“Just calm down,” Mattheus repeated.
“I don’t think you should grill Frank directly now,” Cindy kept babbling. “It will make things worse, I know it will. And you won’t get anything from him, anyway.”
“I’m lining up my ducks and then I’ll strike,” said Mattheus. “There’s something I need to do before Frank and I talk. I’ve got the name of a rich hotel owner here from my contacts. He’s good friends with Tony Beggio. I’ll talk to him and see what he can tell me about Frank.”
Cindy suddenly felt tremendously relieved. It was a better plan. They had to circle around carefully. Who knew what backlash could happen if they made the wrong moves in the family?
“What did you find about Ann and Frank when you talked to your mother?” Mattheus asked.
Cindy’s heart clenched. She couldn’t tell Mattheus what her mother suspected. It would only add fuel to the fire and could be nothing but her mother’s fantasies. Despite Cindy’s upset with Frank, she didn’t believe he would ever hurt Ann or be involved with anyone but her. Something else led to Ann’s murder, another thread they hadn’t yet discovered.
“My mother was emotional and nasty,” Cindy finally answered. “I didn’t learn much of value about Frank and Ann.”
“So, what’s your next step?” Mattheus asked, haltingly.
“I’m going to meet Tony Beggio next,” Cindy replied. “I heard he’s giving a party at his villa. It should be easy enough to get invited.”
“Yeah, of course,” said Mattheus. “I’ll see to it that you get in with no problem at all.”
Chapter 14
After speaking to her mother Cindy felt agitated. The last thing she felt like doing was dressing up and going to a party in a villa, smiling at everyone, pretending to be having a wonderful time. Tony Beggio’s party was the following evening, though. That would give her time to rest up during the day and slowly get ready. Cindy needed rest badly, she felt it in every bone of her body. The enormity of what she was up against suddenly struck her from head to toe. The entire equilibrium of her family had been shaken to the core. What would happen if they actually found out something disturbing about Frank, something no one could live with? Would her mother go off the deep end then? In a flash Cindy could lose everybody. The hope of ever living a normal life would be completely taken from her. It would just be her and Mattheus then, drifting from case to case in the Caribbean.
Cindy couldn’t even begin to let herself think about it. In his own way Frank had been a pillar of strength and stability not only to Ann, but to the entire family. Their long standing relationship had provided a measure of calm and continuity that no one else in the family had on their own. After Cindy’s father died years ago, her mother never settled down, but dated one man after another. Perhaps that was why she was so cynical about men now, Cindy suddenly realized. Perhaps she’d had married boyfriends of her own. The thought of it disturbed Cindy tremendously, but right now it would be better to put all of this out of her mind. Cindy needed to get a good sleep and start the day fresh tomorrow.
*
First thing the next morning, after breakfast in her room, Cindy went to her closet and looked through the clothing she’d brought with her, wondering what to wear to Tony Beggio’s party that night. Fortunately, when she’d packed, she’d thrown in her staple, black, silk, sleeveless evening dress. It could be dressed up beautifully with the right jewelry and go anywhere. Cindy stared at the dress, wondering what she would wear with it? She could go to the world class jewelry store in the mezzanine of the hotel and buy a new sparkling necklace, or just throw on her old strand of long pearls. Cindy was tired of the pearls, it would pick up her spirits to wear something new. She decided to go down to the store, see what they had, and try to approach the upcoming evening in the best frame of mind possible.
*
The jewelry store was richly carpeted with soft music playing in the background. Sales people, elegantly dressed, stood behind ivory tables with cases displaying magnificent jewelry. Cindy walked over to the case with necklaces. A lovely saleswoman behind it smiled at her. There was a dazzling ruby necklace, a fine amber one, a thin diamond choker. Cindy stared at them all, her eyes drifting to the diamond choker which suddenly reminded her of the small rhinestone she’d found in Ann’s room. Ann had never much liked jewelry, and rhinestones certainly weren’t something she would choose. Cindy had picked up that rhinestone when she’d gone to Ann’s room and kept it carefully. Once again Cindy wondered where that rhinestone had come from, upset that she’d forgotten about it all this while.