“So?” asked Cindy, impatient.
“Give me a minute,” Alfred went on. “Diane wrote in big letters that Rowley said she was now the most beautiful woman in the world.”
“Wait a minute, where did you find this?” asked Cindy, quickly going over Kara’s Facebook page in her mind. Cindy’d also scanned the page and didn’t recall seeing anything like that.
“I found it on Rowley’s page first,” Alfred continued
“I’m sure Rowley has lots of posts and photos from women like that on his page,” said Cindy. “He’s a plastic surgeon after all. That has to be good for business. He readily admits it.”
“Very good,” said Alfred, “but wait a minute, there’s more. Kara didn’t answer Diane’s message and obviously Diane got pissed. She started messaging Kara every day, saying how wonderful Rowley was and how beautiful he’d made her.”
“So, Diane’s an egomaniac,” said Cindy.
“Worse than that,” Alfred interrupted. “When Kara didn’t answer her, Diane put more and more messages on Rowley’s page as well. She said that his fiancée was rude, and obviously jealous of her. I dug it all out, it took time.”
“It’s interesting,” Cindy conceded, “but why didn’t I see those messages on Kara’s page? I looked at it. There was nothing like that there.”
“That’s just it.” Alfred whistled loudly. “Someone obviously deleted it!”
“Probably Kara,” said Cindy, slowly putting the pieces together. “Something like that could be embarrassing.”
“More than embarrassing.” Alfred was snarling. “And we don’t know for sure who deleted it, either. Was it Kara, Rowley, or was it Rod?”
“Let’s walk while we talk. It’s getting late and cool. I’m feeling shivery.”
Cindy and Alfred began walking on the little path that wove between the palm trees, as Cindy tried to make sense of it all.
“Kara could have deleted it.” Alfred continued talking. “But she would have told me if she did. When something bothered her that much she usually mentioned it to me.”
That was a good point. It struck Cindy. “And you said Kara felt absolutely confident about Rowley, too,” Cindy reminded him.
“Yes, she did,” Alfred continued, “but something like that could definitely be irritating. I mean who wants her fiancé telling another woman she’s the most beautiful woman in the world?”
“No one,” agreed Cindy. “How about Rowley or Rod? Why would they delete it?” Cindy wanted to hear more of what Alfred thought.
“Rowley could have deleted it because it made him look bad to have this spread all over Kara’s page,” Alfred continued. “Having it on his own page was different. And Rod could have deleted it because he was obsessed with his daughter’s reputation. He always wanted her to put on the best face for the world.”
“How could Rod have gotten onto Kara’s page?” asked Cindy.
“He’s a technical genius,” Alfred whispered. “And he knows everything about Kara’s life, never gives her a second of privacy.”
“Okay, okay.” Cindy didn’t know where all this was leading. “Are you suggesting Diane was angry with Kara and jealous, that she somehow arranged to have her disappear on her honeymoon?”
“Not exactly,” murmured Alfred, “but you’re good. I was thinking the same thing and so I gave Diane a call. I wanted to see where she landed. When I told Diane that Kara had gone missing, she was in total shock. I scared her a little too, told her the messages she put up didn’t look good for her. Then she became terrified. She said no one back home knew anything about this and she’d check all over town to see if anyone’d heard anything. She swore up and down she had nothing to do with it and said she’d do all she could to help. That lady was shaking in her boots, I’ll tell you.”
Cindy was suddenly impressed and grateful for the work Alfred had done. “You’ve done good work, Alfred,” Cindy said. “Excellent.”
“And that’s not even all of it, yet.” Alfred was pleased. “Right after I called Diane, a few hours later, this other lady, Shane, turned up dead. Just a few hours later. I couldn’t believe it. There has to be a connection.”
Cindy took it in deeply. She could see why Alfred had been so distressed. “It’s interesting,” she said, “but it’s general. It doesn’t prove the cases are connected.”
“More,” Alfred said, practically frothing at the mouth, “more to come.”
“What?” Cindy asked, growing alarmed. There seemed no depths to which Alfred wouldn’t go to find out what happened to his friend.
“Diane called me back. She said she heard from someone at the shelter that Kara’s still alive. Diane thinks they’re hiding Kara there,” Alfred went on.