Death by Devotion (Book #9 in the Caribbean Murder Series) (8 page)

Sure,
falling in love messed things up, as far as solving crimes went, but Cindy also
thought of Ann’s words then.  Life wasn’t just about solving crimes. There was
a bigger picture. People needed love, they deserved it.

“I
thought Mattheus and I could do both,” Cindy said quietly, “be in love and
solve crimes at the same time.”

Sean
smiled warmly, “You could have, as long as the crime you were solving involved
someone else.”

 “So
what are you saying?” she asked.

“I’m
saying Mattheus can’t be ruled out,” Sean replied intently.

Cindy
felt a knife go through her heart at the thought that Mattheus could be
implicated. “But he didn’t do this,” she insisted.

“I
hope you’re right,” Sean replied. I really do, but I also need clear evidence –
there’s a lot more to investigate.”

Cindy
was impressed. Sean had thought a lot about things and wasn’t satisfied

with
second hand answers.  He wasn’t willing to take the party line, either. He knew
what he was doing, was smart and strong.

“You’re
right on target,” Cindy responded, “your arguments are air tight.”

“They
should be,” said Sean slowly, “I didn’t go to law school for nothing.  I’m a trained
lawyer, used to prosecute cases.”

Cindy
was surprised, but it made perfect sense. Sean wasn’t anything like the other
police officers. “Why did you give up the law?” she asked him.

“Who
said I did?” Sean grinned. “I’m on it daily, without being stuck in an office. Wading
through papers was way too confining. I like the outdoors, moving around, meeting
people face to face. I’m a guy who lives by my gut.”

Cindy
shivered. She got it, she knew him, could relate to everything he said.

“You’re
fantastic, Cindy,” Sean said then, from out of nowhere.

Cindy
had no idea what prompted that. “Thanks,” she said. “I guess it’s unusual to be
with a woman detective.”

“No,
it’s unusual to have a woman you can really talk to who gets it,” Sean replied.
“It’s unusual to have a woman who feels the same way you do.”

Cindy
flushed.  How did he know she felt the same way? It was great talking to him as
well, but she wanted to focus back on the case.  It was too easy to get
detoured.

“What
should I know about the underworld here?” Cindy turned back to business.

“Know
to keep away from them unless I’m there too,” Sean replied, in no uncertain manner.

“What
else? They’re into drugs?”

“That’s
the least of it,” Sean continued, “money laundering, sex, trafficking, corrupt,
diseased enforcement. Rotten jails. They got their grubby hands stretched out into
everything in the island. And I mean everything.”

Cindy
shuddered. The island had such an untouched, balmy feeling to it. It was so
beautiful, and the other side was filled with elegant hotels, restaurants,
shopping, beaches, a perfect haven for visitors.

Sean
seemed to know what she was thinking. “The trouble here doesn’t touch the
tourists,” he said. “It’s way, way deeper than that.”

“Cain
was an ex con, wasn’t he?” Cindy pursued it.

“Yes,
he was,” Sean replied. “And he did his dirt right from his jail cell – saw to
it that plenty of people disappeared. He worked directly for the Kingpin, did
what the guy needed.

That
made him extra valuable.”

“So,
lots of people must have wanted him dead,” Cindy jumped on it. “They must be
happy about this.”

“Sure
they are,” Sean seemed to enjoy their discussion. “Lots of goons are gloating  

because
he’s gone. And you know what they’re especially happy about? They’re thrilled
they got a suspect for the crime sitting in the clinker, nicely tied up. This
way no one looks any further.”  Sean stopped to see if Cindy got what he was
talking about.

“You’re
telling me it’s dangerous to look further, not to muddy the waters?” Cindy was
rattled.

“I’m
telling you your life will be in danger if you probe Cain’s network too deeply,”
Sean said. “Leave that for us to do.”

Cindy
suddenly felt exhausted. Whose team was Sean on anyway? Was he protecting Cain
and his buddies? Was he also pleased that suspicion was focused on Andrea,
Petra and Mattheus? Cindy pushed her chair away from her table then.

