A Food and Wine Club Mystery Boxset Books 1 through 5

by Cat Chandler

  She shook her head.

  “Okay. How long have you had them?” Matt asked.

  “Since the memorial service yesterday,” Nicki said. “I took a big, pan of lasagna, and it was a huge hit.”

  “Who were you bribing this time?”

  Nicki gave up her attempt to distract him and leaned forward to glare at him instead. “I cook all the time, Matt Dillon. And it’s rarely to bribe someone.”

  He nodded. “Yes, you do cook all the time. But for your friends. Why go to all the trouble to feed a bunch of people you hardly know?”

  She could have argued more with him, but didn’t see the point. He was just going to get it out of her anyway.

  “Out of human decency. It was a memorial service.”

  When Matt stayed silent and continued to stare at her, Nicki threw up her hands. “All right. Jenna, Maxie and I went to the memorial so we could sneak a peek at George’s computer.”

  “Jenna hacked into Lancer’s computer?” Matt closed his eyes. Nicki could almost hear him praying for patience.

  “No hacking involved. He didn’t have a password.”

  Matt’s eyes flew open and he pinned her with a hard stare. “And then you, or rather Jenna, sent his personal information to your email?”

  “Of course not,” Nicki said with a wave of her hand. “Jenna downloaded it to a thumb something or other.”

  “Drive,” Matt supplied. “It’s a thumb drive. I’m surprised Maxie didn’t manage to talk you out of this.”

  Nicki shrugged. “She was the lookout.”

  Matt groaned and put a hand to his forehead. “You are aware that what you were doing is illegal.”

  “Strictly speaking, maybe,” she said, concentrating not to squirm under his sudden glare.

  “In any ‘speak’ you want, Nicki Connors. What did you find? And I want to know all of it,” Matt insisted.

  “Wouldn’t that make you some kind of accessory to our crime?”

  Matt didn’t even blink at that. “All of it, Nicki.”

  “Well, he seemed to have a gambling habit,” Nicki said slowly. “We found all kinds of sports betting spreadsheets tracking games. Apparently he dealt with a man named Benzo.”

  “Benzo,” Matt repeated, his voice sounding grim. “What else?”

  “He didn’t seem to have much money, and a lot of his bills weren’t paid,” Nicki said, warming up to the subject. “I also found a note that stated ‘get 25% stake from JB’. I think he was talking about Jeremy Brennan, the owner of Trax.”

  “Hello? Is anyone here?”

  “Who’s that?” Matt asked.

  “Alex. She left a message saying she’d be here this morning and intended to stay a few days.” Nicki swiveled her chair around to face the office door. “We’re in here, Alex.”

  Her friend appeared in the doorway. “Who’s ‘we’? Is Jenna here? How was your date with…” Alex immediately trailed off when she rounded the corner and saw Matt’s face on the computer screen. “Oh. Hi, Matt.

  “Hi, Alex,” Matt said. “How’s everything going in the doctoring world?”

  “Fine. People getting cured, lots of happy endings.” Alex looked over at Nicki. “He looks annoyed. What’s going on?”

  “He is annoyed,” Nicki replied. “He’s not happy with me right at the moment.”

  “He can hear you both.” Matt’s raised voice came clearly over the speakers. “Alex, I need to yell at Nicki. Would you mind giving us a little privacy? She can tell you all about it later.”

  “You know I’m just going to go around the corner and listen to every word, don’t you?” Alex smiled at him.

  “Are you female?” Matt asked. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Fine. As long as I can’t see you,”

  “Okey-dokey then.” Alex disappeared around the corner.

  “If you two are through,” Nicki said as Alex slipped away. “I’m not sure I want to sit here and listen to a pre-planned yelling.”

  Matt snorted. “Lancer was dealing with a bookie, Nicki. Generally, bookies are not nice people. You need to take this to the police, and you need to do that today.”

  “You want me to go to the police and tell them we hacked into George’s computer?” Nicki asked, her eyes wide.

