A Vintage Murder

by Michele Scott

  Nikki figured she’d already had a drink or two.

  “I’m sorry to hear that. Listen, I was wondering if we could talk.”

  “Of course. Come in. Would you like a glass of wine and something to eat?”

  “No. I’m okay, thank you.”

  Sarah led the way down a hall and into a small, quaint family room. “I need to tidy up some. I apologize. My son has been working quite a bit and he comes and goes and leaves a mess.”

  “You have a son?”

  “All grown up.” She smiled. “But he still depends on me. He says that I’m controlling and won’t let him move out, but that’s not true. I wish he’d find a nice woman and settle down. Give me some grandchildren.”

  “Right.” She smiled.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to chatter on about my problems. You came here for a reason, I suspect?”

  “Yes. Did you ever work with Elizabeth or Grace?”

  “I did work with Elizabeth, after school. I was in one of the documentaries they did on her.”

  Nikki breathed a sigh of relief. “That was you then. I watched those last night and I thought I recognized you. What about Grace?”

  “Grace? What about her?”

  “I’m not sure I understand why you have such a personal beef with her.”

  Sarah sighed and ran her hand along her face. “See this scar?”

  “Yes.”

  “Grace Hahndorf did this.”

  “What?”

  “Yes. Driving too fast one day, hit my car, and the windshield broke and glass went flying. But do you think she went to jail for it? No. They’re established here, the Hahndorfs. They have friends in the police department like that idiot Von Doussa. I hated her already for being the cause of losing the only friend that I ever had. I lost everything after Elizabeth died. Even my husband left me.”

  “Why would he leave over your friend’s death?”

  “I guess because I couldn’t get over the sadness of losing her. Maybe it’s why I hang on to my son so tightly. He says I do anyway. I’m not going to lose anyone else I love. And, that is exactly what is happening.” Her eyes grew wide and Nikki didn’t like the tone in her voice.

  Sarah continued. “You like wine. Come on, take a walk with me. I have a great cellar in the back of the house.”

  “No. I think I should be going.” Something was way off here.

  “Sure. I see. You can ask me all sorts of questions and I take my time with you, even bring your rude friend over to insult my wine, but you can’t indulge me?”

  “I . . . have an early call in the morning. I do need to go.” This had not been a good idea. She started toward the door.

  “I wouldn’t do that,” Sarah said.

  Nikki heard a click. She turned around to see Sarah pointing a gun at her. “I think you’ll take that walk with me now.”

  As they headed down the hall, the gun in Nikki’s back, she saw photos of a child from the time he was a baby until he was a grown man—Will. Will Henwood. Her son. She now knew that Sarah Fritz had killed Lucy Swanson, and why.

  Chapter 34

  They turned the corner into a small room. Sarah switched on the light. Nikki gasped. The room was filled with terrariums that held snakes—all kinds of snakes.

  “These are my friends. Would you like to hold one?” Sarah asked and then started laughing.

  “Sit down,” she ordered and pointed to the single chair in the room.

  Nikki didn’t have a choice. “You’re Will’s mother.”

  “I am. I understand he’s mentioned me to you.”

  “What do you mean? I had no idea he was your son.”

  “Yes, he does sort of leave out that his mother is Sarah Fritz, winery owner. What does he do? Goes against my wishes and takes a job over at the Hahndorfs. And I warned him, I warned him all about you people.”

  “I’m sorry, Sarah. I’m confused.” Nikki knew that Aunt Cara would tell her to keep the woman talking as long as possible. See if she couldn’t find a weapon.

  Sarah knocked her to the ground with the side of the gun. “Confused! You’re confused?”

  She cackled and before Nikki could recover from the pain, she realized that Sarah was wrapping duct tape around her wrists and legs. Oh no. How was she getting out of this?

  “No, I’m confused,” Sarah said. “I don’t know why anyone would ever tell a child they should separate from their mother. You’re actually worse than that Lucy slut. She was easy to deal with. You are the kind of woman who goes around being nice and spouting your words of wisdom. All Lucy wanted was to seduce my boy, which I could not ever let happen.”

