A Case of Syrah, Syrah

by Nancy J. Parra

  “Why would you want information about Ivy Scott?” the sheriff asked.

  “Well, a witness put Ivy at Quarryhill the day Laura died. I wanted to see if I could figure out why she was there.”

  “You were told to leave the investigating to the authorities,” the sheriff said.

  “I know,” I said, “but no one else who is investigating seems to think I’m innocent. Then I heard her in the ladies’ room talking to someone about having to postpone a job or two until after the heat dies down.”

  “Did you see who she was talking to?”

  “No,” I said. “I was in a stall, but I left soon after. In fact, Holly and I were in the process of leaving when Ivy came running after me accusing me of murder . . . again.”

  “So you were embarrassed by her actions and went to see her today about it. Then you had an argument and killed her.”

  “What? No,” I said. “No, no, no.”

  “No, you weren’t embarrassed?”

  “No, I got away before she could chase me down,” I explained. “I ran into Chelsea McGartland from the North San Francisco Chronicle. She helped me get away without Ivy’s notice.”

  “So you ran away.”

  “Holly and I left.”

  “And that’s all there is to that?”

  “Well, I might’ve given Chelsea a tip about what I heard in the restroom.”

  “What did you tell her exactly?”

  “That I overheard Ivy Scott and her friend talking about how they had to lie low for a while after Laura’s death.”

  “Lie low?”

  “That’s what they said. I surmised it meant that they had to cease any illegal activity, and I told Chelsea that. This morning, Chelsea called me to tell me that Ivy’s friend Dawn Weller was arrested after a sting operation concluded on a ring of identity thieves. It is more than a coincidence, I think.”

  “So you killed Ivy because she stole identities with Dawn?”

  “I think that’s enough accusations,” Patrick said. “My client has told you that she didn’t murder Ivy. She has no gun registered to her or on her person, and you’ve examined her. I’m sure you know that she has no gunshot residue on her hands.”

  “Let’s talk about why you went to Ivy’s house today.”

  “As I said, I wanted to talk about the fact that Holly told Ivy we have a witness who put her at Quarryhill the day that Laura died. I think it’s no coincidence that Laura had an SD card on her with stolen identities.”

  “You think Ivy was buying them from Laura?”

  “Or someone else,” I said. “And yes, I thought Ivy knew something about who killed Laura. I even suspected that she might’ve helped.”

  “And then you found her dead.”

  “Then I found her dead.”

  “Did you see anyone else around when you arrived?”

  I closed my eyes and thought back. “No, I think the street was empty. But I noticed the front door was open.”

  “Yet you went around to the back . . .”

  “Well, yes, because she didn’t answer the front door. I figured since it was open, she was home and possibly outside in the backyard. So I went around. When I didn’t see her, I knocked on the back door and saw it too was open. So I went inside and called her name, but I found her pretty quickly.”

  “Did you touch anything inside?”

  “I touched her to see if I could help her, but she was already cold. So I called nine-one-one and went outside to wait for everyone to arrive.”

  “The first responders found you on the front porch.”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “So you walked through the house.”

  “It’s small.”

  “I see.”

  “Do you?”

  “You didn’t see anyone else?”

  “I didn’t see or hear anyone, but then I figured I couldn’t stick around inside in case the murderer was still there.”

  “But you said she was cold.”

  “She was.”

  “Then most likely the murderer was long gone, as it takes hours for a body to cool.”

  “Huh, who knew?”

  “I’ll take that as a rhetorical question.”

  “It was,” I said. “Is there anything else? I’ve given my statement and my clothes. I’d like to go home now.”

  “You do that, and we’ll be in touch.”

  “Okay.”

  I got up with Patrick and started to leave.

  “Oh, and Miss O’Brian?”

  “Yes?”

  “I’d suggest you stay at home for the next few weeks. It may be the safest thing for everyone involved.”

  “I’ll do my best to comply, but I’m not making any promises.”

  Chapter 23

  “Now what?” Holly asked.

