Merlot and Murder_A Paranormal Cozy Mystery

by Samantha Silver

  We wandered around for a little while, listening in to see if we could pick up on anything from the guests, to no avail. The only people who were talking about the fact that Nick had been murdered were the two of us. Even Karen looked like she was ready to give up when we caught a snippet of a very fast-paced conversation in the next room over. I couldn’t make out the words, but the intensity was definitely there. I looked at Karen, raising an eyebrow. “Did you hear that?”

  Karen immediately nodded. “Let’s go.”

  We slipped around the corner of the banquet room and into a hallway that lead back to a dead end with only two doors to choose from. Whoever was talking fast and low was in the room on the left, so the two of us ducked into the room on the right, cracking the door so we could just make out whatever they were saying.

  A deep voice was speaking fast, sounding as though they were talking into their cell phone. “No, man. I already told you that. You don’t have to worry about none of it. I promise you,” he said, clearly panicked. “Got it covered.”

  “Who do you think it is?” I whispered to Karen, who held up her finger for me to be quiet.

  There was some shuffling in the other room across the hallway, and the man groaned. “I know I told you that already, but I mean it this time. I’m going to need a little bit more time, maybe a week. A week, tops.”

  Whatever this guy was talking about, it didn’t sound good.

  We could hear him pacing back and forth in the room. “Well, that’s because things are different now, you know? I got the money to pay you off now. You won’t have to put the rest of it on my tab or anything this time. How? I’ve recently come into an inheritance.”

  I froze. An inheritance?

  “Yeah, yeah. Just a week. You’ll see. All right man, we good now?”

  Karen and I waited with bated breath, dying to know who had supposedly come into an inheritance to pay off something that they were clearly panicked about. I had a pretty good idea who was on the other end of that phone, but we needed to know for sure.

  “All right, good, I’ll be in touch. Later.”

  We fumbled to move out of the way, so that whoever it was wouldn’t see us standing and listening across the hallway, and when the guy came out and shut the door behind him, I held my hand over my mouth. It was exactly who I thought.

  Kevin Stowe apparently owed someone quite a bit of money, and now we knew where he was getting that money from.

  Heavy footsteps retreated down the short hallway and back into the banquet room, and I let out the breath I was holding.

  Karen smacked herself in the forehead. “How come I didn’t think of that? An inheritance is totally one of the main reasons why people kill family members!”

  “Is it really? Or are you just pulling that out of thin air?”

  “That’s how it works in tons of TV shows. My point is, we have another suspect on the list.”

  “That’s true.” I stuck my head out to make sure the coast was clear. “Come on, let’s go see if we can follow him.”

  The banquet room was still crowded once we got back, making the task of finding and following Kevin even harder. I was going to suggest to Karen that we split up when I spotted Kirsten and Amanda off to the side of the last buffet table. Now that they were alone, maybe I could get in a quick respectful word to them before we found their uncle.

  “Hey. Let’s go talk to the girls real quick,” I said to Karen.

  We wound our way around the outskirts of the crowd until we were pressed up against the food tables, only a few feet away from the girls.

  “She’s just been so, so sad. It’s like there’s one of those alien body-snatchers taking over her mind.”

  Kirsten brushed her hand over Amanda’s hair, cupping her chin with a soft laugh. “You really have to stop watching all those conspiracy theory videos on YouTube.” Kirsten let out a sigh. “I know it’s weird, but you don’t need to freak out about Mom, Manda-Bear. I’ll make sure you’re okay and I’ll take care of you. There’s nothing to worry about anymore. In fact, maybe we—”

  “Oh goodness, girls. I know you’re in the middle of a conversation and all, but I just wanted to come by here and tell you how sorry I am about your dad. He was such a good boss. And I know he loved you both so much! He was always talking about you two like you were the center of his whole world.”

  I pretended to grab another roll from the tray on the table and plopped it onto a fresh plate, doing my best not to look too suspicious. When I did look over my shoulder, I saw it was Janice Winchester who had approached the girls. I didn’t even need to turn all the way around to feel the tension between both parties.

