by Cat Chandler
“Like cherries,” Nicki whispered.
The two women exchanged a long, shocked look.
“We need to go to Holland’s right now,” Nicki declared.
“Wait. The winery where this guy died? Why?” Alex demanded.
But Nicki ignored her. She grabbed her purse and rooted around in its depths frantically searching for her cell phone. Finally managing to get her hands on it, she punched in a number and waited impatiently for Jenna to pick up.
“So, what did Sherlock and Watson find out?”
Momentarily startled, Nicki’s mind went blank. “That’s what Matt called me.”
“Sherlock and Watson?” Jenna asked.
“No just Sherlock.” Shaking off the distraction, Nicki clutched her phone even tighter. “I need you to get Maxie and meet us at Holland Winery.”
“It just so happens that Maxie is right here getting a lesson on how not to mess up her website. What’s going on?”
“We need to preserve a crime scene.”
Chapter Nine
The little Toyota spun into the winery parking lot. Nicki shoved open her door and leaped out of the driver’s seat just as Jenna came running up with Maxie right on her heels.
“What’s going on?” Jenna’s long arms windmilled as she fought to catch her balance when her feet slid on the gravel.
“The wine,” Nicki said. “It was in the wine.”
Maxie halted next to Jenna, steadying herself with a quick grab onto the tall brunette’s arm. The older woman sent a stern look in Alex’s direction before turning the same look on Nicki. “Now everyone calm down and let’s compare notes so we can see where we are.”
Jenna frowned. “Compare notes? We don’t have any notes.”
The older woman patted Jenna’s arm but kept her gaze on Nicki. “It’s just a figure of speech detectives are fond of using, dear. I’m sure you’ll become used to the lingo once the murder board is set up.”
“Where did you learn this lingo?” Jenna demanded with a roll of her eyes before facing Nicki. “What was in the wine?”
“Nicki thinks George was poisoned with a large dose of nicotine in his wine,” Alex supplied, holding up her hand when Jenna’s jaw dropped to her chest. “The lab report showed an elevated level of nicotine in his blood.”
“The man always had a cigarette in his hand,” Maxie pointed out. “Why even at the annual Wine Valley Ball he was constantly disappearing to have a smoke. He reeked of smoke the whole night.” She pursed her lips and shook her head. “Such a shame to ruin that nice tuxedo, too.”
Praying for patience at the ridiculous direction of the conversation, Nicki clapped her hands together. When three sets of eyes turned toward her, she put her hands on her hips and gave a hard stare to each of them. “Alex read the lab report at the police station. She says the nicotine levels were way too high to be just from smoking. I think the nicotine was in the wine. We have to make sure the crime scene isn’t touched until we can find the chief and let him know George was murdered.”
“What makes you think he doesn’t already know, dear?” Maxie asked.
Nicki took a swift glance around. “Because if he did, he’d be here and I don’t see a police car anywhere.”
Her three companions craned their necks as they each did a complete turn to look around the entire parking lot.
“We look like a bunch of spinning tops,” Jenna complained.
“I don’t see a police car,” Maxie said.
“I think we should just call Chief Turnlow, tell him what we think and let him deal with this. After all, it’s his job to do that sort of thing,” Alex pointed out.
“Nonsense,” Maxie declared. “We absolutely should be sure the crime scene is intact and stand guard, if necessary, to make sure it stays that way until the chief gets here.”
Despite Maxie’s dramatic flair, Nicki sent her a grateful smile. It grew even wider when Jenna shrugged and then nodded.
“I suppose it can’t hurt to call the chief after we’re sure nothing has been disturbed,” Alex finally said.
Before anyone had second thoughts, Nicki set off for the wine tasting room at a brisk pace. Her plan was to slip through the same door she and Geri had used, the day they found George dead in his private aging room.
The others trailed behind her. Feeling a sense of déjà vu, Nicki led the small group across the parking lot and into the spacious tasting room with its large, wooden beams and long bar stretching along the back. Slipping through the door behind it would be a piece of cake if it weren’t for the familiar young man tending the bar. Abruptly changing course, Nicki headed to one of the tall tables in the far corner.
