Death by Obsession (13 page)

Once Cindy and Mattheus left the Cove the first step
on their agenda was go to the courthouse to meet the police and share findings
with them.  Mattheus had already made an appointment and they were due in less
than an hour.

After returning straight to their hotel room, showering
and changing quickly, they headed over to the Palais de Justice, the courthouse
in St. Martin. The office of the police they were to talk with was based in the
back of the grand building.

As soon as Cindy and Mattheus entered the courthouse,
two officers, waiting for them, greeted them as soon as they walked in.

“We hear great things about you guys,” the shorter
one said. “I’m Ned and my partner, here, is Phil. We’re both good friends of
Rodney.”

Mattheus smiled and extended his hand. Ned took it
and Phil smiled.

“Come
with us this way,” Ned went on, leading them down the wide corridor to their
office.

The corridor was filled with people walking back and
forth in and out of various doorways.  It was a busy, thriving scene, more
official than Cindy would have expected for the island.

“Rodney can’t say enough about you,” Phil commented
as they approached their office.

“Thanks,” said Mattheus whole heartedly. “He’s a
great guy.”

Phil opened the door and they all walked in to a
long, narrow room. Filing cabinets lined the walls and a rectangular wooden
table stood in the center. Stacks of papers were neatly piled on the table as a
hanging fan whirred overhead, making a long, low, humming sound.

“Nice place,” Mattheus took it in approvingly,
smiling at Ned.

For a moment Cindy felt as if she’d landed in a local
boy’s club and was left out.  “I’m Cindy Blaine,” she broke the ice,
introducing herself.

“So sorry,” said Mattheus, “of course. This is my
wonderful partner, Cindy.”
Ned and Phil both smiled. “Your reputation precedes you Cindy,” said Ned. “We’re
thrilled to have you on board. Let’s sit down and get to work.”

They all sat around the table as Ned started rifling
through the papers. “Very bad situation,” he continued, looking up at Mattheus,
“not the kind of case anyone expected. I’m sure you realize that the groom’s
company is huge – involved with large sectors of the island’s economy. Anyone
could have something against them and took this chance for sweet revenge. You never
know who.”

Cindy was surprised by the comment. Why was Ned
starting so far afield, wondering about Lynch’s company? Usually family members
and friends were focused on first.

Mattheus seemed to get the drift of what Ned was
saying right away, though.  “Lousy situation,” he agreed, immediately aligning
with him. “I can see how it could make incredible waves and affect all kinds of
people here.”

“You got it,” said Ned, seemingly relieved.

What did Mattheus get, Cindy wondered?  Was there an
implicit desire to cover things up? Was Ned warning them not to probe too
deeply, or there could be rough consequences?  Of course there was no way Cindy
would ever go along with that. If there was anything Cindy hated, it was cover
ups. One of the first things she learned as a detective was that consequences
weren’t under your control. You did your job to the best of your ability and
the pieces landed where they did. If you started worrying about consequences,
you got derailed easily, unable to see what was in front of your face. In fact,
it was Mattheus who had taught that to her. Respect the truth, let it guide
you, he’d said again and again. That’s what drew Cindy to him in the beginning.
Lean on the truth, Cindy, Mattheus used to say. You’ll never go wrong if you
do.

Cindy felt a sharp need to lean on the truth right
now and get back on course. “Are you saying that you don’t want to involve
Lynch and his family too deeply in the investigation?” she asked bluntly.

Ned seemed shaken by her direct thrust. “What are you
implying?” he responded harshly, turning the question back on her. “The police
are spread out everywhere, covering every possible venue. In fact, at this
moment, Lynch is our main a person of interest.” Ned tapped his foot on the floor
and looked at Cindy out of the corner of his eyes.  “After all, Lynch was the
last one to see her alive.”

“You’re sure of that?” asked Cindy, as Mattheus
reached over and put his hand on her arm.

“Let’s give them a chance to talk first,” Mattheus
said, with a smile.

“Women, women,” Ned cocked his head to the side and
smiled at Mattheus, conspiratorially. “Not to worry, my dear Cindy,” he went on,
trying a new tactic, speaking to her as though she were a child. “We’re on top
of everything, family and guests are being interviewed today. The latest
information we have is that Tara and Lynch went swimming together in the Cove that
afternoon. Her maid of honor Lea told us.”

