The Caspian Wine Mystery/Suspense/Thriller Series

by Maggie Thom

  She reached up to twine her hair around her finger only to feel a deep sense of disappointment that it wasn’t there. She tugged hard on the short strands before taking a deep breath and opening the file. There were at least ten individual folders in there. A quick glance at the time let her know it was already past 5:00 a.m. She didn’t have much time. She opened the newest folder, dated a few weeks before. There was a list of the Winery staff, their company history, some personal information. It was really quite detailed but it appeared to be recent information. She couldn’t read it all in the short time she had, so she copied all of it to her USB. Once she finished, she found information on the companies that contracted with Caspian. Deciding this might be her only chance, she copied several more files.

  Logging off, she used every trick she’d ever been taught to hide her tracks. She prayed it was enough. Feeling sick, she put her USB in her pocket and careful to ensure that Bill wasn’t around, she left the building. Once outside, she’d only made it a few steps when she realized that the shakiness in her legs wasn’t going away. She leaned against the side of the building to catch her breath and steady her nerves. She waited several heartbeats to calm down but she knew she couldn’t stay too long. Traffic was already starting to zip by on the street and she had no idea when Bill would show up. She did not want to be found there at that hour. Feeling a tad stronger she pushed away from the wall and straightened up.

  “You’re early.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Tarin’s legs almost buckled as her head whipped around to the right and her hands pressed hard on her chest. “Bill,” she managed to squeak out. She dropped back against the solid support behind her for fear she’d be a puddle at his feet.

  “You’re early.”

  She schooled her features before giving him her best smile. “I am. It was a great morning for a walk, so I thought I’d beat the traffic and go for one here. Any suggestions? After I got here I realized I didn’t know the area. So my plan wasn’t a good one.”

  He fixed her with that unsettling, unwavering stare and then without another word, he left. She sagged into the building, certain he’d noted the heels which weren’t made for strolling.

  “You’re early.”

  She snapped upright so fast that she whacked her head against the brick siding. “Ow.” Pain exploded through her skull.

  “Hey, are you okay?”

  Her hand cupped the area as though it could ease the ache. “Fine.”

  She opened her eyes only to have them stretch wide open. Graham in shorts was something new. Graham in a close-fitting shirt and skintight shorts was enough to get her heart rate pumping as though she had just gone on the bike ride for which he was dressed. Perhaps it was because he was standing so close and peering into her face or perhaps it was her own common sense rising, but she realized she was ogling him. She was tempted to wipe her chin of real or imaginary drool.

  She snorted in an effort to choke back the laugh that was threatening. She pressed her fingers against her lips in an attempt to stop anything else from escaping. But it did nothing to discourage her eyes from trailing the long lean line of Graham’s chest down to the form-fitting shorts. She wished he’d turn around.

  Oh wow.

  She blew out a breath as she pushed herself away from the wall and stepped away from temptation. When she saw his gaze linger on her temple she brushed her hair forward to ensure it hid her injury.

  “I’m fine. I was going to get myself a latte; can I get you something?” She’d never been to the coffee place down the street but was sure it couldn’t be that hard to find as Graham often walked there. She started strolling before he even answered.

  “If you wait I can come with you? Or pay you?”

  She waved over her shoulder.

  Finally, he yelled after her, “A mocha latte would be awesome.”

  She wiggled her fingers to let him know she’d heard. A few minutes later she returned with one mocha latte, having downed what she hadn’t spilled of hers.

  “Here.” She set his cup on his desk before returning to her office. The door was now left open unless Guy and Graham were discussing sensitive information. She slumped at her desk, feeling out of breath and tired; even muscles ached that she hadn’t even known she had. Running after a two-year-old should have kept her in better shape, but she didn’t realize she’d have to walk halfway across the city to reach the coffee shop. She kicked off the heels that had become a second skin and realized for the first time how painful they really were.

  Wiggling her toes, she logged onto her laptop. She had no idea how long she sat there listening to Graham tap away at his keyboard. A sense of doom hung over her like the rain cloud that followed Linus around in the Peanuts comic strip. When no explosion came, no swearing, suggesting he hadn’t discovered her snooping, she figured she had a temporary reprieve.

  A quick glance at the time and she realized she’d just wasted an hour. She first followed up on Graham’s responses to work she’d completed the prior week before starting on a new list of emails.

  It was the third one that stopped her. She’d read it three times but still couldn’t comprehend its meaning.

  02 CW 2013. It triggered a memory. Someone who had been there and who had a conscience, when she’d been drugged and lost that week of her life, had given her a code. It struck her that he had been trying to help her. It might not be exact but it was familiar. Excitement coursed through her as she realized she might be onto something. Whatever had been said to her wasn’t coming to her fully but it was there, she could feel it.

  “You look—uhm—did you find something?”

  She quickly schooled her face into the professional expression she’d been well taught before looking at Graham. “Uh—no. Just thinking of something else.” Her hand was busy moving the cursor to close out the email and open the next one in the event he decided to step around and check it out. She was trying not to be obvious but she noticed he glanced at her hand.

  “You never told me why you were in so early?”

