But Dale wasn’t buying it. “Dream on, fella,” he scoffed. “Willow had nothing to do with that stripper. She wouldn’t have gone even if I asked her. Willow’s a good woman—nothing like Fern! At least I could always trust Willow!”

  Cindy felt awful for Fern then. What was she doing engaged to a man who could speak this way about her now?

  “Do you think Fern slept with the stripper?” Mattheus confronted Dale, trying to upset him further.

  “Anything’s possible, isn’t it?” Dale said, biting his lips. “From the looks of it, I can’t say no. But I can’t say yes, either.”

  “Fern slept with everyone,” Kirk chimed in.

  “Shut the hell up,” Dale shouted.

  “This guy’s a cuckold, a sitting duck.” Kirk kept at it. “Fern slept with him behind his back, just like she did with me. He found out about it and killed her! The case is open and shut.”

  Dale spun around then, lunged at Kirk, and threw him to the ground.

  Mattheus rushed over as Kirk fell with a thud to the floor. “You all right, Kirk?” Mattheus helped him up slowly.

  “Nobody talks that way about Fern,” Dale thundered. “Kirk’s scum, he’s crazy, get him out of my life.”

  “You’re not getting rid of me, ever,” Kirk mumbled.

  “I think Kirk has a point.” Cindy wanted to shake everyone up further, to get the truth to pour out. “It definitely seems Fern was sleeping around. How else did Ali’s things get into her room? She had to have let him in.”

  “Maybe she did and maybe not?” Dale growled, suddenly heading for the door. “Lock Ali up and grill him like you did me. Grill him until he cries like a baby. And if he did it, while there’s still breath left in me, I’ll make sure he’s not long for this world.”

  Dale stormed out and Kirk dashed out after him a few moments later, first begging Cindy to forget about the stripper and throw Dale back into jail. Cindy promised she’d be careful about everyone and Kirk quickly departed.

  Before Cindy and Mattheus had a chance to catch their breath and discuss what happened there was another sharp knock on the door.

  “Oh God,” said Cindy, “this will never end.”

  “We’re getting close,” Mattheus breathed, “it’s ending. Things always heat up like this before a case explodes.”

  Mattheus opened the door and to their surprise, Lance stood there, excited.

  “Things are finally moving.” Lance rushed inside, talking a mile a minute. “That old lady was right, she cornered the stripper! Who knew he would be a gold mine? Stan’s busy digging into the stripper’s life! From what he’s finding, Stan thinks he could have been wrong suspecting Dale.”

  Cindy could see it all snowballing, everyone rushing to a conclusion. “What about the fingerprints on Fern’s body?” she asked. “Do they match Ali’s?”

  “They’re checking now,” Lance replied. “There’s also another bunch of cops back in Fern’s room. I’m going too, want to come along?”

  Cindy definitely did. Mattheus wasn’t sure. “Seems like they’ve got it covered,” said Mattheus.

  “They never have it all covered,” said Cindy. “Let’s go look ourselves. From the sound of it, up to now the search has been superficial.” Cindy personally wanted to go over everything in Fern’s closet and drawers.

  “Cindy’s right,” Lance agreed, “it’ll just take a little while. Could be well worth it!”

  *

  Although a yellow strip hung outside Fern’s door, police had easy access, and so did Cindy, Lance, and Mattheus. They all walked in without a fuss.

  To Cindy’s surprise, Chief of Police Ted Rawson was there overlooking the search. He nodded at them when they entered, but seemed generally disgruntled. Cindy could well understand why. The beautifully appointed room now looked like a war zone, turned inside out. It was definitely late to be doing this again, but better late than never.

  “Find anything else?” asked Mattheus, going over to Ted, with Cindy following close behind him.

  “Nah,” said Ted, “and I don’t expect to. The wallet and ID turned were a lucky find, in a pocket of one of her dresses.”

  Cindy was surprised to hear that. It was hard to imagine Fern would have put Ali’s wallet and ID there. Was Kirk right? Could it have been planted? Were they all being taken for a ride?

  “Naturally, we’re looking into everything you can imagine now.” Ted spoke officially, trying to lend gravitas to the search.

