"Maybe over thirty, but Gia was way too young to need this."
"Or maybe she only looked way too young," David said, giving me a shrug.
"I don't know," I said. I twisted the top of the container to take a sniff of the stuff.
But as the lid came off in my hand, I froze.
"David!"
"What?" In a second he was at my side, staring down into the container too. "Whoa."
At the bottom of the little plastic jar sat a soft pile of tissues, and nestled in the paper was a sparkling green princess cut emerald.
"Is that—"
But David didn't get to finish the question, as a sound outside the door pulled our attention away from the shiny green gem.
"…Columbo!" came Ava's voice.
Accompanied by footsteps.
And a second voice that I knew all too well.
"Ava, what's going on?" Grant asked, his voice loud. Deep. Menacing.
And moving closer to the dressing room door.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
My gaze whipped wildly around the room, looking for an escape route to pop up out of nowhere. File cabinets, vanity, cupboards. Still no magical door to freedom.
"What do we do?" I whispered to David.
His usually sardonic smile was missing, and his eyes actually registered fear. "I dunno." He shrugged. "Hide?"
"Where?" I hissed, hearing Ava try to stall on the other side of the door.
"…uh, tell me again how search warrants work?" I heard her voice asking. "I mean, all I know about them comes from Columbo!"
I had to hand it to her, she was really trying.
Not that I thought it was really working.
"Here," David whispered, pulling one of the file cabinets back from the wall. The open space left between them wasn't much, but at least it was dark and in a corner.
I shot one dubious look toward the door again before I shoved the emerald into my pocket, skittered into the corner, and ducked down into a little ball. David pulled a second cabinet away from the wall and hunkered down behind it, next to me.
Close next to me.
So close I could smell the mingling scents of weed and some expensive brand of aftershave coming off his warm body as he pressed against me. The proximity suddenly felt way too intimate. And worse—it had been long enough since a man was pressed up against me that it wasn't entirely unpleasant.
"You're squishing me," I breathed.
"I'm hiding you. Stay still."
"I don't think this is a good—"
That was as far as I got before the sound of the dressing room door opening caused us both to shut up. I clamped my lips together, saying a silent prayer to be at least half as big as I was and twice as quiet.
"—don't know what you're doing here, Ava, but I don't like it," I heard Grant's voice boom in the space as his boots stepped into view through the small crack between the cabinets.
"Doing here?" Ava asked, her voice coming into the room as well, though I couldn't actually see her. "I'm not doing anything." She gave a nervous laugh. "I'm just…meeting a friend here and thought I'd, you know, walk around while I wait."
"Around the empty ballroom?" His voice was a flat monotone—the same one I knew he used when interrogating suspects.
And it seemed to be having much the same effect on Ava, if her nervous giggle was any indication. "Yep! Just, you know, walking. Everywhere. To pass the time. While I wait. For that friend…" She trailed off.
I closed my eyes, cringing. In her defense, the business end of Grant's Cop Stare could fluster anyone.
"So…what are you doing here?" Ava asked in a casual tone that sounded anything but, given the circumstances.
"Investigating a murder," came the clipped reply.
"Oh? Any leads?"
"Ava, I think you should go now." Clearly a command, not a suggestion.
"Go?" I heard the hesitation in her voice.
I opened my eyes and peeked between the filing cabinets. She'd stepped into view, and I could see her gaze slowly roving the room as if looking for where David and I could be hiding. I hoped that meant our spot wasn't obvious.
"Yes. Go. Back to the clubrooms."
Ava licked her lips. "Uh, well, I'm not sure my friend is here yet, so why don't I stay here and keep you company?"
Grant took a step forward. I had to will myself not to react at the sight of his dark frown and arms crossed over his chest in a combative stance. "This friend wouldn't happen to be Emmy, would it?"
"Emmy?" I didn't think Ava's voice could go any higher, but it somehow found a new range. "N-no. Why would you think that?"
"Because where there is trouble, you two seem to have a knack for popping up."
