Death by Betrayal (Book #10 in the Caribbean Murder series) (10 page)

Cindy
washed up, changed into beige slacks, a light paisley T shirt and sandals. Then
she brushed her hair, put on fresh lipstick and walked out onto the patio ready
to work.

Mattheus
stood up when she arrived, but she motioned him to sit back down. They were
working partners again now, had to get going and focus on the case.

“Okay,
tell me what you got from the police,” Cindy assumed a professional tone,
though it had a frantic edge to it.

“I
learned something important,” Mattheus jumped right in. “I was waiting for the
right time to tell you.”

“What?”
Cindy was alerted.

“There
has been a rash of murders at this hotel this past year,” Mattheus said. “The
police have been keeping quiet.”

“What?”
Cindy jumped up. “Trage didn’t say a word about it to me.”

“He
couldn’t. You just lost your sister, it was too fresh, and besides they’re
trying their best to keep it quiet,” Mattheus explained. “They don’t want to
disrupt the tourist trade.”

The
hair on Cindy’s neck bristled. “What kind of murders? Who was killed, when,
why?” She was fascinated.

“I
couldn’t get too much more information than that,” Mattheus continued. “As of
now, the cases are all unsolved.”

Cindy
was fascinated. “How is that possible they’re all unsolved?” It didn’t sound plausible.

“The
police did lots of work on them,” said Mattheus. “They have bulging files on every
case, but no conclusion. Each case went cold.”

“Something
smells bad here,” said Cindy.

“It’s
not the police,” Mattheus jumped in. “Trage said he’d open all their files to
me. I can research them all I like. In fact, they’d be thrilled for me to do
so.”

“Good,”
said Cindy swiftly. “This is a great place to start.”

“Crucial,”
said Mattheus.

Could
Ann have just been caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time? Cindy
wondered. Did a random psychopath hit the hotel? Was Ann just another victim in
a rash of blind murders? It didn’t seem likely, but Cindy had to know more -
immediately.

“Who
else knew about this rash of murders?” Cindy was quick on the draw.

“That’s
what I’ve got to find out,” Mattheus face suddenly looked grim. They had
investigators come from different countries, but the pieces never came
together. I’ll get to the bottom of it, believe me.”

“Sounds
like you’ve got your work cut out for you,” Cindy said.

“Absolutely,”
he agreed. “I’ve got to talk to anyone who could be implicated, and you have to
find out more about Ann’s activities and her relationship with Frank.”

Cindy
swallowed hard. “I’ll go into her email immediately. As for Frank, I already
spoke with him. It didn’t go well. He thinks I’m snooping where I don’t belong,
doesn’t see me as a detective. He definitely won’t let me in too far, refused
to give me the password to computer.”

Mattheus
shook his head. “He has no choice about it,” he remarked.

“You
tell him that,” said Cindy.

“Okay,”
Mattheus agreed, but quickly thought better of it. “That may not be such a good
idea. If I approach Frank, it might seem threatening to him. And, if he’s
threatened and has something to hide, he’ll hide it even deeper.”

“Frank
had nothing to do with Ann’s death,” Cindy said clearly. “As annoying as he’s
being, he loved her.”

“Love
can turn into hate in a minute,” Mattheus remarked, “and then back to love
again. We don’t really know what happened between them, until we find out.”

Cindy
felt irritated. “It’s the wrong focus,” she assured him. “It’s far more
important for you to investigate the murders and for me to look into Ann’s
personal email and Facebook accounts now. For all we know she was having
trouble, maybe someone who hated her was lurking around. Why else would anyone
kill her?”

“Lots
of reasons,” Mattheus started.

Cindy
shook her entire body. “No, this was personal. It had to be.”

“That’s
a strange conclusion to come to so quickly,” said Mattheus.

“Not
strange at all,” Cindy objected. “You didn’t see the huge scratches on her
neck. I saw them – they were jagged, like claws.”

Mattheus
stopped cold. “I didn’t know you saw your sister’s body.”

“I
went to the morgue,” Cindy replied.

Mattheus
looked at her distressed, “Without me?”

“I
had no choice,” Cindy murmured.

“You
had a choice, you could have called me immediately,” Mattheus’s voice rose just
a bit.

“I
couldn’t, it was too much,” Cindy said sharply. “I didn’t know what was going
on in your life -.”

“Cindy,”
Mattheus breathed, amazed.

“We
can’t go backwards over this, we have to go forwards,” Cindy said urgently. “Let
me go now and look into Ann’s email.”

“Okay,
go do it,” Mattheus agreed. “And I’ll check around the hotel to see if anyone
possibly saw or heard anything go on between Ann and Frank before she was
killed.”

Cindy
was surprised at how annoyed she felt at Mattheus’s insistence upon probing
more deeply into Frank and Ann’s relationship. There was no reason for it; it
was a waste of time and energy. Mattheus had enough on his hands with the rash
of unsolved murders.

“You’ll
do better spending your time looking into the unsolved murders,” Cindy urged.

“I
can do both,” Mattheus answered easily. “You go explore Ann’s emails. I’ll find
out more about Ann and Frank’s relationship and delve into these murders. Then
we’ll talk.”

Cindy
headed to her computer, able to move forward now. She felt energized and clear
headed working with Mattheus.  From the very start they had a great energy
between them that worked synchronistically, balanced each other and left no
stone unturned.

*

As
Mattheus left Cindy went to get her computer, take it out onto the patio, and
get into Ann’s email. The breeze that had gotten stronger on the beach had
turned into a light wind. Cindy felt it blowing through her hair as she opened
the computer. When she came to the place where she had to put Ann’s password
in, she felt a moment of fear. Cindy felt as if she was trespassing upon her
sister’s privacy, almost as if she were turning into her. But she wasn’t Ann, she
was a beloved sister who was could leave no stone unturned in finding the
killer. Ann wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

To
Cindy’s distress, the first thing she saw when she got into the account was a
string of unanswered emails from Ann’s friends. None of them had any idea she’d
died, Cindy realized painfully.

