“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Mattheus tried to hold back. “Let me call Rodney, and he can call Nick. Maybe someone down at the casinos has something to tell us.”
Mattheus put in a quick call into Rodney, who had found the informant in the first place for them. He put the call on the speaker phone, and Cindy closed her eyes as she listened to him dial.
“News is out,” Rodney picked up right away. “We’re looking for her everywhere. If she’s here, we’ll find her before the morning.”
“What do you mean if?” asked Mattheus.
“Could be she took a private plane out of the island,” Rodney mused. “Two private planes left a few hours ago, just when she would have been leaving.”
Cindy opened her eyes in a flash. How wonderful that would be. She prayed that Tara was on one of the planes, safely tucked away, headed back to the states. Cindy hoped that Tara had found that kind of strength. But why would she leave her bag in her hotel room then?
“Tara Whitfield has all the money in the world and all the contacts,” Rodney continued. “There’s no reason to think she didn’t charter a plane.”
“Hope so,” said Mattheus, guardedly.
“Why’d she disappear like that? What kind of trouble is there in the family?” asked Rodney, curious.
Cindy put her hand on Mattheus’s arm, as if telling him not to say a word.
“All kinds of pre-wedding jitters,” Mattheus answered vaguely.
“Come on, let me have it,” Rodney wasn’t buying it. “You guys dug something up that made her go?”
Both Mattheus and Cindy were dead silent.
“Hey,” Rodney continued. “Lynch comes from a big family and they’ve got power. If his bride to be actually turns up missing, there’s a lot of suspects waiting in the wings. “
“Is Tara officially listed as missing?” Mattheus responded, sliding around Rodney’s other question, artfully.
“Well, what else would you call it?” asked Rodney, irked.
“I’d call it a case of a runaway bride,” said Mattheus.
“If you’re lucky,” Rodney didn’t sound convinced. “But I just want to let you know that a couple of other people connected to this family’s company have gone missing in the past. Police looked high and low and found nothing – they’re both cold cases by now. It won’t look so good if another vanishes.”Cindy was shocked by that news. “We have to find out more about that,” said Cindy, horrified. “Who were these people who went missing? Did it happen when Lynch’s father was still alive?”
“Slow down,” said Mattheus to her. Then he thanked Rodney for the information, told him to keep in touch and got off the phone, fast.
“Why didn’t you want to find out who are those people who went missing?” Cindy repeated, annoyed.
“Slow down, Cindy,” Mattheus repeated. “A lot of the native population here work for the company in one way or another. And, there’s a pretty good underground drug trade down here too, growing all the time.”
“So?” asked Cindy.
“So, all kind of things happen that have nothing to do with this wedding. People go missing for a thousand different reasons. We have to stay on focus. Remember, Tara isn’t working for the company, just marrying into it.”
“Was marrying into it,” Cindy corrected him, both relieved for Tara and concerned about her.
“Don’t jump to the conclusion that it’s such a bad family,” Mattheus responded. “We don’t have evidence of that at all.”
Cindy wondered, once again, why Mattheus was being so protective of Lynch’s family. It had to be because he was identified with Lynch, and his secret son. Cindy hadn’t even given a moment’s thought to Mattheus’s own daughter since Tara disappeared. There would be plenty of time for exploring that when things settled down here.
“You just want to protect Lynch and his mother,” said Cindy. “But let’s keep our minds open to everything.”
“I’ve got a better idea,” said Mattheus, “let’s take a deep breath. We’re acting as if Tara’s in big trouble. There’s no evidence of that yet, either, so let’s take it slow.”
Of course Mattheus was right. There was just as much of a chance that Tara was fine, had made up her mind to get out of the marriage and taken off to an unknown location. For the moment Cindy had to ignore the persistent nagging feeling inside that told her otherwise.
“We get so used to expecting the worst,” Cindy murmured, “at the least little thing, we smell disaster.”
“Precisely my point,” said Mattheus softly. “It’s a danger of the trade we’re in. And, it doesn’t only apply to cases,” Mattheus looked at Cindy directly then. “It pertains to our relationship, too.”
Cindy swallowed hard.
“You’re also thinking the worst and imagining disaster just because I didn’t tell you about my daughter,” Mattheus went on.
Cindy had to acknowledge that he was right. “It’s true,” she said quietly.