“I’ll catch up.” Steele kissed her tenderly. Softly. Slowly.
Joy quivered in his hands. She let out a sound that could have been a purr.
As they kissed. Monty slid around their shoulders and down Joy’s back and over his legs in a slow rhythm of rectilinear contractions of scale against skin.
Monty’s tongue flicked in time, it seemed, to their gentle rocking. Tasted their passion in the air.
They took one another and submitted to one another, because they both needed the contact, needed the connection, even if brief and even if physical more than emotional. That much they understood, and for that reason, they wasted no time, despite their slow movements and quick breaths.
Slow was not in the cards for either of them. Their urgent need to belong to something more than themselves was too great.
Having faced death, maybe they rushed toward the brink, because they each knew how precious and fragile life and relationships could be.
But this was real.
It was two black shadows striking against the other and creating sparks of light that shot hope into every fiber of their being. Even if only short-lived.
They reached the blissful edge in satisfied torment, knowing they could not stop, tarry, and linger. But they hovered as long as possible, clung to one another, and together, they jumped into the light.
Joy wanted to scream, but Steele clamped his mouth over hers in a final deep kiss that stifled her release and his and turned the outward blast into a vise of shock waves that imploded and exploded all at once.
When he released her mouth, they gasped in mutual satisfaction unknown to either of them before.
Monty wound round their torsos. Steele stroked his fingers over her scaly head. “She’ll like me now. I smell like you.”
Joy scooped Monty into her arms. “Time for the little kid to go to bed.” Joy slipped off the bed, crossed the room, and set Monty gently back in her enclosure.
“Can the big kid stay?”
Joy glided back to Steele with her chin dipped low. An animal stalking its prey. She crawled on the bed and toward him on all fours. “What makes you think you can escape?”
She dropped her mouth over his, fell into his chest, and they writhed and rolled, two snakes coiling and constricting.
26
Friday night, the station emptied quickly. Joy changed into a red and black silk dress that hugged her slender frame and accentuated the soft white pillows of her breasts. Black crystal clips gently pulled her hair back just behind her ears. Black crystal earrings dangled from her earlobes, caught the light, and danced playfully.
Even in a dress, Max could picture her leaping Ninja-style and cutting someone’s throat. Maybe he just needed to give her more credit, give her the benefit of the doubt that she had a soft side.
Per Max’s directive to be dressy-casual, Steele wore a dark suit jacket, white shirt, and jeans.
On the other hand and despite David King’s easy-going manner, Max’s father had dressed up Max for visits to his friends. So Max wore a dark suit and his father’s bolo tie.
Max handed Joy directions to the Wolf’s home and proceeded to fill Joy and Steele in on who’d they’d meet at the birthday party. It sounded like a briefing prior to setting out on patrol: “Joy, you can fill Steele in on ‘Red’ and Kate. They have five sons, but Danny passed away a month ago, that’s Lizzy’s husband. She’s the birthday girl. Liam, Logan, Jack, and Alfie all work at the winery. Liam married Cathy, a former Miss Wine Valley pageant winner, about fifteen years or so his junior. Cathy did not make it past the local pageant, but she acts like there’s still a tiara on her head. Logan married his life-partner, Matteo, a couple of years back at the winery. Big wedding. Jack is divorced. Alfie is single. Lizzy Kinsey Wolf comes from the Kinsey Pharmaceuticals empire, started by her father Harold Kinsey. And that is all you need to know, except that Sally, Lizzy’s much older sister, will be there. According to Red and Kate she’s ‘a handful.’ I’ve seen her around town, but I’ve never actually met her. My dad once said that Sally—and I quote—‘registers somewhere between plumb-loco and plumb-ornery.’”
“I’m at home with plumb-loco,” said Joy. “Should be fun.”
Steele slipped his hand into Joy’s. “And if plumb-ornery, means plumb-mean, then I can handle it.”
Joy and Steele followed Max’s blue convertible through the electric gate and up a winding road. They parked on the paver-stone driveway, more like a parking lot, before a massive, two-story house with a stone façade. This was no castle. It was a Scottish manor house fit for royalty.
They’d barely rung the sonorous bell, when Kate swung the door wide and waved them inside. She kissed Joy on both cheeks. “So glad you made it.”