  “I’d like to look through her bureau,” said Cindy then. “Has it been done already?”

  “Only a hundred times.” Ted gave Cindy a bored glance. “But the guys could have rifled through her stuff without seeing a thing. Go give it another try.”

  Cindy went over to the large bureau along the room, and opened the first drawer of the top row. It had two silk scarves in it, a few pairs of panties, and a couple of bras. Everything seemed in good order. She opened the next drawer, which was filled with light summer T-shirts, the kind you wear at the beach on a sunny afternoon. It was painful looking through what was left of a life that had expected to come to so much more than this.

  Cindy then opened the small drawer on the far end of the bureau. There were a few bracelets and necklaces lined up inside. One of them caught Cindy’s eye. She quickly put on a glove and picked it up carefully.

  It was half of a charm bracelet only, and looked very familiar. Cindy held it up in front of her, wondering where she’d seen the other half. Then it struck her forcefully. This was the bracelet that Duane handed to Ali when Cindy came to visit.

  Cindy was stunned for a second, and confused. Quickly, she slipped the bracelet into her bag, didn’t want to say a thing yet about it. If Ali had the other half, this could be the final nail in his coffin. But who did this bracelet actually belong to, Ali or Duane? And how did Duane get it?

  “Oh boy, oh boy,” Cindy heard one of the guys in the room calling. “Get this! Come here!”

  Everyone flocked to the cop who held up a crumpled piece of paper.

  “What is it?” Ted Rawson was the first to take the paper out of the cop’s hand. “Brother,” he exclaimed, after looking at it. “How long had this been going on?”

  Cindy and Mattheus rushed to look over Ted’s shoulder. In his hand was a crumpled photo of Fern and Ali in a heated embrace.

  “Okay, this does it,” Ted called out victoriously. “Take Ali into custody. Now we’re really onto something. I got lots of questions for this guy.”

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Word was out all over the news that the police finally had evidence. And, thankfully, Ali the dancer had been taken into custody for questioning in the death of the bachelorette. Cindy cringed as Ali’s photo flashed all over TV. To her relief, Mattheus wasn’t thrilled about the developments, either.

  “Kirk could be right,” Mattheus pondered, “the evidence could definitely be planted.” Mattheus was still dead set in his conviction that Dale was involved.

  “Let’s go down to the station and talk to Ali.” Cindy couldn’t stay put. No one had said a word about Ali’s friend Duane yet either, and Cindy hadn’t told anyone about the bracelet she’d found. Cindy knew she had to though, and she would. First she wanted to talk to Ali about the bracelet herself. She didn’t want the evidence to be distorted in any way.

  Mattheus also thought it was a good idea to talk to Ali and they left quickly to get to the station before anything else came out.

  *

  Ted Rawson was surprised to see Cindy and Mattheus come in so soon after Ali had been taken into custody.

  “I want to talk to Ali immediately.” Cindy took the lead.

  Ted looked puzzled.

  “I’ve spoken with him before,” Cindy elaborated. “Ali knows me, he’ll open up.”

  “Cindy,” Ted tried to slow her down, “it’s not looking good for him. Looks like we’ve definitely got our man. I just got a call from one of my main guys. They found something else on him now!”

  “What did they find?” Cindy was shaken.

  “Not sure yet, my detective will be here in a few seconds,” said Ted.

  “Why not let Cindy and I have a word with Ali before your guy arrives?” Mattheus chimed in. “Can’t hurt, can it?”

  “No, it can’t hurt,” Ted agreed. “You can talk for a few minutes. That’s it.”

  *

  Cindy and Mattheus were led by Ted down a narrow, dark hallway to a small holding cell where Ali sat alone on a metal chair.

  Ted yanked the door open and Cindy and Mattheus walked in. “I’ll be back in a little while,” said Ted. “You don’t have all day.”

  Ali stood up the second he saw Cindy and Mattheus.

  “Hi, Ali,” said Cindy, “you remember my partner, Mattheus?”

  Ali nodded.

  “We only have a little while to talk to you,” Cindy went on.

  “It’s better than nothing,” Ali replied, looking at Cindy gratefully. “I have only one thing to tell you. I did not harm that girl.”

