Brayton went over to the coffee maker and began pouring coffee into some cups.
“You take yours with or without milk and sugar?” he asked Cindy first.
“Milk and sugar,” said Cindy.
“I’ll have mine black, “Mattheus said.
Brayton came back with the coffee and the tall, muscular cop, went to a file, yanked it open and pulled out some papers. Then he came back to the table and sat beside them. Two other cops joined them around the table as well.
They all sat quietly for a moment and drank their coffee until Brayton broke the silence. “This lady isn’t exactly what we call a grieving widow. From the way things look to us now – we got the killer.”
Cindy breathed in swiftly. Shocking, she thought. Case closed in their minds.
“Show me what you have,” said Mattheus.
Brayton ruffled through some papers with one hand and he gulped more coffee with the other.
“Okay, here’s what we got. As you probably know, the hubby took out a two million dollar insurance policy in her name, just three months before he got killed.”
Mattheus raised his eyebrows. “We heard. That’s a lot of cash.”
“Just three months before,” the big muscular, cop chimed in. “Tell me why?”
“Good question,” said Mattheus.
“But why would she be so stupid to kill him such a short time after?” asked Cindy asked. “It’s too obvious.”
The big, muscular cop closed his eyes until they were almost slits and peered at Cindy.
“Nothing is obvious to someone who gets it in their minds to kill,” he muttered. “They all think they can do anything they want and no one will catch them. I know these killers inside and out. They think they got a right to snuff out a life at the drop of a dime. It gives them a thrill.”
Brayton laughed a little. “Nojo has his theories. He’s a great cop, almost never wrong.”
Nojo seemed to like that. He cocked his head to the side. “I can smell a killer ten miles away.”
“Sounds like you think the case is closed,” Cindy took him on.
Nojo grinned. “Your little lady has got a feisty nature,” he said to Mattheus.
Mattheus shook his head. “She likes to hear all the details.”
Cindy didn’t like being spoken of as a little lady. She realized that Mattheus was standing up for her, but she could do it for herself as well. This crazy cop, Nojo, made her uneasy. He seemed to have a vendetta.
“Okay, what else do you have?” Mattheus wanted to move forward.
“No alibi,” Nojo broke in. “Time of death was about 5:30 p.m. Where was she then? This is what will get her! She said she was at home. Really? This was a working lady. Every other day she was out at work, leading tours of the island. How come this particular day she was home? She said she didn’t feel well, had bad dreams all night before. I bet she did.” As Nojo spoke his mouth grew wet with saliva. He tasted victory and an easy one at that.
“What else?” asked Cindy, impatient.
“Hold on a minute, and listen,” Nojo said. “Did anyone see her at home that day? “No one. Her housekeeper was off for the day. Convenient. Her daughter didn’t happen to come home after school. She decided to spend the afternoon away. Very, very convenient. It doesn’t take an idiot to know that none of this adds up.”
“And where’s the husband at that time, usually?” asked Mattheus.
“Usually the poor jerk’s out working late, or out of town on a case. But that’s beside the point now. What I’m asking is how come the day he was killed his daughter didn’t come home?”
“She could have had her reasons,” said Cindy.
Nojo closed his eyes completely. “Everyone has their reasons,” he said. “But do they add up? Or are they just building a noose to hang themselves in?”
Cindy didn’t like him. She felt that he lived off these tragedies, expected them, practically hoped for them.
“And besides that, the daughter Nell is weird,” Nojo continued. “I asked her where were you that afternoon? She said she stayed late in school to study. You even getting the drift of this bullshit? Now this fish is starting to stink worse than before.” He turned to Cindy. “One piece of crap after another.”
“Why wouldn’t she be studying late in school?” Cindy asked.
“Not something she usually does! And no one happened to see her there either.”
Brayton took a long breath. So did Mattheus. None of it looked good.
“She’s covering for the mother. It’s obvious,” Nojo belted out.
Nothing felt obvious to Cindy. She refused to go along with easy, snap conclusions.