Walk Through the Valley (Psalm 23 Mysteries) (15 page)

Cindy felt sick inside as she scoured back over her memories of that year, fragmented and colored by grief as they were. She realized her father was right. Her mother had stopped making eye contact with her, would look over her head or at the floor when she had to talk to Cindy. She had never thought about it, although she probably had picked up on the avoidance subconsciously, especially since her mother had had no problem looking at Kyle.

“And you withdrew more and more into yourself, becoming more afraid of the world. Your mother did that, too, to an extent. She had always been a bit more adventurous, but she shut down that part of her life, too. Kyle, though, Kyle was out there tackling life with everything he had.”

Cindy and Kyle had talked about that a few months before. While Lisa’s death had driven Cindy to be obsessed with being safe, it had driven Kyle to take the risks and live the life he believed their more adventurous sibling would have had if she had survived.

“Your mom began to live vicariously through Kyle and all his adventures, basking in his triumphs, and, eventually, his fame. And all those years she was looking at him and not at you. When you make eye contact with people you feel more connected to them, more bonded and invested in them. So, yes, terrible as it is, your mother does love Kyle more. But I want you to know that it wasn’t always that way, and it certainly isn’t your fault.”

A sob escaped Cindy. Ever since she had arrived the day before her mother had steadfastly refused to look at her, staring only at her brother. Looking at Cindy would
only remind her of the death of one of her children and with another fighting for survival that reminder was probably the most painful thing in the world.

“She must hate Kyle’s fiancée, because she has the same name as Lisa,” Cindy burst out. She remembered her own negative feelings when Kyle had first told her his girlfriend’s name.

Her father shook his head slowly. “I thought the same thing. In some weird way, though, she got excited, felt like she was regaining a daughter. Your mom’s mind is a twisted place, and I’m sorry for what you have to put up with because of it,” he said.

“You know what’s weird?” Cindy asked, tears streaming down her face and onto her lips.

“What?”

“It’s actually a relief to know, to understand. I wasn’t wrong.”

“And it wasn’t anything to do with you as a person,” he emphasized.

It actually felt like a weight was lifting slightly. She could never please her mother which meant there was no need to worry about trying anymore. She squeezed her father’s hand, so deeply grateful for his honesty and his insight. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“It sucks,” he said, “but I hope it helps you to know.”

She nodded, too choked up again to form words.

“We should have had this talk years ago,” he said. She looked at him in the eyes with as much purpose as she could. Tears were shimmering there and he smiled at her.

“We’re going to get through this,” she told him.

It was his turn to just nod.

“I’m not that same little girl I once was,” she said.

“I had noticed.”

“And you know what makes me feel better when the world is crazy and painful and scary?”

He shook his head.

“Solving mysteries. Now that the mystery of the distant mother is solved, I think I want to figure out who did this to Kyle.”

“I would like that. How can I help?”

Cindy wiped at her eyes with her free hand. “Help me get those room keys. I want to see if there’s any clues to be found over at the Excalibur.”

“Consider it done. You know, I’ve been amazed at the changes in you ever since you met the rabbi and started solving mysteries with him. I’m not sure if the credit should go to the mystery solving or to him. He seems to bring out a different side of you.”

Cindy felt herself blushing. “We’re just good friends,” she said.

He raised an eyebrow and then smirked. “I think the lady doth protest too much. I wasn’t implying you weren’t anything but friends just now.”

“Oh,” she said, feeling herself blushing even harder.

His smirk turned into a full-fledged grin. “I see how it is.”

“Dad, it’s nothing,” she protested.

“I believe you less every time you say that.”

She glared at him. “You’re impossible.”

He chuckled. “I’ve been called worse in my time.”

“How about we stop focusing on my life and start focusing on Kyle’s and try to figure out how he got into this mess?” she suggested.

“Fine,” he said with a sigh.

“Do you have any idea if anyone has a grudge against Kyle? It doesn’t even have to be anyone here in Vegas.”

“I’ve been wracking my brain, but I haven’t come up with anything,” he admitted. “Kyle really is a good guy and he doesn’t by his nature make enemies. I was as shocked as he was with that whole thing last year.”

“Well, when you are a celebrity I guess there are people who will always be jealous and want what you have,” Cindy said.

“Just as long as it’s not another coworker. I don’t think he could handle that. It really rattled him.”

Cindy thought about Bunni. “I have no idea if anyone he worked with was in town when the accident happened, but some of them are now. Bunni drove down with some others when they heard the news.”

Her dad shook his head. “That poor girl. She has to put on a smile while doing some of the strangest things for her show. She does it, though. We watch that show sometimes, especially when it’s on near one of Kyle’s. She’s got spunk, but it’s like watching a train wreck sometimes. You know it’s bad, you want to look away, but you just can’t.”

“I’ve only seen snatches,” Cindy admitted. “I think once on
Bunni’s Best she was reviewing camping gear or something.”

“That’s one of the more interesting ones, take my word for it. Kyle has always liked her, though. Apparently she’s a good friend.”

Cindy knew that Bunni wanted to be more than just friends, but she kept that to herself. “Okay, so we can’t confirm if there are any more jealous coworkers in the mix.”

“No, so let’s move on. There’s the fans. Some of them can get a little obsessive.”

“Do you think it could have anything to do with the fact that he had just gotten engaged?”

Her father frowned. “We didn’t know about that until we got here. He kept it a surprise from everyone.”

“Yeah, but he did propose in a hugely public way. It’s possible that his fans or one of his fan’s friend’s saw it or heard about it.”

“And what, decided that if they couldn’t have him no one could? That seems hard to believe.”

