Death by Seduction Read online

  “Where do you want to go?” asked Cindy, jumping right on board.

  “I don’t care, let’s go anywhere,” Loretta replied. “Let’s go somewhere interesting and fun. I know, how about doing to watch the Humpback Whales? It’s a short trip away and they’re in mating season now. It will relax us and Pete loves doing things like that.”

  “That’s fine with me,” said Cindy. Loretta was acting as though Pete were still alive, want to do things they would have done together. It was normal, a defense against facing the bitter truth of her loss.”

  “Great, let’s go,” Loretta seemed to cheer up a bit. “I’ll make a few arrangements and meet you downstairs in the lobby in fifteen minutes. Bring a light sweater in case it cools down.

  Chapter 5

  When Loretta arrived in the lobby her hair was freshly brushed, pulled back from her face, and she was dressed beautifully, in crisp white linen slacks, a yellow shirt and a beige woven bag slung over her shoulder. If anyone saw her it would have simply seemed as if she were simply a happy tourist, going out for an afternoon to take in the sights.

  “You look lovely,” Cindy commented, taken aback, as Loretta approached.

  “Thanks,” Loretta answered pleasantly. Then, seeing the surprise in Cindy’s eyes, she flinched. “I like looking good, it’s part of my business. What good would it do me to have my makeup smeared, or my hair tangled in knots?” Loretta looked at Cindy angrily.

  “None at all,” said Cindy softly, trying to calm her once again.

  I called you down to help me,” Loretta jumped back in, “so you have to know who I am. I’m not going to let Pete’s death take me down. He wouldn’t have wanted me to buckle, he had more guts than anyone I ever knew.”

  Cindy didn’t know what to make of Loretta’s demeanor. Was she just incredibly brave or completely in denial? Cindy found it interesting to hear more about Pete. She wanted to find out how Loretta really felt about him, their marriage, everything.

  Loretta lead Cindy through the front door of the hotel and then waved at the cab she had waiting for them.

  “People come from all over to see the Humpback Whales do their thing,” said Loretta as they piled into the large taxi. “They’re incredibly beautiful, I can’t wait for you to see them.”

  “I’m excited too,” said Cindy, trying to get into the mood Loretta was creating, two old college friends going for an adventure, happy to see each other again.

  The cab whirled away from the hotel and wound through the main streets to roads that sprawled and dipped into the soft belly of island.

  “Where exactly are we going?” Cindy was fascinated, and glad to be heading into the countryside. It was a welcome respite for her, as well.

  “We’re going to a peninsula where Humpback Whales come from as far as Greenland.” Loretta seemed relieved to be talking about it, seemed to know a lot. “The whales take a journey here to mate and calve. I’ve been here before and it’s amazing to watch them. It takes your mind off everything.”

  “I can imagine,” said Cindy.

  “Pete loved doing stuff like this,” Loretta added. “Pete loved all kinds of wild life. If he’s looking down and watching me now he’ll be glad to see where I’m headed.”

  Cindy was glad to hear the comment, it was important for Loretta to absorb the fact that Pete was gone.

  “I saw photos of Pete on his Facebook page with wild life of all kinds,” Cindy commented.

  “Right,” Loretta chimed in immediately. “He loved going on those kinds of vacations, always talked about the endangered species and what we could do to save them.”

  “Did you go with him?” asked Cindy, looking for a way to uncover more.

  “Sometimes,” Loretta shrugged slightly. “A lot of the time he went with guy friends. It was a guy thing. I was fine with it, those trips were a little too rugged for me.”

  “You didn’t miss him when he was gone?” Cindy was quick on the uptake.

  Loretta threw Cindy an odd glance. “Not really,” she said, “the boutique keeps me going all the time. We’re famous. There are always new customers, showings, photographic displays, parties of all kinds.”

  “You’ve built a little empire for yourself,” Cindy remarked.

  Loretta looked grateful. “Thank you,” she said, enjoying the recognition.

  “I suppose Pete was fine with it?” Cindy added.

