Death by Seduction (19 page)

“Did
you know that Mattheus was so involved?” Eric asked Cindy suddenly, equally dismayed.

“No,
I didn’t,” Cindy answered plainly.

Eric
threw Cindy a long look at Cindy. “That’s not good, not good at all.”

“Does
Mattheus usually follow you, and work on your cases secretly?” Val stood,
addressing Cindy in a demeaning tone.

“Mattheus
and I are partners,” Cindy responded sharply. “Our firm is CM Investigations.”

“Yeah,
I know, we all heard about you two,” Val quipped, as he turned and left.

“Mattheus
and I
are
partners, not
were
partners,” Eric repeated Cindy’s
words carefully.

“Let
it go, Eric,” Cindy snapped back. “You’re getting distracted, that’s not the
issue.”

“What
is the issue?” Eric asked.

“Loretta
lied to me a couple of times,” Cindy murmured. “Was she the one who was buying
the condo with her father’s money? Was she the one who wanted time alone
together, not Pete? Was she just trying to save face?”

“Why
is all that important?” asked Eric.

“Because
it tells us more about Pete and his trajectory,” Cindy replied, “like why he
ended up dead in Charma’s room.”

Eric’s
phone rang suddenly and he quickly picked up. “What? Okay, yeah, of course.
We’re at  La Costa Nova,” he replied, “come now.” Then he hung up the phone.

“Who’s
that? Taylor?” asked Cindy expectantly.

“No,
Taylor’s staying in the background right now,” said Eric. “He told me he feels
safer in the shadows when the snakes are out, crawling over the place. It was
the police calling, they want to talk to us now.”

“How
do they know we’re here having dinner?” Cindy was upset.

“I
mentioned it to Taylor and I guess he told them,” Eric shook his head slowly. “Taylor
called me after I spoke to you. He liked the idea, of you and me having dinner
together. Taylor likes me and he respects you, he wants the best for us, he
really does.”

“So
are the police coming here now?” Cindy still felt confused.

“I
guess there’s more they have to tell us, or maybe more they want to know,” Eric
said.

“Are
you going to tell them what Val just told us?” asked Cindy.

“Of
course I am,” Eric responded. “Why would I withhold important information from
them?”

“Because
you don’t know it’s true,” Cindy replied. “Rumor is one thing, facts another.
Val didn’t say there was proof of the exchange.”

“Val
gave us the guy’s name though, Lou Gran,” Eric said quickly. “We can give that
name to the police.”

Although
she didn’t want to tell the police about it yet, Cindy liked Eric’s honest and
fearless way.

“Look,
it’s good that things are heating up,” said Eric. “There’s pressure being
placed on the cops and finally they’re taking action. They heard we’d be here
and they don’t want to waste any time.”

Eric
looked over then, and quickly got up out of his seat. “Here they are now,” he
said to Cindy.

Cindy
looked up and saw two policemen approaching their table. She looked a little
closer then, and to her total horror, Mattheus was there, walking with them.

“Oh
no,” breathed Cindy.

Eric
stopped cold, “Mattheus?” he exclaimed.

“Yes,
it’s him,” said Cindy, in pain.

It
was a shock for Cindy to see Mattheus walking towards her. He actually looked
wonderful, suntanned and toned in navy linen slacks and a plum summer shirt. She
flinched.

Mattheus
stopped short when he got close to the table, glanced at Cindy and then at
Eric, confused.

“This
is Eric, an attorney on the case,” Cindy quickly introduced them. “He’s been
helping me.”

Thankfully,
Eric stood up and extended his hand to Mattheus, who took it as they shook
hands. Cindy didn’t recognize either of the two cops who stood close behind
Mattheus, surrounding him like a hedge.

“I
heard you’ve been in touch with a lot of the players on the case,” Eric took
the lead, to Cindy’s delight.

“That’s
right, I have,” Mattheus answered promptly. “I’ve been concerned about Cindy
working down here alone.”

“That
makes sense,” said Eric.

Mattheus
looked back and forth between Cindy and Eric again and then at the restaurant.“
Quite a lovely place to spend the evening in,” he remarked.

“A
favorite spot of mine,” Eric commented.

“Now
I see Cindy hasn’t been alone, after all,” Mattheus added.

Mattheus’s
comment made Cindy feel like a child who’d been found doing something wrong.
She didn’t like it.

 “No
one’s ever alone when they’re on a case,” Cindy spoke up pointedly, trying to
put things in their rightful place. And nip Mattheus’s jealousy in the bud. “One
way or another there are always others who want to help.”

“Of
course that’s true,” said Mattheus, really looking at Cindy for the first time.

“You
guys look uncomfortable,” Eric piped up then, looking over at the other cops as
well.  “Why don’t you all sit down at the table? I’ll arrange the seats for
you.”

