Death by Obsession (4 page)

Cindy was a bit in shock herself. “Let’s go somewhere
for dinner and talk this over,” she said.

The two of them walked down the block silently
looking for a place to eat. The streets were growing more crowded with tourists
and party goers filling up every inch. Cindy and Mattheus stopped at a small,
lovely restaurant on the corner that seemed fairly quiet for now.

They went in and were shown to a table in the back
garden. Cindy sighed a breath of relief. It was good to be out of the throbbing
energy and have time to talk and think. Mattheus ordered a light dinner as
Cindy tossed the news about in her mind.

“Well, for starters Aldon isn’t some kind of paranoid
psycho,” Cindy said, as Mattheus poured her a glass of ice water that was on
the table.

“No, he isn’t,” Mattheus agreed, “he’s a nervous
father.”

“He’s got a solid radar,” Cindy went on, “he realized
that something was amiss.”

Mattheus raised his eyebrows skeptically. “I don’t
know if it’s a solid radar, or just a lonely father looking for a reason to stop
his daughter’s wedding.”

Cindy was genuinely surprised by Mattheus’s reaction.
“What are you talking about?” she said. “This isn’t just some reason.”

“Sure it is,” said Mattheus.

“What are you saying, Mattheus?” Cindy was aghast.

 “Look,” Mattheus answered, “if you dig hard enough
you can always find something about everybody. Who doesn’t have a wrinkle in
their past?”

“This is more than a wrinkle,” Cindy exclaimed. “Lynch
has a secret life.”

“I wouldn’t put it that way,” Mattheus objected. “The
guy had a girlfriend and they slipped up, they had a child. This isn’t the
first time it’s happened and it won’t be the last. It’s not exactly a tragedy,
is it? After all, the guy’s stepping up, taking care of both of them.”

Cindy felt her jaw drop in amazement. Why was
Mattheus making light of it?  Cindy had no idea.

“Lynch has a child that he’s keeping a secret from
everyone,” Cindy said emphatically.

“We don’t know that for sure,” said Mattheus. “And
even if he has, so what?”

“So what?” Cindy echoed. “Are you nuts?”

Mattheus laughed. “I don’t get why you’re so heated
about this,” he said. “It’s not like the guy’s a killer, with a slew of bodies
left behind.”

“Lynch is getting married in a couple of days, and
his bride doesn’t know that he has a child,” Cindy exclaimed.

“So what?” Mattheus looked at Cindy, slightly
bewildered.

“So what?” Cindy echoed again. “So, if he can keep a
secret like this, who knows what else he’s hiding. The guy can’t be trusted.”

“That’s going too far,” Mattheus eyes narrowed.  “Look,
he has a kid that his family would obviously frown upon. He’s ashamed of it.”

“That’s not a reason to lie and hide him,” Cindy
said.

“It’s human,” said Mattheus, “it’s not a crime. There’s
no reason to string him up for it and ruin the rest of his life.”

Cindy felt confused. Was Mattheus implying that the
truth about his past would ruin Lynch’s life?  Mattheus wasn’t being clear
about this, or even rational. Was he saying that it was okay to keep his child
secret, not include him in his life? That would be abandonment.

“And what about Tara?” Cindy went on. “What will
happen when she finds out down the road that her husband has a secret child?”

“Why does she have to find out?” Mattheus asked gruffly.

Cindy felt amazed. “A secret like this between a
husband and wife is okay?”

Mattheus’s face flushed as he grew irritated. “Of
course it’s okay. It’s natural. Who does it hurt? Does a guy have to divulge
every last thing he’s ever done to the woman he marries?”

Cindy couldn’t even grasp the question. “Of course he
does,” said Cindy. “There’s no room for hiding and lies in a marriage.”

“We’re obviously not on the same page about this,”
Mattheus grumbled.

“That’s putting it mildly,” said Cindy as the warmth
of the day disappeared in an instant, and she

felt a cold chill go up her arms and neck. Where could they go from
here? If Mattheus felt it was okay for Lynch to behave this way, who knew what
he also felt was fine for himself?  “I, for one, would never marry or trust a
man who felt this way,” Cindy continued. “If I found out later on, during my
marriage about a secret child, it would have a terrible effect.”

