Corked by Cabernet (8 page)

Brush grill grate with oil. Baste with marinade glaze on each side again while cooking. Cook prawns for 5 minutes, turning once, or until opaque.

THE setup for the evening was a little different, but Nikki found herself having a good time. Okay, so the wine helped. But seriously, she was meeting new people, and although most were a little to the left of center, as far as she was concerned, they were all basically nice.

With each course, she found herself seated with a new group of people. The idea was to rotate tables as the separate courses came in and talk about what you learned in the past year about yourself and others. It was kind of difficult because it was on the train, but Hayden insisted it was the exercise her father wanted to do. Nikki and the wine train event coordinator made it work.

It was an exercise that Alan suggested everyone try, and “everyone” apparently included her as well. So she threw caution to the wind and, in true Sansi spirit, “went with it.”

Luckily for her, as things turned to more personal-type questions, she found herself seated across from Marco when it was her turn to “share.” The problem was she was also next to Sierra Sansi, who had put away plenty of wine, and kept leaning on Nikki. “You are so cool. Like a normal chick. I want to be your best friend. You know, BFF? I need a friend,” Sierra slurred.

Sierra’s sister, Hayden, was also at their table, looking completely disgusted by Sierra. Instead of friendship, Nikki offered the tipsy girl a bottle of water or some coffee.

Marco clapped his hands together. “Bellissima,” he said to Nikki in his beautiful Italian accent. “You tell us what you learned this year.”

“Oh God, I don’t know.”

“No, no.” He shook a finger wildly in front of her face. “You know and I know you’ve learned many things about yourself and people around you.”

Marco was her “go-to” guy. He knew more about her than most people, and that was because she trusted him to keep her secrets, even from Simon. Now here he was trying to expose her!

“Come now. Tell us.”

She sighed and thought for a moment.

“Yes, come on. Tell us your life lesson for the year,” Sierra slurred sarcastically.

“Okay. I learned that following my heart is better than following my head even if it means I might get hurt.”

Marco nodded as if he approved.

“And I learned that people aren’t always what they seem.” She narrowed her eyes like a cat at him.

He laughed. “Oh, that is so true, isn’t it, Bellissima?”

Sierra perked up a little. “Love, huh, and heartbreak? No. I think you should follow your head and not your heart. Because your head is smarter.” She giggled. “And it does not get smashed into tiny shredded pieces. And I get what you meant that people aren’t who they supposedly are. Let me tell you, do I get that.”

Hayden stood up. “I think you and I should make a trip to the ladies’ room, Sierra.”

Sierra made a face at her. “I don’t have to pee.”

Hayden grabbed her arm. “It’s time for a walk.”

Sierra Sansi stood up at Hayden’s demand. “You are such a bitch sometimes.”

“I know, Sierra. I’m a total bitch.”

“You and Rich, such the perfect couple. You must really practice this stuff Dad teaches because you seem to always get what you want.”

“Bathroom. Now.”

“Wow. What was that all about?” Nikki asked.

Marco closed his eyes for a second. “She has had too much to drink.”

“I can see that. She’s practically falling down. Her parents must be beside themselves. That young woman is a mess.”

Marco nodded. “Ah, yes and no, as her father will say. It is her choice, her journey.”

Nikki took that in for a moment. “Okay, so maybe it is, but isn’t it also her family’s or friends’ choice to help her? Couldn’t that be their journey? It seems like her sister is trying to help.”

“It does look that way. It is all in perfect order, no?”

“I don’t know about that,” Nikki replied. “So far I haven’t seen a lot of perfection out of any of this.”

“That is the point. There is perfection in nonperfection. It’s life.”

“Oh, brother. Why are you spending so much money on all of this babble when you just made the best point yet? It’s all life. Just life with its ups and downs. The moments that suck and the moments of bliss. You don’t need this, and I’m telling you that Sierra Sansi needs some counseling, not all this huruguru crap.”

“Such a skeptic.”

“No, a realist,” Nikki replied.

“You have to remember that Sierra Sansi is an adult and her parents can only do so much to see she gets help.”

“Why do you think they brought her then?”

“Because I think they do want to help her.”

“I think rehab would help,” Nikki said.

“It’s not our business or our journey, Bellissima. We are only a short chapter in all of this.”

Nikki took a sip of wine. This was way too philosophical for her. If Sierra Sansi had been her kid—adult or not—she would have told her that she was going to take her ass to rehab and get some help, or else there would be consequences, like being cut out of her trust fund or something huge to give her some sort of wake-up call. “You want to know what I would do?”

“Tell me,” Marco said.

Nikki did, and as Marco was reflecting on it for a few moments, Hayden came back to their table. “Did you see my sister?”

“No,” Nikki said. “You were with her, weren’t you?”

“Yes. I was. In the bathroom, and she kept insisting she wanted more wine. I told her the wine bar was closed.”

“It probably is now.” Nikki looked at her watch. They were into the dessert portion of the trip and she knew they closed the wine lounge down before serving dessert. “But I think the lounge up front is still open.”

“No. She doesn’t need anything else to drink. Oh God. I have to find her.”

“I’ll go with you,” Nikki offered. “I’ve been on the train before and know my way around.”

“Thanks,” Hayden replied. “That would be great.”

Marco waved them off and Nikki led Hayden throughout the different cars on the train and on up to the lounge. Sierra was nowhere in sight. They checked the bathrooms again, but no Sierra.