As
Eric got up and arranged the seats, Cindy was struck with his graciousness and
how beautifully he was handling things. Then she reminded herself that he
certainly knew the ropes. Not only was he a top attorney but head of a large
law firm as well.

Mattheus
and the other two policemen took their seats.

“What
can we do for you?” Eric started the conversation again.

“
We
?”
asked Mattheus, throwing a pained glance at Cindy. “Are you two a team now?”

“We
are not a team,” Cindy spoke up quickly, hiding her embarrassment. “As I said
Eric is an attorney on the case and we are having dinner here in order to go
over current findings.”

“Sounds
very official,” Mattheus retorted.

“We
understand someone from the real estate company came to speak with you
tonight?” One of the other two cops broke into the conversation.

“Yes,
that’s right,” Cindy took the lead now. “Val.”

“We
spoke to that guy already,” the other cop remarked.

“Val
had more information for us tonight, though,” Eric took over. “He told us that
the reason he had no record of the down payment was that Pete never gave him
one. Loretta gave the down payment to someone else in the company. All cash.”

“Oh
brother,” the first cop said, “you got to be kidding me! That changes
everything.”

“You’ll
give us the name of this other guy?”  the other cop asked.

“Definitely,”
said Eric.

“How
much of a down payment?” asked Mattheus, focusing now on Cindy.

 “A
hundred thousand dollars,” Cindy remarked.

Mattheus
shook his head swiftly. “That’s not a down payment, it’s something else. Where
did Loretta get the money from?”

Despite
his previous comments, Cindy felt a sense of relief going over the details with
Mattheus. His solid manner and clear observation helped her get herself back on
track.

“Loretta’s
father gave her the money for the down payment,” Cindy informed him.

“Probably
gave her money for a lot of things,” Mattheus commented.

“Right,”
Cindy quipped. “That’s what her friend Angela told me.”

Mattheus
began to calm down as he and Cindy went over the facts, falling  into their
familiar rhythms. “Tell me about Loretta’s father?” he asked.

Cindy
told Mattheus all she knew and in a few minutes they’d covered lots of ground.
It was as if no time had passed between them then, as if they’d always been on
the case together, working hand in hand.

“Wow,
I see why you’re considered such a fabulous detective,” Eric said to Mattheus
as he and Cindy paused.

“I’m
not a fabulous detective myself,” Mattheus countered, “it’s Cindy and I. We
know how to work together, we’re a fabulous team.”

Cindy
watched a strained smile cross Eric’s face.

“What
more information can you and the police give us?” Cindy asked Mattheus, wanting
to break into the tension.

“Pete
was deep into the life on the streets,” Mattheus started solemnly. “There were
a bunch of girls he did business with and liked a lot! “

“How
did you find this out?” Cindy was shaken at the depth of Mattheus’s knowledge.

“Two
sources,” Mattheus replied, “Pete’s brother Taylor and also a weird guy, John
Burnd. The police introduced me to both of them.”

“Where
are they now?”  Eric asked quickly. “I spoke to Taylor earlier this evening,
but when I called him later on he wasn’t answering his phone.”

Eric
hadn’t mentioned that to Cindy, and she wondered why.

One
of the cops raised his large hand then, as if to motion to Mattheus to be
still.  

Mattheus
paid no attention, though.  “From what we know, Taylor’s in hiding right now,”
Mattheus replied.

“Hiding?”
Eric looked alarmed. “Has he been threatened? Did he dig too far, find out too
much?”

“We
assume something like that,” said Mattheus.

“This
isn’t the time to talk about it,” the policeman joined in. “Taylor’s safe where
he is and we’re aware of what’s happening.”

That
was a familiar phrase Cindy heard over and over from the police in the Caribbean.
They said they were aware of what was happening, as if that took care of
everything. But it didn’t. If Taylor was in hiding, he’d hit a strain of gold.
Cindy wanted to know more about it, and also more about what Mattheus had
learned about Pete.

“Tell
us more about what you found out about Pete,” Cindy directed the question to
Mattheus. “Which girls was he involved with?”

     
Mattheus  smiled, “Plenty of them, from what I could tell,” he replied. “Pete
couldn’t get enough, seems like he even gave expensive bracelets to them all.”

Cindy
shivered, remembering the ruby bracelet he’d given Loretta that she’d been so
proud of.

“Pete
even had the names of each girl engraved on the back of her bracelet,”  Mattheus
went on.

One
of the cops laughed out loud then. “Some crazy guy,” he cawed, “dishing out
pearls to the dogs.”

Eric
flushed noticeably. “Did Pete give one of those bracelets to Charma?” he asked
immediately, offended.

“Don’t
have any idea about that,” the cop replied.

“Sounds
like the guy lived with romantic fantasies,” Eric said slowly.

“Or
maybe he enjoyed playing with the girl’s heads,” Cindy shot back. “Maybe one of
the girls got jealous of another and had Pete killed?”