“Thank you,” said Joy. “This is Reed Steele.”
Kate grabbed him next and planted kisses on each cheek, before grabbing Max and doing the same. “Come in. Come in.”
Before they left the grand foyer, off of which ran double curved staircases that swooped up to a second level, Red rushed in and repeated the hug for Joy and a firm handshake for the boys. “Welcome, lads and lady. Let’s get you a bevvy.”
“That’d be a drink,” said Kate. “Been here decades, but we still talk like home.”
Red led them into an elegant living room with a cathedral, white-paneled ceiling, a massive stone hearth, heavy wood furnishings; tapestry-like drapes, and picture windows. He led them toward the bar, while Kate meandered outside to attend to the other guests either sitting or standing along the patio, watching the sun set over the vineyards.
“I uncorked a few bottles from the cellar—our award-winning Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc—or I could make ye a Glasgow punch, a Scotch muffler, a half an’ a half, which would be a small whiskey and an ale?”
“Pinot Noir, thank you,” said Joy.
“Same,” said Max.
“I gotta go with the half an’ a half,” said Steele, “as I suspect it’s really good Scotch whiskey.”
Red added, “’Tis indeed. And a fine ale too. I’m havin’ the same.”
Joy pulled her sunglasses from her small black shoulder bag, which dangled at her hip.
Right or wrong, Steele shot back the whisky, so he only had the beer to handle.
Drinks in hand, Max, Joy and Steele followed Red outside. The golden-orbed sun sank toward the silhouette of distant hills. The sky blossomed with color: blue above and ochre at the horizon. Rows of grapevines cascaded over the undulating terrain like a green waterfall.
Alfie, the youngest Wolf at thirty, stood near the low brick wall next to his decade-older brother, Jack. Alfie was clean-shaven and freckle-faced. Jack sported a beard as thick as his father’s. Both showed the family resemblance to their parents. “Hey, Max,” said Alfie.
“I’ll leave you young’uns to it,” said Red before heading over to Lizzy’s table.
“Good to see you, Max.” Jack eyed Joy and waited for an introduction.
Steele put his arm around his date.
“This is my partner D—”
Joy reached out a hand. “Joy Burton and Reed Steele.”
Jack and Alfie shook hands with them.
“Come on,” said Alfie. “I’ll introduce you to the others.” He strolled over to a table occupied by three men and the former beauty queen. Cathy—a true beauty with a delicate nose, sky-blue eyes, and shoulder-length blond hair—waved and shot them a perky white-toothed smile and bubbled with over-the-top, wide-eyed glee upon their approach. She’d accentuated her tall, hour-glass figure by wearing a baby blue dress that clung to her ample breasts, tiny waist, and slender hips.
“Cathy, Liam, Logan and Matteo. Please meet Joy and Reed. Max, you know.”
As Jack grabbed a chair and sat, Cathy gushed, “You’re David King’s boy, right?”
“Right,” said Max.
“I knew it,” she remarked, as if proud of herself for remembering. “David King judged the Miss Wine Valley pageant I won, and h
e had you in tow. Gosh, that had to be a decade ago.”
“It was. I had just turned sixteen and felt like I’d landed in the great kingdom of the Amazon women. My friends were totally jealous.”
“Now this beautiful girl here could have won the whole shebang. Darlin’, that is a show-stoppin’ dress,” said Cathy.
Before Joy could respond, Matteo interceded, “Cathy. Pause and breathe, dear.” Matteo was a dark-haired man with fashionable stubble and the same haircut as Max, shaved at the sides, except the long hair at the top of his head wound into a top knot. He spoke with an Italian accent.
Liam and Logan laughed in stereo as brothers brought up together naturally did. It was clearly in good humor, not to embarrass Cathy. Liam, the oldest brother, extended an invitation. “Join is if you dare.”
“You boys are silly, which is why I love you to pieces.” Cathy shook her head. “Please have a seat, Joy. I’m horribly outnumbered here.”
Alfie intervened. “Later. I’ve got ‘em makin’ the rounds first.” Alfie approached the next table. Extra chairs had been squeezed in to make room for seven, and even then, Lizzy’s boys stood up.