  It was late at night, and we sat outside on the patio, sipping wine and staring at the fire pit. “Now I stay home and wait for them to prosecute me to the fullest,” I said.

  “That’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard,” Aunt Jemma said.

  Millie came and leapt into my lap, turned three times, and snuggled in. I petted her absently. “I don’t know what else to do.”

  “Ivy is dead, Dawn is in jail, and we’ve narrowed our suspects to Dan, Sally, and Amy,” Holly said. “That’s not all bad.”

  “Dan looked like he wanted to kill me,” I said. “You didn’t see the look in his eyes.”

  “So maybe he murdered Laura and Ivy.”

  “Then why would he want to kill me?” I asked. “If he murdered them, wouldn’t he be happy that I’m taking the fall?”

  “That leaves Amy and Sally,” Aunt Jemma said. “It’s interesting that Amy quit talking to you as soon as you were arraigned. In fact, we’ve not heard from her for a while.”

  “Unless she’s dead,” I said morosely. “I haven’t shown up at her place to verify that she’s even still alive.”

  “My head hurts,” Holly said.

  “I’ll check on Amy in the morning,” Aunt Jemma said.

  “Even better, send Chelsea,” I said. “That way, no one in this house is involved should we find out that Amy is also lost to this serial killer.”

  “Serial killer?”

  “Yes, more than one kill makes you serial, right?”

  “I’m not sure what the qualifications are,” Aunt Jemma said and sipped her wine, “but it’s all quite gruesome.”

  “With Ivy dead, I’m not sure we’ll ever really know what happened that day at Quarryhill.”

  “We know I didn’t do it,” I groused.

  “True,” Aunt Jemma said.

  “I think Dan knows more than he’s saying. I don’t know how to prove it,” I said.

  “In the meantime, no more wine country tours, and no more visits to suspects’ homes,” Aunt Jemma warned. “It’s simply too easy for you to be framed.”

  “There’s no way they framed me for Ivy. Even I didn’t know I was going to go there until the last minute.”

  “So who would kill Ivy, and why?”

  “It could’ve been Dawn. I know she was arrested, but I saw on the news that she was out on bail. She could have been upset that she was caught in the identity-theft ring but Ivy wasn’t,” I proposed.

  “Or it could be Dan, afraid that his connection to Laura’s death and the identity-theft ring would be discovered,” Holly suggested.

  “Maybe Dan found out that Ivy killed Laura, got mad, and went over there to confront her. They had a fight, and bam! Ivy is dead.”

  “That would explain why he had murder in his eyes at the scene.” Holly tapped her chin. “He might have still been seething.”

  “Or maybe Ivy found out who the killer was and confronted them,” Aunt Jemma suggested. “The killer then killed Ivy out of fear of discovery.”

  “Ivy might’ve even tried to blackmail the killer,” I said. “It seems like the kind of thing she would’ve done. She was hurting her brother and his wife by selling the information
of their staff and clients.”

  “Dawn might know something,” Holly said. “She’s out on bond, right?”

  “Yes, like me,” I said.

  “Then I say we go take her out for a coffee,” Holly said. “Maybe she’ll tell us things.”

  “We can try that,” I said with a shrug, “as long as we meet her in a public place. No more of us going to anyone’s houses.”

  “It’s a plan,” Holly said. “I’ll call Dawn in the morning and set it up.” Holly got up and stretched her long limbs. “Now home and bed for me, ladies. Tomorrow things will work out. You’ll see.”

  “Tomorrow is another day,” I said in my best Scarlett O’Hara accent.

  Holly and Aunt Jemma laughed, and I walked Holly out to her car. I watched as she drove down the driveway between the lines of grapevines. The air was cool and still. I wondered if talking to Dawn would help us at all. It seemed the more I investigated, the more I incriminated myself.

  * * *

  “Dawn is meeting us at the Leaf and Branch in five minutes,” Holly said as I picked her up in my VW van. “It’s the coffee shop on the corner of Maple and Main.”

