Death by Desire (Caribbean Murder Series, Book 4) (16 page)

“Why did you want Tiffany to
marry into that kind of family?” Cindy asked, appalled.

“Tiffany was marrying Tad, not
his family,” Myrtle spit out. “He loved our family. I knew he’d end up spending
more and more time with us.  His crazy mother and father wouldn’t have such a
hold on him.”

Cindy shook her head. That was
exactly what Tad had believed, that he’d get Tiffany away from them. She had no
intention of saying that to Myrtle, though.

“Your husband liked Tad very
much, too?” Cindy was double checking.

“Yes, of course, he did. Tad
belonged with us, there was no question about it.”

Cindy suddenly felt nervous
for all of them.

“And what does Frances have to
do with all of this?” Cindy went on.

Myrtle looked confused. “Absolutely
nothing, it’s a complete foil. There’s no way he could have been sleeping with
Tiffany. She was a good girl.”

“You’re sure of that?” asked
Cindy.

Myrtle looked outraged.

“Are you turning it around, blaming
the victim? Are you ascribing disgusting qualities to my  daughter, slandering
her even in death?”

“That is not my wish,” said
Cindy.

“But that’s what you’re doing,”
Myrtle bit her lip. “If you ever dare believe that Tiffany was sleeping with
Frances, I’ll have to fire you on the spot.”

“I am just reporting to you
what people are saying,” Cindy spoke in the most professional tone she could
muster.

“What people say on this island
is meaningless,” Myrtle threw her head back. “I keep away from all of it. When
we’re down here, I stay on the boat alone. My husband is the one who mixes it
up, goes to parties, talks at events, makes a name for himself. I couldn’t care
less.  All I ever cared about was Tiffany. She was the one who really mattered
to me.”

“How about Wynn?” Cindy asked,
horrified.

“Wynn’s okay,” Myrtle went on,
haughtily. “She’s close to everyone, though. Tiffany belonged to me!”

“I heard Tiffany had many
people she was close to,” Cindy wanted to bring some reality in.

“Of course Tiffany had many friends,”
Myrtle leaned over, “but the one who mattered to her was me. At the end of the
evening, she’d come home and tell me every little thing that happened. She didn’t
hide a thing. And she never said a word about Frances.  Nothing. He was just a
casual friend.”

Tad hadn’t been so far off
track. Tiffany’s mother had her clutches into her, big time. Cindy felt the
need to take this further, shock Myrtle and get more information.

“There is a question,” Cindy
continued, “that Tiffany might have been pregnant at the time of her death.
Frances claims it was his baby. The medical examiner is trying to find out.”

Myrtle’s mouth hung open. “Pregnant?”
It was more than she could absorb. “What are you talking about?”

“There’s a chance that Tiffany
was with child,” Cindy spoke evenly.  She felt that sooner or later Myrtle
would hear this anyhow. “It’s a definite possibility.”

Myrtle scratched her hands on
the table desperately.

“Frances insists he’s the
father,” Cindy continued. “We thought it could be either him or Tad.  Tad said
it’s impossible that Tad could be the father.”

Myrtle face grew pale.

“Why would it be impossible
for Tad to be the father?” Cindy asked.

Myrtle’s face began to twitch.

“My precious daughter was
pregnant?” she moaned. “A grandchild was on the way?”

“Do you think Tad was the
father?” Cindy persisted.

“No, he’s right. He couldn’t have
been, he told you the truth.” Myrtle could barely get the words out.

“Why couldn’t he?” Cindy knew
they were zoning in on something crucial.

“Tad didn’t do well sexually,”
Myrtle said softly.

Cindy’s brain raced with
possibilities. “Impotent?” she asked.

“Most of the time,” Myrtle
said, matter of factly. “It’s not such an uncommon problem these days.”

Cindy was shocked that Myrtle
knew such intimate details about Tiffany’s life.

“Tiffany and I discussed it
many times,” Myrtle continued, “I told her it didn’t matter so much. It was
better in the long run to have a husband who wouldn’t go running after all the
women who would fling themselves at him.”

“Do women do that with the
Senator?” Cindy asked.

“Of course they do. Why not? He’s
a handsome man, but cold,” Myrtle smiled bitterly. “In the long run these women
don’t get much.”

“How could Tiffany be happy in
a marriage with an impotent man?” Cindy asked bluntly.

Myrtle stared at her then. “Does
sex really matter so much?” Myrtle asked. “I mean once you have your children, do
you really need to be bothered all the time?”

Cindy flushed. She couldn’t
imagine not being close to someone she loved.

“I guess sex is important to
you,” said Myrtle, disdainfully, “and maybe to some others, but not to Tiffany.
I told you Tiffany was a good girl. She liked to play, dance, run around with
her friends. I thought a man like Tad would appreciate her sweetness. And, he could
be quite affectionate too, when he wanted to. Affection counts for a lot, plenty
of women would rather have that.”