 “Thanks
for letting me know how things work here, Sean,” she said quickly.

“Hold
on, wait a minute,” he said, pushing his chair away along with hers. “I’m not
telling you to cover anything up. I’m just telling you to be careful. Don’t go
there alone. Don’t investigate it out in the open. Do it quietly, undercover.
And, if you have to go there, I’ll go with you.”

Cindy
didn’t know what to think.

“Look
at me, Cindy,” Sean said then, standing up. “Do I look like the kind of guy who
would ask you to brush anything under the rug?”

Cindy
smiled.  No, he didn’t, not at all.  Sean looked just exactly what she needed
at the moment. And she had no idea how he’d come into her life.

The
cell Andrea was being held in was in back of the police station, tucked under a
low hanging shed. There was a small window that let in some air, a bed, a
chair, sink and toilet. Other than that, it was bare. Because they’d found her
right beside Cain, his blood all over her, there’d been no problem getting her
locked away.

Mattheus
hadn’t yet been allowed to speak to his daughter directly. He’d spoken to her
briefly over the phone, told her he was on the case. She’d mumbled something
and hung up fast. Today would be the first time he saw her in person since the
murder.

The
guard led him down along the little corridor that led to the visitor’s section.
Andrea would be brought out and the guard would stand watching them from
behind.

“You
wait here,” the guard said to Mattheus as they got closer. There was a small
wooden table and two rickety chairs in the waiting section, and a ceiling fan
that kept whirling the stuffy air around.

Mattheus
sat down and waited, hardly able to breathe.  Beads of sweat covered his
forehead as he wondered what Andrea would actually say. He knew he had to
approach this like a detective, but his fatherly feelings got the better of him.
He thought how much he’d love to grab her and for the two of them to escape.

In
a few minutes
Andrea walked into the holding section, accompanied by the
guard. She wore loose overalls, a T shirt and looked sweaty, messy and distraught
.

“
Andrea, honey,”
Mattheus immediately jumped up to greet her, as she looked away.

“It’s
me, your dad.”

Andrea
looked down at the floor as the guard led her to a chair opposite Mattheus.

After
she was seated and the guard took his position in the back of the room, Andrea
looked up at her father.

“This
has got to be awful,” Mattheus said the moment his eyes caught hers.

“Why
are you here?” Andrea replied glumly.

Mattheus
was taken aback. She seemed in a fog, enclosed in a world of her own.

“I’m
here to help you,” he said, wondering if his words even got through.

“Yeah,
yeah,” she mumbled.

“Believe
it or not, I’m on case,” he continued. “I’m gonna find out who did it and get
you out of here.”

“Fat
chance,” she said sullenly. “The police are convinced it was me.”

“Why
do they think that?” Mattheus needed to hear more from her.

Andrea’s
eyes flashed with sudden hatred.  “Because I had the bastard’s damn blood all
over me.”

Mattheus
couldn’t sit still. “And how did that happen?”

“Cause
when I got there, he was laying flat in a pool of blood. Hell, I yelled and bent
down over him to see if he was still breathing? It’s possible, you know!”

“Anything
is always possible,” Mattheus commiserated.

“I
wanted to pump on his heart and bring him back,” Andrea spoke in a throaty
tone. “I know how to do that.”

“And
then what happened?” Mattheus was spellbound.

“I
leaned on him and tried to make him move. He didn’t,” Andrea went on. “Then I
saw the knife laying there in the corner. His throat had been slashed.”

This
was the first Mattheus had heard about a knife and how exactly Cain had died.

“I
grabbed the knife to look at it,” Andrea went on, the words pouring out.

“Oh
God,” Mattheus groaned. Her fingerprints had to be all over it.

“Oh
God, what?” Andrea’s eyes narrowed and she stared at him. “You think I should
have just left him lying there like that and walked away?”

“Nobody
said that,” Mattheus whispered.

“I
didn’t kill him,” Andrea wailed. “How could I kill him? I’m not strong enough
to kill him! Someone slashed his throat with a knife.”

