by Cat Chandler
“It certainly needs to be checked out.” Nicki scribbled madly in her notebook. Both wine owners also had reason to dislike George Lancer. Jim because he was cut out of the sales and the biggest part of the publicity for the new blend, and Jeremy Brennan, the owner of Trax, if George pulled a last-minute cancellation of their agreement.
Jenna grinned at Alex before popping the final scrap of her burger into her mouth. “Who else is on your list?” Consulting her notes, Nicki frowned. “The server at the tasting. George yelled at him for not bringing the right water to the table. The young man looked humiliated. Geri said she had to send him home.”
“Waiters get yelled at all the time by unreasonable people. Not much of a motive,” Jenna observed.
“Agreed,” Nicki said. “But it’s worth having a chat with him. And then there’s Geri. She didn’t like the man and even acted afraid of him.”
Alex propped her elbows on the kitchen counter and folded her hands under her chin. “Poison is the preferred method of female killers. But was she afraid enough to murder him?”
“And since she was afraid of him, did she have the nerve to kill him? Geri is Jim’s right hand in juggling all the daily administrative details of the business. I doubt if George could get her fired, so she had nothing to be worried about on that front. I think being afraid of a bully is simply part of her personality,” Maxie said.
“We’ll leave her on the list but move her to the bottom,” Nicki said, making a note of it. “I think the first thing to do is pay Chief Turnlow a visit and find out what he knows. Alex and I can do that tomorrow.”
“Alex is sitting right here, and I’m not so crazy about paying the police a visit,” Alex said.
“But I bet she would for eggs Benedict with fresh dill.” Jenna looked over at Nicki and winked. “By the way, is the candy for Maxie? As in burger for me, zucchini fries for Alex and candy for our landlady?”
The older woman’s eyes instantly lit up. “Candy? You bought me candy?”
“You wouldn’t happen to be partial to chocolates with creamy centers by any chance?” Alex smiled.
“My favorite,” Maxie declared.
When her two friends turned to stare at her with raised eyebrows, Nicki cleared her throat. “Well, I just happen to have some.”
Jenna laughed and looked over at Alex who joined in.
Maxie blinked once, and then twice, before chuckling. “I know Jenna has a weakness for hamburgers, and by the way you’re popping them into your mouth I assume those fries are a favorite of yours, Alex?” At Alex’s nod, Maxie’s smile grew wider. “Then the candy is my bribe. Very clever, dear. And most appreciated. Now then. We’ve worked up an impressive list of suspects and have our first ‘to-do’ for tomorrow. All we have left to accomplish today is to go shopping.”
Now it was the three younger women who blinked.
“Why shopping?” Jenna demanded.
“To buy a murder board, of course. All modern-day detectives have them. It will help us visualize and get organized. I have my van right outside.”
“That’s a great idea. We can set it up in my office,” Nicki said, very happy with the outcome of her little luncheon scheme and eager to get started.
A big, white board to keep track of everything they might uncovered sounded perfect. Hopefully the entire investigation would go well and they could fill the board up in no time. The murder would be solved and she could get back to her novel.
The women put the lunch leftovers away amid chatter and laughter before trailing after Maxie down the hall and out the door. As they walked across the lawn toward the van, Jenna threw an arm around Nicki’s shoulders and gave them a friendly squeeze.
“It seems we’ve all signed up as members of the ‘Nicki Knows Murder’ club. Maybe we should start our own magazine. Give Matt a run for his money.”
Chapter Eight
The following morning Nicki spent a good hour preparing an elegant breakfast of eggs Benedict, sliced tomatoes and freshly squeezed juice. In exchange, Alex reluctantly agreed to go along on what Nicki insisted was a “research” trip to the police station.
It was barely mid-morning when they climbed into the not-always-trustworthy Toyota and took the ten-minute drive into Soldoff. As they chugged down the road, Nicki cast a sideways glance at her friend. While Alex wasn’t smiling, she wasn’t frowning either, which was a good sign.