“What will you do if you find
out that Frances was the father?” Cindy asked, point blank.

She knew this was only a story
Mattheus had made up, but the police were going with it, and even though it
wasn’t true, it was a good story for smoking out information.

“What would I do if I
discovered Tiffany had lied to me, hadn’t told me the truth about her life?  Hid
the fact that a baby was coming?” Myrtle’s face flushed beet red. “I’d feel
even more betrayed than I do now.”

“Betrayed by Tiffany?”

“No, betrayed by life, useless,
worthless.”

“You have two other daughters
who love you.”

Myrtle stared at her with
vacant eyes. “Rori doesn’t love me. Ever since she was little she could never
stand to be near me. And Wynn is more like her father, always networking,
looking for the best in everyone.”

Myrtle then leaned over the
table and scooped up the knick knacks that had belonged to Tiffany and began
putting them back into her bag, one by one.

“This has been a terrible
lunch,” Myrtle said slowly, half to herself. “In the beginning everyone focused
on Tad. Now Frances is the latest. What does it all amount to?”

“There’s no way it could be
Tad?” Cindy repeated just one more time.

Myrtle looked at her, suddenly
listless.

“How could it be Tad? His
alibi was perfect, just like Shane’s. Tad was Scuba Diving at Jimmy Bolton’s
diving school. Why would Jimmy Bolton lie about it? He’s always been Tad’s best
friend.”

Cindy wasn’t sure she’d heard
right. “What did you say?”

“Nothing,” said Myrtle,
stuffing what was left of the mementos into her bag.

“You said Jimmy Bolton, the guy
who ran the Scuba Diving School, was Tad’s best friend?”

“Yes,” said Myrtle blankly. “It
isn’t a big deal.”

“It
is
a big deal,”
said Cindy, startled. She hadn’t heard it before.

Cindy would have to tell
Mattheus about it right away. They’d have to re-check Tad’s alibi to see if
anyone else had seen him Scuba Diving that afternoon.

“Why is it a big deal?” asked
Myrtle.

“It changes the quality of Tad’s
alibi, if it was his best friend who confirmed it,” said Cindy.

“You’re implying Jimmy Bolton
could have been covering for Tad?”

“Possible,” said Cindy. “Do
you know if anyone else saw Tad Scuba Diving?”

 “I have no idea who did or
did not see Tad Scuba Diving,” said Myrtle, irritated. “But I do know you’re
way off the track. You haven’t really heard a thing I said. Tad had no reason
to kill Tiffany. He loved her, she loved him. And, she accepted him as he was. She
wasn’t the kind of woman who was filled with hopeless desire, like you.”

Cindy stopped and stared at
her. That was a strange way to put it.

“Myrtle was unnerved.  “Am I
right? Are you that kind of woman? Always hungry for a man?”

“Are you?” Cindy wanted to shoot
back, but held her tongue as Myrtle threw her head back and ran her hands
through her frizzy hair.

The excitement of getting ready for Petrovich’s
Christmas Eve party over rode the surprising news about Tad’s alibi.

“We’ll check out it later,” Mattheus said, off
handedly, when Cindy told him about it. He was convinced that the party tonight
would set them in the right direction, be a treasure cove of leads. “Let’s get
ready now,” he said.

But Tad’s alibi didn’t sit well with Cindy. She
couldn’t stop thinking about it, but decided to focus on the upcoming gala as
she dressed for it. She knew the evening ahead would be exciting and glamorous.
There would be lots of people there who could fill both her and Mattheus in on
all kinds of deals and secrets about the Senator’s personal life.

Cindy got out of the shower, put on a robe,
dried and blew out her long, full hair. Tonight it looked better than usual,
shiny and golden from being out in the sun. She stopped a moment and looked at
herself in the mirror.  The woman who looked back out at her looked young,
alive, exciting. Her eyes were sparkling and she had a great suntan. For the
first time in a long time, Cindy felt like a beautiful, desirable woman again. 
She was thrilled to be dressing up, going out to a fabulous party. It was a
welcome break from days and days of investigation and concern.

Cindy knew the party would be filled with magnificent
women from all over the world, exquisitely groomed, dressed to the nines. There
was no way she was going looking like a dowdy detective from New York. Mattheus
was a great looking guy and Cindy had to get ready for those women to flock to
him in droves.

Cindy chose a very short, black, silk, low cut,
sleek dress, high heel shoes, and long, silver earrings. Mattheus would be
shocked when he saw her, and she was looking forward to that. A surge of
confidence burst through her. She could and would compete with the best. To top
off the outfit she put on a long, string of pearls, and a couple of sprays of her
most exotic perfume.

