Sauvigone for Good

by J. C. Eaton

  “A bad fall maybe?” Emma ventured. “It is slippery out there.”

  Don shook his head. “Yeah, but that doesn’t explain where the heck he was or why he didn’t bother to inform his driver or our winery, for that matter, that he was going to take an unscheduled break. We thought we were left in the lurch. Frankly, that was downright inconsiderate of him, to say the least.”

  “Inconsiderate for him,” I said. “I’m the one with egg on my face. I called Deputy Hickman thinking the guy had been abducted or worse. Now I have to call back and get lectured about not jumping to conclusions. Darn it all. Where on earth was he? And what was he doing?”

  “Shh! You can ask him yourself. He’s on his way back. Wearing one of our aprons over that chef’s jacket of his. One of our employees must have given it to him. His face looks a tad better, but that’s not saying much.”

  Up close, I could see the cut on Earvin’s face was formidable. It was just above his left eye and the dried blood almost made it appear as if he had two eyebrows. Earvin was headed directly for the demonstration table, but I blocked his path.

  “That cut above your eye looks nasty. You may need to get stitches once your presentation is over. What happened?”

  “I bumped into something sharp. That’s all. And now, please, I must begin my demonstration.”

  Hmm, first a paper cut, now something sharp… “If something’s going on, we should know about it.”

  “The only thing about to go on is my presentation. Now, please, let me begin.”

  With that, Earvin brushed me aside and positioned himself behind the large table. Don and Emma eyeballed each other before Don motioned for Emma to assist Earvin as she had done at Two Witches.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” Theo announced, “our program is about to resume. Please return to your seats and feel free to continue with your wine tasting once Mr. Roels has concluded.”

  Theo and Don moved to the rear of their tasting room and I followed. When I was positive we were out of earshot, I whispered, “Do you think someone tried to kill him?”

  Don stared straight ahead at the demo table. “Given his attitude, I can think of lots of people who’d want to.”

  Chapter 14

  Prior to racing off to have Franz translate the note I found, I told the limousine driver from Round-About-Seneca that we’d call his company if Mr. Roels showed up. No sense having the guy wait it out for nothing.

  “You probably should call the limo company,” I said to Don and Theo. “They’ll need to send the driver here to take Earvin back to the hotel.” By now, the three of us had positioned ourselves near the kitchen. Still in full view of the demonstration, but far enough away so we wouldn’t be overheard. “Did either of you get a good look at that cut of his? It’s deep. And wide. I don’t think he ran into anything. More like a knife ran into him. That’s a pretty long gash. Deep, too.”

  Theo nodded. “He really should have it checked out, but that’s his business. Maybe once he gets back to Geneva on the Lake someone there will convince him to get to an urgent care center.”

  Don grinded his teeth and then bit his lower lip. “I doubt he’ll go. They ask too many questions. And once they check out his injury, they may find it couldn’t have been caused by bumping into something. If he was attacked, chances are it wasn’t random. I mean, where on this wine trail is the guy going to get accosted? Inside another winery or a restaurant? Not likely. My guess is he got into an altercation with someone he knew and whoever it was doesn’t play nice.”

  “The guy should at least get a tetanus shot,” Theo said.

  I laughed. “Tell him that. Listen, while Earvin was giving his demonstration at Two Witches, a classy-looking auburn-haired woman walked in. Fortyish. She didn’t stay long. Only a minute or, two but Earvin froze for a second and the two of them shot each other looks.”

  “What kind of looks?” Theo asked.

  “The kind where one person widens his or her eyes and the other person narrows theirs.”

  “And you could see those details?”

  “Only on Earvin’s face. I’m kind of assuming the rest.”

  “Well, don’t assume, Norrie. It could have been anything.”

  “Or, it could have been the woman from Belgium. Hortensia Vermeulen. The one whose trash I ransacked. Oh and, by the way, Franz translated the note I found. It was written in Dutch. Dutch! That’s what they speak in Belgium. Anyway, the note didn’t say much, except the person who wrote it told the other person they have unfinished business that wouldn’t go away in spite of the fact that the person went away. Something like that.”

