Death by Deceit (Caribbean Murder #5)
Jaden Skye
PROLOGUE
While soft ocean breezes wafted through palm trees, no one in Key West was even dimly aware that a brutal killing, filled with torment, had taken place the night before.
As the sun went down on another day, the body of a beautiful woman, near the water’s edge, rolled softly towards the mud. In the background, musicians started to play, getting ready for the sunset festival, as her shadow dissolved in the fading light.
Unaware of the dead woman’s eyes, open, staring, streams of people, laughing and dancing, wound their way to the ocean promenade. They did this every evening to celebrate the sun going down and to say goodbye to the passing day. As they ate Key Lime Pie, rollicked and played, no one had any idea that the killer was right among them, laughing, head held up high.
The drenched body was found two days later, as the sunset celebration was going on. Each day down here was precious, each sunset gorgeous. Nothing could get in the way of that.
CHAPTER 1
Cindy looked out over the edge of the balcony at Mattheus’s bare, sun-tanned, rippled chest, working in the garden. He looked so happy to be back in his home in Grenada, especially with Cindy beside him. He’d wanted to share his place with someone for so long. It was like a dream come true, he’d said.
Mattheus had bought the small house a few years ago, after his wife Shelly had gone missing in New Orleans, six years ago. After over a year of fruitless searching for her killer he’d come down here to recover and work. Cindy understood why he’d chosen this house: it was off the beaten track, isolated, perched at the edge of a cliff, with a fantastic view of the shimmering, azure sea.
Cindy had been eager to see the house. It was a place Mattheus had talked about often; it meant a great deal to him and he was proud of it. Soft breezes wafted upon Cindy as she watched Mattheus clear the brush to make room for new plantings. There were large rocks on either side of the garden, and incredible trees surrounded it. A winding wooden path Mattheus had built with his own hands gently led down. Although he’d been away awhile, the house had a lived-in feeling, except that the garden was heavy with dead wood that needed to be cleared. Looking around, Cindy wondered what it would be like spending vacation time here alone with Mattheus for a couple of weeks.
“I want you to love every bit of the house,” Mattheus had said in the cab, after their plane had landed. They’d sat close, pressed together, enjoying their newfound intimacy. Now that they’d taken the next step in their relationship and made love, the strange tension that had always been there, under the surface, was mostly gone. Mostly, not completely. Cindy wasn’t entirely comfortable with her decision to come down to Grenada and stay with Mattheus in his home—everything, she felt, had happened too quickly. Was still happening too quickly.
It was actually strange coming back down here, to the place where she and Mattheus met, where Cindy had taken on her first case as a detective. It had been right after Clint had died, after she’d discovered her own husband’s murderer. Life was so different then. She had felt so abandoned and alone.
This time, during their trip down, Cindy had smiled the whole time, looking at Mattheus’s handsome, rugged face. He’d kept his arm around her, pulling her close. What a journey they’d been on, she’d thought. It was hard to believe that not only were they still together, but that their relationship had grown.
It felt so good being connected to Mattheus now, to let her doubts and questions about him fade. She thought of the moment she’d consciously decided to trust him, as their last case together was ending. Cindy was ashamed how jealous and suspicious she’d become of him. It was as if a storm had hit her and didn’t let up. She’d never felt that way before, and when she finally saw that her distrust was unwarranted, it was a huge relief. As a detective, she needed to be suspicious, but not, she was beginning to realize, in her personal life. She had to learn how to separate the two, or her suspiciousness would tie her in knots she’d never be free of.
“I want you to feel really at home here,” Mattheus had said as the taxi neared.
“I’m sure I’ll love it,” Cindy said, “how could I not?”
People came to Grenada from all over the world to bask in its beauty and be renewed.She deserved to be happy too, didn’t she? She needed to start her life over again.
“Maybe this will become your home, too?” Mattheus had murmured in the taxi, stroking Cindy’s shoulder slowly.
Cindy hadn’t responded. She wasn’t sure exactly what he’d meant and didn’t want to jump to conclusions. She’d gotten into trouble doing that with him before.