“Yeah,” Mattheus answered. “If I felt I needed some privacy and secret spaces in my life.”
“Everyone needs privacy and secret spaces in their life, Mattheus,” Cindy said. “But this is more than a secret space. This is a child you would have a responsibility to as long as you live. He’s someone you would need to see, care for and love. That’s not just a secret space in your life.”
Mattheus sighed deeply and dug into the lunch that had just been brought to their table. Cindy watched him eat and couldn’t take a bite. Was there something like this in his life that he wasn’t telling her about?
When Mattheus came up for air he turned to Cindy point blank. “I don’t want to tell Aldon about this,” he said definitively.
“We have to, Mattheus,” Cindy replied. “There’s no two ways about it.”
“Let’s sleep on it then,” Mattheus relented. “If you still feel so strongly about it, we can tell him in the morning.”
CHAPTER 4
After a semi sleepless night, the first thing the next morning, Cindy called Aldon and told him she had news and wanted to see him. At first Mattheus refused to go along, but Cindy was adamant that he had to come.
“Aldon hired both of us,” she said. “It will look unprofessional if we don’t go together. It may even look as if we are divided about it.”
“We are,” Mattheus said flatly.
“Divided or not, there’s a job to do,” Cindy reminded him. “You don’t get to do the job only when things go your way.”
“I’ll think about it,” said Mattheus, opening his computer and scrolling around as Cindy went into the bathroom to dress.
Mattheus didn’t agree to go until the very last minute, when Cindy, dressed in a lovely azure linen pants suit, was practically out of the door. “Okay, I’m coming,” he said and shuffled over to join her.
Cindy was relieved he was coming but also annoyed. As they rode up in the elevator to Aldon’s suite, they barely glanced at each other.
“I’ll do all the talking if you like,” Cindy said, as the elevator door opened and they walked down the hallway to Aldon’s room.
They’d barely knocked on the door when Aldon appeared and flung it open. It was as if he’d been waiting right there for them. “Come right in,” he said overly eager.
Cindy and Mattheus entered hurriedly.
“Your timing is perfect,” Aldon looked pressured. “Guests are arriving on the island by droves. And there’s more where these came from. The entire wedding party’s here. Tara’s been frantically texting, asking when I’m coming.”
“She doesn’t know you’re here?” Cindy was surprised.
“I told her that I’m arriving today,” Aldon said begrudgingly. “There’s a suite waiting for me at the Aupres Hotel. But I wanted to meet with the two of you first in private.”
The three of them walked into the main room as Aldon motioned to the sofas and they sat down. “Okay, shoot,” he said right away then, chomping at the bit and looking eagerly at Mattheus.
Mattheus just looked away though, and Cindy had to step in briskly. She knew she had to get right to the point. There was time for hedging around corners.
“We’ve heard that Lynch has a son with a former girlfriend,” Cindy said.
Aldon’s face went completely blank. “What?”
“The son lives here on the island with his mother, who is Caribbean,” Cindy continued matter of factly. “Had you heard about this?”
Aldon stood quickly and then practically fell back down once again, as if the wind had been knocked out of him. “Had I heard?” he asked in a shrill tone. “Never! Not a word.”
“I didn’t think so,” said Cindy. “Our informant said no one knew.”
“Who is this informant?” Aldon demanded.
“That’s irrelevant,” Mattheus chimed in. “Our sources are private.”
“Not to me,” shouted Aldon. “How can I trust him? How can I know this is the truth?”
Mattheus just nodded briskly. “I found the informant through an infallible police source. He wouldn’t dare play games with me.”
“My God, my God,” Aldon could barely breathe.
“It’s possible your daughter knows about this, and hasn’t wanted to share the information with you,” Cindy chimed in, trying to calm him.
“Impossible,” Aldon insisted. “She has no idea, none at all. Tara has always been na?ve and innocent. She was overly protected, an only child. She never had a care in the world until her mother died. When would she ever have had the chance to run into conniving and lies like this?”
“I wouldn’t put it that way,” said Mattheus. “There’s no evidence that Lynch is conniving. He’s taking good care of his son.”
“Taking good care of his son? And no one knows about it?” Aldon couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You don’t call that conniving and lies?”
“I call it a guy who made a mistake and is making good on it,” Mattheus insisted.
Aldon threw a troubled glance at Cindy. “And what do you think?” he exclaimed.