  Oh God. A nutcase. Mrs. Bates revisited.

  “I take care of my boy. I do. I followed him to the pub that night to see that Lucy Swanson didn’t get her hooks into him. But sure enough, she did. I could see it in his eyes. Lust. I ran her off the road and they crashed Grace’s car. Will wasn’t with them. But I know he would have been if she’d had any more time to work her charm. He would have wound up going with them. But he’s a good boy. I taught him well, and he came home, instead of letting that whore get to him. I hiked to the Hahndorf place. I grew up here, remember? I know how to get around. It wasn’t hard after that. I found where Andy kept the snakes, used his suit. I know the poor man thinks Hannah had something to do with it. I told you they were in here the other day and she was crying on his shoulder.” She laughed. “But they aren’t lovers. I like making up stories.”

  Simon had been dead-on—the woman was a major liar, and obviously insane.

  “I have good ears. He begged her to tell him if she had anything to do with letting Charlie out. They were both so pitiful. Lucy was easy to kill. Passed-out little slut. You, on the other hand . . . God, why did you have to come here? I wouldn’t have hurt you. I wanted to, because you think you’re some kind of psychiatrist. But I wouldn’t have. I could have gotten Will back under control. You’re all the same. Women like you. Like Grace Hahndorf. You all think you are so much better than us. Than me. Than Will.”

  Oh yeah, this woman was totally loony tunes.

  “My friend here. See this? Look at me!” Sarah screamed.

  Nikki tried to focus. Sarah stood in front of one of the terrariums. “My pet. I call her Elizabeth. Do you know anything about death adders, Nikki?”

  What Nikki did know was that anything with the word “death” in it was bad. Very bad. She watched as Sarah pulled on a set of gloves and took the snake out. This, she knew, would be the end. There was no way of getting out of this. Her life flashed through her mind as she heard Sarah open the terrarium and talk calmly to the reptile.

  “I have a treat for you, Lizzie. A nice sweet treat.”

  Nikki shut her eyes. A door slammed and a man called out, “Mom, I’m home.”

  Oh sweet Jesus. She opened her eyes just in time to see the snake strike out and clamp down on Sarah’s cheek.

  The woman screamed; her gun flew through the air. The snake dropped to the floor. Sarah Fritz grabbed her face, still shrieking as the snake slithered toward Nikki.

  Chapter 35

  Nikki didn’t know how long it was—a second, five seconds, longer . . . but what she did know was a shot rang out. Then, Will knelt at her side, his mother’s gun in his hand. “My God! What is this? Mother? What have you done?” The dead snake was only two feet from Nikki. Will was either lucky or some kind of sharpshooter.

  “Antivenom. Get it, Will!” she cried. “I’ve been bitten. And we have to do something with her!”

  Nikki looked from Will to Sarah Fritz. Was Will going to obey his mother? Would he hurt her to save his demented parent?

  He went over to a box and removed a first-aid kit.

  “Good boy. Now give Mommy what she needs and we can get rid of our problem.”

  He was going to listen to her. Nikki was doomed.

  Will went to his mother’s side, and plunged the syringe into Sarah’s leg. Dread spread throughout Nikki’s entire
body like ice-cold water. She actually began to shake. What had she expected? Will had been controlled by his mother his whole life. Things wouldn’t change now. Nikki was a goner. Tears stung her eyes as the reality of what was about to unfold grasped her. She couldn’t fight back. Not with the two of them.

  Will stood back from his mother while she rubbed her leg and then her face. She kept muttering, “Good boy, good boy. God it hurts. Hurts so bad.”

  Then Will grabbed the duct tape. What was he doing? Nikki was already all taped together. He couldn’t possibly think she could escape.

  He grabbed his mother’s wrists. She screamed out, “What are you doing? Stop this! Will, stop this!” They struggled for a moment, but in her weakened state Will was able to wrap the tape around his mother’s wrists. She continued to berate and scream at him. “Take this off now! Don’t be stupid! You’ve been stupid all of your life! Will, I demand you stop!”

