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feet.
    But,
whether or not she’d expected the vacation to be suddenly cut short, that’s
what happened. And this was where she and Mattheus were needed now. The water
that stretched out in front of her now seemed more threatening as Cindy
wondered if Kara had drowned in it. Was the search for her just routine with
little hope of recovery?
    Mattheus
suddenly came out behind Cindy on the terrace, put his hands on her shoulders,
and gently kissed the back of her neck.
    “Breakfast
has been delivered,” he said softly. “I know you love your coffee hot first
thing in the morning.”
    Cindy
smiled; she hadn’t heard the bell ring or the food being brought in.
    “You’re
absolutely right, I do,” she said, turning around and going back inside with
Mattheus to get the day going.
     
    *
     
    This
was a working breakfast. Mattheus had a pad on his lap as they ate, and made
rough notes on it from time to time.
    “Let’s
brainstorm this,” he started. “Where do we go from here?”
    “The
family’s coming today. We have to talk to them in depth,” Cindy started,
quickly drinking down most of her steaming coffee.
    “Agreed,”
Mattheus grunted. “I’ll talk to Rod, of course, and his wife. You can spend
time talking to Rowley and his family. He seemed to like you.”
    “I
liked him too,” Cindy agreed. “And we’ve got to meet the Chief of Police,
Darrin, and also keep in touch with Abe.”
    Mattheus
glanced at his watch off-handedly. “The search team’s got to be at it again by
now,” he murmured. “Unless, of course, they found something last night.”
    Cindy
and Mattheus looked at each other for a dreaded second. Cindy saw the fear of
finding Kara’s body flash through Mattheus’s eyes. How could he ever tell his
friend Rod what happened?
    “You
don’t think they’re going to find her right away, do you, Mattheus?” Cindy
asked.
    “Actually,
I don’t.” Mattheus sounded glum. “How many missing persons surface in the first
twenty-four hours, anyway?”
    Cindy
nodded. It made a difference though. She knew that time was of the essence in
finding a missing person. The longer they were gone, the less the chance of
finding them alive.
    Mattheus
stood up swiftly, clearly uneasy. “I’m going to call Abe, check in and see what
turned up last night. It can’t be anything much or Abe would have called and
left word.”
    “What
kind of resources do they have down here for a search?” asked Cindy.
    “Let’s
find that out right away.” Mattheus reached for his phone quickly, dialed, and
perked up as someone picked up right away. Cindy watched him listening
intently, saying nothing for a while.
    “No,
of course I didn’t expect you to find her by now,” Mattheus finally uttered.
“How’s the search is going?” Mattheus listened for a while and then nodded
somberly. “Good, very good, Abe. I’m impressed.”
    “What?”
Cindy mouthed, wanting to hear what Abe was saying.
    “Okay,
I get it,” Mattheus responded. “The guys got the dogs out on the hiking trails
sniffing, the Coast Guard have boats searching the water, and helicopters are
over the rain forests as we speak. Yes, it’s good that the papers have the
news. Plaster her face all over, and let me know when more flyers will be
ready. The police are doing a fantastic job, I’m impressed.”
    Cindy
nodded in agreement as she listened.
    “I
know, I know,” Mattheus continued into the phone. “Of course something like
this is lousy PR for the island, but when people see how you handle it, they’ll
feel better about everything. This has nothing to do with St. Lucia, either.
Something like this could happen anywhere, and it does.”
    Mattheus
grew quiet then for a few minutes, listening. “Sure, we’ll be glad to meet
Darrin Frank soon and coordinate efforts. That would be great. For now Cindy
and I will go on the computer to look into their backgrounds. We’ll work from
our room. Have Darrin call us as soon as he gets to the hotel