Death by Seduction (Book #13 in the Caribbean Murder series)

Chapter 1

Cindy stared out of the window as Mattheus sat on the leather stool in the hotel room, drumming his fingers on the small wooden table beside him. The day had turned cloudy with unexpectedly dark skies closing in on them.

“You’re not answering me,” Mattheus repeated once again. “Are we getting married, are we eloping?”

The endless conversation they’d been having seemed to have no end. Cindy couldn’t bring herself to respond one more time. Mattheus was on a roll and unable to hear anything she had to say, anyway. They were not eloping, she never wanted to elope. That was not the way to start a life together.

Thankfully, the sudden ring of the phone broke into the tension quickly building between them.

Cindy grabbed the phone, “Yes?” she replied, grateful for the interruption.

“Cindy, do you remember me? Do you?” a breathless woman’s voice was on the other end. “It’s Loretta Twain.”

The familiar name rolled around in Cindy’s mind, though she couldn’t place it.

“University of Wisconsin,” Loretta continued, “Jeb Lavit’s poetry class. We were in it together, that’s where we met.”

“Of course, of course,” a strange smile swept across Cindy’s face. It had been so long since she’d thought of her college days, especially Jeb Lavit’s poetry class.

“We loved that class,” Loretta continued.

“I remember you, Loretta,” Cindy broke in. “How could I forget?”

“Thank God,” Loretta grew calmer. “I’m so sorry we lost touch, Cindy, I really am.”

Cindy had lost touch with so many people by now, not to speak of old friends from her college days. It was actually wonderful hearing from Loretta.

“Do you remember how we double dated?” Loretta went on now frantically, trying to capture Cindy’s attention. “Your date was Harvey and mine was Frank? We went to Gingerman’s Pub.”

The smile on Cindy’s face grew broader. Of course she’d completely forgotten about Gingerman’s Pub until this unexpected call. Her college days seemed like another world, almost a different lifetime. Cindy could barely remember the person she was then, or what she’d wanted.

“I remember you, Loretta,” Cindy reassured her old friend, relishing the memory of the two of them back together in college. Cindy remembered the long walks she and Loretta had taken on campus and wonderful discussions they’d had about poetry, love and building a future that meant something. “I’m delighted to hear from you,” Cindy continued, “but why now?”

“Everyone back home’s heard about the work you’re doing down here in the Caribbean,” Loretta managed to continue. “Right now I’m down in the Dominican Republic, too.” Once again Loretta grew breathless. “I need your help and I need it badly. Oh God, how did this happen to me?”

“What happened, Loretta?” Cindy grew nervous.

“Do you remember Pete?” Loretta’s voice shook.

Cindy raced through her memory and recalled hearing that Loretta had married her college sweetheart, Pete.

“The man you married?” asked Cindy.

“Yes,” Loretta’s voice dropped to a hoarse whisper then. “He’s been killed. His body was just found.”

Cindy felt a long, slow chill. “My God, I’m so sorry,” she responded, suddenly remembering how desperate she’d felt when she’d found Clint dead on their honeymoon.

“It gets worse,” Loretta spoke quickly. “Please, I beg you, come here and help me. I need you so badly.”

Cindy took a painful breath. How could it get worse? she wondered.

“The police say they know who did it,” Loretta rambled, “they say the case is open and shut. But they’re wrong and I know it.”

Nothing was ever open and shut, Cindy agreed. The police loved closing cases, much too fast, usually.

“I’m in danger, too,” Loretta sounded panicky. “There’s someone out there who hated both of us and they’ll get me too, if you don’t get them first.”

“How do you know there’s someone out there who hates you?” Cindy focused sharply, wondering if Loretta and her husband were victims of stalking.

“It’s obvious,” Loretta whispered. “When you come down I’ll tell you everything. It’s too sordid to talk about on the phone. Cindy, please, I don’t want to die.”

Who could want Loretta dead? Cindy flashed upon her old friend more clearly then. Loretta had always been popular and in control of her world. She always insisted that the world around her be orderly and beautiful, just like the poems she loved so much. Cindy remembered when Loretta and Pete met in her senior year the deep happiness and relief Loretta had felt about it. Pete was a great catch, from everyone’s standpoint. He’s perfect for me, Loretta had said, he’ll make my world safe. Pete had been a finance major, tall, with sandy haired and startling blue eyes. After he and Loretta got together, Cindy saw less and less of Loretta. Cindy had taken it in stride; she was used to girlfriends wandering away when they got into serious relationships.

“Will you come, will you help?” Loretta insisted. “Will you forgive me for not being a better friend?”

Cindy was surprised by her plea. “It’s fine, Loretta,” Cindy said slowly. “Friends come together and then drift apart. You haven’t been a bad friend.”

