“Your friend’s daughter has gone missing,” Cindy reminded him, “and another young woman also turned up dead on the beach. At the moment I’m trying to see if the cases are interconnected.”
Mattheus walked over to where Cindy was standing. “I thought we decided that they were not,” he declared.
“Who decided?” asked Cindy. “There were plenty of drugs found in the dead woman’s body and I told you I was going to poke around in the drug ring down here.”
“And I told you not to,” Mattheus exclaimed.
“Why not, Mattheus?” This was almost more than Cindy could bear.
“Because we’re not working Shane’s case, we’re here for Kara,” he repeated.
Cindy had nothing further to say. She had been going to tell him what she’d found on Shane’s Facebook page, but given his attitude decided to say nothing at all. She wasn’t even going to tell him about her meeting with Santos. As far as she was concerned, Mattheus didn’t deserve to hear anything.
Instead, Cindy turned to the table her dinner was sitting on.
“Did you order some dinner for me, too?” Mattheus looked over her shoulder at the delicious, steaming food.
“Why would I?” asked Cindy. “As far as I knew you were having dinner with Rod. When exactly was the last time we had dinner together?”
“You sound more and more jealous of Rod,” Mattheus replied. “It’s an old story, women getting jealous of their guy’s friends. Lots of them do all they can to break up the friendships completely.”
“What world are you living in, Mattheus?” Cindy was stung. “We’re down here on a case—”
“I heard that a million times,” said Mattheus, “and I don’t want to hear it anymore. This case is over. You can’t put it down so you’re going round and round in circles.”
“Really? How do you know that?” asked Cindy, inflamed. “I haven’t told you even one thing that I’ve found so far.”
Mattheus’s brow curled and he looked confused for a second.
“If you asked me, you’ve been taken over by Rod,” Cindy continued. “I’ve never seen you like this before. Has he been filling you with all these crazy ideas?”
“Taken over by Rod?” Mattheus had a strange look on his face.
“He’s affected you, Mattheus, he’s influencing your mind,” Cindy added.
“That’s entirely nuts,” said Mattheus. “Who suggested that to you, Alfred?”
There was no point in continuing the discussion. “Look, I’m going to have my dinner, check my emails, and get to bed early,” Cindy shot back at him.
“Do what you want. No one’s stopping you,” said Mattheus. “I’m going to take a shower and get ready for bed, too. It’s been a long few days for both of us.”
Soon Cindy heard the water running in the shower. She finished what was left of her dinner quickly, wondering what was happening to them. None of it was good and Cindy felt devastated to see their relationship unraveling. She had no idea how to stop it either, or why it was really happening. Was Mattheus just grabbing at Rod as a convenient excuse for backing away?
Cindy sat at the table until she heard Mattheus leave the bathroom and go into the bedroom. There was no way she could go in there with him now. Instead, she went to the couch to lie down with a tired and heavy heart.
As she lay there, Cindy thought of the day, of her odd meeting with Santos and brief conversation with Pete. Both Pete and Santos realized that Cindy was alone. Neither of them felt good about it. Would Santos intervene and help in some way? Miracles did happen. It definitely seemed as though there was something about the case that bothered him, as well. Before long, Cindy closed her eyes and drifted into a hazy, light sleep.
In what seemed like just a few minutes Cindy was awakened by the ringing of her phone. Half asleep, half awake, she groped around for it.
“Yes?” Cindy mumbled when she found the phone.
A woman’s voice on the other end was even more muffled than Cindy’s.
“Help me, please,” Cindy heard.
Cindy’s eyes shot open, fully awake. “Who is this?” she exclaimed, her heart beating wildly.
“Please,” the dim voice barely continued. “Under four trees and a fence, circle the corner,” then all grew silent.
“Who is this? Tell me, please!” Cindy was gripped with a sense of horror. “Is it Kara?”
“Begging, begging,” the jumbled voice managed.
“Don’t give up, I’m here.” Cindy started shaking. “I won’t leave you alone.”
“Promise, promise,” the voice tried to echo, before all went silent again.
“Kara, Kara, talk to me, Kara.” Cindy kept calling into the phone long after there was no further answer.
Finally, Cindy jumped up, ran into the bedroom, and shook Mattheus, who was asleep on the bed.
Mattheus jumped up, alarmed. “What?” he shouted.
“The call came.” Cindy was breathing with difficulty.
“What call? From who?” Mattheus yelled.
“A woman just called, Mattheus. It was Kara,” Cindy continued.
“What are you talking about?” Mattheus asked, completely disheveled. “Did she say she was Kara?”