  “I need to leave at 3:00 if that’s okay? Something came up but I didn’t want to bother you with a phone call. So I showed up a few hours before I’m to start. I hope that’s all right?”

  “Yeah. It’s not like we keep regular hours. I want the work done. Everything okay? Are you okay? How’s the head? Anything else happen?”

  “Yes. Things are good. Nothing serious. Thanks.” She smiled, glancing briefly at him before refocusing on her screen.

  “Did you hear from the woman you were to meet?”

  “Yeah. She sent me an email, said she’d panicked that her ex had followed her.” In reality Tarin knew she’d never hear from her again, but she really needed Graham to drop it. The last thing she needed was for him to look closely into her life.

  His reluctance to go was palpable but she refused to look up. Once he was gone, she resisted the urge to flop across her keyboard in relief. Before getting back to work she leaned forward, peering as far into his office as she could. The open door made her feel unsettled. When she didn’t see or hear him, she assumed he was seated at his desk. She reopened the message containing the code. Scanning it quickly, she noted all the information, copied it, forwarded it to her personal email and then deleted any trace of what she’d done. Her hand shook as she opened the next one, hoping he wouldn’t ask about it.

  Working like crazy, she got through over seventy messages, researched and discarded just about all of them as fake. It was quite jolting when she heard the soft sound of bells ringing. It took her a moment to remember she had set the alarm. Noting it was almost 3:00 she grabbed her bag and raced out of the office to meet Bailey. She’d been so tempted to cancel but this trip to Caspian Winery was what she had been waiting for. Finally, she’d meet the people behind it and the one who might be connected to the nightmare in her life.

  But even as she hurried away from the building, she wondered how she could possibly use the code or any
thing she’d find at Caspian Winery. She had no proof of anything.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  “We’ve got a problem,” Guy said as he set down his coffee.

  “Yeah, I know. Those two shipments, oops, I mean three stolen shipments have been discovered in a farmer’s field in Quebec. He swears they weren’t there last night but they were this morning when he checked his crops. He’s lawyered up, says there’s no way in hell he’s being blamed for something he didn’t do.”

  Guy sat across from Graham at their usual table in the back corner of their favorite coffee shop. It was a good place to meet at 4:00 p.m. on almost any weekday as it was usually fairly quiet in the dining area, so they could talk without worries of being overheard. Once in a while they went there just to get out of the office.

  “And the trucks are full? Empty?”

  “That’s the bizarre part. Full. Nothing looks like it’s been touched. So the email we got doesn’t make sense for the 70% off.”

  “But they can’t take that chance as someone could have spiked the bottles somehow, right?”

  “Yeah but the packaging looks intact. It’s going to be tied up as evidence for a long time anyway. So the big question is what the hell is going on?”

  “No, the big question is who the hell is doing this? Do the cops have any ideas?”

  “None they’re sharing. Walters says he doesn’t have anything new to tell us.”

  “I’m going to contact our bootlegging swindler, Mr. Amdory. Maybe he’ll work out as an informant. The police are having a hard time finding any solid evidence that links directly to him. So I figure we use him. Did you get anywhere with that email about the wine?”

  “No.” Graham’s gut clenched as he considered that he hadn’t been able to trace the source. Someone was very good. “And Dorothea?”

  “You know how she likes to slam her cane on her desk when she’s irked? Well I think she might have actually broken the thing this time.”

  Graham choked back a laugh. “I’m sorry, it’s not funny but it is.”

  “I know, Bailey and I had a chuckle about it, too. She has a temper. In this case, I don’t blame her. We really have to figure this out. And now.”

  “I agree but we also have another problem.”

  “Oh?” Guy took a bite of his cinnamon bun.

  “Yeah, our new employee has been hacking into our emails.”

  “What?” Crumbs spewed out of his mouth.

  “Gee, thanks for that shower buddy.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Bill has caught her a couple of times here—”

  Guy raised his eyebrow.

  “Yeah, I know I should have told you but you’ve got lots going on—”

  “I know my life is interfering with work right now but you need to keep me in the loop.”

  “Okay. Anyway, Bill has caught her a few times leaving the office when we’re not there. I’ll give her credit—she’s good—but I have my safety net, so I’m alerted when someone has been into our account. And I know it’s not you—getting up before dawn is the last thing you’d do unless Bailey was the reason.”

  “Shit. So now what? Fire her?”

  “Believe me that was my first thought but there are too many coincidences. That incident at the Park is still a mystery. An arrow almost hits her and she says it was an accident. She acts like it’s nothing. Would you?”

  “I’d be pissed and want to know who shot the damn thing and why that woman ran.”

  “Me too. She said the woman she met sent her a message indicating she was scared her ex might have followed her. I checked her emails and she never got one. So why tell a lie? Why not ask us, since we investigate for a living, to help her find out who did it? Why not go to the police? Although again, she said she’d report it.”

  “This is too crazy. You think she’s behind all the emails we’ve been getting?”

  “They started before she came but what better way to ensure you get a job?” Graham thought back to the day he’d interviewed her and realized he’d played right into her hands. He’d left her to talk to his next candidate. “Oh man.”

  “What?”

