Death by Jealousy Read online

  Peter’s calling me in for an emergency meeting, said Tad. Stay alerted.

  Damn it, answered Ned. That guy has his tentacles all over the place.

  Stay alerted, Tad replied immediately.

  Mattheus’s heart started to pound. What was Tad alerting Ned to? There were no other emails to or from Ned. Mattheus wondered what had happened in the meeting with Peter? What did Peter want to talk about?

  Mattheus picked up the phone and dialed Tad’s extension. He wanted to talk to him about this right away. No one answered.

  Mattheus spun back into Peter’s email account immediately. Was there something there he’d overlooked? What kind of emergency had Peter been dealing with?

  Peter’s business email accounts showed nothing. Mattheus decided to check further into his files. Mac had given him the overall password that could get into anything. He opened Peter’s business files, began to scan them and immediately saw one file had recently been deleted. Two other files had been scrambled. It happened the day before Allie died.

  Mattheus tried Tad’s phone extension again. Still no answer. Then he decided to call Peter at the hotel.

  Peter picked up immediately, “Yes?” he responded.

  “I’m checking things at your office,” Mattheus said to Peter immediately.

  “Thanks,” Peter replied.

  “I need your help, Peter,” Mattheus was blunt.

  “Of course,” said Peter, “whatever you need.”

  “Can you come right down to the office and meet me here?”

  “Why? Did you find something?” Peter sounded agitated.

  “Just come as soon as you can,” Mattheus replied.

  “I’ll be right over,” Peter said.

  *

  Mattheus drank another cup of coffee while waiting for Peter to arrive. Something was brewing, but he wasn’t sure what. Peter sounded nervous, but he also sounded relieved. Mattheus instinctively knew that his meeting with Peter was going to open a whole new door.

  When Peter walked in he was dressed casually in khaki slacks and an open shirt. He looked tired and upset, but also glad to be there. For a long while he stood in the center of the office and looked around as if trying to ground himself in the reality that even after tragedy, life goes on.

  “It’s good to be here, even for a little while,” said Peter, as he sat down. “I’m happy to see you.”

  “I’m sorry for your loss,” said Mattheus, before going into anything.

  “Thank you,” said Peter, somberly. “I don’t know how I’ll go on without her. Everyone tells me somehow I will – in time.”

  Mattheus was touched by the raw emotion Peter was feeling. It permeated the room.

  “You will go on,” Mattheus tried to encourage him. “It takes time, but things change. You can’t see how they will at the moment, but they do, all by themselves.”

  Mattheus looked at Peter directly then. Peter had a straight forward manner, combined with an old fashioned manner that was striking.

  “I hate to bother you with all this now, “Mattheus went on, “but it’s important. There are things I have to know about.”

  “Me, too,” said Peter, “I also have my questions. Ask me anything you like.”

  Mattheus leaned closer to him across the desk.

  “I saw an email you sent to Tad asking to come to your office right away for an emergency meeting.”

  Peter’s brow wrinkled. “Yes,” he said, “that’s right.”

  “What was the emergency?” asked Mattheus plainly.

  Peter glanced at the door, which was half open.

  “Do you want me to shut the door?” Mattheus asked.

  “No, it doesn’t matter now,” said Peter. “There are no secrets anymore.”

  “Was that a secret?” asked Mattheus.

  “Not a secret, I just wanted to be careful and sure. I found something irregular going on in the company,” Peter started talking abruptly, “there were large sums of cash being deposited in some accounts, and being withdrawn in odd ways.”

  Mattheus bristled. “Money laundering?”

  “It could be construed that way, “said Peter, “but I don’t know, I’m not sure.”

  “Who was doing it?” Mattheus asked.

  “I have no idea,” said Peter. “Whoever was doing it was clever. The deposits were made anonymously. After I first caught it, I waited to see if it continued. It did. So, I was getting ready to tell the Principals about it and take it the next step.”

  “Your father and Mac?” asked Mattheus, to be sure.

  “That’s right,” said Peter in a suddenly clipped tone. “They were the ones I had to report it to.”

