Death by Proposal (16 page)

Carl
threw Cindy a painful glance, shaking his head, as if to say, look at him. This
is the guy you’ve chosen?

Cindy
decided not to get involved with the undercurrents, not any of them.

“I
think it’s a good idea for Carl to have a chance to look over his niece’s
correspondence. It’s only fair,” Cindy stated firmly.

“What’s
fair about it?” Mattheus flung out. “It was Kate’s correspondence, it was
personal.”

“Nothing
Kate did was hidden from me,” Carl declared. “If she wrote something to Clay, I
need to see it.”

“That’s
nuts,” said Mattheus, “Kate’s correspondence was her own. If she wanted you to
see it, she would have shown it to you.”

The
rains fell harder and the sky darkened.

“Café
being closed in five minutes,” the Maître D announced. “We’re boarding it up
for the storm.”

“Okay,”
said Cindy, “while the café is being boarded up, I’m going upstairs with Carl
to Clay’s room and see if he’ll let us see the correspondence again. No harm in
that, is there?”

Mattheus
glared both at her and Carl then. “No, of course,” he said between gritted
teeth, “have a lovely afternoon.”

Cindy
called from the front desk to tell Clay they were coming up for a visit, but no
one answered the phone.

“I
know he’s there,” Carl said, growing more anxious by the second as the phone
kept ringing. “Let’s go up go up anyway and knock on the door,” he said.

“He
may be with his parents,” said Cindy.

“Let’s
go up and see for ourselves,” Carl insisted.

The
two of them took the elevator and in a few minutes stood outside Clay’s hotel
room, and knocked on the door. They waited and waited, no one answered.

“I
know you’re in there, Clay,” Carl spoke loudly, pressing closer to the door.

No
answer.

Cindy
flashed for a moment on the night of Kate’s death. Did the same thing happen?
Was Sean left out there, knocking and knocking?

Carl
knocked even harder. “We’ve got to see you. It’s important, Clay,” he called.

Suddenly
Clay yanked the door open and Carl almost fell inside.

“Thanks
for letting us in,” said Cindy calmly, walking in beside Carl.

“Who
said I let you in?” Clay seemed dazed and angry. “I didn’t. I just opened the
door.”

Was
Clay unaware that he’d let someone in the night Kate died, Cindy wondered.

“What
do you want?” Clay looked taller than before, and more sullen. He stood in
front of them, partially blocking their way.

“We
just wanted a few moments with you, Clay,” Cindy began softly, in a conciliatory
tone.

“A
few moments turns into an afternoon, then a day, then a year,” Clay mumbled. “No
one understands or respects time.”

Carl
looked perplexed.

Cindy
jumped on it. “I remember you told me that the moment you met Kate, time meant
nothing. You felt like you knew her your whole life long,” Cindy said.

Clay
looked at her acidly. “You remember that? An odd tidbit.”

“Not
odd,” said Cindy, “another insight into time.” She wanted more from Clay and
had to get it out of him quickly.

Clay
liked Cindy’s comment and seemed more hospitable. He stepped back a moment and
looked at Cindy, but then also at Carl. His eyes kept going back and forth
between them.

“Here
with another guy today?” Clay suddenly smiled, showing a perfect row of very
white teeth. “You sure get around.”

Despite
herself, Cindy flushed. “This is Kate’s Uncle Carl,” she responded.

“What
happened to the stud you had with you before, Mattheus?” Clay seemed
fascinated.

Cindy
felt as though Clay had poured a pail of mud over her.

Carl
was also offended. “Cindy and I have come to see you because I very much want
to see your email correspondence with Kate,” he said.

Clay
backed away and stared at him. “You think I’m that stupid?” he said.

“What
are you talking about?” Carl became antsy.

“My
correspondence with Kate is sacred. It was between her and me and no one else.
I made the mistake once of showing some of it to Cindy, but then I realized she
couldn’t understand a word of it. She knew nothing about love.”

Carl
seemed staggered. “I’m not following you.”

“Too
bad,” said Clay, as the winds blew harder against the hotel. “Get out of here
now, I’m busy packing. We’re flying out tomorrow.”

Carl
turned to Cindy. “What does he mean you couldn’t understand a word of the
correspondence? That you know nothing about love?”

