Death by Desire (Caribbean Murder Series, Book 4) (4 page)

Rori stuck out her hand and Cindy took it.

“It’s my pleasure,” said Cindy.

“Okay, you guys have a big job here and you
need to get going,” said Rori. “Where do you want to start?”

“Rori,” the Senator was becoming irritated, “don’t
take over.” Clearly, she was hard to handle.

Wynn stepped in then. “Rori likes to take
everything over.  Don’t be put off by her.”

“Just the opposite,” said Mattheus. “I
appreciate your sister jumping in.”

“Thanks,” said Rori, pleased.

“I’m sure you have your own plans,” Wynn said
to Cindy, “you don’t need any help from us.”

“Quite the opposite,” said Cindy warmly. “We
need all the help we can get. All suggestions are appreciated, any thoughts,
memories, tips.”

Emboldened, Rori spoke up again, “Who do you
want to talk to first?”

Mattheus joined in. “To begin Cindy and I would
like to have some time alone with Tad.”

“There’s no need for that,” the Senator didn’t
like it. “I told you, Tad’s been interviewed many times.” He put his hand on Tad’s
shoulder, as if to protect him from the pain he was going through. “There are
more efficient ways to use your time.”

“It’s fine with me,” Tad responded. “I’ll be happy
to talk to them. After all, Tiffany was my fiancée. I know every little thing
about her and what was on her mind.”

Rori stared at him oddly when he said that and
Wynn looked away.

“Let’s get off the boat now for a while,”
Mattheus said, “and find a place where we can talk.”

“It’s a waste of time,” the Senator repeated,
annoyed.

“It’s a place to start,” said Cindy.

“So, go,” said the Senator, “but don’t stay
away too long.”

Mattheus, Cindy and Tad, walked off the boat
together into the warm afternoon sun.  Tad had the key to the Senator’s car
that was parked at the edge of the dock.

“I’ll drive you to a good spot to Talk,” said
Tad. “There’s a rocky cliff near a beach close by. We’ll get breezes from the
ocean below.”

“Sounds perfect,” said Cindy.

For the first time since Mattheus had seen him,
Tad smiled. Cindy seemed to soothe him. Mattheus wondered in passing if she
might remind him of Tiffany, with the same friendliness and warmth?

They drove slowly to the cliff, parked, walked carefully
up a narrow path to the top, and sat down. It was beautiful here, with a view
stretching out over the ocean, and refreshing breezes all around.

A huge bird suddenly flew by and a moment of
grim silence overcame all of them.

“Tiffany loved birds,” Tad said, watching it fly.
“She loved many things, she loved being alive.”

The three of them all looked up in the sky,
watching the bird disappear across the edge of the horizon, and then down into
the deep ocean, where the waves splashed wildly against the rocks.

   Cindy loved it up here over the ocean. The
three of them sat together on top of the cliff for what seemed like forever
before they began to speak. She was also glad to be off the boat for a while,
able to get a larger perspective on all that was going on. Although everyone on
the boat was doing their best to act normally, an underlying sense of chaos and
doom pervaded the atmosphere. The interview with Tiffany’s mother had been
troubling and sad. The Senator was right, his wife flipped in and out of
reality. At moments she was tremendously clear, then out of nowhere, had lapsed
into fantasies, insisting that Tiffany was still alive. Cindy was glad to be
back with Mattheus. She enjoyed watching the wind blow on his handsome, sun
tanned face as he leaned towards Tad and finally began to speak.

“I’m sorry we have to go over this again,” Mattheus
said to Tad, “it must be a terrible time for you.”

“Terrible,” said Tad quietly. “Unbelievable. I’m
still in shock.”

“That’s natural,” said Mattheus.

Tad looked over at him, sensing that Mattheus
truly understood, perhaps had even been through something similar.

“Tell us a little about yourself,” Mattheus
went on softly.

“Graduated from Princeton last June,” Tad
started. “English major, art minor.”