  “More than fine with it,” Loretta said. “He was proud of my shop, proud of me. Pete encouraged me to do whatever I wanted. He was the most incredible husband anyone could ever want.”

  Cindy said nothing, just looked at Loretta keenly. But, Loretta immediately turned her face away, looking out of the taxi window at the incredibly lush flora and fauna they were driving through.

  “Did you know that the Dominican Republic has some of the clearest waters in the West Indies?” Loretta drew her finger over the window glass. “People come here for all kinds of reasons, world class scuba diving, deep sea fishing. Blue and white marlin can be found at any time of year but barracuda only visit in wet season.”

  That was fitting, thought Cindy. It was the wet season now and some kind of human barracuda had attacked Loretta’s beloved husband.

  “Did Pete enjoy fishing as well?” asked Cindy, wanting to keep her talking about him.

  “Not especially,” said Loretta, turning back towards Cindy. “He loved extreme sports and travel, though. He did waterfall jumping, crocodile swimming, it was an adrenalin rush.”

  “He loved tempting fate?” Cindy commented.

  Loretta flung her head back slightly. “I guess a part of him did,” she conceded, “though I never thought of him that way.”

  It sounded to Cindy as though Pete and Loretta were opposites. How did a guy who loved extreme sports and adventure get on with a woman who ran a high end wedding salon for elegant women? How else Pete and Loretta were different? In what other ways might he have tempted fate that led him to end up dead in a sleazy whore house?

  “I never actually thought of Pete as wanting to tempt fate,” Loretta wasn’t about to let the point slide by. She had a strong image of Pete and was sticking to it. “He was a family man, thrilled to be married and loved coming home to me. In fact, he called a few times a day and couldn’t wait to see me at night, if you know what I mean.”

  “He needed you badly?” Cindy commented.

  “Boy, did he ever,” Loretta grinned. “Sometimes it made me feel great, sometimes exhausted.” She winked at Cindy as if they were old sorority friends.

  Cindy thought of her intimate times with Mattheus. He’d needed her and she’d needed him, but it had been easy, natural and deeply fulfilling. Cindy had never felt exhausted by him, only rejuvenated. For a second it was hard to believe that their relationship was really over, that she and Mattheus would never be together again.

  “Pete didn’t only take care of me, he also loved his brother and his friends. He took good care of everybody.” Loretta spoke evenly, painting a fine, upstanding picture of her husband.

  “Who would want to kill him, then?” Cindy dove in pointedly.

  Loretta stared at Cindy plaintively. “That’s what I’ve been wondering night and day,” her voice grew gravelly. “Who was sick and jealous enough of us to want to break up a happy marriage? Who wants to take me down?”

  “Do you have friends or customers who were jealous?” Cindy followed her lead.

  “No, I don’t, that’s the crazy part of it. Our friends were happy for us and happy in their own lives. And my customers came to me at a peak time in their lives. I only added to their joy.”

  “What about people Pete worked with?” Cindy focused strongly.

  “Pete worked for a financial company that made investments, speculated in real estate, and other things,” Loretta answered. “They have a branch down here, so Pete came down to work fairly often. He had lots of great co-workers. Everyone loved him and he did great.”

  “Did you come down here
with him on his trips?” asked Cindy, thinking of the booming trade in prostitution.

  “Sometimes,” said Loretta, “but I had a life of my own. I was busy with the boutique. I came with him this time because we were buying that condo from, Loori Inc., a real estate development company. Pete knew these guys well. He’d checked into the condo and said it was a great investment. He told my father all about it and my father agreed. It was all set to go.”

  “I’ll check into the real estate development company,” Cindy remarked, wondering if they were on the up and up.

  “Absolutely,” Loretta agreed. “Check all you want. Talk to everybody. A friend of Pete’s from work, Ed, bought a condo in the development and was thrilled with it. Pete wanted us to spend more quality time together and thought this condo would be the perfect way.”

  “Why did you need more quality time together? Was something wrong?” Cindy was quick on the uptake.

