Death by Jealousy (Caribbean Murder #6)

To his surprise, Vivien was on the other end.

“I heard you were spending the day in the office alone,” her voice was lilting and sweet.

“Who’d you hear that from?” Mattheus felt odd talking to her at the moment.

“Tad told me,” Vivien went on. “How long are you going to be there? Can we have an early dinner alone together before you run back to her?”

“Listen, Vivien,” Mattheus was going to tell her to forget it, when something overtook him. There was no reason to say no, she was closely connected to all the people here. Why shouldn’t he take an extra hour and spend it with her? She was great to be with anyway, made Mattheus feel as if whatever he said or did made such a huge difference. At least someone looked up to him.

“Please,” Vivien’s voice broke into his thoughts. “I really love talking to you. I need to. Tad’s so busy these days he won’t even realize. I’ve never seen him so caught up.”

“An hour or so won’t hurt,” Mattheus agreed reluctantly.

“Does that mean yes?” Vivien sounded excited.

“Only an hour or so,” Mattheus’s voice deepened, as he took a deep breath.

“That’s beautiful,” Vivien murmured, “but don’t mention it to Tad, whatever you do.”

“Wait a minute,” Mattheus felt uneasy.

“Will you call me when you’re ready, or should we just meet somewhere?” Vivien was breathless.

“I’ll call you,” said Mattheus put off. “Why shouldn’t I mention it to Tad?”

“Just don’t,” Vivien replied, “I’ll tell you why later.”

“Tell me now,” Mattheus said.

“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” said Vivien, “and if it isn’t, figure it out yourself. You’re the detective, aren’t you?” Then she hung up.

What was obvious? That Vivien wanted to be alone with him, enjoyed a clandestine relationship? It wasn’t like him to go along with something like that. And what about Cindy? Should he not mention it to her either? Mattheus realized at that moment that he didn’t know much about Tad. Was something strange going on in his relationship with Vivien?

Mattheus pulled his legs down off the desk, went back into the computer and decided to switch accounts and scroll through Tad’s business email account. To his surprise there were just a few emails from Vivien. Most of them were from Peter, Mac and other guys at the company.

Mattheus decided to open the ones from Vivien first.

I’ll see you at eight tonight, she wrote. And, thanks for the bracelet. It’s beautiful. You can’t imagine how much I’d love the matching necklace, too.

One thing at a time, Tad answered; remember I told you patience, patience.

Allie doesn’t have to be patient, Vivien wrote promptly back. She gets what she wants the minute she wants it.

Sweetheart, Tad responded, you’re gonna get whatever you want, too. And more, believe me. I’ve got deals in the works.

Mattheus’s eyes opened wide. What kind of deals was Tad talking about?

You always say you have deals in the works – now Vivien sounded petulant.

That’s the business I’m in, Tad responded. We make deals and then pick up the cash later. When I get my cash, you get your jewelry.

Mattheus shuddered momentarily. The guy had a hungry girlfriend who was pressuring him. Sounded a bit like pay to play.

Mattheus stopped scrolling through the emails for a moment, got up and went to the coffee machine in the room and poured himself a cup. This was probably just the old story, a gal after a guy for what she could get. It wasn’t the feeling Mattheus had about Vivien, but hell, there it was in black and white.

As Mattheus brought the coffee back to the desk and sat down to drink it, he thought about Cindy. She was nothing like that. To his shock, he realized that he’d never even bought her one gift all the time they’d been together. For a second he felt half badly about it, but then stopped himself. Were he and Cindy even together now anymore? It had been a long time since they’d shared a bed. She’d run out on him right after they moved in together, just because he wanted to take on a case. Was that really a reason to run out on him? Look at these guys here – working from morning until night. Look at Vivien, happy to get even an hour alone with him tonight.

Mattheus finished what was left of his coffee and went back to Tad’s emails. You never knew what else might be hidden in them.

Most emails were about business meetings, letters to send, calls to make. Then Mattheus opened an email from Peter to Tad.

I need to see you as soon as possible, it said. Please come into my office right away. Peter sounded agitated.

This is a rough day, Tad answered. Busy every minute-how about tomorrow?

Come right now, it’s an emergency, Peter wrote.

What was the emergency? Mattheus wanted more. None of the other emails between Peter and Tad mentioned anything further. Then Mattheus started opening Tad’s emails to the other guys at work. One was to a guy named Ned.