by Jaden Skye
“When my parents get here, they’ll get him tossed out,” he said.
“You’re expecting your parents soon?” asked Cindy.
“Any minute,” said Clay. “Their flight was delayed twice, for no apparent reason. But they’re on their way now, they’re horrified.”
Mattheus nodded. “You’re close to your parents?”
“Very,” Clay breathed. “My parents are best friends. They’ve always been. They’ll do anything in the world for me. I work for my father’s firm.”
“How lovely,” Cindy smiled gently. It wasn’t often that she heard that.
Clay spoke more forcefully then. “Lovely for them and for me. It tears me up to think how upset and hurt they are now.”
Mattheus moved closer and Clay looked at him oddly. “Are you two together?” he asked suddenly.
“We work together,” Mattheus informed him.
Clay looked back and forth between them. Mattheus’s answer didn’t seem to satisfy him. He wanted more.
“Are you engaged? Are you married?” Clay wanted the details urgently.
Cindy wasn’t sure what to make of it and Mattheus took over promptly.
“We’re not engaged or married,” said Mattheus, “why do you ask?”
Clay shrugged and motioned for them to sit down at the table that stood near the window.
“Would you like some tea?” Clay asked, as though he were suddenly inviting them to his apartment for refreshment.
“No thanks,” said Mattheus, sitting down, “not right now.”
Clay sat down with them and poured himself a cup of tea.
“Why did you want to know if we were engaged or married?” Mattheus didn’t want to let it go.
“You look like you are,” said Clay, casually. “I always like to guess which couples are married, which are engaged and which are just drifting around. It makes a difference to me. I prefer to be with couples who are married.”
“We heard that you just got engaged yourself,” Cindy chimed in, not wanting to answer any further questions about her personal life.
Clay put his cup of tea down abruptly. His face flushed and his eyes brightened.
“Yes, Kate and I had just gotten engaged,” his voice rang out oddly. “She was thrilled, delirious, couldn’t have been more excited. After the proposal we went to celebrate with dinner and dancing.”
“I saw you there,” murmured Cindy softly. “You were sitting at the table besides ours.”
Clay didn’t register it. “I don’t remember,” he said, “all I remember is how happy we were, how beautiful she looked. She wore an amazing, blue silk dress.”
Cindy remembered it well.
“After dinner we went back up to our room,” Clay continued, “I had a few more drinks than usual and fell asleep, but Kate stayed up posting the good news all over Facebook. You can read it for yourself. You can see how much it meant to her, how happy she was. Her computer is on the patio.”
Cindy was eager to see Kate’s Facebook page, read what she’d said. “I’d love to look at it,” she said.
“Anytime you want,” said Clay.
“Everything was perfect between you?” asked Mattheus.
“Yes,” Clay insisted, “the only strange thing that happened is that while we were at dinner, an old boyfriend of Kate’s turned up. He and his date happened to be staying at the hotel. Kate was so surprised to see him, but she was too polite to tell him to leave. He and his date joined us for a little while.”
“Did that bother you?” asked Mattheus.
“Not at all,” said Clay. “What can you do? These things happen. People run into each other without warning all the time.”
That was the other couple Cindy had seen. Cindy reviewed the scene once again in her memory. The guy who was part of the other couple was Kate’s ex-boyfriend. That was news. He’d seemed upset.
“Are you sure he was Kate’s old boyfriend?” Cindy was fascinated.
“Of course I’m sure,” Clay didn’t like being doubted. “Kate introduced us. What choice did she have?”
Mattheus was all over it. “Did you get the guy’s name?”
“His name was Sean,” Clay continued. “Sean’s date’s name was Riva. Sean and Kate had gone out for a long time, I heard.”
“Really?” Mattheus moved in, “how long?”