“Interesting,” said Mattheus.

“My family has a house on the island. We’ve
been coming down to St. Bart's for as long as I can remember. It’s home to me.”

“This is where you met Tiffany?” asked Cindy.

“Yes,” said Tad, “we actually knew each other
for a long while.  Her family also came down to the island regularly. I saw her
around at parties and always thought she was beautiful. Not just beautiful,
charming, heartwarming.  Tiffany had a way about her that made everybody smile.”
He lifted both hands over his face.

“I’m sorry,” said Cindy.

Tad took his hands down and looked up at her, his
face wet with tears.  He was an odd mixture of strength and fragility, thought
Cindy.

“I feel like I’m dreaming,” he said, “and can’t
wake up.”

“You must have loved her very much,” said
Cindy.

Tad smiled at her oddly. “Yes, I did, so did
she. It took us time to realize it, but when we did, it was full steam ahead.”

“How long did it take?” asked Mattheus.

“In the beginning, I noticed her at parties. We
had a few words, here and there. She was the popular girl and I was more of a
loner. The party scene was never for me. Tiffany adored it.  She made me smile,
though. She always made me smile.” Tad stopped speaking and stared into the
distance.

Speaking about it made it real, and that was
hard for him, Cindy noticed.

“Then what happened?” Mattheus urged him on.

“We started to date about two years ago,” Tad
continued, “just a little. It was nice, but at first we decided to just stay
friends. Our interests were so different then. I knew the time wasn’t yet right.”

“What do you mean?” asked Cindy.

“Tiffany was a free spirit. She loved to bike,
dance, hike, do acrobatics. I like to read, paint, to collect things. I actually
have an amazing collection of antique clocks. When we first met, she wasn’t
ready yet and neither was I. It was too much to handle.”

“What made you decide to get together?” Cindy
asked interested.

“There was something between us that wouldn’t
go away,” said Tad. “I saw it in her eyes when she looked at me. Nobody ever
looked at me like that. And, she never, ever looked that way at anyone else. I
liked that.”

“How did she look at you?” asked Cindy.

“The way someone looks at you when they know
that the two of you are destined to be together, that nothing could ever tear
you apart.”

“You weren’t jealous when she was out at
parties, dating other guys?” asked Mattheus.

“No, I wasn’t,” said Tad. “I dated other people
too, quieter girls, calmer, who seemed more suitable for me. But actually, they
weren’t. And I was still away at college. I had to graduate first before I
could live near her. I knew she and I needed to see others before we could
commit. Our dates didn’t mean anything for either of us. We were just marking
time. And I never doubted for a second that after I graduated, we would be
together.”

“Sounds like you loved her for a long time,”
said Cindy.

“That’s putting it mildly,” said Tad, his eyes
suddenly tearing again. “The first thing I did after I graduated was to move up
close by. Then we really started dating. We’d waited so long, our feelings were
so strong by then, nothing was in the way.  It only took a few months before we
decided to get engaged.” Tad’s hands, clenched in fists, kept opening and
closing. “It was beautiful between us then, perfect. We couldn’t stand to be
apart for more than a few hours. I got a job on a newspaper right where she
lived. Things fell into place quickly.”

          Cindy remembered her days as a
reporter and smiled.

“You guys didn’t fight?” she had to go deeper. “Sounds
as if you were very different. Nothing in particular you wrangled about?”

Tad smiled oddly. “Sure we disagreed now and
then. She wanted me to come with her to her parties and I preferred being
alone, at times. I liked walking on rocky beaches, she liked hanging out with
friends. I loved books and classical music. She couldn’t get enough of jazz.
Stuff like that. But what did it matter? Something much deeper held us together.”

“Didn’t you fight about those things?” Cindy
had to pursue it, push him a little.