Lizzy jumped up and hugged Max. “Hi, Max. How have you been?”
Max hugged her back. In the past month, they’d exchanged the unpleasantness of attending one another’s family funerals: Danny’s and David’s. “Probably the same as you, Lizzy. I’m hanging in there. How’s it going for you?”
“It goes. Day-by-day.” Lizzy’s face showed age and fatigue. She’d lost weight. Despite dressing up for her birthday, her thin shoulders hunched, and her blouse and slacks ballooned over bone-thin appendages. Her green eyes struggled to create a spark, and her mouth turned up in an obligatory smile. “These are my sons, Rio and Oliver. Rio just finished his bachelors in biochemistry and came on board with Kinsey.”
Max nodded a greeting then introduced his friends. “This is Joy Burton and Reed Steele.”
Max hadn’t seen the boys in a long while. He remembered that Lizzy had adopted Rio as a toddler, and then became pregnant with Oliver, who looked like her, handsome and fair, where Rio had olive skin and dark hair and eyes. The boys offered genuinely polite handshakes.
Lizzy continued, “And this is my sister, Sally, and her husband Elliot.”
Max noticed the stark difference between the two. Despite the fact that Sally had to be in her fifties, she exuded fire and sexuality and something else, maybe disdain. Her garnet-red hair, spiked this way and that, her red lips and thick, black mascara gave her a witch-like appearance—a cruel beauty. Elliot was a balding, slim man with glasses, who exuded no emotion whatsoever.
Despite drooping eyelids, one lower than the other, Sally’s hickory-brown eyes swept up and down Joy briefly, before locking onto Max like a bear to honey. “Nice to meet you.”
As if fully aware of his in-law’s appetites, Alfie added, “These folks are part of our wonderful Wine Valley’s police force, Sally.”
“Even better. I like policemen,” Sally slurred as if already inebriated, but no one laughed.
Lizzy shot Max an apologetic look.
With the sweep of her hand and dragon-red nails, Sally introduced the last two at the table. “This is Todd Barr, my fabulous attorney, and Alice Worth, my mediocre assistant.” Sally laughed at her own joke. “I’m just joking, people. Alice, you’re fabulous too.” Her tone was less than sincere.
Todd, about Sally’s age and with salt-and-pepper hair and wire-rimmed glasses, reached over and squeezed Alice’s hand, but he quickly let go. The young assistant had hazel eyes and chestnut hair pulled back in a ponytail. She wore a gray pantsuit over a pin-striped blouse that gave her a masculine look.
A devilish grin crossed Elliot’s face. “She’s lasted two months working for you, dear. Don’t blow it now.”
From the next table over, Logan puckered his lips to stifle a laugh. Matteo simply waved his hand as if cooling off his face. The others coughed or shifted or shuffled, enjoying the barb in silent adulation.
Kate stood up. “Max, Reed, Joy—take our seats. Red and I have to check on the kitchen staff. Sally, Elliot, thanks for sending Maria over to help out.”
Sally nodded. “Of course, she’s happy to make some extra income.”
As Red grabbed his pint and his whiskey and rose to his feet, he had the happy expression of a man who’d been saved.
Sally shifted her weight and rubbed her stomach.
“Are you all right?” asked Todd.
“Not sure,” said Sally, still slurring. “Upset stomach.”
Oliver reached over and grabbed her empty wine glass. “I’ll get you some water, Aunt Sally.”
“Wine,” ordered Sally.
Alice rose to leave. “And I need to get back to work and help out, so you will all have a fabulous dinner.”
At that, Jack took the lead, and Logan and Mateo followed. “Guys, let’s put these tables together. They moved the empty chairs, scooched the tables together, and formed one large group.
Oliver returned and set a glass of Pinot Noir in front of Sally. She didn’t say a word of thanks. She just grabbed the glass and swigged.
Cathy broke the mood like a good witch overpowering the bad witch. “Joy, you’re a police woman too? What made you choose such a dangerous job? At the sight of blood or a gun, I’d surely faint. I’d be no help at all.”
“I am what I am, Cathy. The job chose me. I’m new in town. I joined the force as a consultant, a forensic psychologist.”
