by Jaden Skye
“Not yet,” grumbled Mattheus.
“All kinds of crazy stuff goes on at the casino,” Darrin continued, “lots of players from the drug ring hang out down there.”
“Could Vinny be a dealer?” Mattheus wouldn’t let go. “Could he be running drugs through his used car dealership?”
“Anything is possible,” Darrin replied, “but so far it looks like he’s on the up and up. There’s no sign of money or drugs passing through his hands. Seems like he and Shane come down here regularly and play the tables, and that’s about it.”
“No big debts piled up for either of them?” Mattheus dug in further.
Cindy was fascinated watching Mattheus, wondering exactly what he was expecting.
“No,” Darrin answered directly, “nothing like that’s come up. Shane had a good job back home doing medical massage at a local clinic and he runs his car dealership. Their finances are in good order.”
“You wouldn’t think so,” Mattheus commented.
“Why not?” asked Darrin.
“Two people who spend their time hanging at the casino all night?” Mattheus commented.
“You can’t arrest them for that.” Darrin became irritated. “Lots of people enjoy the casinos, they’re a big attraction down here and a big source of income, too.”
Cindy sighed and put her hand on Mattheus’s arm. “Looks like the police have got a terrific head start.”
“We had to.” Darrin looked at Cindy appreciatively. “With all the scrutiny turning our way, we’re not looking for any surprises.”
Cindy and Mattheus thanked Darrin, got some coffee, and then went back into his office to be present when Rowley and Rod arrived.
*
When Rowley walked in, he looked depressed and defeated and Rod seemed dazed.
“Thanks for coming,” Darrin greeted them personally and asked them to sit down near his desk.
“Terrible news about the dead woman,” Rowley offered the moment he took a seat.
“Awful,” Rod agreed, “but at least it wasn’t Kara. We all went through hell for a few hours when we thought it was her.”
“That had to be rough,” Darrin agreed.
“Just as rough as still not having any answers.” Rod’s eyes narrowed.
“I can’t tell you how sorry I am about that,” Darrin remarked.
“So, what do you want us here for now?” Rod was becoming pugnacious.
“Just a few more questions,” said Darrin. “Your friends are here too,” and he motioned to Cindy and Mattheus sitting on the side.
Rod was startled to see Mattheus there, and also looked relieved. “You didn’t tell me you were going to be here,” he called out to Mattheus.
“I didn’t know you were going to be here either,” Mattheus responded.
“Okay”—Rod turned back to Darrin—“ask me whatever you want.”
“Not just you,” Darrin said softly then. “We also want to hear from Rowley.”
“The kid’s been through enough,” exclaimed Rod.
“Just a few questions,” Darrin promised.
Rod nodded. “Go ahead.”
“Rowley,” Darrin started, “did you or Kara know Shane or her boyfriend, Vinny, at all?”
“I never saw them before,” said Rowley, looking blank.
“What about Kara?” Darrin persisted. ”Did she know either of them?”
“I’m sure she didn’t know them either,” said Rowley.
“How can you be so sure?” asked Darrin.
Rowley looked up at him sadly. “I knew all of Kara’s friends,” he said.
“Okay, Rowley,” Darrin went on officially then, “as far as you know, did you or Kara do drugs?”
Rowley squirmed in his seat. “I’ve already answered that question,” Rowley remarked.
“I have to ask you again now,” said Darrin.
“We did not do drugs,” said Rowley.
“This is an important question, Rowley, think carefully,” Darrin repeated.
“Neither Kara nor I did drugs,” Rowley repeated. “If Kara did drugs she could never have worked at the shelter. They’re absolutely fanatic about no drug use there.”
“I can second that,” Rod burst out then. “My daughter never would have taken drugs for any reason.”
“Okay, good,” said Darrin, “just checking again. We have to completely rule out the drug ring from both cases. Thank you.” Darrin nodded officially. “And I have to ask you, Rowley, and your extended family to remain on the island until the medical examiner’s report for Shane is complete. This is just a routine request. We don’t know what we’ll find yet and we need to have all the people involved in both incidents present in case something unexpected turns up.”
