Death by Proposal (17 page)

“Let’s
go,” said Carl, mobilized.

Fortunately,
Riva was in her room when Cindy and Carl knocked on her door.

“We
need to see the amber bracelet you were wearing,” Cindy said the moment they
walked in.

“Why?”
Riva got scared again, “and where’s Mattheus?”

“Don’t
worry about it,” Cindy reassured her. “This has nothing to do with you. We
found the bracelet that belonged to Kate in her room. Sean never took her
bracelet. Yours is different.”

“What
do you mean?” Riva seemed offended.

“Let’s
just see it,” said Carl emphatically.

Riva
brought her bracelet out of a drawer and gave it to Carl, hesitantly.

Immediately,
Carl turned it over in his hand. “This one’s a cheap copy,” he proclaimed.

“What
the hell do you mean?” Riva practically screeched. “Sean told me it was the
real thing.”

“It’s
a copy of the original one that belonged to Kate,” Carl added.

“Screw
Sean,” Riva’s face curled up tight.

“No,
be happy for Sean,” Cindy said. “The police thought he took Kate’s bracelet. That
put him with her the night she died. But Kate’s bracelet was still in her room.
Yours is different. When exactly did he give it to you?”

Riva
rolled her eyes back in her head. “I don’t remember exactly,” she whimpered,
confused.

“A
day or two before we came down here.”

“Then
it couldn’t be Kate’s, could it?” Cindy was completely stunned. “Sean gave you
this copy before Kate died.”

“He
didn’t say it was hers, but he said it was the real thing,” shouted Riva.

“Nothing
about Sean is the real thing,” Carl yelled back.

“Neither
is the evidence they’re holding against him,” Cindy interjected. “In fact, it
means nothing.”

“The
hell with Sean,” Riva’s wailing got louder.

“Why
are you so mad at him?” asked Cindy, breathless.

“He
lied to me about everything. He said he loved me, but he still loved her. He
gave me a piece of junk and said it was a real jewel.”

“Is
that why you’re emailing Clay?” asked Cindy.

Riva
became silent and very sad. “No, I was just emailing him because I was sorry he
lost someone he loved so much. I know how it feels.”

“What
did he say in return to you?” Carl pounced on it.

“He
said he was grateful for my kindness, that it was very rare these days.”

“That’s
all?” asked Carl.

“No,
he suggested that we keep in touch. He said it was rare to have someone who
understood you. He felt that I did and really valued that. I said I would keep
in touch and he said it made him feel much better. Isn’t there anything so
terrible about that?”

“Okay,
so Mattheus’s case is falling apart under our eyes,” said Carl when they left
Riva’s room.

“Not
entirely,” said Cindy, “but we’ve got big piece of evidence doesn’t hold. Sean
didn’t give Riva Kate’s bracelet. There’s no proof now that Sean was with Kate
in her room before she died.”

“So
what now?” Carl was agitated, “will the cops return to the verdict of suicide?”

“Unless
we find something else pretty fast,” said Cindy.

Carl
and Cindy looked at each other then, practically reading each other’s thoughts.
 Cindy knew that, barring further evidence, the police would call Kate’s death
suicide. Nothing else made sense. Cindy ran the possibility of that over in her
mind. Kate’s father was convinced it was suicide. Maybe he was right? She
decided to run it by Carl once again.

“Wendell
is convinced it was suicide,” said Cindy quietly, floating the idea to see if Carl
could go along with it now.

“Kate
did not die by her own hand,” Carl retorted, “I’m positive of it. Something
else is going on here.”

“What
have you got on your mind?” asked Cindy.

“Clay’s
mean spirited, I never realized that before,” said Carl.

Cindy
felt that Carl was desperately fishing for something to keep the case open, and
probe more and more. It was way too devastating for him to think that Kate had
died by her own hand.

“If
you asked me, it seems like Clay’s got a vendetta against us,” Carl continued
fervently.

“No,
he’s just a private person,” said Cindy. “He’s not the kind to enjoy sharing
intimate details of his life.”

“It’s
not just his life, it’s mine, too,” Carl objected. “It’s my niece who died.
This impacts me as well as him. He’s self absorbed. Doesn’t give a hoot for
anyone else’s feelings.”

“Clay’s
probably lived a private, shut up life for a long time,” said Cindy.

“Hiding
behind his computer,” Carl snarled.

Carl’s
nastiness surprised Cindy. What did he really have against Carl, except that he
couldn’t get to see the correspondence? Cindy wondered if Carl reacted this way
to all the guys Kate had been involved with.

“Did
you feel this way about all of Kate’s boyfriends?” asked Cindy.

Carl
was taken aback. “Of course not,” he said briskly. “In fact, I was the one who
encouraged Kate to keep the relationship with Clay going. I knew they were
meeting down here in Aruba and I was happy about it. Anything to get her away
from Sean.”

