“I’m completely awake,” Mattheus surprised her, opening one eye, as she sat down.
“This is a great spot,” said Cindy, relaxing for a moment herself.
Mattheus opened both eyes then. “Tough day?” he asked.
“Long day,” said Cindy, “and fascinating, too.”
He perked up and sat up. “What’s so fascinating?”
The waiter came over and Cindy ordered a glass of wine. It was the end of the day and she needed to unwind.
“The women at the Shelter are fantastic,” said Cindy. “They’re strong, gutsy, they knew Shelly well and had a lot to say about what happened.”
Mattheus pursed his lips together. “Okay, shoot,” he said. “Any hard evidence?”
“Not yet,” said Cindy, “but plenty of important observations.”
“Like what? Cut to the chase.”
Cindy hardly knew where to begin. Anything she said would be painful for him. She decided to start with the most abstract points first.
“Well, one of the women found Shelly strange and distant at times. When she spoke to her, it was as if she weren’t there.”
“That’s a lousy thing to say about Shelly,” Mattheus muttered. “Ungrateful bitch.”
“What?” Cindy was shocked.
“I mean there’s Shelly working in a rotten situation, giving her all and this damn fool talks bad about her right after she died? Who the hell is that lady to call Shelly strange? It makes my blood boil. There was nothing at all strange about Shelly.”
Whoah, thought Cindy. She had no idea he’d react like that. She’d hoped he might add something to the observation, remember times when Shelly had been distant with him as well. It seemed impossible to get through to him now. He was protecting the image he had of Shelly with his very life. Why wouldn’t he let himself see other aspects of her, what was he so scared of?
If Cindy didn’t break through this defense, there was no way Mattheus would be able to be of help. And, there was no way he’d ever be able to put his relationship with Shelly behind him, or go on in his life with someone else.
“Don’t you think there were things about Shelly that you were completely unaware of?” Cindy asked him pointedly.
Mattheus let out a long breath. “Sure,” he said, “I mean who knows everyone completely?”
“This is more intense than that, Mattheus,” Cindy went on. “I mean, not everyone goes missing.”
“That’s true,” said Mattheus, irritated. “What’s your point?”
“In order to find the killer, we have to find out more about who Shelly was. Who were her enemies, what fights did she have, did she offend someone?”
Mattheus threw his head back and rubbed his hands over his face.
“I know,” Mattheus conceded, “even though it’s crushing me.”
Cindy became silent for a long moment.
“It would crush any guy,” Mattheus went on.
“Of course it would,” said Cindy, as an afternoon breeze blew up. “It’s devastating to be lied to.”
“Shelly didn’t lie to me,” Mattheus’s face grew red.
“She disappeared and never told you,” said Cindy.
“That’s not the same as lying.”
“What is it then?” Cindy didn’t miss a beat.
“Shelly got sick,” Mattheus proclaimed. It seemed as if he’d been dwelling on the situation and had come to that conclusion. “She must have snapped, it’s happened to others. She came from an unstable family. Her younger brother Mike was retarded and it could have been something in the genes.”
“What was the brother like? Was there trouble between them?” Cindy probed.
“Shelly was always jealous of her brother for taking her parents away. He needed so much attention, they hardly bothered with her. I tried to make it up to her.”
Cindy felt sad for him. “You can’t heal someone else’s wounds,” she said.
“Well, I thought I could,” said Mattheus.
Cindy sighed. Everyone thought that they could make up for what happened a long time ago to someone they loved. But they couldn’t. It didn’t work like that.
“When the police tried to reach Shelly’s family to tell them what happened, they couldn’t. The family moved and left no forwarding address,” he continued.
Cindy was stunned. This was very strange news.
“Could the family be involved with her death?” asked Cindy.
Mattheus shook his head. “Ridiculous.”
“Are the police trying to track them down?”
“No, of course not. There’s no way they would harm Shelly. I’m just pointing out they’re all unstable.”
Cindy made a note to herself to check this further with the police. It was nerve wracking news and peculiar timing.
“So, what I was saying,” Mattheus continued, “is that it makes sense that Shelly snapped.”
“Does it make it easier for you thinking of it that way?” asked Cindy.
“It does,” said Mattheus. “It doesn’t completely invalidate me or wipe out our marriage. Seems that lots of people think I’m to blame - that I should have seen it coming. Or, maybe I did something to drive her away?