  “Absolutely not,” breathed Loretta. “Oh God, were we happy, fantastically happy. Pete was my dream come true. We had a wonderful marriage. Ask anybody.”

  Loretta looked like a young girl for the moment, the way Cindy had remembered her years ago, in college.

  The taxi started to slow down, slipping onto a road that led deeper down towards the peninsula where the whales were mating.

  “One thing though, we couldn’t have kids,” Loretta suddenly switched gears as the taxi slowed. “We tried to have kids and we couldn’t. It wasn’t my fault, it was his, low sperm count. Can you believe it?”

  “That must have been hard on you,” said Cindy. “Was Pete ashamed of it? Did it make him feel like less of a man?”

  “Of course not,” Loretta bristled.

  “Did you two consider adopting?” Cindy had to cover every angle.

  “I wasn’t interested, Loretta confessed. “I was happy with Pete and with my business. We could have lived a good, full life without kids running around.”

  “Did Pete feel that way, too?” Cindy prodded further.

  “Not as much as I did. It bothered him that he couldn’t have a son. He once told me that it made him feel like a failure. I told him that was nonsense, that he was perfect just as he was.”

  “He didn’t believe that, though, did he?” asked Cindy.

  Loretta smiled oddly. “I guess not. Does anyone believe they’re perfect? Does anyone believe they’re even alright? You should see the brides I dress every day, no matter how gorgeous they are, no matter how wonderful the gown is, they always find something wrong.”

  The taxi bumped wildly then as the unpaved road grew narrower.

  “We’re almost here, we’re almost here,” Loretta turned all her attention to the road then.

  Cindy also looked out the taxi window and could see clear, wavy water in the distance.

  “Oh God,” Loretta chimed in, “You’re in for a real treat. We’ll get on a boat that’s waiting to take us right to the Whales.”

  *

  The taxi let Cindy and Loretta off at the edge of the water, besides the tour boat that was waiting. The two of them boarded the boat at the last minute, just before it pulled out. As they sailed into the bay warm air drifted over them. Soon they heard the sound of splashing water and saw the magnificent sight of whales jumping.

  “Oh my God, my God,” they’re here,” Loretta called out.

  The guy in charge of the boat gave Loretta and Cindy hydrophones so they could listen to the male Humpback’s courting song and witness the incredible displays of flippering, tail lobbing and breaching. It was thrilling. Cindy felt as if she’d been transported into a different world.

  “These are the most active species of whale in the Atlantic,” the guy in charge announced to the passengers who were transfixed. “The Humpbacks are all born here. This makes them Dominican citizens. They migrate north to feed but always happily return to their beautiful homeland in the Caribbean.”

  Cindy watched Loretta turn into a child, filled with delight, watching the spectacle.

  “Pete loved this, we did this a lot together,” Loretta called out to Cindy over the sound of the splashing water.

  Cindy thought how ironic it was that the whales returned here for mating. She also wondered if the fact that Loretta and Pete couldn’t have children had caused more of a rift than Loretta realized? This was clearly not the time to go into those questions, though. Loretta seemed to desperately need the momentary relief that this outing was providing. Cindy let herself enjoy it along with her.

  “Aren’t they beautiful?” Loretta asked over and over. “Aren’t they magnificent?”

  “Yes, they definitely are,” agreed Cindy.

  “You know what it tells me?” Loretta spoke loudly, “You know what it tells me?”

  “What?” asked Cindy, suddenly nervous.

  “It tells me that no matter what happens, life goes on,” Loretta called out shrilly over the choppy waters. “It tells me it’s okay to be happy, no matter what.”

  *

  When the spectacle had died down and the boat was returning to shore, Loretta began to look somewhat glum. Cindy wondered if she was realizing that she was here without Pete now. Cindy didn’t want to waste time. She wanted to resume their former conversation, find out more about him.

  “Is it hard to be on this trip without Pete, isn’t it?” Cindy asked quietly, trying to bring reality in.

  “Maybe it is,” said Loretta, knotting her hands together. “But my father is on the way as we speak and so is Taylor, Pete’s brother. My father will help us figure out what to do. I’ll introduce you to him first thing tomorrow morning.”

