Death by Engagement

by Jaden Skye

  Mattheus pressed the elevator button again. “What’s taking so long?” he grumbled.

  “There must be lots of guests in this hotel,” Cindy remarked as she turned and saw an older man walking hurriedly along the hallway toward them. His body was bent over and his hands clutched nervously to the side of his pants.

  “Wait a minute, wait a minute,” the man called in a creaky voice, clearly agitated.

  Cindy took a few steps toward him. “Yes?” she said. “Are you calling us?”

  “You’re C and M Investigations, aren’t you?” The older man got closer. He had thin, sandy hair and his gray, watery eyes darted frantically back and forth.

  “Yes, we are, I’m Cindy Blaine,” Cindy replied, wanting to calm him.

  “Thank goodness I got hold of you before you left.” His voice became jagged. “I heard you two were at the hotel and coming up to our floor to talk to the police.”

  Cindy wondered how he’d heard that.

  “We’ve already spoken to them,” said Mattheus, as the elevator finally arrived. He touched Cindy’s arm lightly then, indicating it was time to go.

  “How can we help you?” Cindy paid no attention to the elevator door, which promptly shut.

  “I’m Shari’s father, Edward Twain.” The man’s words tumbled over one another.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry.” Cindy took a swift breath. “What happened is awful.”

  “My daughter did not commit suicide.” Edward’s voice grew suddenly stronger. “I’m absolutely positive of it.”

  Cindy knew it was hard for the family to believe that someone they loved could end their own life. “There was a note left behind, wasn’t there?” she asked softly.

  “Note or no note, Shari didn’t do it.” Edward’s eyes became focused and more determined.

  “We are so sorry.” Mattheus stepped forward now. “I know how hard it is to suddenly lose a daughter to suicide.”

  “Please believe me.” Edward grabbed Mattheus’s arms. “I’ve known Shari since she was little. There was no way in the world she would end her own life, especially now. She was thrilled, she was happy. She and I planned a surprise party for Doug when they got home. His birthday is coming. She told me many times how much she loved him and how happy she was to be getting married. Everything was falling into place for her.”

  Cindy felt every inch of Edward’s body shaking. “The amazing thing about suicide”—Cindy spoke gently—“is that it often happens when a person suddenly feels good, especially if they’ve been depressed awhile. The desire to end it all can come suddenly, like a thunderstorm in the middle of a beautiful day.”

  Edward turned the full force of his attention upon Cindy. “That’s not how it was in this case,” he insisted. “Shari would have spoken to me if she were slipping. You don’t understand, we were very close. We shared everything. There was nothing she held back from me. There were so many nights I talked her through a feeling of darkness.”

  Cindy didn’t know why she wasn’t surprised to learn that Shari had been depressed. There’d been no indication of it in the short time they’d met.

  “Sounds like you had an unusual relationship with your daughter,” Mattheus responded to Edward. “Most daughters don’t talk to their fathers like that.”

  “Yes, we did.” Edward began to splutter. “And there’s no way Shari would do something like this to me. She loved me, she cared about the way I felt.”

  “Shari taking her life doesn’t mean that she didn’t love you.” Cindy tried to comfort him. “When a wave of despair comes, it can block everything out. You forget those close by who love you.”

  Edward’s jaw clenched fiercely, and his voice rose. “She didn’t kill herself, I’m positive of it!

  Please, please check it out at least. Shari deserves that much. Take the case, I beg you.”

  Mattheus stepped between Cindy and Edward. “There is no case,” Mattheus said calmly. “There’s no evidence at all that foul play was at work, though it’s natural to suspect it.”

  “How do you know if there was foul play or not if you don’t at least check? How can you say there’s no evidence? No one looked for it!” Edward’s voice rose into a wail.

  Edward was making a good point and Cindy couldn’t deny it. “You have a good point,” Cindy concurred.

  “Thank you, thank you.” His eyes got teary. “Then you’ll take the case?”

  “We didn’t say that,” Mattheus interjected.