“Did
you tell them about the knife?” Mattheus continued. He wondered why it had not
been mentioned and if they’d had it.

“They
know about the knife, they’ve got it,” Andrea said. You think I could have killed
him like that?”

Mattheus
looked at her askance. “No, of course not, how could you?” he said.”Exactly,”
she spit back at him, “but you wanted him dead too. You could have done it, or
found someone to do it for you.”

Mattheus
could hardly breathe. “Believe me, Andrea, I had nothing to do with this.”

“I
don’t believe anything you say,” she whimpered, “and for all I know it could
have been you! Get out of here, I’m sick of you.”

“You
barely know me,” Mattheus’s voice grew edgier, “it’s too soon to be sick of me.”

“Who
said I ever wanted to know you, anyway?” Andrea bit her lip hard as she spoke. 
“What good did you ever do me? You gave me false hope, came down here and made
me feel there was a way out of this mess. You said there was definitely
something we could do to get away from Cain.”

“What
are you talking about?” Mattheus went cold.

“You
said mom and I could get away from the bastard and that something could be
done. You don’t remember?”

Mattheus
remembered. “I didn’t say you should kill him. Mattheus shut his eyes in horror.
Why was she turning the tables on him? Who was she defending? If Andrea didn’t
do it herself, was there someone else she cared about that she was protecting?

Mattheus
flipped back into detective mode. “If you want me to help you, you’re going to
have to tell me everything you know,” he retorted. “Everything.”

“Fat
chance of that,” she sneered.

“I’m
the best chance you got, Andrea,” Mattheus responded. “This isn’t a game, you’re
in big trouble right now.”

“Maybe
I am and maybe I’m not,” she replied, suddenly haughty.  “The medical examiner
results aren’t in yet. No one knows exactly when he died. He might have died a
long time before I ever got there.”

“No
one knows exactly when you got there, though,” Mattheus said quickly.

“I
know,” Andrea spit out.

“That’s
not enough. They need cold facts, witnesses.”

“All
day long I was with my friends in town,” she went on, “lots of people saw me.”

Mattheus
took a deep breath. That was good to hear. “I need to speak to some of those friends,”
he said.

“Like
hell you do,” she responded. “They’re my friends, my life. It’s none of your damn
business.”

“Someone
has to speak to these people to confirm you were with them,” Mattheus answered
sharply.

“Someone,
yeah, but not you,” she exclaimed. “Who said I want you knowing my private business?”

“Have
you told the police about this?” Mattheus took a step back.

“Sure,
I told them, and they couldn’t care less,” Andrea retorted. “They never even
asked me who my friends were, or where I was. They grabbed me and threw me in
here. I even saw one of them smiling.”

It
was easy having Andrea locked up, Mattheus realized.  That way no one had to
look at anyone further - except possibly at him.

“You’re
in a huge mess, honey,” he said finally, “and you’ve got to trust someone.”

At
that Andrea looked at him fiercely. “Trust who, you? Why should I? You ran out
on me and mom and never looked back, once. You never cared.”

“You’re
going to hold that against me the rest of your life?” Mattheus shot back at
her, “no matter what I do to make it up?”

“Yes,
I am,” Andrea went on. “And besides, I’ve got other people helping me.”

“Like
who?”

“Like
mom. She’s coming to see me after you,” Andrea proclaimed.

“Doesn’t
seem like she helped you much while you were growing up, did she?” Mattheus
blurted out.

Andrea
stood up, inflamed.  “What do you mean by that? My mom loves me, she takes good
care of me.”

“She
let Cain beat you, didn’t she? And not only him, but her other husbands too.”
Mattheus wasn’t pulling any punches. This was no time for playing games.

Andrea’s
eyes suddenly brimmed over with tears. “Mom couldn’t help it, she had no
choice.”

“We
all have a choice” Mattheus insisted.

“Not
down here, we don’t,” Andrea cried out as tears streamed down her beautiful,
distraught face.