  “And you think the woman who was in your winery was Hortensia and that she might have been responsible for what happened to Earvin?” Theo asked.

  “All I’m saying is these little clues are adding up. Maybe the note was meant for Jules and she never gave it to him. Or maybe it was a rough draft and she did give him the real deal.”

  Don chucked. “Sorry. The only real deal Jules got was the one that put him six feet under.”

  Suddenly, the audience applauded.

  “He must be finishing up,” Theo said. “We’ve been so busy gabbing, we weren’t paying attention. Oh hell, I’d better call that limo company.”

  I grabbed him by the wrist. “You might want to hold off and see if Earvin has other plans. Could be he made his own arrangements for when he leaves the Grey Egret.”

  “Good idea.”

  “Meanwhile, I’m not off the hook with Deputy Hickman. I need to make that call and I need to make it now. Give me a minute.”

  While Don and Theo moved closer to the presentation table where Earvin was still conducting his demonstration, I stood in the entryway of their kitchen and dialed the sheriff’s office. Once again, Gladys Pipp picked up the phone.

  Hmm, maybe I don’t have to speak with Grizzly Gary. I can simply leave a message with Gladys. “Hi, Gladys. I need to leave a message for Deputy Hickman.”

  “That’s good because he’s not in his office. There was a ruckus at one of the wineries so he and another deputy went to check it out.”

  “Which winery? Can you tell me? Not mine, I hope. I was just there. I’m at the Grey Egret and I didn’t hear any sirens going up our driveway.”

  “Your neighbor’s winery. Gable Hill. Shh. Not a word you heard this from me.”

  “My lips are sealed. Thanks, Gladys. Have a good day.”

  “What about your message for Deputy Hickman?”

  “Oh my. I must really be losing it. Please tell him Earvin Roels showed up at the Grey Egret after all.”

  “That’s it?”

  “For now.”

  “Trouble in River City,” I announced as soon as I ended my call with Gladys and walked back to where Theo and Don were standing.

  They both looked at me as if I had two heads.

  “River City. The Music Man. Geez, I figured if anyone would get that reference, it would be one of you.”

  “Oh, we got it all right,” Theo said. “Wouldn’t want to let our team down. We were just surprised you knew the reference.”

  “Very funny. Anyway, that was Gladys Pipp on the phone. I was spared another lecture from my favorite deputy. He’s over at Gable Hill because there was some sort of ruckus there. I’m calling Stephanie right now.”

  Before anyone had time to form a sentence, I had placed the call and the phone was ringing.

  “Hi. This is Norrie Ellington from Two Witches. Is Stephanie available?”

  The voice at the other end sounded hesitant. “Uh, this isn’t the best time. We had a little problem with the chocolate demonstration, and it kind of escalated. Oh, hold on a second, Stephanie’s stopped cryin—I mean, she’s on her way over. I just motioned to her she had a call. Is everything all right at your winery?”

  “Can you please put Step
hanie on the line?”

  I could hear lots of background noise, but it sounded pretty normal for a tasting room. I figured whatever happened, Deputy Hickman got things under control.

  “I’m waiting for Stephanie to get to the phone,” I told the guys.

  “No worries,” Don replied. “Let us know what you find out. We’ve got to wrap things up with Earvin.”

  The two of them shot off toward the demo table, and I leaned against their kitchen doorframe, waiting for Stephanie to pull herself together and talk to me. At first, I thought something went wrong with the cell phone connection, but what I thought was a weird static turned out to be Stephanie wheezing.

  “Norrie? One of our tasting room employees said it was you on the phone. Is everything all right at your place because it’s a catastrophe over here. Hold on a second, will you?”

  I couldn’t possibly imagine what had happened because the Chocolate and Wine Festival was usually a pretty calm event, unlike the fall tastings when the college fraternities rented out tour buses and the students drank themselves into oblivion.

