White Cloud Retreat

by Dianne Harman

  “My pleasure. I could be at the Center about 3:00 this afternoon, if that would work for you.”

  “Yes. I’ll adjust my schedule accordingly. See you then.”

  Well, that’s interesting. I wonder what he’s found out. Could there be another suspect in the case? Why else would he call me?

  A few minutes before 3:00 she got her keys out to lock the coffee shop door. “Come on Lady…”

  Before she could get the rest of the sentence out of her mouth, Lady was at the door of the coffee shop waiting for her to open it.

  This dog is beginning to spook me. I wonder if dogs can have ESP. If they can, I think I’ve got one. I swear Lady knows what I’m going to say before I even know.

  A few minutes later she pulled into the parking lot of the Center. “Stay, girl, I’ll be back in a little while.” She opened the door of the Center and immediately sensed a difference. Usually it hummed with people taking classes and enjoying themselves. Today, there was almost a desolate and abandoned feel to the Center.

  Blaine walked down the hall towards her. “Hello, Kelly. It’s good to see you again. Luke is waiting for you in the office.” She followed him and walked into the room while Blaine held the door for her.

  “Thanks, Blaine, that will be all for now. Kelly, thanks for coming,” Luke said. He walked over to the door and closed it. “Please have a seat and here’s your empty casserole dish. It really was good and I appreciate you bringing it to me.”

  “Glad you enjoyed it. I know you’re a vegetarian, but if you can cheat a little, I brought you some bacon chocolate chip cookies. They’re a favorite at the coffee shop and my personal addiction.”

  “I shouldn’t admit this, but I’m a sucker for bacon. I’ll justify it by pretending I didn’t know bacon was in these. Thanks.”

  “Well, what have you found out?”

  “You know my brother was a man who rarely got angry. In fact in the year I’ve been here, I’ve only seen him angry twice, both in the last month. You may have noticed that there’s a vineyard owned by the Pellino brothers located next to our property. The only thing that separates it is a county road that leads up to the Cascades. They grow pinot noir grapes and Scott suspected some of their methods were hurting our grapes. He was a big believer in organic farming and refused to use any chemicals. He thought it was strange that he’d been having a problem with brown leaf spot and he contacted an inspector with the Oregon Department of Agriculture. The inspector came out and told Scott he thought there was a problem with chemicals that may be drifting from the Pellino Brothers vineyard onto our vines. Scott was furious. He went over to their vineyard when the inspector left to confront them, but they were out of town for a few days.

  “I don’t know if he ever was able to get in touch with them. This all happened a couple of weeks before he died.” He sat back in his chair and said, “Kelly, there’s something else that a couple of students from the residential program told me that might be of interest to you. They mentioned that when they were working in the vineyard next to the county road, they noticed a lot of expensive cars going in and out of the Pellino Brothers vineyard. They said that the cars seemed to be driven by dark, swarthy, suspicious looking Italian men. One of the students laughed and said if he was going to cast a movie with Mafia members in it, he’d cast it with the people going in and out of the Pellino Brothers Vineyard.”

  “I can certainly understand why Scott was so angry. Do you know anything about the brothers?”

  “I met them for the first time at an Oregon wine conference I attended a few months ago. One of the brothers is the president of the organization. I can’t say I liked either one of them. They were very arrogant and I didn’t feel comfortable being around them. Of course, that might have been because I heard that they were saying bad things about our wine. Several people told me they were jealous of the success the White Cloud Pinot Noir has had throughout the state.

  “I’ve heard pretty much the same thing about them,” she said. “Evidently they felt you might put them out of business since you’re a non-profit business and their business is a run for profit business which supports their families.”

  “That’s interesting,” Luke said. “Where did you hear that?”

  “I honestly don’t remember,” she said, mentally crossing her fingers behind her back, “and I’m not sure it’s all that important. When you called, you mentioned something about Blaine Wright. He’s the young man who escorted me in, isn’t he?”

  “Yes. I told you earlier that there were two times that Scott had recently gotten angry. The second time involved Blaine. As part of the residential training program in Zen Buddhism, we require that the trainees work in the vineyard or in some other capacity here at the Center. It saves us from having to hire people and pay them to perform routine work here at the Center. We feel it’s fair because we provide free room and board while they’re living here at the Retreat Center.”

  “Scott told me about it once and it seemed like a win-win situation for everyone involved.”

  “I’ve always thought it worked well. From what I know of the situation involving Blaine and Scott, it centered around Blaine pruning the grape vines too much. Scott was afraid that the grapes from those vines wouldn’t be good this year. He was really angry about it. I think what made him even angrier was that he had made Blaine the head of the team that worked in the vineyard. Some of the others work in the kitchen or clean rooms or whatever needs doing. Blaine had grown up on a farm, so Scott felt he wouldn’t have to explain everything to him. It worked well for several months, but in the last few weeks Blaine seems to have changed. He was always really easygoing and everyone liked him. Lately we’ve gotten some complaints that he’s been surly and unhelpful in a number of ways.”

  “I’m surprised. I’ve only met him twice, but both times he’s been extremely courteous and pleasant to me.”

