A Killer Margarita (Nikki Sands'/Wine Lover's Mystery Series)

by Michele Scott

  She thought there might be others in the room, but she didn’t know for sure. She heard a door close and someone walk in. Her stomach sank. Her blindfold was untied, and she blinked several times. She spotted Derek wide eyed across from her, Simon and Marco a few feet away, all of them bound and gagged. Yeah, this was really so not good. She’d been right. She wasn’t alone, but any hopes of the guys coming to her rescue looked pretty weak at the moment.

  “Hello, Nikki.” Lady Intense. LI herself stood over her now.

  She was definitely American with dark hair, those intense hazel eyes and although attractive enough to be a model, Nikki was pretty sure she wasn’t here for a fashion show. She walked over to Nikki and pulled the duct tape from her lips. That hurt.

  The woman paced back and forth, gun in hand. “I am not going to play games with you four. You are in some serious trouble here.”

  “Sort of figured,” Nikki replied and nodded at the gun.

  “Here is the deal. You have been looking into things that really don’t concern you and could get you killed.”

  “Aren’t you going to kill us?” Nikki asked.

  “I’m not sure yet. Depends on who you are.”

  “What do you mean?” Nikki was more than a little confused. She glanced at Simon, who looked like he wanted to puke. Marco had tears in his eyes. He was probably thinking about Violet.

  “What have you been up to? You go looking into the murder of Paul Carrigan and from what I can tell, you’ve helped solve that. And I know you’ve been looking into the murder of Kendall Young. Why?”

  “Who are you?” Nikki asked.

  “I asked you first, and I suggest you start talking. I can always eliminate you and then go on to one of your boys here. I’m sure after they see your guts splattered all over, they’d be happy to start talking.”

  “You’re a real bitch,” Nikki said. “And, you almost got us killed already, chasing us like you did! We could’ve gone off the end of the dock.”

  Derek shook his head and glared at her.

  “Right. Well, you didn’t. And, as far as me being a bitch, it takes one to know one. Who are you working for? I am not going to ask again.”

  “We aren’t working for anyone. My husband and I own a winery. Those two are my brother-in-laws.” Nikki nodded toward Simon and Marco.

  “Why are two Americans who own a winery, which I already knew because I’ve checked you out, trying to find out who killed Carrigan and Young?”

  Nikki sighed. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

  “Try me. You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve heard before.”

  “Fine. Here goes. I sometimes solve crimes. If you really looked into me you would have learned that I’ve been coined the Nancy Drew of Napa Valley.”

  The woman didn’t respond.

  “I found Kendall on the beach the other morning. Then, my husband and I went to talk to the woman who owned the restaurant where we ate the night before. We had seen both of the murder victims there—and you too. The police were there. Carrigan’s body had been found in the trunk of the car, and Juanita, the poor woman who owned the restaurant, was arrested. In fact, I learned that you had gone back to Juanita’s that night. For all we know, you killed Paul Carrigan.”

  The woman continued to pace, and Nikki eyed the gun.

  Nikki continued: “Being the do-gooder that my brother-in-laws refer to me as…” Simon rolled his eyes. “…I couldn’t let that poor woman go to jail for a crime she didn’t commit. We were only trying to do the right thing.”

  The woman stared at her, her head cocked, the gun loosely hanging at her side. “I didn’t kill Paul Carrigan.”

  Someone else walked in, and Nikki swallowed hard as she recognized the tall guy with the dark, wavy hair. She was pretty sure the blond-haired man was nearby. She had no clue how they were going to get out of this, and she was sure that her guys didn’t either. But she was not going to give up. There had to be a way.

  The woman and man spoke quietly. He then walked over to Derek and took off his tape—a little bit more carefully than the woman had removed hers. He also untied him. Derek didn’t move. The man did the same with Simon and Marco.

  The woman then untied Nikki. “My colleague says you’re telling the truth.”

  “Excuse me?” Nikki said, hearing the incredulity in her own voice. “Can we go?”