  Janice threw out her arms toward Amanda, a miserable kind of sympathy etched into her overly-tanned face.

  Confusion clouded Amanda’s bloodshot eyes as she turned to look up at Kirsten.

  For her part, Kirsten was having none of it. Her lip curled back as she stepped out in front of Amanda, protectively blocking her from Janice’s reaching arms. “How dare you! You just come in here thinking that you can be nice to us, and we’ll forgive everything just like that? Just leave us alone, already! Don’t you think you’ve ruined our lives enough?”

  Kirsten raising her voice in the middle of such a quiet affair certainly caught the attention of some of the other guests. They looked around for the source, their eyes all landing on the girls and Janice. Janice’s arms dropped to her sides, and the dark reddening of her cheeks and abundance of chest on display showcased her evident embarrassment. But I could see a sort of furious irritation in her eyes as she regarded Kirsten for a moment before spinning around on her heel to do exactly as the younger girl had asked.

  Karen stared at me, her eyes wide. “Wow,” she mouthed.

  Wow, indeed. The way Kirsten looked at Janice made it all too clear that she knew something others didn’t. And if Kirsten knew about the affair, then I had no doubt in my mind that Alicia did, too.

  Chapter 13

  We pretended to finish off our food, even though we had been done with it for a while, both Karen and I trying to piece together what just happened.

  “At this point, I feel like we need to pull someone else in just to help us follow everyone,” Karen mumbled, throwing away her napkin. “So, who should we tag along after? The shady brother, or the mistress?”

  I looked around the banquet room, but still couldn’t see any sign of Kevin. “Well, I don’t know about you, but I only see one person to follow right now. We’ll have to check out Kevin later, once we’re back home. Maybe we’ll find something about him online. But for now, we should probably find out what on earth is going on with Janice and Kirsten. I wonder how Kirsten knows about her and Nick?”

  Karen nodded. “Yeah, I was wondering about that, too. I guess the guy wasn’t very discreet about it. Man, what a mess.”

  I knew that if we didn’t hurry up and follow Janice, we were going to lose her too. “C’mon. Let’s try not to look so obvious.”

  I waded through the mass of people still coming in and out of the room and found myself cornered in the winery’s shop. Luckily, that was exactly where Janice was going.

  “What’s she doing?” Karen asked.

  Janice, who had stomped off in a rush after Kirsten gave ger the boot out of her conversation, was checking out bottles of wine available for sale along the wall.

  “Buying some wine, I guess.”

  Sure enough, even though no one was at the register, Janice grabbed two bottles of what looked like sauvignon blanc and fished out her wallet from her purse. Slamming down a few twenties, she grabbed a nearby corkscrew stuck inside of empty bottle of wine on display, popped it off the bottle, and shoved it into the top of her own. I was the furthest thing from a wine snob, but even I knew you were supposed to chill white wine before drinking it. Janice definitely didn’t seem to care about that right now.

  I could already see where this was going. “Oh geez,” I mumbled, as she uncorked the first bottle o
f wine and left the store. “She’s going to get blitzed at her secret lover’s memorial. Talk about a cliché.”

  “Well, don’t just stand there,” Karen whispered behind me, pushing at my shoulders. “Follow her!”

  So we did, trailing after Janice several yards back, pretending to casually walk out of the winery’s shop ourselves.

  She rounded the corner of the main barn and we skedaddled after her. I was glad to see that she was headed not toward her car, but an open area in between two rows in the vineyard. In the middle of the space were a gazebo and a few picnic tables where there were already a few people sitting. Janice looked like she was making a beeline right to them.

  Without saying another word, Karen and I put on our sunglasses and headed down the winding path and into the vineyard.

  “So, Is it just me, or has it been one heck of a day?” Janice said to a couple of older women seated at one of the picnic tables. She held up the open bottle and waved it around, plopping down beside them. “I don’t suppose you want any wine, do you, Lillian?”

