In the flash of a moment Cindy realized that he did know somewhere in the back of his mind. He couldn’t remember though, he was hiding from it. Cindy felt a glimmer of light was about to dawn for both of them.
“Did Kate realize that the two of you were about to become engaged down here on vacation?” Cindy continued, trying to jog his memory.
At that, Clay stopped talking, swiftly turned, and pointed to the papers in his hand.
“Did she?” Cindy insisted.
“I thought she did,” Clay suddenly growled. “I wrote that she did in my diary,” he held up the papers high. “I wrote here that she loved me and would be thrilled with the beautiful ring I got her.”
“You gave Kate a ring?” asked Cindy, startled. There was no picture of a ring on Kate’s hand in any of the photos. Cindy had thought Clay hadn’t bought it yet.
“Of course,” Clay insisted, “I gave her an incredible ring made of diamonds and mother of pearl. Just like the kind my grandmother wore her whole life long.”
“Where is that ring now?” asked Cindy, breathless.
Clay looked at her blankly.
“I didn’t see it on Kate in the photos,” Cindy turned up the heat.
Clay’s face suddenly grew dark and ugly. “Because Kate never put it on,” he suddenly flung out into the increasingly hot and sultry day.
“Why didn’t?” asked Cindy, terrified at the wildness that flared up in his eyes.
“Because,” said Clay, as something suddenly rustled behind them.
Cindy turned swiftly and there was Carl, standing a few feet behind them, listening to every word.
“Kate never wore the ring because Kate never said yes, did she?” Carl marched boldly up to Clay.
“What the hell are you doing here now?” Clay jerked away. “There’s a posse after me, chasing me, blaming me for everything.”
“Did Kate say yes to the proposal?” Carl demanded in horror.
“I won’t talk anymore. I want my mother,” Clay stamped his foot on the ground.
“Let me see those papers,” Carl lunged towards them.
Cindy got in the way and stopped Carl immediately.
“Back off, she said, abruptly. “Clay is a good boy.”
Clay looked at Cindy, grateful and shocked. “I am a good boy, I am, I am,” he insisted.
“I know you are,” Cindy stepped closer to him, “and I know you’ll answer our questions yourself.”
At that Carl grabbed his papers tighter and began ripping them into shreds. Then he tossed the ripped shreds wildly over the edge of the cliff. Cindy watched them blow in the wind on their way down into the roaring sea.
“Kate betrayed me,” Clay called out over the ocean as the papers flew away, “how dare she lead me on like that?”
“Lead you on?” Carl was beside himself. “It’s you! You killed her, didn’t you? You pushed her over the patio.”
“I never killed her,” Clay swayed like a branch in the wind, “I loved Kate. She disappeared, she abandoned me.”
Carl took a step closer then. “You posted those messages on Facebook, didn’t you?” his voice boomed like a cannon shaking both Cindy and Clay.
“What messages?” Clay looked genuinely confused.
“The messages on Kate’s Facebook page that announced your engagement,” said Cindy.
“There were?” Clay was amazed by it.
Carl and Cindy threw each other a quick glance.
“He doesn’t know what happened,” said Cindy. “He’s a split personality, delusional, he sleepwalks.”
“And he kills in his sleep,” Carl growled louder.
“We can’t be sure yet,” said Cindy.
“You killed Kate in your sleep,” Carl hollered, “You killed my precious girl.” Then he lunged at Clay violently.
As Carl came flying at him, Clay grabbed him around the waist with terrific strength, and as if he were picking up a branch from a tree, flung him straight down over the cliff.
“Help, help,” Carl’s screams echoed in the air as he fell.
Terrified, Cindy tried to run to the edge of the cliff to help him, but Clay caught her midway.
“You’re next,” Clay said, glaring at Cindy.
“We haven’t done anything to you, Clay,” Cindy begged. “It was Kate, she did it. She abandoned you.”
Clay loosened his grip, just a little then.
“It was Kate who led you on,” Cindy cried out.
“She did, she did,” Clay called louder. “Kate made me think she loved me, but she didn’t. I couldn’t be shamed like that before the entire world.”
“So you posted those photos to let everyone think you’d gotten engaged,” Cindy said.
“Right, and I’m glad I did,” Clay conceded.
Cindy longed to break loose from Clay and run to Carl. She could hear him moaning and calling and thanked God that he was alive.
“I’m coming Carl,” Cindy called.
“No you’re not,” Clay shook her whole body. “You’ll never see him again. Just like I’ll never see Kate again, either.”
“Hold on Carl, just hang in,” Cindy kept calling.