Ned seemed shaken by her direct thrust. “What are you implying?” he responded harshly, turning the question back on her. “The police are spread out everywhere, covering every possible venue. In fact, at this moment, Lynch is our main a person of interest.” Ned tapped his foot on the floor and looked at Cindy out of the corner of his eyes. “After all, Lynch was the last one to see her alive.”
“You’re sure of that?” asked Cindy, as Mattheus reached over and put his hand on her arm.
“Let’s give them a chance to talk first,” Mattheus said, with a smile.
“Women, women,” Ned cocked his head to the side and smiled at Mattheus, conspiratorially. “Not to worry, my dear Cindy,” he went on, trying a new tactic, speaking to her as though she were a child. “We’re on top of everything, family and guests are being interviewed today. The latest information we have is that Tara and Lynch went swimming together in the Cove that afternoon. Her maid of honor Lea told us.”
It was old information. Cindy wasn’t impressed. “And did Lea see Tara after that?” she asked.
“The maid of honor and bride are usually inseparable before the wedding.”
“Good point,” Phil joined in then. “We’ll have to check and see.”
“Where was Lynch just before Tara disappeared?” Cindy continued firmly. She had no intention of being mollycoddled or letting anyone off the hook.
“That’s just the problem,” Ned scraped his chair back, and addressed his words right to Mattheus, easing Cindy into the background. “We asked Lynch where he was after he and Tara went swimming? What did he do? Who saw him? He said he hung out in his room, and then took a short walk, before dressing for the rehearsal dinner. Problem is, no one saw him, at all. No alibi.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Mattheus quickly commented. “The groomsmen are all over the place. How could no one see him? Why would he stay by himself for so long?”
“Exactly,” Ned let out a long, rough breath.
Mattheus shook his head slowly, “No alibi, that’s not good.”
“Yeah, but you can also look at it this way,” Ned replied, “if Lynch had actually done something, wouldn’t he at least try to hide it, give us some kind of story? It would have been easy enough for him to drop into a bar or restaurant at the hotel and have someone spot him there.”
“Not if something happened between them at the Cove and her death was an accident,” said Cindy. “Then he would be shaken to the core, wouldn’t even think about an alibi.”
“True,” said Phil. He seemed to respect Cindy, and looked at her appreciatively.
“Also,” Cindy continued, “did you know that Lynch’s mother threatened to disinherit him if Tara didn’t go through with the wedding?” This was no time for treading lightly around at the edges. She wanted all the facts and possibilities out in clear light.
“Why the hell would Raina do that?” said Ned, looking startled.
“You know Raina well? “asked Cindy, noting that he called her by her first name.
“For years,” said Ned, shaken.
“Well, then you know that the wedding was a big deal,” said Cindy. “It was in all the papers, all her friends and business associates came down for it. How would it make her and the company look if it was called off at the last minute? Think about it a minute,” said Cindy.
Ned had no intention of thinking about it, though. “You know something we don’t?” he confronted Cindy directly. “Trouble in paradise? Were the kids thinking of breaking it off?”
Mattheus stepped in calmly. “Tara’s father Aldon hired us to come down here a few days ago and find out whatever we could about Lynch,” he reported.
“Lynch is a great guy, there’s nothing to find out,” Ned interrupted, outraged.
“I’m not disputing that,” Mattheus was clearly on Ned’s team. “But we dug up dirt on Lynch that wasn’t so pretty.”
“Jesus Christ,” Ned stamped his foot on the ground. “We can dig up crap on anyone, can’t we? What a lousy thing for the father to do. From what I hear Aldon’s some kind of paranoid, anyway. Right now he’s foaming at the mouth, convinced that Lynch killed his daughter. He keeps saying he warned everyone about it.”
“He did,” said Cindy somberly, “he was nervous about the marriage going forward, felt something was off.”
“The guy obviously had an obsession,” Ned countered, “we see nuts like that all the time.”
“Obsession or not, he was right,” said Cindy.
They all became silent then.
“So what exactly did you dig up?” Ned finally asked, though it seemed as if he didn’t really want to know.
“Lynch has a kid with a woman here on the island that no one knew about,” Mattheus reported. “The boy’s about four years old.”
“Holy Christ,” Ned’s face puckered as if he’d bitten into a rotten fruit. “That’s it?” he asked, sickened.
“That’s it,” Mattheus responded.
“People are getting beaten, raped and killed every day, and that’s what you dug up on him?” Ned kept shaking his head, unable to believe it. “Big deal! Big deal!”