  “Oh, Mum, please stop. Please stop this. You need help. You truly need help.” He had tears in his eyes.

  Nikki felt his pain. The man obviously loved his mother, but he could not continue to do her bidding when it meant harming others.

  “Dammit, boy! Take this tape off.”

  “No, Mum.” He wiped the tears streaming down his face, and then knelt down again by Nikki and undid the tape around her. “I’m sorry,” he said.

  Nikki hugged him, “So am I.” She saw Sarah stand up from her chair, a look of hatred in her eyes, her wrists taped together. “Will!” Nikki yelled as Sarah brought her arms up and attempted to swing them down onto Will’s head, but he turned and caught her just in time. Within seconds he had her seated back in the chair.

  “Why, Mum? Why?”

  “For you. I only wanted to protect you from getting hurt.”

  He shook his head, escorted Nikki out of the room, and locked the door behind him from the outside. Nikki realized that the hardest thing the young man would ever have to do was pick up the phone and call the police to tell them what his mother had done. But he did.

  Chapter 36

  The police showed up quickly and took Sarah Fritz away. Nikki again apologized to Will. He kept assuring her that he would be fine. Von Doussa was there to conduct the investigation and questioned Nikki on exactly what had happened.

  She explained everything from the moment she decided to pay a visit to Sarah and about why she wanted to talk with her.

  “You suspected Sarah had murdered Lucy Swanson?” Von Doussa asked.

  “No. Not really. I had questions, and looking back now, I can see the answers, but the one element missing was I had no idea Will was her son. If I had clued into that and the things he’d told me about her controlling behavior as well as the things she’d said about Grace Hahndorf . . . Then seeing her in the documentary clip, it was right in front of my nose.”

  Von Doussa pushed his hat off his forehead. He looked disturbed. “Yep, well, it should have been in front of my nose. I’m the detective after all. That troubles me. I thought that Lucy’s death was a strange accident. A coincidence of sorts, but you never thought that, did you?”

  She shook her head. “Nope.”

  “Why?”

  “I guess I have good intuition or something, or I’m plain curious. I don’t honestly know.”

  “Good job. You did good work, Ms. Sands. I bet I could hire you on here. Come work Down Under with my police team. You know we have the M.E.R.I.T. system, and I have some pull.”

  She laughed. “Thanks, but I think I’m ready to head back to Napa Valley and manage the winery there.” A thought crossed her mind—what if she didn’t have a job back at Malveaux? She still had not heard a word from Derek, and she was beginning to believe that it was truly over between them.

  “I’m going to wrap things up around here,” Von Doussa said. “I may need to phone you if I have any more questions. I have the cell number you originally gave me in Lucy Swanson’s file.”

  “Feel free to call. What do you think will happen to Sarah Fritz?”

  “She’ll probably go into a psychiatric ward for the rest of her life. From what you and her son have told me, she’s completely mad. But don’t worry about her or Will. He’ll be fine. He’s a good man.”

  “Yes, he is. He saved my life.”

  “Do you need a ride back to the Handorfs’? You’ve been through quite a trauma here.”

  “I’m okay. I really am. Thank you, though.”

  “Yep.” He smiled and tilted his hat at her.

  She was glad to get off of the Fritz property. She still felt horrible for Will and hoped he would recover from the events of today. The horror of what could have happened to her back at the Fritzes’ left her dazed as she headed back to the vineyard.

  When she opened the door to the RV, Simon was sitting next to Shawn on the sofa. They were each sipping a glass of wine. Nikki wondered if she was missing something here.

  Simon took one look at her and said, “Oh my God, Snow White! What in the world happened to you?”

  “You wouldn’t believe it if I told you.”

  “Try us,” Shawn said.

  “Yes. Do,” Simon added. “Because you won’t believe what we have to tell you either.”

  Nikki had no problem believing what they told her, especially after her evening, but what she couldn’t believe was what the two of them had gone ahead and done.

  She sighed and then looked at Shawn, who shrugged. “Oh my God. You didn’t!”

  “She is on her way here, right now.”