“I don’t know exactly,” said Clay. “But Kate didn’t keep it from me. She told me all about it while we were corresponding. Sean cheated on her with this girl Riva and he and Kate broke up.” Clay sighed again and ran his hands over his face. This was becoming too much for him to bear. “That’s why she went online looking for someone new. That’s why she and I met. Sean wanted to get back together again, but Kate wouldn’t hear of it. Kate was beautiful, she was proud, she was elegant. She was meant for me, not him. The minute we met I knew it.”
“Exactly how did you meet?”“ Cindy burst in.
Clay suddenly perked up. “We met online, a chance encounter, can you believe it?”
“Yes, I can,” said Cindy.
“The minute we met we were both so excited. We emailed and texted all day long. There was so much to say, it never stopped flowing. We filled each other in on everything. Even though we lived in different cities, I felt as though she were there beside me all the time.” Clay’s face began to flush, “I waited so long for the right woman, I couldn’t believe she actually showed up.” Clay looked at Cindy and Mattheus with desperation. “Do you know what it feels like to meet the one and only person that is truly meant for you?”
Cindy and Mattheus stared at him unmoving.
“Do you know? Tell me!”
“Why do you care, what difference does it make?” asked Mattheus.
“Because you can’t understand me unless it’s happened to you. Meeting the one person meant for you is absolutely different from meeting anyone else. The minute it happens you know who you are, your loneliness goes, forever!”
Cindy trembled as Clay spoke. Had that happened to her ever with either Mattheus or Clint?
Had it happened to Mattheus? Did he feel that way about Cindy?
Clay slammed his hands on the table, “And now my loneliness is back again, and will never leave. Ever.”
“Do you remember hearing someone banging at your door that night?” Mattheus interrupted, wanting to get back to the facts.
“I don’t remember hearing anything,” Clay said, looking around. “I had too much to drink, I slept like a rock.”
“You don’t remember hearing anyone yelling, either?” Cindy asked.
“No, no!” Clay’s face looked anguished. “If I’d heard it I would have woken up and called the police! I would have protected her. I loved her.”
“I know you did,” said Cindy softly.
“When I woke up in the morning she wasn’t there. Where was she?” Clay began reliving the morning as he spoke. “I thought she was playing with me, hiding for fun. I looked in the bathroom, I looked around the room. I couldn’t find her. I even got annoyed.” He started trembling.
“It’s okay,” Mattheus put his hand on Clay’s arm.
“It’s not okay,” Clay began yelling. “She’s gone, she’s gone. When I looked down off the patio, there she was laying on the ground.” Clay covered his eyes as if to block out the image. “Where is she now? Tell me.”
“We’d better back off,” Cindy said to Mattheus. “This is too much for him at the moment. He’s not ready to talk.”
Mattheus agreed. “I’m so sorry, Clay, “he said softly. We’ll find out more what happened and help you with this.”
“How can you help me? Can you bring Kate back?” Clay yelled louder.
“No, we can’t,” said Mattheus somber.
“We only knew each other for three months, but those three months meant more than my whole lifetime. I want my parents, I want my mother,” Clay looked at them suddenly as if they were strangers.
“Your parents will be here in a few
minutes,” said Cindy.
“Thank God,” said Clay, as his head fell and his chest heaved in huge sobs.
*
After the policeman came back in, Cindy and Mattheus left Clay’s room and went down to the lobby, shaken. They needed a little while to talk before Cindy went back up and went through Kate’s Facebook page on the computer. She and Mattheus had to go over their plan of action and also discuss their interview with Clay. Mattheus was eager to talk about it, too.
“The guys’s a wreck,” Mattheus started. “Can’t say I blame him. Been there myself.”
“Thank God his parents are coming,” said Cindy.
“And what about this ex-boyfriend, Sean, who joined them at their table?” Mattheus was all over it. “That’s big. The police haven’t said a thing about him. Do they even know he was here? Is this guy still at the hotel?”
“Good questions,” said Cindy.
“Sean’s got to be stopped from leaving and talked to right away,” Mattheus was emphatic.
“You tell the police about him when I go back upstairs to look at Kate’s computer,” said Cindy.