“Where to now?” Jenna demanded. “Which way is the scene of the crime, so to speak?”
Nicki smiled brightly at the barman. He was the same waiter George had humiliated in front of an audience the day the winemaker died. And right now, that young man was blocking the door leading to the private aging room.
“We need to distract the bartender so he won’t stop us going through the backdoor.”
“Why would he care if we did?” Jenna asked.
“Because he be might a suspect,” Nicki countered.
Jenna gave an inelegant snort. “He barely looks old enough to be serving liquor, and you think he might have killed George Lancer?”
“I’m sure we’ll understand Nicki’s reasoning once the murder board is set up,” Maxie said.
Nicki bit her lip to keep from smiling. Maxie certainly was fixated on having a murder board. She wasn’t even sure any of them had the foggiest idea how to set one up.
“Let’s just go along with Nicki so we can get to the calling-the-police part of the plan,” Alex said. She turned around, leaned back against the table and sent a big smile along with a wave to the bartender.
“Nice flirting for an engaged woman,” Jenna said, keeping her voice low, but followed Alex’s lead and motioned the young man over to their table. Nicki covered her mouth and hid her grin when Kurt, at least she thought that was his name, made short work of rounding the bar. He headed in their direction with the slight swagger guys often took on when they were the center of a woman’s attention, much less a whole group of them. Nicki choked back a giggle at Alex’s long, drawn-out sigh.
“I think our resident blogger has made another conquest,” Jenna said in a stage whisper to Alex.
Sure enough, Kurt stopped right next to Nicki. His surfer-blue eyes locked onto her even as he politely addressed all of them. “What can I get for you ladies?”
Nicki gave a polite nod before inclining her head toward her friends. “They know what I want. I need to run to the ladies’ room.”
“I’ll go with you,” Maxie said before turning a motherly smile on the young waiter. “We’ll be back in a few minutes. Just in time for our drinks.”
Alex picked up the tasting menu present on all the tables and leaned toward the unsuspecting server. “What would you recommend?”
When he started pointing out the various blends on the small menu, Nicki quietly slipped away with Maxie right beside her.
“You go check on the crime scene. I’ll find Jim and ask him to call Chief Turnlow,” Maxie whispered.
Nodding her agreement, Nicki split off and headed straight for the back of the bar. In less than two minutes she’d made the turn into the hallway leading to the private aging room. Even from the end of the hallway, the bright yellow police tape across the doorway stood out like a neon sign. Behind the tape, the heavy, wooden door was closed.
“Oh, shoot,” she said under her breath. It was probably locked. Not sure how to get a peek inside, Nicki bent over and put her eye to the keyhole. But the tiny opening only showed a patch of floor and the side of a barrel. Frustrated, she straightened up and put her hands on her hips, glaring at the offending door.
Not expecting much, she gave the handle a firm twist. To her surprise it easily turned in her hand. A light shove forward and the door opened with
a soft creak of its hinges. Nicki pushed it open far enough to be able to peer into the room.
The small table holding the glasses and wine bottles was hidden behind the first row of barrels. Nicki leaned forward as far as she could, stretching her back and neck, trying to see over the barrels into the narrow aisle between the rows. Not having any luck, she took a step backwards and frowned at the triangle-shaped space on either side of the crisscross made by the police tape.
Bet I could get through there. Nicki gauged the size of the opening. She’d only need to slip in far enough to make sure the wine bottles and glasses were still there. Deciding it wouldn’t hurt to get that closer look, Nicki gripped the doorjamb and carefully lifted one foot and then a leg through the narrow opening.
“I’m sure you aren’t trying to sneak past a police barricade, Ms. Connors.”
Half in and half out of the room, Nicki froze in place as her stomach sank all the way to her feet. Where had the chief come from?
As her face heated up to a full burn, Nicki slowly backed out into the hallway. She took a big step away from the door before turning to face Soldoff’s police chief.