“Okay,”
the guard standing in the back came over to Mattheus now. “Time’s up. Another
visitor’s waiting.”

Mattheus
was jostled. “Excuse me?” he said.

“Only
a certain amount of time allotted with each visitor here,” the guard informed
him.

Disgruntled,
Mattheus stood up. “I want to make another appointment right now,” he declared.

The
guard just nodded, “Take it up with the officers in the front,” he said. “It’s
up to them.”

Mattheus
looked over at Andrea then who was looking at him with a helpless stare.

“Don’t
worry, I’ll be back soon, honey,” he said loudly. “Nothing’s gonna keep me
away.”

*

As
Mattheus turned and left through the narrow hallway, to his surprise, Petra was
walking towards him with a short, muscular man at her side. A guard followed a
few steps behind them.

“Petra,”
Mattheus called out, but she simply threw him a strange glance as she walked
past him, not stopping to say hello.

“This
lady’s another handful. Sure can be uppity,” the guard remarked as Petra passed
by. He seemed to feel badly for Mattheus for a moment.

“You
can say that again,” said Mattheus, grateful for the guard’s support.

“If
you want to talk to the cops about another appointment, this is the place to
go,” the guard showed Mattheus a long, narrow room, filled with different cops
and a receptionist up front.

Mattheus
went up to the receptionist and just as he did, to his surprise, a side door
opened and out came Sean. The two of them caught each other’s eye at the same
moment.

“Well,
if it isn’t Mattheus,” Sean came over.

 “Nice
to see you, Sean,” Mattheus replied, as if it were just a normal afternoon.

“How
can I help you?” Sean replied.

“I
just had a visit with my daughter, and would like an appointment for another
one as soon as possible,” said Mattheus.

Sean’s
eyebrows rose. “Hope it went well.”

“In
some ways,” said Mattheus. “But it’s just a beginning, I need more time.”

“I
can understand that,” Sean replied. “There’s a lot left to explore.  How about
coming into the back with me now, so we can talk things over.”

“Like
what?” Mattheus hedged for a second, wondering if Sean wanted to interview him.

“You’re
an important part of the picture,” Sean confirmed it.

Of
course I am, thought Mattheus. Why shouldn’t I go?  After all, this guy has
been assigned to help me and Cindy. Mattheus wasn’t sure what to make of Sean,
but it couldn’t hurt to find out. And, the picture of Petra walking down the
hall with that guy bothered Mattheus tremendously. He urgently wanted to find
out who he was, and what he was doing with her. Something was off, and he
wanted to ask Sean about it.  It would be great to have Sean as an ally, though
Mattheus wondered if that was possible. There was a strange edginess between them
and Mattheus felt it, even now.

“Come
on back with me and we’ll talk,” Sean repeated, as Mattheus consented, curious
to see where it would all lead.

*

The
room Sean took Mattheus into had big open windows with a view of a long street.
Mattheus looked out at the run down, second hand shops and people ambling about
in and out of them.

“This
must be quite a trip for you,” said Sean, as they sat down at a round table.  “Not
quite what you expected, I bet.”

“You
can say that again,” Mattheus agreed. Even though Sean had a casual manner
about him, Mattheus felt the intensity of his focus. “By the way, who was that
guy Petra came in with? I saw them as I was leaving.”

Sean
looked away. “I’m not at liberty to give you his name,” he said.”Why do you
ask?”

Mattheus
was jolted, suddenly reminded that he and Sean were not on the same team.  The
police were bent on keeping Mattheus an outsider and the conversation was not
going to be between equals. Obviously, Sean had something else in mind.

“I
find it odd that Petra would be with another guy so quickly,” Mattheus went on,
anyway. It had really rankled him to see the two of them so cozy.

“What
makes you think he’s another guy?” Sean looked surprised. “How do you know he’s
not a friend, or brother?”

“Something
about the way they were walking together,” Mattheus continued, taking Sean on. “I
have a nose for what people mean to each other, have been in this business too
long not to realize.”