“We had our music on all night long,” said Mattheus.
Spike leered at him, “Nice, romantic getaway,” he crooned.
Mattheus ignored him, and quickly drank his coffee down.
“Did anyone at the hotel hear the young woman fall to her death?” Cindy promptly asked. “If she jumped it would have made a tremendous thud.”
“Funny,” Rod scratched his head slowly, “no one heard that.”
“There’s too much noise and excitement at the hotel in the busy season to hear someone falling dead onto the ground,” Spike commented.
“Could be she didn’t jump at all,” Cindy shot back. “Could be she was killed somewhere else and the killer brought her here, to make it look like she jumped. You guys gotta check.”
“You’re one hot detective,” Spike leered again, “love to have you on our team.”
The waiter brought steamy, delicious eggs and home fries, and Spike dug right in.
Cindy shuddered at the thought of the unknown young woman, a floor below her, meeting her death so unexpectedly.
“I’m so sorry,” Cindy said, half to herself, unable to take a bite of the food.
“Sorry gets us nowhere,” Spike spoke with his mouth half full. “Manpower is what we need now.”
“You can say that again,” said Rod as he continued to fill them in. “Last one to see her alive was the guy she was here with, Clay Peters, thirty one, from Atlanta Georgia. Great kid, works as a chemist in a big firm down there.”
“Was he the one yelling for help this morning?” asked Cindy.
“Yelling’s not the word for it,” said Spike. “The guy’s still jumping out of his skin. We’re holding him for questioning. He was the last one to see her alive.”
Cindy suddenly felt nauseous. The reality of what had happened became more vivid as she was filled in. She knew how hard it would be for the police to come up with answers, and knew they didn’t much care to try. These were rich folks, from another country, coming down and going crazy on their turf. What business was it of theirs?
“Thanks for filling us in,” said Mattheus, “we’re both very sorry to hear what happened.”
“That’s all you have to say?” asked Rod.
“What else?” asked Mattheus. “I work hard all year, do my part. I deserve a week off, don’t I?”
“We all deserve something,” Spike piped up, “even that girl who’s laying there dead.”
“Well,” Rod pushed his chair back from the table, “the girl’s parents are on the way down as we speak and so are Clay’s parents. Can’t imagine how they’re gonna handle it. They’ve got plenty of money to hire someone, too.”
“Thanks for thinking of us,” said Mattheus, “but we’re off duty.”
“Lucky you,” Spike snarled, as both of them got up and took off.
*
“Someone’s got to be lucky,” Mattheus said to Cindy after the cops had gone.
“You sounded heartless,” Cindy replied.
“I’m not heartless, we’re on vacation. Eat your eggs.”
“I’m not hungry,” said Cindy looking at them, uninterested.
“Eat your eggs, Cindy,” Mattheus repeated. “We can’t help anyone if we don’t take care of ourselves. We need each other to solve cases and we need each other to build a life. It’s not always possible to do both at the same time.”
The fervent plea of Mattheus touched Cindy. Of course she understood how he felt. She’d felt exactly the same way a while ago. She’d actually left him when he’d ruined their vacation to go out on a case that suddenly came up. It was definitely a fine line between taking care of others and yourself.
Cindy put her hand over Mattheus’s. “I get what you’re saying and I love you,” she whispered.
Mattheus paused a long, long moment. “You love me?” his voice dropped a notch.
Cindy smiled. “Yes, I do.”
His face lit up completely then in a breathtaking smile.
“And that’s how you finally tell me, sitting here over cold eggs?”
CHAPTER 5
Even though they were technically free to leave the hotel, Cindy and Mattheus decided to go to the pool, freshen up with a swim and relax on the lounge chairs for awhile. Then they could plan the rest of the trip out, decide where to go, and when.
It felt like a new life together walking to the pool, holding hands. The love word had been spoken. A sense of peace and security surrounded them. Mattheus seemed to be brimming with exhilaration.
“The last thing I ever expected was to hear that you loved me so casually,” he teased.
Cindy held his hand tighter. “As a detective I thought you’d figured it out long ago,” she laughed.
“I thought I did, too,” he laughed as well. “Only things keep changing between us so fast.”
“A good detective would have realized that means nothing,” said Cindy. “Change or not, we always return to each other. That means we love.”