by Jaden Skye
“Did Kate realize that the two of you were about to become engaged down here on vacation?” Cindy continued, trying to jog his memory.
At that, Clay stopped talking, swiftly turned, and pointed to the papers in his hand.
“Did she?” Cindy insisted.
“I thought she did,” Clay suddenly growled. “I wrote that she did in my diary,” he held up the papers high. “I wrote here that she loved me and would be thrilled with the beautiful ring I got her.”
“You gave Kate a ring?” asked Cindy, startled. There was no picture of a ring on Kate’s hand in any of the photos. Cindy had thought Clay hadn’t bought it yet.
“Of course,” Clay insisted, “I gave her an incredible ring made of diamonds and mother of pearl. Just like the kind my grandmother wore her whole life long.”
“Where is that ring now?” asked Cindy, breathless.
Clay looked at her blankly.
“I didn’t see it on Kate in the photos,” Cindy turned up the heat.
Clay’s face suddenly grew dark and ugly. “Because Kate never put it on,” he suddenly flung out into the increasingly hot and sultry day.
“Why didn’t?” asked Cindy, terrified at the wildness that flared up in his eyes.
“Because,” said Clay, as something suddenly rustled behind them.
Cindy turned swiftly and there was Carl, standing a few feet behind them, listening to every word.
“Kate never wore the ring because Kate never said yes, did she?” Carl marched boldly up to Clay.
“What the hell are you doing here now?” Clay jerked away. “There’s a posse after me, chasing me, blaming me for everything.”
“Did Kate say yes to the proposal?” Carl demanded in horror.
“I won’t talk anymore. I want my mother,” Clay stamped his foot on the ground.
“Let me see those papers,” Carl lunged towards them.
Cindy got in the way and stopped Carl immediately.
“Back off, she said, abruptly. “Clay is a good boy.”
Clay looked at Cindy, grateful and shocked. “I am a good boy, I am, I am,” he insisted.
“I know you are,” Cindy stepped closer to him, “and I know you’ll answer our questions yourself.”
At that Carl grabbed his papers tighter and began ripping them into shreds. Then he tossed the ripped shreds wildly over the edge of the cliff. Cindy watched them blow in the wind on their way down into the roaring sea.
“Kate betrayed me,” Clay called out over the ocean as the papers flew away, “how dare she lead me on like that?”
“Lead you on?” Carl was beside himself. “It’s you! You killed her, didn’t you? You pushed her over the patio.”
“I never killed her,” Clay swayed like a branch in the wind, “I loved Kate. She disappeared, she abandoned me.”
Carl took a step closer then. “You posted those messages on Facebook, didn’t you?” his voice boomed like a cannon shaking both Cindy and Clay.
“What messages?” Clay looked genuinely confused.
“The messages on Kate’s Facebook page that announced your engagement,” said Cindy.
“There were?” Clay was amazed by it.
Carl and Cindy threw each other a quick glance.
“He doesn’t know what happened,” said Cindy. “He’s a split personality, delusional, he sleepwalks.”
“And he kills in his sleep,” Carl growled louder.
“We can’t be sure yet,” said Cindy.
“You killed Kate in your sleep,” Carl hollered, “You killed my precious girl.” Then he lunged at Clay violently.
As Carl came flying at him, Clay grabbed him around the waist with terrific strength, and as if he were picking up a branch from a tree, flung him straight down over the cliff.
“Help, help,” Carl’s screams echoed in the air as he fell.
Terrified, Cindy tried to run to the edge of the cliff to help him, but Clay caught her midway.
“You’re next,” Clay said, glaring at Cindy.
“We haven’t done anything to you, Clay,” Cindy begged. “It was Kate, she did it. She abandoned you.”
Clay loosened his grip, just a little then.
“It was Kate who led you on,” Cindy cried out.
“She did, she did,” Clay called louder. “Kate made me think she loved me, but she didn’t. I couldn’t be shamed like that before the entire world.”
“So you posted those photos to let everyone think you’d gotten engaged,” Cindy said.
“Right, and I’m glad I did,” Clay conceded.
Cindy longed to break loose from Clay and run to Carl. She could hear him moaning and calling and thanked God that he was alive.
“I’m coming Carl,” Cindy called.
“No you’re not,” Clay shook her whole body. “You’ll never see him again. Just like I’ll never see Kate again, either.”
“Hold on Carl, just hang in,” Cindy kept calling.
“Kate abandoned me, she abandoned me,” Clay shouted for all he was worth as Cindy saw someone else approach. Who was it? Had Carl told the police they’d be there? Cindy craned her neck backwards and to her shock, saw Mattheus running, full speed, towards them.
“Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, what’s going on?” Mattheus was breathless. “Clay’s father called up to the room and told me to get here fast as I could. Carl talked to him this morning.”
“Clay threw Carl over the cliff,” Cindy yelled, “and he’s got me.”
“She’s next,” Clay murmured, glaring at Mattheus.
“That’s what you think,” Mattheus’s face flushed with rage, as he turned into a mountain of strength, taking solid steps towards Cindy and Clay. “It’s over, Clay. Let her go.”
“Nothing’s over,” Clay said, holding Cindy more tightly. “Nothing will ever be over. I’ll always hurt.”
“No, you won’t,” said Cindy softly. “We’ll get you help, Clay.”
Suddenly Clay started sobbing. “I loved Kate with all my heart.”
“Let Cindy go, Clay,” Mattheus spoke in a commanding tone.
“Why?” Clay growled again. “You can’t trust any of them, you just can’t.”
“Your father is on his way here right now,” Mattheus said then. “What will he do if he sees you hurt more people?”
That startled Clay. He began backing away, dragging Cindy along. “He’ll punish me,” Clay started whimpering. “He always punishes me, whatever I do.”
“I spoke to your father this morning,” said Mattheus. “He was upset, he was crying.”
“No, he wasn’t,” Clay flung back. “My father only punishes, he never cries.”
“This morning he was crying,” said Mattheus, approaching carefully. “He told me he was sorry about everything. He told me you sleepwalked.”
Clay became absolutely still. “My father told you that?”
“Yes, he did,” said Mattheus.
“He never tells anyone,” Clay rambled. “It’s our family secret.”
“But he told me,” said Mattheus, as someone else quickly approached in the distance.
Cindy turned and saw Dan, Clay’s father, running over to them quickly. Shaken and devastated, Dan went straight to Clay.
“Make Clay let me go,” Cindy pleaded desperately. As the sounds of Carl moaning below started fading she felt panicky. She had to get to Carl fast.
“Let Cindy go,” Dan demanded, stepping closer still.
“It’s not my fault, I didn’t do this,” said Clay, avoiding his father’s eyes. “She came after me. She attacked me. She’s blaming me for Kate’s death.”
“Let Cindy go,” Dan demanded, stepping closer still.
“How do you know we can trust her?” asked Clay, trembling.
“Let her go,” Dan repeated and I’ll tell you.
Slowly, Clay loosened his grip.
Cindy broke free of him and fled to Mattheus, who opened his arms to welcome her.
“I’m sorry, I
’m sorry,” Mattheus was deeply saddened, “forgive me, I’m sorry.”
Cindy was shaking from head to foot. “Carl’s down there,” she pointed to the bottom of the cliff. “Clay threw him down there.”
“My God,” said Dan.
Mattheus let Cindy go and rushed to the edge of the cliff to look down.
“Help him, “begged Cindy.
“He’s still alive. Call the rescue crews and police immediately,” Mattheus yelled as he slid down the edge of the cliff to each Carl and bring him up to safety.
As Cindy watched Mattheus disappear from sight she immediately called for police and rescue crews.
“Is it over for us?” Dan asked, trembling, holding Clay in a tight grip.
“The police will be here in a few minutes,” said Cindy, “they’ll take it from here.”
“What happens then?” Dan looked ravished. “My boy is sick.”
Cindy looked at both of them intently.
“I had no idea Clay was coming down here,” Dan was talking at top speed. “We keep a careful watch on him.”
“He went up to see Kate though in New York, didn’t he?” Cindy asked, dumbstruck.
“Yes, he did, but my wife went with him. She stayed at a room across the hall at the motel and checked in on him all the time. My boy only needs to be monitored when he’s sleeping,” said Dan.
“How dare you let him date someone?” asked Cindy appalled.
“He found her online,” Dan murmured. “He found her himself. He sent her his poems. She loved them. It made him so happy, we didn’t have the heart to say no. He didn’t mean for this to happen. He never meant to hurt her. It must have happened in his sleep.”
“Clay threw Carl off the edge of the cliff in broad daylight,” said Cindy stonily, “while he was wide awake.”
Dan hung his head in despair then. “The sickness must have progressed,” he said softly. “Nobody had any idea.”
CHAPTER 22
The headlines read, Sleepwalker Strikes In His Sleep. Killer found his prey online, looking for love. Is it murder or is he criminally insane? Is his family responsible?
Endless commentators responded to those questions, both on TV and online.
The headlines continued: Brave Detective Finds The Killer At Risk To Her Own Life.
Once again Cindy was receiving citations on the news and in person. Once again calls were coming in for her from all over the world.
“The detective’s partner Mattheus also risked his life,” Cindy added, as reporters thronged around her. “Mattheus arrived just in the nick of time, and rescued us all. Thanks to him, Kate’s uncle Carl is in hospital, recovering and doing well.”
