Death by Devotion (Caribbean Murder #9)

“Andrea sent you?” his eyes darted back and forth.

“Yes,” Cindy said in a kind tone.

“Why? Who are you?” his words came quickly.

“We’re Andrea’s friends,” said Cindy.

At that he stopped. “Andrea doesn’t have any friends,” his voice got louder and clearer. “No one on this earth. Just me.”

Mattheus shuddered.

“Can we come in?” asked Cindy, softly.

“Sure, come in all you want,” the young man flung the door open even wider. “Why not? Any friend of Andrea is sure a friend of mine.”





Chapter 20


Cindy and Mattheus walked into a magnificent, elegant, flowing room, with marble floors, huge glass windows, designer furniture perched on antique throw rugs and world class art everywhere.

“Magnificent,” Cindy breathed, looking around.

The young man kept his eyes glued to both Cindy and Mattheus.

“You live here?” asked Mattheus, almost in awe.

“You could say that,” the young man retorted.

Cindy felt disoriented. What could this boy possibly have to with Andrea? “Who do you live with?” she asked. “You don’t live here alone?”

“My mom and I live here together,” the young man remarked. “By the way, my name is Jared.”

“Hi, Jared,” said Mattheus slowly.

“Who are you?” Jared was on edge. It didn’t seem as if he often had visitors.

“I’m Andrea’s father,” Mattheus responded bluntly.

“What?” Jared’s eyes narrowed. “Is this some kind of stupid joke?”

“No, it’s not,” said Mattheus, put off. “I’m her father.”

“Oh yeah? The long, lost dad?” Jared sneered. From the sarcasm in his tone it seemed as though Andrea had filled him with awful stories about Mattheus.

“Did Andrea tell you that I was coming down to get to know her?” Mattheus spoke in a nervous tone.

“She told me a lot of things,” said Jared.

“How did you meet my daughter?” Mattheus interrupted.

“Your daughter? Give me a break,” Jared’s voice raised a pitch.

“You give me a break,” Mattheus retorted, not backing off.

Jared took a step closer to him. “You got a reason to claim Andrea for your daughter? I don’t think so, Mister. You gave Andrea pretty big hopes, and look what they came down to. Now she’s stuck in jail.” He suddenly became more agitated thinking of it. “Listen, I’ve seen enough of you two. I’ve got to go back to work.”

“What kind of work?” asked Cindy, unwilling to let him go.

“I’m preparing a show of my photos,” he grinned strangely. “My workshop is in the back.” Jared seemed a strange mixture of calm assurance and a quagmire of explosive feelings.

“Can we see your photos?” Cindy asked warmly. “I’d love to see your work.”

“How about him?” Jared spun towards Mattheus. “Does he want to see them too?”

“Sure,” said Mattheus, getting a second wind, trying to re-group.

Jared looked at Mattheus oddly for a second. “Oh yeah? Okay, then, come with me.”

Cindy was thrilled to have a chance to go with Jared, see his work, talk to him more. She and Mattheus followed him out the back door of the villa, to a low cottage in the rear.

“Come in,” said Jared, suddenly grinning at Mattheus. “You want to see what it means to care for someone? You want to see what it means to be a friend?” He flung the door to the cottage open.

They walked in, and Cindy shuddered. All over the walls, were photos of Andrea. There were head shots, full body shots, shots of her smiling, or looking sad. Obviously Jared was obsessed with her.

“Jesus Christ,” Mattheus groaned.

“Jesus Christ, what?” Jared snapped. “You never cared about someone like this? You never wanted to see them all the time, wanted their picture everywhere?”

“These are incredible photos,” Cindy responded, trying to de-fuse the tension. “Are

these photos in your show?”

“That’s right,” Jared continued, “did you ever see anything so beautiful?”

“Jared, Jared,” a loud woman’s voice suddenly pierced the atmosphere. “What’s going on here, what’s the commotion?”

“Who’s that?” Mattheus was jarred.

“It’s my mom,” Jared answered swiftly, as footsteps grew louder moving in their direction.

“Jared, are you in the cottage again? Didn’t I tell you not to?” the voice was close.

In another minute, a tall, beautiful, perfectly coiffed, ash blonde woman, swept into the cottage and stood there disconcerted, looking around.

“Who are these people?” she said, appalled, spotting Cindy and Mattheus. “You know you can’t have visitors, Jared, unless I say so.”

“I beg your pardon?” asked Mattheus.

The woman paid absolutely no attention to him, but charged on. “And what are you doing back down in the cottage, staring again at that rotten slut?”

At that Mattheus became activated. “Excuse me, but my daughter is not a rotten slut.”

The woman spun and stared at Mattheus. “Your daughter? Are you nuts?”