“Absolutely,” said Mattheus.
“It actually amazing that the police have been on the case all this while and we haven’t heard about the ex boyfriend before,” Cindy muttered. “And, there’d been trouble between him and Kate, too. He cheated and she wouldn’t forgive him. Who knows if he really met her here by accident? How do we know he didn’t come down purposely?”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” said Mattheus. “We have to find out more about him and if he’s still here. We’ll talk to him and research him online.”
“It’s amazing that the police aren’t onto this,” breathed Cindy.
“Not amazing,” Mattheus said, “just the way things work down here.”
“They want to tie it up with a suicide,” Cindy muttered.
“Yeah, but what they want and what will happen can easily be two different things,” Mattheus was heated, had become involved.
Cindy looked at him and smiled. “You’re on it. You care,” she said.
“Of course I care, I always cared,” Mattheus muttered. “I just cared about us as well.”
Cindy paused and lowered her eyes then, thinking of what Clay had said about Kate.
“Mattheus,” she looked up quickly, wanting to take it one next step.
“What?” he asked curious.
“Do you feel about me the way Clay said he felt about Kate? That you know who you are when you’re with me? That I take your loneliness away?”
Mattheus was silent for a long moment.
“I think the real question is, do you feel that way about me, Cindy?” he finally replied.
CHAPTER 9
When Cindy got back upstairs and went into Clay’s room, his back was to her again and he was standing immobile, staring out the window at the sky.
“Hi, Clay,” Cindy said softly as she entered.
Seemingly lost in thought, he did not move or respond.
“I came to look at the computer,” Cindy continued, is that okay?”
Clay nodded briefly and then became motionless once again.
The policeman in the room got up and led Cindy out to the patio, where the laptop was on a table, closed.
“This guy’s in shock,” the cop said under his breath. “Stands like that for hours, just looking at the sky. Doesn’t hear a thing I say to him.”
“It takes time,” Cindy whispered softly.
The cop pulled out a chair at the table for Cindy, and she sat down and opened it up.
“Want some water or something?” he said.
“No, I’m fine, thanks,” said Cindy, eager to dip more fully into Kate’s life. The answer to what had happened to her had to be close by. Maybe as close as her computer, that was waiting silently on the table.
As soon as Cindy opened it up, Kate’s Facebook page appeared. It was bursting full of excitement, photos and messages. On the top of the page was a picture of Kate and Clay, smiling at each other. Apparently it was recent, taken down here in Aruba.
ENGAGED, the big headline over the photo read, with a photo spray of flowers underneath. Then came Kate’s message to the world.
“We did it. It happened! It’s official. Clay and I are engaged. I couldn’t be more excited and thrilled. He’s the perfect one for me. We are so, so, so happy together. This is everything I’ve ever dreamed of. Clay proposed on the top of a cliff, looking down at the ocean. We can’t bear to be apart any longer. This is the start of a whole, new life.”
Cindy scrolled through the messages that came in response. Amazed, friends from all over sent congratulations.
“Wow, that was fast.”
“I love you Kate, I want you to be happy.”
“Oh my God, this can’t be true. I’m sure he’s as wonderful as you say and we can’t wait to meet him.”
“He looks great, so handsome. Wow.”
“I can’t believe it, Engaged? Already?”
Kate had quickly replied to the first messages that came in.
“It’s true. It’s happened, I’ve never been so happy and I know you’ll see why when you meet him.”
Some other messages were more hesitant. “What do you mean engaged? You barely know him. Give this time, Kate. It’s been a long distance relationship. How many times have you and Clay actually been together, face to face?”
“What about Sean?” another message said. “I’d say you’re jumping the gun. Be careful.”
Another message was halting. Must have been from a friend of Sean’s.
“Come on, Kate, this is on the rebound. You and Sean just barely broke up. It’s too soon. Give yourself a chance. I know you were hurt, but -.”
