Death by Devotion (Caribbean Murder #9)

“Let me go, let me go,” Cindy started howling as he grip tightened and his hands crept up around her neck.

“First tell me what’s so bad about my killing a beast who beat the girl I loved every day of her life?”

*

Mattheus arrived in the car to pick up Cindy, but she wasn’t there. A gnawing pit swirled in his stomach as he scanned the area. Something was definitely wrong! He knew it!

Mattheus jumped out of the car, slammed the door shut and raced up to the place where he’d left her. As he got closer he heard Cindy yelling, then saw her squirming in Jared’s arms.

“Cindy, I’m here, I’m here,” Mattheus shouted, re-doubling his speed and racing over to her.

Startled by the sound of Mattheus’s voice, Jared swerved and slightly loosened his grip. A second later Mattheus jumped on him, wrenched Cindy out of his arms, and pinned him down to the ground.

“You son of a bitch,” Mattheus practically spit in Jared’s face as he stood there with his foot on his chest.

“Jerk,” Jared yelled,” she asked for it. It’s her fault. “

Mattheus pressed his foot harder.

“Ow,” Jared yelled. “Stop. My mother told her not to call the police! She didn’t listen.”

“Called the police?” Mattheus shifted a second and looked over at Cindy.

“Of course I called the police,” said Cindy, quivering near a tree stump. “A killer is on the loose.”

“If the police get me and I go to jail, my mother will make sure it’s the end of Andrea,” Jared’s face was red from the pressure of Mattheus’s foot on his chest. “You want that?”

“Who the hell does your mother think she is?” Mattheus shot back.

Jared bared his teeth. “Ask anyone on the island who she is! They’ll tell you. Nobody disobeys my mother!”

“I do,” Cindy called back, taking a few steps closer.

Jared looked at her from the corner of his eyes. Then he looked up at Mattheus.

“It’s either Andrea of Cindy. You choose,” said Jared. “If you let me kill Cindy now, your daughter goes free. We’ll make it look like an accident. No one will ever know, or care.”

“I care,” Mattheus thundered.

“What do you care more about your daughter or Cindy?” Jared was drooling.

Suddenly, Cindy heard the sound of feet running towards them and Jared’s mother arrived on the scene.

“Take your foot off my son,” she commanded Mattheus in a cold, calculating tone.

Mattheus stood there unmoving, staring at her.

“I’ve got plenty of people to do my bidding,” she insisted. “Let Jared stand up.”

“I can’t do that right now,” Mattheus answered in an equally cold voice. “When I got here, he

was choking Cindy to death.”

“He was being playful,” his mother insisted.

“One man stabbed to death, and now Cindy choked on a hill?” Mattheus turned to her directly.

“If Cindy lives, Andrea dies,” she responded methodically. “And it will happen quickly. I already have people alerted.”

Beads of sweat poured down Mattheus’s face.

“As we speak, my men are surrounding your daughter,” the mother’s voice grew harsher. “Choose, you idiot! Andrea lives or Cindy?”

“Cindy lives,” Mattheus uttered in a voice that sounded as if it were echoing through caves and chambers, as though it came from a different realm. “Cindy lives.”

Cindy felt as though she were swimming in the dark, deep ocean. Mattheus’s choice struck a primal chord throughout her entire body. Nobody should ever be asked to make a choice like that.

As if hit by lightning, she straightened up and rushed over to him. “And Andrea lives as well,” Cindy yelled. “We both live, justice is done!”

“Oh yeah,” said the mother, “just wait and see.”

“You wait and see,” said Cindy as the rustle of footsteps running towards them came closer. To Cindy’s delight the police were arriving, with Sean leading the group.

“Don’t move, game is over,” Sean shouted, a gun pointed at them all.

“We have a confession from Jared,” Cindy called over the fray, “he killed Cain. And the mother’s involved in obstructing justice!”

“There’s no proof of anything, let her say what she wants,” the mother shouted bitterly.

“I’ve taped every word,” Mattheus suddenly proclaimed. “It’s over for both of you.”

The mother’s jaw set and she gritted her teeth as she focused on Sean. “If you side with them, your name will be mud,” she warned. “There won’t be a place for you on the island.”

Sean moved in on them, methodically. “I’m taking the boy and mother in,” he said to Cindy and Mattheus, nodding to the rest of the police who were accompanying him.

The mother grew taut. “Stupid,” she breathed. “Traitors don’t get to live on this island.”

Sean was unflinching as he pulled her arms behind her back and Cindy watched in total admiration.