“I understand,” Rod acquiesced immediately, while Rowley continued to stay silent and sad.
“Thank you for coming, that’s all then for now,” Darrin said finally. “Be assured our investigations are continuing and that no stone will be left unturned in our efforts to find Kara and to find Shane’s killer as well.”
CHAPTER 11
Fortunately, Rod went back with Rowley, and Mattheus and Cindy were finally alone.
It seemed like forever since they’d had time by themselves. It was important now to go over what they’d discovered now and plan their next steps.
“Let’s get some decent lunch,” Mattheus said, as Rod and Rowley walked out of sight. “We could use some time to thaw out.”
“You can say that again,” said Cindy. “How about taking a few hours and going over to Pigeon Point National Park?” Cindy suddenly had a craving to leave their usual habitat and spend some time in a new environment. It would change their outlook on everything. “I heard it’s beautiful there.” Cindy tried to be cheery. “There’s a beach, two restaurants, and incredible landscaped grounds.”
“It’s where they hold the jazz festival every year, isn’t it?” said Mattheus. “I always wanted to go to that.”
“Great,” said Cindy, “it’ll be good to take a break.” Cindy noticed that she did not add that Pigeon Point was also a favorite destination of wedding planners. That wasn’t something she wanted to bring up though. The idea of marriage, of planning a wedding, was the furthest thing from her mind right now.
“How long will it take to get there?” asked Mattheus, looking at his watch. “We’ve got a lot on our plate for the rest of the day.”
“Not long,” Cindy urged. “And it’ll be worth the time, believe me.”
Mattheus agreed, hailed a cab, and they took off. Cindy felt relieved leaving town, having a chance to spend time under the wide, blue, unencumbered skies. As they drove she could feel the sense of burden slowly drifting away.
“This island is so lush,” she commented, “even a few hours in nature will mean a lot.”
“Absolutely,” Mattheus murmured. “I could use it, too.”
Cindy was glad to hear that. Before they got very far though, Cindy’s phone rang. She
looked up at Mattheus as if to say, should I pick it up? Is it okay to catch a few hours with no
one to answer to under the sun?
“Take it,” Mattheus replied quickly. “We really shouldn’t be leaving town at this point anyway, even if it’s only for a few hours.”
Cindy took her phone and answered immediately.
“Cindy, it’s Alfred.” The voice on the other end sounded garbled, but Cindy quickly recognized who it was. “I’m freaking out,” he continued, his words falling all over each other.
“What happened? What’s wrong?” Cindy suddenly felt afraid. Did something new just turn up? Had Kara surfaced?
“I’m freaking out about the dead woman on the beach!” Alfred went on. “It’s awful, it’s horrible!”
“Yes, it is,” Cindy spoke in an even keel, trying to calm him down.
“I’m sure it’s a warning.” Alfred sounded panicky.
“What’s it a warning of, Alfred?” Cindy knew that Alfred exag
gerated things and could easily go over the edge. She tried not to get caught up in his panic.
“It’s obviously a warning that Kara is next,” he breathed into the phone. “There’s no question about it, first this woman, then Kara. They’re letting us know.”
“That’s pure speculation, Alfred,” Cindy responded. “You don’t know how what happened to the woman, nothing at all. There’s no reason to believe that she and Kara even knew each other or that they’re going to harm Kara now.”
“I have every reason, every.” Alfred’s voice dropped into a raspy sound. “I’ve upped my investigation big time, and there’s more to tell you. First of all the woman’s name is Shane. Secondly, I believe they killed her because I was getting too close to finding Kara. Meet me in person and I’ll tell you what I found.”
“I’m not in town right now,” Cindy answered hurriedly. “Can it wait a couple of hours?”
“No, it cannot wait.” Alfred was put off. “But call me the second you return. I’ll be waiting to hear from you.”
