Death by Jealousy (18 page)

Cindy
couldn’t say a word.

“See
what I mean, you just run away right when we’re in the middle of something!” Mattheus’s
voice got louder.

“I’m
just trying to calm down a moment,” said Cindy.

“Jesus,”
Mattheus ran his hands over his face, “we’re here to solve a murder. We don’t
have time to calm down, collect ourselves, heal wounded feelings.”

“We
can’t solve the case if we don’t,” Cindy said.

Even
though she was exhausted, she had to get out of here for a little while. She
grabbed a sweater that was lying on the bed next to her cell phone. Cindy
glanced at the cell phone quickly. To her surprise there was a text message
waiting for her.

Come
downstairs and meet me for a few minutes alone when you get a chance. It’s
important. I’ll be down in front of the hotel, waiting.
Mac.

The
text had been posted about an hour ago. Cindy wondered if he were still there. Obviously
Mac had some important information for her. It was a good idea to go. Cindy
needed to get away for a few minutes to unwind, anyway. She decided to put a
little microphone on her to record her conversation with Mac, prove to Mattheus
it was all business.

“I
need to take a little walk,” Cindy said to Mattheus, as she clipped on the
mike. “It’s late, we’re exhausted and it will be good to clear my head.”

 “Go,”
said Mattheus, “get a grip. Clear your head. Do what you have to. Just don’t
make me look like an idiot, please.”

“I
never meant to make you look like an idiot,” said Cindy, as she put the sweater
over her shoulders. “In fact, I think you’ve done a wonderful job.”

Then
she opened the door and walked out into the hallway, eager to hear what Mac had
to tell her, and relieved to be on her own.

 Cindy
walked to the front of the hotel in the dark, misty night. She looked up and
down the wide street, but Mac wasn’t anywhere to be seen.  He’d probably waited
for her and left, she thought, wondering why he hadn’t actually called to speak
to her directly. Hurricane season was just beginning and Cindy could feel a
shift in the strength of the winds. She decided to take a short walk, then come
back and see if Mac returned. Or, maybe she’d check at the desk and see if he’d
left a message for her?

She
turned away from the hotel and walked across a small path, out to the street. 
It was wonderful to be alone for a few minutes, drifting wherever the mood
prompted her go to. She realized how cooped up she’d been feeling and how
absorbed with nothing but the case. Cindy suddenly realized that Ann and Frank
were back at the hotel. It probably would have been nice to stop in and see
them. But right now, she really just needed to clear her head. Not only was the
case complicated, her relationship with Mattheus was becoming more and more of
a source of anxiety and confusion for her as well. Was there truth in what he’d
said? Was she running away from love? It didn’t seem so to her. In fact, she
felt a great desire to be close to someone again, it just had to be the right
person.

At
this moment Cindy had no way of knowing whether or not Mattheus was or ever
could be the right person for her. She knew he was still coming off the shock
of both having found his wife’s body and discovering the truth about her. Of
course it would take time for him to digest all that.  Was Cindy being impatient,
she wondered? Had she become selfish? It was something she’d dreaded her whole
life long.

Cindy
turned a corner and walked along the edge of a narrow street out towards the
pier. She loved heading towards the water, feeling the wide expanse of space and
energy flowing around her.

As
she walked closer to the edge of the pier Cindy suddenly felt a shadow drawing
closer behind her. Someone was there, following her. Could it be Mac? Startled,
she spun around. In the darkness she saw two hooded figures approaching
stealthily, at top speed.  Cindy screamed for a second wrapped in fear as they
closed in. 

“Help, help,” she started to yell as they circled
around her, ramming their hands over her mouth and eyes. The darkness and
pressure grew intense. Cindy gasped and squirmed for all she was worth

as
they lifted her by the legs and started running, hauling her away like a sack
of potatoes.  She had trouble breathing, began to feel dizzy. Where were they
taking her? Would she ever get away?

She
heard the ocean lapping and their feet hitting what sounded like a wooden
ground, as they ran more quickly.

“Here,”
one of them grunted as they rushed up what sounded like a plank.

“We
got her,” the other said, victorious, once inside.

Where
was she? Her head was spinning and her whole body ached.

“Get
going,” a man’s voice called out then, and Cindy heard the motor of a boat
start up.

Mattheus,
Cindy called out in her mind, H
elp me, Find me!

But
as the boat took off in the dark, choppy waters, Cindy felt it was too late.
These guys had been lying in wait for her. Had Mac had set her up? Had she been
a total idiot? Did she deserve what lay in store?

