Death by Marriage (12 page)

“She
said he left two and a half weeks, ago.” Margot said in a tiny voice they
barely could hear. “He told her he was going home.”

“Do
you live here alone?” Brayton asked softly.

“I
live with my son,” Margot sounded numb, “and the household staff.”

“This
is your son with your husband?”

“Of
course,” said Margot icily.

“She
in any danger? Nojo asked Brayton gruffly.

“Who
knows?” Brayton replied. “Anything’s possible now.”

“I’ll
stay here with her a few days,” Nojo offered.

Margot
looked up at him horrified. “No thank you,” she said. “It’s not necessary.”
Then she looked over at Mattheus, who hadn’t taken his eyes off her, but was
absorbing her every single move.

“What
do I need?” Margot asked Mattheus then, “a lawyer, detective? What happens now?”

Cindy
moved in then and took over. “You can’t stay here alone, with such shocking
news. “Do you have friends or family who can stay with you?”

“I
have many friends,” said Margot. “They’ll come to my side. Are you telling me
you think my husband has been killed?”

“That’s
part of it,” said Cindy.

Mattheus
came up close to both of them then. “You’ll get the whole picture, little by
little,” he said. “There’s a lot of questions you still have to answer.”

Margot
looked at him pleadingly. “I don’t want to,” she said.

“Maybe
not this minute,” Mattheus said, and turned to Brayton. “There’s only so much a
person can take. Give her some time.”

“I
can give her until tomorrow,” said Brayton, “but we can’t sit on this for long.
We’ll come back tomorrow, but first there’s one thing we got to know.”

“What
is it?” asked Margot.

“What
were you doing two weeks ago, the first Sunday of the month?”

Margot
shivered. “The first Sunday of the month is when the book club meets at my
home. Everyone was here with me all day...”

Brayton
nodded. “Give Mattheus the name of some of the people who attended,” he said, “and
we’ll call it a day. Tomorrow’s time enough to go forward.”

“Is
there’s something else?” said Margot then, once again, trembling. “If there is,
tell me now.”

“We
may as well tell her,” Cindy said. “Better to hear it now when we’re all
around.  She’ll find out anyway, once this thing breaks open.”

“What
is it?” Margot asked, her face contorting.

“Your
husband had another wife and family,” Cindy slowly said. “He was known as Paul
Kowan. They lived on the mainland.”

Margot
just stared. “Another wife?” she mouthed silently.

“Double
life,” said Mattheus softly.

Cindy
turned once again then, and saw Graham clutching onto the edge of the open
door. He’d been listening to every word. It was his father who had been killed
as well.

“Come
in,” Cindy called to Graham.

“Who’s
that?” asked Brayton, suddenly seeing him.

“It’s
the son,” said Cindy.

Graham
walked in, went over to his mother, and stood behind her very close.

 “We’ll
get through this,” he said, “in a hoarse ragged tone.”

“And
maybe we won’t,” said Margot.

 Mattheus
drove home with Cindy in her car, the police car trailing behind them.

“You
did it again,” he said grinning, “blew the case wide open.”

Cindy
was still in shock herself, and worried about Margot. “I don’t like leaving
Margot alone that way.”

“She’s
got her son, and her friends are coming over.”

Cindy
said nothing. That might not be enough. Who knows how this news could affect
her?  In many ways she seemed so fragile. And then her striking bitterness came
through. How could she not have been bitter, with her husband married to
someone else all these years? And how could she not have known?

“I’m
trying to figure out how a woman could not know that her husband had another
wife and family, for years and years?” Cindy said to Mattheus. “It defies the
imagination.”

“Most
people fall into routines and think everything’s great,” said Mattheus.” Then
it hits.”

“But
she had to feel it in some part of her being,” Cindy insisted. “You didn’t see
how bitter she could get. And it’s not only another wife, there are children in
both families.”

“I
thought the woman was completely in shock,” said Mattheus. “The police will go
over her pretty good the next few days.  They’ll want everything she can tell
them about Paul.  Now we don’t only have a defense attorney, we got a full
blown con man on our hands -- and a whole other world he lived in. He fooled
two women for years at the same time. Who else was he fooling?”

Cindy
took a deep, painful breath. “He also had a fling with Heather,” she said.

Mattheus
grinned. “That’s right. Jesus, this was one busy guy.”

“Heather
told me he meant a lot to her and that she ended their relationship suddenly.”

Mattheus’
ears perked up.

