Death by Seduction (Book #13 in the Caribbean Murder series)

“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.”