“Okay,” said Cindy, “a couple of hours.”
“Where are you, anyway?” Alfred suddenly grew curious. “What are you doing that’s so important?”
“I’m with Mattheus,” Cindy replied
“Oh, him.” Alfred’s voice was dripping with scorn.
“Is there something wrong?” Cindy was offended.
“We’ll talk when I see you. Not a word until then,” Alfred replied as he quickly hung up the phone.
“That guy’s nuts,” Mattheus remarked after Cindy hung up.
“Why do you say that? You don’t know him. You haven’t met him, have you?” asked Cindy.
“He and I haven’t talked, but I’ve seen him around,” said Mattheus. “But Rod told me all about him. Rod absolutely can’t stand him, never could. He always tried to pry Kara away from Alfred, couldn’t understand why they were so close.”
Cindy felt put off. Despite Alfred’s sometimes overly dramatic style, Cindy liked him a great deal.
“Exactly what’s wrong with him?” she asked, defensive.
“Rod said the guy’s creepy, lives in a world of his own. He gets an idea in his head and won’t let go. Everyone thought he was strange when he was growing up. No one in town expected he ever would amount to anything.”
“But they were wrong, weren’t they?” Cindy felt offended. “Alfred’s doing just fine, he has a good job, and he’s a terrifically loyal friend.”
“The guy’s a graphic designer for horror novels,” Mattheus commented, condescendingly.
“So, what wrong with that?” asked Cindy. “He’s making a living as an artist. Good for him.”
“Call him what you want,” Mattheus dug in, “the guy’s off the charts in lots of ways.”
“So, what does it say about Kara then, if the two of them were always so close?” Cindy shot back.
“Believe me, I’ve wondered about that myself,” Mattheus retorted. “At the very least it says Kara wasn’t totally the person she presented to the world.”
“Well put,” thought Cindy, wondering what it was about Kara that no one had seen or focused on yet.
*
Pigeon Point was even more magnificent than Cindy could have ever imagined. Filled with incredible birds singing in trees and exotic flowers, the delicious salty smell of ocean greeted you wherever you went.
“I heard there are iguanas nesting right here under these trees,” said Cindy as she and Mattheus walked along. They were headed to one of the fabulous restaurants on the island and for a brief few moments, it felt as though nothing had ever gone wrong. It just seemed as though they were back on vacation, trying to see where their relationship would go.
Cindy and Mattheus arrived at the restaurant, and when they went in, to their surprise it was completely packed. There was a sense of incredible joviality inside, with people waving and talking loudly to one another from one table to the next. Cindy felt as if they’d crashed a large party where everybody knew each other well.
“What’s going on?” asked Mattheus, looking around.
“The Love Conference is about to start.” The maître d’ smiled at them. “Wedding planners from all over come here for the week. We host this conference every year.”
Mattheus looked ill at ease. “Not even one table left?” he asked.
“So sorry, sir, everything’s reserved,” the man started to say.
Mattheus went into his pocket and held out some cash.
“Well, maybe one table left somewhere, let me look again,” the maître d’ said, and scurried to the back of the room.
“It’s noisy here,” Cindy commented, looking around, suddenly feeling sad.
“And it’s packed,” Mattheus added. “Want to try another place?”
Cindy and Mattheus looked at each other oddly. It wasn’t fitting for them to join in the jubilation of the Love Conference right now and both of them realized it. Neither wanted to be surrounded by wedding planners who had gathered here to create incredible scenarios that fulfilled a couple’s life-long wedding dreams.
“Let’s go to the restaurant on the other side of the park,” Cindy suggested immediately as she and Mattheus edged backwards out the door.
*
Mattheus and Cindy ate quickly at the other restaurant, carefully avoiding mentioning the wedding planners, or what in the world the future held for them. This case was cutting close to home, particularly for Mattheus. Being back in touch with Rod after all these years was having a strong effect on him. Cindy wondered if being with his old friend made Mattheus want to go back to the States, or do something different with his life. This wasn’t the time to talk about it, though. For now they had to stay focused on Kara and Shane.