  “I know it,” I said. Holly lived above the art gallery two blocks from Main. It wasn’t so far that she couldn’t walk, but I’d thought it’d be best to go together. That way, if anything bad happened, I’d have a witness.

  I found a parking space a half a block from the coffee shop, and we parked and walked. The streets were quiet. Sonoma was a sleepy little town when there wasn’t a holiday or vacation in sight.

  “Well, hello, ladies,” Chelsea said as we entered the coffee shop. She sat with Dawn at one of the tables nearest the restrooms.

  “Chelsea,” I said. “Surprised to see you. Dawn, thanks for meeting with us.”

  “You didn’t give me much choice,” Dawn said. We sat across from Dawn, and a waitress came over. We ordered chai tea lattes.

  “Sorry about that,” I said. “Chelsea, how did you know?”

  “I was meeting with Dawn to get her side of the story. She simply let me know that you all were coming.” Chelsea grinned. “It’s good that we all get along.”

  The waitress brought our teas and left.

  “Let’s get down to business shall we?” Chelsea put her MP3 recorder down in front of us. “Dawn, how did you get involved in the identity-theft ring?”

  “Ivy introduced me to a guy when I told her I needed emergency cash to pay my rent. You know how crazy rents are here. Well, I asked the guy what I had to do for a loan. I wasn’t agreeing to no funny business. He says to me, ‘Bring me the names, addresses, phone numbers, and e-mails of five people,’ and he’d give me one hundred bucks apiece. Well, I went home and dug out my address book.”

  “Did you know he was selling them to a ring that took the information and used it to write bad checks?”

  “No, I didn’t know what he wanted. Maybe he wanted them for one of those marketing lists. You know, where they sell the numbers of subscribers to marketers?” She shrugged her wide shoulders. “I didn’t ask, and he didn’t tell.”

  “Who was the guy?” Chelsea asked.

  “How did Ivy know him? Do you think he killed her?” Holly asked.

  “Whoa.” Dawn put up her hand. “I don’t know the guy. Ivy called him Joe.”

  “How did you get the addresses to him?” I asked.

  “I’d put them on an SD card, put that card in an envelope, and leave it in a post-office box at Mailboxes R Us. After twenty-four hours, I would go back and pick up an envelope with money that corresponded to the number of names.”

  “What is the post-office box number?” I asked.

  “It was number 1352, but he won’t touch it anymore.”

  “How do you know?”

  “The cops took away the key,” Dawn said. “They caught me, but they didn’t catch Joe.”

  “What about Ivy?”

  “Ivy was free and clear,” Dawn said and muttered something dark under her breath. “Some friend she was. Left me holding the bag when the cops showed up. She always had an excuse not to leave the names. Funny, but it’s almost as if she was working with the cops the entire time.”

  “Really? Why do you say that?” Chelsea asked.

  “She was always going in to town to meet Deputy Ferguson. She said they were dating, but I think it was a setup. She hooked and landed me like a fat fish. Funny how she ended up dead.”

  “No, it’s not funny,” I said. “Did you shoot her out of revenge for being arrested?”

  “No.” Dawn shook her head and scowled. “I don’t own a gun. But I wasn’t the only one Ivy was working. She had these three chicks her brother knew. Turns out, they each had a list of people and addresses and such. It was like a gold mine for Joe. If it were me, I’d be asking Dan about the three chicks. Any one of them could’ve found out about my arrest and decided Ivy needed to go before they were next.”

  “What did the ladies do?”

  “They worked with Ivy’s sister-in-law. So you see, all I did was gather a few names and addresses. That’s all it takes, you know. Some bogus checks, a name and address that match what they find online, and bam. Identity stolen.”

  “So you knew what they were doing?”

  “Ivy did,” Dawn said with a shrug. “I recently read how easy it was to use someone’s identity. No admission of guilt there.” She waved her hand at Chelsea. “Don’t put those two things together.”

  “Do you know the names of the ladies?”

