“You were there when Dale arrived though, weren’t you?” asked Mattheus.

  “No, I wasn’t,” replied Ali, surprising Cindy. “I heard he came down later on.”

  That was definitely true. Dale had taken a quick flight down after the video of Fern dancing with Ali had been posted on the net. Once again, Cindy wondered who had posted it.

  “There’s an eyewitness at the hotel who said she saw you banging on Fern’s door, yelling to let you in later that night,” Lance reported then. “Is that true?”

  “No, it is not,” said Ali definitively. “I told you, I wasn’t there.”

  “Yeah, and what if we don’t believe you, buddy?” Dale edged closer to Ali.

  “Believe what you want, it’s none of my business,” said Ali, who seemed completely familiar with situations like this.

  “We’ve got an eyewitness account,” Lance repeated to him.

  “Yeah, well show this eyewitness to me,” said Ali.

  The cops looked at each other and at Mattheus then.

  “This is a police investigation,” Mattheus joined in. “Don’t play around with us.”

  Duane jumped in then, getting mad. “Give me a break, fellas,” he said. “What exactly is the crime we’re accused of? Giving a few cheap women a thrill?”

  “Scum,” yelled Dale at him. “How dare you say that about my fiancée?”

  “She hired us, mister, didn’t she? If you didn’t like it why didn’t you stop her?” Duane spoke derisively.

  “I tried to stop her.” Dale’s eyes bristled with fire.

  “Couldn’t get her to listen, eh?” Duane was on the war path. “Not man enough? Think we made her happier than you ever did?”

  Dale turned and grabbed at Mattheus. “These guys are scum,” he yelled louder. “Take both of them in for questioning. Who the hell cares about their alibis?”

  “It doesn’t work that way, Dale.” Cindy stepped in now. “Alibis count. We’ll check theirs out.”

  “This little twerp doesn’t like it that we gave his fiancée a good time, does he?” Duane was heating up. “These rich white women come down here, all hungry, dying for us to make them feel good. What does that say about their rich boyfriends, who are only in love with big bucks?”

  It looked as if Dale would burst out of his skin. “I gave Fern a great life, she wasn’t hungry for a second. She worshiped the ground I walked on.”

  Ali’s eyebrows rose. “Calm down, brother,” he said, seeming suddenly to be sorry for Dale.

  “Your gal was a wild woman on the loose,” Duane growled at Dale.

  “Go to hell.” Dale was about to throw a punch, when one of the cops stopped him. “I made Fern’s life perfect,” Dale started to wail, “she loved me, she told me!”

  “If she loved you so much, what was her ex-boyfriend doing at the party then?” Duane wouldn’t let go.

  Dale was taken aback. “Kirk was Fern’s ex, there was nothing between them, they were only friends,” Dale spluttered. “It was over years ago. He even came down with his girlfriend. Willow told me.”

  “Who’s Willow?” Ali joined in.

  “Willow’s my friend,” Dale said. “She looks after my interests wherever they are.”

  “Think Willow could have been jealous of Fern?” Ali couldn’t help ask.

  “Absolutely not!” Dale became flustered. “Willow knows our friendship is solid and nothing could ever break us up.”

  “Wow, that’s a hell of a statement,” said Ali. “Nothing can break you up? Not even getting married to someone else?”

  “Fern was okay with it, too,” Dale blasted back. “She liked Willow and Willow liked her back.”

  Cindy flinched. That was not what Willow had told her. She’d seemed scornful of Fern, looked down on her. Cindy wondered how in touch with reality Dale actually was.

  Ali took a step closer to him. “Ever think that maybe Willow wasn’t okay with your getting married?” he asked. “Maybe she was the one who took Fern out?”

  “That’s crazy,” yelled Dale. “Willow’s a good friend and I trust her! She’s the only woman I can.”

  Cindy shivered. Dale barely knew what he was saying or doing, unraveling right under their eyes. Being with Ali and Duane, he couldn’t hide from the truth about Fern anymore. Cindy wondered if Mattheus was right. Had Dale killed Fern in a fit of rage? It was definitely possible, but she was still uncertain.