“Would you leave?” asked Mattheus gruffly.

“Of course I would,” said Cindy, “in a flash.”

“Then how could you be trusted?” Mattheus countered.

“How could I be trusted?” asked Cindy. “You’re
turning this completely around.

Mattheus took a deep breath and sighed loudly. “Men
and women,” he muttered, “two different species.”

Was Mattheus back to that now? Seeing women as
impossible creatures he could never understand, or trust. Cindy felt her body
tighten into a knot.

“I thought we’d come far from that point, Mattheus,” said
Cindy quietly, looking directly into his eyes.

“Listen,” Mattheus tried to regroup. “I’m just saying
let’s give this guy a chance to have a life and go forward. There’s no reason
to ruin his marriage over this.”

“We’ve been hired to see if there was something about
Lynch that Aldon didn’t know. We took the assignment. We have to tell him,”
Cindy was emphatic. “Otherwise, we’re complicit in the lie.”

“We’re not complicit in anything,” Mattheus grew more
heated.

“We have information that you want to hide?” Cindy
was open mouthed.

“We have information that doesn’t amount to anything,”
Mattheus stood his ground firmly.

“That’s up to Aldon to decide,” said Cindy.

“For all we know Aldon knows about the kid already
anyway,” Mattheus jumped over it.

“We’ll tell him and see if he does,” Cindy insisted.

“No, we won’t,” Mattheus half stood up. Then he sat
down again, growing more agitated.

 “What do you mean we won’t?” Cindy couldn’t believe
what she was hearing. She had no idea why Mattheus was so disturbed about this
and so protective of Lynch?

“Listen, Cindy,” Mattheus said suddenly, “how would
you feel if you found out that I had a kid from an old girlfriend who I didn’t
care a thing about at this time?”

“Didn’t care about who, the girlfriend or child?”
asked Cindy appalled.

“The girlfriend, obviously,” Mattheus answered.

Cindy flushed, unable to make sense of the question. “How
would I feel now, or how would I feel if we were about to get married?” she
asked. Then she stopped a moment and realized that she and Mattheus were on the
verge of committing to each other right now. They’d been speaking about
marriage day after day.

“How would you feel?” Mattheus repeated.

“If you hadn’t told me in the beginning that you had
a child?” Cindy asked.

“Yeah,” Mattheus answered. “If I felt I needed some
privacy and secret spaces in my life.”

“Everyone needs privacy and secret spaces in their
life, Mattheus,” Cindy said. “But this is more than a secret space. This is a
child you would have a responsibility to as long as you live. He’s someone you
would need to see, care for and love. That’s not just a secret space in your
life.”

Mattheus sighed deeply and dug into the lunch that
had just been brought to their table. Cindy watched him eat and couldn’t take a
bite. Was there something like this in his life that he wasn’t telling her
about?

When Mattheus came up for air he turned to Cindy
point blank. “I don’t want to tell Aldon about this,” he said definitively.

“We have to, Mattheus,” Cindy replied. “There’s no
two ways about it.”

“Let’s sleep on it then,” Mattheus relented. “If you
still feel so strongly about it, we can tell him in the morning.”

After a semi sleepless night, the first thing the
next morning, Cindy called Aldon and told him she had news and wanted to see
him.  At first Mattheus refused to go along, but Cindy was adamant that he had
to come.

“Aldon hired both of us,” she said. “It will look unprofessional
if we don’t go together. It may even look as if we are divided about it.”

“We are,” Mattheus said flatly.

“Divided or not, there’s a job to do,” Cindy reminded
him. “You don’t get to do the job only when things go your way.”

“I’ll think about it,” said Mattheus, opening his
computer and scrolling around as Cindy went into the bathroom to dress.

Mattheus didn’t agree to go until the very last
minute, when Cindy, dressed in a lovely azure linen pants suit, was practically
out of the door.  “Okay, I’m coming,” he said and shuffled over to join her.