  “You’re the one who said it wasn’t hacking. And I don’t care what you tell them about how you got the information. Just tell them what you found out.” He leaned over and looked past her. “What’s that behind you?”

  Nicki knew exactly what he was looking at. Next time he called, the first thing she’d do was cover it up. “It was Maxie’s idea. It’s a murder board.”

  Matt groaned and dropped his head into his hands. “You know you’re all getting carried away?” He raised his head and looked at her. “Go to the police, Sherlock. And if you don’t, I’m getting on a plane and we’ll go together.”

  “Okay, okay. I’ll go as soon as I finish the article I’m writing for the magazine. It’s due today,” Nicki hedged. She wasn’t too sure about telling Chief Turnlow they’d snooped into George’s computer.

  “I’ll take care of that deadline. I know the owner.” Matt grinned before he switched back to his serious expression. “Today, Nicki. Give me your word.”

  “Fine. Today,” Nicki said. It was obvious he wasn’t going to let this go until she agreed.

  “Then I’ll talk to you tonight,” Matt said, his voice quieter. “Don’t forget to call. I did uncover a couple of things that might be of interest. I made a promise to let you know about anything I found and I’m going to keep that promise. But don’t make me regret it. Maybe I should spend the rest of the day getting a bail fund together. Talk to you later.”

  He clicked off, leaving Nicki to look at a blank space where his face had been a moment before.

  “He’s getting very bossy,” she groused, standing up and stretching her back.

  “He’s also very right,” Alex said from the doorway. She had a coffee cup in one hand and her car keys in the other. “Grab your purse and let’s go.”

  “Are you going to tell me how you know George Lancer was up to his eyeballs in gambling?” Chief Turnlow crossed his arms over his wide chest and raised one eyebrow. “We didn’t find anything to indicate that, and we did a search of his house and opened all the cupboards and drawers. We didn’t see anything having to do with him gambling.”

  “Kurt said George was always talking on his cell phone whenever he went out on break. That he’d light a cigarette but never smoke it, and spent the whole time on the phone. And George didn’t have much money in his bank account.”

  “And Kurt works in the tasting room at Holland Winery?”

  Nicki nodded. “Yes, he does. He also said he overheard an argument George had with someone he called ‘Jeremy’.”

  “An argument with Jeremy. Huh.” The chief uncrossed his arms and laid them on his desk. “Did Kurt happen to overhear what the argument was about?”

  Sitting across from him in a hard, straight-backed chair, Nicki smiled. “He didn’t say.”

  “Neither did Jeremy Brennan.”

  Nicki jerked back slightly and frowned. “You’ve already talked with Jeremy?”

  “He was in here this morning. Fact is, you just missed him.” Chief Turnlow shook his head. “He was a bit vague on what the argument was about, but he admitted to having it.”

  “Oh.” Nicki felt a little deflated. The chief’s next comment didn’t help, either.

  “And we already have Lancer’s bank statements. We could see he didn’t have much money in there, but I didn’t see any payments I would have attributed to a bookie. But then that’s usually a cash-only business, so it’d be hard to find out who he had been dealing with.”

  “Benzo,” Nicki said absently, her mind still mulling over the fact that the chief already knew everything she did. Well almost everything. He didn’t know about the note she’d found.

  “Benzo?” Chief Turnlow echoed. “You know the name of Lancer
’s bookie?”

  He blew out a breath and folded his hands, his eyebrows drawn together. “All right, Nicki. I’m aware Jenna Lindstrom is a computer whiz so I’m not going to ask you how you got that information. I am going to ask you where, though. When Danny searched the house, he didn’t find a computer anywhere.” The chief leaned forward. “I heard you were at the memorial yesterday afternoon because I talked to the warehouse manager this morning before Brennan came in and Victor mentioned it. All I’m going to ask you, more in the line of a friendly, general conversation, is if you happened to take… well, let’s say a tour of Lancer’s house while you were there.”

  She’d have to be a moron not to take the gift he was offering by overlooking their hacking. Getting her friends in trouble had been her biggest worry.

  “Why yes, Chief. I did take a tour of the house.” She gave him a polite smile. “Very compact, serviceable place. But I did find the location of the personal office space a bit odd.”