“You
can let her go now,” a man’s voice said calmly, after they boat had been going
for a few minutes. The voice was familiar but Cindy couldn’t place it.

The
guys took their hands off her eyes and her mouth.

“I’d
rather she watch us dump her overboard,” the voice said calmly. “Let her find out
what happens to women who make trouble down here.”

*

Mattheus
sat on the edge of Cindy’s bed. He felt lonely for her, but also relieved to
have a few minutes to himself. She’d be back in a little while, he realized,
and they’d take it from there. Mattheus drew his hand over her quilt gently, as
if he were stroking and reassuring both her and himself that they’d be together
again soon.

As
his hand wandered back and forth he felt a small, cold object. He picked it up,
Cindy’d left her cell phone laying there.  Mattheus smiled and took it in his
hand, and without thinking, opened it up. To his amazement, the text from Mac
stared him right in the face.

Come
meet me downstairs, alone, it’s important. Mac.

Mattheus
began shaking. What the hell was going on? Here she was accusing him of having
a secret life with Vivien while she’d slipped out to be alone with Mac. Mattheus
looked at the message again. What could be so important? And why did this guy
want her down there alone? He and Cindy weren’t an item, at least Mattheus
believed that. As he stared at the text his body began to stiffen. It didn’t
compute - something was off. He rammed the phone in his pocket, jumped up, and
decided to join the two of them downstairs.

Mattheus
rushed to the front of the hotel, looking up and down the wide street. It was
empty. No one was there. Had Cindy met Mac and taken off? Was there more going
on between them than Mattheus realized? He paced back and forth when suddenly
he saw Mac walking towards him, wobbling a little.

“Where’s
Cindy?” Mac asked gruffly, as he came closer to Mattheus.

Mattheus
broke out into a sweat. “What the hell do you mean where’s Cindy? She came down
here to see you.”

Mac’s
eyes were bleary, half drunk. “I waited and she didn’t show up,” Mac managed to
say.

Mattheus
went closer, grabbed him by the color and put his face in his.

“Where’s
Cindy?” he screamed for all he was worth.

“Jesus
Christ, Jesus Christ,” Mac started blubbering, “I don’t know. I waited for her
and she didn’t show up. I never meant for any of this to happen.” 

“Never
meant for what to happen?” the adrenalin shot through every vein of Mattheus’s
body. Immediately, he yanked out his phone and called the police. “Emergency,” Mattheus
shouted in the phone.

“The
Coast Guard, the Coast Guard,” Mac shot to attention. “They’ve probably got her
out in the boat.”

“The
Coast Guard,” Mattheus yelled into the phone again as a small crowd from the
hotel started to gather.

Mattheus
spun around and there was Ann and Frank, rigid with fear.

“What’s
wrong? What happened?” Ann looked like a ghost had claimed her.

Vivien
stood beside Ann, looking equally shaken.

“I’ve
been waiting for Tad and he hasn’t showed up,” Vivien panted. “I ran into Cindy’s
sister and brother in law. They’ve been kind to me, we’ve been talking and
talking. I told them all about the jewels.”

“What
else did you tell them?” Mac’s voice came in short spurts.

“I
want to go home now,” Vivien started trembling.

“What
else did you tell them?” Mac’s voice was loud and gruff. “Tell me or you’ll
never go home.”

“Emergency,
Emergency, get the Coast Guard,” Mattheus kept yelling into the phone. 

Mac
lunged over to Mattheus and threw his arms around him.

“It’s
okay, it’s okay, we’ll get Cindy back with us,” Mac insisted. “We’ve got the
best Coast Guard in the world.”

*

Cindy’s
head was throbbing.  As she’d suspected, she was in a boat, racing out to sea, moving
at top speed. She turned her neck as best she could to see who was talking to
her, but the darkness was thick and the face still hidden.

The
voice came closer to her then. The further from shore the braver it sounded.

“You
think you can just come between people and threaten them, rip their lives apart?”
the voice demanded.

In
a horrible moment, Cindy recognized the voice of Tad.

“What
are you talking about, Tad?” she managed to say.  Cindy suddenly remembered the
microphone she’d clipped on. It had to be recording. Even if they dumped her
down under the ocean, she’d rip off the mike first and leave it behind. Someone
would find it. Her life wouldn’t have been in vain.

Tad
stepped out of the darkness into the dim light, looking stony faced and menacing.