  He explained to Guy what had happened when he’d hired her, how he’d left her to catch his second interviewee while he ran to get a coffee. She said the woman had never arrived but she might have scared her off.

  “Sorry man. I know I haven’t been much help lately. Damn, this is crazy. Why would she do this though? Just for a job? There has to be more to it.”

  “Yeah, that’s why I suggest we don’t get rid of her yet. We need to know what she’s doing and why. There has to be a reason. And it better be a damned good one.”

  “Hey, Bailey’s taking her to the winery today. I could ask her to find out what she can about her. We really don’t know much, do we?”

  “No. Although I have discovered the article I read in the Vancouver Sun was planted by her. It was never in any of the newspapers. I found another one in the Edmonton Journal. She has set a trail for us to follow and she’s kept us swamped so we have no time to check her out.”

  “And we fell right into it. Man, this sucks. Okay, let’s figure out what we’re doing. I’ll call Bailey and apprise her of the situation—at least part of it. I’ll have Bailey take her to Grandma’s instead.”

  “I’m pulling in that favor from Detmier to check out Bronte Park; see if he can track down where the arrow was bought. I’ve also discovered a website she’s operating. I’ll go in and see what I can find out about her past. I checked back ten years on the internet and there was nothing out of the ordinary, but maybe she’s shared information on her site that will give us some answers.” Graham had only skimmed a few posts but now he’d dig deeper. He made his way back to the office but walked past the entrance, rounding the side of the building and headed down the alley to the back door. He rang the doorbell four times with a certain break so Bill would know it was him. The security camera he’d installed would have shown Bill who was there but Bill didn’t trust it, said it could be manipulated. Graham was beginning to realize how easy it was to be played. Two minutes later the door finally opened.

  “Hi Bill. I brought you some cinnamon buns.”

  “From Caspers?”

  “Would I get them from anywhere else?”

  Bill snatched the bag and started to close the door.

  Graham got the hint. “Good night.” He turned and headed back the way he’d come.

  “She was here this morning,” Bill said.

  He retraced his steps. “Tarin?”

  “Yup. Standing outside the door.”

  “Did she go in?”

  Bill shrugged and closed the door.

  Not sure what to make of that, he made his way to the office to get his bike. It confirmed what he’d discovered when he’d opened his account that morning; Tarin had been in the office early. So had she been leaving when Bill saw her? Or when he had? What was she doing going through the company’s emails? He sent most of them to her anyway. He hoped he was wrong about her but it wasn’t looking that way. And someone was after her—the arrow proved it. But who—and why?

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  “Wow, this place is amazing.” Tarin forced a smile. It really was awe-inspiring but she was trying to tamp down disappointment that they hadn’t gone to the winery first as planned.

  “Yeah, it kind of knocked me for a loop the first time I saw it. I imagine it’s like entering the White House.”

  Tarin looked around at the immaculate mansion. The marble steps they were walking up were as impressive as the massive fountain sitting in the middle of the driveway behind them. She wanted to click her heels just to make sure she hadn’t been transported from Kansas and to see if it really worked. This wasn’t new to her and in fact was what she had left behind. That sad, lonely kid she thought had been long forgotten suddenly appeared, filling her with angst and making her feel like the outsider.

  “Are you okay?” Bailey’s qui
ck smile soon turned to a frown.

  She forced away the feeling of not really belonging and pulled out all the stops to put on her best friendly face as her dad had called it.

  Always important to be able to pull that out of your bag of tricks, Tar.

  The memory of his words jolted her a bit, causing her to stumble on the last step. Laughing self-consciously, she said, “I’m fine. A bit clumsy. Are you sure it will be okay with your grandmother that we come to her house? I wanted to see the vineyard.”

  “Oh, well we might stop there later. Sorry my plans changed. I should have told you. Things are so crazy.” Bailey rang the impressive doorbell before opening the door and walking in.

  A small woman who appeared to be in her sixties or older scurried from the back of the house as they entered the massive foyer.

  “She’s waiting for you on the balcony. I’ll bring refreshments right up.”

  Bailey gave her a big hug. “Penelope, this is Tarin. She’s the new assistant for Guy and Graham.”

  The woman stared at her for a long moment before nodding and grinning. “You’ll do. Nice to meet you.” And then she was gone.

  “Uhm, hi.”

  Bailey laughed. “Don’t worry about her. She’s like the wind. She whips through, makes sure everything is the way she wants it and then she’s gone. I hope I have her energy at her age. She exhausts me just watching her.”

  Tarin thought of that the household staff under whom she’d grown up but she couldn’t recall any ever smiling or touching her, never mind giving her a hug. “You obviously care for one another a lot.”

  “Yes, we do. Come on.” She led her to the elevator tucked in the corner.

  Tarin eyed the stairs with longing. They were long and winding and reminded her of the bannisters she’d always wanted to slide down but never had the nerve to do so.

  “Do you want to walk up?”

  Startled, she turned to Bailey. “Actually I was thinking how much fun they’d be to slide down.”

  Bailey chuckled. “That’s what I said when I first saw them. Maybe this time we can try it. I’m game if you are? And of course if we have time.”