Death by Proposal (Caribbean Murder #7)

“You guys aren’t the police?” asked Sean, quickly.

“We’re private detectives,” said Cindy.

“Working for who?” Sean seemed more nervous.

“We were hired by Kate’s family,” Mattheus said.

“It figures,” said Sean.

“It was a good move by them, don’t you think?” asked Cindy. “I mean you want to find out what happened to Kate, too, right?”

The question threw Sean off balance. “Do I want to find out? What kind of question is that? You better believe I want to know exactly what happened. But, it’s obvious, isn’t it?”

“Nothing is obvious in a criminal case,” Mattheus responded tartly.

“Now it’s a criminal case?” Sean flared up. “I heard on the radio they were calling it suicide.”

“That’s one of the possibilities,” Mattheus put his face close to Sean’s. He was obviously trying to unnerve him, get him to spill whatever was on his mind. “But it’s not definite yet.”

Strangely enough, Sean seemed relieved that the case wasn’t settled.

“Good,” he said, “I can’t imagine that it was suicide. Kate wasn’t like that.”

“We heard that Kate was suffering pretty badly after you guys broke up,” Cindy intervened.

Sean straightened up and looked over at her. “We broke up and got together a thousand times,” he said, his voice huskier. “We never broke up for good.”

“This time you did, though,” said Mattheus, grimly.

Sean seemed punched in the belly by that. “I didn’t think it was for good,” he replied. “I tried to get back with her. She was giving me a hard time, just wouldn’t do it.”

“Was this the first time she wouldn’t?” asked Cindy.

“Sometimes she said she wouldn’t,” Sean continued, “but she always did. We just waited it out, missed each other, said we were sorry and promised things would be good this time. Then we got back together.”

“Kate said she was sorry or just you?” asked Mattheus, his face darkening. This interview was obviously upsetting him. It was easy to see he didn’t like Sean, or believe what he was telling him.

“Yeah, sometimes Kate was sorry,” Sean answered fitfully. “Why? You think I was the only one who ever did something wrong?”

“Were you?” asked Mattheus.

“Hell, no,” Sean threw his hair back off his forehead ahead and stared down Mattheus. “You think she was some kind of angel or something?”

Cindy could suddenly see why Kate had been so attracted to Sean. He was very good looking and had a tough, animal energy that didn’t back down. On the surface he and Kate seemed very different. It must have been a perfect balance between them.”

“What did Kate do wrong, Sean?” Cindy broke in. “How did she hurt you?”

Sean swallowed hard. “It’s about time someone asked me that,” he started, “everyone always said I was the bad guy, but I wasn’t. Kate had her moods, believe me. She could be warm one minute and cold as ice the next. It got to me. I hated it. Some of my friends even finally said she enjoyed playing me.”

“What do you mean playing you?” asked Mattheus, alerted.

“They said Kate enjoyed seeing me need her, dangling me on the edge of a string,” said Sean.

“She did that?” asked Mattheus, his eyes narrowing.

“Sometimes she did,” said Sean.

“That must have pissed you off, big time,” said Mattheus.

“And what did you do about it?” Cindy interrupted.

“I told you, when I had enough, we broke up. Or, when she was sick of me, we took a break. Then we missed each, talked it over and got back together again. It was an old story. Everyone knew it. Ask anyone you want.”

“There’s no getting back now, though, is there?” asked Mattheus.

Sean looked as though it had just hit him.

“Did you also bring other girls you were dating to see Kate?” Mattheus asked, trying to smoke him out.

Sean lurched up, ran over to the boxing bags, and began dancing around them again.

“Get back here, Sean, sit down on the bench,” Mattheus ordered.

“I never brought any other girl to see her, ever,” cried Sean. “I never cheated on Kate before, ever.”

“You two were broken up when you went out with Riva?” asked Mattheus.

“Yes, we were,” Sean seemed sadder.

“So, it wasn’t cheating exactly, was it?” Mattheus said.

Sean’s eyes opened wide. “You can say that again,” he shouted. “That’s what I told her again and again. I said I was sorry and it wasn’t cheating. We were broken up.”

“She didn’t buy it though, did she?” Mattheus kept the pressure up.

“No, she didn’t,” said Sean, “no matter what I said, she refused to forgive me. She wouldn’t even talk. That’s why I brought Riva with me. I wanted her to tell Kate exactly when we got together, that it was after Kate and I broke up.”