Death by Temptation (11 page)

 The
minute she got into her room, Cindy called Alfred immediately. Thankfully, he
picked right up.

“Finally,
I’ve been waiting for you,” he said instantly. “Go downstairs to the narrow
walking path behind the back garden. There’s a trellis there under a group of
palm trees. I’ll be waiting for you there, in the shade.”

“Why
all the secrecy?” Cindy asked, feeling as though Alfred were acting as though
he were being secretly followed by a band of thieves.

“When
you get there, I’ll tell you,” he said in a hushed tone.

“I’ll
be right there,” Cindy agreed, partially annoyed to be going along with this.
They could just as easily have met right out front, in full sight of everybody.
Was Mattheus right? Was Alfred over the edge or truly onto something? Was she
completely wasting her time?

*

It
was actually difficult to get to the path behind the garden and took more time
than Cindy expected. She had to follow a winding road that passed over a curved
bridge that crossed a stream. Then she saw the trellis under the palms that
Alfred mentioned. When she got closer Cindy saw Alfred there, his arms around
himself, rocking back and forth.

“Here
I am, Alfred,” Cindy called to him.

“You
sure took your time.” He was agitated.

“I
left immediately,” quipped Cindy. “This place is hard to find.”

“Precisely.”
Alfred suddenly smiled. “That’s why I wanted to come here. It’s not a good idea
for anybody to see us together. Certainly not at a time like this.”

Cindy
sighed. She didn’t want to go around in circles with all kinds of hidden
innuendos.

 “Okay,
we’re here now, we’re safe, we’re hidden,” she said. “What did you find?”

“I
found out more than your sweet Mattheus did, that’s for sure,” Alfred burst
out. “Mattheus is taking the easy way out, isn’t he? Just hanging around with
Kara’s family, avoiding the meat of the case.”

That
wasn’t at all like Mattheus, but Cindy couldn’t help but agree.

“Tell
me why Mattheus is acting this way,” Alfred continued. “Is he involved with
Kara’s disappearance somehow?”

That
was more than Cindy could tolerate. She was appalled. “Are you crazy?”

“Well,
if Mattheus is not directly involved, how about his buddy, Rod?” Alfred
continued. “Guilt by association?”

“You’re
going off the deep end, Alfred,” Cindy insisted. “Rod is Kara’s father. Are you
suggesting he harmed his daughter?”
“No, I’m not.” Alfred backed down. “I have no reason to believe that, yet.”

“Yet?”
Cindy didn’t know if she should just turn around and walk away.

“Wait
a minute, wait a minute.” Alfred reached out for her. “I’m sorry for going too
far. I can’t stand Rod and he can’t stand me, but that’s not what I’m here for.
That’s not what I have to tell you.”

“What
do you have to tell me?” Cindy faced him bluntly.

“I’ve
been spending hours and hours online,” Alfred started. “I began with Kara’s
Facebook page, then switched to Rowley’s.”

“Okay?”
said Cindy. This was more interesting now.

“I
found a woman on Rowley’s Facebook page named Diane.” Alfred’s voice grew
gravelly. “She’d messaged Kara recently on her Facebook page telling her what a
great job Rowley did on her surgery.”

“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.

Cindy
gasped. “That’s a huge claim! Who did she hear it from? How does the person
know? We need evidence and we need it immediately.”

“Everything
is secret at the shelter,” Alfred breathed. “They’re not allowed to talk. They
have to protect the women who live there. That’s their first responsibility.”

“But
we need evidence,” Cindy exclaimed.

“It’ll
come out, it’ll come out,” Alfred mumbled.

 Cindy
couldn’t wrap her mind around this. “Are you suggesting that Kara went back
home? Why did she? How did she get there?”

“Or
someone kidnapped her and brought her home,” Alfred burst out. “Do you know
there’s a huge drug ring on this island with tentacles all over the States?”
His eyes opened wide. “Diane found out and told me.”

“I’d
heard about the ring,” Cindy conceded. “But Rowley testified to the police that
neither he nor Kara did drugs.”

Alfred
guffawed. “Give me a break, everybody does drugs. Some more, some less.”

“Did
Kara do drugs?” Cindy asked Alfred directly. “Did Rowley?” If anyone would
know, Alfred would.

“Kara
and Rowley did some recreational drugs once in a while at a party,” Alfred
continued. “I never heard it was anything more than that. After Kara did it she
said she was sorry, just couldn’t resist the temptation to have fun.”

“If
it was just some drugs, once in a while at a party, why bring up the drug
ring?” asked Cindy.

“Lots
of the women at the shelter did drugs,” Alfred continued. “Lots of them had
dealers or addicts for husbands.”

“So,
Kara had access to dealers and drugs?” asked Cindy.

“No,
of course not,” Alfred answered. “Once the women are in the shelter they’re
forbidden to use. That’s part of the agreement. The shelter hides them and
protects their identity. But if they bring in any drugs, they’re out.”

“Makes
sense,” said Cindy. “So, what’s the connection?”

“Kara
was around women who’d been around drugs,” Alfred continued. “One of those
women, or one of their husbands or partners, could be connected to the ring
down here. And the women don’t stay at the shelter forever. Plenty go back to
their abusive guys.”

“What
does all this have to do with Kara?” Cindy didn’t feel on solid footing.

Alfred
took a step closer to Cindy. “Diane got me the personal phone number for you.
It’s the woman who runs the shelter, Margaret Day. This was hard to get,
believe me. Give Margaret a call and find out for yourself.”

The
cool evening breezes blew up strongly as Cindy and Alfred continued to walk.

“How
about you? Why don’t you call her?” asked Cindy.

“Not
a good idea,” said Alfred. “I’m sure she’d talk more easily to a woman than a
man. From the point of view of women who run shelters, all men have to be
enemies, just waiting to pounce.”

*

The
meeting with Alfred had created a treasure trove of possibilities and Cindy
wanted to explore each one of them. The moment she returned to her room she put
in a call to Margaret Day and left a message.

“This
is Cindy Blaine of C and M Investigations, calling from St. Lucia right now,”
Cindy said. “I need to talk to you as soon as possible about the disappearance
of Kara Flynn. Thank you.” Then she left her number.

Was
it truly possible that they were hiding Kara? If they were, Cindy would
probably never get a return call. She wanted to call Mattheus immediately and
tell him about what Alfred had said, sort out viable leads from fantasies. But
she refrained. Mattheus obviously didn’t like Alfred, and from his point of
view, most of what Alfred had to say would be considered fantasy. But even
though there was scanty evidence to back up what he said, Cindy found Alfred
fascinating, She couldn’t help but wonder, though, why Mattheus himself wasn’t
investigating more aggressively. Cindy finally decided that he was truly
convinced that Kara had drowned, didn’t see any indication of foul play. That
was probably because Mattheus was too close to Rod, had lost objectivity on the
case without realizing it.

As
Cindy sat there musing, her phone rang. She reached for it immediately.

“Cindy,
this is Margaret Day,” a woman said on the other end.

“Thank
you so much for getting back to me so quickly,” said Cindy. “I appreciate it.”

“We’re
absolutely stunned to hear about Kara’s disappearance,” Margaret replied.

Cindy
was relieved that Margaret acknowledged that Kara was gone. “When did you hear
the news?” she asked.

“Very
recently,” said Margaret. “The story’s going around town like wildfire now.”

Cindy
decided to jump right in. “We heard that there was some possibility that Kara
may be at the shelter,” she started.