“Heather
had to know about Kendra when she took up with Paul,” Cindy went on, “so that
wasn’t the reason her relationship ended. When I asked her why, she told me to
come here, and I’d find out everything I needed to know. Heather probably found
out about Margot herself!  It had to be too much for her. She had to realize
the guy was a con. I’m going to spend more time talking to her.”

“Talk
to anyone you want,” said Mattheus, “but Heather’s just a side liner.  Kendra’s
the one who will suffer from this. This only adds new fuel to the fire. People
are going to think that Kendra knew. She’s smart, she’s aware, runs her life
like a pro. it would be harder to figure that Paul could fool her. There’s more
motive now. Maybe she found out and blackmailed him with that insurance
policy?  Or, she might have made him pay by buying her expensive jewelry? The
other wife’s just a pathetic character, sitting in a fancy home, in shock. He
pulled the wool over her eyes completely.”

“It’s
awful, awful,” Cindy breathed. She felt as though she had just witnessed a life
being wrecked under her eyes.

“No
one said this was going to be easy,” Mattheus said and put his hand over Cindy’s
for a moment.

It
felt good to have his hand there. Cindy wanted him to keep it there.

“The
work’s rough, but you see what’s real.”

Cindy
felt for the moment that she might rather not see what was real, stay sleeping,
dreaming that the world was beautiful. Then she realized that was exactly how
Margot had lived.

“I’m
glad you came so over so quickly,” Cindy suddenly turned to Mattheus, grateful.

“I’m
glad you called,” he said, touched.

Mattheus
took his eyes off the road a second and looked at her warmly. They smiled at
each other then, and it felt for a moment the way it had in Grenada, easy, warm
and secure. Cindy remembered then why she’d decided to work with him. She
remembered how good it could feel.

“My
guess is that the cops will be taking Kendra in pretty soon,” Mattheus said. “More
questioning is on the way. Could be they’re close to locking her up.”

Cindy’s
stomach clenched. “It’s all circumstantial,” she said.

“Yeah,
but there’s too much of it now,” said Mattheus. “Comes to a point when enough
is enough. It’s probably a good idea for you to tell her in person about the
second wife and family. Get her ready.  See how she reacts.  Sniff around the
edges. Is it really possible that she had no idea?”

*

Cindy
called Kendra and made arrangements to see her immediately, before she could hear
the news from anyone else.  This could be a terrible shock for her as well,
thought Cindy. There was no reason to believe that Kendra had any idea about
the second wife.  Who knew how she would handle it?

Cindy
parked in front of Kendra’s home and came up the front walk, her palms growing
sweaty as she got closer.  Kendra opened the door, looking upbeat in an off
white linen dress with a sparkling, coral necklace around her neck, as if it
were a normal afternoon.

“Come
in,” said Kendra, glad to see Cindy. “Let’s go sit in the study.” 

The
study was a large, square room filled with books, plants and comfortable sofas.
It felt snug and secluded from the sprawling outdoors. Kendra sat down opposite
Cindy with a look of expectancy.  It suddenly struck Cindy that she looked too
perky and confident for the situation she was in. It was odd for a woman who
was the focus of so much suspicion.

“It’s
been a while since we’ve spoken,” Kendra started. “I know you’ve been very
busy.

Can’t
wait to hear what you’ve dug up. Someone out there did it, and they had to
leave tracks around.”

 It
seemed as if Kendra had no doubt at all that Cindy would find the information
she needed to get her off. Perhaps the power of her conviction came from being
totally innocent, Cindy wondered for a moment. Cindy decided not to jump in and
tell Kendra the whole story, but see how much Kendra knew first.

“I
met a fascinating woman,” Cindy started. “Her name is Heather May.”

Kendra
showed no reaction at all.

“You
know her?” Cindy asked.

Kendra
shrugged lightly. “No, not really. I’ve heard her name, of course. We all
vaguely know each other down here on the island, see each other in passing. But
I’ve never spent any time with her. We’ve never actually talked.”

That
didn’t completely make sense to Cindy. 

“What
about her?” Kendra was curious.

“She’s
quite a character,” said Cindy.

“So
what?” said Kendra. “There are lots of characters down here. That’s why they
chose this kind of life.” She spoke as if she were at work, giving a guided
tour of the island.

“Was
Paul also a character?” asked Cindy.

“What
difference does that make now?” asked Kendra, suddenly irritated. “He’s dead. 
Someone killed him. And it wasn’t me! I’ve been grilled enough. Now, I want you
to tell me what you’ve found out.”