While she was getting ready, Cindy’d left her
door half open, so when Mattheus came to get her, he walked right in.

“Anyone here?” he called out, as Cindy was
putting on the last touches of make up in the bathroom.

“I’ll be out in a second,” Cindy called back.

A moment later, when Cindy walked into the
room, Mattheus had his back to her, looking out at the ocean.

“Merry Christmas,” Cindy said softly.

He turned around quickly, and stared, dumbstruck.

“Whoah, you look amazing!” He could barely get
the words out.

“Thanks,” Cindy smiled.

 “No, wait a minute. I mean you’re breath
taking,” he said.

The two of them stared at each other.

Cindy took in his warmth in deeply. She needed
it, appreciated it.

“I’ve never seen you look like this,” Mattheus murmured.

“It’s my secret self,” Cindy whispered, “coming
out for the grand party.”

“That’s some secret self! I’m thrilled to be going
with you.”

Cindy liked that. She liked everything about the
way the evening was going.  

“It’s great to be going with you, too,” Cindy
said. “Now, let’s go.”

Mattheus laughed. “Yeah, we’d better not spend
the entire evening here- looking at each other, ordering in champagne, drinking.”

Cindy flushed. Their relationship lived on the
edge. There were a few moments of closeness and then one or the other of them re-focused
on what they were here to do. It was a built in safety mechanism and made these
fleeting moments all the more precious.

“We’re headed for the wild time tonight,”
Mattheus said, as they got into a taxi. “The party will be loaded with all
kinds of leads. The best thing to do will be to split up soon as we get there,
so we can work the room.”

“Definitely,” Cindy agreed.

But then Mattheus turned and looked at her,
disconcerted, as if he wasn’t so sure he wanted her out there alone.

“You sure don’t look like a detective,” he
said.

“All the better,” said Cindy.

“Yeah, I guess,” said Mattheus, as the taxi
wound its way along the crowded roads to the brightly lit, sprawling, noisy
villa, bursting with people, music, laughter and drinks.

*

“Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas,” a large,
hefty, handsome, man came right up to them the second they walked in, and threw
his arm around Mattheus’ shoulder.

It had to be Sasha Petrovich, Cindy thought. He
was extremely buoyant, as though he’d been drinking since earlier that
afternoon. At the same time, he was sharp and clear as day.

Petrovich looked over Cindy admiringly, his
eyebrows raised. ““And this has to be the beautiful partner of Mattheus,” he
said. “I must say, I am amazed! With a partner like this, my dear Mattheus, what
in the world are you doing here? If she was mine, I would keep her all to myself.”
And he laughed loudly.

Cindy felt Mattheus flinch.

“Of course there are all kinds of partner to be
had in this life,” Petrovich went on, plopping his other arm over Cindy’s bare
shoulder.

She didn’t like it, edged away.

Petrovich looked at her, put off. This was not
the response he was used to from women.

He turned entirely to Mattheus then.

“Come, let me introduce you to someone I know
who will be helpful to you,” he offered.

“Great,” said Mattheus.

“And, you still have to let me know your
decision about the offer I made you,” Petrovich didn’t miss a beat.

“I’m working on it,” said Mattheus.

Cindy wondered what offer he was working on. If
Petrovich was trying to make her uneasy, he was succeeding.

Petrovich turned to Cindy then and smiled intensely.

 “I offered your wonderful partner a terrific
job with me,” he said unabashedly. “He’d be a fool not to take it. Triple the
income and plenty of other delightful perks.”

Cindy smiled calmly. Petrovich was trying to
play her, make her squirm. She pulled herself together instantly, was way too
smart to go for it.

“How generous of you,” she said lightly.

Petrovich raised his eyebrows, impressed. He
seemed to like that he couldn’t bait her.

 “And how about you, Cindy?” he went on, “there
are all kinds of jobs in my world.” His laugh had a coarse edge to it.

Cindy disliked him intensely. She could see why
the Senator would take him on. Someone had to. Petrovich was the kind of guy
who felt everything and everyone was for sale. He thought there was nothing he
couldn’t get his huge hands on.

“Not for me,” Cindy said, flippantly, “there
are some of us who walk other pathways.”

“You don’t say?” said Petrovich, making a sour face.
He wasn’t used to be spoken to that way.

“Actually, most of the people here work for me and
are very grateful for it.”

They hadn’t even walked into the main room or
joined the party, and Cindy felt as though she wanted to leave.

Mattheus stepped between them quickly though,
interrupting the growing friction.

“Who is the person here you said you wanted me
to meet?” Mattheus asked Petrovich.

“Not necessarily that I want you to meet,”
Petrovich corrected him. “In fact, I think you’ve already met her here already.
She’s someone the Senator insists you hook up with, feels she has something
important to tell you,” and Petrovich smiled at Cindy.