“I know, but like you said, some fans can get really obsessive. I mean one of my friends is a fan and even she got weird around him. She’s not even one of the crazy ones.”

“I don’t think we’re going to magically puzzle it out sitting here,” he said with a sigh. “It probably is a good idea to go check out the hotel room. Maybe there’s something there that can at least point us in the right direction. I do wish I could go with you, though.”

Cindy took her last bite of macaroni and cheese and stood up. “Let’s get this done,” she said.

He nodded and after they dumped their trash they headed back upstairs. She was glad they had actually talked about it. It made her feel better and she was glad to know that her dad at least would be keeping a close eye on Kyle and her mom.

It took a couple of minutes, but Cindy was soon on her way to the Excalibur with both room keys in her possession. Lisa hadn’t seemed at all suspicious about Cindy’s request and had asked her to bring her a small jewelry case and her phone which she had left charging at the hotel when she and Kyle went to have dinner at her parents’.

Even though she was nervous as she got into the taxi, Cindy soon forgot her fears as she marveled at the Las Vegas strip. Massive resort casinos and towering billboards all blazed with lights. It was both beautiful and overwhelming. The road was packed with cars and the sidewalks were just as crammed with people walking. Up ahead she could see a white castle topped with red and blue spires. She couldn’t help but smile. Her brother had always liked playing Robin Hood and King Arthur when they were kids. The fact that he had proposed in a castle, even if it was Las Vegas’ interpretation of one made a lot of sense.

Past the castle she could see another resort hotel in the shape of a giant, gleaming, black pyramid. It was intriguing looking. She had never had any desire to come here on vacation. She wasn’t a big gambler, but she was beginning to think you could just walk around and ogle all the crazy architecture and have a pretty good time. Billboards and signs on taxis advertised shows ranging from magic acts to Cirque de Soleil. She had never realized there were so many choices for entertainment in the city.

Who knew, maybe if Kyle pulled through this okay she’d come back one day and explore. If he didn’t, then she knew she’d never again want to step foot in the city where her brother had been killed. She didn’t like the dark turn of her thoughts and she took the opportunity to pray again for his recovery and safety and that they would find whoever was responsible.

The taxi driver finally pulled up in front of the Excalibur and after paying him Cindy walked inside. The sheer size of the place was breathtaking and she stood for a moment, trying to take it all in. Aside from the casino floor there was also apparently an entire shopping area and another area with stuffed animal carnival games for kids.

She finally made her way to the elevators that would take her upstairs to the rooms. Once she got off on her brother’s floor she noticed instantly that it was quiet and the corridors were empty. Everyone was downstairs having a good time and it seemed like nearly a ghost town upstairs.

She found the two rooms she was looking for halfway down one of the halls. They were next to each other. She pulled out the keycard for her brother’s room and took a deep breath as she wondered what she’d discover inside.

Cindy opened the door and walked in. She stopped short when she realized that everything Kyle owned was strewn across the bed and floor. For a moment she wondered if the place had been searched by someone. Then she relaxed as she noticed that all the drawers in the dresser were closed. In fact, it was just some of his clothes that seemed to be everywhere.

Kyle’s room had always looked like this when they were growing up and he was having trouble deciding what to wear. As it turned out that was probably exactly what had happened since it was only dress clothes that were strewn about while shorts and T-shirts were still neatly packed in a suitcase.

She spent half an hour going over the entire room and she couldn’t find anything that would shed light on the attack on her brother. Frustrated, she left the room and moments later she entered Lisa’s.

She stopped in her tracks. In her brother’s room there had just been some clothes strewn about. Here was different. Drawers had been yanked out of the dresser and dropped on the floor. The mattress had been slid completely off the box springs and was wedged between the bed frame and the wall. Everything Lisa owned was dumped in the middle of the box springs and her luggage was thrown haphazardly into the corner.

Cindy blinked in astonishment. Her brother’s room had been messy. This one was in shambles. Lisa’s room had been ransacked.

13

Mark had assisted one of the two police officers who had arrived in doing a thorough sweep of the dead man’s room. While there had been nothing unusual in the bedroom, the bathroom had offered up one clue as to the possible cause of death. In the man’s toiletries bag there was an epinephrine pen which suggested that the man had been afflicted with a potentially life-threatening allergy. It hadn’t been used.

He thought about the dead man’s puffy face and blotchy skin. He wasn’t sure if there were poisons that could cause that reaction, but he knew that a severe allergy could. It seemed strange that if the man had enemies they would wait until he was out of the country to attack when it would be so much easier to kill him before he left or after he returned. A much simpler explanation might be that he had succumbed to a food or insect allergy of some sort and hadn’t woken up from his nap to save himself with an injection.

Either way they had a lot more questions they needed to ask his widow. They finished searching his toiletries bag, but didn’t come up with anything else of significance. Her toiletries bag was filled with creams, lotions, and a couple small glass vials of perfume. Most of the items had labels that proclaimed them to be anti-aging breakthroughs. He shook his head in bewilderment. The woman out there was in her early thirties and she looked fantastic. Besides, there was nothing wrong with a few wrinkles. They gave a person’s face more character. What was wrong with her
that she was so paranoid? He was very grateful that Traci wasn’t that way.

They had just finished up in the bathroom as a doctor was arriving to take possession of the body. Mark shared their findings with the man before he and the local officer made their way to the manager’s office.

The manager, the widow, the writer, and the other officer were all inside. Somehow it sounded like the start of a bad joke to him as he noted the occupants. With the way they were all positioned around the room, though, it felt like walking into some sort of Shakespearian tragedy halfway through the final act.