Free Death by Betrayal (Book #10 in the Caribbean Murder series) by Jaden Skye Page A

until you were absolutely certain about who
they were.
    “As
a matter of fact, I did see Alain,” she replied courteously. “He’s a nice guy
with a rock solid alibi. I’ll give you the details, you can check them out. I
found no reason to doubt him.”
    “Okay,
thanks for that,” Trage commented. “We can eliminate him then?”
    “Absolutely,”
said Cindy, still wondering whether or not she should mention the green car.  She
decided to wait though and talk it over first with Mattheus.
    “How
about you? How are you doing?” Trage took a step closer, looking into her eyes.
    “I’m
doing fine, thanks,” said Cindy. “In fact, after I saw Alain, I took your
advice and called my partner, Mattheus to come down and help with the case.”
    Trage
looked surprised. “That’s a wise step to take,” he answered carefully. “What
made you decide?”
    Cindy
ignored the question. “Mattheus will be here on the next flight. As soon as he
arrives I’ll bring him over and introduce him. He’ll be a great help with the
case.”
    “Thanks
for letting me know,” said Trage.
    “You’ll
like him,” said Cindy. “He’s a great detective and it looks like we need all
the support we can get.”
    Trage
wrote something down on a piece of paper, looked up at her, nodded and then led
her down to the end of the hallway to sign Frank’s parole.
    *
    Frank
was delighted to walk out of the jail beside Cindy, and into the cab that Trage
had waiting. He looked deeply shaken and discombobulated, though.
    “I’ll
never forget you did this for me,” Frank said, putting his hand on Cindy’s arm.
“Never.”
    “It’s
just the beginning,” Cindy said as the cab took off.
    “What
do you mean? What happens now?” Frank was practically spluttering.
    “My
mother and uncles are at the hotel,” Cindy replied, “they want to see you
immediately.”“They’re at the same hotel we’re staying at?” Frank seemed happy
to hear it.
    “Yes,”
said Cindy. “In fact my mother’s planning a memorial for Ann tomorrow, on the
beach.”
    Frank
looked stunned. “A memorial now? It’s too soon, besides no one’s here.”
    “We’re
here,” said Cindy.
    “Just
us?” Frank was wide eyed.
    “Everyone
has their own way of dealing with things,” Cindy replied. “You know my mother
better than I do.  I guess she’s doing what she can to feel alright.” Frank
knew more about lots of things involving the family than Cindy did. He saw her
mother all the time, had been much closer to her than Cindy had.  “Tell me more
about my mother, Frank,” Cindy went on.
    “This
has got to be a total nightmare for her,” he agreed. “I’ll go see her as soon
as we get to the hotel.”
    “No,”
Cindy suddenly exclaimed, “first I have to talk to you alone.”
    “About
what?” Frank looked startled.
    “About
Ann,” Cindy breathed.
     “What
about her?” he got jittery.
    Cindy
turned straight to him. “You’ve got to tell me everything, Frank !” Cindy
felt frightened by her own intensity.
    “I
told you everything, we talked in jail,” Frank said.
    Cindy’s
jaw hardened. “That was just the beginning. Ann didn’t die of natural causes. This
is a murder case, someone killed her, I’ve got to find out who.”
    “I
don’t know,” Frank started trembling, “I have no idea. I told you already.”
    The
cab pulled up to the hotel. Cindy paid and they got out.
    “Before
we go to my mother’s room, we’re going to the back gazebo,” Cindy demanded. “There
are tables there. We’ll sit down together and you’ll talk to me.”
    “About
what?” Frank became agitated.
    “You’ll
tell me every secret you know about Ann,” said Cindy.
    “I
won’t, that’s disgusting,” Frank muttered.
    Cindy
got into his face. “This is not a game. I have to know them –they’ll tell me
how my sister was killed.”
    Suddenly
Frank’s eyes opened wide. “What kind of secrets? Ann didn’t have secrets?”
    “Everyone
has