Cindy was relieved he was coming but also annoyed. As
they rode up in the elevator to Aldon’s suite, they barely glanced at each
other.

“I’ll do all the talking if you like,” Cindy said, as
the elevator door opened and they walked down the hallway to Aldon’s room.

They’d barely knocked on the door when Aldon appeared
and flung it open. It was as if he’d been waiting right there for them. “Come
right in,” he said overly eager.

Cindy and Mattheus entered hurriedly.

“Your timing is perfect,” Aldon looked pressured. “Guests
are arriving on the island by droves. And there’s more where these came from.
The entire wedding party’s here. Tara’s been frantically texting, asking when I’m
coming.”

“She doesn’t know you’re here?” Cindy was surprised.

“I told her that I’m arriving today,” Aldon said begrudgingly.
“There’s a suite waiting for me at the Aupres Hotel. But I wanted to meet with
the two of you first in private.”

The three of them walked into the main room as Aldon
motioned to the sofas and they sat down. “Okay, shoot,” he said right away then,
chomping at the bit and looking eagerly at Mattheus.

Mattheus just looked away though, and Cindy had to
step in briskly. She knew she had to get right to the point. There was time for
hedging around corners.

“We’ve heard that Lynch has a son with a former
girlfriend,” Cindy said.

Aldon’s face went completely blank. “What?”

“The son lives here on the island with his mother,
who is Caribbean,” Cindy continued matter of factly. “Had you heard about this?”

Aldon stood quickly and then practically fell back down
once again, as if the wind had been knocked out of him. “Had I heard?” he asked
in a shrill tone. “Never! Not a word.”

“I didn’t think so,” said Cindy. “Our informant said
no one knew.”

“Who is this informant?” Aldon demanded.

“That’s irrelevant,” Mattheus chimed in. “Our sources
are private.”

“Not to me,” shouted Aldon. “How can I trust him? How
can I know this is the truth?”

Mattheus just nodded briskly. “I found the informant
through an infallible police source. He wouldn’t dare play games with me.”

“My God, my God,” Aldon could barely breathe.

“It’s possible your daughter knows about this, and
hasn’t wanted to share the information with you,” Cindy chimed in, trying to
calm him.

“Impossible,” Aldon insisted. “She has no idea, none
at all. Tara has always been naïve and innocent. She was overly protected, an
only child. She never had a care in the world until her mother died. When would
she ever have had the chance to run into conniving and lies like this?”

“I wouldn’t put it that way,” said Mattheus. “There’s
no evidence that Lynch is conniving. He’s taking good care of his son.”

 “Taking good care of his son? And no one knows about
it?” Aldon couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You don’t call that conniving
and lies?”

“I call it a guy who made a mistake and is making
good on it,” Mattheus insisted.

Aldon threw a troubled glance at Cindy. “And what do
you think?” he exclaimed.

“I think you should ask your daughter about it
directly,” Cindy replied.

“For the record, I disagree,” said Mattheus. “Lynch doesn’t
deserve to have his life ruined over something like this. And neither does your
daughter.”

“Have
his
life ruined? Who are you working
for?” Aldon was aghast. “What about my daughter? She practically has a stepson
she knows nothing about!  And if Lynch could lie about this, who knows what
else he’s hiding? Who knows what other love children he’d have in the future, with
other women, over the years?”

Cindy took a step closer to Aldon who was trembling
as he spoke. “Let’s not make this any worse than it is,” she said softly. “Call
Tara right away and let her decide.”

*

Aldon flew to the phone, called Tara, told her where
he was and demanded that she come to the suite immediately.

“That’s a man of action, if nothing else,” Mattheus
murmured as Aldon spoke on the phone.

“She’s on her way here as we speak,” Aldon announced
proudly, after he hung up. “I suppose the tone in my voice warned her that
something was terribly wrong.”

“She’s quite an obedient daughter,” Cindy remarked.

