Death by Proposal (Caribbean Murder #7)

“Wow,” Mattheus breathed, “that’s big, that’s huge. I’ll call it into the police as soon as we get to the restaurant. Did anyone see either Sean or Riva on Kate’s floor at any time?”


“Not that I know of,” said Cindy, “but I got a chance to look at Kate’s Facebook page. It was filled with the announcement of her engagement. She seemed delighted and thrilled. There are lots of messages she got in return. Most were happy, sending congratulations. But, some felt funny about it, said she’d only recently broken up with Sean. It seems as if Kate had been hurt by the breakup. Some people even suggested that her relationship with Clay could be on the rebound.”

Mattheus started walking more slowly. Cindy felt him digesting the details, putting the puzzle together in his mind.

“Sean’s date, Riva, also sent a few emails to Clay,” Cindy added. “She said she was sorry and offered support.”

“Nice,” said Mattheus.

“Maybe nice, but a little odd. Riva didn’t mention a thing about Sean in her emails,” said Cindy.

“Did Sean write to Clay himself?” Mattheus asked.

“Not that I saw,” said Cindy. “I’ve got a lot more to go over in Kate’s computer.”

“Police gave me all the passwords we need to get onto both of their pages, and into their email,” said Mattheus.

Cindy was relieved. “Wonderful.”

“I’ve been checking Clay online,” Mattheus said as they approached the restaurant he’d chosen, a charming, adobe, outdoor café, with a few tables available outside.

He and Cindy immediately sat down at a table and continued to process what they’d found.

“I haven’t finished with everything,” Mattheus continued, “but right now Clay seems fine. He graduated from a fine university in the South, top of his class, had a great reputation and was editor of the yearbook. He went on to graduate school and now works for his father’s firm as a chemist.”

Cindy was impressed and not surprised. Clay had seemed like a person of substance from the moment she saw him.

“There’s not too much on his Facebook page or social media,” Mattheus continued. “A few friends, pictures of his parents, dog, and plenty of quotes from some writers he likes. Could be a bookworm? Not sure. Don’t see much about past relationships, either. At least not online. Could be he’s just a private guy.”

Cindy sighed, “Not much to grab onto.”

“A bit of a loner, maybe?” Mattheus said. “Don’t see lots of his friends contacting him now, either.”

“Or could be he’s just in shock,” said Cindy, “and hasn’t contacted them. Did you check his email correspondence with Kate?”

“Not yet, there’s a lot to do here,” said Mattheus. “You can do that. Let me call the police now and tell them that Sean and Riva are right here under our nose.”

Just as Mattheus was opening his phone to call, to Cindy’s surprise, Rod and Spike drove up to the restaurant in red mopeds.

“Hey, look who’s here,” Mattheus was surprised, and closed his phone. “You guys following us, or what? I was just about to put in a call to you.”

Rod and Spike got off their bikes, parked it, came over and sat down.

“Seems like we can’t go out for a bite without you guys turning up,” said Cindy. “How did you know we were here?”

Rod laughed. “It’s not hard to track of you two. How many hot looking detectives do you think we have in town? People think you’re movie stars or something. Anyway, it’s better for us to talk in person if possible, so we can go into details on the spot. And, we have something to show you that might clinch the case for all we know.”

“Shoot,” said Mattheus as they were all seated.

“Medical examiner’s report is in,” Spike started, “body showed no sign of struggle. Injuries consistent with a fall from patio. “

Cindy and Mattheus sat on the edge of their seats.

“No drugs, a little alcohol, not much. The only fingerprints on the body belonged to Clay – which made sense since they’d been together all evening. Physical evidence points only to suicide,” Spike concluded. “What say you?”

“So far no evidence of her being depressed,” Mattheus interjected. “From the looks of it she was happy that night.”

“Kate’s ex-boyfriend and his date are still at the hotel,” Cindy burst in. “You know about them?”

“What’s to know?” Rod slowly ran his hand over his head. “If I kept track of all the ex’s of the people who came to our hotels I’d be stark raving nuts by now.”

“Kate and Sean broke up a short time ago,” Cindy spoke heatedly. “Seems he cheated on her with a girl named Riva. They’re both at the hotel now.”

“If I kept a record of all the people here who cheated,” Rod continued.

“Sean wanted to get back together with Kate, but she would have none of it,” Cindy kept going.

“It’s an old story. I heard it a thousand times. You got to have more than that,” said Spike, bored.

“I saw Sean and Riva join Kate and Clay at their table in the dining room the night she was killed,” Cindy insisted. “She was surprised to see him. Was he trailing her?”