  “Nope. The four of you are going to tell my team what you know about the murders.”

  “Your team?”

  The woman reached out her hand to shake Nikki’s? “My name is Kylie Cain. This is Ayden Connors. We work for…well, the United States government, and without us tailing your asses for the past few days you might all be dead by now. But you’re a tough crew. If we didn’t know better, I would’ve guessed you were working for the same team. I figured for DEA, or maybe some other arm of the CIA. The reason that I went back to Juanita’s place that night was because we had some surveillance there that I needed to retrieve. She’d also given me some information about Ricardo Rivera and I paid her some money for that intel. Juanita was helping us. We likely would have gotten her out of jail ourselves, but thanks to you guys we didn’t need to, which honestly, we’re happy about. We didn’t have to blow our covers.”

  “Are you serious?” Derek asked.

  Kylie Cain turned and looked at him. “Dead serious, my friend. Now let’s talk.”

  “You work for the CIA?” Simon asked as his duct tape came off.

  She looked at her colleague and then back at them. “Yes, in a way. But if I tell you much more, I may have to kill you.”

  Chapter Thirty-three

  “What is this place?” Simon asked.

  Cain and Connors had taken them to another room in the “warehouse,” which had been sectioned off almost like a house with various rooms. Nikki didn’t know what were in the other sections, but where they now sat was in a room filled with all sorts of high-tech electronic equipment. The blond guy she had seen at the restaurant sat behind a computer. Cain had introduced him Noah Kensington.

  Cain told them, “This is a surveillance room. During your little outings, did any of you hear the name Domingo Rodriguez?”

  They all looked at one another and shook their heads.

  “Rodriguez is probably one of the most heinous criminals not just in Central and South America, but the whole world. A true sociopath who would think nothing of beheading anyone in this room, or their mother, or their children.” She gestured toward Simon and Marco. “You, my friends, have gotten yourself caught up in this man’s snare unbeknownst to you, I am sure.”

  “Do you want to explain?” Nikki asked.

  “The other night when you two spotted me at El Corazon and then did your little James Bond thing…”

  Nikki and Derek looked at each other. How did she know that? Lucky guess? Nikki didn’t think so. Something about these people said that they were different from your run-of-the-mill government spy.

  “We have our ways of knowing these things,” Connors cut in.

  Nikki’s jaw dropped.

  “As I was saying, you followed that van to a villa that happened to be owned by Rodriguez. Two of his partners, Deanna and Ricardo Rivera, run things there.”

  “The couple from the restaurant. The one who had been with Carrigan and his group that night,” Nikki stated.

  “Yes. The Riveras are in charge of a very specific part of Rodriguez’s ‘company.’ They run the sex operations and also human trafficking.”

  “I knew it!” Nikki blurted. “That girl, the waitress from El Corazon…did they have her killed?”

  “Look at the screen,” Cain said. “Noah, pull up Nadia please.”

  Second jaw-dropping moment: on the screen was a very much alive waitress. She looked content on a couch watching TV and eating a bag of potato chips.

  “Nadia is an informant. She’s been working for us. We staged the murder to get her out of there as the Riveras and Rodriguez were exp
ecting her to go from waitress to the next level of ‘escort,’ and then some.”

  “Unbelievable.” Derek shrugged.

  “Who are you people, really?” Marco asked.

  Cain ignored him. “I need you to tell me what you discovered on your trail of a killer, because my team and I are on a mission to bring down Domingo Rodriguez and his cronies, and you may have some information that will help us.”

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Nikki, Derek, and the guys told Kylie Cain and her team everything they’d learned. To everyone’s dismay, they seemed to already have the same exact information. Once again, Nikki felt deflated that she hadn’t been able to help.

  “What do you think happened to Kendall Young, and also to her friend Erin Faldo?” Nikki asked.