“No,”
Mattheus was definite. “Don’t kid yourself. That’s not how these girls operate.
It’s business to them, that’s all.”

“How
would you know that?” Cindy asked, so indignantly, that all of them broke into
laughter.

“It’s
not just business for all of them,” Eric wasn’t laughing, though. “Feelings can
develop between the girls and their patrons. Sometimes they even fall in love.”

Cindy
was struck by the plaintive tone in Eric’s voice.

Mattheus
wouldn’t go along. “Never,” he insisted, maybe these girls act like they care
about the tricks they turn, but, believe me, they don’t, ever!  They’re just
using these guys for their money.”

“It’s
not true,” Eric resisted.

Mattheus
looked at Eric more closely. “What are you saying?” Mattheus asked.

“I’m
saying it’s a mistake to lump all the girls together,” Eric’s voice rose. “There
are some who definitely have feelings, who want the closeness and love.”

“That’s
what tricks always like to imagine,” Mattheus responded, “but that’s a
dangerous fantasy, like a drug. It keeps these guys hooked to the girls and
sooner or later both the guys and their money go down the drain.”

“Who
are you, an expert on this or something?” Eric’s face was gnarled.

Mattheus
looked at Eric slowly again and relented. “No, of course I’m not an expert. Hell,
what do I know? What do you think happened to Pete, Eric?” Mattheus graciously
changed the topic.

“I
don’t know,” Eric was definitely flustered.  “But I think it’s good that we’re
checking the money trail.”

“Very
good,” agreed Mattheus.

Cindy
was relieved that Mattheus was being respectful of Eric. To her surprise Mattheus
actually seemed to like him.

“Okay,“
one of the policemen broke in. “We all know about the girls, that’s not news. What
else have you guys got for us?”

“We
told you a lot,” Eric insisted. “What can you tell us now?”

“We
got something else,” the cop admitted. “You want to tell them, Mattheus?”

“No,
you go ahead,” Mattheus took a back seat, watching the interactions carefully.

“Mattheus
found out something we didn’t know,” the cop quickly continued. “Seems like the
real estate company had big ties with the brothel where Pete was found. Looks
like they hired Charma and some other girls there lots of times for parties and
special occasions.”

“That’s
huge,” said Cindy.

“It’s
something, but not huge,” the cop corrected her. “Lots of companies use these
girls to beef up business and show their customers a good time.”

“No,
Cindy’s right,” Mattheus disagreed. “If the killing had something to do with
the real estate company it could explain why Pete’s body was found in Charma’s
room.”

“You’re
blaming Charma now?” Eric’s voice rose noticeably.

“No,
we’re not,” Mattheus calmed Eric down immediately, “but we’re saying it’s
entirely possible that Charma was used as a pawn in the hands of the real
estate company.”

Mattheus
had only been on the case a short while and made such headway. Cindy was proud
of him, glad he was here. It was a different world working with him around.

Mattheus
felt Cindy’s appreciation and turned her way. “I’m glad I’m here,” he said,  “everywhere
you look there’s another pothole, waiting.”

“I’m
glad you’re here, too,” Cindy replied. 

Cindy
and Mattheus smiled at each other then, as Eric looked away.

*

After
the meeting was over, they all stood up from the table.

“I’ll
get a cab for us to get back to the hotel,” Mattheus said to Cindy, edging Eric
out of the equation completely.

Eric
looked over at Cindy, waiting for her response.

“Fine,”
Cindy replied promptly, not wanting to leave an opening for Eric to think that
anything between them was possible, or that she would chose to have him take
her home. He was clearly involved with Charma emotionally, and now having
fantasies about Cindy too.

Eric
turned away then and signed the check and Cindy felt badly. She wanted to smile
at him and thank him for all he’d been doing to help. But Eric didn’t look her
way again, just  began speaking to the policemen, one of whom offered to give
him a lift home.

*

It
was strange and tense in the car beside Mattheus. The lights from the streets
shone in on them for awhile and then faded as they turned along the road to the
hotel.

 “You’ve
certainly taken a lot upon yourself to come down here,” said Cindy as they
drove along.

“I’ve
been tracking the case for a long time,” Mattheus responded. “Fortunately I
know a few of the cops here quite well.”

“You
didn’t think I could handle it alone?” Cindy asked, troubled.

“No,
of course I knew that you could,” said Mattheus. “I just didn’t want you to. I
knew sooner or later there’d be trouble and I wanted to be there for you then.”

Cindy
took a deep breath. Mattheus had gone out of his way to help her and Cindy was  grateful
for that. Where this would all lead was another matter.

“So,
you and that guy Eric got something going?” Mattheus couldn’t help but ask.

“Yes,
we do. We’re working on this case together,” Cindy answered plainly. “That’s
what we have going. Nothing else.”