Death by Seduction (Book #13 in the Caribbean Murder series)

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Cindy left her meeting with Loretta and Angela completely rattled. Loretta was sicker than Cindy had realized. But that did not eliminate Cindy’s need to find out why she gave Lou Gran the hundred thousand. For a moment, Cindy suddenly wanted to call Mattheus and talk it over with him. But she stopped herself, thought better of it. She didn’t want to just step back into their relationship as if nothing had happened. They needed time to talk things over, find a new way to go forward if they decided to do so.

Instead, to her surprise, Cindy decided to call Eric. He’d been on the case with her step by step up and she wanted to tell him what had happened.

To Cindy’s delight the moment she called, Eric picked up. “I’m so relieved to hear from you,” he said without hesitation.

“I want to fill you in on what’s happening,” Cindy answered in a shaky tone.

“What’s wrong?” Eric asked immediately.

“I just went to see Loretta,” Cindy went on breathlessly, “I wanted to ask about her being the one to leave the deposit on the condo. Not only did she tell me it was all lies, she got furious and discharged me. She told me to get out of the Dominican Republic immediately.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” said Eric emphatically. “You’re on the case and if any problem arises, just say you’re working for me.”

“Thank you,” said Cindy quietly.

“I had no idea this dame was such a nut,” Eric then continued.

“She’s not a nut,” Cindy wanted to defend Loretta, “just drinking a lot and finally realizing that her husband is gone. Anyone who brings the truth to her becomes her enemy. Right now she’s spiraling downwards and a bit out of control.”

“That’s a ticking time bomb and lethal cocktail,” warned Eric.

“Exactly,” Cindy agreed. “But I need to know more about the deposit, and she’s not going to say a word.”

“Why don’t I take you down with me to see Taylor?” Eric suggested softly then. “He’s got to know more about this.”

“Taylor? You know where he’s hiding?” Cindy was shocked to hear that and also pleased that Eric offered to take her with him.

“Yes, I found out,” Eric answered, “and you can’t go down there alone. It’s out of the question.”

“I’d love to go with you, as soon as we can,” Cindy agreed immediately.

“How about an hour?” asked Eric.

“Great,” Cindy felt huge relief.

“And one more thing,” Eric asked swiftly.

“What?” asked Cindy.

“How come you didn’t call Mattheus when this all happened, and called me instead?”

Eric’s question was unexpected and silenced Cindy for a long moment.

“We’ve been working on this together all along,” Cindy finally replied.

“Yeah, of course we have, but Mattheus’s down here now,” Eric was persistent. “He’s smart, he’s strong, he’s a great detective.”

“But I called you,” Cindy echoed.

“That’s right,” Eric’s voice dropped. “And I want to know how come?”





Chapter 22


Cindy hoped Eric wouldn’t bring that question up again when she met with him and thankfully he didn’t. Instead, he quickly bundled her into a car with dark windows and had the driver take off in a flash.

“There’s no need for you to see where we’re going,” Eric started, “or for anyone else to see us there, either.”

“We’re off to the dark side of the Dominican?” Cindy commented.

“Every place has its dark and light sides,” Eric answered, “but where we’re going it’s darker, for sure.”

“Thanks for taking me with you,” Cindy offered as felt the car whirring down the street at a tremendous pace.

“I like Taylor, he’s a fascinating guy and gold mine,” Eric said as the racing car thrust them closer to one another.

It was interesting to Cindy that Eric found Taylor fascinating. Certainly, no one else did.

Eric certainly had an appreciation for a wide range of people.

“Taylor’s obviously dug too deep and found something he shouldn’t, or he wouldn’t have received the threat,” Eric continued confidentially. “If you want the truth, the minute he told me about it, I arranged for him to come down here and lay low.”

“Thank God you did that,” breathed Cindy.

“It was the least I could do,” said Eric. “The police couldn’t care less about the threat. They make light of everything when it serves their needs. When Taylor told them what happened they said, hundreds of threats being made every day. Most amount to nothing.”

Cindy was relieved to hear that the police didn’t know where Taylor was. She’d had a passing thought that they might turn up with Mattheus while she was down here interviewing him. The last thing she needed now was to feel nervous about running into Mattheus.