Deciding the best option was to bluff it out, Nicki took a deep breath and pasted a smile on her face. Her cheeks grew even hotter as she first stared at the chief, and then at Geri standing behind him with her mouth wide open and a key held high in one hand. And behind her were Jim Holland, Maxie, Alex and Jenna. Nicki let out a soft groan and briefly closed her eyes. The only person missing was Kurt, the bartender.
“Chief…” When her voice squeaked on the single word, Nicki mashed her lips together and cleared her throat. “Chief Turnlow. You certainly got here fast after Maxie’s call.”
The chief raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t get a call from Maxie. She walked into the office where Jim and I were having a nice, friendly chat.”
Nicki’s gaze flicked over to Maxie who silently mouthed “sorry”.
“I didn’t see your cruiser in the parking lot.” Nicki couldn’t hold back the slight whine in her voice.
“It’s parked out back.”
Nicki gave a dramatic sigh and held her wrists out in front of her. “All right. I confess. I tried to get past the police tape. Go ahead and arrest me.”
“I just might do that.” The chief took several steps forward. His whole audience followed right along. He stopped several feet away from Nicki and his gaze cut over to the open door. “We locked that door and Jim just told me it’s stayed that way. How did you happen to get it open, Ms. Connors?”
Startled, Nicki glanced at the door and then back at the chief. “It wasn’t locked.”
“No?”
This time his gaze shifted to Geri, who promptly held out the key to him, dropping it into his outstretched hand as if it were a hot poker.
“I locked the door, Chief. I’m sure of it. And your deputy saw me lock it.” Geri clasped her hands in front of her so hard her knuckles turned white. She flinched when Jim stepped up and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Jim, why don’t you and I and Ms. Connors go back to your office so we can talk.” Chief Turnlow shook his head at Nicki. “I’ll forego using the handcuffs. At least for the moment.”
Jenna immediately rushed over to stand by Nicki’s side. Alex did the same and wrapped an arm around her friend’s shoulders.
“If Nicki said the door was already unlocked, then it was already unlocked.” Jenna staunchly defended her friend with a fierce glare squarely directed at Soldoff’s police chief.
Alex nodded her head. “I can assure you, Nicki is telling the truth. And I’m a doctor.”
“Which would count heavily in Nicki’s favor if we were discussing her health. But at the moment, it’s her snooping that’s in question.” The chief ran a hand over the top of his thinning, brown hair.
If he kept that up, Nicki suspected he’d be bald by the time he was through listening to her friends. Since it would be better if she simply accompanied the man, she reached up and removed the hand gripped around her shoulder while jabbing an elbow into Jenna’s side.
“I’ll come along peacefully, Chief. You need to hear why we raced over here before you pass judgment.”
Now the chief turned a narrow-eyed look on her. “This isn’t the wild, wild West, Ms. Connors. I only want to have a talk in private, not hang you from the highest tree.”
“Really, Paul. That is far too dramatic.” Maxie frowned. She lifted her hands and gave a shooing motion to Alex and Jenna. “Come along ladies. We can enjoy a nice drink and discuss how to set up our murder board while we wait for them to finish their chat. I’m sure Nicki will be able to make the men understand how sound our reasoning is.” She lifted her nose slightly when she glanced back at the chief. “Be sure you listen to her, Paul. We’d certainly welcome your help.”
“Glad to be of service, Maxie.” The chief’s tone was as dry as dust. He slowly shook his head at the backs of the three women who marched down the hall, arm-in-arm.
“Jim, I’d appreciate it if you could lead the way.”
“Should I come too?” Geri stammered, her eyes fixed on a point between Nicki and the chief. “I mean, since I was the last one to lock the door. Maybe I should come too.”
Geri had kept her distance at the outer edge of their little group and was so quiet Nicki had forgotten she was there. The poor woman looked frightened standing in her usual, plain attire with her hands clasped in front of her. They were visibly trembling. Even though the assistant’s head was bent and her eyes downcast, Nicki automatically sent her a reassuring smile.