“We didn’t fight. We never fought. We disagreed,”
Tad’s voice grew slightly strident. “Tiffany had no problem telling me what she
wanted and how she felt about what was going on. I accepted it. I had to. I
knew how much she loved me,” Tad’s body started shaking, as his voice caught in
his throat.  “She was so thrilled we were getting married, said it was the
happiest time of her life. She was all I ever wanted, too!”

Tad began rubbing his hands up and down his
arms. Cindy could see how exhausting all of this had to be for him.

“How about your families?” asked Mattheus.

“Our families were happy about it. Especially
her father. He’s an amazing guy who’s surrounded by women in the family -
always wanted a son just like me.  And I always wanted a father just like him.”

“And your family?” asked Cindy.

“They loved Tiffany. Everyone did. I never
heard one person ever say a bad word about her. My father said he couldn’t
understand how someone like her would want someone like me.” Tad’s face grew
stony a moment.”

“He was kidding, of course,” said Mattheus.

“Of course,” said Tad.

“How about your mom?” asked Cindy.

“My mom loved Tiffany from the start. The two
of them were as tight as could be. My sister Cissy felt a little jealous. Before
Tiffany came into the family she was the only girl on the block. But Tiffany
won everyone’s heart, even Cissy’s.”

He stopped talking mid-sentence, and stared out
into space again, as if trying to digest what he was saying.

“Where are you parents now, Tad?” asked
Mattheus.

“They’re at their home Pebble Beach, a few
miles away. The police have interviewed them a few times. What can they say?
They’re horrified.”

“I can only imagine,” said Cindy.

“I’d like to meet them,” said Mattheus.

“There’s no reason for it,” said Tad. “There’s
nothing they can tell you. They don’t have the slightest idea what happened to
Tiffany. And it hurts them to go over this time and again.”

“We’ll have to speak to them anyway,” Mattheus
said softly.

“Where were you when it happened?” Cindy asked
quietly then.

“I already told everyone,” said Tad, growing
slightly edgy. “I was scuba diving at Jimmy Bolton’s place. He confirmed it. He
saw me there.”

“I just have to ask anyway. It’s routine.”

I don’t know how I’m going to live without her,”
Tad suddenly burst out. “You’ve got to find the killer, please. Please,” his
voice got wilder and strident.  “If only I hadn’t gone surfing that day, none
of this would have happened. If only I’d kept in touch with her every hour on
the phone. I’ve got to know why this happened, who would want to hurt me this
way.”

Mattheus got up and went over to him. “We’re
going to find him.”

“Promise me,” Tad started wailing.

Mattheus put his arms on his shoulders. “I
promise,” he said. “Can you help us? Do you have any ideas?”

“I think about it all day myself,” Tad spoke
quickly. “Rori always had a bunch of wild friends I didn’t like. They scared
me, were the kind of people I stayed away from.”

“Why?” Cindy asked alarmed.

“Not my type - all they care about is drinking
and drugging, looking for the next high.”

Cindy hadn’t gotten that sense about Rori.

“They don’t have a brain in their head either,”
Tad went on bitterly. “Naturally, Tiffany was friends with some of them too –
until she and I got closer. Little by little I was getting her to give them up.
It wasn’t easy.”

“You’ve have to give us their names,” said
Mattheus.

“They’re all over the boat,” Tad waved his hand
in the yacht’s direction, suddenly disdainful. People like that are all over
the island, all over the country, too. I can’t point to one specifically. How
do I know? Maybe one of them got angry about Tiffany’s happiness? Maybe Rori knows
something I don’t about her rotten, spoiled friends.”

“You don’t get along with Rori? Cindy asked,
taken aback.

“We get along,” Tad was having a hard time
talking, “As much as possible… after all, I was taking her twin sister away.  She
had to feel something about that.”

“Were they close?” asked Cindy.

“Much too close,” said Tad.

Cindy was jarred. Rori’s mother had just said that
she and Tiffany weren’t close enough. Then Cindy remembered the Senator’s
warning her not to believe the mother. Cindy wanted to talk to Rori directly
and find out more for herself.