“I’m going to talk to Tommy myself,” he declared.
Rodney looked a little fed up. “Go talk to anyone you like to, but remember, no matter how long they’ve been around, Tommy and Anthony are drifters. It’s a mentality and they’re stuck with it. They’re just gonna give you the run around.”
Mattheus felt a vein in his neck start to throb. He refused to discount anybody without giving them a hearing. He’d been surprised too many times. Real leads had come from the strangest places. And, this was Shelly’s killer they were talking about. He wasn’t going to leave any stone unturned.
“We got our man, I’m sure of it,” Rodney muttered, “Anthony’s a real slime.”
Mattheus didn’t feel that way. In fact, he was surprised at how much he liked Anthony, at the kinship he felt with him. Was it because they’d both been with Shelly? Mattheus would have expected to hate him because of that, not to feel close to the guy. He didn’t want to mention that to Rodney or Alex though, it would make him look weirder than he already did.
Mattheus noticed that Alex didn’t say a word and wondered what he thought about all this? Probably had to keep his mouth shut if he wanted to keep his job, thought Mattheus.
“Wondering what you think about all this?” Mattheus confronted Alex directly.
Alex looked momentarily surprised. “If you really want to know, I was actually wondering where Cindy is in all this? How come she’s not here with you?”
Mattheus was taken aback. It was a strange question.
“I don’t know,” said Mattheus, “I guess she’s back at the hotel.”
“Guess?” Now it was Alex’s turn to be surprised.
“What’s wrong with that?” said Mattheus.
“Seems like you’d want her meet Anthony, get her take on it. You guys check in with each other regularly?” Alex asked.
“Of course we do,” Mattheus got defensive. What was this guy getting at? “I just left very early this morning and didn’t call her room. I didn’t see the point in waking her up.”
Alex shook his head. “Bet you felt funny about her being here with you.” Mattheus looked at him closely. He wanted to know more about more about Mattheus’s relationship with Cindy. Mattheus wasn’t open to having it questioned. He decided to set the record straight right then and there.
“Cindy and I split the work in an investigation,” he said, “talk to different people. Then we get together, go over what we found, and decide what steps to take next.” Mattheus was extra careful to sound professional. There was no reason for either of them to develop any ideas.
“She’s one terrific woman,” said Alex slowly then, zoning in on Mattheus. This guy was too taken with her, Mattheus didn’t appreciate it.
“Cindy’s a fantastic detective,” Mattheus answered curtly. “She’s got amazing instinct.”
“It must be hard for her to be down here, too,” Alex interrupted. “You guys just broke up and now you’re back together, working a case?”
“Who said it was supposed to be easy?” Mattheus was irritated.
“And, on top of it, she’s finding out so many personal details about you!” Alex didn’t stop.
“She’s finding out about Shelly,” Mattheus corrected.
“But Shelly was your wife,” said Alex.
“Yes, she was,” said Mattheus curtly. “But what does her behavior have to do with me? She left. She ran away. You think I drove her to it?”
“Did you?” Rodney interrupted.
“I resent that,” said Mattheus flatly.
“This isn’t pretty,” said Rodney, “but these are the questions we need answers to. We’ve got to fill in our picture of her. It’s the only way we can get a real sense of what happened, and why.”
Mattheus stared at both of them, angry.
Alex picked up the ball. “After all, what would make a woman leave home, live a completely different life without telling anybody?
“That’s the million dollar question,” said Mattheus.
“Did she have a breakdown? Suddenly turn into a different person?” Alex was on a roll. “Something had to be wrong.”
“Something,” Mattheus said bitterly, “but I don’t know what.”
“That’s not good enough,” Rodney joined in forcefully. “We have to know. Was she acting strange before she left? Did anyone see this coming? Was she carrying on with guys behind your back? Was someone blackmailing her?”
Chills ran up and down Mattheus arms. Had Shelly been carrying on with someone else then, too? The thought never occurred to him in all the years. Sure Shelly had some guy friends she saw once in a while after work. She’d told him they were old friends. He’d had no reason to think otherwise. He’d trusted her completely.
“Lots of guys in Key West knew her,” Alex prompted. “Seems like she did the town.”
Mattheus suddenly wanted to punch him in the face. How dare he talk about Shelly that way? What did he really know about her? Mattheus turned his back, clenched his fists, and did everything possible to calm down.