I felt my heartstrings being pulled taut. Probably because my mother knew exactly where to pull from. "Fine. I will mention the thefts to Grant and see what he thinks."
"Thank you!"
"But I can't promise you that he can do anything," I hedged. "He's VCI. Violent Crimes Investigations. Missing taxidermy is hardly his forte." I didn't add that he was also busy investigating a homicide at our winery at current. But if Mom hadn't heard the news yet, I was not going to be the one to drop that on her. At least not until I could promise the person responsible was not still at large.
Speaking of which…
"Mom, I have to go," I told her, glancing at the large wine-barrel clock on the kitchen wall. "Ava's picking me up in a few minutes."
"Oh? Where are you off to?"
"Pedicures," I told her, leaving out the fact they were likely to go with a side of interrogation.
"Well, that sounds like a nice afternoon," she said, perking up. "Enjoy yourself. And don't forget to talk to your cop!"
"I won't," I told her, giving her a couple of phone kisses and a promise to visit again soon before hanging up.
CHAPTER FIVE
Nadia's Nails was located in a strip mall just off Jefferson in the heart of Napa. It was a small salon sandwiched between a yarn store and a bagel shop, with several signs out front offering discounted gels and mani-pedi specials. A bell rang over the door as Ava and I pushed inside, and a petite brunette greeted us from behind a tall front counter.
"Welcome to Nadia's Nails," she said in the same nasally voice I'd heard on the phone. "How can I help you today?"
"We called earlier to see Carmen," I said, giving the woman our names.
"Sure. Why don't you pick out your colors and I'll see if they have chairs ready for you," she said, gesturing to a wall of nail polish bottles to our right before disappearing deeper into the salon to ready our spots.
"I feel kind of bad," I told Ava, browsing the plethora of pink and red shades.
"Why?" she asked, grabbing a bottle of a sparkly purple color.
"The woman just lost someone close to her. And she's doing our nails."
Ava shot me a look. "Okay, this guilt thing? Not a cute look on you."
I grinned. "I just…"
"I know, I know. You have a big heart, and you feel bad about what happened. But it wasn't your fault."
I opened my mouth to protest, but she didn't let me.
"End of story. No more guilt." She paused, looking past me to the main room where the brunette was gesturing us in. "Now, let's go see if maybe it was the ex-wife's fault."
I followed her as we wound through half a dozen large pedicure chairs to two at the end with full bubbling footbaths in front of them. Once the brunette had settled us, two ladies emerged from the back room wearing black aprons and pushing little carts full of nail goodies. A younger blonde took up a spot in front of me, and a rounder, older woman with a head of obviously dyed red hair sat in front of Ava.
"I'm Penny," the blonde told me, a faint European accent in her voice.
"Emmy. Nice to meet you," I told her as she guided my feet into the tub of warm, bubbling water.
The older woman picked up Ava's bottle of "Plum Dream" nail polish.
"You're going with that color?" She looked like she'd smelled something foul, clearly betraying her thoughts on the color.
"Why?" Ava asked. "Not good?"
"Between you and me, honey, it's gonna make it look like you slammed all ten toes in a doorjamb." The faux redhead set the plum aside. "I see you as more of a peach color."
Ava shrugged. "Okay, I'll go with your recommendation…" She paused, looking down at the nametag on the woman's apron. "…Carmen." Ava shot me a meaningful look.
Carmen looked to be a few years older than Sheila and a few notches feistier. Her makeup was heavy, her midsection thick, and her own nails a hot pink that clashed with her bright red hair as she pulled it back into a knot at the nape of her neck.
"Peach Passion," Carmen said decisively. "Trust me, you'll look great."
"Thanks," Ava said, settling back in her chair. "Carmen Buckley… You wouldn't happen to be related to Bill Buckley, would you?"
The woman's hands froze for a split second, but it was long enough to see that the name had jarred her. "Used to be. I had the displeasure of being Bill's wife. Why, you know him?"
"Not personally," Ava said quickly. "But he worked for Emmy." She gestured to me.
"I own the winery where he…" I trailed off not sure how to delicately put it. "Uh, where he worked security. I'm so sorry for your loss," I told her.