  Cain had gotten them all some tea and after hours of interrogation, things had become far more relaxed between them. Still, Nikki had to seriously wonder who these people were. She believed they were on the right side of the law, but they were certainly more than the average law enforcement team.

  Connors and Kensington had the guys looking through some of the surveillance photos they had taken to see if they recognized anyone—just in case.

  “I believe that I know what happened to them,” Cain said. “Since sleuthing appears to be your pastime—and from what I can tell you seem to be very good at it—why don’t you tell me what you think happened to them.”

  Nikki nodded and took a deep breath. “I’ve thought about it. A lot, obviously. I think that it started with Erin Faldo’s disappearance. She found Paul Carrigan through the Eros website. I have a feeling that Carrigan was connected to that Rivera guy.”

  Cain nodded. “Doing good so far.”

  “We learned that Carrigan had done some low-budget horror movies, and that Rivera was investing in Spanish-language versions.”

  “Do you believe that?”

  Nikki slowly shook her head. “I don’t think that I do. I think Paul Carrigan was using the Eros website to troll for easy prey. I think that he may have been luring women down here—women that were already in some way connected to the sex trade, so that few eyebrows would be raised if they were suddenly not around.”

  “Sad but true. A lot of women in that industry do move around a lot, and they don’t usually make solid relationships. Many times when they go missing, the authorities give up finding them pretty quickly.”

  “But Erin and Kendall were friends. It looked to me from checking on social media sites that they became pals. And, I can only assume that they were the best of friends, and that Kendall felt Erin was all she really had in this world. Kendall said something to me the other night when I tried to help her that it didn’t matter. She said that she had already lost everything. Erin must have told Kendall about Carrigan, and I know she told her about coming to Puerto Vallarta to meet him, because Kendall herself told Tim’s girlfriend that.”

  “Tim?”

  “The guy who did the music for the films.”

  “Right. He’s inconsequential. We don’t believe he knows anything. At least that is the read we get.”

  Nikki didn’t say anything about her use of the word “read,” but again it hit her that this team was more than what met the eye. “I think I agree on that. Tim and Becky are pretty much innocents in this thing. Although I’m not sure how long that would have lasted. I think that Carrigan was supplying these girls for the Rivera couple, and what happened to them after that, I can only guess.”

  “You’re right on, so far. Keep guessing,” Cain said.

  “Well, it’s apparent that this whole thing is connected to—the cartel?” The woman nodded. “I figure they may drug the girls, use them as prostitutes.”

  “It’s worse. What if I told you that they were using them for snuff films?”

  “What? Oh my God! Where they kill girls on film?” Nikki felt sick to her stomach.

  “Yes. Believe it or not that shit happens, and Domingo Rodriguez and his pals have a real taste for it, as well as a worldwide market. Sick bastards.”

  “Erin Faldo?”

  “Yes,” Cain said.

  “And Kendall? That night when there was a fight at Juanita’s and Kendall left, she got in the car with the Riveras?”

  “Yes. We tried to stop it before it went down, but my team was too late, and I had to stay undercover as best I could.”

  “Why?” Nikki’s throat tightened.

  “Because in a few nights from now, I’m scheduled to meet Domingo Rodriguez. I am to be his special lady friend for the evening, and trust me, by the end of the night he is going to realize just how special I am.”

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Cain, Kensington, and Connors escorted the Malveaux family back to the villa to oversee them packing, then drove them to the airport in the back of the black SUV.

  “I know you don’t want to leave, Nikki,” Cain said. “I know that you feel like you could have done more, helped more, but you need to know something.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You did good, Nikki. You put the right man in jail and got the wrong woman out and that is something to be proud of. Not only that, you really did solve a good share of it. You were right on that Kendall Young’s death had to do with her searching for her friend, and you knew that the reasons behind it had to do with some kind of sex trafficking. Even though you can’t be there to help bring Rodriguez down, you played an important role.”