  “I’m here,” Stephanie said. “Stanislav washed up and put on a clean apron. He’s resuming his demonstration.”

  “What happened? I found out from Gladys Pipp at the public safety building that Deputy Hickman was called over to your place. Long story but I had to call him because Earvin disappeared but then he showed up. Bruised but tight-lipped. What’s going on?”

  “As you know, we had a huge crowd but everything was under control and our guests were all seated around the long oak table we use for special events. Stanislav was quiet and focused as he arranged the utensils and cookware to his liking. The tempering machine was running smoothly, and the chocolate smelled heavenly.”

  “Did he knock over the machine, spill chocolate, and have a meltdown?”

  “Not exactly, but close enough.”

  “Oh my God. What?”

  “Aspen and Ivy, our tasting room girls, were assisting him. Aspen’s a family and consumer science major so she’s pretty familiar with how things go in a kitchen.”

  “Family and consumer science? You mean Home Ec?”

  “Yeah, Home Ec. Anyway, Stanislav was explaining to the crowd how to temper the chocolate so it’s shiny and breaks off with one snap. His confection was a passion fruit and mango square. A thick creamy mixture that he started to dip when, when, oh, good grief, Norrie, it was horrible. Simply horrible.”

  “What? What was horrible? I’ve ruined lots of recipes.”

  “Not Stanislav.”

  “Oh no. Your tasting room girls? They messed up?”

  “No. Out of the blue, this deranged man, although he didn’t look really deranged, he was clean shaven, in his late forties or early fifties maybe, wearing a sharp black turtleneck, pressed trousers, and a black overcoat, stormed over to the demo table and, before anyone could stop him, he snatched the dipping fork from Stanislav and flicked the chocolaty mixture all over Stanislav’s face and his pressed white chef’s jacket.”

  I could hear Stephanie pausing to catch her breath, so I didn’t say anything and waited.

  “Norrie? Are you still listening?”

  “Uh-huh. Then what?”

  “Then, Stanislav had a meltdown. He began screaming in Russian and then another language. German maybe or Dutch. The man who flicked the chocolate grabbed Stanislav by the arm and said something in one of those languages as well. I was positive it was going to get ugly, which it did, so I called the sheriff’s office and told them we needed assistance.”

  “Holy Mackerel! How much uglier did it get?”

  “Ugly enough. Stanislav shoved the man back and pointed a finger into his chest, at which point the man snatched the dipping fork and all but poked out one of Stanislav’s eyes.”

  Wow. So much for that age-old expression–poke your eyes out with a fork. “Please don’t tell me you had an actual brawl on your hands.”

  “We would have, but fortunately, something weird happened. This woman, who was probably in the audience but who the heck noticed, stood up and ran to the front of the room. Yelling in Russian, German, Dutch, or Greek, for all I know. The man who accosted Stanislav stopped dead and, after giving our beautiful oak table a kick, stormed out of the winery. The woman was right behind him and none of us tried to stop them.

  “Stephanie, was the woman an auburn-haired woman wearing a calf-length winter coat?”

  “Who had time to look at her coat, but come to think of it, her hair was on the reddish-brown side. Why? Do you know her?”

  “If it’s who I think it is, we may all get to know her before this chocolate event is through.”

  I told Stephanie about my hunch regarding the two international guests who arrived at Geneva on the Lake around the same time as the chocolatiers.

  “And those deputies aren’t going to pursue it?” she asked.

  “Nope. According to Deputy Hickman, they have their own leads and my imagination would be better suited to writing screenplays.”

  “Hmm. Doesn’t mean we can’t snoop around. Listen, I’ve got to get back to the tasting room before some other disaster strikes. Thank God we only have four more days with this hellish event. And to think, I used to love chocolate.”

  Chapter 15

  Don and Theo were absolutely stunned when I told them about the near melee at Stephanie’s winery. “Think we should call Rosalee and Catherine to see if anything went wrong at their wineries?”