“Seems
it was pretty quick for Kate and Clay to come down here for a romantic
week-end,” said Cindy. “How long did she know him? How many times did they
actually meet?”

“None
of it mattered,” said Carl, “Kate needed a jolt to break her connection with
Sean. “I thought this could do it. I hoped she and Clay would fall in love.”

“Looks
like they did,” said Cindy.

Carl
seemed skeptical now, “Who knows?”

“They
got engaged. It’s all over the web,” Cindy insisted. “There are pictures of
them together, she said she was thrilled. “

“So
why wouldn’t Clay share their correspondence with me?” Carl’s face clenched. “Why
would Kate say nasty things about me to him?  I was on her side all the time
and she knew it. She came to me for everything. I don’t believe that Kate ever
said that I didn’t understand her and Clay did. That’s just crazy. Something’s
really off here.”

None
of this computed for Cindy, either.

“You’ve
got to look into Clay further,” Carl insisted.

“We
researched him a lot up front. Couldn’t find one thing on except that he was
the last to see Kate alive and was the one to find her. Everything in his
background came up gold,” said Cindy.

“Even
gold becomes tarnished,” said Carl. “Did he have lots of girlfriends? Was he
engaged before?”

“No,
he actually had very few relationships, seemed quiet and shy with women.”

“Quiet
and shy, and he lured Kate in? Carl said. “It doesn’t figure. When you looked
at his correspondence with Kate did you actually see the nasty things he said
she wrote about me?”

“Not
really, but I didn’t look at every single email, just a bunch of them,” said
Cindy. Time was of the essence. I figured I’d go back and go over the rest
carefully later on.”

“Now
he won’t let you,” Carl growled.

“We’ll
see,” said Cindy, calming him down. “Right now he won’t, but there are ways to
get the information.”

“What
was your impression of the emails you read?” Carl seemed to feel slightly
better about the possibility of getting the chance to read them all.

“There
was nothing so off about it,” said Cindy, “except that I thought Clay assumed a
lot based on a little that Kate said. She’d say a few words and he went with it,
decided that she was the One.”

“This
is one creepy guy,” said Carl, “I don’t know why I ever encouraged her to meet
him. I could kick myself over and over.”

“There
are lots of them out there online like that, browsing around, looking for love.
It’s easy to develop a fantasy relationship,” said Cindy.

“Yeah,
it’s easy to develop a fantasy relationship when you’re together in person,
too,” Carl quipped. “How many people really know each other?”

Cindy
smiled. How well she knew that. “Relationships take time and patience,” she
said softly.

“Tell
me about it. I’ve been married three times,” said Carl, “loved each one of them
tremendously, when I did. I thought each one was forever. But nothing lasted,
nothing really worked.”

“It
worked while it worked,” said Cindy, “why beat yourself up about it? Who’s to
say something is supposed to last forever?”

Carl
looked at Cindy oddly then, and she felt strange hearing those words from
herself as well.  Was her view of relationships radically changing? She’d
always felt confident that she and Clint would be together forever. Everything
had seemed so stable between them. And Mattheus, too, in the beginning.

“Sounds
like you’ve had a rough time yourself,” his voice softened.

“I’ve
been through changes,” said Cindy. “Who hasn’t?”

“I
know,” Carl whispered.

“But
at least you’ve been able to love again,” Cindy quipped. “That’s a good thing.
You could look at having three wives as a failure, or you say that you were
always ready to try again.”

Carl
laughed and so did Cindy.

 “I
wish better than that for you, Cindy,” Carl said softly.

“I
appreciate it,” Cindy replied, “we all dream of that person to go through life
with.”

Carl
took a step closer to her then.

Cindy
backed away. “So, let’s talk more about Clay,” she said. “Clearly, he upset
you.”

“Yeah,
he made me begin to think that what happened to Kate was my fault,” Carl put
his hands up to his head.

“Go
easy on yourself, Carl,” Cindy put her arm on his and there was a moment of
lovely connection between them. Both stopped to enjoy it.

“What
now?” said Carl, as he composed himself. “Where do we go next?”

“Now
I’ve got to meet with Mattheus and show him Kate’s bracelet,” said Cindy. “It’s
going to change everything.”

“Lucky
Mattheus, to be able to have time with you,” said Carl softly.

“Thanks,”
said Cindy, “and I’m lucky, too.”

*

Cindy
had no idea how Mattheus would respond to the shocking news about Riva’s
bracelet. She called up to the room and fortunately, he was still there,
researching on the computer.  The roads had been flooded due to the storm and
it was difficult to get anywhere right now. The light of the day was quickly
fading, too. By tomorrow things would be getting back to normal. And in another
day after that the airports would open and Clay and his family could leave.