  *

  After their car drove away, the cops immediately made arrangements to check out Ali’s alibi at the Conch Club. Other than that, except for a general sense of agitation, there was nothing specific they had to take back with them.

  Dale sat in the back of the car, his head in hands, murmuring. “Damn rotten, lousy bastards,” he kept saying, “why in hell did she come down here for this stupid party and hire scum like this?”

  Lots of women had parties and hired dancers, thought Cindy, and they didn’t end up dead. Dale was way out of his depth, flailing around.

  “We should talk to this ex-boyfriend, too,” Lance spoke then over the din. “It’s strange for an ex attend his ex-girlfriend’s bachelorette party. You talked to Kirk already, Cindy, didn’t you?”

  “I did,” said Cindy, carefully. She knew Dale was listening and though it might be painful, she wanted to see how he would react to more disturbing news. “Kirk’s definitely still in love with Fern,” Cindy declared.

  “What did you say?” Dale’s head popped up wildly.

  “Kirk told me Fern was also still in love with him.” Cindy watched for Dale’s reaction.

  “That guy’s completely nuts!” yelled Dale. “He’s a pain in the butt, nothing else. He was always bothering Fern. She couldn’t stand him. I watched her delete his emails, one after the next. We laughed about it.”

  Lance jumped in. “Maybe Kirk wouldn’t take no for an answer? Was he trying to get Fern to come back to him at the last minute?”

  “He definitely was.” Cindy played along. “Kirk was sure in the long run, he’d end up with her. He was sure one day they’d be married.”

  “That’s the craziest thing I’ve heard yet,” Dale barked. “That guy’s living in dream land.”

  So were many of the people down here, thought Cindy.

  “There’s no way in a million years Fern would have left me for the lunatic!” Dale continued. “Who the hell invited him down, anyway? I know Fern didn’t. How’d he hear about the party?”

  “Most likely on Facebook,” Cindy replied.

  “That’s right, that’s right.” Dale’s eyes lit up. “The jerk was always trolling around on Fern’s pages.” Dale made a fist and began pounding it hard on his leg. “Let’s go talk to him, let’s go see him now.”

  “Calm down, Dale,” said Cindy. “The cops will explore this further.”

  “Not the cops, me!” Dale’s face contorted in pain and rage. “Right now! If even half of what you’re telling me is true, this guy doesn’t have long left to live.”

  Chapter Twenty One

  When Cindy and Mattheus returned to their room, there was a message waiting for them from Frank.

  “All the guests are having a great time at Carnival, but we miss you guys!! Where are you? How’s it going? When’s the wedding? How long is this going on? Any chance we can all meet at least for dinner tonight?”

  Cindy and Mattheus looked at each other oddly. When was the wedding happening? How long was the case going to go on? That was the thousand-dollar question, thought Cindy.

  “We’ll have an answer for them by tomorrow,” said Mattheus. “The police are checking out Kirk’s background, and will look more into Ali and Duane. They’re also going over Fern’s room again. My guess is nothing more will turn up.”

  “Something has to,” said Cindy. “We can’t just leave everything dangling.”

  “Things dangle, Cindy, what can we do? We do all we can and that’s that.” Mattheus put his arms around her. “Lots of cases are left dangling for years. At least we tried. And tell Frank yes, we’ll have dinner with all of the guests tonight. In fact, I’ll reserve a table for all of us.”

  The thought of dinner with family and guests exhausted Cindy. “It’s going to be a huge distraction,” she said. “Actually, I was hoping to speak to Kirk again this evening.”

  “No need to,” said Mattheus, “the police are all over it now. Not only are they digging further into both Kirk and Ali, but they’re going back to double search Fern’s room.”

  “I have a special connection with Kirk,” Cindy objected. “If there’s anyone he’ll talk to, it’s me.”

  “You think you’re gonna get a confession from him?” Mattheus seemed annoyed.

  “Not a confession, but I know I can get some piece of information that puts us on the right track,” said Cindy.

  “Okay, if you want to, go right ahead,” said Mattheus. “But the longer we’re at this, the more I think it’s Dale. I also think he’s gonna walk. Doesn’t look like we’ll get any evidence on him.”

