*
A few minutes after they were seated near the window in the hotel coffee shop, Cindy saw two, tall, heavy Caribbean cops making their way towards their table.
“C and M Investigations?” the larger cop asked, grinning at them, pulling out some chairs to sit down.
Cindy was taken aback.
“We’ve been checking all the people here at the hotel,” the larger cop said, matter of factly. “You guys are pretty famous down in the Caribbean. We spotted you in a second.”
“Right now we’re here as guests,” Mattheus interjected.
The large cop scratched his head and nodded. “Dumb, rotten luck,” he said, “the girl who died thought she was here as a guest, too.” Then he threw a searching look at Mattheus, who did not respond.
“This comes at a bad time for us,” the cop went on, “we need all the help we can get. Crime is up on the Island, more lousy gangs floating around. We’re working on busting one of them and Carnival is coming up. We need our guys for all that. Don’t have time to waste on a suicide.”
The waiter came and poured them all coffee.
“Eggs, toast and home fries for us all, on the house,” the large cop continued. “By the way, I’m Rod and this is my partner Spike. He doesn’t say much, but he’s one hell of a policeman.”
Spike just nodded when his name was mentioned, and drank his coffee in one gulp, the second it came.
Despite their lackadaisical manner, and Rod’s taking the liberty of ordering for them, Cindy liked both of them. Their unpretentiousness was refreshing. She enjoyed that Rod shot straight from the hip.
“You guys are sure it’s a suicide?” Cindy quickly intervened. She knew that the police hoped it was; wanted to get things tied up fast.
“When you find them dead under their window, ninety nine per cent of the time, they’ve jumped,” Rod spoke fast. “Of course this could be that other one per cent. You never know. That’s why we’ve got to talk to the people at the hotel. Someone could have seen or heard something, a fight, a threat, too much alcohol?”
Cindy knew well what they were up against. Hours of interviews to be conducted with guests who felt upset enough as it was. The police didn’t want to make it worse. It was bad for business, bad for PR, bad for the island generally.
“Cindy and I are on vacation now,” Mattheus repeated, “We’re sorry to hear this.”
Rod interrupted coarsely, filling them in as if they were already part of the team.
“The beautiful young lady found dead was twenty six years old,” Rod started. “She was here with her boyfriend for a long week-end. People saw them at the hotel last night, dining, having fun. Most said they looked like they were in love. No sign of trouble. But, when we talked to guests on their floor, they said they heard loud voices around midnight and someone banging on their door.”
Cindy was startled. “Did anyone open their door to see who it was?”
“No one,”“ Rod snickered. “Of course it’s not that no one looked, but no one wants to get involved. Why would they? They’re on vacation,” and he threw Mattheus a long side glance.
“The people who heard the banging need to be interviewed carefully,” said Cindy, growing nervous.
Mattheus put his hand on hers, to calm her down.
Spike shook his head slowly and looked up at Cindy under thick eyelids. “We got lots and lots of people to talk to at this place,” he said. “Can’t spend forever trying to squeeze the truth out of the ones who want to back away. Can we?”
This is complicated,” said Cindy. “You’ve got to know who it was that was banging on the door.”
“You never know,” Rod continued, seemingly gratified to see that at least Cindy cared. “It could have been the boyfriend. The couple could have been fighting, maybe she locked the guy out of the room and he was trying to get back in. She couldn’t handle the pressure and jumped off the patio in the heat of pain.”
It was a tidy scenario, much too tidy for Cindy’s taste. Obviously they were trying to wrap things up in a neat, little package.
“Or someone else could have been shouting and banging on the door?” Cindy suggested. “Someone who was involved in the death?”
“Unlikely, but possible,” Rod conceded, looking less than enthused about checking it out.
“You’ve got to find out who was at the door that night,” Cindy felt increasingly uneasy. “Whoever did it could still be loose? He could bang on someone else’s door tonight. How would that look for the police force here?”
Spike gave her a wide smile then, exposing a front, golden tooth. “Nothing ever looks good for the police, honey. You should know that.”
“Guess you guys didn’t hear anything last night?” Rod interrupted, directing his question to Mattheus.
“Nothing,” Mattheus said, “our room isn’t on their floor.”
“Some heard the banging on other floors too,” Rod insisted.