“That’s pure speculation, Alfred,” Cindy responded. “You don’t know how what happened to the woman, nothing at all. There’s no reason to believe that she and Kara even knew each other or that they’re going to harm Kara now.”
“I have every reason, every.” Alfred’s voice dropped into a raspy sound. “I’ve upped my investigation big time, and there’s more to tell you. First of all the woman’s name is Shane. Secondly, I believe they killed her because I was getting too close to finding Kara. Meet me in person and I’ll tell you what I found.”
“I’m not in town right now,” Cindy answered hurriedly. “Can it wait a couple of hours?”
“No, it cannot wait.” Alfred was put off. “But call me the second you return. I’ll be waiting to hear from you.”
“Okay,” said Cindy, “a couple of hours.”
“Where are you, anyway?” Alfred suddenly grew curious. “What are you doing that’s so important?”
“I’m with Mattheus,” Cindy replied
“Oh, him.” Alfred’s voice was dripping with scorn.
“Is there something wrong?” Cindy was offended.
“We’ll talk when I see you. Not a word until then,” Alfred replied as he quickly hung up the phone.
“That guy’s nuts,” Mattheus remarked after Cindy hung up.
“Why do you say that? You don’t know him. You haven’t met him, have you?” asked Cindy.
“He and I haven’t talked, but I’ve seen him around,” said Mattheus. “But Rod told me all about him. Rod absolutely can’t stand him, never could. He always tried to pry Kara away from Alfred, couldn’t understand why they were so close.”
Cindy felt put off. Despite Alfred’s sometimes overly dramatic style, Cindy liked him a great deal.
“Exactly what’s wrong with him?” she asked, defensive.
“Rod said the guy’s creepy, lives in a world of his own. He gets an idea in his head and won’t let go. Everyone thought he was strange when he was growing up. No one in town expected he ever would amount to anything.”
“But they were wrong, weren’t they?” Cindy felt offended. “Alfred’s doing just fine, he has a good job, and he’s a terrifically loyal friend.”
“The guy’s a graphic designer for horror novels,” Mattheus commented, condescendingly.
“So, what wrong with that?” asked Cindy. “He’s making a living as an artist. Good for him.”
“Call him what you want,” Mattheus dug in, “the guy’s off the charts in lots of ways.”
“So, what does it say about Kara then, if the two of them were always so close?” Cindy shot back.
“Believe me, I’ve wondered about that myself,” Mattheus retorted. “At the very least it says Kara wasn’t totally the person she presented to the world.”
“Well put,” thought Cindy, wondering what it was about Kara that no one had seen or focused on yet.
*
Pigeon Point was even more magnificent than Cindy could have ever imagined. Filled with incredible birds singing in trees and exotic flowers, the delicious salty smell of ocean greeted you wherever you went.
“I heard there are iguanas nesting right here under these trees,” said Cindy as she and Mattheus walked along. They were headed to one of the fabulous restaurants on the island and for a brief few moments, it felt as though nothing had ever gone wrong. It just seemed as though they were back on vacation, trying to see where their relationship would go.
Cindy and Mattheus arrived at the restaurant, and when they went in, to their surprise it was completely packed. There was a sense of incredible joviality inside, with people waving and talking loudly to one another from one table to the next. Cindy felt as if they’d crashed a large party where everybody knew each other well.
“What’s going on?” asked Mattheus, looking around.
“The Love Conference is about to start.” The ma?tre d’ smiled at them. “Wedding planners from all over come here for the week. We host this conference every year.”
Mattheus looked ill at ease. “Not even one table left?” he asked.
“So sorry, sir, everything’s reserved,” the man started to say.
Mattheus went into his pocket and held out some cash.
“Well, maybe one table left somewhere, let me look again,” the ma?tre d’ said, and scurried to the back of the room.
“It’s noisy here,” Cindy commented, looking around, suddenly feeling sad.
“And it’s packed,” Mattheus added. “Want to try another place?”
Cindy and Mattheus looked at each other oddly. It wasn’t fitting for them to join in the jubilation of the Love Conference right now and both of them realized it. Neither wanted to be surrounded by wedding planners who had gathered here to create incredible scenarios that fulfilled a couple’s life-long wedding dreams.
“Let’s go to the restaurant on the other side of the park,” Cindy suggested immediately as she and Mattheus edged backwards out the door.