Cindy looked at her watch. There was still about an hour to go before Mattheus’s plane landed. She got up, went to a nearby counter, got a cup of coffee and quick sandwich and ate it standing up. Then she checked the boards to see if his flight was on time. It was not only one time, but scheduled to land a few minutes early.
Cindy tossed the coffee cup into a garbage can, went over to the large windows overlooking the landing field, and pressed her face against the glass. Hurry, Mattheus, hurry, she whispered as she felt his plane drawing closer and closer.
Just as expected, a few minutes before arrival time Mattheus’s plane landed safely. Cindy immediately ran to the gate, scanning the passengers fervently, amazed at how badly she wanted to see him.
When Mattheus finally walked off the plane, in his familiar khakis and jacket, Cindy ran straight to him without a second’s hesitation. Mattheus also spotted her immediately and pushed through the line to reach her. When they got to each other they instantly hugged.
“My God, Cindy, my God,” Mattheus murmured.
“Thank you for coming, thank you,” she whispered, dropping her head onto his shoulder. With Mattheus at her side, Cindy could finally begin to let go.
“Why didn’t you call me instantly?” he pulled away slightly, so he could look at her face.
“I couldn’t,” she whispered.
“That’s awful,” he replied. “I’m horrified.”
“You’re here now though,” Cindy looked up into his beautiful, familiar eyes.
“There’s no other place in the world I could ever be at a time like this,” he replied. “No other place I’d ever want to be.”
Cindy took his face between her hands, and held it close to hers. She wanted to say, I love you, Mattheus, but would not let herself, yet.
“God bless you, Mattheus,” she murmured instead.
“God bless both of us,” he replied.
*
After stopping off to pick up Mattheus’s luggage the two of them headed back to the hotel. To Cindy’s delight there’d been a room available for him down the hall from hers. She sat close to Mattheus in the taxi, but didn’t say a word.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he kept repeating, as the taxi wound its way through the beautiful island. That was all Cindy needed to hear. There would be plenty of time for filling him in later. There was no need to say anything else. Right now all she needed was the comfort of having him close by.
*
Mattheus checked in and the two of them had dinner brought up to his room. Cindy couldn’t bring herself to go into details and Mattheus couldn’t bring himself to ask. They ate slowly, making small talk about the weather and the flight. Mattheus said it was shocking to realize again and again how incredibly beautiful Cindy was. He’d missed her. Cindy smiled a bit then and said she’d forgotten how handsome he was, too.
“Are we the only ones here connected to the case?” Mattheus finally asked as they were sipping their after dinner coffee.
It was a good opening and Cindy decided to take it. “My mother and uncles have rooms on the sixth floor,” she replied, “and, of course, Frank is here as well.”
“Frank and Ann came down here together on vacation?” Mattheus was gently trying to get the background picture.
“Yes,” Cindy replied quietly. “Ann was killed in their room, in the late afternoon.”
“Awful,” Mattheus uttered, taking a long, ragged breath. “Hard to imagine -.”
“Frank has been held by the police for questioning,” Cindy continued, glad to be finally talking about it.
“Because he was the last one to see her alive?” Mattheus probed.
“Right,” said Cindy. “In fact, he was just released on bail into my custody. He doesn’t have a decent alibi. He said he went swimming in the hotel pool at the time or the murder, but no one saw him there.”
“How is that possible?” Mattheus mused. “There are so many people at the hotel, someone had to have seen him.”
“Maybe they did and we just don’t know about it, yet. But, not having an alibi is not a good enough reason to hold him.” Cindy was surprised that she had such a strong urge to defend Frank.
Mattheus put his hand on Cindy’s arm. “Why are we talking about this now, anyway? How could you have possibly dealt with all this alone?”
“I’ve had support from the police,” said Cindy, especially Trage, the Chief. He knows you’re coming, thought it was a good idea. I’ll introduce you to him.”
“Fine,” said Mattheus , relieved. “I plan to work with the force closely, and also have some connections of my own. I’ve contacted them already. We’ll find the killer, Cindy. Believe me, I promise.”
Cindy felt grateful to hear that. She knew it was true. They would find the killer, it was inevitable.
“You probably need to take a back seat now-rest more,” Mattheus looked at Cindy lovingly. “You don’t even realize what’s hit you yet. Ann was half sister, half mother.”
“I can’t rest,” Cindy replied sharply, irritated by the thought. “There’s only one thing that gives me rest – to get out and search for the killer, hunt them down, get justice fast!”
Mattheus shook his head in agreement. “How well I know,” he responded. “We’re two of a kind.”