Cindy stopped and read the last two messages over a few times. Kate had been hurt by Sean and soon after that she and Clay met.
Cindy looked through Kate’s friends, trying to find Sean’s photo. It wasn’t there. He’d been de-friended a few weeks before. It made sense.
As Cindy kept scanning the page, she looked up and saw that Clay had stepped out on the patio and was sitting on a chair at the end, watching her.
“Do you happen to remember Sean’s last name?” Cindy called to him. She wanted to look at Sean’s page as well.
“No I don’t, Kate never told me,” said Clay. “Sean wasn’t important to her anymore. She didn’t talk much about him. Why should she, she had me now.”
“I know,” said Cindy, “but sometimes girl’s like to talk about what happened with their ex.”
Clay bristled, stood up and walked over to Cindy.
“I don’t really consider him her ex, I consider him her nothing,” he said, tossing the idea aside with the flick of a hand.
“Her Facebook page says she was hurt by Sean,” countered Cindy, waiting to see how Clay would respond. “It also said that you and she just recently met each other.”
Clay stopped walking and froze again. “You don’t understand,” he finally said. “Time means nothing when you meet your soul mate.”
Cindy shivered as he spoke.
“Kate didn’t talk about Sean, but she did talk about his girl, Riva,” Clay continued. “Kate blamed Riva for stealing Sean away. She said Riva was a nasty, low life.”
“What did you say?” asked Cindy.
“I told her that Sean was the loser, that they probably deserved each other. And, that no one could ever hold a candle to her,” said Clay.
“Kate must have liked that,” said Cindy.
“She did,” Clay agreed, “she liked everything about me, adored me, felt completely wanted by me. But she still would go on about what an awful person Riva was. I was surprised when I actually met Riva that night.”
“Surprised?” asked Cindy.
“I didn’t think she was so awful,” said Clay. “She seemed sweet to me. And, since Kate’s died, she’s been emailing me to offer support.”
Cindy shuddered. Then it struck
her like a bolt. “Emailing you? She’s still here in the hotel? Sean’s still with her?”
“Yes, of course,” said Clay.
“Of course? Some guests have been cleared to leave,” said Cindy. “How do you know they haven’t?”
“I just got an email from Riva a couple of hours ago. She said they were staying at the hotel for another few days.”
“Do you happen to know their room number?” asked Cindy.
“Of course I don’t. Why would I?” Clay was becoming perturbed again.
“It’s okay, thanks Clay,” Cindy’s heart started beating fast.
“Do you want to see the emails Riva sent me?” asked Clay his eyes growing wide.
Cindy just wanted to get out of there and let Mattheus know that both Sean and Riva were still at the hotel, but she also wanted to look at the emails he’d received.
“Sure, show them to me.”
Clay came over, took the computer and soon brought up their correspondence.
Clay, I’m so, so sorry to hear about what happened to Kate. It’s shocking. It’s awful. I can’t believe it. Riva.
Thanks Riva, appreciate it, Clay replied.
I can’t stop thinking about this, Clay, the second email said. If there’s anything at all you need from me, please let me know. Kate was such a sweet, sweet girl. Riva.
Cindy found that odd. She wondered why Riva made no mention of Sean at all. Why didn’t she say they were sorry?
“Are Riva and Sean sharing a room?” Cindy asked as she read the correspondence.
“Sure,” said Clay, “why?”
“She never once mentions him,” said Cindy. “She doesn’t say we’re sorry, just that she is.”
Clay stood up straighter. “Why should she mention him? She doesn’t want to rub it in. She’s concerned about me, not Sean.”
The next email from Riva came a few hours later. Hi, there Clay, how are you doing? All alone? Need anything now? Riva.
Parents will be here in a little while, Clay had answered.
Cindy got up from the computer. There was a lot more to look into here. She had to check Kate’s email correspondence as well. Had Kate and Riva been in touch before she died? What about Kate and Sean? Was their meeting at the hotel truly accidental?