  “Why is that, Ms. Connors?” the chief asked.

  “Because you had to go out the kitchen door onto the back porch, and then follow the porch around the corner until you came to the second door on your right. It certainly wasn’t very convenient.”

  “I have to agree.” Chief Turnlow sighed before looking past her and yelling for Danny to get his tail into the office.

  When his young deputy stuck his head around the doorway, the chief scowled at him before giving him the location of George’s closet-sized office. “Go out and pick up his computer and any other papers lying around.”

  “Yes, Chief,” Danny said before giving the other occupant of the room a shy smile. “Hi, Nicki. Are you doing okay after finding the body and all?”

  “She’s fine, Officer Findley. Now go get that computer,” the chief barked, keeping his gaze fixed on his deputy until the young man disappeared and his running footsteps rang down the police station’s short hallway.

  Chief Turnlow looked over at Nicki, a frown on his face. “As for you and your band of amateur sleuths, I want you to keep clear of this investigation.”

  “But we really aren’t…” Nicki stopped when the chief held up his hand.

  “I know a bit of your history, Nicki.” His voice softened. “I know about your mother and that her case has gone cold. I dealt with enough families when I was a homicide detective to understand how tough that is on everyone. But trying to find out who killed George Lancer isn’t going to make up for your mom.”

  Nicki’s mouth opened, but nothing came out. Was that what she was doing? Trying to compensate somehow for her mother’s murder never being solved?

  When Chief Turnlow stood up, she automatically did the same.

  “You need to stay away from this, Nicki,” he said. “There’s a good chance that George owed money to this Benzo character and paid the price. That particular branch of humanity plays by its own rules, and I don’t want you to stumble into their line of fire. Am I making myself clear?”

  She nodded and gathered up her purse and sweater without saying a word. She walked out into the main room with him.

  “If we find out who did this, I’ll personally give you a call.” The chief nodded at her and then at Alex. “Have a nice day, ladies.”

  Alex trailed after Nicki as she trudged toward the car. Still silent, she climbed into the passenger seat and stared straight ahead as her friend put the car into gear and drove away from the town square. Several minutes passed before Alex threw her a sideways look.

  “All right. What did the man say to put that look on your face? That you’d have to do five to ten in the State penitentiary?”

  “No,” Nicki sighed. “He said I’m trying to solve George Lancer’s murder because I couldn’t solve mom’s.” Nicki dropped her gaze to her hands lying in her lap before looking over at Alex. “Do you think that’s true?”

  “In my best medical opinion? Not really,” Alex said, negotiating the turn onto the highway leading to Maxie’s large property.

  “So why am I doing this?” Nicki asked. “I didn’t even know the man. I’d barely said a dozen words to him, and to be honest I didn’t like him at all. He was rude, arrogant and whether or not he actually smoked, he smelled like an ashtray.”

  “Because you’re naturally nosy,” Alex said. “The chief’s explanation is way too complicated. If he knew you better, he’d realize that you love to pry into everyone’s life.”

  “Well that’s a mean thing to say,” Nicki declared.

  Alex laughed. “Not at all. It’s one of the things I love most about you, and so does Jenna. You love hearing everyone’s life story and how they got into the place they’re at. You like it so much, you’re willing to spend hours cooking just to create the perfect bribe to get someone to start talking.”

  “I like to cook,” Nicki protested.

  “And you’re nosy. That’s why writing a blog and doing interviews for Matt’s magazine is the perfect career for you.”

  Nicki snorted and then chuckled, which turned into a full-blown laugh. “Only your real friends will tell you the truth.”

  “That’s me,” Alex nodded. “One of your real friends.”

  “I’d give you a hug if you weren’t driving at seventy miles an hour down this country road,” Nicki said.

  “And I’d take that hug if I weren’t driving at seventy miles an hour down a country road,” Alex replied, but she eased off the accelerator. “So not to change the subject, but how did your date with Rob go last night?”

  “It started out very well but slid into annoying.”