Guess the breakfast did the trick, Nicki mused as they rolled up to the stop sign on the edge of the town square.
The founders of Soldoff hadn’t bothered to come up with a town layout of their own, instead borrowing ideas from the nearby town of Sonoma. So like its bigger neighbor, Soldoff boasted a square in the middle of several blocks of houses. Except for a couple of fast-food stops, two gas stations and a laundromat, every business in Soldoff was located around the square. But unlike Sonoma, which stuck to adobe walls and red-tiled roofs for its buildings, Soldoff’s town council never met long enough to pass any building codes to enforce a uniform look for their main tourist attraction—the town square. Anyone who bought a building and started a business was free to indulge in their own, personal style.
The fanciest restaurant in town resembled a French chateau and was flanked on one side by a square, cement-block of a building holding several tasting rooms, and on its other side by a gift shop sporting a more Southern, colonial facade. The whole square was such a mishmash of styles and colors, it drew a good number of tourists who came just to gawk at it.
Nicki thought it had a charm of its own. The always practical Jenna declared it a rural disaster that should qualify for federal cleanup funds, while Alex had only shaken her head the first time she’d seen it and hadn’t noticed or mentioned it since.
The center of the square boasted a walkway wandering through a lush, neatly trimmed green lawn, thanks to Maxie’s husband. Mason Edwards donated his time to keep it looking that way, including planting rows of daisies around the centerpiece of the square. On a tall, round pedestal of marble stood a ten-foot-high statue of a cluster of grapes. Maxie had explained that since the only acknowledged founding father of Soldoff had tried to sell the entire town in pieces to the highest bidders, no one wanted a statue erected in his honor. Unless, as myMason suggested once at a council meeting, it was set up in the middle of the town dump. Instead, the residents had unanimously decided to immortalize wine grapes in bronze since it was the fruit that kept most of their businesses afloat in tourist money
One corner of the square hosted the tiny police department, its boxy building painted a discreet, dark-brown. The area of street in front of it was marked off into three parking spaces, all painted in bright orange with a black “APD Parking Only” outlined on top. Nicki maneuvered around the square and took the empty spot right next to the orange asphalt. She didn’t want the entire town to think she was under arrest because her car was in the “orange zone”, which was reserved for the two squad cars and anyone the police wanted to talk to.
Nicki glanced over at the three empty parking spaces. “I guess everyone’s out fighting crime.”
“Do you want to come back later?” Alex asked.
Nicki shook her head and opened the car door. “No. I’m sure Fran is here.”
“Fran?”
“She answers the incoming calls and does the office chores, keeps the paperwork in order, that sort of thing.” Nicki picked up her purse and a paper bag she’d set on the console between the front seats. After a hard shove, she got the car door open and stepped out onto the street.
Alex exited the passenger side, then stood looking over the car roof at Nicki. A grin tugged at the sides of her mouth. “Paperwork? Maybe she’ll have the lab reports and anything else concerning Mr. Lancer’s death right there at her desk.”
Nicki grinned back at her. “You think so? Gosh, I never thought of that.”
“Uh huh.” Alex followed Nicki down the short walkway into the station.
The compact, front room had a lo
ng counter barely five feet from the doorway and stretching across the entire space. Behind it were crammed three desks, two filing cabinets and a nearly empty water cooler. A woman with short, kinky gray hair and enough wrinkles on her face and neck to proclaim her well past the traditional retirement age, looked up as they came through the doorway. She squinted at them from behind wire-rimmed glasses.
“That you, Nicki Connors?” Her voice was scratchy but a smile lit up her face as she pushed her glasses higher up on her nose. “I can surely see it is. What brings you downtown this morning?”
Nicki thought referring to the square as a “downtown” was a bit of a stretch, but would never insult Fran by voicing that out loud. Instead she offered up a wide smile of her own. “How are you, Fran? I was wondering if I could see the chief?”
“Oh honey, I’m sorry. He isn’t here. He had official business to attend to this morning.”
Nicki’s forehead wrinkled as she did her best to look disappointed. “Oh. Well, maybe Danny then?”
