“Terrible, awful,” Raina said, “it kept him up at night.”
“Maybe that’s why he had no other choice but to strangle Tara and dump her into the Cove,” Cindy continued softly.
Raina froze on the spot and looked at Cindy stunned, unable to believe what she was hearing. “What’s that you said?”
“There’s new evidence, Raina,” Cindy zeroed in on her.
Raina shivered. “No, there isn’t. I’m up to date on whatever they have. It’s in the police’s interest to keep me informed. Lynch is no longer a person of interest. Two eye witnesses have identified Bala’s creepy brother Dawl. They saw him lurking around the Cove at the time Tara was murdered. There was absolutely no reason for him to be there, and the guy has plenty of motive, too.”
“That’s just circumstantial evidence,” Cindy tossed it off, trying to throw Raina off track. “The new evidence that’s just come in is absolutely solid. A new witness, a tourist taking photos, spotted Lynch at the Cove when Tara was killed. He caught a shot of him there, with blood all over his hands.”
Raina’s face flushed and her eyes narrowed. “That’s crazy. Blood on Lynch’s hands? Who’s this witness? Lynch has never had blood on his hands for a second. Somebody’s framing him! They can do all kinds of things with photography these days. Someone’s out to get my son!”
“The photos speak for themselves,” said Cindy, “and the fingerprint analysis is also in. The prints on the body don’t match Dawl’s.”
Raina became irate. “Who the hell cares? The body was a mess, you can’t be sure of anything.”
“And, new evidence has been gathered from the site,” Cindy continued methodically. “It has Lynch’s DNA on it as well. All roads are pointing in only one direction – right to Lynch.”
“What are you telling me?” Raina’s hands clenched at her sides.
“They’re taking Lynch in as we speak,” said Cindy.
“No, they’re not,” yelled Raina.
“Yes, they are,” Cindy insisted.
Raina fled to the table, picked up her phone, dialed and waited. “Where are you Lynch? Pick up,” she demanded.
“He can’t answer. He must be at the police station now,” said Cindy. “I wanted to come here and tell you myself.”
“Why you?” Raina practically spit on her.
“This is your son,” said Cindy, “it’s something a woman understands.”
“Get out of here! Go to hell,”Raina yelled more loudly. “Nobody’s taking my son from me. And they can’t take him, because he didn’t do it!”
“All the evidence says he did,” Cindy repeated.
Trembling, Raina yelled, out of control, “He didn’t do it, he didn’t do it.”
Cindy got into her face. “How do you know?”
“Because I did it,” shouted Raina. “I hired those guys to get rid of her!”
“What guys, the witnesses? They work for you, don’t they?” Cindy demanded.
“Yes, they work for me,” Raina growled, suddenly empowered. “I have a right to hire anyone I want.”
“The eye witnesses lied to the police,” Cindy uttered.
“So what? “ Raina went on. “These guys listen to me like their lives depend on it. And they’re good at what they do. It wasn’t difficult either. They grabbed Tara at the hotel and took her to the Cove. I heard she begged for her life the whole way there,” a slow smile crept across Raina’s face. “What did she expect anyway? That she’d take down our family, and I’d sit back and let her do it? Did she think I’d sit there and toast with champagne after she turned into my enemy?”
“Tell me more about happened at the Cove?” Cindy asked chilled to the bone.
“Routine business, nothing special, they put on gloves and finished her off.” Raina panted.
Cindy felt the ground beneath her open. “That’s horrible, awful,” she wailed.
“There was nothing horrible about it,” Raina became stony. “When Lynch told me he promised Tara that they’d take his son in after the wedding, I knew it had to be done. There was no way that boy could be part of my life. I wouldn’t let it happen.”
“Is the boy in danger now?” Cindy was suddenly frightened.
“He could be,” Raina looked at Cindy darkly. “If the police don’t let go of Lynch, all bets are off. My company’s got a big reach on the island. The boy’s life will be worth nothing. You understand? You’d better honey, because your life won’t be worth much either if they don’t let Lynch go free.”
Thankfully, just at the moment, there was a loud knock on the door.
“Who’s there?” Raina yelled as two policemen shoved the door open. Raina flinched, alarmed. “What’s going on? Get out of here.”
“Mattheus had us stationed outside, listening in,” one of the cops said. “Everything’s been recorded.”
“Go to hell, go to hell, “Raina kept yelling, as Mattheus walked in behind them with Lynch.