In no time, Kate returned and set a steaming bowl of potato and herb soup before Sally.
Kate took her seat, Red said grace, and forks clinked against the custom china, bearing the private logo of the estate—a wolf howling beside a bunch of grapes. Conversation erupted at each end of the table.
Red bragged to his new guests, “Joy, you may like to know that our Lizzy is a sharp one too. What is it, Lizzy? Biology?”
Lizzy smiled. “Biochemistry, Dad.”
Red blurted, “I love it when she calls me Dad.”
“But I’ve always called you Dad.” She explained to the others, “Sally and I lost our father when Sally was thirty-nine, and I was a senior in college. Sally has run the company ever since as CEO.”
Sally waved her spoon at her sister. “That’s right. You people pat yourselves on the back for being book smart, but I’m strategy smart. The best kind of smart.” Sally scooped up spoonful after spoonful of soup.
Joy set down her fork. “How so, Sally?”
Sally polished off her champagne. “Did you get As in school?”
Max swallowed some salad and chased it with a slurp of champagne. “She started college at fifteen.”
“I got As,” said Sally. “And I didn’t study or do the work.” Sally leaned back and rubbed her stomach. “I paid smart people, like you and Lizzy, to write my papers for me.”
“Sally,” warned Lizzy. “Please don’t. This is not the time or the place.”
Sally laughed. “Sure it is. Joy likes to peel onions—but careful, Joy, they make you cry.” Sally polished off the last spoonful of soup.
Joy engaged. “What about the final exams?”
“The ones I couldn’t bullshit, I failed. And I still got As.” Sally’s face took on a devilish grin. “You use your talents; I use mine.” She leaned forward and whispered, cupping her hand so as not to offend her host on the end of the table, but her loud whisper signaled her indifference whether anyone heard her or not. “I banged my professors. Even a woman.”
Cathy whispered, “Liam, do something.”
Liam shrugged a what-can-I-do response.
Logan tried, “Sally, zip it.”
Joy didn’t flinch. In fact, she dug deeper. She leaned forward and whispered back, “That would get you a C, a passing grade, but not an A. You blackmailed your teachers, Sally.”
Sally’s face fell again. Her droopy eyes tried to narrow but instead just stared blankly ahead, and then she laughed and pointed a dragon nail. “You’re good, Joy. Personal experience?”
Joy smiled. “Lots, analyzing murderers, thieves, and common thugs. Students like you stood out.”
Sally bobbed her head. “Students like me become CEOs of companies like Kinsey Pharmaceuticals, and their smart sister works in the lab.” She wiped sweat from her nose and cheeks with her napkin.
Lizzy set down her fork. “People like me, Sally, helped scientists like Linus Tyler create MuscleToxA, the single most successful drug the company has seen to date, a drug you use to keep those wrinkle lines at bay.”
Sally wobbled her head in an attempt to nod in agreement. “Now there’s something we agree on, Sis.” She touched her fingertips to her droopy eyes. “I had a treatment just this morning. We don’t need to age anymore, at least we don’t have to look old. We can stay pretty and have perky tits throughout our lives.”
“No thanks, lass,” said Red. “Hollywood is full of walking mummies and zombies.”
“By the time I’m dead, I’ll already be mummified. Save you all the trouble.” Sally waved her hand.
Sally behaved all through the main course—a choice between crown rack of lamb or salmon with potatoes and grilled vegetables.
Without Sally’s negative interjections, the table broke out in family stories and rollicking laughs.
Logan and Matteo shared every detail of their “perfect” winery wedding, from the perfect cowboyesque entrance on horseback in tuxes to their perfectly spectacular hot air balloon departure. Alfie had finally found his dream goal—he’d signed up for culinary school. Cathy shared how her son Harris was about to start preschool after a long summer off, which gave her time for Junior League activities and to work with the Miss Wine Valley pageant organization. Lizzy considered returning to work, but she wasn’t in a hurry. And Red and Kate thought about traveling more and leaving Liam in charge.
As the conversation drove forward into the night, Kate, Alice, and the maids cleared the dishes.
Kate rolled a cart into the room on which sat a sheet cake rimmed with colorful pansies. A cursive “Happy Birthday, Lizzy” message swirled across the center. A regiment of candles created light that danced over the white frosting.
Red insisted everyone stand up for a song, which he began. Sally stayed seated, even though Elliot nudged her to stand. Everyone sang, “Happy birthday to you…”
Max felt odd. His hand trembled. Joy saw it too. “Happy birthday to you…”
Sally slurred. “Happy birthday, dear Daddy. Happy…”
“Happy birthday to you.” Max and the others sat back down. Max’s vision blurred. He tried to blink it away. He stared at Joy, who pointed to her own chin, as if Max had something there.
Max reached up and felt drool. He wiped it away with his napkin. The room spun.
The maids cut the cake and set pieces on plates before the guests.
As everyone ate cake, Max lifted his fork. His hand trembled.
Joy rose to her feet. “Max?”
Steele rose to his feet too.
Sally’s arms convulsed. Muscle spasms twisted her neck and limbs. She threw her head back, and then her body slammed forward into her cake, where it remained.
Guests jumped up from the table. Cathy screamed.