“Have
an incredible vacation, Ann,”
the first one said.
“It’s long overdue and I’m thinking of you. If you have
a second, let me know how it’s going. Love you, Lana.
”

Lana
was one of Ann’s closest friends. She and Ann had grown up together, still
lived close by. Cindy knew her well.

The
next unanswered email was from Rebecca.
“Let me know when you’re getting
home, Ann. If I can I’ll meet you at the airport. Hope you’re back in time for the
next meeting of the Circle. We’re always counting on you.”

The
Circle was a group Ann had belonged to forever. It was composed of women who
raised money for local charities. Ann had led the group and loved it. Cindy
couldn’t bear the thought of writing to these women and letting them know what
had happened.

The
third unanswered email was from their mom. “
Ann, dear, have a lovely holiday
with Frank. Make it all you have dreamt of. I’m so glad the two of you took my
advice and decided to get away. Love, mom.”

Cindy
stopped and read that one a few times. Why did her mother give Ann advice to
get away with Frank? Was it just her usual meddling? Was Cindy trying to read
something into the email that had no bearing at all?

Cindy
scrolled down and read the other emails. Most were ordinary, even dull. Arrangements
for the meetings of the Circle, luncheon dates, exchange of pleasantries.  From
what Cindy read it seemed that Ann lived her life mainly on the surface. Cindy
had never perceived Ann that way before. She’d always thought of her sister as
having rich, full, busy days. Maybe she didn’t? Maybe that was why Ann was
always so ready to leave and come to meet Cindy at the airport when she
returned. Had Ann needed Cindy and the excitement she provided more than Ann
had let on?

One
email caught Cindy’s attention. Ann was apologizing to a friend for not being
able to make a lunch date.
“I have so much to do to prepare for Frank’s return,”
Ann had stated.
“He’s so busy these days, I’m never exactly sure when
he’s coming home.”
Cindy wasn’t sure what this referred to. What was Frank
so busy with? Where had he gone?

The
friend had answered nicely enough.
“Of course, of course, I understand. It’s
hard when business takes them all over the place.”

Where
was business taking Frank? Ann had only mentioned in passing to Cindy that
Frank had been traveling a bit more for business. Cindy wondered now why Ann
hadn’t filled her in on more details. Probably because it hadn’t bothered Ann
much.  Most likely Ann just took it as a matter of course, the way she took
everything. Was Frank’s busy schedule the reason they were taking time alone
together now in Bermuda? Was he trying to make it up to her, give Ann the
attention she’d been wanting?

Cindy
took a deep breath and kept scrolling. Finally, she found an email from Frank to
Ann.

“Be
back home on the six forty five flight,”
it announced.
“Looking forward to seeing you.
Frank.”

Nice
enough, thought Cindy, but where was the word love?

“Six
forty five?”
Ann
had answered
. “I thought you were landing at five?”

Cindy
noticed herself wanting to make something of this, too. There seemed to be an
edge to Ann’s tone here that Cindy hadn’t noticed before. Was this just more
paranoia? Cindy stared at the emails and then stopped herself. She was grasping
at straws. Wasn’t it perfectly usual for couples who’d been married for many
years to forget about signing off with the word love? And so what if he took a
flight that landed a bit later? Cindy realized that she could lose reality
quickly if she let herself obsess about every word.

Cindy
pushed the computer away for a moment. This was not only arduous, it was
unsettling to look so closely at her sister’s personal life. She’d open just
one more email before going onto Ann’s Facebook page.

Oddly
enough, the next email had a different tone. It was to another friend of Ann’s,
May.

“Hi,
May,”
Ann wrote
,
“so sorry I can’t meet you for coffee later. Frank will be coming home tonight
and I’m cooking and baking for him all afternoon. So excited to see him and get
things ready.”

After
all these years, Ann was excited to welcome Frank home. The reality of it hit
Cindy undeniably. It was hard for Cindy to imagine how this could be, what it
was about Frank her sister loved so much and felt so excited by? But there was
never any telling what brought two people together, what they got from one
another that kept their love alive.

Cindy
sighed, ran her hands through her hair. Next she’d have to go onto Ann’s
Facebook page. That wouldn’t be as personal. Cindy had been on it many times.
It was filled with pictures of Ann’s local friends and their activities,
announcing times and dates of events, inviting others to them. Cindy had to
check though, to see if there was any hint here of something that had gone
amiss. Was Ann in a fight with anyone? Was someone jealous of her for some
reason?

To
Cindy’s great relief, just as she was about to go back into the computer, the
phone rang.

Even
without picking up, she knew it was Mattheus.

“I’m
down at the police station,” Mattheus started.

Cindy
appreciated that he was keeping in close touch.

“Trage’s
here with me, helping me out,” Mattheus went on. “He’s been digging through
these files again, since we’re re-opening the hotel murders investigation.
“Great,” said Cindy, thrilled that they were working on two fronts now. Mattheus
coming down seemed to have energized everybody.

“There’s
a drug ring that comes up again and again,” Mattheus continued. “They’re based
at the south of the island, not far from where that guy Alain lives.”

“That
makes sense,” Cindy listened closely.

“Those
guys have to know something about the hotels killings,” Mattheus went on
quickly. Trage’s given me the name of the head honcho there. The police spoke
to him before and ruled him out. But I’m leaving in a minute to see him. I have
a way with those guys.”

“What’s
his name?” Cindy wanted backup information.