Death by Devotion (Caribbean Murder #9)

“Sounds like Mattheus has given you an earful,” said Cindy.

“An earful of lots of things,” Petra smiled, throwing out the gauntlet at Cindy.

“This is going too far,” Mattheus didn’t like it. He tried to break in. “I’m here to find out more about Andrea, just like you are, Cindy.”

Cindy refused to engage with Mattheus, though. “I came here to find out who the guy is that

Andrea meets at Magentas,” Cindy said straightforwardly to Petra.

“If I knew his name, I’d tell you,” Petra’s eyes flared. “But I don’t. No one does. Andrea’s keeping it secret.

“Why?” Cindy demanded.

“Why not?” asked Petra.

“Playing games with me isn’t going to help a thing,” Cindy took her on. “I’m here to help your daughter.”

“Don’t give me that,” Petra snapped. “You’re here to take Mattheus far away from

his daughter. You’re here to help yourself. You want Mattheus back, don’t you?”

“No, I don’t,” said Cindy and meant it. “In fact, I can’t wait to solve this case and get out of here.”

That truly pleased Petra, “Be my guest,” she jumped right in. “Get out of here now.”

“You don’t want everyone possible here, helping to free your daughter? That’s peculiar to me,”

Cindy looked at her accusingly.

“Everything’s peculiar to you because you don’t belong here, and you don’t understand our

world,” Petra replied. “So I can’t see how you’re gonna do any good.”

“Especially when you don’t really want your daughter freed,” Cindy replied menacingly. “Do

you, Petra?”

Petra winced. “You accusing me of something again?”

“I don’t know, Petra, should I be?” Cindy took a step closer to her. As she did, she noticed Petra’s eyes were bloodshot. She’d probably been drinking. “You had a lot to gain by Cain being dead, didn’t you?”

“Oh yeah? What?” Petra seemed suddenly woozy.

“How about you and your boyfriend, for starters?” Cindy wasn’t holding anything back.

“I told you the guy I was with was a neighbor,” Petra insisted.

“Who said him? I mean Mattheus,” Cindy shot back.

Mattheus gasped at that comment. “That’s ridiculous, Cindy, it’s nuts,” he exclaimed.

Petra smiled a long, languid smile though, “Now that’s something that’s not such a bad idea,” she crooned. “I can think of lots of worse boyfriends to have than Mattheus. If you ask me he looks even better now than he did years ago when I first met him.”

“This is crazy!” Mattheus shot back at Petra. “What are you trying to do? Get both of

us locked up?”

Petra threw back her head, laughed loudly, flung herself at Mattheus and put her arms around his neck. “Honey, I can think of a lot of worse things than being locked up with you!”

Cindy cringed as Petra tossed her a backhanded look over her shoulder. It was as if she were saying, he’s mine now. I got him. Go take a walk.

*

Cindy took Petra’s advice and stormed out of the house without another word. She wasn’t

taking any walk though, but heading straight to the jail to speak to Andrea one more time. Andrea

deserved to know that part of her alibi had been verified. Maybe when she heard that she’d tell Cindy

the name of the guy she’d been there with.

Despite the late hour, Cindy was admitted into the holding station without much ado. By now

The police there and guards knew who she was.

“I need to see Andrea right away,” Cindy said to the main guard the moment she entered.

Cindy’s urgency frightened him a little. “Why? What’s happened?” he exclaimed. “More trouble

coming?”

Cindy knew he was referring to the beating Andrea had undergone. “Could be,” Cindy

answered, to make sure he’d let her in.

“Well, tell us about it first,” the guard requested.

“I’ll tell you about it after I talk to Andrea,” Cindy exclaimed, holding it as a card to insure they’d

let her in.



Without further fuss, the guard took a ring of keys and lead Cindy down the hallway to the waiting section.

“We don’t usually get visitors this late at night,” he mumbled as they walked along.

“It’s urgent,” Cindy repeated and he grew quieter as they approached the waiting section.

“I’ll sit here,” said Cindy, “while you go get Andrea.”

To Cindy’s relief the guard did exactly as she told him to. Cindy hoped that the time of night and intensity of the visit might job something loose in Andrea, get her to talk to her honestly.

*

In just a few minutes the guard returned, with Andrea following him, looking scared.

“Sit here,” he commanded her, roughly, motioning to a chair opposite Cindy.

Andrea sat down, staring at Cindy, almost in tears.

“We need to be alone now,” Cindy said to him, in an authoritative tone.

“Got it,” he replied, grumbling, and walked back down the hallway.