Death by Engagement (Caribbean Murder Series, Book 12)

Cindy began trembling. “No, I suppose not,” she murmured.

“You suppose not?” Mattheus looked startled. “Are you still carrying that guilt along, Cindy? Is that why you can’t stop working? Are you still trying to make up for what happened to Clint?”

Cindy pulled her hand away. “Cut it out, Mattheus,” she said sharply. “Stop attacking my work. I need it, I like it. If it’s a problem for you, just tell me now.”

Mattheus caught himself short. “You’re right, I’m sorry. I’m just as flustered as hell. Never went through something like that before with the family of a woman I cared for. I kind of hoped your family would become my family, too.”

“We don’t get everything we hope for though, do we?” Cindy felt a wave of bitterness rise within.

“Cindy, let’s put this aside as best we can for now.” Mattheus’s voice became soft and consoling. “It won’t do any good to turn on each other. That’s just what they’re hoping for.”

Mattheus was right and Cindy knew it. His comment snapped her back to reality.

“You’re right,” Cindy said. “My mother and Frank came down with the lousy idea of stopping our wedding. They had no right to do that.”

“It was selfish as hell,” said Mattheus, “and we don’t want to give them a victory.”

“You’d think they’d be happy that I had someone to be with.” Cindy’s voice dropped low.

“They’re not happy about anything, right now,” Mattheus went on. “So they can’t let anyone else be happy, either.”

Once again Mattheus put things in a way that made sense. What Cindy was having a harder time with, though, was that the rift between her and her mother had deepened. It seemed to have turned into a chasm that there was no way to cross. Cindy couldn’t even see how she could invite her mother to her wedding now. If Ann were alive, none of this would have happened. Ann had always been a port in a storm who stopped oncoming waves from engulfing the family. She’d been Cindy’s stalwart protector. Even though Ann might not have fully liked Mattheus, she never would have behaved that way.

“Thinking about your sister, Ann?” Mattheus asked then, quietly.

“Are you a mind reader or something?” Cindy asked.

“No.” Mattheus smiled wanly. “I just know what you’re thinking when you’re upset. When you love someone, you can see it written all over their face.”

Cindy couldn’t help but smile and reached back for Mattheus’s hand.

“We’re going to move right along, Cindy,” Mattheus said then. “This is nothing more than a bump in the road. You can’t keep dwelling on it. Besides, remember, you’ve got a case to be solved in a few days?”

Mattheus was smart, he knew how to put things in perspective and get Cindy right back on track. As soon as she focused the case, the dinner with her mother and Frank would fall into the background and take its rightful place.





“So, what are the next steps you’re going to take on the case?” Mattheus continued.

Cindy nestled closer to him. “I want to speak to Kate, Doug’s sister,” she started, “and I’m also looking forward to talking with Tad.”

“Good.” Mattheus was encouraging. “And after that?”

Cindy scanned her mind for what could be left to go over then. “I haven’t gone to the scene of the crime yet,” she commented. “We could do that together, look around.”

“Fine,” said Mattheus. “What else? Does that about do it?”

Suddenly Cindy wondered if Mattheus was simply trying to get the case finished with again, so they could move forward with their plans.

“Depending on what we find, that might do it,” Cindy remarked, unwilling to be pushed into a timetable now.

*

Cindy and Mattheus awoke early the next morning to the phone ringing.

“It’s not even nine o’clock yet.” Mattheus rolled over in bed as Cindy reached out and picked up, suddenly frightened it might be her mother or Frank with something else awful to say.

Thankfully, Shari’s father, Edward, was on the other end.

“Am I calling too early?” was the first thing he asked.

“No, it’s fine,” Cindy mumbled, both tremendously relieved and also sad that it wasn’t her family.

“Good,” said Edward. “I have news for you. The coroner finally called me back yesterday and we had a chance to talk. He agreed to let you come down, look at the photos they have and talk to him about what they found.”

“I thought they didn’t find anything to disprove the idea that Shari’s death was a suicide,” Cindy mumbled, suddenly sleepy again.

“I want you to go talk to him about it,” Edward continued. “When I pressed him he told me there was a bruise on Shari’s left arm. They even have a photo of it.”