*
Tyra and Carl sat at the bar drinking as Cindy walked in. The moment Carl saw her, he got up, went to her, put his arm around her waist, and guided her to the empty seat they had waiting.
Tyra put her drink down as Cindy approached. Her eyes were swollen and her face blotchy, probably from a mixture of drinking and crying.
“Oh God, it’s so good to see you again,” Tyra breathed.
Cindy gave her a hug, “Good to see you, too,” she said.
“We needed to get away a few minutes,” Carl said, explaining what they were doing here as he pulled out the seat for Cindy. “Endless calls, emails, reporters and family on their way down to give us support.”
Cindy was curious about what other family they had. Carl was certainly an unusually attentive brother and uncle. She looked at him for a long moment and wondered what his life was like, what he did for a living. He was certainly a strikingly handsome man. Was he with someone? Where was she? And, of course, Cindy hadn’t heard a word about Kate’s dad yet.
“How’s Kate’s dad?” Cindy couldn’t help but ask.
“Not good,” Carl shook his head slowly.
“He’s in the hotel room breaking down,” Tyra added in a quivering tone. “I’ve never seen him this bad. He definitely has moods, of course, but now he won’t’ get up off his chair.”
“Understandable,” said Cindy softly.
“No it isn’t,” Tyra’s eyes shot sparks, “nothing is understandable. Especially my husband, Wendell.”
“Take it easy, Tyra,” Carl was patting her arm.
“It’s too much for me to see him like this when we need him so much now,” Tyra seemed at the edge of tears. “I told him to man up, but he’s blocking me out again.”
“He’ll come around,” said Cindy softly.
“Says who?” Tyra suddenly looked flaming mad. “Has he ever once come around when I truly needed him?”
Carl turned to Cindy and smiled. “Family matters,” he tried to make light of it, “who doesn’t have to deal with them?”
Cindy felt a surge of admiration for him. She wondered how Tyra would have managed if her brother hadn’t been there.
“It’s important for us to talk to Kate’s dad,” Cindy said.
“You can try if you want,” Tyra shot up, “but keep Mattheus out of it. Go yourself. Wendell doesn’t take well to men probing him.”
Cindy decided to schedule that meeting as soon as possible. Right now Carl and Tyra’s feelings were so raw she wondered if this was the time to show them the note Kate had written to Sean before she died. But time was of the essence, she and Mattheus had to gather as much information as they could. Or else the case would shut down before it was ever opened.
“How’s the investigation going?” Carl asked then, re-focusing the meeting to where it needed to go.
“We found out about Kate’s ex-boyfriend, Sean,” Cindy started slowly.
“A real winner,” Carl sneered. “You could have asked me about him right away.”
“We didn’t know there was an ex-boyfriend in the picture,” Cindy replied lightly.
“When a girl’s as beautiful as Kate, there’s always an ex-boyfriend around,” he said. “She never lacked for attention.”
“Carl never liked Sean,” Tyra filled in, as she took a long gulp of her drink. “I thought Sean was alright, but Carl disagreed. In fact, he couldn’t stand him.”
Cindy was taken aback. “That’s a pretty strong way to put it,” she said.
“Sean’s a slippery guy and I saw it right away,” said Carl. “I told Kate that a thousand times. I said, honey he’s not for you. I promise, you can do much better.”
“Sounds like she didn’t listen,” said Cindy.
“Of course she listened, what I said mattered a great deal to Kate. She listened and said she was sorry that I didn’t like him. She hoped one day I would,” said Carl.
“And she just went right on seeing him as much as she liked,” Tyra piped in, throwing her head back and looking up at the ceiling. “Kate was wonderful that way, she could charm the life out of anyone, smile, chat, look obliging, but then she just went right ahead and did what she wanted. I always said that about her, but no one paid attention to me.”
“You’re too hard on her Tyra,” Carl interjected, “you always were.”
“Not hard enough,” Tyra insisted. “If I were this might never have happened.”
“How long were Kate and Sean seeing each other?” Cindy asked, wanting to stay on track.
“A long time,” said Carl, “much too long. He was her high school sweetheart and it went on and on.”
“He was her prom date,” Tyra interrupted. “I had a bad feeling even back then.”