That quieted Aldon somewhat. “Yes, Tara always was
not only obedient, but good natured,” he remembered. “She was well meaning,
kind. It wasn’t until her mother died that she became distant towards me.
Almost as if she blamed me for her mother’s passing.”

 “Could have been her way of grieving,” said Cindy. “It’s
not so unusual, people often blame the one’s they are close to when someone
they love dies.”

“I heard that from others,” Aldon noted, “But it was
terribly hard for me, losing both my wife and daughter at the same time.”

“I am sure it was,” Cindy sympathized, thinking of
Clint suddenly. “Loss is never easy.”

“You didn’t lose your daughter,” Mattheus
interrupted, “she was just taking some space, building a new relationship with
her young man.  Look how she cares for you now, how she’s coming running.”

“You could put it that way,” Aldon relented a moment.

“But stop and think a second,” Mattheus’s voice got
louder, “if you jump in now and destroy her marriage, you could really lose her
forever then.”

Aldon didn’t like that. “Firstly, I am not destroying
her marriage,” he objected. “Lynch may have done that all by himself. I am not
the one with a child hidden somewhere. And secondly, when Tara sees I care
enough to find out the truth, she will only come closer. It’s inevitable.”

“Nothing is inevitable,” Mattheus mumbled in a hushed
tone.

Aldon looked strangely at Cindy again then. “Your
partner has odd views,” he declared.

“We need to see all sides of a puzzle,” Cindy
replied, “I see it one way and Mattheus sees it another. That way nothing gets
overlooked.”

Mattheus appreciated Cindy’s comment, got up then and
came over. “Okay,” he said softly to her, “now it’s time for us to leave.”

“Would you like us to leave, so you can be alone with
your daughter?” Cindy asked Aldon then.

“Absolutely not,” Aldon instantly blocked it. “I need
both of you here when Tara arrives. I want you to report the news to her.”

Mattheus backed off.  “Sorry, but this is between the
two of you,” he said.

“I demand it,” Aldon replied.

“We can stay while you talk to her,” Cindy offered,
if that would give you a sense of support.

“It definitely would,” Aldon turned to her briskly. “Otherwise
it might look like I’m making up stories in my head.”

“Of course, we’ll stay,” said Cindy.

“Thank you,” said Aldon, as Mattheus turned glumly
towards the patio, with his back towards both of them.

*

In a few moments there was a soft knock on the door
and Aldon flew over and opened it up. Tara, stunningly beautiful, with long
blonde hair, suntanned, and dressed in a white summer, sun dress with hand
embroidered flowers, came in and embraced her father warmly.

“What in the world are you doing here?” she asked,
incredulous, looking around. “We’re all waiting for you over at the Aupres
Hotel.”

“I know, I know,” Aldon said softly, betraying his
nervousness as he shuffled back and forth.

Tara’s eyes glanced again over the room and suddenly,
startled, fell upon Cindy and Mattheus who stood a few feet away.

 “Who are they?” Tara asked, her silky brow
furrowing. “What in the world are they doing here in your room?”

Cindy stepped a few feet towards Tara and extended
her hand.

“I’m Cindy Blaine,” she introduced herself, “and the
man over there is my partner, Mattheus.”

Tara took Cindy’s hand politely, confused. “I’m
sorry, do I know you?” she asked.

“Sit down, Tara,” her father demanded.

Frightened by the tone of his voice Tara looked at
Cindy beseechingly. Cindy smiled gently in return.

“Sit down,” Aldon repeated emphatically as Tara then took
a seat on the sofa.

“Who are they? Why are they here?” Tara asked her
father quickly. Her lower lip trembled slightly. “Everyone’s been asking where
you were? What are you doing at a different hotel?” As she spoke she grew more
nervous.

“Tara, I have something to tell you,” Aldon gathered
himself together.

“What? Tell me,” Tara was growing more restless and
ill at ease. “Why couldn’t you tell me what you have to over the phone? I had
no idea what to tell Lynch or his mother when you called. I just said my father
needs to talk to me instantly. Both of them were upset by this.”

“You and Lynch were with Raina when I called?” Aldon obviously
didn’t like it.