It was old information. Cindy wasn’t impressed. “And
did Lea see Tara after that?” she asked.

“The maid of honor and bride are usually inseparable
before the wedding.”

“Good point,” Phil joined in then. “We’ll have to
check and see.”

“Where was Lynch just before Tara disappeared?” Cindy
continued firmly. She had no intention of being mollycoddled or letting anyone
off the hook.

“That’s just the problem,” Ned scraped his chair
back, and addressed his words right to Mattheus, easing Cindy into the
background.  “We asked Lynch where he was after he and Tara went swimming? What
did he do? Who saw him? He said he hung out in his room, and then took a short
walk, before dressing for the rehearsal dinner. Problem is, no one saw him, at
all. No alibi.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Mattheus quickly
commented. “The groomsmen are all over the place. How could no one see him? Why
would he stay by himself for so long?”

“Exactly,” Ned let out a long, rough breath.

Mattheus shook his head slowly, “No alibi, that’s not
good.”

 “Yeah, but you can also look at it this way,” Ned
replied, “if Lynch had actually done something, wouldn’t he at least try to
hide it, give us some kind of story? It would have been easy enough for him to
drop into a bar or restaurant at the hotel and have someone spot him there.”

“Not if something happened between them at the Cove
and her death was an accident,” said Cindy. “Then he would be shaken to the
core, wouldn’t even think about an alibi.”

“True,” said Phil. He seemed to respect Cindy, and
looked at her appreciatively.

“Also,” Cindy continued, “did you know that Lynch’s
mother threatened to disinherit him if Tara didn’t go through with the wedding?”
This was no time for treading lightly around at the edges. She wanted all the
facts and possibilities out in clear light.

“Why the hell would Raina do that?” said Ned, looking
startled.

“You know Raina well? “asked Cindy, noting that he
called her by her first name.

“For years,” said Ned, shaken.

“Well, then you know that the wedding was a big deal,”
said Cindy. “It was in all the papers, all her friends and business associates
came down for it. How would it make her and the company look if it was called
off at the last minute?  Think about it a minute,” said Cindy.

Ned had no intention of thinking about it, though. “You
know something we don’t?” he confronted Cindy directly. “Trouble in paradise?  Were
the kids thinking of breaking it off?”

Mattheus stepped in calmly. “Tara’s father Aldon
hired us to come down here a few days ago and find out whatever we could about Lynch,”
he reported.

“Lynch is a great guy, there’s nothing to find out,”
Ned interrupted, outraged.

“I’m not disputing that,” Mattheus was clearly on Ned’s
team. “But we dug up dirt on Lynch that wasn’t so pretty.”

“Jesus Christ,” Ned stamped his foot on the ground. “We
can dig up crap on anyone, can’t we? What a lousy thing for the father to do. From
what I hear Aldon’s some kind of paranoid, anyway.  Right now he’s foaming at
the mouth, convinced that Lynch killed his daughter. He keeps saying he warned
everyone about it.”

“He did,” said Cindy somberly, “he was nervous about
the marriage going forward, felt something was off.”

“The guy obviously had an obsession,” Ned countered, “we
see nuts like that all the time.”

“Obsession or not, he was right,” said Cindy.

They all became silent then.

“So what exactly did you dig up?” Ned finally asked,
though it seemed as if he didn’t really want to know.

“Lynch has a kid with a woman here on the island that
no one knew about,” Mattheus reported. “The boy’s about four years old.”

“Holy Christ,” Ned’s face puckered as if he’d bitten
into a rotten fruit.  “That’s it?” he asked, sickened.

“That’s it,” Mattheus responded.

“People are getting beaten, raped and killed every day,
and that’s what you dug up on him?” Ned kept shaking his head, unable to
believe it. “Big deal! Big deal!”

“It was a big deal to Tara,” Cindy stepped in
definitively. “She was about to marry a man who had a child that she knew
nothing about.”

Ned turned on his heel and stared at Cindy. “Some
people get off on ruining the happiness of others,” he practically spit out.   “From
what we knew the two of them were in love. I bet you told her that this kid was
a big, lousy, deal.”

“I didn’t have to tell her anything,” Cindy responded
acidly. “She could see it for herself, unlike some other people.”

