Death by Marriage by Jaden Skye

Cindy said gently.
    “Have
it your way,” said Kendra, irritated, and stalked out of the room.
    When
she left Nell took a deep breath. “My mother has moods, she always had. And now
it’s particularly tough for her.”
    “You
don’t get along so well?” asked Cindy.
    “Up
and down. She’s hard to take. I was closer to my father.”
    “I’m
sorry,” said Cindy. “You must miss him very much.”
    Nell’s
eyes suddenly closed.
    “Is
there anything at all you can tell us?” Cindy asked in as gentle a voice as she
could. Nell was odd and interesting. At moments she was extremely alert, and,
then, at other moments remote, as if a cloud had descended upon her.  
    “I
have no idea who killed my father, “said Nell, finally, opening her eyes
slightly.  Her face flushed as she spoke. Just saying those words were painful
for her.  “I don’t even want to know who did it.  I want to wake up and find
out it was all a bad dream.”
    “It
wasn’t a dream,” said Cindy.
    “How
do you know?” said Nell. “People can live their whole lives and then something
happens and their whole life turns into a dream.”
    “That’s
what happened to you?” asked Mattheus.
    “None
of it’s real,” said Nell.
    Cindy
and Mattheus looked at each other. Cindy didn’t want to push too hard. This was
so new and fresh for Nell, it would take months for her to make sense of it.
And clearly, she didn’t have the kind of relationship with her mother that
would support her through the process.  Yet, oddly enough, she didn’t seem so
alone. There was a strange strength about her.
    “I’m
more like my dad,” Nell said then from out of nowhere. “We understood each
other very well.”
    “How
wonderful that you had that,” said Cindy.
    “He
didn’t let anything knock him down,” her eyes opened wider and she seemed to
get strength, just thinking about him. “Once he said, Nell, no matter what the
world dishes out, remember one thing, honey. You can always find a way out of a
tough spot. There’s always another street to walk down, there’s always an
answer waiting.”
    Mattheus
seemed impressed. “Quite a guy,” he said.
    Nell’s
face lit up briefly.  “He was a great guy – he was different,” she said.
    “It
must have been a powerful force that took him down, “said Mattheus.
    Nell
recoiled. “I don’t know what happened,” she shook her head.
    Cindy
got up from the couch and walked over to her. It was enough. She didn’t want
Mattheus crashing through Nell’s defenses all at once.  She needed them now.
     “In
a little while the storm season’s starting,” Nell went on, out of nowhere.
    “And?”
asked Cindy.
    “All
the tourists leave the island. Only the hard core remain. We board up our homes
and get ready to wait out the storm inside. My dad always loved hurricane
season. He and I boarded up the house together, year after year.”
    “Who’s
going to board it up this year?” asked Mattheus.
    “No
one,” said Nell, smiling oddly. “Maybe this year the storm will just tear the
whole house apart.”
    *
    “There
was no reason to grill her like that,” said Cindy, when she and Mattheus had
left the house. “You were too tough on her.”
    “I
had to be,” said Mattheus. “when they’re rattled they say things they wouldn’t
otherwise say. Things just come out.”
    “What
about her?” said Cindy. “She’s a kid who’s lost her dad.”
    “I’m
sorry for her,” said Mattheus, but I don’t forget what I’m here to do. I wasn’t
hired to be a therapist. Neither were you. We have a big job to do and not much
time to do it. Beyond all that, there’s a murderer on the loose. You never know
when they’ll strike again, or who?”
    The
way he said it gave Cindy a chill.  She hadn’t taken in the fact that right
among them, close by possibly, the murderer could be lurking, waiting to
pounce.
    “You’re
right,” she said to Mattheus then. “Right and wrong at the same