Death by Jealousy Read Online Free Page A

“I wondered about it at
times and so did others. Some people thought she didn’t have a mind of her own,
or was too malleable. But she did well in school, had a good job in advertising.
Everyone who knew her liked her a lot.”
    “Did
you like her?” asked Cindy.
    “Of
course Dana liked her,” Edward jumped in quickly. “We all loved her. Would we
have made a wedding like this and paid for every bit of it, if we didn’t?”
    “Quite
a shindig,” Mattheus said, reprovingly.
    “My
son works in my company and has been down on the Island all through his life. He
loves it here and so do I. Peter completely deserves this wedding.”
    “Did
I ever say he didn’t?” Dana gasped.
      
“Not you,” Edward was growing heated, “but Mattheus is suggesting something -.”
    Cindy
wanted to immediately cut into the tension between them. 
    “And
the bride’s family?” she asked Dana, “were they happy about the wedding?”
“They couldn’t care less where the wedding was held,” Dana said emphatically.
    “That
seems odd,” Cindy replied.
    “Of
course they care,” Edward corrected Dana, “they’re just not in the league to
pay for this kind of thing. They were happy to have us do it for them.”
    “How
do you know they were happy?” Cindy asked quickly.
    “Allie
told me that herself,” Edward said, “and she also mentioned it to Mac, my
partner and best friend.”
    Mattheus
took a deep breath and so did Cindy.
    “Seems
like there are quite a few people to speak to,” said Mattheus.
    “Tell
me more about Mac?” asked Cindy. Each new person opened a whole new door for them
to walk through in finding that one precious detail that could turn it all
around.
    “Mac’s
my partner,” Edward seemed relieved to be talking about his best friend. It
settled him down a bit, made things seem more normal. “We started the company
together years ago. He’s great with getting new business, a people person. Mac’s
known Peter since he was a child, is practically an uncle to him.”
    “What
difference does any of this make?” Dana cried out, suddenly putting her face in
her hands.  “Just get Peter out from the grip of the police!”
    Edward
continued blithely, oblivious to his wife’s cry of despair.  “Over the years Mac
had something to say about each one of Peter’s girlfriends. But he loved Allie.
She was close to him too, spoke to him about things.”
    “Have
the police interviewed Mac?” Mattheus asked.
    “The
police have interviewed everybody,” Dana inserted, “but it’s routine stuff,
superficial.  It’s only Peter they keep grilling and grilling.”
    “They
need to tie this up, pin it on someone “Edward chimed in. “And, they’ve got to
keep as much as possible under the radar. This is not the kind of thing that
brings good publicity, especially now with the festival coming. Thousands are
headed to the Island.”  
    “Seems
like a strange time to have a wedding,” Mattheus commented.
    “No,
it’s a grand time,” said Edward, proudly. “Our family comes down for the
festival every year. Everyone loves it. The wedding would have been over by the
time it began and then the guests could have stayed and enjoyed it. The
Batabano festival is a salute to Cayman’s turtling heritage. Batabano refers to
tracks left in the sand by sea turtles as they crawled onto the beach to nest.
Finding these tracks was a reason to celebrate! It still is.”
    Cindy
was fascinated. A yearly festival to celebrate the tracks of a turtle in the
sand! And what about the tracks of killers she’d discovered, sprawled all
through the Caribbean? Was that a cause for celebration as well?
    “The
festival reflects the heritage and vibrant rhythms of island life,” Edward was
speaking as though he were standing at a podium, giving a yearly report. “Did
you know that the Cayman Islands are home to a melting pot of over one hundred nationalities?
We’re proud of it! One country celebrating many cultures.