Ava threw her head back and laughed much more loudly than the humor of the moment called for. "Oh, that's a good one. Very funny."
I could tell Grant didn't think there was anything funny about the situation, the storm in his eyes growing.
I was with him on this one. The tiny ball I was scrunched into was no joke. My right foot was starting to go numb, and my nose tickled from the family of dust bunnies living in the corner. Not to mention the fact that I was pretty sure David Allen's hand was on my thigh. I only hoped it was unintentional as he breathed shallowly beside me.
"Alright," Grant finally said. "How about I walk you back to the lounge and you can wait for your friend there, huh?"
"You want to walk me to the lounge?" Ava repeated. Loudly. As if trying to make sure David and I both heard that Grant was leaving.
"That's what I said," Grant told her, a note of suspicion in his voice.
"Uh, sure, yeah. That sounds lovely. I would love it if you walked me. TO THE LOUNGE!"
I heard Ava's heels click along the wood floor, Grant's heavier footsteps falling a beat behind. I waited until they were echoing across the ballroom before I dared to let out the breath I'd been holding.
"That was close," David said.
"Too close." I looked down. "You can take your hand off my leg now."
"Was my hand on your leg?" He gave my knee a squeeze. "Didn't notice."
"You're a terrible liar," I told him, using the file cabinet to push myself back up to a standing position.
"Not as terrible as Ava," David countered. "That was painful to listen to."
"Agreed," I said with a laugh. "Come on, let's get out of here."
* * *
We went out a side door, toward the south lawn where the fashion show had taken place, and skirted around the outside of the club to avoid running into Grant as he escorted Ava from the crime scene. David led the way toward the terrace, where we weaved between the tables of golfers enjoying post-game drinks and gossip over cocktails in the shade. Once we finally made our way back into the air-conditioned main building, my heart rate started to return to normal. We found Ava in the lounge—thankfully alone—pacing the length of the bar.
As soon as she spied us, she lunged for me, giving me a tight hug. "Ohmigosh, thank goodness you're okay. I thought for sure he'd catch us."
"He still might," I warned, grabbing her by the arm as we quickly made for the front doors.
"Nice distraction, by the way," David told her, following along with us.
"Thank you." She sent him a smile. "Though, I'm not sure he completely bought it."
"I'm not sure he bought any part of it," I mumbled, unable to keep from looking over my shoulder as we hustled outside and toward the valet station.
Luckily, David had some clout at the club, and Ava's GTO arrived in record time. David gave the guy a big enough tip that I saw just how to earn that sort of speed, before he jumped into Ava's back seat.
"Well, I don't think it matters if Grant bought it or not," David said as soon as Ava pulled away from the curb. "What matters is we succeeded."
Ava's eyes shot to his in the rearview mirror. "What do you mean you succeeded?" She turned to me. "Did you…?"
"We found it." I gave her a triumphant smile.
"Whoa, careful, Andretti," David said from the back.
"But you really have the emerald?" Ava asked, clearly having to force her attention back on the road.
"I do." I quickly filled her in on how we'd found the decoy jar of wrinkle cream as we made the trip back to Oak Valley.
By the time we'd arrived at the winery and parked in the gravel lot, Ava was practically vibrating with anticipation. I quickly ushered her and David in through the back door to the kitchen, where I produced the small container from my pocket and set it on the counter.
I noticed Ava's hands were trembling slightly as she unscrewed the top, though if she was feeling anything like I was, some of that was lingering adrenaline at our near miss with law enforcement.
She gasped out loud as she took off the lid and pulled her emerald out. "Emmy, you did it. You found it!" She turned a pair of watery eyes toward me.
"I helped," David protested on the other side of her.
Ava turned her grateful smile to him. "Thank you. My white knight once again."
David bowed at the compliment. "Anytime, mi'lady."
"The cuteness. It burns," I said, only half joking.
Though no one paid me any attention.
"So, I guess this means we were right about Gia," Ava mused, turning the gem over in her hand. "She did take it after all."