Her gaze flickered away from Ava's submerged toes to me. "I appreciate the sentiment, but, believe me, it's no loss. World's a brighter place today."
"Carmen," Penny chided softly, shooting a concerned look my way.
"What? I should pretend to be sad the putz is dead?" Carmen shook her head. "Nothing doing."
"I take it things did not end well between you?" Ava asked, again shooting me one of those meaningful glances that said Charlie's most diligent Angel was on the case.
"Not in the least." Carmen motioned for Ava to put one of her feet up on a towel-covered pillow then began attacking her cuticles. "Things didn't start well between us, didn't go well in the middle years, and they sure as heck didn't end well."
"You shouldn't speak ill of the dead," Penny said, looking embarrassed.
"Please. I tell it like it is. I told that cop as much, too," Carmen said.
"Cop?" I asked. "The police have been to see you?" Which meant either Grant had been notifying even Buckley's ex-next-of-kin of his death personally or he'd also wondered how ugly the divorce had been between them.
Carmen nodded. "Yeah, some detective showed up at my front door before my shift started. Not a bad way to start the day though, I gotta say. He was some sugary sweet eye candy."
I felt my cheeks heat.
"I take it you mean Detective Grant," Ava said with a grin.
"Yeah, can't say I paid much attention to the name. But the booty on that guy? Now that I'd remember."
Ava stifled a laugh.
"I'd let him frisk me any day, if you know what I mean?" Carmen winked at Penny.
Penny blushed, keeping her attention on my toes.
"Uh, what did the detective want?" I asked.
Carmen shrugged. "Just told me Bill was dead. Wanted to know about his friends in the area. Family. That sort of thing."
"What did you tell him?" Ava asked.
"That he didn't have any. Family or friends. Like I said, Bill was a total putz, through and through." She glanced at me again. "I take it he didn't work for you long?"
"Actually, no. I just hired him a couple weeks ago."
"Yeah, I figured. Any longer than that and you would have realized what kind of guy he was." She cackled. "You heard about him bein' kicked off the force?" she asked me.
I nodded. "I heard he admitted to taking bribes?"
"That's right. Being paid to 'look the other way,'" she said, doing air quotes with her hot pink nails, "about an illegal business operating on his beat. What a moron." She shook her head.
"That's when you two split up?" Ava asked.
"Darn right! Like I was gonna stick around married to a dirty cop. Look, he had it all. A good job, a pension coming. Me!" She ran her hands up and down her body to encompass all of her assets. "Okay, so he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed and he'd been passed up for detective a few times, but he had a nice, steady job. Then he had to go screw the whole thing up. Can you believe it? How dumb is that guy?"
"Very," Penny mumbled. Clearly this wasn't the first time she'd heard this particular rant.
"Not, mind you," Carmen said, waving a pair of nail clippers in her right hand, " that I hated the idea of a little cash on the side. Hey, if someone was offerin', I'd a taken it too. But I wouldn't have gotten caught. Moron."
"How did he get caught?" Ava asked, wincing only slightly at how vigorous
her pedicure was getting the more worked up Carmen got talking about her ex.
"Dumb luck. Seemed the only kind that Bill had." She chuckled at her own joke. "Some off-duty officer saw Bill getting paid off. Brought IA into it, and it was all downhill from there."
"I understand Bill cooperated with the authorities, though?" I put in. "Agreed to forgo his pension and retire quietly from the force."
"Without even consulting me!" She threw her hands up, splashing droplets of water on Penny.
"He didn't tell you about the investigation?"
"Well, he had little choice but to come clean about that. But that pension was supposed to be for both of us. I was counting on that for my retirement too, you know. Then he goes and blows it. And where did all that bribery money go, I ask you?"
I shook my head. I hadn't even thought to ask that question. "I don't know."
"Yeah, me neither. It's not like he lavished any of it on his darling wife, that I can tell ya."
"So, you think he still had it?" Ava asked, eyes cutting to me.
"I do. And I had my divorce lawyer looking high and low for it. Never found a freakin' dime though." She leaned down, grabbing a small bottle of peach colored nail polish from her cart and shaking it. "That jerk was sitting on a pile of dirty money, squirreled away, and had the nerve to be behind on his alimony payments to me."