“Wouldn’t you know it, it’s his day off. He’ll be sorry he missed you, too.” Fran leaned forward and lowered her voice along with a conspiratorial wink. “I’m positive that boy has a crush on you.”
“He does? Well, I might ask him why he’s never mentioned it.”
Fran laughed. “Because he knows about that good-looking boyfriend of yours. Mopes around every time he sees the two of you together. Rod, isn’t it?”
“Rob,” Nicki supplied.
“I imagine he spends all the time he can with you,” Fran said. “He’d be a fool not to.”
At the sudden fit of coughing from Alex, Nicki gave her friend a slight, sideways kick while keeping her gaze on Fran and a smile on her face. She even managed not to wince when Alex kicked her back.
“You need a glass of water?” Fran asked, her attention now on Alex.
“No, no,” Alex said, clearing her throat. “I’m fine, thank you.”
“Fran, I don’t believe you’ve met my friend, Alex Kolman?” Nicki said. “Did I ever mention I had two roommates in New York? You know Jenna, of course, and Alex was my other roommate.”
Fran got up from her desk and walked briskly over to the counter. She took Alex’s outstretched hand in her own and gave it a good shake. “Nice to meet you. Are you out here visiting our lovely state?”
“No. I live in Santa Rosa and work…” Alex’s words were cut off at another, stronger kick from Nicki.
“She’s in the middle of relocating. Finding a place, looking for work. You know how time consuming that can be.” Nicki sent a warning glance to Alex who raised one eyebrow.
“Why how wonderful.” Fran beamed at Alex. “Always glad to have new residents in Soldoff. I heard Sandy’s is looking for help on their breakfast shift.”
“Sandy’s?” Alex echoed.
“A local diner.” Nicki gave her friend an innocent look before pushing her latest bribe across the counter toward Fran. “I guess since Chief Turnlow and Danny aren’t here, you’ll have to eat these without their help.”
The office deputy eagerly reached for the bag and peeked inside. “Are those cranberry muffins?”
“With a pinch of orange, just the way you like them,” Nicki assured her.
“Imagine that,” Alex said under her breath, but loud enough to earn herself another light kick from Nicki.
Fran glanced from one woman to the other. “I have a couple of granddaughters who are an awful lot like the two of you, even if they are still in their teens. Always up to something those two.” She reached into the bag and pulled out one of the sugar-coated muffins. “This looks wonderful. I may have to take them all home.”
“I think you should,” Nicki said.
Smiling, Fran looked over at her and nodded. “I might. Now then. What can I do for you? I know you didn’t come into town just to bring me my favorite muffins.”
Laughing because Fran obviously saw right through her, Nicki rested her arms on the counter and leaned forward.
“I was wondering if the chief needed to do a more in-depth interview with me, since I found the body. Along with Geri, of course.”
“He hasn’t mentioned it,” Fran said. “But I can give him the message. And that doesn’t seem like it’s worth a whole bag of muffins.”
Thinking she wasn’t going to be very good at this investigation thing if she was so ridiculously transparent, Nicki sighed and gave up trying to be clever and sneaky about getting information. Apparently, it wasn’t the best approach for her to take.
“I was hoping we could trade information. What I know for what he knows?”
Fran gave her a sharp look. “Do you have information you haven’t shared with him yet?”
Nicki immediately shook her head. “No. Not yet, at least.”
“Are you planning on doing some detective work of your own?”
“I do have contacts in the journalism and news world,” Nicki said, feeling as if she should cross her fingers behind her back. She might be overstating that a bit, but it was true. To a certain extent, anyway. Besides, Matt did have a lot of contacts and he had offered to help, so it wasn’t an outright lie.
“What information are you looking for, honey? George Lancer probably died from a heart attack. No mystery there.”
Nicki wasted no time in pouncing on what Fran had said. “Is that what the coroner said? That it was a heart attack?”
When Fran nodded, Nicki’s face fell along with her spirits. She’d been so sure he was murdered.
“Is that the medical examiner’s final ruling?” Alex asked.