  “Why won’t you? Why not?” He couldn’t fathom it.

  “We’re down here on vacation,” Mattheus said simply. “Cindy and I are celebrating our engagement. We’re here to find a wedding venue.”

  Edward’s eyes opened wide. “Just like Shari!”

  “Yes,” said Cindy sadly.

  “What are the chances of that?” Edward exclaimed. “Doug mentioned the two of you to me. He said that he and Shari met a lovely couple, like them, looking for venues. I had no idea it was the two of you.”

  “Yes, it was,” said Mattheus quietly.

  “That can’t be a coincidence!” Edward kept talking. “The four of you must have been brought together to help. Nothing else makes sense.”

  Mattheus let out a long sigh. “I wish we could, I really do,” he responded, “but we’re on vacation now, we’re celebrating our engagement.”

  Edward looked back and forth between them uncomprehendingly. “How can you stop and enjoy a vacation when a murder has been committed right under your nose? Another couple in the same position as you, and one of them is gone!”

  “This was a suicide, not a murder,” Mattheus insisted.

  “That’s not clear yet, though, is it?” Edward insisted. “There’s a chance it wasn’t, right?”

  “There’s always a chance of anything.” Mattheus was growing irritated. “But what are the probabilities? That’s what we consider.”

  “My daughter is more than a probability, sir.” Edward looked offended.

  Cindy stepped back in between them. “Of course there’s a chance it was an accident or murder,” she had to agree, “though the odds are slim.”

  “Just give it a day or two, please! Look things over,” Edward began pleading again. “You can spare a day or two from your vacation, can’t you? Believe me, I’ll make it worth your while. I’ll pay you enough to take care of your entire trip here, and more.”

  “It’s not a matter of money.” Mattheus didn’t like that.

  “What is it a matter of then?” Edward was relentless.

  The elevator suddenly stopped at their floor again and the door opened. Mattheus looked at it and looked at Cindy.

  “Let Mattheus and I talk it over,” Cindy said to Edward then. “This entails a change of plans, you realize.”

  Then the elevator closed abruptly, leaving the three of them still standing there, face to face.

  “Yes, I realize, I realize.” Edward ran his hands over his face. “I’m disrupting your plans, I’m disrupting your life, but what choice do I have? My daughter has just been killed. Am I supposed to pretend that nothing happened?”

  “You’re not supposed to pretend anything.” Cindy put her hand on his arm. “Of course you want the truth, of course you want justice.”

  “Exactly, exactly.” Edward’s eyes opened. “I have to have justice or I’ll never be at peace and neither will Shari.”

  “I know just how you feel,” said Cindy.

  “Thank you, thank you.” Edward’s eyes filled with tears. “Then you’ll take the case? You’ll take it?”

  “Cindy and I have to talk this over and come to a decision,” Mattheus interrupted. “We’ll let you know in a little while.”

  *

  Mattheus refused to say another word until he and Cindy were downstairs, out of the lobby and back outside at the pool.

  “We’ll have breakfast at the pool and talk it over then,” Mattheus said as Cindy began making comments about Shari.

  Cindy forced herself to r
emain silent until she and Mattheus were sitting outside under an umbrella and their breakfast had been served. Mattheus would come to his senses after he had something to eat, she hoped. First he needed time to drink his coffee and wolf down his scrambled eggs. Cindy herself only picked at her food. Her appetite left her as she wondered what really happened to the fragile young woman she had shared time with only the day before.

  “Okay, let’s talk it over,” Mattheus finally said as he pushed his plate away and stretched his legs out. “This situation has obviously taken hold of you.”

  Cindy put her coffee cup down gingerly. “How could it not?” she replied straightforwardly.

  “I’ll give you that,” Mattheus consented. “A case can certainly grip a person, but it doesn’t follow that they jump to take it on.”

  Cindy tried to remain calm and centered. “True,” she replied slowly.

