Death by Marriage by Jaden Skye Page A

is Cindy Blaine.”
    There
was silence for a second on the other side. “Oh yeah,” he said finally. “I
remember, sure. What’s going on?” He sounded busy and official.
    “I’m
trying to find the address of a woman I want to talk to,” Cindy said. “Can you
give me a hand?”
    “Who?”
his interest perked up.
    “Heather
May,” said Cindy.
    He
laughed.
    Cindy
was taken aback.  “You know her?”
    “Everybody
knows her. We talked to her already, sweetheart. Who gave you her name?”
    “The
owner of Salon B,” said Cindy, “Andrea.”
    He
laughed harder. “Boy you sure get around town quick. Andrea’s a character, all
right. You been to the Salon already?”
    Cindy
didn’t like the tone in his voice. He spoke to her as if she were a child. “Not
yet,” she said, offended.
    “That
dame’s a hoot. Where’d you meet her?” Brayton went on.
    Enough
was enough.  Cindy wasn’t going to join in bad mouthing women. “I’d like
Heather May’s address and phone number if you have it,” she said officially.
    “That’s
a wild goose chase,” Brayton answered. “She lives way at the edge of town,
frizzy hair, always out on her porch, smoking dope. Fancies herself some kind
of artist.  She’s not. Had a questionable connection with Paul too, if you
asked me. Very peculiar. You can’t believe a thing she says.”
    “Great,”
said Cindy, “I’d like to see her anyway.”
    “You’re
damn persistent for a woman, “Brayton said then.
    Cindy
shuddered and decided to have as little contact with the police as possible
from now on.  She didn’t need them. She’d let Mattheus handle that.
     “I’ll
run by her place for a little while,” said Cindy. “Never know what I can pick
up.”
    Brayton
paused, grumbled and acquiesced. “Do it your way, what do I care? Use your time
however you like. I’m not the one paying for it.” Then he gave her Heather May’s
address - 42 Ravine Road. “It’s down past the junction that leads to the Pier
on the left side of the island.  Turn left there and keep going, until you can’t
go another minute. The house is there. A ramshackle place. I don’t have her
phone, don’t know if she even has one.”
    Cindy
hung up the phone. What was wrong with these guys? They lived in a time warp
where women were treated like imbeciles. She could see clearly why women in
trouble down here wanted a woman detective. At least Cindy had gotten Heather
May’s address.  She decided to rent a car and drive down there herself to talk
to her.
    *
    The
trip down was tricky. The roads curved and wound up and down, along narrow
edges, and through hills lined with trees, wild bushes, sprawling vines.
Lizards, frogs and other little animals were everywhere, popping out at the
most unexpected moments. The sun shone in Cindy’s eyes most of the time as she
drove.
    This
was probably a good trip to have taken with Mattheus, Cindy thought for a
moment, and then quickly brushed the thought aside. She had to remember that Mattheus
needed plenty of space. She’d felt a little pang when she thought about it, but
brushed it away. This wasn’t a relationship, it was a business partnership.
They’d fill each other in when he got back into town. She’d chosen this job and
had better grow strong enough to be able to handle it, learn to stand firmly on
her own two feet.  From the moment she’d met Clint years ago, she’d always felt
taken care of.  It had meant a lot to her then. Now things were different.
Clint had been dead for a bunch of months, and she was in an equal partnership
now. 
    She
drove down a bumpy, unpaved road to the address she’d gotten for Heather May. 
This part of town was untouched, hidden and wild. Trees, brush and wild life of
all kinds, were tangled up in each other. Shafts of bright light shone through
the trees and then disappeared suddenly in heavy shadows that lined the roads.
    Cindy
came to a small, wooden house with an open porch that wound around it.