  “Now, as in now?” Nikki asked.

  They both nodded.

  “Oh well. I suppose we’ll have more than one major headline for her then.”

  Nikki had just learned something that she knew Marne Pickett would love. Now she was going to get two stories for the price of one. Nikki had no idea what this was going to mean for the fate of the movie, but she had a strong feeling that by tomorrow afternoon, production would be shut down.

  There was a knock at the door. Nikki opened it, and Marne Pickett walked in. Shawn had let security know to let her through. She looked at Nikki and said, “Oh dear, what happened to you?”

  Nikki laughed. “You’re going to love it, Marne. This is one time when I think you and I might actually be on the same page. But you have to make me a deal first.”

  Marne cocked an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

  “No more negative publicity about me.” Nikki could let bygones be bygones and hopefully so could Marne.

  Marne looked as if she was considering it. Shawn crossed his arms and said, “Make the deal with her Marne or you get nothing.”

  “Deal,” Marne replied.

  Nikki told her story first with gasps and “oh my Gods” from everyone in the trailer. Then it was Shawn’s turn. Marne Pickett’s face exploded in a shit-eating grin as she scribbled furiously. “Brilliant. Thank you,” she said when Shawn was done. “You have no idea how many magazines we’ll sell. But you’re not worried about the backlash?”

  “No. I’m more tired of pretending to be someone I’m not, and I wasn’t about to do it to someone else I really like and have come to care for.” He smiled at Nikki.

  “Thank you,” she replied.

  The following morning Nikki went ahead with her initial plan of playing the diva.

  She left the trailer and tracked down Amy and Harv. “I don’t like what I’m wearing today,” she snapped. “It’s not working. You need to find me something else.”

  They looked at each other in disbelief. “What?” Amy asked.

  “You heard me.”

  “But that is what you are supposed to wear—”

  “I’m not wearing it! Are you deaf?”

  “What is up your butt today?” Harv muttered.

  “Last time I checked, I was the star of this movie, and you two are peons. You’ll do what I say.”

  Amy shook her head. “No, Nikki, that’s not the way it is. Kane is in charge here—”

  “First, you
’ll call me Ms. Sands. Second, get Kane over here.” Amy glowered at her. “Now!”

  Amy and Harv turned on their heels and stormed off. Nikki almost started laughing; she was enjoying this acting job a little too much. A couple of minutes later Kane showed up at the wardrobe trailer.

  “Is there a problem, Nikki?” he asked.

  “Yes. There is. I don’t want to wear this today. It’s gross. I want something better.”

  “Okay. I think we can handle that.”

  “And I want an assistant. Also, I’d like my fridge stocked daily with 7UP. Not Sprite. Not Mountain Dew or anything else, but 7UP.”

  “I think we can get you 7UP.” He crossed his arms.

  “Good. And I want some of those Dyptyque candles, you know, the ones that J. Lo gets. I want those in cherry blossom, gardenia scent, and fig, oh, and brown sugar. Also, the trailer needs some brightening up. So, daily there needs to be Sterling Silver roses, and no substitutes. I don’t like pink or red, only the silver. The sheet count on that bed, too—that is not one-thousand-thread-count Egyptian cotton, and I’d like those in white. White, not cream or off white.”

  Kane shook his head in disbelief. “Nikki? What the hell has gotten into you?”

  “I’m a star.” She shrugged. “You said so. Come on, we have a movie to make.” She sauntered off, doing her best Mariah Carey impression. Kane threw his hands up in the air and followed her out.

  Nikki played diva all day, and every time she caught a glimpse of Shawn, they shared a secret smile. Kane looked haggard and confused. Amy caught the brunt of her act; served the witch right. She didn’t feel sorry for Nathan either; face it, the guy had a screw or two loose. But having a fetish was better than having blood on one’s hands.

  At the end of the day a package came for Nikki. She knew what it was. “Everyone,” she announced. “I have something here I think you’ll all want to see.” She passed around copies of Marne Pickett’s article, which was already being printed in the United States in three of the major tabloid magazines.