was over,” Lynch interjected. “You
understood. We made arrangements for Paulie.”

“Yes, we did,” said Bala, “I did not say otherwise. You
called me here, I did not ask to come.”

“Wait a minute,” Tara intervened, walking over to
Bala. “Bala, I’m pleased to meet you,” she said. “You have a beautiful child.”

Tears filled Bala’s eyes, “Thank you,” she whispered.

“I never knew a thing about him,” Tara continued. “If
I had -.”

“If you had, what?” Lynch walked over to them,
agitated.

Tara kept speaking to Bala, not looking at Lynch at
all. “If I’d known that Lynch had a son, I would have made sure he saw him
often.”

Tears fell down Bala’s face.

“This has nothing to do with you, Tara,” Lynch
interposed himself. “This is not your business, butt out.”

“This has everything to do with me,” Tara turned on
him, furiously.  “I’ve been lied to, through and through!  You’re not the
person you pretended to be. If you can abandon your son, what else can you do?
Our wedding is off!”

The words rang through the room like the sound of a
shot gun going off on a summer night.

“Off?” Lynch’s jaw clenched and his hands drew into
fists. What are you talking about?”

“It’s over, it’s finished! We can’t go on!” Tara
called out wildly, frightening Paulie with the sound of piercing pain in her
voice. “You never told me about your son.  You  lied.”

Raina stepped in then, like lightning rising over the
hill. “This wedding will go on as planned,” she demanded. “It’s way too late
for turning around.”

“Never too late,” Aldon insisted.

“Do you realize what’s at stake here?” Raina
insisted, “the plans, the costs, the arrangements, hundreds of people coming
down, our family’s entire reputation is on the line.”

“I realize full well,” said Aldon, “but my daughter’s
life is worth more than it all.”

“Your daughter’s life has never been better than when
she’s been with my son,” Raina shot back at him. “Tara’s grown, she’s bloomed.
They’re fabulous together, I’ve never seen Lynch this happy before. This is
nothing but a chance mishap, a ridiculous blip in the road. Our family will
take care of the mother and child completely financially. Then, neither of them
will ever be seen or heard from again.” Raina turned swiftly towards Bala then.
“Do you understand that? Not a word of this goes past this room.”

Bala nodded sadly, as Tara put her arm around Bala’s
shoulder. “Forgive us all, Bala,” Tara said. “We have done wrong.”

Raina swept over and pushed Tara to the side. “What
are you talking about?  There’s nothing to forgive. We have done what’s right
and always will!”

Tara looked at Lynch painfully over his mother’s
shoulder.

 “It’s over, Lynch,” Tara proclaimed definitely. “This
wedding cannot go on.”

*

 Bala grabbed her son, lifted him in her arms and ran
out of the room suddenly, in haste, as Tara began sobbing.    

“Don’t go Bala, stay awhile,” Tara cried, racing
after her.

Lynch grabbed Tara by the shoulders, stopping her. “Let
her go,” he said stiffly. “She doesn’t belong here with the boy.”

Tara turned towards him fitfully.  “The boy, or your
son?” she exclaimed.

“Calm down this minute, Tara,” Lynch replied,
ignoring her comment.

“You never said a word to your son, Lynch,” Tara
could not be consoled.  “You never held him or said hello.”

 “This isn’t the place to talk about this. Stop it
this instant,” Lynch was shaken to the core, caught off guard, confused.

“How can I stop?” Tara moaned. “Your son has to be
part of your life. You can’t just throw away a person.”

Lynch’s jaw clenched. “He is not being thrown away. I
see to it that all his needs are met.”

“He needs a father, not just money,” Tara’s voice cracked
in distress.

 Raina broke in fiercely then.  “Enough of this utter
and complete nonsense. You have totally and completely humiliated us, Tara. How
dare you suggest that my son has done something wrong to that native woman or
to her offspring?”

Tara stopped in amazement and glared at Raina. “That
native woman is the mother of your grandchild. And, you don’t seem to care at
all about him, either.” Tara gasped.

Raina, appalled, turned to Lynch. “This horrendous
situation is growing more preposterous by the moment,” she declared.

“I’ll take care of it mother,” said Lynch in a
clenched voice.

“Will you?” she asked suddenly, bitter. “I certainly
hope so, because cancelling the wedding is not an option. It’s out of the
question. Absolutely.”