Cindy was on the alert. Petrovich was trying to
make her insecure, feel that he was privy to the Senator’s secret wishes.  She
could see that he enjoyed getting between people, seeding suspicion and fear. In
order to survive in his glitzy world, people had to out maneuver one another. Cindy
wondered if Petrovich could have feared or disliked the Senator so much that he’d
actually kill his daughter. It was too extreme. It didn’t make sense. But, she’d
have to explore the possibility anyway.

Mattheus caught Cindy’s glance.

“I’m going to go with Sasha to meet the person the
Senator wants me to talk to,” Mattheus said calmly.

Cindy nodded. She understood. “Fine,” she said,
“I’ll drift around.”

Petrovich laughed. “Don’t drift too much, it
could be dangerous. We have fantastic guests in every corner. For all you know,
someone could take a fancy to you and you’ll lose your way back to Mattheus.”

Now he was trying to unnerve Mattheus as well. Cindy
saw that he was succeeding.

“Stay in this room,” Mattheus said to Cindy.

“I’ll be fine,” Cindy smiled and threw her hair
back over her shoulders. “I’ll meet you at the main entrance in a couple of
hours.”

“A couple of hours?” Petrovich looked amused, “the
party will have barely begun. A couple of days are more like it.”

Mattheus’ jaw clenched. He gave Cindy a firm
look and she nodded again. They were here to do a job and weren’t going to lose
sight of their time frames, no matter what Petrovich said.

Mattheus turned and disappeared into the crowded
room with Petrovich. For a second Cindy felt stranded, but then she stopped and
took the place in. It was staggering. The huge room was filled with guests,
wave upon wave of beautiful people. It was decorated for Christmas with mistletoe,
sparkling angels hanging on the walls. A giant Christmas tree stood in the
center, almost reaching to the ceiling. Holiday music was playing, waiters
walked around serving hors d'oeuvres and champagne. A long table along the side
was lavishly filled with anything anyone could want to eat.

Cindy turned to the table to get something to
eat. Before she even walked a few steps, she felt a soft hand on her shoulder.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you here before,” a
man’s voice said.

Cindy turned.  A tall, slender guy, in his late
thirties, stood there looking at her with anticipation. He had tousled hair,
tight slacks and a custom tailored, perfectly fitting shirt.

“Andy Granite,” he smiled.

Cindy smiled back.  He was charming with soft,
grey eyes.

“Cindy Blaine,” she replied.

“Attorney from Manhattan,” he offered.

Cindy’s eyebrows raised. “I’m here from
Manhattan as well.”

“Lucky for me,” said Andy. “How’d you get into
this party? A friend?”

Cindy paused. She wasn’t sure how much she
should tell him.

“I saw you were headed to the table over there,”
said Andy. “May I join you?”

“Sure,” said Cindy. “The food looks wonderful.”

“Everything here is wonderful,” he answered. “People
scramble for months to get an invitation for tonight.”

“High expectations,” said Cindy as they
approached the table and took a couple of plates.

“You can say that again. Everyone wonders who
they’ll meet.”

Andy didn’t take his eyes off Cindy for a
second as they began filling up their plates. He was a lovely guy and Cindy
didn’t want to waste his time or lead him on.

“I didn’t even know I was going to be here
until a few days ago,” Cindy said.

He
looked surprised. “Really?”
I’m a detective, “Cindy quietly. “Here on a case.”

Andy stopped cold. “No kidding, what kind of
case?” He stared at her.

Cindy said nothing.

 “I can understand not talking about it,” he
went on quickly. “In fact, I didn’t think detectives let it be known who they
were at all.”

“I’m not undercover,” Cindy said simply.

“I appreciate your honesty,” Andy said, looking
at her softly. “It’s rather unusual here.”

“So, I gather,” said Cindy.

“Well, do you want to sit down and talk anyway?”
He was a little confused about what to do next.

“Sure,” said Cindy, “for a little while. I’m
also here with my partner. “

He looked at her quizzically.

“My partner in crime, another detective,” Cindy
smiled.

“Well, even detectives get hungry,” Andy said. “Let’s
eat our dinner, and then you can go.”

They sat down in the corner.

“I noticed you the minute you walked in,” Andy
said quickly, “saw you and another guy talking with Petrovich. I didn’t know
who the other guy was, but when he walked off, I wouldn’t let the chance go by.”

“That was my partner,” said Cindy.

“What’s the crime you’re investigating?” Andy
asked again.

“Murder,” said Cindy.

He grew quiet.

“It’s a U.S. Senator’s daughter.”

Andy’s eyes opened, shocked. It seemed as if he
knew nothing about it, but Cindy couldn’t be sure. He could have been directed
to come over and speak to her.

“That’s horrifying,” he said, “when did it happen?
I haven’t heard a thing about it.”