“Obviously,
Clay has no faith in women at all,” Cindy said slowly, trying to egg Clay on. “He
doesn’t believe any of us can understand what he was feeling. Maybe not even
Kate?”

“Oh
Kate understood me alright,” Clay turned towards them both vehemently. “Kate
understood everything about me, and she loved me for who I was. She said it
over and over. And I understood her, too. Much better than her uncle Carl here.”

Carl
got jittery. “I beg your pardon?” he said.

Clay
seemed to enjoy Carl’s sudden anxiety. “There’s lots of things she told me
about you and how you treated her,” Clay insinuated. “It wasn’t all good.”

“I
always treated her like a princess,” Carl was horrified. “I loved Kate from the
day she was born.”

“But
not like I loved her,” Clay’s eyes were gleaming.

“I’m
telling you I loved her!” Carl cried.

“But
Kate loved me more,” said Clay, peering at him.

 “I
demand that you show me those emails,” Carl exploded. For a second Cindy felt
that he was about to lunge at Clay.  “I need to see what my niece said about
me.”

Clay
ran his hand across his chin, as if considering it. Finally, he shook his head,
“I don’t think Kate would have liked it,” he said.

“I
can have them subpoenaed as part of the record,” Carl threatened.

Just
then, a key turned in the lock, the door opened and Clay’s parents walked in.

They
seemed surprised to see Cindy and Carl, but walked over to Clay first.

“The
airports are flooded,” the father, Dan, announced. “We’re gonna be stuck here
another few days.”

“Damn,”
said Clay, “damn it.”

“I
know this is annoying and we wanted us to tell you in person,” Clay’s mother,
Margaret went close to him and put her hands on his shoulders. “We’ll find a
way to relax though, darling.”

 “I
don’t want to relax,” Clay grew agitated. “I’ve had enough here. I want to go
home.”

“Of
course you do, dear. This has been a horrid nightmare. But who in the world
could ever have expected such rain?”

“How
long will the airports are closed?” Clay rubbed his foot on the floor heatedly,
looking at his mother. “Can’t you fix it? Can’t you get us out of here another way?”

“Not
in this storm, sweetheart,” his mother insisted.

“My
son’s exhausted and nervous,” Dan said to Cindy and Carl. “It’s to be expected.”

“Naturally,”
said Cindy, “No one wants to be stuck at the scene of a crime.”

“The
scene is closed. The cops have found the killer,” Margaret and Dan chimed in
together.

“Maybe?”
Cindy said.

Dan
zeroed in on her then. “What in hell do you mean, maybe?”

“Nothing
is ever definite until the trial is over,” said Cindy. “The police have some
evidence, but it’s not solid.”

“They
said it was,” said Margaret.

“They
say all kinds of things,” said Cindy.

Clay
didn’t like that. “You too,” he said to Cindy, “you’re just like them. You say
all kinds of things to me also.”

“Calm
down,” Margaret stroked Clay’s shoulders again.

“I
hate when people say one thing and mean another,” Clay started to ramble. “It
makes me dizzy, I don’t like being dizzy.”

“Clay
can be emotional and sensitive,” said Margaret. “This was the last thing in the
world he needed, to be exposed to a nightmare like this.”

“We’ll
get our equilibrium back shortly,” Dan interjected. “We just need quiet, family
time together. We know how to comfort our son very well.” Then he turned to
Cindy and Carl. “What are you two doing here?”

“I
want to see Clay’s correspondence with Kate,” Carl replied swiftly. “Cindy saw
and said there were some questionable comments in it about me. I need to know
what Kate said. I won’t be able to go on without seeing it.”

Margaret
sighed loudly. “This is awful, just awful for everyone.”

“It
is,” said Cindy, sympathetically. “I’m so glad you understand. Could you please
persuade Clay to let Carl see those letters?”

Margaret
seemed taken aback. “Why doesn’t Clay want to show it to you?”

“The
letters were personal, between me and Kate,” Clay chimed in. “I refuse to
betray Kate’s trust again.”

“Again?”
asked Cindy.

“I
betrayed her trust when I showed the emails to you the first time,” said Clay
angrily.

“Someone
betrayed more than her trust,” Carl moved closer to him. “They took Kate’s life
away. I need to know why.”