“This is not exactly your wedding, Raina,” Aldon
broke in. “And I’m proud of Tara’s response. She was raised to care for and
respect others. She’s sensitive, concerned.”

“Yes, she is and that’s why I love her,” Lynch
proclaimed, coming to Tara’s defense.

Raina turned on Aldon then.  “If your daughter’s so
sensitive, how dare she threaten to hurt the man she loves and cancel the
wedding over something as foolish as this?”

“Your grandson is something foolish?” Aldon replied.

“It’s obvious the child’s mother is after nothing but
money,” Raina declared. “Why else would she show up unannounced with the boy?
This is simply a form of blackmail. I’ve seen it before and I’ll see it again.
But will I be prey to it? Never.”

“I insisted that Bala come with the child,” Tara
stood strong. “I couldn’t believe that Lynch had a son unless I saw him for
myself.”

“So you saw him,” Raina proclaimed. “Do you want a
medal for that?”

“I also wanted to see how Lynch would react,” Tara
went on, blocking Raina’s comment. “I wanted to see if he and his son at least
knew each other.”

“We do not,” said Lynch quietly. “That was not part
of the arrangement.”

“It’s awful, just awful,” Tara began weeping again. “You’ve
abandoned your son, I can hardly bear it.”

“You, you, you! Is this all about you?” Raina blasted
her. “How dare you say my son abandoned his child? You, yourself, just
threatened to abandon everyone, to call off your entire wedding! How do you
think Lynch feels about that?”

“There’s no comparison,” Tara barely caught her
breath. “I didn’t keep life changing secrets from him.”

“I never thought of this as a secret,” Lynch had
trouble speaking now. “I thought of it as a mistake I made that I’m taking care
of now, quietly.” His face grew pale.

“Tara,” Raina exclaimed. “You are about to become a
member of our family, a very prominent family. Hundreds of guests are arriving
for your wedding. You think you can stop it just like that?”

“I’ll handle this mother,” Lynch tried to intervene.

“There’s nothing to handle, Lynch,” said Tara, “I can’t
go through with the wedding now.”

Lynch tried to get closer to her.  “This is crazy,
Tara, I love you. I can’t lose you like this. We’ll find a way, we’ll talk it
over.

“I love you too, but I don’t know who you are anymore,
“Tara whimpered.

“Oh God,” Mattheus suddenly burst out, startling
everyone. “This has gotten completely out of hand. Tara, there’s no reason to
cancel the wedding over something like this.”

“Finally, some plain common sense,” Raina murmured,
looking at Mattheus admiringly.

“Cindy and I have investigated all kinds of cases,”
Mattheus went on, “we’ve seen awful things happen, deceit, disaster, heartless
murder. This is just a normal bump in the road. You’ve got to give the guy a
chance to make it right. You weren’t dating Lynch when he had the child. He
hasn’t cheated on you. What has it got to do with your wedding?”

Tara looked over at Cindy, who just shook her head.

Aldon, outraged, went over to Mattheus directly.  “You
were not hired for your expert opinion,” he said. “You were hired to gather
plain information and you did your job perfectly. More than this is not
required of you.”

“Your daughter’s making a terrible mistake,” Mattheus
insisted. “I feel it.”

“In plain English, your assignment is over,” Aldon
continued, “and you’re free to leave, right now.”

“Wait a minute,” Tara, interrupted. “I don’t want
Cindy to go. I like having her here. I want to talk to her more about it.”

Cindy was surprised and touched.  She liked Tara as
well, admired her greatly.

“Very well then, I’m not firing Cindy, only Mattheus,”
said Aldon.

“Cindy and I work as a team or not at all,” Mattheus
retorted and threw a swift glance at Cindy.

“Is that so?” asked Aldon.

“Yes, it is,” Cindy agreed.

“Let them stay on a little while longer then,” Tara
pleaded.

Aldon quickly agreed. “Fine, stay as long as Tara
wants you here,” he said perfunctorily.

At that Raina turned to Lynch, and pulled him to the
side. “I am not staying here in the midst of this maelstrom. I’m just telling
you to make up with your bride! Do it however you can. Get Mattheus to convince
Cindy to convince Tara. I couldn’t care less how.”

Lynch looked staggered. “I’ll do my best,” he said
quietly.

““Your best better be good enough,” Raina’s voice
grew shrill. “You two must go forward with the wedding. You can’t make a public
fool of our family this way. If you do you’ll no longer be able to work for the
company. You’ll end up disinherited.”