Before he left the patio to find her, Clay thought of looking downstairs. Could Kate be outside taking a walk, enjoying the incredible scenery around the courtyard? By now he couldn’t put anything past her. Obviously, there were sides to her he never knew about. Clay walked to the edge of the patio and looked down.
Suddenly, his entire body froze and grew numb. Someone was laying on their back, spread out on the courtyard. They weren’t sleeping, they weren’t moving. Clay leaned further to see who it was.
“Kate!” a fierce scream suddenly rose from the bottom of his heart up through his lungs out through his throat. Clay’s eyes blurred and his heart pounded as his desperate shouts got wilder, echoing through the sleeping hotel. Windows and doors began opening. Guests began stepping out on their patios, looking down. Clay barely heard other screams in the background, or the rustle of people rushing downstairs. He barely heard the sound of the police sirens approaching.
“Kate! Kate!”
Frozen, he just held onto the patio railing for dear life. He could hardly breathe.
It was her. It was Kate.
CHAPTER 3
The sound of desperate shouts rang through the morning air waking Cindy and Mattheus abruptly. They jumped out of bed, ran to their patio and looked down into the courtyard below. A crowd had gathered surrounding something. It was impossible to see what from here.
Cindy looked around at the other patios in the hotel. Each one was filled with guests craning their necks, talking and calling to one another.
A middle aged couple stood on the patio next to theirs. The woman leaned towards Cindy and called out, “Do you know what’s happened?”
“I don’t,” said Cindy.
“I heard someone’s laying dead down there. Looks like they jumped.”
“My God,” Cindy said, her heart pounding.
Mattheus drew closer, putting his arms around Cindy.
“When did it happen?” Cindy called back to the woman.
“Let’s go back inside,” said Mattheus.
“No one knows yet,” the woman responded. “The police just arrived on the scene. It’s horrible.”
“Who was it?” asked Cindy.
“A guest at the hotel,” the woman called over the sounds of the birds that had flown into the trees and stood on the branches chirping loudly.
“Cindy, let’s go back inside,” Mattheus insisted.
“But something terrible has happened,” Cindy felt shaky.
“We don’t know what,” Mattheus said softly, “and we can’t see anything from here.” Then he took her arm and led her off the patio back into their room.
Cindy sat down on the edge of the bed and put her head in her hands. It was awful to wake up like this, the cries had cut through her like a call to battle.
Mattheus went over to the refrigerator and poured her a glass of orange juice.
“It’s incredible that something like this would happen right under our nose, when we’ve come to get away,” Cindy murmured.
Mattheus handed her the juice and Cindy took it gratefully.
“Thanks,” she said. It was cool and refreshing and helped her wake up.
“Suicides are happening everywhere in the world,” Mattheus said as he sat down beside her. “This is a place for the rich and famous. Makes sense they’d come down here and decide to end it all. This has nothing to do with us.”
Cindy remembered Mattheus’s old bitterness towards rich people. It had no place here and now. She looked up at him and despite his comment, he looked wonderful. There was a strength and peace about Mattheus she hadn’t seen in a long time. It actually surprised Cindy to see him so planted in himself again. Their night together had been marvelous too, more than either of them could have ever hoped for. Cindy remembered that Mattheus always was more centered and giving after they’d been happy together. He was a truly a man who needed a woman, though he never would have said so himself.
Cindy smiled and stroked his face. “Our night together was amazing,” she said.
He smiled broadly, nodding. “And I don’t want anything to spoil it, ever.”
Cindy got up to put the glass away. “Do you want me to get you some juice, too?”
Mattheus got up and walked beside her. “No, you’ve already given me everything I’ve ever needed.”
Cindy stopped and looked at him surprised. It was wonderful to be on the same page again, fulfilling each other so deeply.
“Let’s go back to bed now,” he whispered.
Cindy turned and looked at him stunned. “Now? After something terrible has just happened down there.”
“But we don’t know what, and it’s not even our business,” Mattheus replied. “This is bum luck to have happened here on our vacation, but we can’t let it get in the way.”
“In the way of what?” Cindy was confused.
“Of us, of our time together,” Mattheus answered quickly.
“It won’t get in our way, but something has happened, Mattheus. We can’t just pretend it hasn’t. We have to find out more,” said Cindy.
“Why?” asked Mattheus, put out.