Death by Devotion (Caribbean Murder #9)

Without wasting a minute, Mattheus quickly checked in and unpacked. Then he stopped to decide if he should call ahead first, or just arrive unannounced at Andrea’s home. It would be better, he decided, to just show up, walk right in, and see what life there was really like.

Mattheus hailed a cab which took him to the address she had given him. It was a small, thatched house in a local settlement about a mile away. Kids were playing in the street, dogs were barking and as they were at the edge of a bird sanctuary, big birds flew overhead.

Mattheus walked to the door and knocked on it hard.

“It’s open,” a voice called out. “Come in.”

Mattheus stiffened a moment and then pushed the door open and walked in. First he stepped into a narrow hallway that led to a living room with sloped ceilings, and a glass door leading out to a small garden in the rear.

“I’ll be there a minute,” the voice called again from down the hallway. It wasn’t Andrea’s voice either. Mattheus wondered if it were her mother, Petra. God, how she would handle seeing him again, all of a sudden, after fifteen years? Obviously, she’d been expecting someone, or she wouldn’t have said to just come in. Uneasy, Mattheus shifted back and forth and waited.

In a few minutes, a beautiful, sensuous Caribbean woman in her mid-thirties, dressed in a casual native, cotton dress, with her hair piled on top of her head, and big, hoop earrings, walked into the room. When she saw Mattheus standing there, she stopped cold and stared.

“Who the hell?” she said, frightened.

Mattheus took a few steps in her direction. “There’s nothing to be afraid of Petra,” he said, quietly.

“You know my name?” that scared her even more.

“Andrea told me your name.” Mattheus replied.

“Andrea? You’re lying,” she uttered.

“I’m not. I’m Mattheus, Andrea’s father. Did she tell you about me?”

The woman blanched. “It’s not possible,” she exclaimed.

“It’s true. I’m Mattheus.”

“Like hell you’re Mattheus,” Petra refused to believe it. “He disappeared, left me flat.”

“He didn’t mean to,” said Mattheus, despite himself. “He was a young kid, didn’t know what he was doing.”

“He knew exactly what he was doing,” now Petra grew angry. “It was a night of fun and then it was over. I was the one left with the baby, not him.”

“Didn’t Andrea tell you I was coming to see all of you again?” Mattheus asked quickly.

“What the hell do you mean, again?” the woman practically spit at him. “You haven’t seen her since she was born. You haven’t been here, ever. There’s no reason for us to meet now.”

Mattheus took a step away. Petra’s hatred for him was palpable. He’d had no idea she’d been harboring anger like this.

“I came to see my daughter,” Mattheus corrected himself.

“Oh really?” Petra came a step closer. “Just like that? What makes you think you can step back into her life all of a sudden, after all these years?”

“Because she wants to see me,” Mattheus haltingly replied.

Petra was having a hard time getting her mind around this. “Were you here for her ever? Did you do one damn thing to help me out all these years?” she spluttered.

Mattheus felt his gut twisting. He had no answer.

Petra took his silence as confession. Her voice grew louder and more shrill. “You think you’re coming to take my honey away from me now? You’re gonna bribe her with money or something?”

“Nothing like that,” Mattheus started to say, when Andrea herself, suddenly appeared in the doorway. She was dressed in shorts and a long sleeve T shirt, with a beach cover over it.

Her eyes were wide with amazement as she watched Mattheus and her mother arguing.

“Mom, I heard you shouting, and came down to see why,” Andrea finally interrupted, walking into the room.

Petra turned to her daughter in a frenzy. “Did you invite this bastard down here to see us?”

“Hold on a minute,” said Mattheus then, his anger beginning to build.

“I did invite him,” Andrea replied, “but I never thought he’d come.” Andrea’s eyes fastened onto Mattheus and stayed glued to him, then. There was shock and disbelief in them, but also happiness.

“Well, I did come,” Mattheus responded quickly.

But Petra was having none of it. “What the hell do you mean you invited him?” her voice grew raspy as she turned to Andrea full force. “How dare you invite him without asking me?”

“I have a right to invite anyone I like,” said Andrea, turning into the sassy self she’d been with Mattheus. “After all, he’s my dad, isn’t he? You told me about him for years.”

Mattheus’s heart clenched. He could only imagine what Petra had told Andrea about him.

“Yeah, you told me he was coming,” Petra breathed, “but I never thought the idiot would turn up.”

“Why not? He tracked me down on his own. I told you I saw him up in St. Martin.” Andrea was good at calming her mother down.

“But why did he track you down? Why now?” Petra became more and more nervous.