“I
will,” said Cindy, “but I need to know more from you as well. It will help me
put the puzzle together.”

Kendra
stood up and walked to the bookshelf. “Okay, what else do you want to know?”

“Whatever
you can tell me about your  marriage.”

“What
about you? Have you ever been married?” Kendra turned the tables on Cindy. “Do
you know what it’s like to live with one man, year after year after year?”

Cindy
flushed, taken aback. “I’ve been married,” she answered quietly. “But it didn’t
last long.”

Kendra
threw Cindy a sharp look with a mixture of pity and disdain.  “So you get it,”
she said, “marriages fall apart.  But unlike others, no matter what happened,
Paul and I stuck it out. That’s something I’m proud of.”

“What
did happen? “asked Cindy quick on the uptake.

“I
told you before. He spent time at that bar, travelled for business, liked to
gamble, I wondered if there wasn’t another woman filling in the gaps. Can you
understand that?”

“Of
course I can,” said Cindy.

“Is
that what happened to you and your husband too?” Kendra arched her neck back, a
dash of spite pouring from her eyes.

“My
husband was killed,” Cindy said calmly.

Kendra
took a swift breath.

“On
our honeymoon,” said Cindy trying to create a bond between them and getting
Kendra to trust her more.

“My
God, I’m so sorry,” said Kendra, backing down. “I didn’t mean to say anything
nasty, I’m just so sick of being grilled and grilled.”

“It’s
all right,” said Cindy.

 “Do
you do this work because your husband was killed?”  Kendra asked.

“Partially,”
said Cindy. “And partially I have a nose for it. It feels good to bring killers
to justice. It’s something important.”

“I
felt that immediately about you when I read about the case in Grenada,” said
Kendra.

“Kendra,”
Cindy said then straightforwardly, “you must have known that Paul played
around.”

“I
wasn’t sure, I thought maybe?” said Kendra, smiling feebly.

“There
were people who might have known,” Cindy said, “Why didn’t you ask them? Why
did you wait for me all these years?”

“How
could I shame myself that way? Kendra said.

 “Heather
May suggested that I see a woman down at the edge of the island who could fill
me in on important details.”

“Yes?”
Kendra seemed interested.

“I
went to the address she gave me and found a woman named Margot living there.”

Kendra
showed absolutely no reaction.

“You
don’t happen to know her?”

“No,
I don’t know anyone named Margot.”

“Margot
Kowan?” said Cindy.

“Who
is she?”

There
was no other way to tell her, than directly. “Paul had another wife and family
all the time he was married to you. This woman Margot has his pictures all
over, with her and their son.”

Kendra
looked as if she’d been doused with ice water.  She shivered and then burst
out, alarmed, “What kind of crap are you telling me?”

“Paul
lived under an alias, Gregg Kowan.”

Kendra
stood up, her face turning beet red and her eyes flaming.

“This
is crazy,” she said. “You’re a maniac! I should fire you for saying something
like this.” Her voice rose like a wild, shrill bird that had flown in the
window and had no place to land. “And if you keep up like this, I will fire
you. Now, get out!” 

She
kept yelling, until the door to the library flew open and Nell stood there,
staring in. Once the door opened, Kendra took the opportunity to rush out.

“What
happened?”  Nell asked in an even tone.

“I
had painful information for your mother.”

Nell
stared at Cindy. “What?”

“Something
a woman named Heather May told me,” said Cindy.

“Heather
speaks to my mother all the time. What could she have told you that was
different?”

Cindy
stepped back. “What did you say?”

Nell
looked confused. “Nothing, I just said that Heather May and my mother speak all
the time. I can’t see what could have so upset her?”

A
long, slow chill ran through Cindy’s arms.  Kendra had lied to her about Heather
May.   What else was she lying about?

“Your
mother and Heather are good friends?” Cindy asked.

“I
wouldn’t say that.  They have lunch together occasionally and talk on the phone.
Everyone knows everyone down here. There really aren’t so many secrets.”

Cindy
liked Nell very much. She had a plain, forthright quality that Cindy
appreciated.

“When
your mother calms down, tell her to call me,” said Cindy, definitively. She
didn’t like being played for a fool. There was no point to it.

Nell
smiled oddly. “It won’t make a difference what I tell my mother. She won’t
listen to anything I say. She never would. Don’t let her stupid moods scare
you. Be strong! Call her yourself!

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