“Vivien
warned me right up front you were the one to look out for,” he said in a grainy
tone.

Cindy’s
heart pounded and her limbs grew numb. Tad looked insane and there was no one
to help her.

“Vivien
said you were going to pin Allie’s death on her,” he went on, “I promised her I
would never let that happen.”

“Was
Vivien responsible for Allie’s death?” Cindy managed to re-gain her voice.

“See,
she was right,” Tad’s eyes narrowed. “You think she killed Allie!”

“Did
she?” Cindy demanded. Even with the waves around her lapping at the boat, even
with the prospect of her own death facing her, Cindy craved the truth.

“No,
she didn’t,” Tad snapped back, “but she wasn’t stupid, either. She saw how you
tried to get Mattheus to play with her head.”

“That’s
ridiculous,” said Cindy.

“Vivien
said you wanted him to steal her away from me,” Tad went on as he dark eyes
narrowed.

“That’s
not how it happened,” Cindy spoke fiercely. “Vivien came onto Mattheus.  I had
nothing to do with it. I didn’t like it. You got it all mixed up. She was
trying to get between me and him.”

Tad
laughed for a second, then his eyes took on a dismal glare.

“Bullshit,”
he growled. “Don’t play with my head. I’ve had enough of tricks and lies for
one lifetime.”

 Cindy’s
breath came in short gasps. “So have I,” she said.

“And
no one steals my girlfriend from me. No one! You got that?” Tad’s voice got
louder.

Cindy
felt as though the two of them were suspended together in eternity, on the
turbulent ocean, underneath the black sky.

 “It
wasn’t Mattheus who wanted to steal your girlfriend from you,” Cindy said then,
in a drawling tone. Her only hope would be to confuse him, throw his fear
elsewhere.

 Tad
took a few steps closer to her. “Oh yeah? Who else?”

 “There
were plenty of people who were with Vivien, weren’t there?” Cindy assumed a
mocking tone. “It wasn’t so hard to steal her away.”

 
Tad’s lips spread open slowly, like a reptile of some kind. “None of them meant
a thing to her,” he called out, “none of them. Only me. I’m her dream man!”

 “That’s
what she told you, but it wasn’t true.” Cindy’s only hope was to make him
believe someone else was the culprit.

 Tad
started laughing. “You’re a fool and you don’t even know it,” he said. “There
wasn’t anything you’d stop at to break us apart. You were the one who found out
about the cash accounts at the company.” Tad’s voice now had an eerie tone. “You
were the one who wanted Mattheus to tell Edward and Mac. You didn’t want me to
have the cash to get Vivien the jewels, did you?”

In
the midst of Cindy’s terror, clarity dawned.

“You
were the one taking money from the company,” she said. “You needed it to buy
Vivien gifts.  Without them, she’d never stay with you.”

 Tad
barked out a raucous laugh.  “No one’s ever bought you jewels, have they?” He looked
Cindy up and down disparagingly. “Why should they? Who the hell are you,
anyway? What gives you the right to burst into our lives? You think Peter’s the
only one who deserves to have money? You think Peter’s the only one who
deserves to have love?”

Cindy
started trembling. Tad was rabid, livid and paranoid.  She heard snickering
then, and saw the slimy guys who’d been at Carlos’s place, step out of the
shadows. They had to be the ones who’d grabbed her and come after her in the
car. Obviously, they all worked together, laundering their rotten drug money
through the company. And whose boat was this? Who was driving it? Cindy suddenly
realized it had to be Jared. This was the same boat Allie dove from the night
she died.

“This
is Jared’s boat, isn’t it?” asked Cindy.

Tad
grinned. “You’re not so stupid after all,” he said.

“You
all work together?”

“You
bet your sweet life,” said Tad.

“Mac’s
a part of this, too?”

“Nah,
he’s a dumb ass. Just takes his share of the booty and goes gambling with it.
Actually, Mac thinks the world of you. Told me you and he are meant for each
other, said there’s no way you can be apart for long.”

Cindy
shivered to the depths of her bones.

“Mac
told me he’s gonna marry you and bring you down here to live. You think I’d
ever let that happen? You got the idiot hoodwinked, like everyone else.”

In
the midst of the ranting and madness, another wave of clarity came over Cindy.

“You’re
the one who killed Allie, aren’t you? Admit, Tad!” she demanded.  There was no
reason for Tad not to admit it. She was about to be dumped into the sea. “Admit
it to someone before you die!”