Death by Proposal Read Online Free PDF Page B

as he spoke.
She seemed unable to register what he was saying, kept running her hand across
her face.
    Carl
cleared his throat and continued. “We heard from the police that two incredible
private detectives happened to be staying at the hotel right now,” and he
looked back and forth between Cindy and Mattheus.
    Cindy
and Mattheus sat quietly, saying nothing.
    “You’ve
got a great reputation for busting strange cases wide open. Especially in the
Caribbean.”
    Tyra
started to cry softly then. “Why are we talking to detectives, Carl? I don’t
understand it. I can’t believe this is happening,” she mumbled. “I want to see
Kate myself.”
    Cindy
reached out her hand to comfort Tyra.  “It takes a long, long while to realize
what happened when there’s a terrible shock,” she said softly.
    Carl
looked at Cindy gratefully as his hands clenched into fists.
    “We
don’t have much time,” Carl spoke fervently. “Time is the enemy, they get away.
Before you know it, the case goes cold. We’ve got to nab the killer right away.”
    “The
police say it looks like a suicide,” Mattheus broke in calmly.
    “Suicide,
my ass,” Carl shot back. “Kate was beautiful, happy, she loved life.  I was
there the day she was born and watched her grow up into a star. There was
nothing she lacked, nothing.  We were always close, she told me everything,
came to me if there was something wrong. There’s no reason in the world she
would have killed herself. Absolutely none.”
    “Everything
he says is true,” Tyra started weeping.
    Obviously,
both of them were in terrible pain.  Cindy wondered how she could help ease
their agony.
    “I’m
so sorry,” she repeated, though it sounded empty to her.
    Carl
barely heard anyway. “Kate had everything ahead of her,” he went on, “she had
everything anyone could have wanted.  She had friends, money, talent, a
fantastic family. Why in hell would she ever kill herself?  She wouldn’t. 
Someone came and snuffed out her life. Who?” He zeroed in on Cindy.
    Cindy
took a deep, painful breath. “I know this is a nightmare,” she said.
    “The
medical examiner will go over the body and determine the cause of death,”
Mattheus continued, trying to ground things as best he could.
    “Medical
examiner, my ass,” Carl shot back. “You think I give a damn about what some
idiot guy says happened to her?  Someone did it. Just let me find out who! Let
me get my hands on him.”
    Tyra
gasped, “Stop it Carl, you’re making it worse.”
    “Nothing
can be worse,” he bit his lips hard, in rage.
    “You’re
hurting me, Carl, you have to calm down,” Tyra insisted.
    “I’m
not hurting you Tyra, I’m trying to help,” he insisted.
    “I
know you are, but it hurts me when you get so angry like this.”
    “How
am I supposed to feel? What am I supposed to do? Sit back and listen to the
half assed police force on the island?”
    Cindy
saw the veins in Mattheus neck begin to bulge. Carl sounded the way Mattheus
had so many times before he’d found his wife’s killer.
    Carl
turned swiftly to Cindy and Mattheus then, “We need your help. I’ll pay top
dollar. Cost means nothing to me.”
    Mattheus
stood up and ran his hands through his hair. “Carl,” he said, “I know how
rotten and lousy this situation is. I wish we could help, but we can’t right
now. We’re here on vacation. We need time to ourselves.”
    The
words weren’t registering, nothing was.
    Carl
continued vehemently, “The paper said that Kate posted all over Facebook that
she just got engaged. That’s nuts. None of us ever met this guy. This was a new
relationship. She wouldn’t do something like that without letting us know first.”
    “Are
you sure about that?” Cindy perked up.
    “Of
course I’m sure. I knew everything about Kate’s life.”
    Tyra
looked up at them then, focusing for the first time.
    “He
did, he’s right. Kate loved Carl tremendously. And he loved her.”
    “And
I still do,”