“I’ve got to go now,” said Jenna.
Cindy didn’t want her to go. “Before you leave tell me one thing, Jenna. Why was Shane living in the shelter? Who was she hiding from? Where is that person now?”
Jenna suddenly looked glum. “Shane was in love with a guy named Frank. They were living together, about to get engaged,” Jenna said. Then she stopped abruptly.
“Go on,” said Cindy.
“I don’t really want to talk about this now.” Jenna pulled back. “I don’t want to say anything about Shane’s lousy relationships, I don’t want to say anything bad about someone who just died.”
“You’ll be helping her, Jenna.” Cindy put her hand on Jenna’s arm, holding her there.
“Could this guy Frank be involved in Shane’s death?”
Jenna shook her head definitively. “He’s not involved,” she said sadly. “He’s in jail for
assault. He beat Shane regularly.”
Cindy felt upset. “That’s why she was in the shelter?”
“Yeah, she tried to break up with him again and again, but couldn’t,” said Jenna. ”When things got too bad she’d go to the shelter for a while and then she’d miss him and go back. It drove Kara crazy. Kara did everything in her power to help Shane stay away. I always thought if Shane died it would be Frank that did it.”
“You’re sure it wasn’t?” Cindy felt edgy
“I’m positive,” said Jenna. “Before I came down to St. Lucia I got in touch with Frank and told him what happened. He was so shaken he couldn’t stop crying, kept swearing that when he got out of jail he’d find the person and tear them limb from limb.”
“Like Vinny,” said Cindy.
“Yeah,” said Jenna sadly, “I guess Shane always went for the same type of guy.” Jenna was done talking then. She held up her hand as if to say, enough.
“You need to go now, Jenna?” Cindy was thankful that she’d come at all.
“Yes, I have to for now,” said Jenna. “But I’m leaving the photo with you. Now it’s your turn to do your job.”
*
After Jenna left, as Cindy looked at the photo she was holding, her hands trembled. Now everything was up for grabs. Cindy had to let both Mattheus and the police know about this immediately. And there was no way the family could leave the island tonight. For all they knew Shane’s death would now lead them directly to Kara.
Cindy immediately put a call into Mattheus. To her distress, he didn’t answer. Instead his voice mail went on again.
“Mattheus, where are you?” asked Cindy, exasperated. “You said you’d keep in touch. Call me immediately. I have incredible news. And it’s urgent. The family can’t leave the island today.”
Cindy hung up and immediately dialed the police station then. Thankfully, Abe picked up.
“Abe, it’s Cindy,” she blurted out. “Thank God you picked up.”
“We haven’t been able to trace the call,” he said quickly. “It’s camouflaged in lots of ways. Looks like a prank call.”
Cindy was distressed about that, but wanted to move the conversation along. “Thanks for checking it out, Abe,” she went on. “But I called about something else. Are you sitting down?”
“What’s going on?” Abe sounded uneasy.
“All bets are off now. Kara and Shane knew each other,” Cindy spoke fervently. “I have a photo here of the two of them together, smiling.”
There was a long moment of silence on the other end of the phone. “They knew each other?” Abe sounded startled.
“There’s definite proof.” Cindy pushed forwarded.
Abe backtracked though. “So what if they knew each other? That doesn’t prove anything.”
“It proves that Rowley lied to you,” said Cindy.
“Not necessarily,” Abe spoke hurriedly. “Rowley’s not in the photo with Shane, is he? So, Kara knew Shane, so what? It doesn’t mean that Rowley did.”
“It means there’s more to this than we thought,” Cindy continued. “The two cases are obviously connected.”
“There’s nothing obvious about it,” Abe interrupted. “You’re jumping to conclusions, Cindy. Shane is dead and Kara is missing. We can’t keep searching for Kara forever. Right now we have to focus on Shane.”
That was an easy way out, thought Cindy. “But are the police focusing on Shane’s murder, Abe, or will it go cold too soon?” Cindy’s voice grew sharper.
“We’re doing all we can,” Abe shot back defensively. “I’m not saying it isn’t interesting that the two women knew each other, but interesting doesn’t amount to much. It’s the facts we need, and you know it. This is purely circumstantial.”
“Okay.” Cindy pulled back abruptly. Obviously the police had their own agendas and weren’t going to be much of a help. “Thanks, Abe, I’ll let you know what else develops.”
“Nothing else is gonna develop.” Abe was adamant. “Kara’s family’s leaving tonight. Let them start the healing process. Kara’s case has gone cold.”