  Cindy had to agree that it certainly looked that way right now, but she’d seen cases turn around in the flash of a second. Just one new piece of information could open a whole new door.

  “I’m not ready to throw the towel in yet, Mattheus,” she said. “I know there’s more coming, I feel it.”

  “Okay, so beyond that,” said Mattheus, “I hope you won’t mind if I go to dinner with the folks tonight?”

  Not only didn’t Cindy mind, she was relieved. She hugged Mattheus and then turned to quickly call Kirk and set the interview up.

  *

  Kirk was excited to meet with Cindy again. He said he’d be waiting for her in the same place they’d met before. Delighted, Cindy quickly went down to the pier. As before there was a sense of excitement and adventure as cruise boats arrived and departed in the setting sun.

  When Cindy arrived, Kirk was standing in the very same place he’d been before. Dressed in faded jeans and a tie-dye shirt, he had a couple of silver bracelets around his wrist. The fading light of the day shone on both of them, as they greeted each other and began to walk down the long pathway in front of the huge ships.

  “We’re leaving St. Thomas soon,” Kirk said immediately.

  “When?” Cindy’s heart started pounding. Was Kirk warning her of something?

  “The cops are letting people go day after tomorrow,” Kirk continued.

  Cindy’s heart clenched. There was almost no time left.

  “Thanks so much for taking time to meet me again,” Cindy breathed.

  “You guys haven’t made any decent headway on the case.” Kirk looked troubled. “Dale’s still out of jail and no one’s taking his place. And so far, you’ve got nothing solid. I’m disappointed.”

  Cindy felt a sinking feeling as he spoke. Kirk had obviously been keeping close watch on the proceedings. And he was right.

  “Fern deserves better than that.” He was clearly upset.

  “I met with the stripper in person,” Cindy quickly filled in, hoping it would take the edge off.

  “That’s a waste of time, those guys are a side show,” Kirk mumbled. “You girls seem to like them, but in the long run they have nothing to add. Whatever they tell you won’t amount to a thing.”

  “How do you know that?” asked Cindy.

  “I’m not stupid, Cindy. Do the cops think I’m stupid or something?”

  “Of course not, Kirk.” Cindy felt nervous.

  “I know Dale’s been following me, trying to tie me to the case,” he went on.

  Cindy’s heart leapt. “I thought the police let you know what he was up to,” she burst out.

  “The police can’t be trusted down here as far as you can throw them,” Kirk replied. “Maybe they told you that, but it never happened. And they never turned to me either for information.”

  “They didn’t turn to a lot of people,” Cindy tried to defend them. “Why should the cops have turned to you, Kirk?”

  “Because I know who killed Fern,” he replied with a steely glint in his eye. “I’ve figured it out. I’m smarter than they are.”

  “Who?” Cindy’s heart stopped beating a second.

  “Either Willow or Dale, or both of them,” Kirk spoke without hesitation. “And don’t think it was a killing of impulse. It wasn’t. That public fight between Dale and Fern was staged, just for show. He wanted to make her look bad in front of everybody.”

  Cindy listened, enrapt. “You’ve been hard at work at this,” she murmured.

  “Of course, I have,” said Kirk. “The murder was planned carefully, down to the very last detail. Fern always told me she was afraid Dale would kill her one day.”

  Cindy stopped cold at that comment. “Wait a minute!” She held up her hand. “You didn’t tell me that before! You’re positive of it?”

  “As positive as I am that I’m standing here,” said Kirk.

  “Why didn’t you tell me that he threatened to kill her?” Cindy was horrified.

  “I thought it was obvious,” said Kirk.

  Cindy looked more closely at him. Could she believe what he was saying? Kirk seemed so certain and confident, but who knew?

  “It came to me the other night,” Kirk continued. “The pieces started to fit together suddenly. I think Dale and Willow teamed up to get Fern to the right place and position and then hired someone to do the job fast. That’s why there’s no evidence that anyone can take hold of. It was carefully planned, every second of it!”

  “There’s evidence, we have fingerprints,” Cindy reminded him.