I nodded. "It looks like it."
"Do you think the killer knew?" she asked. "I mean, what Gia was up to?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. Honestly? I have no idea how the theft ties in with her death."
"Maybe someone figured out what she was doing, and that's why she was killed," David offered. "Didn't you say she'd done this before? Stolen jewelry from another runway?"
"Ruby earrings at Daisy Dot's spring show," I said. "They disappeared long enough for Gia to swap fake gems in place of the real ones."
"So, maybe Daisy Dot figured it out," he went on. "Maybe she realized her rubies were fake and put together what must have happened to them."
"It's possible," I agreed. I moved to the cupboard and pulled down three wineglasses. It was after five, and if there had ever been a day I needed to give my nerves a little Cabernet calming, it was that one. I grabbed a bottle of the red wine from a wooden rack on the counter, quickly uncorking it.
"If Daisy figured out that Gia had robbed her, maybe she confronted her at the Links show," Ava said, picking up the thread. "Maybe Gia denied it and they argued. Or maybe Daisy even saw Gia trying to pull the same thing again with the emerald."
"And she killed Gia out of revenge?" David asked.
"Revenge, anger, preventing another theft," Ava said. "It could have been a heat-of-the-moment attack. It's possible she didn't even realize she'd actually killed Gia until it was too late."
David nodded. "I could see that," he agreed as I handed glasses of wine to both him and Ava. "Thanks," he told me.
I nodded, raising my own glass up in a cheers motion. "To the return of the emerald."
Ava and David raised their glasses in salute before sipping.
Ava took a beat to enjoy the flavor before setting her glass down on the granite counter again. "You know, I think it could have been Daisy." She set the emerald down next to her wineglass. "But there are other people who might have been upset at Gia for what she was doing."
"Like her agent, Hughie Smart, for instance," I offered. "Maybe he went backstage to see Gia after the show, saw the empty pendant, and realized she'd stolen the emerald."
"Maybe he even realized she'd taken the rubies too," Ava added.
"And he killed her to what—save face?" David asked.
I shrugged. "Possibly. I mean, she was risking his reputation by stealing from designers. And we don't know how many times she's done this—we only know about two, but it could have been dozens more."
"And don't forget about her stalker," Ava added. "I mean, maybe he had some idolized idea of her, found out she was a thief, and killed her out of some crazed sense of betrayal."
"While we're talking about motive, it sure gives you a great one, too," David teased.
"Me?" Ava laughed.
"You catch her trying to steal from you and kill her." He shrugged. "Just saying."
"Yeah, well, Ava has an iron-clad alibi. Me," I added.
David grinned. "Lucky her."
Ava shook her head. "Anyway, I guess it's in the hands of the authorities to figure all that out now." She smiled down at her recovered gem.
I sipped my wine, feeling a small ball of unpleasantness form in my stomach at the mention of authorities. "I hate to say it…" I glanced from Ava to David. "But I think we have to tell Grant we found this."
"Oh, you're on your own there, blondie," David said, putting his hands up in a gesture that said he was backing the heck out of that conversation.
"I mean, we kind of took it from a crime scene," I pointed out, the implication of that settling in now that the rush of finding it was subsiding.
"Oh, no way." Ava shook her head. "I'm not going to feel guilty about taking back what is mine in the first place."
"From a locked crime scene," I added.
"You were simply returning stolen property to its rightful owner," Ava argued. "If it's my emerald, you didn't take it. You returned it."
"I'm not sure Grant is going to see it that way," I said.
Ava sighed. "Fine. Tell him whatever you have to." She paused. "But I'm not parting with this again!" She pointed to the emerald.
I had a bad feeling it might be evidence, but I didn't voice that as I grabbed my phone and pulled up Grant's number.
David shook his head at me like he thought I was crazy.
It was possible he was right. But I knew this wasn't something I should keep from Grant, even if I could keep it from him.
Ava and David sipped in silence while I listened to the phone ring. The tension hung heavy in the air. Finally, four rings in, the call went to voice mail, and I'd admit to feeling just a tiny bit relieved at the reprieve.
