Death by Jealousy (Caribbean Murder #6)

“Vivien said you wanted him to steal her away from me,” Tad went on as he dark eyes narrowed.

“That’s not how it happened,” Cindy spoke fiercely. “Vivien came onto Mattheus. I had nothing to do with it. I didn’t like it. You got it all mixed up. She was trying to get between me and him.”

Tad laughed for a second, then his eyes took on a dismal glare.

“Bullshit,” he growled. “Don’t play with my head. I’ve had enough of tricks and lies for one lifetime.”

Cindy’s breath came in short gasps. “So have I,” she said.

“And no one steals my girlfriend from me. No one! You got that?” Tad’s voice got louder.

Cindy felt as though the two of them were suspended together in eternity, on the turbulent ocean, underneath the black sky.

“It wasn’t Mattheus who wanted to steal your girlfriend from you,” Cindy said then, in a drawling tone. Her only hope would be to confuse him, throw his fear elsewhere.

Tad took a few steps closer to her. “Oh yeah? Who else?”

“There were plenty of people who were with Vivien, weren’t there?” Cindy assumed a mocking tone. “It wasn’t so hard to steal her away.”

Tad’s lips spread open slowly, like a reptile of some kind. “None of them meant a thing to her,” he called out, “none of them. Only me. I’m her dream man!”

“That’s what she told you, but it wasn’t true.” Cindy’s only hope was to make him believe someone else was the culprit.

Tad started laughing. “You’re a fool and you don’t even know it,” he said. “There wasn’t anything you’d stop at to break us apart. You were the one who found out about the cash accounts at the company.” Tad’s voice now had an eerie tone. “You were the one who wanted Mattheus to tell Edward and Mac. You didn’t want me to have the cash to get Vivien the jewels, did you?”

In the midst of Cindy’s terror, clarity dawned.

“You were the one taking money from the company,” she said. “You needed it to buy Vivien gifts. Without them, she’d never stay with you.”

Tad barked out a raucous laugh. “No one’s ever bought you jewels, have they?” He looked Cindy up and down disparagingly. “Why should they? Who the hell are you, anyway? What gives you the right to burst into our lives? You think Peter’s the only one who deserves to have money? You think Peter’s the only one who deserves to have love?”

Cindy started trembling. Tad was rabid, livid and paranoid. She heard snickering then, and saw the slimy guys who’d been at Carlos’s place, step out of the shadows. They had to be the ones who’d grabbed her and come after her in the car. Obviously, they all worked together, laundering their rotten drug money through the company. And whose boat was this? Who was driving it? Cindy suddenly realized it had to be Jared. This was the same boat Allie dove from the night she died.

“This is Jared’s boat, isn’t it?” asked Cindy.

Tad grinned. “You’re not so stupid after all,” he said.

“You all work together?”

“You bet your sweet life,” said Tad.

“Mac’s a part of this, too?”

“Nah, he’s a dumb ass. Just takes his share of the booty and goes gambling with it. Actually, Mac thinks the world of you. Told me you and he are meant for each other, said there’s no way you can be apart for long.”

Cindy shivered to the depths of her bones.

“Mac told me he’s gonna marry you and bring you down here to live. You think I’d ever let that happen? You got the idiot hoodwinked, like everyone else.”

In the midst of the ranting and madness, another wave of clarity came over Cindy.

“You’re the one who killed Allie, aren’t you? Admit, Tad!” she demanded. There was no reason for Tad not to admit it. She was about to be dumped into the sea. “Admit it to someone before you die!”

“Me, die?” Tad laughed loudly. “Look into the water, honey. You’re the one who’s going down into it. It’s your body that’s gonna drift back up on shore one day.”

“So, tell me anyway,” Cindy persisted. “When I go, I’ll take your secret with me. At least you’ll have told someone the truth. You killed Allie, didn’t you?”

“Wrong,” Tad called out, irate, “I had no reason to kill Allie. It was Peter I was out to finish off.”

Cindy gasped.

“It was death by mistake,” Tad howled into the night. “Jared mixed up the air gauges I brought him. He gave the red one to Allie. I told him it was new, made especially for Peter. Jared switched them at the last minute. He said he thought Allie should have the better on. He had no idea I’d messed with it. None at all.”

“You were going to kill your best friend?” Cindy faced Tad head on.