“Yes,”
said Mattheus when he picked up the phone, “what’s going on?”

“How
about coming down and meeting me in the bar at the hotel?” Cindy asked.

“Good
timing,” said Mattheus curtly. “I’ve just tying up the last chunk of research
on Sean.”

Mattheus
was like a dog with a bone, thought Cindy. She didn’t know why he refused to
open his mind to other possibilities. There was obviously something about Sean
that stirred him up, as if there were a battle of male energy between them. It
upset Cindy, wondered if Mattheus had the objectivity needed to handle all
kinds of cases.  Of course then she also had to also wonder if she had that
objectivity herself? Did anyone? Probably not. That’s why it was so good to
tackle cases with a partner, someone who balanced you and brought another
perspective.

Cindy
went right to the bar and ordered a glass of wine. She was definitely confused
about what had happened. It was late in the case to feel the way she did, she
thought, and feared it might never be settled.

Mattheus
walked into the bar, looking fresh, confident and handsome as ever, with an air
of defiance about him. He pulled out the seat next to Cindy, and motioned for
the bartender.  Clearly, he was still upset about having found Cindy and Carl having
a bite together.

“Scotch
and soda,” said Mattheus, gruffly.

Cindy
suddenly realized that Mattheus would never be trusting of her. It wasn’t
personal, either. That’s just who he was, the way it would be. Either she could
accept it or she couldn’t.

“There’s
a very important development,” Cindy started, professionally, overriding the
personal emotions that stirred below the surface.

Cindy’s
strength and no nonsense demeanor caught Mattheus’s attention immediately. “What?”

“The
bracelet that Sean gave Riva didn’t belong to Kate. It was a cheap imitation of
it. Not only that, Sean gave it to Riva a few days before Kate died.”

Mattheus’s
jaw dropped for a second. “You’re sure?”

“Positive,”
Cindy said promptly. “I saw Kate’s original bracelet in her room when I was
speaking to Clay.”

“Both
bracelets have to be carefully examined,” said Mattheus.

“No
problem,” said Cindy, “but Kate’s bracelet was there. After I found it, we went
to Riva’s room and talked to her about her bracelet.”

“We?”
asked Mattheus.

“Kate’s
uncle Carl and I,” Cindy continued, totally by passing Mattheus’s insinuations,
which had no place in the investigation and would only distract matters. “You
don’t have any solid evidence against Sean anymore,” Cindy concluded.

“Wrong,”
Mattheus bit his bottom lip. “There’s plenty of circumstantial evidence here,
enough to sink a boat.”

“You
want to sink Sean?” asked Cindy, irritated.

“I
want the truth to prevail,” Mattheus said. “How about you?”

Cindy
was quieter. “Yes, of course, I do.”

“I’d
say you’ve taken a liking to Sean and can’t really be objective,” said
Mattheus. “It’s a danger in cases.”

 “Just
what I was thinking,” said Cindy. “A big danger, a big distraction.”

“Right,”
said Mattheus. “So, now please listen to what I’ve come up with. “Not only does
Sean have a history of impulsive action, I found a friend of theirs back home
who said she heard Sean threatening Kate from time to time. And, she knows a
few people who can confirm it. Sean would yell at Kate, tell her she was a
misfit and to get the hell away from him.”

“A
misfit?” Cindy was horrified. “Kate was a beautiful, elegant, lovely young
woman.”

“On
the surface of it,” said Mattheus. “But there had to be lots more going on. Why
did she hang onto a guy like Sean all these years? He was someone always in
trouble, up to no good.”

“Maybe
because she loved him?” said Cindy.

“That’s
an easy answer that means nothing,” Mattheus said.

“It
means something to me,” said Cindy.

“What
was there in Kate that made her love someone like that?” Mattheus clarified.

 “Exactly
how was Kate a misfit?” Cindy was stuck on that point.

“The
person didn’t say,” said Mattheus, “but she said that Sean got off on
embarrassing Kate publicly, putting her down, being rotten and nasty. People
heard it. Kate would run away crying.”

Cindy’s
heart ached for Kate. What had gone so terribly wrong in her life that allowed
her to accept this kind of treatment?

 “I’m
sorry to hear this,” said Cindy slowly.

“You’re
sorry to hear it, but those are the facts,” said Mattheus. “This guy you want
to protect so much, Sean, he’s not worth it.”

“What
about the bracelets?” asked Cindy, suddenly shaky?

“It
would have been good to have that physical evidence,” said Mattheus, “but it’s
not the end of the world. It’s not taking this case down by any means. And, Riva’s
not exactly the most reliable witness either. Who knows when Sean actually gave
Riva the bracelet? And, why in hell is she emailing Clay so much now?”