Sally roared with laughter and waved her dragon nails. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I have this picture in my head of your analyzing a bank robber or maybe a shoplifter. He’s stretched out on the couch.” Her voice sank to a low, mocking tone. “You ask, ‘What made you do it?’”
Joy kept her usual straight face and monotone voice. She tilted her head and dug her eyes into Sally’s. She leaned ever slightly forward like an animal closing the distance on a target. “My specialty is psychoanalyzing murderers, Sally. So if you ever kill anyone, I’d be the person sitting across from you, like now, and I’d peel you like an onion…” Joy held up a clawed hand that held an invisible onion, and she motioned like she was peeling layer after layer, “until I reached the rotten core.” Joy formed a fist and squished the center.
Sally’s face fell, but Todd’s, Elliot’s, and especially Cathy’s lit up.
Sally got up from the table and wobbled on her feet. “Elliot, Todd, we’re going inside.”
Elliot picked up Sally’s wine glass and took her by the arm. “Let’s get you some water, dear.” Todd tried to take her by the other arm. Sally ripped herself loose from them both and walked ahead.
They’d no sooner left than Matteo wriggled in his seat. “I’m melting…I’m melting.”
Logan shushed him, nodding toward Lizzy.
Liam said, “Sorry, Lizzy. I know she’s your sister.”
Lizzy’s face brightened, and a genuine smile crossed her lips. “She’s my sister—not by choice. But you all, on the other hand, are my family. I don’t know where I’d be if I hadn’t met Danny.” She raised her glass. “To Danny.”
Logan raised his glass. “To Danny. And happy birthday, Lizzy. From your family.”
“Here, here,” added Jack.
“We love you, Lizzy.” Cathy held a hand over her heart and clinked her wine glass. “Always.”
Max, Steele, and Joy clinked glasses too, and the laughter grew as the sun set behind the hill.
A short while later, Maria stepped outside to invite the guests to the dinner table.
Joy walked down the hall to the bathroom first. She spotted Oliver taking the top off of a small bottle. He titled his head back and held the bottle over his right eye.
Sally emerged from the bathroom, wobbly on her feet.
Plop. The drop splashed in Oliver’s eye. Oliver held out the bottle to share.
Sally brushed past them. She put a hand on the wall to steady herself.
“
Are you all right,” asked Joy.
Sally let out a cackling laugh. “I’m better than all right, dear. I’m the best.”
27
The mahogany table in the formal dining room was laid out to seat seventeen: seven on one side, eight on the other and Red and Kate on each end. Everyone found the place card with a grape motif and their name and sat down. Red sat on one end, flanked by Max, Sally, Elliot, Alfie and Oliver on his left and Lizzy, Steele, Joy, and Rio to his right. On the other end, Kate had Liam, Jack, and Logan to her right and Cathy, Todd, and Mateo to her left.
Max noted that Alice had not been given a seat at the table, and he knew it would not have been Kate’s doing. Sally must have ordered her to kitchen duty.
Kate, Alice, and the maids swept into the room and offered each guest champagne for a toast, which everyone readily accepted, even Sally, despite the cringed faces of many who had hoped she’d politely decline.
Red raised his glass. “Lizzy, the day you came into our family, you blessed this house with love and kindness, and you blessed our hearts with joy. The good Lord needed Danny sooner than we expected, but we’re here for you. We are your family, and we wish you a very happy birthday!”
Glasses rose in the air and chinked amidst additional wishes: “Here, here” or “Happy birthday.”
Kate swept into the room, holding plates, followed by Alice and two maids, likewise burdened as they set plates before the guests, females first. Sally moved her plate and set it before Max. “I’m going to skip the salad.” She rubbed her belly.
“You should eat,” Max cajoled softly.
“I will, just not greenery on this stomach.” Sally reached for her champagne and drank a large draught. She used her napkin to daub her face and forehead.
Kate and the maids set down plate after plate, disappeared, and returned again until everyone had a salad, burgeoning with mixed greens, red and gold beets, goat cheese, and delicate white Queen Anne’s Lace flowers.
Kate put her hands on Sally’s shoulders. “I’ll bring you a bowl of soup. Fresh made. It will put you right.”
Burgundy and Bodies Page 16
