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face then
and dug them into his eyes.
    “You’re
right, Doug,” said Cindy softly. “No relationship is perfect, there are always
things we choose to live with.”
    “Shari
didn’t choose to live with me though, did she?” Doug’s eyes opened wide then
and stared, frightening Cindy momentarily. “And she never told me why!”
    “What
about the note she left?” asked Cindy, feeling a long chill go up her back.
    At
that Doug jumped up off his chair and stood a few inches from Cindy, his voice
rising.
    “Her
note didn’t mean a damn. It didn’t say anything. She just said she was sorry
and couldn’t help it. She asked everyone to forgive her, that it was too hard
to go on living like this. Like what? Being engaged to me?”
    “Not
you, necessarily.” Cindy stood up beside him.
    “Plenty
of women would be happy to have a guy like me,” Doug insisted, the bitterness
creeping into his tone again.
    “Maybe
it was too hard to live with the pain she was suffering inside,” Cindy
interrupted. “Sounds like Shari was in the grip of an illness. Was she on
medication? Did she see a doctor?”
    “Yeah,
she saw a shrink for years and was on antidepressants,” said Doug. “She took
them regularly and they worked.”
    “Sometimes
medication stops working and has strange side effects,” Cindy suggested.
    “That’s
what Kate said when I talked to her today,” Doug replied.
    “Where’s
Kate now?” asked Cindy.
    “She’s
on her way down here with my mother and father,” said Doug. “Shari’s family’s
already here. They came down for the happy occasion. They were excited to see
which venue we would choose.”
    “Yes,
I know,” said Cindy softly.
    “Now
we don’t have to look for a wedding venue, do we? Instead we have to look for a
cemetery plot,” Doug cried out.
    “I’d
like to talk to Kate,” Cindy interrupted softly. “Can I talk to her when she
comes down?”
    “You
can talk to anyone you want to.” Doug sounded like he was about to sob. “Talk to
the whole world for all I care. You can’t bring Shari back though, can you?”
    “No,
I can’t,” said Cindy, clearly, “but perhaps I can help ease the suffering.”
    Doug
spun around and stared at her. “How are you gonna do that? How?”
    “By
learning more about Shari,” Cindy said strongly. “Maybe we’ll find out what it
was she couldn’t live with, why she took her own life. If we understand what
happened to her, it will help everyone come to terms.”
    At
that Doug sneered. “How are you going to find that out? Get Shari to talk from
the grave?”
    “There
are lots of ways people speak to us from beyond the grave,” Cindy responded.
“There are all kinds of things we can find out about them long after they’re
gone.”
    Doug
grimaced. “So, go talk your heart out. Talk to anyone you want. Truthfully, it
doesn’t make any difference to me. I’ll never forgive her for doing this to me.
It was mean, it was selfish, it was wrong!”
    Cindy
wanted to say more, but realized that it was too soon to tell Doug how
important it would be for him to eventually find a way to forgive Shari. Not
only for her, but for his sake as well.
    Doug
turned away then, clearly letting Cindy know their meeting was over.
    “Thank
you for talking to me,” Cindy said softly, as she took the hint, went to the
door and left.

Chapter 5
     
     
    When
Cindy arrived in the lobby, Mattheus was there on a nearby sofa reading the
paper, obviously waiting for her. The moment she stepped out of the elevator,
he looked up. Cindy was greatly relieved to see him. Most likely he’d thought
it all over and was going to join her on the case. It was all she could do not
to throw her arms around him.
    “Thanks
so much for being here,” she exclaimed.
    “Just
came down to deliver a message,” Mattheus responded, holding out a large
envelope. “The police had someone drop this envelope off at the hotel and the
desk called upstairs to let me know about