Death by Devotion (Caribbean Murder #9)

As she stepped out of the bar Cindy suddenly realized how tired she was. It had been a long day and the encounter with Natalie unnerved her. Rather than walk back to the hotel, she took a cab that was waiting in front of the pub. Once inside the car, she put her head back on the seat and closed her eyes.

“Long day, eh?” the taxi driver said, looking at her through the back mirror.

“Very long,” Cindy replied.

He drove slowly, probably to make the trip longer, she thought. Cindy relaxed and closed her eyes when suddenly she felt a huge thud, heard a bang and crash of glass.

“Don’t move, don’t move,” the driver shouted and screeched to a halt.

Cindy’s eyes flashed open as she ducked down.

“What happened?” she screamed, and then saw a giant rock laying on the floor of the cab, with a crumpled piece of paper tied to it.

“Some damn idiot through a rock through my cab window,” the driver yelled, getting out of the front and opening the back door for her.

“It’s because of me,” Cindy breathed, picking up the rock with the paper tied to it.

“Why you?” the driver’s eyes got big.

“I’m a detective down here, working on a case,” Cindy answered, dumping the rock and paper into her large tote bag. “Someone’s delivering me a message.”

“Hell of a way to do that,” the driver grumbled. “Now I’m gonna have to pay for the broken window.”

“Give me your contact information,” said Cindy, “I’ll get it taken care of for you.”

The driver looked at her strangely, reluctant. Then he turned and got back into the front of the cab.

“Thanks but no thanks,” he said. “Look, your hotel’s only another couple of blocks. The sooner I get you there the better. Take your message, call the cops, and forget I was even driving the cab.”

Cindy was alerted. This guy had secrets to hide, probably nothing to do with her though.

“Did you see the person who threw the rock?” Cindy was quick on the draw, mentally making note of the cab number and driver’s ID, just in case.

“I didn’t see nothing,” the driver sounded nervous, “just heard the crash of glass like you did.” Then he got quiet, sped to the hotel, and as soon as Cindy got out of the cab, took off in a flash.

Cindy didn’t think too much of it. There was all kinds of petty crime on the island and she could certainly understand the driver not wanting to get involved. She went up to her room quickly, her body shaking lightly. Once she got there, she’d read the note, then call the cops.

Once inside the small, stuffy room, Cindy dumped the contents of her bag onto the sofa, picked up the note, flattened it out and read it. There were only two sentences written on it in big, sprawling letters.

Get out of town as fast as you can. You’re not wanted in Anguilla.

After reading the message a few times, Cindy put it down on the table and took a breath. She needed to know who sent the note, and how come it had arrived just as she was leaving Johnson’s Pub. No one knew she’d been there except Natalie. Had Natalie set her up, did she mention to someone that Cindy was meeting her there? Or, maybe someone had seen them on their own? Of course it was also possible that someone had been on Cindy’s trail all the time.

Naturally, the incident had to be reported. Cindy reached for her phone, and without a minute’s hesitation, put a call into Sean.

“Someone threw a rock through my cab window,” Cindy reported the second he picked up. “It had a note attached to it.”

“What did it say?” Sean answered, alarmed.

“Get out of town as fast as you can. You’re not wanted in Anguilla,” Cindy reported.

“Stay where you are,” Sean’s voice grew more intense. “Don’t move. Where are you?”

“Back in my hotel room,” Cindy answered.

“Give me ten minutes,” he replied, “I’ll be right there.”

Cindy hung up the phone surprised and pleased by his response. He was right on it, wouldn’t let a second go by. Maybe Sean knew more than she did and had a sense of some danger she was in? As Cindy waited for Sean to arrive, she knew that she also had to let Mattheus know what had happened.

Mattheus picked up the phone the minute Cindy called, almost as if he’d been waiting to hear from her.

“I’ve been wondering what you’re up to,” he said softly.

“I ran into a little trouble,” Cindy cut straight to the point.

“What?” Mattheus’s voice grew tighter.

“I was in a cab, coming back from talking to one of Andrea’s friends, and someone threw a rock in the cab window. It had a note tied to it,” Cindy spoke fast.

“What? Someone threw a rock at you? Where are you now?” Mattheus sounded alarmed.

“It’s okay, I wasn’t hurt. I’m back in the hotel,” Cindy quieted down.

“Why didn’t you call me immediately?” Mattheus was shocked.