“Hold on,” said Phil, trying to calm the waters. “There’s
no point in blaming Cindy for this. I could see how women would get shaky when
they hear that kind of news.”

“Not only women,” said Cindy. “Tara’s father, Aldon,
was horrified.”

“Sure, why not? He was paranoid, wasn’t he?” Ned
couldn’t take any of this, the more he heard the more disgusted he became.

“So, when Tara found out about the child, Lynch and
his mother were there,” Mattheus filled in the details. “Tara said she wasn’t
going through with the wedding and Raina wasn’t about to be publicly

humiliated. She told Lynch to handle Tara, make sure
the wedding took place.”

“Raina probably told him privately he could get
divorced afterwards,” mused Nick. “She gave him good advice.”

“Good or bad is not the issue,” said Mattheus. “Lynch
obviously tried to keep it together, work things out with Tara. And Tara was
also trying to fix it, from what I hear. She developed a weird obsession
though, with Lynch’s kid.”

“Like father, like daughter,” Ned growled.

“What kind of obsession did she develop?” Phil was
curious.

“Tara wanted the boy to become part of their family.
She wanted Lynch to be a father to him,” Cindy declared.

“Jesus Christ,” said Ned. “Now you’re telling me she
was some kind of nut?”

Cindy was filled with horror by Ned’s response, but
did her best to stay calm and quiet. He obviously knew the family and the
company and was truly rankled by the news.

“Tara and I went to visit both the child’s mother
Bala and the child before the rehearsal dinner,” Cindy interjected.

That seemed to shock both Ned and Phil even more. “Who’s
this Bala? Where does she live? Here on the island?”

“Yeah,” said Mattheus. “Apparently Lynch sends money
regularly to help with the kid. She’s a good woman, raising the kid with her
brother Dawl.”

Both cops mouths fell open at the same moment. “Dawl
Lemmings?”

“You know the guy?” asked Mattheus, surprised.

“Dawl Lemmings is an ex con, well known on the
island.  He’s been involved in all kinds of robbery and in jail for assault
with a deadly weapon.”

“Whew,” Mattheus took a deep breath.

“He’s trouble any way you look at it,” Ned exclaimed.
“Jesus Christ, Dawl Lemmings, it’s been awhile since his name has come to my
attention.”

“Dawl’s calmed down. He’s been out of the picture for
a few years,” Phil commented to Ned. “There was a recent case where we thought
he was implicated and he wasn’t. Remember, he was at home taking care of some
kid. People saw him and the kid together. Could be it was Lynch’s kid!  My God,
Lynch’s kid is Dawl Lemming’s nephew! Now, that’s news.”

“Raina asked that this information stay absolutely
confidential,” Cindy suddenly chimed in. That’s critical to her.”

“Tell me about it,” Ned snarled. “Of course it’s critical.
Once this stuff gets out, it’s the pits.”

“Could Lynch have killed Tara to keep this all
hidden?” Cindy asked brazenly.

“That’s a big leap to make, honey,” Phil jumped in.

“Tara told me she wouldn’t marry Lynch unless he
accepted the child into their lives,” Cindy emphasized. “But when Tara and I went
to visit Bala and the child, Dawl was there, and wouldn’t even let Tara see him.
He said the boy was his, he’d raised him like a father and no one was taking
him away. Not over his dead body.”

Everyone drew in a stiff breath together, as a sense
of darkness filled the room.

“Looks like we got our man,” Nick grumbled hoarsely under
his breath.  “Dawl was scared to death of losing the boy and killed Tara before
it could happen.”

Cindy and Mattheus stared at each other alarmed. It
could certainly look that way and the case could be closed before it was ever
opened.

“We’re on the way to visit Bala and Dawl, to check
out further,” Mattheus announced then plainly.

“They’re expecting you?” Ned shot back.

“Not yet,” said Mattheus, “but I’ll call first.”

“It’s a good idea,” Phil spoke up. “You guys go see
them first before we do. It’ll take them off guard, because you don’t look like
cops.” Then he turned to Cindy and Mattheus.  “Why not just tell them you’re
part of the family?” he suggested.

“That’ll make them feel more scared,” Mattheus said, “they
think the family wants their child.

“They’ll remember me,” Cindy chimed in. “Tara
introduced me as her friend. It will make sense that I go back to visit them
again.”