  “Me? No,” Dawn said. “I didn’t want to know. Ivy would get drunk and tell me all kinds of things I didn’t want to know. I’m surprised I’m not dead from what she told me.”

  “Right,” Chelsea said.

  “Thanks, Dawn,” I said. “You were brave to tell us what you know.”

  She shrugged. “I figure it’ll all come out in court anyway. I’m not guilty of anything more than providing a guy with information. Happens all the time.”

  “Come on, Holly. We have a yoga studio to visit,” I said.

  Holly and I stopped on our way out to pay the check for all four drinks. Then we got into the van. “Do you really think the ladies killed Laura and then Ivy?” Holly asked as she put on her seat belt.

  “I don’t know, but we have a motive now,” I said. “If they were making money from the list of subscribers to Laura’s mastermind class and Laura found out, she would’ve had a cow.”

  “It wouldn’t take much to imagine a struggle and Laura going down the cliff.”

  “But why stab her with my corkscrew?”

  “To make sure she died,” she said.

  “Sounds as grisly as it was.”

  “That’s a lot of passion,” Holly pointed out. “Are we sure it wasn’t Dan?”

  “No, I’m not sure,” I said. “He may have come to talk to me on the trail to have me be his alibi. I mean, we proved he had time to hurt her and still get back to me. But I didn’t see any blood on Dan prior to his touching the body, and we don’t know why Dan would do it. The police looked at the family first, and they ruled him out.”

  “So either we prove the ladies did it or we find out Dan’s motive.”

  “That’s the plan,” I said.

  “What are we going to say to the yoga ladies?”

  “I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “I’m hoping to figure that out when I get there.”

  Chapter 24

  We sat in the van, parked outside the yoga studio, and watched the ladies file into class. “We can’t go in,” Holly said. “They’ve banned us.”

  “That was pretty convenient, don’t you think?”

  “Oh, I thought that early on,” Holly said. “As convenient as Amy saying Dan’s lawyer kept her from talking to us. Speak of the devil.” Holly pointed to where Amy was walking into the studio. “Looks like they’re all as close as before Laura’s death.”

  “You know the problem with a group of people knowing a secret?”

  “Wh
at?”

  “Someone is going to crack and tell,” I said.

  “You think we should divide and conquer,” Holly surmised.

  “Yes,” I said. “I don’t know who’ll be the weakest link.”

  “We know about Rashida’s jacket,” Holly said as we watched Rashida walk out of the studio.

  “We can try her first,” I agreed, and we both got out. We made it to Rashida’s car at the same time as she did. “Hello,” I said. “Remember us?”

  “You two stay away from me.” Rashida put her hand up as if to stop us. “I want you to know that Ivy’s death hit us hard. I’m getting a body guard.”

  “Is that because you were working with Ivy stealing identities?”

  “What?”

  “Dawn told us about your little excursion to the dark side with your lists of names,” Holly said.

  “We have blood evidence on your jacket that suggests you killed Laura,” I pointed out. “With Dawn’s testimony, we have motive.”

  “Oh, I’m not taking the fall for this,” Rashida said. “Selling identities was Ivy’s idea. She’s dead.”

  “Because you three killed her.” I said the words out loud to see Rashida’s reaction. Her eyes grew wide as saucers.

  “I did not kill Ivy,” she said and crossed her arms. “I’ve done nothing wrong. Ask Juliet and Emma. They were there with me on the trail. I didn’t kill anyone.”

  “But you did sell your lists,” I said. “When Laura found out, she was livid with you.”

  “I’ve got nothing more to say,” Rashida said, opened her car door, and climbed in. “I suggest you leave the premises and never come back.”

  I nodded toward the studio. “Your friends have been watching you talk to us. What will they say when we go in and ask them about your alibi?”

  “Go ahead and ask,” she said. “I didn’t do anything.”

  “Except steal your own customers’ information.” Holly let her disgust come through.

  “Please, almost everyone has insurance these days,” Rashida said. “No one was harmed.”

  “Except the insurance company and the businesses that were hit with phony checks,” I said. “This is not a victimless crime.”