  “Yeah, but you’ll never match them with anyone,” Kirk replied. “They planned it that way. The actual killer’s probably an anonymous local. But Willow and Dale engineered everything. Take both of them into custody!”

  Cindy was impressed by the specificity of Kirk’s conjectures. “You’ve certainly thought about this a lot,” she said.

  “Only night and day.” Kirk smiled strangely at her then. “I don’t like anyone fooling me, do you?”

  “Why do you think Dale wanted Fern dead?” Cindy went forward, feeling as though she were plunging into deep waters that she could easily get lost in.

  “Fern probably cheated on him and he found out about it,” Kirk went on, proud of his conclusion. “Or, Willow could have told him that, anyway. If Dale believed Fern actually cheated, it would be over the line for a nut job like him who can’t handle rejection.”

  Cindy couldn’t help wondering if Kirk wasn’t some kind of nut job himself. He’d built this all up in his mind, piece by piece, but it could simply be a sandcastle that could quickly come tumbling down.

  “Do you have any evidence of this, any recordings or notes where Fern said that Dale threatened to kill her?” Cindy was desperate for specifics.

  “No, I don’t,” said Kirk.

  “Tell me more about you. What do you do, Kirk?” Cindy wanted to tie him down to simple facts and realities.

  “I’m a graphic designer,” he replied. “I work for a small, private company in the Hudson Valley. Of course my job wasn’t big enough or good enough for Fern and she told me that plenty of times.”

  “That must have made you mad,” Cindy suggested.

  “Everything Fern ever did was designed to rattle everyone’s cage. She got off on it. But I loved her anyway, I told you that.”

  “You didn’t want her to die?” asked Cindy innocently.

  “Not most of the time,” Kirk said, laughing, giving Cindy a strange moment of pause.

  The evening wind blew up as they were walking. Cindy needed Kirk to take one step further now. He needed to give Cindy a fact she could hold onto.

  “Tell me more, please, time is short,” she pleaded.

  “That’s right, time is short,” Kirk said, suddenly flustered. “And I’ve got to get back to Rowe. “She in the room waiting for me, probably texting, and doesn’t like it if I’m late.”

  “Are you in love with Rowe?” Cindy asked fiercely.

  “No, I’m not,” Kirk exclaimed. “I never was. It’s Fern, only Fern for the rest of my life. Fern and I were made for each other, and nothing can ever spoil that.”

  Kirk dashed off suddenly then, leaving Cindy in a flutter, as the lights on the cruise boats went on, preparing for an evening of dancing and drinking on the beautiful Caribbean waters.

  *

  After Kirk left, Cindy felt more confused than she had when she met him. There was no question but that he was interesting and thoughtful. He was obviously also a big part of Fern’s life. Why would he have been all over her Facebook page if he wasn’t? Cindy needed to know more about him though. Marge had invited Kirk to the party. Cindy had to talk to her right away. She took out her phone on an impulse, called, and to her relief, Marge picked up immediately.

  “Marge, this is Cindy Blaine,” she started.

  “Great to hear from you,” said Marge, surprised. “Can I help in some way?”

  “You definitely can,” said Cindy. “In fact, the sooner the better. Time is growing short. People will be going home soon. I need to know all I can.”

  “Listen, I’m with Gina now,” said Marge then. “Would you like us to join you for a talk?”

  “I’d love that,” said Cindy promptly. “Can you come down to the pier near the cruise boats?”

  “Sure,” said Marge, “why there?”

  “Why not here?” asked Cindy, wondering if Kirk might not stay around to watch and see what Cindy would do now. If he stayed close by, he’d see Marge and Gina, both of whom he liked. That might even draw him to them, bring him out of the shadows, cause him to tell them whatever else he had.

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Cindy waited on a bench in front of the largest cruise line for Marge and Gina to arrive. It was good being here alone for a while. The smell of the water and the soft sound of the waves lapping beneath the boats comforted Cindy and cleared her mind. She wondered how Mattheus was doing now at the dinner with family and guests. The last thing she felt like now was being among them, laughing and joking about their celebration as though nothing else was going on.

 

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