  “Nah,” Theo said. “They’re probably busting their butts as it is. Look, knowing what a drama queen Catherine is, I guarantee if someone dropped an olive and stepped on it, she’d be on the phone. But I will say this much, something fishy is going on for sure, and I think Jules’s murder is in the center of it.”

  “We need a plan. Nancy Drew always had a plan.” Oh my God! I’m taking advice from a fictional character.

  Theo’s jaw dropped, but Don had no problem responding. “Your last few plans, if I’m not mistaken, bordered on insanity, and that’s putting it nicely. Before you go rushing off with some harebrained scheme, at least run it by Theo and me. Fair enough?”

  “Sure.”

  When my sister and her husband left for the rainforests of Costa Rica, they told me I could rely on Theo and Don for any help I needed. What she didn’t tell me was she probably gave them a “heads-up” and told them to watch out for me. Most likely she used words like unpredictable and overly zealous. It was that obvious.

  I glanced at their tasting room, and the audience was mesmerized by Earvin’s presentation. Emma didn’t look quite as nervous and that was a relief.

  “I’d better head back to my own neck of the woods,” I said to the guys. Because right now, I’m starving and there’s a bistro sandwich with my name on it unless Fred sells it to someone else first. “Call me tonight and let me know what happened with Earvin. Like if he went with the limo or if it was something else.”

  “You got it, Nancy,” Don said. “We’ll also let you know if we discover a secret staircase.”

  I laughed on my way out the door and headed back up the hill. At least the nasty wind wasn’t in my face this time. I figured things hadn’t slowed down in our tasting room or Cammy would have called my cell. Sure enough, the place was bustling when I got inside. I made a beeline for the bistro and, in a matter of seconds, had my hands wrapped around a ham and cheese sandwich.

  “Emma doing okay?” Fred asked. “She looked like a scared rabbit.”

  “She’s doing a fantastic job. I really owe her for stepping in.”

  “More like being tossed in.”

  “Yeah, that too. Hey, want to hear the kicker? Earvin, that rat scoundrel, showed up after all and took over. It was really freaky. He was all disheveled and had a gash over his eye. Said he crashed into something.”

  “No kidding. This is p
robably going to sound odd, but a couple of guys came in after the demonstration was over. They weren’t ticketed customers for the event, just out and about grabbing lunch. Anyway, I overheard one of them say, ‘Slow down on the booze or you’ll wind up eating dirt like that other guy.’ And then his friend answered with, ‘He wasn’t kissing the far end of the damn parking lot, he was trying to get away from that Fatal Attraction broad with the reddish hair.’”

  Eating dirt? Fatal Attraction broad? I dropped the sandwich on my plate mid-bite and quickly covered my mouth. The timing made sense. After all, the woman would have had plenty of time to threaten Earvin, if that’s what she did, and still make it over to Gable Hill Winery in time to break up the fracas between Stanislav and the mystery player from abroad. “Did they say anything else?”

  Fred shook his head. “No, but when you said Earvin was disheveled, I wondered if it wasn’t him those guys were talking about. Then again, it could have been anyone. These wine trails are packed with people during the events. And some of them hit the wine pretty hard.”

  “Well, I doubt Earvin got that cut from something he accidently ran into, or from a little tussle in the parking lot. Unless that tussle involved something sharp. Hmm, far end of the lot you said?”

  “That’s what the guy said.”

  “Our far end is toward the winery lab. Lots of bushes on the side of the lot and some big trees.”

  “You think you’ll find something if you scope out the area?” Fred asked.

  “Probably litter and maybe some paper cups, but it’ll plague me if I don’t. Besides, if I wait until tomorrow morning, the vineyard crew will have tidied up. They’re up and at it before dawn. Geez, in Manhattan, some of us are just getting home from a night out. Anyway, the snow is hard and shiny by now, real easy to spot something.”

  “Maybe you should let Earvin deal with it. He can notify the sheriff’s office.”

  “We couldn’t even talk him into going to an urgent care center. I think he’s hiding something or scared of something. For all we know, he could be the next victim. It’s no secret Jules Leurant was murdered.”