  Lillian eyed her anxiously. “Thank you darling, but not today.”

  I ducked down behind the nearest overflowing bundle of vines, accidentally stepping on Karen’s foot.

  “Watch it,” she hissed, bending down to rub her toe. “Can you hear what they’re saying?”

  I waited, but all I could hear was mumbling from the other side of the vines. I shook my head. “We need to get closer, somehow.”

  Karen snapped her fingers. “No problem. But this time, let’s try not to get caught by someone okay?”

  Frankly, I was surprised Karen didn't stay invisible half the time, considering how much other people tended to annoy her, but I knew it drained her energy pretty fast. That's how it worked, using your special ability—no matter who you were or what it was, it always took something out of you to use it.

  We held hands, and my body sizzled with electric impulses as we whispered the spell together, trying to keep as quiet as possible until we were fully invisible.

  Unripened grapes and fallen leaves squished under our feet as we crept around the edge of the row, peeking around to listen in on Janice and Lillian.

  Janice had wasted no time in taking a couple of swigs from the bottle of sauvignon blanc, reminding me of a sad clown with her blush tear-stained by mascara tracks.

  "Maybe you should call a cab home, Janice. How much wine have you had already?" Lillian asked, leaning in closer to her friend.

  "Don't patronize me, now. I'm not that much of a drunk. This is the only wine I've had so far today. And I daresay I need it after watching them put Nick in the ground," Janice whimpered, taking another long swig from the bottle.

  The lone man at the table threw Janice a withering look and stood up, clapping a hand on the shoulder of the woman next to him. "That's my cue to see my way out of the conversation. I'll be in the car. Please make sure my sister doesn't cause a scene."

  The woman next to him nodded and sighed, turning away from him to face Janice and Lillian as the man walked off, untying his tie. "Jan, I really think Michael is right. We should get you home so you can go rest up some. I know it's been a hard day for you, sweetie."

  Lillian attempted to pry the bottle of wine out of Janice's hands but was totally unsuccessful, ending up sloshing the liquid down the front of Janice's chest. "Oh, really now!" Lillian huffed, throwing her hands up. "This is childish, Janice. Especially for a grown woman such as yourself."

  But Janice was not listening. "He always promised me he'd leave her when the time was right. I thought maybe once Amanda was a little older, but no. He kept pushing it back and pushing it back. Telling me I just needed to be a little more patient," she whispered hoarsely, her eyes bloodshot and watery. "I know he loved me more than Alicia. I know he did."

  The other woman, who I assumed was her sister-in-law, patted her hand consolingly. "He may have, but there's no use in wondering over what-might-have-beens. He chose to stay with his family, and maybe that was for the best."

  Janice yanked her hand back. "No! It was not for the best. Not for him, and not for me. He only felt sorry for Alicia, getting knocked up by her jerk of an ex, and that's why Nick married her. Once he gave his name to the girls, that was it. I should have known then." She let out a small sob, burying her hands in her face.

  Lillian removed the black pillbox hat she was wearing and tossed it onto the picnic table, leaning back. "It's hot as Hades out here. We should get back inside and give Alicia our best."

  Both she and the sister-in-law stood up and disentangled themselves from the picnic table, but Janice sat stock-still, not moving an inch.

  "I'm not going back in there. That brat will only make things worse, and I don't need Alicia touting in my face that she's the grieving wife and I'm nothing more than an employee."

  There was a hardness to her voice as she said this, and Karen and I exchanged a look.

  "Kirsten is grieving, just like you," Lillian said. "No need to get in a huff about a child like that, Janice."

  "Not to mention the fact that I can kiss my job goodbye," Janice added as she glared at the main house, just visible from this part of the vineyard. "There's no way Alicia will keep me on as the office manager with Nick gone."

  I felt Karen poke me. "Someone sounds jealous."

  "And a little vengeful," I added softly. "It doesn't sound like she and Alicia got along very well."