  Mattheus seemed encouraged. “I mean there are endless suicides and murders going on all the time in the Caribbean. It’s rotten, it’s painful, but it doesn’t mean it’s up to us to solve each one of them.”

  “Of course not,” Cindy agreed. “But I didn’t go looking for this case, and neither did you.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Mattheus.

  “I mean the case slapped itself down right in front of us.” Cindy felt unnerved. “We had personal contact with the victim.”

  “I don’t usually call someone who commits suicide a victim,” Mattheus snapped. “They’re the victim of themselves, maybe, but that’s not my particular line of work.”

  “Why are you so convinced this is a suicide?” Cindy retorted.

  “No reason to think anything else,” Mattheus proclaimed. “There’s a note and the body shows no sign of a struggle.”

  “Someone could have pushed her from behind,” Cindy responded.

  “And from what the police told us, the last one to see her alive, the fiancé, has a perfect alibi. He was in the bar when it happened,” Mattheus went on.

  “Someone else could have been involved,” Cindy kept musing.

  “Anyone could be involved with anything,” Mattheus replied. “That and ten cents buys you a piece of candy.”

  “What’s wrong with you, Mattheus?” Cindy stopped in her tracks. “I don’t remember seeing this side of you. You’re usually interested, you usually care.”

  “Right now I’m interested in the two of us,” Mattheus blurted out. “We need our time together. We’re engaged now, remember?”

  “Of course I remember,” said Cindy, startled by the tone of his voice.

  “Once we’re settled and married, it will be easier.” Mattheus calmed down a bit. “We won’t have to worry about whether or not we’re going to last.”

  “Do you worry about that?” asked Cindy, stunned.

  “No, but it’s different once you make that kind of commitment. When rough times come, you have a solid ground to stand on.” Mattheus had clearly thought a lot about it.

  “We’ve already made a commitment,” Cindy reminded him. “An engagement’s a commitment.”

  “But it’s not complete yet,” Mattheus insisted. “An engagement is one thing, a marriage another. Anything can happen during an engagement, and plenty of times it does.”

  “So you feel once we have the venue, set the date and let people know, we’ll be that much more solid?” Cindy echoed.

  “That’s right, you got it.” Mattheus began to relax. “There have been so many things that have come between us, Cindy, I can’t bear the thought of going through it one more time again. I love you, I want you, I want this settled.”

  Was love something that you could grab onto and settle? Cindy wondered. Wasn’t it always changing, with risks of going through ups and downs? Didn’t there always have to be times when the two of you weren’t close enough to each other?

  “I understand how you feel,” said Cindy warmly, though, wanting to reassure him. “I love you, too, Mattheus. I want this to work. From where I stand, it is working. There’s nothing getting between us.”

  “This case could, though,” Mattheus quickly remarked.

  Cindy felt bewildered. “How?”

  “I don’t want to take it.” Mattheus was firm. “I’m sorry for the family, but it’s none of our concern. We didn’t come down here to get distracted. It’s a vacation, remember?”

  “Yes, of course I remember, but what would be so bad about giving it just a few days?” Cindy didn’t see how she could say no to Shari’s father. “If it’s really a suicide, it will become clear quickly. And at least the family will feel better about it, the lingering doubt will be gone.”

  “Families never feel better about a suicide,” Mattheus disagreed. “It’s easier for them to deal with a murder. Then they can focus on getting justice and don’t have to blame themselves for what happened.”

  “Easier or harder, it’s the truth that matters.” Cindy was emphatic.

  “Cindy, please.” Mattheus got up, put his arms around her and drew her close to him. “This is our time, I need you.”

  “I need you, too, Mattheus,” Cindy murmured. “But how can I enjoy our vacation with the thought of Shari’s father pleading for help? Why does it have to be one way or the other? We can afford to give him a couple of days. Then the rest of the time will belong to us.”

  “There’s always something, isn’t there?” Mattheus muttered.

  “What’s wrong with that?” said Cindy. “If we just take what comes and go with it, then it doesn’t have to become a problem. It’s just what’s happening now.”

