“What the hell are you looking at?” Eric’s face flushed.

“Looking, just looking,” Baron muttered back. “There are answers out there somewhere, the heavens know more than any of us mortals here on earth.”

“Oh brother,” Eric growled, “oh brother. You’ve been sitting in this room for too long, it’s gotten to you.”

“Cases like these are never simple,” Baron drawled slowly, turning to Cindy and giving her a wink.

Chapter 3

After Cindy and Mattheus left the hospital the very next stop was to the jail to meet Owen personally and hear what he had to say. Eric insisted upon accompanying them, at least up to the interrogation room. After that they had the right to speak to their client in private. Baron stayed on guard in the hospital room and Kevin joined them in the back seat of the car.

“Owen’s gonna tell you all kinds of things,” Eric said as they drove to the jail. “Be careful, he’s charming as hell and convincing. Con men always are.”

“Looks like you’ve already made up your mind about him,” quipped Cindy. “Seems like he doesn’t stand a chance with you.”

“We’ve been talking to him for days,” Eric’s voice got gruffer. “The guy slips and slides all over the place.”

“Any specific inconsistencies?” Mattheus asked as Kevin cleared his throat in the rear of the car, as if warning Eric to lay low.

“Con men are great at all kinds of inconsistencies,” Eric shot back, paying no attention to Kevin. “They cover their asses beautifully. First you’re talking about one thing, and before you know it, they’ve got you off on a completely different subject. You completely forget what you were there for in the first place. I’ve seen it a million times.”

This was the first time Cindy had heard Owen referred to as a con man. Everything she’d read about him up to now made him seem like an upstanding guy.

“Look,” Eric went on, “we got different kinds of crime down here; poor on poor crime, poor on tourists crime, drug related crime, gang violence. We got shootings by dealers and then there’s crime by rich con men who come down here for fun.”

“Sounds like you’ve got it all pegged,” Cindy responded.

“Bet your life I do,” Eric retorted, “I’ve been doing this job too long for now to be taken in by anything. I’m not the Chief of Police for no reason.”

Kevin scraped his throat louder in the back seat. Cindy wondered if this wasn’t a common occurrence, Eric, hot headed, going on too much about what he thought and Kevin signaling him to calm down. Kevin seemed more measured by nature, probably assigned to Eric to keep him in check, especially with the press around.

Cindy thought about what Eric had said. She found it odd that Eric thought that some crime down here was done for fun.

“It couldn’t have been too much fun for Owen to spend two months with his wife in a coma, watching her die,” Cindy responded to him pointedly. “How do you figure that was fun?”

Eric flushed and turned directly towards Cindy. “Weirdo’s have fun in weird ways. They have fun mixing you up, pretending to be someone they’re not.”

“Are you saying Owen enjoyed watching his wife in a coma?” Cindy pressed him.

“Eric never said that exactly,” Kevin piped up from behind. “He’s just giving you an overall picture of motives for different kinds of crimes.”

“Appreciate your filling us in,” Mattheus said to Eric, quieting him down.

“Well, I’m glad someone here appreciates my background and experience,” Eric replied. “Just warning you guys up front not to let Owen pull you onto his golden roller coaster ride.”

Cindy was eager to know more about Owen, to meet and talk to him alone with Mattheus. She was relieved when the car pulled up to the jail and they all got out.

“Guess you want to talk to Owen alone?” Eric was just checking before they parted ways.

“That would be best for now,” Mattheus said quietly, keeping the bond between him and Eric intact. “We can talk more about it later together.”

Eric liked that. He liked Mattheus and Cindy was impressed with how well Mattheus navigated their relationship.

Kevin got out of the back of the car and nodded at Cindy warmly. Then he handed her a map of the grounds, including the building where suspects were held.

Cindy thanked both of them, said good bye and then she and Mattheus headed directly towards the detention center where Owen would be waiting. A few moments after they were on their way, Cindy turned around briefly to check on Eric and Kevin. She saw them walking together, talking heatedly, on their way to their offices.

“Eric’s a loose cannon,” Cindy said immediately, enormously relieved to be alone with Mattheus.

“He knows a lot though,” Mattheus replied, “just needs to be listened to and valued. I’ve known a bunch of cops like that over the years.”

“Eric’s full of himself,” Cindy retorted. “He knows what he knows and has no room for another perspective. That’s not good for a Chief of Police. This case isn’t about Owen and Tara for him, it’s about proving himself right.”

“So what?” Mattheus said to Cindy. “This is not a personality contest. Like him or not, he’s a good resource. We’ve got to stay on good terms and keep him in the loop.”

“You’re right,” said Cindy as they approached the building Owen was being held in, entered and went straight to the interrogation room.

*

The moment Owen was brought into the room by the guard, Cindy felt relieved. As she’d guessed, Owen was nothing at all as Eric described him. He was a tall, handsome, distraught man in his late forties, with thick wavy brown hair and beautiful blue eyes.

Both Cindy and Mattheus stood up to greet him.

“Pleased to meet you,” Cindy extended her hand, looking straight into his eyes. As Owen’s gaze met hers, she saw deep waves of pain and hope fluctuating in his glance.

“Thank God, you’re here,” Owen quickly responded to her.

“This is my partner, Mattheus,” Cindy continued, quickly including him in the encounter.

“I’ve only heard wonderful things about the two of you,” Owen breathed, rapidly rubbing his hand over his forehead. “There’s so much I have to say.”

“You all have thirty minutes,” the guard interrupted, before he turned around then and left them there, facing each other.

“Let’s sit down,” Cindy said to Owen. “We have as long as we need.”

Owen looked at her gratefully and sat across from Cindy and Mattheus at a narrow, steel table.

“This is a nightmare I can’t wake up from,” Owen started, focusing almost entirely on Cindy. “The police have decided I killed Tara. But they have nothing to base this arrest upon. I’m constantly in touch with the authorities in the States, but so far am getting nothing but flack. I’m trying to contact my Senator, it’s all a mess.”

“Tell us everything,” Mattheus started quickly, keeping his eyes glued to Owen’s face, wanting to be included in the conversation. “We need whatever facts you have for us.”

Cindy was grateful that Mattheus was open to Owen, despite what Eric had said.

“The fact is I loved my wife,” Owen started heatedly, “and anybody you talk to will tell you that. We were married for twenty wonderful years. Tara never complained about our marriage and neither did I. We were here to celebrate our anniversary, it was supposed to be a beautiful time. After the horrible accident I stayed at her bedside every second. I didn’t leave her alone for a minute, I slept there, held her, begged her to wake up and come back to me again.” His eyes filled with sudden tears.

Cindy sighed deeply, unnerved. There was nothing about Owen that seemed like a con man. She had no idea where Eric got that idea from.

“Did Tara wake up, even once?” Mattheus asked suddenly, startling both Cindy and Owen.