“From what Tom said, he hasn’t decided yet. I’m to tell the chief he won’t be issuing the death certificate until he checks out a few things.”
Nicki looked at Alex and then back over at Fran. “What things?”
The clerk’s mouth pursed into a thin line. She gave a quick peek over Nicki’s shoulder toward the front door before dropping her voice to a stage whisper. “Doctor Tom wasn’t sure why George had a heart attack. Despite everyone saying the man had a severe smoking habit and being on the heavy side, he didn’t show any signs of heart disease and his lungs were clear. Tom thought it was odd enough he needed to study it a bit further. And he said something about the blood test results.”
“The blood test results?” Nicki echoed.
Fran nodded and stepped over to her desk, pulling a piece of paper out from a folder lying on top of her inbox. “Just got it in yesterday afternoon. Chief asked me to put it with the rest of the case file.”
Nicki concentrated on keeping her hands still so she wouldn’t snatch it right out of Fran’s hands. Taking a deep breath, she forced her voice to stay calm and even. “Does it say anything unusual?”
“Wouldn’t know,” Fran said. “Never could make heads or tails out of those things. Here, you can take a look.”
She handed the single sheet over to Nicki, who carefully took the time to study the various bars and numbers before placing it flat on the counter between herself and Alex.
“I certainly have no idea what it says either. Maybe the chief will know since he came from a big city department. I’m sure he saw quite a few unexplained deaths in Los Angeles.”
“He didn’t act like he saw anything unusual, but he can keep things pretty close to the vest, if you know what I mean,” Fran said.
“I do. Sometimes he’s… ow!” Nicki turned a wide-eyed look at Alex who’d stomped hard on her foot. Her friend jerked her eyes toward the piece of paper lying between them.
“I just remembered I’m expected by, um, by…” Alex sent Nicki the same silent message with her eyes that she’d used back in New York when she’d needed to be rescued from an overly zealous young man in their favorite bar.
“The movers?” Nicki hastily supplied. Absolutely sure her friend had seen something significant in those test results, Nicki’s nerves jittered down her spine. She grabbed Alex’s arm and threw a last smile at Fran who was now frowning at them. �
�I forgot all about those movers. We really do need to hurry. Thanks so much, Fran. Please tell the chief I’ll be calling him soon about that interview.”
With one last tug, Nicki got them out the door. She did a quick-step to the car and once inside turned the key, wasting no time in setting the car into motion. She didn’t say a word until they were away from the square and headed back to the townhouse.
“Okay, spill it, Doctor Kolman. What did you see?”
Alex turned and stared at her with huge eyes. “Raised levels of all the things which indicate a heart attack, plus one more.”
“Which was?” Nicki prompted.
“Nicotine. He had very high levels of nicotine.”
Confused, Nicki frowned. “He was a heavy smoker.”
Her friend, the doctor, gave a dramatic sigh. “A heavy smoker with clear lungs, according to what the coroner told Fran. Which is a mystery all in itself. And anyway, those weren’t levels he’d get from smoking. But they were high enough to bring on a sudden heart attack, even without any evidence of heart disease. If I had to guess, I’d say he drank it. Nicotine is used in pesticides and can make a very effective poison.”
“Poison?” Nicki’s blood suddenly felt heavier and her head lighter. She carefully slowed her little car until she could pull over to the side of the road. Once the car came to a halt, Nicki turned in her seat and stared, wide-eyed at Alex.
“Are you sure?”
“No. That’s up to the medical examiner. But your victim could not have smoked that much nicotine. And from what you said happened, it certainly appears he ingested a sudden, large intake which caused the heart attack.”
“A sudden, large intake,” Nicki repeated. She looked off into the distance, turning it over in her mind before glancing back at her friend.
“The wine. It was in the wine.”
Alex’s forehead scrunched up and her eyes narrowed. “It wouldn’t take much of a sip for a heavy dose of pure nicotine to bring on a heart attack. But it might taste horrible unless it was disguised with some sort of flavoring.”
