Carl turned to Cindy. “What does he mean you couldn’t understand a word of the correspondence? That you know nothing about love?”
“Obviously, Clay has no faith in women at all,” Cindy said slowly, trying to egg Clay on. “He doesn’t believe any of us can understand what he was feeling. Maybe not even Kate?”
“Oh Kate understood me alright,” Clay turned towards them both vehemently. “Kate understood everything about me, and she loved me for who I was. She said it over and over. And I understood her, too. Much better than her uncle Carl here.”
Carl got jittery. “I beg your pardon?” he said.
Clay seemed to enjoy Carl’s sudden anxiety. “There’s lots of things she told me about you and how you treated her,” Clay insinuated. “It wasn’t all good.”
“I always treated her like a princess,” Carl was horrified. “I loved Kate from the day she was born.”
“But not like I loved her,” Clay’s eyes were gleaming.
“I’m telling you I loved her!” Carl cried.
“But Kate loved me more,” said Clay, peering at him.
“I demand that you show me those emails,” Carl exploded. For a second Cindy felt that he was about to lunge at Clay. “I need to see what my niece said about me.”
Clay ran his hand across his chin, as if considering it. Finally, he shook his head, “I don’t think Kate would have liked it,” he said.
“I can have them subpoenaed as part of the record,” Carl threatened.
Just then, a key turned in the lock, the door opened and Clay’s parents walked in.
They seemed surprised to see Cindy and Carl, but walked over to Clay first.
“The airports are flooded,” the father, Dan, announced. “We’re gonna be stuck here another few days.”
“Damn,” said Clay, “damn it.”
“I know this is annoying and we wanted us to tell you in person,” Clay’s mother, Margaret went close to him and put her hands on his shoulders. “We’ll find a way to relax though, darling.”
“I don’t want to relax,” Clay grew agitated. “I’ve had enough here. I want to go home.”
“Of course you do, dear. This has been a horrid nightmare. But who in the world could ever have expected such rain?”
“How long will the airports are closed?” Clay rubbed his foot on the floor heatedly, looking at his mother. “Can’t you fix it? Can’t you get us out of here another way?”
“Not in this storm, sweetheart,” his mother insisted.
“My son’s exhausted and nervous,” Dan said to Cindy and Carl. “It’s to be expected.”
“Naturally,” said Cindy, “No one wants to be stuck at the scene of a crime.”
“The scene is closed. The cops have found the killer,” Margaret and Dan chimed in together.
“Maybe?” Cindy said.
Dan zeroed in on her then. “What in hell do you mean, maybe?”
“Nothing is ever definite until the trial is over,” said Cindy. “The police have some evidence, but it’s not solid.”
“They said it was,” said Margaret.
“They say all kinds of things,” said Cindy.
Clay didn’t like that. “You too,” he said to Cindy, “you’re just like them. You say all kinds of things to me also.”
“Calm down,” Margaret stroked Clay’s shoulders again.
“I hate when people say one thing and mean another,” Clay started to ramble. “It makes me dizzy, I don’t like being dizzy.”
“Clay can be emotional and sensitive,” said Margaret. “This was the last thing in the world he needed, to be exposed to a nightmare like this.”
“We’ll get our equilibrium back shortly,” Dan interjected. “We just need quiet, family time together. We know how to comfort our son very well.” Then he turned to Cindy and Carl. “What are you two doing here?”
“I want to see Clay’s correspondence with Kate,” Carl replied swiftly. “Cindy saw and said there were some questionable comments in it about me. I need to know what Kate said. I won’t be able to go on without seeing it.”
Margaret sighed loudly. “This is awful, just awful for everyone.”
“It is,” said Cindy, sympathetically. “I’m so glad you understand. Could you please persuade Clay to let Carl see those letters?”
Margaret seemed taken aback. “Why doesn’t Clay want to show it to you?”
“The letters were personal, between me and Kate,” Clay chimed in. “I refuse to betray Kate’s trust again.”
“Again?” asked Cindy.
“I betrayed her trust when I showed the emails to you the first time,” said Clay angrily.
“Someone betrayed more than her trust,” Carl moved closer to him. “They took Kate’s life away. I need to know why.”
“And how will seeing these emails help you?” Dan jumped in.
Cindy took over. “Along with some comments I noticed in the emails, Clay mentioned that Kate said all kinds of hurtful things about Carl. Carl doesn’t believe it, wants to see it for himself.”