“No need, Geri.” The chief’s voice dropped to a gentler level, and Nicki was surprised by the smile on his lips.
“Oh.” The assistant winemaker looked from the chief to Jim Holland and back again. “Oh, well. I guess I should go back to work.” She stood for a moment, still looking uncertain, before turning abruptly around and scurrying off.
With an immediate problem of her own, Nicki dismissed Geri from her thoughts and followed Jim toward his office with Chief Turnlow trailing behind.
The large office space Jim used to manage his winery was comfortably decorated and furnished. An oversized desk and a well-used chair covered in cracked leather with a patch showing here and there ate up a chunk of the space, and two overflowing bookshelves lined the far wall. The three, straight-backed, wooden chairs in front of the desk comprised the only other furniture in the room. Jim headed for his usual place behind the desk and Nicki made herself as comfortable as she could in one of the rigid chairs in front of him. The chief chose to stand between them, his arms crossed over his chest.
“All right, Nicki. You start.”
Feeling it was a good sign he’d dropped the formal way he’d been addressing her, Nicki nodded.
“Alex and I went by the police station in case you needed an additional statement from me. We were talking to Fran at the exact same time she had the blood test results in her hand.”
“Is that right?” One of the chief’s eyebrows quirked up, but he nodded at her to continue.
“She needed to do something, so she set the test results down for a moment.”
“What did Fran need to do?” the chief asked.
Nicki decided he sounded pleasant enough, but the smile on his face didn’t move and his eyes certainly didn’t look amused. She took a breath and plowed on with a careless wave of her hand.
“Answer the phone, or maybe she went to get a drink of water. I don’t remember. But for the very brief moment the results were on the desk, we happened to glance at it and Alex… I have to apologize for not introducing you, by the way.”
“I take it Alex is your friend, the doctor?”
“Yes, she is. Alex is a doctor,” Nicki placed an emphasis on that last word. “She happened to notice the large amount of nicotine on the report.”
“She noticed that from the other side of the desk?” Again the chief’s eyebrow rose.
After a brief struggle, Nick
i managed to keep a straight face. “Of course. She’s a doctor. She’s used to reading lab results at a glance.”
Chief Turnlow rolled his eyes. “Now why didn’t I realize that, I wonder?”
“Just a minute.” Jim Holland placed his large hands flat on top of the desk and pushed himself half-way out of his chair. “Are you saying George was poisoned? With nicotine? He was a heavy smoker. Of course he’d have nicotine in his system.”
Happy to have the chief’s attention on something other than her, Nicki looked over at the owner and shook her head. “Not this much. It was definitely more than he’d have from smoking a pack of cigarettes.”
The chief unwound his arms and turned to rest one hip on the edge of the cluttered desk. “So your friend, the doctor, not only read the test results from a distance but even saw the precise amount of a drug in the victim’s blood?” He sighed heavily and held up a hand when Nicki’s lips formed into an “O”.
“Please don’t bother to explain.” The chief glanced at Jim Holland. “The ME called on my way over here. He confirmed George Lancer was probably murdered unless he deliberately ingested the nicotine himself. Doctor Tom said it must have been fast acting, so he probably ingested it from the wine.”
The chief continued to stare at the winery owner. “You told me the victim always kept that room locked. Just like it was supposed to be kept locked since we put the tape up. So the question is, how did the killer get the key to that room? The one George had on him is at the station in the evidence cabinet, and the spare was locked up in your safe until we took it out to have a look at the scene. But there was the one used during the usual work day that was kept on a hook by the door. It isn’t there now.” He shifted his gaze to Nicki. “And you say the door was unlocked?”
Nicki stood up. Without saying a word, she took off her jacket and set it on the desk. “I don’t have any other pockets, and you can check my jacket.” She picked up her purse and upended it on the desk. Her keys, checkbook, lip gloss, wallet and all the change she habitually dropped into the bottom of her purse spilled out across the broad surface.