"Internal Affairs never found the money either?" I asked.
"Nah. They asked, but Bill told them he spent it all." Carmen started applying color to Ava's toenails.
"You think he was lying?" Ava said, eying her toes.
Carmen nodded. "Absolutely. Bill never came home with no fancy clothes, no cars, no watches. We lived like paupers, for crying out loud. I tell you, if he spent it, it was on thin air."
I thought about the place Buckley had been living with Sheila. It hadn't looked like he'd been spending it on her either. Then again, if he'd lied to IA, he'd want to make sure he was well off the police's radar before dipping into his ill-gotten fund.
"Speaking of money," I said, "I actually have Buckley's last check that should go to someone. Do you know who his heir might be?"
"Heir?" Carmen threw her head back and laughed. "Well, la-di-da, doesn't that sound fancy." Then she paused, narrowing her eyes shrewdly at me. "How big is the check?"
"Not that big," I conceded. "But it rightfully belongs to someone."
Carmen clicked her teeth, still eyeing me. "With all the alimony he owed me, I'd say it should go to me."
I bit my lip, hesitant to commit to that. While she might have a point about being owed something, I was pretty sure there was a legal channel for all of this. "Do you know if Buckley had a will? Or a lawyer?"
She shrugged. "Barry Levinson was his divorce attorney," she offered. "Little weasel of a man. I wouldn't be surprised if someone decided to shoot him one day too."
"Carmen," Penny chided under her breath again. She shot me an apologetic smile as she opened the bottle of rose colored polish I'd chosen.
But Carmen just shrugged. "Just saying. The world could do with a few less lawyers, right?"
I figured it was a rhetorical question, so I didn't bother answering. Neither did Penny, her eyes firmly on my toes.
"I'm curious," Ava said, her voice taking on a deceptively innocent tone. "Did the police ask you where you were last night?"
Carmen looked up at her and gave a smirk. "You mean where I was when Bill was killed?"
"I didn't mean to insinuate—" Ava started to backpedal.
But Carmen waved her concerns off. "Look, I might have dreamed of ending his miserable little life fifty different ways. But I didn't shoot the guy." She paused, a cold look suddenly coming over her eyes. "Pity. I'm sure whoever did felt immense satisfaction when they pulled that trigger."
For a second she looked like she might be fantasizing about the scene, her eyes on the blank wall above our heads as her mouth curved up into a creepy smile.
I felt a chill run up my spine, thinking I could easily imagine her doing it as well.
"Any idea who might have wanted to?" Ava pressed. "Pull the trigger, so to speak?"
Carmen shook her head, as if shaking herself out of her murderous thoughts. "Well, he made enemies of pretty much the entire SFPD. His partner, his captain, IA, heck, even his own lawyer wanted to strangle the guy at one point. Bill just had a knack for making friends."
His girlfriend had said much the same thing, even if she hadn't been quite so blunt about it.
"But I was at Horatio's, if you wanna know," Carmen said, finishing Ava's last baby toenail and capping the bottle. "That Italian place on 1st?"
"I've been there," Ava said. "Great pasta."
"I wouldn't know. Never made it past drinks."
"What happened?" I asked.
"Got stood up. Can you believe it?" She shook her head. "Sitting there waiting at the bar for an hour for this guy to show."
"The one from online?" Penny asked. "With the yorkie?"
Carmen nodded.
"Bummer. His pictures were cute. So was his dog."
"Probably all fake," Carmen said, fanning Ava's toes. "Men, they're all putzes."
Penny shrugged, finishing off the last of my toenails.
"Do you know Buckley's girlfriend?" Ava asked. "Sheila?"
Carmen shook her head. "The current one? Not really. I mean, I've met her. Anytime Bill wanted to try duckin' my alimony payments, he'd have her say he wasn't home."
"Was he really behind?" Penny asked.
Carmen nodded. "Always. Ever since the divorce, he's been dead broke. I was the glue holding that poop-show together." She cackled again at her own joke before turning to Ava. "Why do you want to know about Sheila?"