  “Well, here’s what I’m getting at. When people come here for the residential training program, they’re required to fill out a number of forms about their past such as schooling, illnesses, etc. We need to know everything we can about them because they live in very close quarters and we try to weed out people who may present problems. Scott was in charge of the residential training program and I never saw the paperwork. When people started complaining about Blaine, I pulled his file out and looked at it. I have to say I was rather shocked by what I found out.”

  “Such as what?”

  “Well, for starters, it indicated Blaine had been committed to the state mental hospital for three years.”

  “Were there any details concerning his mental condition in the paperwork he submitted?”

  “No. I’m getting to that. The paperwork simply said he had spent some time in a mental hospital, but had completely recovered. There was no indication whatever of the nature and extent of his mental illness. Evidently Scott had taken him at his word. I called the state mental institution and after being put on hold a number of times and talking to a lot of different people, I was finally able to speak with his treating physician.”

  “What did he say? This is really interesting.”

  “He told me Blaine suffered from schizophrenia, a condition which resulted in him suffering from hallucinations and delusions. While he was in there he was given antipsychotic medications and even underwent some electrical shock therapy. He said Blaine was a classic schizophrenic, but he felt that the medication and therapy had helped him enough that he could be released from the hospital. He told me Blaine had become interested in Zen Buddhism and had become fixated on becoming a Zen Master. Evidently Blaine didn’t quite know what to do when it came time for his release, so the doctor recommended that he come here and get involved in the residential training program and he did.”

  “I’m gathering you think there’s some tie between his recent behavior and his stay in the mental hospital, is that right?”

  “Yes. I told the doctor about his behavior and his immediate response was
that he must have stopped taking his medications. I asked the doctor if that could result in him becoming physically violent. Then I told him what had happened to Scott. He explained to me that it’s not uncommon for a schizophrenic person to become so physically violent that they are capable of committing murder.”

  “Are you saying you think Blaine might have been responsible for Scott’s death?”

  “I’m not accusing anyone, but certainly he would probably know about Scott being in the forest during a walking meditation and he knew the grounds here as well as anyone. What I can’t figure out is what motive he would have for killing Scott.”

  “Didn’t you tell me that he was fixated on becoming a Zen Master?”

  “Yes, Zeb even told me that Blaine had asked him several times if he would give him transmission, you know, when a teacher tells a student he doesn’t need a teacher anymore.”

  “I’ve heard the term, but I’m not very familiar with it.”

  “Evidently Zeb told Blaine he didn’t think he was ready and that Scott, as the Zen Master, was the only one who could do give him the transmission he wanted.”

  “Maybe Blaine thought that if Scott was dead, he could be the Zen Master,” Kelly said.

  “Could be. Sounds pretty farfetched to me, but I read up a little on schizophrenia after I talked to the doctor and grandiose delusions are often part of the disease and that could have been his delusion. He’s asked me several times if I’m going to take over the Center as the new Zen Master.”

  “What did you tell him?”

  “I told him I hadn’t made a decision. So, what do you think, Kelly, should I call Sheriff Mike and tell him what I’ve told you?”

  “You know he’s my fiancé. I’ll tell him about our conversation at dinner tonight, but let me ask you something. Do you think your personal safety might be at risk because of Blaine? Or for that matter, do you think that anyone else might be in danger?”

  “No, I haven’t felt that way, but I’ll tell you this, I’m keeping my .22 pistol on the nightstand when I’m in bed and in my desk drawer when I’m here in the office.”

  Kelly stood up. “Be careful, Luke. I’ll talk to Mike and I’ll see you at the service.”

  “Thanks for taking the time to come out here. I feel better that you know about this. I never thought my brother had an enemy in the world, but now I’ve just told you about two. I wonder if there are others.”

  She turned as she got to the door. “What do you know about a woman named Deidre Nelson?”

  “I think she’s the redhead who comes here a lot. I don’t know much about her other than Scott mentioned one time that she was one of the students who wanted the ‘halo effect’.”

  Kelly interrupted him. “What does that mean? I’ve never heard that term.”

  “In yoga or meditation it refers to people who want to get as close as they can to the teacher in hopes that whatever powers the teacher has will rub off on them. Scott said she was always in the first row whenever he taught a class. Why do you ask?”

  “No reason. I just met her recently and she told me she’d taken a lot of classes at the Center. She was quite broken up over Scott’s death.”

  “Well, I’m not particularly looking forward to Scott’s service for that reason. A lot of people idolized him. I have no idea what to expect. Zeb is planning it, but I’ll be conducting it.”

  “Thanks for taking the time to share this information with me, Luke. I appreciate it and I’m sure Sheriff Mike will too.”

  CHAPTER 19

  Mike’s car wasn’t in the driveway when Kelly and Lady returned from the Center. Well, I’ve got a little time. Think I’ll see what I can find out about Deidre Nelson on the computer. Lady followed her and lay down next to her in the office.

  She pulled Google up on the computer and typed in the name “Deidre Nelson.” Within a second, information regarding Deidre popped up on the screen. Kelly clicked back and forth taking notes and looking at the screen. There wasn’t much information and it didn’t take her very long.

