“Why didn’t you tell anyone about this?” Cindy asked, stunned, her voice rising.
“What was there to say? She wasn’t dead. She was alive all that time in the coma,” the fisherman spluttered. “Then after she died, they took the husband to jail. What did they need me for, nothing!”
“For something,” Cindy cried out in pain.
“Now that I read in the papers that the husband got out, I’m planning to tell the cops,”
the old guy defended himself.
“When were you planning to do it?” asked Cindy, “when?”
“Today,” the old fisherman looked perturbed.
“It’s too late now,” Cindy yelled.
“Never too late for anything,” he croaked back.
The old guy meant well and Cindy felt badly yelling at him.
“Stop,” Cindy put her hand on his arm. “Don’t go anywhere. Wait right here.” Then she flipped open her phone and immediately called Mattheus.
“Tell the cops to nab Owen immediately,” Cindy shrieked over the phone.
“What the hell’s the matter?” Mattheus voice choked.
Cindy’s heart beat furiously. “I’ve got an eye witness,” Cindy hollered, “he saw Owen driving the boat into Tara, over and over again.”
“Hold on, what are you saying? I just spoke to the cops to tie things up,” Mattheus sounded flustered. “Cops told me Owen’s at the airport right now, on flight 67, United Airways, going back to the States.”
“Oh no, he’s not,” yelled Cindy. “Get there! Stop him!”
“Are you sure?” Mattheus hollered back. “Who is this witness?”
“I’m positive,” Cindy kept yelling, “definite! I’m going to the airport now. I’ll meet you there.”
“Go,” Mattheus yelled back, as Cindy hung up, took the old guy’s name and number and made him swear he’d go to the police immediately.
*
As the taxi flew to the airport, Cindy panted uncontrollably in the back seat. Everything fell into place as the nagging feelings she’d had melted away. She’d been wrong about Owen right from the start. Cindy prayed she’d get to the airport before Owen boarded his flight. Once he returned to the States, she didn’t know if they could get him back to Jamaica so easily.
As soon as Cindy arrived at the airport, she flew to United Airways. Thankfully, there was still half an hour before the plane took off and the travelers hadn’t yet boarded. Cindy dashed to the waiting gate and immediately saw Owen sitting there. To her total shock, he wasn’t alone. Sitting next to him was a beautiful, blonde young woman in her early twenties, holding his hand, smiling up at him. Owen was grinning and laughing with her as well. The two of them seemed overjoyed. Who was the young woman? What was he doing with her now?
Cindy approached stealthily, moving through the crowds like a shadow, watching every move he made. Owen was so engrossed with the young woman that he had no sense of Cindy approaching at all. The young woman was staring at him with adoring eyes, and he was drinking her adoration in. Clearly they knew each other well. When she got closer Cindy stood there a long moment, staring at them. She couldn’t believe that she’d been duped by Owen, like everyone else. First she felt dizzy, then furious.
Cindy plunged to his side and stood there boldly, waiting for him to look her way. When Owen turned suddenly and saw her, he registered a brief moment of surprise.
“Are we going home on the same flight?” he asked then, a bemused look in his eye, as if he’d won a crafty game.
“You’re not going anywhere right now,” Cindy growled, shaken to the core.
“I beg your pardon?” a flash of wild arrogance crossed his face.
“You’re being detained,” Cindy mustered all her authority.
Owen only laughed harshly at her and pulled the young woman closer to him, looking at Cindy with disdain. The young woman looked shaken, however. Obviously, this confrontation was not something she ever expected.
“Who is this?” Cindy took a step closer, pointing to the young woman. “And what is she doing here with you?”
“This is Nina,” Owen replied, casually, “and what’s it to you?”
“Nina,” Cindy spun towards her and looked at her threateningly, “what are you doing here with Owen now?”
“Don’t say a word, it’s none of her business,” Owen flashed a dark look at Cindy.
“It’s completely my business. I’m still on the case,” Cindy said then, trying to shake the awful confidence he exuded.
“Case is over,” he mocked, “nothing more to do.”
“Oh really?” said Cindy, her eyes narrowing at him. “What if I tell you that we now have an eye witness to the accident?”
“Oh yeah,” Owen replied unaffected, “tell me anything you want. It’s over and you’re fired! You’re working for me, like everyone else.”
“I’m working for Tara,” Cindy shot back as Nina shivered, unnerved.
“Lots of things are over,” Owen continued, blocking Cindy’s words out. “My time with Tara is over finally, my time with her crazy family is over, too. Over, over. It’s a new day.”
“Just like that?” Cindy felt contempt for him. “Tara’s barely dead and you’re with a new woman?”
Owen laughed. “Who’s to say it’s just like that? Nina and I have been together a long time, we’ve been waiting for this moment.”
“Owen, please,” Nina tugged on his jacket, looking afraid.
“Please, nothing,” he said to her bruskly. “There’s not a thing in the world they can do to me now. Or to you, either, sweetheart.”
“Don’t be so sure about that,” Cindy’s blood was boiling. “Obviously your relationship with Nina went on while you were married to Tara.”
Owen laughed louder. “So what? What are you going to do, wrap me on my knuckles and tell me I’m a bad boy?”
Cindy wanted to slap him across the face and slap Nina as well. She was actually about to do it when thankfully out of the corner of her eye she saw Mattheus approaching with two cops. Thank God, she whispered, turning the other way and waving to them.
By the time Owen spun around to see who Cindy was waving at, both the cops and Mattheus were at his side.
“Get the hell away from me,” Owen tried to grab Nina and make a run for it.
“Hold on,” one cop said, closing in. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“Oh no? Says who?” asked Owen, trapped and furious.
“There’s new evidence,” Cindy spit out at him again. “There’s a witness who saw you driving the boat into your wife, over and over again.”
“Oh God,” Nina whimpered, turning white.
“Tara was alive after the accident,” Owen gained his footing, “it didn’t kill her. I lost control of the boat. There’s no way they can prove I did it on purpose.”
Nina started crying and Cindy stepped fiercely between her and Owen, separating them.
“If you know something that you’re hiding,” Cindy flung out to Nina, “you’re an accessory to a crime. You’ll be arrested and charged with murder, too.”
“Oh no, no,” Nina became terrified.
“If you tell us the truth, you’ll be free,” Cindy said.
“She doesn’t know the truth, she doesn’t know anything,” Owen tried to edge back in beside her.
“I do know things,” Nina kept whimpering.
“Shut your mouth, idiot,” Owen demanded.
Nina’s eyes opened painfully. “What did you call me?” she gasped.
Owen stepped closer threateningly, “I said shut up, idiot,” he thundered at her.
Trembling, Nina crept closer to Cindy.
“It’s alright, Nina,” Cindy said, “tell us the truth and you’ll be protected in every way.”
“It was planned, it was planned,” Nina started sputtering, “Owen did it to be with me. And not only that, he wanted the money, too.”
“From the insurance policy?” Cindy demanded.
“Yes, he said he needed all the money he could get. And he needed Tara gone, and me in his life,” Nina’s body was trembling.