“It was nothing,” Mattheus responded to the reporters, shrugging it off.
After rescuing Carl, Mattheus had refused to leave Cindy’s side. And, there was no way he wanted any praise in this matter. Mattheus told Cindy that he could never forgive himself for not being there with her. What happened was his fault entirely. He should have listened to her carefully, he’d been selfish, arrogant. He wasn’t a good partner to her any longer.
Although Cindy agreed, she said nothing. After all, he’d finally shown up. His strength re-appeared. It was always there inside him, waiting.
“Are we done?” asked Mattheus lamely.
“I don’t know,” Cindy replied. “We need to work on our relationship. And we can’t do it alone.”
“Are you talking about therapy?” asked Mattheus, looking as though he’d bitten into a very sour lemon.
Cindy laughed and he hugged her.
“Couples therapy is not the worst idea in the world,” said Cindy. “Better people than us have been through it.”
“I thought a good vacation would help straighten things out,” Mattheus responded.
“A vacation is one thing,” said Cindy slowly, “talking out our differences with someone who can help us is something else.”
Mattheus shivered a second and pulled Cindy closer to him. “I’ll do anything you ask,” he said slowly, putting his face down in her hair. “I love you and don’t want to lose you. I would die if anything happened to you. And I almost let it happen.”
Cindy closed her eyes then as he held her close. The feelings between them were strong and powerful. But they came in waves and then receded.
“I’ll do anything you ask, anything,” Mattheus repeated.
“I don’t want to lose you either, Mattheus,” said Cindy, “but I don’t really have you, the way we are now.”
“Well said,” said Mattheus softly. “You find someone to help us, and I’ll go for it.”
The phone rang then shrilly. As Cindy put her hand on it to pick it up, Mattheus stopped her.
“No calls now, no new cases. Give us some time first to work things out,” he said. “At least a month together before we go back to work.”
“A month?” said Cindy.
“You can’t deny there’s something strong between us,” said Mattheus.
“I don’t deny it,” said Cindy. “I never did.”
“It’s special, it’s precious, it’s hard to find. Let’s take a month to decide if we’ve got what it takes to make our relationship work. Then we can even set a date to get married,” Mattheus added lovingly. “I even bought the ring.”
Cindy was shocked to hear that.
“You told me to wait for a happier time to give it to you,” he murmured.
“That’s the surprise you had for me?” asked Cindy unbelievingly.
“It’s still here in my pocket,” Mattheus grinned. “You want to see it?”
“Of course I want to see it,” said Cindy, “not this minute, but soon.”
NOW AVAILABLE!
DEATH BY OBSESSION
Book #8 in the Caribbean Murder Series
Tap here to download DEATH BY OBSESSION on Amazon now!
In DEATH BY OBSESSION, the next installment in the #1 Bestselling Caribbean Murder series, a huge destination wedding, merging two blueblood families, is about to take place in St. Martin, when Cindy and Mattheus get an emergency call from the father of the bride. He wants them to come down to the island immediately and dig up dirt on the groom. He can’t shake his bad feeling about the guy, even though all his other investigations didn’t turn up a thing.
Cindy and Mattheus, who have been spending time building their relationship and are much closer, agree to come down on a lark and see what they can find. With help from informants from the seamy side of the island, they stumble upon a shocking secret that no one knows about: not his friends, not his family, and not his bride.
Cindy and Mattheus disagree about what should be done. But as the father confronts the bride with the news, it sets off a dramatic and unexpected response. Soon, a sudden death follows.
As all of this is going on, Cindy unexpectedly discovers something that also shakes her world: Mattheus, too, has a deep, dark secret that he has never told her. As Cindy and Mattheus investigate the awful homicide, they must also deal with this new revelation which threatens to tear their relationship apart.
Death by Obsession brings us into the heart of love, passion, secrets and lies.
DEATH BY OBSESSION is a stand-alone novel, and is also Book #8 in the Caribbean Murder series.
Tap here to download DEATH BY OBSESSION on Amazon now!
Books by Jaden Skye
THE CARIBBEAN MURDER SERIES
DEATH BY HONEYMOON (Book #1)
DEATH BY DIVORCE (Book #2)
DEATH BY MARRIAGE (Book #3)
DEATH BY DESIRE (Book #4)
DEATH BY DECEIT (Book #5)
DEATH BY JEALOUSY (Book #6)
DEATH BY PROPOSAL (Book #7)
DEATH BY OBSESSION (Book #8)
THE TOM’S RIVER SAGA
A PERFECT STRANGER (Book #1)
Tap here to download Jaden Skye books on Amazon now!
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