Max’s brows creased in worry. His arms convulsed. He shot a frightful look across the table. “Joy!”
Joy raced around the table and pulled Sally’s head out of the cake. She felt her neck for a pulse, while Red rushed to Max’s side, along with Steele.
Sally looked as if she had slathered on a spa facial mask and napped. Joy felt for a pulse. “She’s dead.”
“Dead!” and “Oh my God!” burst from the crowd. Cathy wailed. The others hung back to let Joy and Steele do their jobs.
Joy held the lids of Max’s eyes open and saw fear. “Dilated pupils,” she yelled at Steele. She felt for his pulse. “Rapid pulse.” Joy shouted commands. “Call for an ambulance. They’ve been poisoned!”
“Poison!” rose up from the crowd. Fearful, the guests watched for signs in one another or clamped on to their loved ones for fear of losing them.
Reed dialed his cell phone and stepped to a quieter place near the doorway.
Joy’s eyes swept around the room. She inspected what was left of the cake. A bloom of edible pansies—purple, yellow, lavender and red—covered the edges of the cake. Joy inspected Sally’s cake, which was hard to do, since it had been squished.
Joy reached for a small cluster of tiny white flowers that stuck out from the frosting. She remembered the white flowers on the salads. Her eyes flew to a vase of flowers on the sideboard. Joy raced over to inspect it. Umbrella-shaped clusters of white flowers bloomed atop long stalks, green stems with purple splotches. “The blood of Socrates,” she whispered to herself.
“Ambulances and police are on their way,” Steele shouted.
Joy pointed to the vase. “Hemlock. Help me move Max to the floor”
Steele grabbed Max under his arms, while Joy moved his chair. Steele laid Max on the oriental carpet.
Max’s limbs jerked in spasms.
Joy leaned closer, and with her hand, she wiped away more drool from Max’s chin.
The sirens wailed in the distance.
Red rushed out of the room to open the gates.
Joy shouted in a voice Max had never heard before. The calm monotone girl vanished, and a hysterical girl appeared in her place. “Stay with me, Max!” Joy shouted it so loudly, her voice rasped. “Y
ou hear me! Stay with me! Don’t die. Don’t leave me!”
With her hand trembling from sheer fear, Joy took Max’s hand in hers. She interlocked her fingers in his, lay her head against his chest, and waited for the ambulance. All she could do was listen to Max’s chest for signs of difficulty in breathing.
Since the hemlock would have taken time to have this effect, Max had probably eaten it in the salad. No one else showed signs yet. Either they had not consumed as much as Max or Sally or the hemlock killed its intended victim—Sally Kinsey Fee.
Author’s Note
Thank you for spending time with me in Wine Valley. While each novel can be read as a stand-alone murder mystery, Max and Joy’s personal quest to discover their bizarre past will unravel more with each book.
The suspects’ secret lives will continue to add unexpected twists, romances will build, all amidst harrowing danger and emotional upheavals. What more could one ask for than bizarre tales of murder and heart-stopping suspense in a pristine setting with old friends and new ones.
If you like the series, please leave a review and comment on Amazon. Word of mouth is incredibly powerful. Thanks again!
Pinot Noir and Poison
Wine Valley Mystery Book 2
Pushed past a threshold, anyone can kill.
Det. Max King and Dr. Joy Burton enjoy a dinner party at a winery. A woman keels over at the table. Max does too.
In this heart-stopping suspense, suspects cross boundaries, reminding Joy of her own walks across fragile bridges that crumbled, leaving her stranded on a cold, desolate shore.
Cross over, and you can’t always cross back.
Max and Joy continue their quest to unravel childhood secrets. They arrange a prison visit with a real-life monster—the deadly alchemist, Belladonna.
You’ll love this plunge into darkness! Return to Wine Valley. Pick up Pinot Noir and Poison.
Books In The Wine Valley Mystery Series
Titles and Release Dates
Merlot and Murder: The Beginning (FREE)
Burgundy and Bodies, Book 1 (May 2, 2019)
Pinot Noir and Poison, Book 2 (May 9, 2019)
Syrah and Swingers, Book 3 (May 23, 2019)
Rose and Rocks, Book 4 (June 27, 2019)
Grenache and Graves, Book 5 (July 25, 2019)
Shiraz and Slaughter, Book 6 Aug. 2019)
Pinot Grigio and Pesticide, Book 7 (Sept. 2019)
Gamay Noir and Ghouls, Book 8 (Oct. 2019)
Claret and Carnage, Book 9 (Nov. 2019)
Viognier and Venom, Book 10 (Dec. 2019)
More murder, mystery, and mayhem to come . . .
Other Books By the Author
WARRIORS & WATCHERS SAGA SERIES
Epic Mythological Fantasy
Seven ancient gates of evil will open, unless a quirky group of teens become warriors.
“Original and consistently entertaining from cover to cover.” Midwest Book Review
Evil Speaks (Reader’s Favorite 5-Star Review)
Evil Hears (to be released in 2019)
Evil Sees
Evil Touches
Evil Feeds
Evil Deeds
Evil Desires
______
STAND ALONE HISTORICAL ROMANCE
Unveiling
What would you sacrifice to fulfill your destiny?
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