Death by Jealousy (Caribbean Murder #6)

Mattheus sat on the edge of Cindy’s bed. He felt lonely for her, but also relieved to have a few minutes to himself. She’d be back in a little while, he realized, and they’d take it from there. Mattheus drew his hand over her quilt gently, as if he were stroking and reassuring both her and himself that they’d be together again soon.

As his hand wandered back and forth he felt a small, cold object. He picked it up, Cindy’d left her cell phone laying there. Mattheus smiled and took it in his hand, and without thinking, opened it up. To his amazement, the text from Mac stared him right in the face.

Come meet me downstairs, alone, it’s important. Mac.

Mattheus began shaking. What the hell was going on? Here she was accusing him of having a secret life with Vivien while she’d slipped out to be alone with Mac. Mattheus looked at the message again. What could be so important? And why did this guy want her down there alone? He and Cindy weren’t an item, at least Mattheus believed that. As he stared at the text his body began to stiffen. It didn’t compute - something was off. He rammed the phone in his pocket, jumped up, and decided to join the two of them downstairs.

Mattheus rushed to the front of the hotel, looking up and down the wide street. It was empty. No one was there. Had Cindy met Mac and taken off? Was there more going on between them than Mattheus realized? He paced back and forth when suddenly he saw Mac walking towards him, wobbling a little.

“Where’s Cindy?” Mac asked gruffly, as he came closer to Mattheus.

Mattheus broke out into a sweat. “What the hell do you mean where’s Cindy? She came down here to see you.”

Mac’s eyes were bleary, half drunk. “I waited and she didn’t show up,” Mac managed to say.

Mattheus went closer, grabbed him by the color and put his face in his.

“Where’s Cindy?” he screamed for all he was worth.

“Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ,” Mac started blubbering, “I don’t know. I waited for her and she didn’t show up. I never meant for any of this to happen.”

“Never meant for what to happen?” the adrenalin shot through every vein of Mattheus’s body. Immediately, he yanked out his phone and called the police. “Emergency,” Mattheus shouted in the phone.

“The Coast Guard, the Coast Guard,” Mac shot to attention. “They’ve probably got her out in the boat.”

“The Coast Guard,” Mattheus yelled into the phone again as a small crowd from the hotel started to gather.

Mattheus spun around and there was Ann and Frank, rigid with fear.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” Ann looked like a ghost had claimed her.

Vivien stood beside Ann, looking equally shaken.

“I’ve been waiting for Tad and he hasn’t showed up,” Vivien panted. “I ran into Cindy’s sister and brother in law. They’ve been kind to me, we’ve been talking and talking. I told them all about the jewels.”

“What else did you tell them?” Mac’s voice came in short spurts.

“I want to go home now,” Vivien started trembling.

“What else did you tell them?” Mac’s voice was loud and gruff. “Tell me or you’ll never go home.”

“Emergency, Emergency, get the Coast Guard,” Mattheus kept yelling into the phone.

Mac lunged over to Mattheus and threw his arms around him.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, we’ll get Cindy back with us,” Mac insisted. “We’ve got the best Coast Guard in the world.”

*

Cindy’s head was throbbing. As she’d suspected, she was in a boat, racing out to sea, moving at top speed. She turned her neck as best she could to see who was talking to her, but the darkness was thick and the face still hidden.

The voice came closer to her then. The further from shore the braver it sounded.

“You think you can just come between people and threaten them, rip their lives apart?” the voice demanded.

In a horrible moment, Cindy recognized the voice of Tad.

“What are you talking about, Tad?” she managed to say. Cindy suddenly remembered the microphone she’d clipped on. It had to be recording. Even if they dumped her down under the ocean, she’d rip off the mike first and leave it behind. Someone would find it. Her life wouldn’t have been in vain.

Tad stepped out of the darkness into the dim light, looking stony faced and menacing.

“Vivien warned me right up front you were the one to look out for,” he said in a grainy tone.

Cindy’s heart pounded and her limbs grew numb. Tad looked insane and there was no one to help her.

“Vivien said you were going to pin Allie’s death on her,” he went on, “I promised her I would never let that happen.”

“Was Vivien responsible for Allie’s death?” Cindy managed to re-gain her voice.

“See, she was right,” Tad’s eyes narrowed. “You think she killed Allie!”

“Did she?” Cindy demanded. Even with the waves around her lapping at the boat, even with the prospect of her own death facing her, Cindy craved the truth.

“No, she didn’t,” Tad snapped back, “but she wasn’t stupid, either. She saw how you tried to get Mattheus to play with her head.”

“That’s ridiculous,” said Cindy.