"Uh, hi. It's Emmy. Can you please come to the winery when you get this message? It's, um, kinda urgent. Thanks." I hung up, wishing I felt less guilty for having made that call.
"There you are!"
We all turned at the sound of Eddie's voice as he came pushing through the kitchen door in a pair of pressed chinos, a purple silk shirt, and a matching silk ascot. "Well, I've been looking for you all afternoon, Emmy."
"Here I am." I offered a tentative smile and tried to put myself between Eddie and the emerald to block his view. "What's up?"
"I wanted to fill you in on my meeting with Aurora Dawn." He paused, glancing behind me to see Ava and David. "Hi, kids." He gave them a little wave.
David raised his wineglass in greeting. Ava gave a tentative smile, eyes cutting to the emerald on the counter.
"Anyhoo, guess what?" Eddie said.
"Um…what?" I asked.
"She loved it! She said the Zin was nectar of the heavens. Isn't that cute? She totally twitted it to her peeps."
"Tweeted?" Ava supplied.
"Whatever." Eddie waved it off with a grin. "Point is, we're going to go viral." He did a little happy dance, stamping his feet and wiggling his ample hips.
I couldn't help but smile. "That's great. Amazing, really. Nice work."
"Thank you!" Eddie gave an exaggerated bow.
And the lower angle of his eyeline must have been just enough to see past me to the sparkling green jewel sitting out in the open on the kitchen counter, as he froze.
"Oh my goodness gracious. What is that?"
"Uh, what?" I asked.
Eddie straightened and shot me a look. "Emmy Oak, don't you hold out on me. Is that Ava's emerald?"
"Yes," I reluctantly admitted. While I might have wanted to hand it over to the authorities before word got out too widely—and telling Eddie was the equivalent to taking
out a billboard on 101—the cat was out of the bag. Or out of the wrinkle cream jar, as it were.
"Where did you find this?" he asked, taking a step closer to pick up the gem.
We quickly gave him the condensed version of events, including our discovering what Gia's real moneymaker was and the theory that she'd been murdered in the act.
When we finished, Eddie was shaking his head. "She had it all. And she needed more." He clucked his tongue. "So sad."
I had to agree.
He picked up the gem and held it up to the light. "Though, I can see how she was tempted. Look at how it sparkles."
"Eddie," Ava said, looking nervous as her eyes followed the gem. "Maybe you should just put it down."
"I mean, I've never actually seen one so big," Eddie said, tossing it from one hand to the other. "Or heavy."
"Eddie," Ava said, warning in her voice. "Let's just set it down on the counter, huh?"
"And it's so expertly cut." Eddie held it up to the light again, squinting one eye. "I'm no jeweler, but that's gotta be what, eight carats? Nine? Fifteen?"
"Twelve. But Eddie, can you please just set it down—"
But Ava didn't get to finish.
I watched it play out before me as if in horrible slow motion.
Eddie spun, his eyes going toward Ava, as his thick fingers fumbled with the gem. It slipped, and he used the other hand to try to catch it.
David's eyes went wide.
Ava gasped.
My heart skipped a beat.
And the gem slowly fell through the air, crashing to the tiled kitchen floor, where it shattered into dozens of tiny green pieces that scattered in all directions.
"No!" Ava cried out, dropping to her knees. "No, no, no, no!"
"I-I'm sorry." Eddie's skin went pale. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to…" He trailed off, and I swore he looked like he was going to cry.
I put a hand on his shoulder. "It's not your fault," I mumbled to him, even as my heart broke for Ava, who was carefully trying to gather up the tiny slivers of what had been her future in her hands.
"No, no, no!" she cried again.
I joined her on the floor. "Oh, Ava, I'm so sorry. We'll figure this out." Truthfully, I had no idea how to figure it out. Or fix it.
Fashion, Rosé & Foul Play (Wine & Dine Mysteries Book 6) Page 12
