Death by Proposal (Caribbean Murder #7)

“Screw Sean,” Riva’s face curled up tight.

“No, be happy for Sean,” Cindy said. “The police thought he took Kate’s bracelet. That put him with her the night she died. But Kate’s bracelet was still in her room. Yours is different. When exactly did he give it to you?”

Riva rolled her eyes back in her head. “I don’t remember exactly,” she whimpered, confused.

“A day or two before we came down here.”

“Then it couldn’t be Kate’s, could it?” Cindy was completely stunned. “Sean gave you this copy before Kate died.”

“He didn’t say it was hers, but he said it was the real thing,” shouted Riva.

“Nothing about Sean is the real thing,” Carl yelled back.

“Neither is the evidence they’re holding against him,” Cindy interjected. “In fact, it means nothing.”

“The hell with Sean,” Riva’s wailing got louder.

“Why are you so mad at him?” asked Cindy, breathless.

“He lied to me about everything. He said he loved me, but he still loved her. He gave me a piece of junk and said it was a real jewel.”

“Is that why you’re emailing Clay?” asked Cindy.

Riva became silent and very sad. “No, I was just emailing him because I was sorry he lost someone he loved so much. I know how it feels.”

“What did he say in return to you?” Carl pounced on it.

“He said he was grateful for my kindness, that it was very rare these days.”

“That’s all?” asked Carl.

“No, he suggested that we keep in touch. He said it was rare to have someone who understood you. He felt that I did and really valued that. I said I would keep in touch and he said it made him feel much better. Isn’t there anything so terrible about that?”





CHAPTER 19


“Okay, so Mattheus’s case is falling apart under our eyes,” said Carl when they left Riva’s room.

“Not entirely,” said Cindy, “but we’ve got big piece of evidence doesn’t hold. Sean didn’t give Riva Kate’s bracelet. There’s no proof now that Sean was with Kate in her room before she died.”

“So what now?” Carl was agitated, “will the cops return to the verdict of suicide?”

“Unless we find something else pretty fast,” said Cindy.

Carl and Cindy looked at each other then, practically reading each other’s thoughts. Cindy knew that, barring further evidence, the police would call Kate’s death suicide. Nothing else made sense. Cindy ran the possibility of that over in her mind. Kate’s father was convinced it was suicide. Maybe he was right? She decided to run it by Carl once again.

“Wendell is convinced it was suicide,” said Cindy quietly, floating the idea to see if Carl could go along with it now.

“Kate did not die by her own hand,” Carl retorted, “I’m positive of it. Something else is going on here.”

“What have you got on your mind?” asked Cindy.

“Clay’s mean spirited, I never realized that before,” said Carl.

Cindy felt that Carl was desperately fishing for something to keep the case open, and probe more and more. It was way too devastating for him to think that Kate had died by her own hand.

“If you asked me, it seems like Clay’s got a vendetta against us,” Carl continued fervently.

“No, he’s just a private person,” said Cindy. “He’s not the kind to enjoy sharing intimate details of his life.”

“It’s not just his life, it’s mine, too,” Carl objected. “It’s my niece who died. This impacts me as well as him. He’s self absorbed. Doesn’t give a hoot for anyone else’s feelings.”

“Clay’s probably lived a private, shut up life for a long time,” said Cindy.

“Hiding behind his computer,” Carl snarled.

Carl’s nastiness surprised Cindy. What did he really have against Carl, except that he couldn’t get to see the correspondence? Cindy wondered if Carl reacted this way to all the guys Kate had been involved with.

“Did you feel this way about all of Kate’s boyfriends?” asked Cindy.

Carl was taken aback. “Of course not,” he said briskly. “In fact, I was the one who encouraged Kate to keep the relationship with Clay going. I knew they were meeting down here in Aruba and I was happy about it. Anything to get her away from Sean.”

“Seems it was pretty quick for Kate and Clay to come down here for a romantic week-end,” said Cindy. “How long did she know him? How many times did they actually meet?”

“None of it mattered,” said Carl, “Kate needed a jolt to break her connection with Sean. “I thought this could do it. I hoped she and Clay would fall in love.”

“Looks like they did,” said Cindy.

Carl seemed skeptical now, “Who knows?”