“Of course, we all understand. We’ll get together again later on.” Ben’s voice rose as he announced to everyone, “Right now Claudia needs to rest.”
Cindy was relieved to be free to be alone with Mattheus, and everyone else seemed relieved as well.
*
Back up in her room, Mattheus insisted that Cindy lay down on the lounge for a little nap. He would get his computer from his room, bring it here and continue investigating beside her while she slept.
Cindy lay down, her palms cupping the sides of her head. She felt woozy and upset. “What was the point of all that? What was the point?” she asked Mattheus.
“There’s a point to everything,” he calmly replied. “It’ll become clear later. Don’t think about it now.”
“What do you think of my family?” Cindy couldn’t help asking as her eyelids grew heavy. Her mother had just made it clear to Cindy again, how much she loved Ann, and had no real regard for her. It was an old story, but became fresh again now and hurt all over.
“They’re an interesting bunch,” Mattheus said softly, “not what I expected. But go to sleep now, Cindy, we’ll talk more later. A little nap will do wonders.”
Despite herself, Cindy fell into a restless sleep. She tossed back and forth on the lounge as she suddenly dreamt of her sister. Ann was standing at the edge of the beach they’d been on, waving to her.
“Ann, Ann,” Cindy went running towards her in the dream, but the closer she got, the further Ann receded. “Don’t go away, Ann,” Cindy called. “Wait a second, talk to me.”
But Ann couldn’t stay. “Help me, help me,” Ann finally called to Cindy as her form faded into the waves.
“Ann!” Cindy yelled, sitting bolt upright on the lounge and Mattheus ran over and put his arms around her.
“It’s a dream, it’s only a dream, Cindy,” he tried to calm her down.
“No, she was there, I saw her,” Cindy was panting.
“You dreamt that you saw her,” Mattheus’s voice was soothing.
“No, I really saw her. She said help me, help me!” Cindy’s jaw was quivering.
“We’ll do our best,” Mattheus responded calmly.
“But we can’t help her now,” Cindy’s eyes opened wide with panic.
“There’s all kinds of ways to help,” Mattheus replied. “We’ll find out what happened. We’ll bring her killer to justice. That will give everyone some peace of mind.”
Cindy got up off the lounge then, smoothed her dress out, and stroked Mattheus face. “You’re a good man, Mattheus, you’re a kind man, too.”
“What can I do now to make you feel better?” he asked.
“Let me get up a minute and then we’ll get to work. That’s the best medicine. I want to hear whatever you’ve discovered. We have to make a plan of attack.”
Chapter 10
Cindy washed up, changed into beige slacks, a light paisley T shirt and sandals. Then she brushed her hair, put on fresh lipstick and walked out onto the patio ready to work.
Mattheus stood up when she arrived, but she motioned him to sit back down. They were working partners again now, had to get going and focus on the case.
“Okay, tell me what you got from the police,” Cindy assumed a professional tone, though it had a frantic edge to it.
“I learned something important,” Mattheus jumped right in. “I was waiting for the right time to tell you.”
“What?” Cindy was alerted.
“There has been a rash of murders at this hotel this past year,” Mattheus said. “The police have been keeping quiet.”
“What?” Cindy jumped up. “Trage didn’t say a word about it to me.”
“He couldn’t. You just lost your sister, it was too fresh, and besides they’re trying their best to keep it quiet,” Mattheus explained. “They don’t want to disrupt the tourist trade.”
The hair on Cindy’s neck bristled. “What kind of murders? Who was killed, when, why?” She was fascinated.
“I couldn’t get too much more information than that,” Mattheus continued. “As of now, the cases are all unsolved.”
Cindy was fascinated. “How is that possible they’re all unsolved?” It didn’t sound plausible.
“The police did lots of work on them,” said Mattheus. “They have bulging files on every case, but no conclusion. Each case went cold.”
“Something smells bad here,” said Cindy.
“It’s not the police,” Mattheus jumped in. “Trage said he’d open all their files to me. I can research them all I like. In fact, they’d be thrilled for me to do so.”
“Good,” said Cindy swiftly. “This is a great place to start.”
“Crucial,” said Mattheus.
Could Ann have just been caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time? Cindy wondered. Did a random psychopath hit the hotel? Was Ann just another victim in a rash of blind murders? It didn’t seem likely, but Cindy had to know more - immediately.
“Who else knew about this rash of murders?” Cindy was quick on the draw.