Death by Jealousy (Caribbean Murder #6)

Death by Jealousy (Caribbean Murder #6)

Jaden Skye



CHAPTER 1


Cindy and Mattheus sat shoulder-to-shoulder in the plane, enjoying the trip and each other, relaxing like old times, as if nothing had gone wrong between them. Before they’d left they’d gone over the details of the case that they were flying down to the Cayman Islands to solve. Mattheus felt it could just be a case of a missing person—a bride at a destination wedding who’d gotten cold feet and ran away. Sure, she’d found a strange way to do it, but last minute panic can do crazy things to the mind. He wasn’t convinced they were looking at a crime.

Cindy wasn’t so sure.

Cindy hadn’t even been sure she was going to work on another case with Mattheus, until the frantic call for help came in. The call came very early in the morning, the day after she and Mattheus had finished their last case in Key West. Cindy was planning to go back home to Long Island, take a breather, and spend much-needed time with her sister Ann. The visit would stabilize Cindy, help her regain her footing. It always did.

Cindy had still been in Key West, asleep in her hotel room, when her phone rang uncontrollably and wouldn’t stop. She’d picked up the receiver, only half awake.

“My son, my son!” a woman kept gasping.

“Who is this?” Cindy woke up fast.

“Dana McPherson,” the woman could barely speak.

Dana McPherson was a well-known surgeon in Oyster Bay who Cindy had known when she’d been married to Clint. Dana, a strong, elegant woman could barely catch her breath.

“What’s wrong?” Cindy grabbed the phone hard.

“We need you, Cindy,” Dana’s voice was laced with panic and tears. “You’ve got to help.”

“Tell me what happened?” Cindy tried to calm her.

“They’re holding my son Peter for questioning. He’s the main suspect,” Dana could barely get the words out.

“Suspect in what?”

“He didn’t do it, I’m positive,” Dana was babbling. “You have to come down and convince them of that. You must.” Then she started sobbing uncontrollably.

Cindy’s heart clenched. She wasn’t ready to take on another case. She needed time, had promised it to herself. She wanted to sort out her life, see where things were going with her and Mattheus. Things had happened so quickly between them, she hadn’t had time to digest it. Mattheus’s erratic behavior in Key West had frightened her in more ways than one. Cindy had to be sure this was the life she really wanted, and that Mattheus was the one she wanted to share it with.

Dana finally stopped sobbing and began speaking again.

“We’re all here at the Cayman Islands for Peter’s wedding. Everything was fine. Then Peter and Allie went for a night dive a day before the wedding. The two of them got separated underwater and she never surfaced again. Never!”

Cindy gasped. The awful story reminded her of what had happened to her and Clint on their honeymoon when he’d disappeared surfing. She remembered the wait, the horror, the search.

“It’s awful,” Cindy breathed.

“Beyond awful,” Dana’s voice choked back. “They’ve been searching under water and on land and can’t find her anywhere. For no reason at all, they’re focusing on Peter. We can’t do this without you, Cindy. You and Mattheus are known for the fantastic work you do. Especially in the Caribbean.”

“Thank you, Dana,” Cindy breathed.

“Can you come right away? We’ll pay you well for it.”

Cindy flinched. It wasn’t about the money, it never had been. There was a deep satisfaction she felt helping others who’d become victims of sudden crimes. Cindy loved digging beneath the surface of lives, stripping off masks, listening for lies. She enjoyed searching out the real culprits and then helping families discover a new equilibrium in their lives. It made what happened to her with Clint bearable, gave it all meaning to help someone else.

“Please come down with Mattheus, right away,” Dana pleaded.

“We’re on the way,” Cindy responded.

*

“We’ll be landing at Cayman Islands Airport in exactly twenty minutes. The weather is perfect, skies are clear,” the Captain’s voice came over the loud speaker, updating the passengers who’d left Miami a short time ago. It was only a thirty minute flight down to the Cayman Islands and seemed as if no time had passed at all.