Ava shrugged. "Just curious what their relationship was like."
Carmen shook her head. "You mean, did she finally get fed up enough with him to kill him?"
"No, I—"
"Relax. I'm joking." Carmen laughed again. "No, Sheila's a doormat. She'd put up with anything Bill did. Or anyone."
"Wait—you mean Bill was unfaithful to her?"
Carmen shrugged. "I don't know. One can only assume. I mean, a leopard don't change his spots."
"You're saying he was unfaithful to you," I clarified.
"Why do you think we broke up?"
"I thought it was over the bribery scandal," Ava said.
"Well, sure. But I guess you don't know who he was taking bribes from, huh?"
She glanced at Penny, and I got the feeling the poor girl had heard this story several times before too.
"No," Ava admitted. "Who was he taking them from?"
"Katy Kline," she said, dropping the name like it was a bombshell.
Unfortunately, it was a dud, as I was drawing a blank. I looked to Ava, who seemed as clueless as I was. "Who is Katy Kline?"
"The famous madame?" Carmen said, trying to jog our memories.
"Madame? As in…"
"As in she ran a high priced escort service," Carmen said. "She was all over the papers a couple of years ago when the police raided her place and arrested her."
"I guess I missed that," I mumbled.
"Yeah, well, it was Bill's testimony to IA that took her down."
"So, Katy was the one bribing Bill?"
Carmen nodded. "She'd slip him a little a cash on the side to make sure he looked the other way about her business." She paused. "Only, I come to find out that not all of Bill's payments came in the form of cash, if you know what I mean."
Unfortunately, I did. So did Penny, as I could see her blushing so hard she matched my pink nail polish.
"Yeah," Carmen said, helping Ava slip her chunky sandals back on, "like I said, he was a first rate putz. Good riddance."
* * *
"If I ever get that bitter, please push me off a cliff or something," Ava said as we left Nadia's Nails.
I stifled a laugh. "If I ever contemplate marrying someone like Buckley, push me off a cliff."
&nbs
p; "He doesn't seem like he was the most stand-up guy, does he?"
I shook my head, frowning. "Apparently, I'm not the best judge of character."
"Don't be so hard on yourself. You were hiring him as a security guard—not looking at him as a potential suitor."
"Still." I shook my head. "Okay, so the ex-wife clearly wasn't a fan."
"You think?" Ava laughed. "What was that line about immense satisfaction from pulling the trigger?"
"Downright chilling. I hope Penny never gets on her bad side."
"Carmen was right about one thing, though," Ava said as we got into her GTO.
"What's that?"
"The peach does look really cute." She wiggled her toes in her sandals.
I looked down. "Agreed. But just because she knows her colors, that doesn't mean she didn't also kill her ex-husband."
"Her alibi was pretty thin," Ava agreed, tucking her purse down at her feet before turning on the car.
"Emaciated," I agreed.
"I mean, she was alone at the bar."
I nodded. "And we only have her word for it that she was supposed to meet anyone at all."
"So maybe she made up a fake date, goes to the bar and orders a drink to establish some alibi, then she drives to Oak Valley and shoots Buckley. Why?"
I bit my lip. "The satisfaction of pulling the trigger?" I quoted.
Ava shrugged, backing out of the lot. "I dunno. I mean, why not kill him when she found out he was sleeping with prostitutes two years ago? Why now?"
"Great question," I conceded. "Money? The bribery cash she never saw? Or the back alimony payments he owed her?"
"I can see her being angry about that, but why shoot him? I mean, he's not gonna catch up on payments now, is he?"
"No." I looked out the window, watching the storefronts of downtown give way to sprawling oaks and green fields full of ripening grapes in the early afternoon sunshine. "Okay, here's an idea—what about the madame?"
"The supposedly infamous Katy Kline," Ava said.
"Carmen said it was Buckley's testimony that led to her arrest. Maybe she wanted to get back at Buckley."
Ava took a beat to think about that one before nodding. "I suppose it's possible. Carmen made it sound like we should know who she is, but I've never heard of her before. You?"
Killer Among the Vines (Wine & Dine Mysteries Book 7) Page 5