  “I appreciate that, but I certainly can’t take all the credit. I had some help from my family.” Nikki took Derek’s hand and glanced back at Simon and Marco. She still thought there was something more to Kylie Cain and her team. She didn’t believe they were basic operatives working for the government. Not that any CIA operatives were basic, but something in her gut told here there were more to these three. However, knowing them just briefly, Nikki had already discovered that Kylie Cain wasn’t one to divulge anything, and she had to respect that.

  “What about Domingo Rodriguez? I mean, he’s the reason Kendall is dead. He’s the reason she was here in the first place. How many other girls do you think he’s abducted over the years and used them for sexual slavery or worse?”

  “Countless, and it’s difficult to think about. It’s why we are taking him down. But it’s too much for you. You’ve done your part. You and your team.”

  They pulled up to the airport. Nikki looked at Kylie Cain and said, “Sorry I called you a bitch.”

  “No offense at all. I don’t mind being called a bitch. And, on another note, don’t worry, we’ll take care of getting Jorge back his costumes.”

  “You guys do know everything, don’t you?” Nikki said.

  “We try. There’s a few people waiting to say goodbye to you just inside the doors. Don’t keep them waiting.” Cain smiled. “Happy holidays.” She pulled the door shut.

  As they entered the airport, Nikki glanced back at the departing SUV. What an adventure. What a crazy adventure. She silently wished them luck, knowing she’d never see them again, as she was sure they would fade into the sunset after they took out Domingo Rodriguez.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Snow fell lightly outside as Nikki was curled up by the fireplace reading a new thriller on the Kindle that Simon had given her for Christmas. Ollie lay on the floor next to the couch, and both Juan Pablo and Maria Consuelo sprawled on top of the blanket covering Nikki. She was on dog-sitting duty while the boys had taken Violet to a new Disney movie.

  Derek was in the kitchen fixing some leftovers for them. They had rung in the New Year together as a family. Nikki had made a rack of lamb with a honey pasilla glaze, and they’d watched Ryan Seacrest host Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve and counted down the minutes. Kisses and champagne filled the room as the clock struck midnight. And, although it hadn’t been the intended New Year’s Eve celebration, it was perfect, because they were all together and more importantly, all alive.

  Nikki finished a chapter and set the Kindle do
wn to scratch Juan Pablo’s belly. He was the beggar between the two pups. The doorbell rang, causing everyone to stir. Dogs went into barking mode. “I’ll get it,” Nikki yelled.

  She went to the door and opened it. No one was there. How could that be? A package sat on the doorstep. She opened it and was surprised to find two dog collars, one with diamonds and the other with jade. There was a note. It read:

  “Heard” you needed to bribe Simon. Thought these might make him happy and keep you out of trouble. Your team seems a little high maintenance.

  Good news: we got Rodriguez. It’s not public knowledge yet, but it will be. Happy New Year, Napa’s Nancy Drew. Stay out of trouble! – KC

  Nikki shook her head, and said to herself, “Yep. Definitely more than meets the eye where Kylie Cain is concerned.”

  Derek walked back into the room. “Who was that, honey?”

  She handed him the note and the box. He laughed. “Justice is served. How those people knew all that information. Like, how did they know about us and “playing” Bond?”

  “You got me,” she replied. “But they do seem to know things.”

  “Wait a minute. There’s something else in the box,” Derek said, taking out something wrapped in pale yellow tissue paper. He unwrapped it. It was a baby rattle. Attached to it was another note. This one read:

  Just a side-note” You should start preparing for a visit from the stork in nine months. Don’t ask how we know these things. We just do.”

  Nikki saw Derek’s eyes widen. She was sure her facial expression matched his. A smile spread across his face. “What do you think about that?”

  She took his hand. “I think we should go to the drug store. Time to buy a pregnancy test.”

  Nikki and her “team” might have been in over their heads this time around, but she did do her part and help see that justice was served. To find out just how Domingo Rodriguez went down, read on for the first two chapters in an exciting new series by J.R. Rain and A.K. Alexander (Michele Scott’s pen name).