  With another swig of the bottle, Janice wiped her mouth with her hand, looking a little frenzied.

  "A worry for another time," Lillian replied, hoisting Janice up on her feet.

  Being invisible left me feeling a little invincible sometimes, and without thinking, I walked around the row and over to the picnic table right across from them. It sounded like they were wrapping up their conversation, but I didn't want to miss a single word, just in case.

  However, since I couldn't see where my body was in proportion to everything else around me, I accidentally bumped into the picnic table's sharp corner with my hip and let out a yelp, clapping my hands over my mouth as the two sober women looked up in my direction.

  "What was that?" the sister-in-law asked. "You don't think someone heard her, do you?"

  Lillian looked around, narrowing her eyes this way and that. I closed my own eyes, hoping that no one would put much thought into talking picnic tables.

  "Pfft, don't tell me you're one of those idiots that believe this place is haunted," Janice mumbled, slurring her words slightly as she stepped back onto the path.

  The other two certainly looked spooked, but shrugged at each other and helped Janice down the path back to the front parking lot. That was definitely a close call.

  Chapter 14

  I ran my finger around the rim of the bowl, licking the remaining sticky bit of chocolate syrup off my finger tip. “Yum. Is it sad that I can't wait to dig into this?"

  Karen settled down on the couch with her own small plate of gooey apple pie. "I think we deserve a nice treat, especially since we have like, a million different potential suspects to track."

  I kicked up my bare feet, having taken off the sweltering hot black tights I wore to the memorial, and took the first bite of ice cream. Sweet and sinfully rich deliciousness melted instantly in my mouth, and I smiled at Karen. "Very true."

  In preparation for doing some research on Kevin Stowe, Karen and I decided to pig out on the couch. At first, I wasn't sure if I wanted to go on my date with Ken later feeling bloated and gross, but Karen reminded me there was nothing to worry about when you have magic on your side. So, ice cream sundae it was.

  "Don't forget the laptop," Karen said through a mouthful of pie crust.

  I took another bite and sat my bowl down to grab my computer from the coffee table. "Should we start a list or something? To keep track of everything?"

  "Not having one never stopped us before. Let's see, there's Janice for sure. Kevin, obviously, and of course, Alicia is still on it."

  I t
apped my finger on the trackpad, pulling up Google. "What about Tom?"

  Her mouth twisted to the side for a moment as she stared down at her plate. "Hm. I mean, I guess we should add him in there. I really doubt it's him, but he was on the property that morning."

  I typed Kevin's name into the search bar and pulled up one of the first result pages—his Facebook profile. "Bingo. I found some of his social media."

  She scooted over to get a closer look. "So, his profile picture doesn't look weird."

  I couldn't help but snort at her observation. "Well, then he must be innocent."

  Since his profile was set to public, everything he posted was visible to us, and right off the bat we got a pretty good idea of what Kevin's personality was like.

  Every other picture was of some big, manly toy. From a pontoon boat full of friends out on San Francisco Bay, to a huge jacked-up truck hauling a couple of ATVs in the back, Kevin Stowe was a busy guy.

  "For someone who works as a mechanic in LA, he sure has a lot of fun things to play with, doesn't he?" Karen said as I scrolled to the picture of him and a couple of friends racing dirt bikes.

  "Apparently, fixing cars is a lucrative business," I said with a hint of sarcasm. "Or maybe he's got his hand in another business or two no one knows about."

  Karen nodded. "Could be. The problem is, if he is into some shady stuff, which it seriously sounded like earlier on the phone, then there's the potential to get Alicia and the girls dragged into it, too, since he's staying with them."

  "And after all that crap he was talking about coming into an inheritance, it didn't sound like he was all that bent out of shape about losing his brother, you know?"

  The next picture was of him and Nick, taken a few years ago. Both of them were smiling and holding up two good-sized fish in Kevin's pontoon boat.

  Karen clucked her tongue. "It's sad. I'd hate to think of my sibling feeling that way toward me."