“From where I’m sitting at this moment,” Mattheus started as they were well into their meal, “I don’t see a connection between Kara’s case and Shane’s.”
“There has to be.” Cindy was surprised to hear Mattheus be so definitive. “It’s too coincidental for a dead woman to turn up on the same beach that Kara was swimming on when she disappeared.”
“It’s coincidental, it’s circumstantial,” Mattheus agreed, “but there doesn’t seem to be the slightest link between them.”
“Not yet,” insisted Cindy.
Mattheus’s jaw set. “Cindy, I know you have to continue searching to the very last drop,” Mattheus finally said. “I understand it. We’ve discussed it many times.”
“It’s too soon to come to any conclusions here.” Cindy felt emphatic about this.
“The medical examiner’s report will be in shortly,” Mattheus continued, “and that will tie things up.”
“What do you mean tie them up?” Cindy was stunned.
“I doubt very much that the report will link Kara and Shane in any way,” Mattheus continued. “I don’t see how.”
“But we still have to find out what happened to Shane,” Cindy was insistent.
“No, we don’t, Cindy.” Mattheus put his hand over hers. “That’s a completely different situation. We’re not working on Shane’s case, we’re working on Kara’s, and unless there’s a connection between them, our work will soon be done.”
“Done?” Cindy was horrified. “How can you say that?”
“Kara’s body is gone, it hasn’t turned up. By now, it probably never will. Our job is to help her family live through this nightmare. To somehow make peace with the fact that their daughter probably drowned in the ocean!”
“Probably isn’t good enough, Mattheus.” Cindy stood her ground.
“No tips or leads have come in,” Mattheus insisted, “not one. That itself tells you something. We could spend years searching here to no avail. That’s a trap, that’s a danger.”
“The fact that no leads have come in is strange in itself,” Cindy agreed. ”There’s always a sighting by someone.”
“If the person’s alive,” Mattheus insisted.
“And if she’s not alive? If someone
killed her?” Cindy refused to let go.
Mattheus couldn’t stand it. “If, if, if can drive you crazy. And it can drive the family crazy too. As I said, my responsibility now is to help the family come to terms with all of this.”
“And how do you plan to do that?” Cindy felt totally left out.
“By spending time with them, by being a friend,” Mattheus replied.
“You would help them more if you found their daughter, or at least found a solid lead as to how she died,” Cindy answered briskly.
Mattheus looked stricken. “Yes, that would be better,” he agreed. “But you don’t win all of them, sometimes you fail. Cases go cold, missing persons stay missing for years and years. It’s not always in our hands.”
Cindy grew quiet. Mattheus was right, he was kind, he was practical. But deep within she couldn’t go along with it. Somehow, she felt Kara was still alive.
“Take some time to yourself, unwind,” Mattheus went on now. He wasn’t inviting her to spend time with him and the family, thought Cindy.
“You’d rather spend time with the family alone?” she asked.
Mattheus leaned closer. “It’s not that I would rather, it’s that Rod feels uneasy with others around at this point. It’s nothing personal.”
But it was personal and Cindy felt it. “Rod doesn’t like me, does he, Mattheus?” Cindy asked.
“He’s not totally himself at this time,” Mattheus responded. “How can he be?”
“Of course he can’t, but that doesn’t answer my question. Rod doesn’t like me one bit, does he?” she repeated.
“No, he doesn’t,” said Mattheus.
“Why not?” asked Cindy.
“Rod doesn’t know for sure,” Mattheus continued. “He just said I’ve changed so much he barely recognizes me. He thinks it has something to do with our relationship.”
A surge of rage rose through Cindy. Why hadn’t Mattheus defended their relationship, why hadn’t he told Rod how much Cindy meant to him?
“How many years has it been since Rod’s seen you?” Cindy shot back. “What’s gone on in your life all that time? I wasn’t there all those years, was I, Mattheus?”