“And
how will seeing these emails help you?” Dan jumped in.

Cindy
took over. “Along with some comments I noticed in the emails, Clay mentioned that
Kate said all kinds of hurtful things about Carl. Carl doesn’t believe it,
wants to see it for himself.”

Margaret
sighed more loudly. “Our children do that sometimes, don’t they?” she said to
Carl. “They criticize us, they find out sore points.  But what good will it do
you to dwell on that now? It will only hurt more.”

“I
never did a thing in the world for Kate to criticize,” Carl insisted, “and I do
not believe she ever wrote anything like that about me.”

Clay
stared at him, “She did,” he insisted.

“Prove
it to me,” Carl’s voice resounded.

Clay
ran to his computer, opened it fast and started scrolling through.

Dan
took a step closer to Carl then. “Are you sure you want to see this? What good
will it do?” said Dan.

“I’m
sure,” said Carl intensely, “I can’t live with a shadow like this in my mind.”

Clay
got to a spot on the computer, stopped and then thrust it in front of Carl.
Cindy stood and read it over Carl’s shoulder.

Dear
Clay,
My uncle Carl doesn’t love me like you do. He doesn’t understand me.
He pries into every little thing I do. I like that you give me space and
understand me with just a word or two. Sean never understood me, either. He
forced me to be his girlfriend. I never wanted to, either. But Carl liked Sean
and also forced me to be his girlfriend. You are the first man I’ve ever truly
wanted.

As
Carl read his face first grew numb, then fierce.

“Complete
lies,” he growled emphatically. “Crazy stories. She never said that.”

Clay
pulled the computer away. “Every word is true.”

“Kate
never wrote this. I’m sure of it,” Carl was beside himself, “I have no idea who
wrote this.”

Cindy’s
heart started beating terrifically. “This doesn’t sound like anything I’ve
heard about Kate,” she added.

Carl
was on a tear, moving in closer and closer to Clay. “When were those emails
written?” he demanded.

Clay
hugged the computer to himself though, and smiled.

Margaret
came up to Carl. “Forget about it, leave it alone. It’s over now.”

“It’s
not over, it’s just beginning,” Carl flung back at her.

“Clay
is emotional about things,” Margaret spoke more softly. “A correspondence like
this confused his mind. He wanted to come to Kate’s rescue, and so he proposed.
None of it makes sense, I agree with you.”

Carl
wasn’t having her story, though. “Kate did not write that email. I am certain
of it,” he repeated, incensed.

“You
two have to go now,” Dan grew more agitated. “It’s enough for everyone.”

“It’s
not enough,” Carl glared at him.

Dan
strongly motioned Cindy and Carl to the door. As they were being sheparded out
of the room, something suddenly caught Cindy’s eye. Laying out on the top of a
bureau, in full view, was the amber bracelet Kate had worn.

“Wait
a minute, what’s this?” Cindy’s voice grew high as she ran over to it.

“It’s
Kate’s bracelet,” Clay ran over too, and grabbed it. “It belonged to her.”

“We
have to see this bracelet,” Cindy said intensely. “It’s part of the evidence in
the case.”

“How
in hell can this be evidence?” Dan was growing furious. “It was her bracelet
and it’s right here.”

“I
have to take it into the police station,” Cindy said breathlessly.

“Why?”
yelled Dan.

“Because
another bracelet, just like this has turned up, and we have to figure out what’s
going on.”

“So
take it, take it,” Margaret started to yell.

“No,”
Clay uttered. “It was Kate’s and it belongs with me. She may want it someday.”

 “Let
her uncle have it, Clay,” Margaret whispered to him. “Kate won’t need it
anymore. Her uncle does though, he needs something of hers.”

“He
doesn’t deserve it though,” Clay’s eyes grew heavy.

“It’s
okay, it’s okay,” Margaret started soothing Clay again. “We all deserve
something, and you don’t need her bracelet anymore.”

*

Cindy
clutched the bracelet tight in her hand. It spoke volumes, could be the
evidence needed that Sean hadn’t been in the room, hadn’t taken the necklace,
that he was not their man.

“We’ve
got to go see Riva immediately and get her bracelet,” Cindy said to Carl.  “They’re
holding Sean because they think he took Kate’s bracelet and gave it to Riva.”