“Everyone is spending time together,” Tara answered
quickly. “There’s a million things to take care of.”

“And I suppose Raina’s in the middle of it all?” Aldon’s
lower eyelid trembled.

“Raina’s helping out, of course. Dad, what is wrong
with you? We want you with us to help out as well. We’ve asked you.”

“You know how I feel about Raina,” Aldon bristled,
despite himself.

Tara flushed with annoyance. “Is this what you’ve
called me over about? Your feelings about Raina again?”

“No, not at all,” Aldon collected himself
immediately. “I have accepted Raina, though she makes a display of herself in
the papers. I have accepted that Lynch’s mother will play a prominent role in
your life. Remember though, she is totally different from your own mother and
from the woman we raised you to be.”

“Dad, Tara’s voice grew more brittle, “you don’t have
to like Lynch’s mother, ever. The two of you are not getting married.”

“Thank heavens,” Aldon murmured.

“Lynch and I are the ones getting married,” Tara went
on.

At that Aldon bristled clearly. “Tara, listen quietly
before you say anything. There is something I have to tell you.”

“Tell me already,”Tara flushed with irritation.

“You know all along I have not felt comfortable with
Lynch,” Aldon spoke softly.

“Oh God, are we starting with that again now?” Tara’s
voice grew louder.

“No, we’re not. I’m not going over old territory.
There’s something else I have to tell you.”

Tara seemed to want to get up off the sofa and fly
out of there. “What? Tell me immediately.”

“Lynch has a child with another woman,” Aldon
announced.

At first his words did not register. Tara closed her
eyes and brushed her hand over her forehead.

“Did you hear what I said?” Aldon repeated.

“Not really,” Tara remarked. “I must be imagining
things.”

“Tara, pay attention!” Aldon demanded.

Tara’s eyelids fluttered open and close. “I am paying
attention,” she said in a suddenly small voice, as though she were having
difficulty taking his words in.

“Your husband to be is the father of a child with
another woman,” Aldon repeated more firmly.

Suddenly Tara’s eyes opened wide and she exploded. “What
in hell are you telling me now? Another one of your crazy stories?”

“Has Lynch told you about his son?” Aldon demanded,
unaffected by his daughter’s outburst.

“Has Lynch told me about what?” Tara was trying to
grasp it.

“About his young son with the Caribbean mother, who
live down here on St. Martin and who he supports?” Aldon spoke emphatically,
hammering each word in.

Finally, the words took hold. Tara visibly reeled and
sunk back into the sofa. “This can’t be true,” she said in a wobbly tone.

“But it is true,” Aldon continued. “Ask these two
detectives if you don’t believe me,” and he motioned to Cindy and Mattheus who
stood silently, looking on.

Tara looked up at Cindy with two huge, sorrowful eyes
that looked stung, like a deer pierced by an arrow in the night. “What is my
father talking about?” she asked finally.

“Your father called us down here to investigate your
fiancée,” Cindy started in a soft tone. “Your father was worried about you,
felt something was wrong.”

“Whatever I do, he feels that I’m in danger, that
something is wrong,” Tara moaned. “How can I convince him that I’m fine, all is
well?”

“All is not well,” Cindy continued. “We found that
Lynch is the father of a four year old son.”

“But I don’t believe you,” Tara wrung her hands
together, hopelessly. “Someone is trying to hurt us, to ruin our love, destroy
our marriage.”

Mattheus took a step closer then. “Who would do that,
Tara?” he asked in a comforting tone.

“I have no idea,” said Tara, her eyes tearing. “I
thought everybody was happy for us.”

“They are,” Aldon insisted. “Everybody wants
happiness for you. Especially me.”

“This is your father’s way of caring for you,” Cindy
chimed in. “He wants everything to be right.”

“Everything was right,” said Tara, “everything was
wonderful. Lynch and I are deeply in love.”

“But you didn’t know about his child, did you?” Aldon
got between Tara and Cindy. “Everything was only wonderful in your imagination.
What would you have done if you’d found out about this later on?”