  “All right, Connors. Explain.”

  “Well, he began by telling me that the local Catalan House restaurant will donate the catering for our Literacy for Kids fundraiser. Which reminds me, I still need to call and let Maxie know as soon as I get home.”

  “That’s wonderful,” Alex said.

  “And he had a fantastic idea about offering a cooking class to help raise even more money,” Nicki continued.

  “Also wonderful. So, when does the annoying part happen?”

  “Right now,” Nicki said. “He thinks I should take a class on the history of wine which his boss happens to be giving at the local college.”

  “Can’t you just read a book?” Alex asked.

  “Not when he’s already enrolled me in the class.”

  Alex’s mouth dropped open. “He what? Okay, start from the beginning, and don’t leave a word out.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “I simply love your coffee, dear.” Maxie took another sip and made an appreciative noise in the back of her throat. “Such a lovely start for an early morning meeting.”

  “It’s almost ten, Maxie,” Alex pointed out from her perch on one of the high stools pulled up to the kitchen counter.

  “Which may be the middle of the day in your profession, dear, but for the rest of the civilized world, it’s definitely early in the morning. But I was up a bit late last night doing research for a client. An absolutely fascinating family in Sweden. Their genealogy is positively intriguing. And I love the Nordic countries in the fall. I might deliver my results personally.”

  “That sounds like a great idea. I wish I could join you,” Nicki said, stifling a yawn.

  “Were you up late too?” Maxie smiled, her brown eyes crinkling at the corners when Nicki nodded. “What kept you up late? Working on an article, or taking a romp with that dashing hero, Tyrone Blackstone?”

  “Nothing that exciting. I was on a business call.”

  “Sounded a little more personal than business to me.” Alex laughed when Nicki stuck her tongue out at her.

  “Oh?” Maxie tapped a finger against her lips. “That occasional boyfriend of yours? Bob, isn’t it?”

  “Rob,” Nicki corrected. “Which reminds me. He told me that the Catalan House restaurant in Santa Rosa will be donating their catering for the dinner at the Literature for Kids fundraiser.”

  “Rob, of course. How generous of him,” Maxie cl
apped her hands together. “Such a thoughtful boyfriend. Did he call you last night?”

  “Not that boyfriend,” Alex said. “Her other, wanna-be boyfriend, Matt.”

  Nicki let out a snort of exasperation. “Matt does not want to be my boyfriend.”

  “I wouldn’t say that, dear. In my opinion, he very much would like to be your boyfriend.” Maxie took another sip of coffee and winked at her hostess. “Dr. Alex and I agree on that point.”

  “You’re both crazy,” Nicki declared. “Right now, he doesn’t even like me much. He really didn’t want to tell me the information he found out that might have a link to George’s murder, even though he promised he would. But it was worse than pulling teeth to get it out of him last night.”

  Alex leaned toward the end of the counter where Maxie was standing.

  “He doesn’t like her getting so involved in this murder investigation now that she’s doing illegal stuff,” Alex said in a loud, stage whisper.

  “It wasn’t illegal,” Nicki countered. “Or at least it was barely illegal, and he’s having a fit over the whole thing. I told Chief Turnlow what we found out. He knows we looked in George’s computer, and yet I’m not parading around in jail stripes.”

  “Probably more due to the chief being afraid of Maxie than believing you were innocent,” Alex pointed out.

  “Very glad to be of service, dear.” Maxie smiled at Nicki. “Is that all Matt is upset about? A little snooping around in a dead man’s house when there was no family we could ask for permission?”

  “He wasn’t very happy about a bookie being tossed into this mix, either,” Alex supplied.

  Nicki rolled her eyes. Honestly. She would have thought at least one of her friends would know how to keep a confidence.

  “Nonsense.” Maxie airily waved the comment away. “It was simply a name. There isn’t a shred of evidence the gentleman was involved in George’s murder.”

  “That’s right,” Nicki declared, squaring her shoulders and giving Maxie a ‘thumbs-up’. “It was just a name. There’s a lot more reason to suspect one of the winery owners killed George.”