  I know that, Cindy wanted to say, but held back. Ali had to feel a certain amount of anxiety, in order to really open up and talk.

  “Say what you want, they have evidence on you,” Mattheus jumped in first.

  “I heard all about it,” said Ali, rubbing his face.

  “They found your scarf in Fern’s room under her bed,” Mattheus continued.

  Ali turned to Mattheus directly. “I don’t dispute that,” he said.

  “Whether you dispute it or not, they’ve got it,” said Mattheus. “The question is, how did it get there?”

  “They also found parts of your wallet in her room,” added Cindy, “and a photo of you and Fern in a hot embrace.”

  “That’s part of the dance at the party,” Ali jumped in quickly. “I never got it on with her.”

  “Did you go to Fern’s room before the party for business?” Cindy asked, almost giving him a way out.

  “No, I didn’t,” said Ali, “not at all.”

  “Did someone plant the stuff?” asked Cindy.

  “I wouldn’t say that either,” Ali grunted, seeming unwilling to say more now.

  “You’ve got to talk to us, Ali.” Cindy got between him and Mattheus. “If we don’t know the whole story we can’t help you.”

  “You’re here to help me?” Ali wanted to be certain.

  “We’re here to get at the truth,” Cindy replied. “And I believe that will help you as a matter of course.”

  Ali’s eyes caught Cindy’s deeply for a second, and once again she was convinced he was innocent.

  “Could someone else you know have been in Fern’s room?” Cindy continued.

  “Anything could have happened,” said Ali. “Who are you thinking of?”

  Time was passing and they weren’t getting anywhere. Cindy knew it was high time to take out the bracelet she had in her pocketbook and confront Ali with it. That should open things up in a flash.

  Cindy opened her bag, wrapped a tissue around the bracelet, took it out, and held it up.

  “Recognize this?” she asked Ali.

  Ali leaned closer and nodded glumly.

  “What the hell is that?” asked Mattheus.

  “This was Fern’s bracelet,” said Cindy slowly.

  “How’d you get it?” Mattheus became unnerved. “Why didn’t you tell me about it?”

  “I found this in a drawer of the bureau in Fern’s room,” Cindy replied, staring at Ali.

  “You want me to say I have the other half?” asked Ali.

  “You do, don’t you?” asked Cindy as Mattheus sat there gaping.

  “I do,” replied Ali glumly.

  “Duane gave it to you,” Cindy broke in quickly. “I was there when he did. How did Duane get the other half?”

  Ali said nothing and Cindy didn’t understand why he was keeping so quiet.

  “I don’t know who this bracelet belonged to,” Ali finally started. “Girls down here have all kinds of trinkets. It probably belonged to one of the girls at Fern’s party. Fern was my client. That’s why Duane gave it to me.”

  “What happened, Ali? Why is this bracelet torn in half?” Cindy wouldn’t let it pass.

  “That I don’t know,” said Ali.

  “How did Duane get hold of it?” Cindy asked intensely.

  “I don’t know, I’ll have to ask him,” Ali mumbled. “There’s a hundred different ways it could have come into his hands.”

  “Wait a minute, back up, back up. I never heard a word about this.” Mattheus was beside himself. “This is important. It’s a direct link to Fern, her bracelet.”

  “And maybe it isn’t,” said Cindy. “It could be this part of the bracelet was carefully placed in Fern’s drawer to make it look that way, exactly.”

  Cindy handed the bracelet to Mattheus, carefully. “Let’s get fingerprints and DNA off it.”

  “What does this add up to, Ali?” Mattheus wasn’t pulling any punches. “How did Duane get the other half of the bracelet? Who did he get it from? And how did this half end up in Fern’s bureau?”

  Ali said nothing, just stared at the floor.

  “Your life’s at stake, you better answer.” Mattheus leaned on him.

  “I’m not saying a thing about my friend Duane,” Ali mumbled.

  “If Duane’s the killer you’ve got to tell us.” Mattheus’s voice rose. “For all you know he’s out there now, targeting other women.”