“But will you come? Will you help?” Loretta’s voice was quivering.

“Yes, I will,” Cindy said emphatically.. “Email me details, and I’ll be there on the next flight.”

“You’ll be where on the next flight?” Mattheus asked, agitated, as Cindy hung up the phone.

“That was an old friend from college,” Cindy started.

And?” Mattheus muttered as he stood up from the stool and walked closer, hovering over Cindy.

“And right now she’s in the Dominican Republic where her husband has just been killed,” Cindy answered briskly. “For all she knows she’s also in danger.”

Mattheus ran his hand across his face slowly. “So you just took the case without even as much as throwing a glance my way?”

Cindy hadn’t thought about it that way. “I told her I’d help her because she’s desperate, needs me.

Mattheus wasn’t having it. “And what about me? I don’t need you? You couldn’t answer my question about getting married, but you’ve answered hers the moment she called.”

Cindy felt herself clutching. She and Mattheus were back on the same track again.

“You don’t want to marry me, do you?” Mattheus’s tone grew sharper. “For God’s sake, be straight with yourself and me, too. You’re using these cases to push me away! And, guess what? You’re succeeding!”

Cindy’s eyes stung with tears. Mattheus suddenly seemed to have turned into a bulldozer rolling over her.

“I did answer your questions about marriage,” Cindy insisted. “I told you that I never wanted to elope, and neither did you. You were thrilled about having a real wedding. Now everything’s up in the air as things have become more and more desperate.”

“So, you view me as desperate?” Mattheus was stung.

“I’m not saying you’re desperate,” Cindy insisted, “but the whole situation has taken on an urgency that feels desperate to me.”

“I’d say we have a desperate situation when your family reacts to me the way they did,” Mattheus fought valiantly. “They want to do everything possible to break us up. If that isn’t a cause for desperation, what is?”

“So, rather than work it out, you want to run away, get married, and let the pieces fall where they may?” Cindy wasn’t going along for the ride.

“I w

anted

to run away and get married,” Mattheus corrected her. “Past tense. I can’t say I want to do that now.”

Cindy felt a long, slow, chill run over her body. “What are you saying, Mattheus?”

“I’m saying that you can go to your case to the Dominican Republic and have a wonderful time there, have a wonderful life.”

“You’re not coming with me?” Cindy suddenly felt heartsick.

“You don’t get it,” Mattheus murmured. “I’m not spending my life with a woman who doesn’t care about what’s important to me.”

Cindy stood up straighter, the shock of Mattheus’s words were seeping in.

“I thought we both cared about the same things,” she responded.

“It looked that way in the beginning, didn’t it?” said Mattheus. “We both love solving murders, but it seems that’s where it ends. I also want a wife who puts me first, is willing to spend quality time with me and let her work sit on the back burner at times. I want a woman who really wants to marry me.”

“I do, I did,” said Cindy silently. “I wanted to marry you in the right time and the right way, when we’ve worked through difficulties, calmed hurt feelings and had our feet set on solid ground.”

“Our feet will never be set on solid ground,” Mattheus retorted. “The ground beneath our feet will always slide. And when one hurt feeling is solved, another will rise to take its place. That’s the nature of relationships and the nature of our work. Can we handle that as a couple? Looks like not.”

Cindy thought Mattheus was jumping to an extreme conclusion, but maybe he wasn’t. No matter how hard they tried, they kept getting jammed. Maybe he was right, maybe it was time to part.

“Alright,” Cindy began to say slowly.

“No,” Mattheus suddenly pleaded. “Stay here with me in Aruba. Spend time with me looking at wedding venues, walking on the beach and tasting wine. Let your friend find someone else.”

“I told her I’d come,” said Cindy simply. “I gave her my word.”

“So, call and tell her you can’t,” said Mattheus. “Tell her another emergency has come up and you have to handle that first.”

“What’s the emergency, Mattheus?” asked Cindy, wide eyed. “What has come up that has to prevent me from helping a friend whose husband has just been killed and who could very well end up dead, too?”

“Our relationship is the emergency,” Mattheus insisted. “Right now it’s on life supports. If you don’t put it first, then we’re all done.”

Cindy felt a sharp pain in her chest. “That’s a hell of a price to pay to keep a relationship,” she mumbled, “to leave a friend in a ditch.”

“Maybe it is,” said Mattheus, “but that’s what it’s gonna cost.”

“To go against my integrity?” asked Cindy, sadly. “I can’t afford that, Mattheus. Just can’t.”

“So, have it your way then,” he shot back, looking at Cindy one more time, before he turned away and stormed towards the door.

“Wait, Mattheus, wait a minute,” Cindy called after him.

“No, the waiting is over. Go make your plans, get a one way ticket to the Dominican Republic,” Mattheus gasped as he flew out of the room.