  “You were getting ready? You didn’t tell them?” Mattheus was confused.

  “I told Tad about it,” said Peter. “He’s my right hand guy. I wanted to talk it over with him first to make sure he agreed. Heck, this is not something you do lightly. My dad and Mac would have been horrified, turned the place upside down. I wanted to make sure first, see what Tad thought.”

  “That was the emergency you called Tad into discuss?” asked Mattheus.

  “Yes,” said Peter.

  “What did Tad say?” asked Mattheus.

  “He was horrified, too. Agreed it didn’t look good.”

  “How come the forensic accountants didn’t find those accounts?” Mattheus dug deeper.

  “I don’t know,” said Peter, “it was all right there. I haven’t been in here since Allie died. There are more important things to be concerned about now.”

  “Of course,” said Mattheus. “Do you know where those files are now?”

  “I don’t know where anything is at this moment,” said Peter. “Tad’s taking care of all those details for me. Call him in. We’ll ask him about it.”

  “I called him before, he was out to lunch,” Mattheus remarked.

  Peter smiled, “Yeah, Tad takes nice long lunches. But he earns them, works really late, too.”

  “Doesn’t give him much time for a social life, does it?” Mattheus remarked off handedly.

  “What do you mean? Tad’s got the greatest girl anyone can imagine.”

  “Vivien was also your girlfriend at one time, I heard,” said Mattheus.

  “She was, and now we’re best friends. It works better for us that way. I’m happy for her and Tad, really.”

  Mattheus nodded. Peter was one hell of a guy, an open book. Mattheus had nothing but respect for him.

  “Can you call Tad for me?” Mattheus asked Peter. “Ask him to join us. It’s important.”

  “Of course I can,” said Peter and immediately picked up his phone and got in touch with Tad, who agreed to join them on the spot.

  *

  About ten minutes later, Tad walked into the office looking calm and focused.

  “Hey, man, it’s so great to see you here,” he said to Peter and went over to give him a hug.

  “Do you know Mattheus?” Peter immediately introduced them.

  Tad extended his hand graciously. “I think we talked briefly in the beginning, but I did have a chance to talk to your partner, Cindy, down at the pool. She interviewed me and Vivien. Then Mac arrived on the scene.”

  Mattheus liked Tad very much as well. “How did the interview go?” he asked.

  “As I recall there was some upset between Cindy and Vivien,” Tad shrugged. “You know how it is with women, always something.”

  Mattheus could relate to that.

  “Vivien does better with guys, for sure,” said Peter.

  Tad cringed. “Vivien does fine with everyone. As I recall Cindy was pretty aggressive, digging into her behavior. There was no need for it. Mac came to Vivien’s defense. Vivien told me later that she thought Cindy was jealous of her, that all women were.”

  Mattheus smiled. It would have been unusual for Cindy to be aggressive with a woman. And, once again, he wondered what Mac was doing there with them. That guy seemed to turn up all over the place, especially w
here Cindy was concerned.

  “Anyway,” Tad sat down on the chair next to Peter, “what’s this meeting about? How can I help? What’s the urgency?”

  “I was telling Mattheus about what I found at the company,” Peter said plainly.

  Tad looked momentarily confused. “What?”

  “The irregular deposits, the cash coming in and going out like crazy.”

  “What has that got to do with the investigation into Allie’s death?” Tad said, finally.

  “Nothing,” said Peter, “but Mattheus called me in to talk about it.”

  “How did Mattheus find out about it?” Tad asked, surprised.

  “I just told him,” said Peter.

  “What do you mean?” Tad seemed bewildered.

  “Mattheus found the email I sent asking you to come for an emergency meeting. He wanted to know what it was about?” said Peter.

  Tad’s face clenched. “So you told him about the problem we have here? Why?”

  “Why not?” asked Peter.

  “Hell, Peter, your judgment is off! What do our business problems have to do with Allie? Nothing. It’s not good for Mac and your father to find out about the financials from someone else. It’s better

  for us to tell them ourselves.”