  “In your eyes maybe there’s no problem,” said Mattheus. “I happen to feel differently, though.”

  Cindy pulled slightly away from him and ran her hands through her moist, tangled hair. This was not what she wanted, she hadn’t chosen it, but how could she go looking for her own wedding venue with the ghost of Shari on her mind?

  Mattheus’s voice suddenly got loud and taut. “Oh God, look who’s coming. The guy’s a loose cannon, he’s on our trail.”

  Startled, Cindy looked over and saw Shari’s father barreling straight toward them.

  “Edward’s a father whose daughter has died suddenly.” Cindy tried to quiet Mattheus down. She remembered how she’d felt when she’d learned that Clint had suddenly died on their honeymoon. It was unbearable. Shari’s father had to be going through the same thing.

  “So, what are we supposed to do about the fact that he’s lost his daughter?” asked Mattheus.

  “Cut him a break,” said Cindy, as Edward came up close up to them. “Give him a couple of days.”

  “What have you decided, what have you decided?” Edward asked breathlessly when he got a couple of feet away. “I need to know, I can’t stand it.”

  Cindy stood up and took his hands. “We’ll give you a couple of days to look into things,” she offered.

  “Oh my God, oh my God.” Edward flung his arms wildly around Cindy. “Thank you, thank you. I needed to hear that. Thank you. You’ll never know what this means to me.”

  Chapter 4

  After breakfast Cindy headed straight to the police station and Mattheus went back up to their room. Before she left she promised that she’d only spend a couple of days checking things out.

  “Famous last words,” Mattheus grumbled. “You know as well as I that investigations have a way of winding and stretching themselves out.”

  “This is not an investigation,” Cindy insisted, looking at him pleadingly. “It’s just taking a couple of days to gather some facts that will help a grieving family.”

  “Do what you have to.” Mattheus shrugged. “I’ve been there, I know the craving to jump into trouble and to let it run your life. I’ve been addicted to the work, too.”

  Cindy resented Mattheus calling her need to help an addiction. Let him call it what he liked, she finally figured, he would come around, he always did. Cindy planned to be true to her word as well. She would keep it simple, talk to the po
lice, the fiancé and family and take a good look at the suicide note. Then she’d visit the crime scene and look around carefully. If something was out of order she’d sniff it

  immediately. After that she’d feel better and she and Mattheus could continue on enjoying Aruba and finding the right venue for their wedding. The pain of Shari’s father wouldn’t be able to grip Cindy so hard anymore.

  Before showing up at the police station, Cindy decided to call them to let the police know she was on the case, would be investigating. As soon as she told that to the officer who picked up, he asked her to hold on while he went to get Ben Silte, the chief.

  “What’s this?” Ben asked in a gruff tone, as soon as he picked up.

  “Shari’s father hired us to look further into her death,” Cindy informed him plainly. “I’m hoping we can join forces and share information.”

  A strange silence greeted her on the other end of the phone. “There’s no reason for this,” Ben finally commented, “it’s not a good idea.”

  “Why not?” Cindy felt peeved.

  “There’s nothing to share, no suspects, no reason to think anything’s amiss,” Ben went on. “If you get involved you’re just going to blow it up into bad publicity for all of us. The papers are always hungry for a story like this.”

  “Shari’s father is extremely distraught,” Cindy replied, hoping Ben would understand.

  “Of course he is.” Ben grew gruffer. “His daughter just took her life. Everyone in the family is always distraught. They go crazy, why shouldn’t they? They all look to blame someone for what happened, too. It doesn’t mean we have to go along with them.”

  “Edward’s not looking to blame anyone,” said Cindy. “He just wants us to check and make absolutely sure there was no foul play. That seems reasonable to me.”

  “Honey, there’s nothing reasonable about someone dying just before she’s about to get married,” Ben grumbled.

  Cindy realized, of course, that it was so. There had been nothing reasonable about losing her husband, Clint, either, right on their honeymoon.