  Ali’s voice got gritty. “Duane’s not targeting anyone, he’s not a killer, and neither am I. It would make things a lot easier for cops down here though, if someone could prove we were. It would make things a lot easier for Fern’s lousy fiancé too!”

  “The cops have evidence, Ali.” Mattheus wouldn’t stop. “Cindy and I have to find out where the evidence came from! If you don’t talk now, you’re making a big mistake.”

  Ali’s eyes opened wider a second and then closed shut. “Duane’s a good friend, he’s a good man. I’m not pulling him in.”

  “He’s already pulled in, he gave you the bracelet.” Cindy’s voice rose.

  Ali said nothing once again.

  Cindy had sensed Ali’s loyalty and stalwartness as soon as they’d met. But she also recalled Duane saying that he was returning Ali’s bracelet to him. Was it possible that Ali had been the one banging on the door, spending time with Fern? Was he the one who had struggled for the bracelet with her?

  “How did Duane get this bracelet?” Mattheus asked him once again.

  “I have no idea,” said Ali.

  “Why did Duane say the bracelet belonged to you?” asked Cindy.

  “It’s the way he talks,” said Ali softly. “It belonged to me because it was connected to the job I got. It’s just a lousy, cheap bracelet, anyway. Who knows who it belonged to? Who knows who put the other half of it in Fern’s drawer?”

  “Those are questions we must have answers to,” said Cindy abruptly. “Your life could depend on it. I want to talk to Duane.”

  “Forget about Duane, leave him alone. This kind of crap happens all the time,” said Ali.

  “But girls don’t turn up dead the next day, do they?” Mattheus remarked.

  “No, that’s true,” said Ali. “Most of the time they don’t.”

  Ali retreated then and sat back down on the metal chair they had for him and put his head in his hand. Cindy knew the interview was over and wondered what Ali was keeping from them.

  Cindy and Mattheus stood there silently for a few minutes until Ted came to the door.

  “Time’s up,” said Ted the second he got there.

  Ali threw Cindy a quick glance. It’s gonna be okay, Cindy wanted to say to Ali before she left. But she didn’t know that it was going to be okay, and didn’t want to make promises she couldn’t fulfill.

  “Time to go now,” Ted repeated.

  “Okay, we’re going,” said Mattheus.

  Ali looked over at Cindy, gratefully, then. “It’s going to be okay,” he murmured to her, trying to make Cindy feel better. “Sooner or later the truth will come out.”

  Cindy smiled at Ali before they left and followed Ted back down the dark corridor. As soon as they got to the front desk, Ted grinned.

  “It’s over, we got him!” Ted announced proudly. “We just got a call from Anguilla that Ali was the head of a smuggling ring down there. He and his friends did time and then came up here and started working as dancers. You can’t trust any of them as far as you can throw a stone.”

  Cindy trusted Ali anyway. “He did his time,” she tried to say.

  Ted barreled on over her. “Since this hit the news, we got a new squad digging under more of the bushes where Fern was found.”

  Ted reached over to a box on his desk, opened it, and held up an old leather watch.

  “My detective just brought it in this morning. They found this crumpled up down under one of the bushes. Everything’s checked and it’s got Ali’s fingerprints all over it. It had to have fallen off when he dug the hole and dumped Fern in it. Story over. Case closed.”

  Cindy and Mattheus stared at the old leather watch that dangled before them, forlornly.

  Ted’s grin broadened. “Go back to the hotel, take a swim, enjoy yourselves,” he said, “It’s been great working with both of you! Now it’s your time to relax.”

  *

  Cindy and Mattheus left in a few moments and took a cab back to the hotel.

  “I’m not convinced about any of it,” said Cindy. “There’s too much evidence coming to light, too suddenly.”

  Mattheus put his arm around her. “You’re never convinced,” he said softly. “It always takes time for things to sink in. We’ll unwind slowly, put this behind us. Our guests will be thrilled it’s over.”

  “I can’t put it behind me if I have doubts, Mattheus,” Cindy spoke softly. “How can I walk down the aisle wondering if they put the wrong man in jail?”

  Mattheus sighed. “What do you need to do to get rid of your doubts?” he asked.

  “I have to go down to where Duane lives and talk to him immediately,” Cindy replied.

 

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