  “All bets are off now,” Peter’s head hung down. “I need time to get over this. I’m out of the game for a little while. Let Mattheus step in and help us out.”

  Tad shrugged. “I thought I was handling things now.”

  “You are,” said Peter. “And Mattheus can help.”

  “That’s not what he’s here for,” Tad repeated. “He’s here to find out what happened to Allie, that’s it. That’s all.”

  Mattheus broke in. “What did you think about the files Peter showed you, Tad? Look like money laundering?”

  Tad’s face remained impassive. “That’s too big a conclusion to jump to,” he said, “you never know about these things. You never know who was doing it either. Got to be careful about throwing rocks. It can create ripples of all kinds. You investigate something like this quietly, one step at a time.”

  “Who do you think might be doing it?” Mattheus zeroed in.

  “I have no idea,” said Tad. “That’s finding a needle in a haystack. You need special investigators for that. Once Peter and I tell Edward and Mac, it will be up to them to decide what to do next.”

  Tad’s responses were all measured. Obviously he’d given it careful thought.

  “We’ve got to get those files over to my dad and Mac immediately,” Peter said then.

  Mattheus interrupted, “I noticed files that were deleted and scrambled on Peter’s records.

  Peter jumped to his feet. “Which files?”

  Mattheus quickly opened the computer and showed him what he’d found.

  “Those are the ones,” Peter breathed, horrified.

  “Someone’s onto it,” Tad said quickly. “They’ve wiped the evidence out.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Peter quickly recouped. “I have backups of those files with me in my suitcase.”

  Tad looked completely shocked. “Backups?”

  “You think I’d leave something so important only on my computer?” Peter said. Then he turned to Mattheus. “Once things settle down with Allie, I want you and Tad to help me go over this with my father and Mac.”

  *

  Peter and Tad left together to go for a walk, and Mattheus stayed behind to keep scrolling through the files to see if anything else came up. Around five o’clock, just before he was about to call Vivien, the phone rang. It was Cindy.

  “How’s it going?” Mattheus asked her, as if the day had been perfectly ordinary and the call was just routine.

  “Fine,” Cindy replied. “I wanted to let you know that I’m going to be at dinner in the hotel with my sister and her husband tonight. They’re flying down from Miami for a quick visit.”

  That was the first Mattheus had heard about that. He didn’t like Cindy’s sister Ann and she didn’t like him.

  “Just wondered if you’d like to join us?” Cindy asked lightly.

  The last thing Mattheus wanted to do was have dinner with all of them.

  “Normally I would,” he said, matter of factly, “but I’m really tied up here tonight.”

  Cindy paused on the other end. Mattheus wondered what she was thinking. He knew his response was irregular, but it wasn’t normal procedure to have dinner with her family, either.

  “Okay,” she said then, “just asking.”

  Something in her voice struck him strangely though. “How’d your day go?” he got in quickly, as he felt her about to hang up.

  “I don’t know. I’m still here, anyway,” Cindy said, strangely.

  “What the hell do you mean by that?” Mattheus shot back, as she suddenly hung up the phone.

  CHAPTER 17

  Mattheus and Vivien met up in a restaurant down the block with a garden in the back. When Mattheus arrived he found Vivien sitting in the back garden, under a hanging tree, sipping a cocktail. Dressed in a sheer, dark green dress, and beautiful emerald bracelet, she looked absolutely ravishing, with the setting sun dimming across her face.

  The moment Vivien saw Mattheus approaching, her face burst into an incredible smile.

  “It’s You,” she breathed, as he came closer. “I’ve been waiting for this all day long.”

  Mattheus sat down, his head whirling as she edged closer to him. I’m not available, Vivien, he wanted to say, I’m a married man. But then he suddenly realized he was not. His wife wasn’t missing any longer. She was dead.

  Mattheus looked down at the bracelet Vivien was wearing and realized that it had to be the one Tad purchased for her. And what about Tad? How would he feel about Mattheus and Vivien meeting secretly like this?

  “That’s a beautiful bracelet you’re wearing,” Mattheus was transfixed by it.