  She got up from her chair, went into the kitchen, and opened the refrigerator to see what she could make for dinner that wouldn’t take much time. She decided on roast chicken, a warm spinach salad, and fried zucchini squash. She’d just finished smearing the chicken with soft butter and putting it in the oven when the door opened and Rebel bounded over to her, followed by Mike.

  “Sorry I’m late, but I had to meet with the coroner on my way home. I would have called, but time got away from me. Anyway, we’re home and hungry.”

  “Well, why don’t you take off your gun and change out of your uniform. I’ll meet you in the living room and we can relax. I didn’t get home too long ago and I just put dinner in the oven. I’ll start a fire in the fireplace.”

  “You’ve got it. Back in a few minutes.” Rebel followed him down the hallway.

  Glad you’re watching out for him, Rebel. Particularly now that it looks like someone’s leaving threatening notes for him, hanging up on him, and possibly following him.

  The fire made the room inviting and took the chill out of the winter night. “What did the coroner tell you?” she asked when Mike came back into the room wearing jeans and a flannel shirt.

  “It was interesting. We knew Scott died from a gunshot wound to his head. The ballistics expert said it was from a .22 caliber pistol. He also told me something that I thought was sort of strange. He said Scott had been shot in the head, just behind his ear. He mentioned in passing that a lot of Mafia victims were killed that way by a close range shot to the head with the bullet’s point of entry located just above and behind the victim’s ear. I’ve never heard of the Mafia operating in this area. Weird, huh?”

  “I’m not so sure.” She told him about her earlier conversation with Luke.

  “Well,” Mike said, “the brothers have been suspects in my mind pretty much from the beginning, but now I’m beginning to also wonder about Blaine. He certainly would have had a motive for killing Scott. It looks like he wanted to be the Zen Master in a bad way. Maybe he has delusions that he’s ready to lead the Center. This means the case has gone from not having any suspects to having several. Right now I’ve got the Pellino brothers, Deidre, Blaine, Luke, and that religious guy named Jim. I haven’t interviewed Jim yet because I can’t think of a valid way for me to broach the subject other than as a conversation you overheard and then I’d have to involve you which I don’t want to do.

  “I wonder if Luke tried to feed you a red herring. By that I mean if Blaine was a valid suspect in the case, it would take the attention away from Luke. Luke has to know that he’s considered to be a suspect. He probably has no idea how much I know about him, but he seems to be pretty smart and that would be a good ploy for him to use, shift attention to Blaine and away from himself. Let’s face it, he certainly had a lot to gain if Scott died. Scott’s attorney, Lem, called me today and said he was filing Scott’s will with the court. Half of his estate goes to Luke and the other half goes to the Center. We know Luke’s had problems with money before. Greed is always a powerful motive.”

  “I know you think he’s a credible suspect, but I have a problem seeing him do it. Maybe I’m being stubborn, but I just don’t think he’s the killer. It takes a special kind of person to kill his own brother.”

  “Maybe yes, maybe no. All I know is that I’m no closer to finding out who the killer is today than I was yesterday.”

  “Let’s change the subject. Did you have any more poison pen notes or hang-ups today? Or did you sense that someone was following you?”

  Mike rubbed his cheek with his hand. “I’m baffled by this whole thing. I’d swear someone is following me, but I sure haven’t been able to spot them. When I’m driving, I keep a very close eye on my rear view mirror and haven’t seen anything. When I’m walking somewhere, I’m extra alert and on the lookout. Again, nothing. I say nothing, but I’ve been taking Rebel with me everywhere I go and twice today he growled and his hackles wen
t up. Makes me think this whole thing is not just my imagination. And in answer to your question, yes, there was another note today. This time it was handwritten and stuck in the window on the driver’s side of my patrol car.”

  “Well, what did it say?”

  “It was bizarre. It said ‘Things aren’t always what they seem.’ I can’t even begin to make sense of that.”

  “What about hang-ups? Have you had any more of those?”

  “Yes,” he said tiredly. “More than I’d care to count. I suppose I could get a search warrant and try and find out who’s calling, but what am I going to tell the court? That I think someone is following me and calling me? That isn’t much to go on. Our local judge is a tough nut and I’m not sure he’d buy it. The only things I have that are solid are a couple of notes.”

  “I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe all of these things are associated with this case. I’ve kind of thought it was something from the past, but maybe not. What I can’t figure out is why anyone involved in this case would do those things. I suppose through a process of elimination we could try and find the answer. Jim, the religious guy, doesn’t even know he’s a suspect. The Pellino brothers may be aware that they’re suspects, but I don’t see either one of them following you. They’ve got a winery to run. Luke and Blaine are both out at the Center, so neither one of them would have the time to drive into town just to leave a threatening note on your car. And Deidre? She’s mourning Scott. No, it just doesn’t make any sense. Let’s forget about it for now. It’s almost time for dinner.

  “Oh, one more thing. Remember when I told you how strange Deidre’s apartment was yesterday? Well, I pulled her name up on the Internet today when I got home and there wasn’t much information on the web about her. She works in a photography shop and she’s originally from somewhere in Arizona. She majored in photography in college. That’s about it.”