  “What about Taylor?” asked Cindy. This was the first time she’d heard anything about him.

  Loretta made a sour face, ignoring the question. “My best friend Angela will also be coming down tomorrow. She and I have been through everything together. You’ll love her, Cindy. And she’ll love you.”

  “And what about Taylor?” Cindy repeated.

  Loretta’s face flushed as she swerved around. “I never liked him much and he never liked me. I’d rather you stay away from him.”

  Cindy was startled. “Why?”

  “Taylor gets weird ideas and becomes obsessed. Sometimes he even upset Pete. I’m not sure why he’s coming, I asked him not to. I told him we’d be home soon and he could help take care of things then.”

  “Was Pete close to his brother?” asked Cindy surprised.

  “Very,” said Loretta, “family was family for Pete and nothing could get in the way.”

  “That’s a wonderful quality,” said Cindy.

  “Maybe,” said Loretta, “but if anything was a bone of contention between us, his crazy brother Taylor was. He was a bad influence on Pete. I tried to keep him as far away from us as I could.”

  “That must have hurt Pete, it was his brother!” remarked Cindy.

  “So what?” said Loretta nastily, “just because he was Pete’s brother didn’t make him a friend.”

  Chapter 6

  By the time Cindy returned home she was exhausted, took a shower and practically fell into bed. Before she pulled up the covers up she checked her phone, just to be sure. To her surprise and relief, there was a missed call there waiting for her from Mattheus.

  Cindy blinked a moment, then bolted up in bed. She’d half hoped for the call and half hoped not. She clutched the phone close to her, but kept herself from listening to the message Mattheus had left.

  Cindy fell back down in bed, wide awake now, and saddened. Even though she’d been wanting to hear from him, it really wasn’t okay for Mattheus to call whenever he felt like it. Cindy wasn’t going to let him bounce in and out of her life It wasn’t healthy and it wasn’t right. She quickly turned off the ringer, slipped the phone under her pillow, and then turned and twisted in bed, desperately trying to fall asleep.

  *

  After a night of tossing and disturbing dreams, Cindy awoke, groggy in the morning. To her surprise, though, it wasn’t Mattheu
s she had dreamt about all night long, but Clint. Memories of losing her brand new husband not so long ago, of Clint going missing in Barbados on their honeymoon, surfaced vividly. In her dreams Cindy saw both the ocean he’d gone surfing in and the lone surf board that had returned without him on it. Cindy’s sister Ann was in the dream as well, standing there stalwartly, comforting her. Cindy thought how much she missed Ann now, how wonderful it would be to have her here to talk to. She also knew that Ann would have approved of her decision not to call Mattheus back. Ann and Frank had never approved of Cindy’s relationship with Mattheus, though, Cindy had never understood why. Cindy had thought that basically Ann and Frank just didn’t want her to be a detective, and Mattheus was an intrinsic part of that. The difficulty Mattheus had with Cindy’s mother and Frank during their visit after Ann’s death, was something else. It had stunned Cindy. Mattheus had given them no reason for the hostility they’d expressed towards him.

  As Cindy lay in bed thinking things over, she pulled her phone out from under her pillow and turned the ringer back on. To her surprise it was later than she realized and there was also a missed call from Loretta this morning. Cindy listened to the message Loretta had left.

  “Call as soon as you get up. My dad is here and he wants you to join us for breakfast downstairs,” said Loretta.

  Cindy looked at the time. It was about nine thirty, much later than she usually woke up. She immediately returned Loretta’s call.

  “Where are you?” Loretta asked right away. “Dad and I are downstairs in the outdoor restaurant in the Greens, having breakfast.”

  “Give me a few minutes and I’ll be right there,” Cindy breathed.

  *

  The Greens was a beautiful, outdoor restaurant in the hotel. It overlooked a rolling golf course that seemed to go on for miles. The moment Cindy stepped into the restaurant, Loretta stood up from the table she and her father were seated at and waved.