  “The bracelet is beautiful, or I am?” Vivien purred

  “That too,” Mattheus had to agree.

  “I ordered you a Scotch and soda,” Vivien said, pointing to a drink on the table. “I know you like them.”

  Mattheus was touched, but he was here for a purpose. He couldn’t get swayed.

  “I want to make you happy, Mattheus,” Vivien said as Mattheus reached for his drink.

  “I am happy,” he replied.

  “And I want to make you even happier,” Vivien’s lips parted into a smile as he lifted the Scotch to his mouth.

  “Where’d you get that bracelet?” Mattheus asked as he put the drink back down.

  “It was a gift,” Vivien said lightly.

  “From Tad?” Mattheus wanted it all out. Here she was hidden away with Mattheus, while accepting jewels from someone else.

  “Yes, from Tad,” she said, “so what?”

  “So, you told me not to mention to Tad that we were meeting,” Mattheus reminded her.

  “Of course not,” Vivien said under her breath, lifting her drink to her mouth. “You and I need our time alone. When someone who is perfect for you is just brought into your world, do you go telling the whole world about it? Or do you spend time with that person alone?”

  “Who exactly is just perfect for you?” Mattheus asked more gently.

  “Let’s not play games, please,” Vivien replied, staring starkly into his eyes. “You know what I’m feeling. You’re feeling it, too. I couldn’t sleep last night, I was thinking so much about you.”

  Mattheus stomach lurched for a second, then he grew silent.

  “You’re gorgeous, sexy, strong,” murmured Vivien.

  Vivien was beautiful, sensual, everything anyone could imagine, but as she spoke Mattheus’s thoughts drifted away to Cindy. He didn’t want to hear this from Vivien, it was Cindy he longed for. It was Cindy he wanted to hear these words from, Mattheus suddenly realized. Hell, he hadn’t even told Cindy what he was doing tonight. He’d said he’d be at the office, and here he was having drinks with someone else.

/>   “I’m so happy we’re here together,” Vivien murmured again.

  There was no way Mattheus was going to lead Vivien on either, no matter how much information she might have for him.

  “Vivien,” Mattheus said gently and firmly. “I’m involved with someone else.”

  “That’s silly,” Vivien wouldn’t even consider it.

  “It’s true,” said Mattheus said quietly. “There’s someone else I love.” Those words hit him as hard as they hit her, shocking both of them.

  “Someone you love?” Vivien refused to take it in. “Are you comparing me to Cindy? She’s older, uptight and totally infatuated with Mac. It’s absolutely obvious to everyone.”

  Mattheus came to bitter attention. “Who exactly is it obvious to?”

  Vivien tossed her beautiful hair over her shoulders, languorously.

  “Do you happen to notice that wherever Mac is, Cindy’s two steps away?” Vivien said.

  “Mac’s the one going after Cindy,” Mattheus insisted.

  “Not at all,” Vivien exuded certainty. “Mac’s older, he’s rich, he’s a great catch. Plenty of women on the Island have tried to get him, but no one has. No one will. He does what he wants, likes his freedom. Usually he hangs out in the casinos, gambling like hell. He’s only stayed around here so long because of what happened to Allie. That shocked and devastated him and he’s trying to help. Cindy’s got her eye set on the wrong guy. I don’t know how she can do that either, when she has someone as incredible as you around?”

  Despite himself, Mattheus felt stick to his stomach.

  “But, if you prefer Cindy’s company to mine, go right ahead,” Vivien continued, flippantly.

  Mattheus looked at Vivien’s beautiful, carved profile in the fading light. He’d told her he’d spend an hour with her and wasn’t about to run out on his word.

  “I said we’d talk for an hour,” Mattheus said quietly. “I’m here. Tell me about you and Tad.”

  “Why do we have to spend our time on that?” Vivien said petulantly. “There’s nothing to tell, he’s boring. I mean he’s a great guy, but he’s boring. I’m not leaving him or anything. I just like to wander once in a while. It makes life bearable. Is there something so wrong with that?”