“That’s odd. She couldn’t have gotten off,” Hayden said.

“There’s maybe one other place, but she had to have gone looking for it,” Nikki suggested.

“Where is that?”

“There’s a small storage car in the back. It’s where they load the wine.”

“Yes. If she went looking for a glass of wine and she found that, then I’d say there’s a chance she’s in there.” Hayden followed behind Nikki in and out through the people on the train. “Usually she doesn’t drink so much. She never used to, but she’s had a few problems lately and I’ve noticed she’s started downing the wine a bit.”

“Not good.”

“No.”

As they headed toward the back of the train, Sierra came running toward them, pale and blabbing, but not making any sense. Her sister took her by the shoulders. “Sierra? What is it? What’s wrong?”

She kept shaking her head and pointing to the back of the train. “In there with the wine,” she muttered.

“What? Yes, we figured that you might be having more wine back there. Sierra, you have to stop. I think you could have a problem.”

“No! No!” she screamed.

Nikki pushed her way past the sisters and pressed the button on the wine storage car. Something was terribly wrong—drunk or not, Sierra Sansi was clearly upset.

When Nikki stepped inside, she could see why. Her knees wobbled, wanting to collapse, and the blood running through her veins chilled at the sight. There was Iwao Yamimoto on the floor between two boxes of Cabernet Sauvignon by Malveaux—his throat slit and the cork from a wine bottle shoved into his mouth. Iwao Yamimoto had been corked by Cabernet.

NIKKI spied Detective Jonah Robinson before he saw her. He was talking to the uniformed police on the scene who were having people sit down and go through the interviewing process, which would be quite lengthy considering all the people who had been on the train. When he looked her way and locked eyes with hers, he shook his head. She mustered a weak smile.

He sauntered over to her. There was no other word to describe the way Detective Robinson walked, other than possibly
strut
. She couldn’t help spotting Simon and Marco, slack-jawed and wide-eyed. They’d seen the detective before, but he was one of those men who took the breath away each time you saw him. He didn’t possess drop-dead gorgeousness like Derek or Marco did. Hmmm—Nikki was a lucky girl. But the thing about Jonah Robinson was that he exuded mass sex appeal. Still there had been no love lost between Jonah and Nikki on their first encounter, despite his good looks. What Robinson had in the way of “hotness,” he lacked in charm. Nikki first met him when Georges Debussey was murdered at the hotel, and they hadn’t cared much for each other from the moment Robinson started questioning her in an accusatory tone.

But because of that case, they’d found a mutual respect for one another, and there was no denying it: whether or not you liked the detective, he was sexy. Lenny Kravitz sexy with mocha skin, deep green eyes, and a lanky leanness that reminded her of a cat on the prowl. And over time, Nikki had learned to like Robinson.

“Why is it that when a murder happens around here, you seem to be close by? Every time,” he said.

“Hey, I’ve been trying to stay out of trouble. It’s been what, a year or so? I’ve been good. Honest.”

“I doubt that. You want to tell me what you know about the victim, what happened, what this thing on the train is all about? Someone said it’s some cult group.”

“Oh, my God, no. Who said that?”

“I’m not telling you, and . . .” He raised a finger. “Don’t get messed up in this one. Don’t, don’t, don’t.”

“I don’t plan on it.”

“Sure you don’t,” he said. “Sonoma County is lucky I transferred here instead of staying in the city, so you don’t need to be doing none of that snooping you’re famous for.”

She crossed her arms. “I resent that.”

“It’s true. Now, you ready to tell me what you’re doing hanging out with a bunch of Hare Krishna types?”

He took out a small notepad and pencil. She explained to him who the group really was and why they’d all been on the wine train. “I had just met Mr. Yamimoto today and then he was at our table for a bit tonight. From what I gathered, he’s a publisher from Japan wanting to publish Alan Sansi’s books in his country. But Sansi didn’t seem all that interested.”

“Uh-huh. What else do you know?”

Nikki had learned from her past dealings with Robinson not to keep anything from him, and although she was notorious for crime solving, she didn’t think she wanted to take a stab at this one. She told him what Iwao had said about Alan Sansi’s system being horseshit and she also told him she thought the dialogue between Iwao and Juan Gonzales had some kind of hidden message in it.

“What do you mean?” Robinson asked. “What kind of hidden message?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. It was weird, though. Iwao was talking about some note that Juan left for him earlier, and then made a comment about him being a funny guy. I don’t know . . . it struck me as odd.”

Robinson wrote this information down. “Which one is this Gonzales cat?”

Nikki pointed him out. He was seated, speaking with one of the cops.

“I think I better talk with him, and we need to get access into Iwao Yamimoto’s room. I doubt that will happen tonight. There’s a lot of witnesses to go through, so I’d appreciate it if you got it locked up tight.”

“Sure. His wife is also staying in there. She doesn’t seem to speak any English.”

“His wife?”

Nikki pointed to Mrs. Yamimoto. The woman was crouched against the chair she’d been sitting in at dinner-time. She was as silent as she had been earlier. The only sound she’d made was when she realized what had happened to Iwao, and she’d let out a cry so animalistic and pain filled, Nikki’s heart literally felt a deep pang and ached for her. Now she seemed to be in shock. Initially Nikki had sat down and tried to speak to her, but she got no response and ultimately decided that the woman wanted to be left alone. Even if she didn’t, the cops showed up quickly, before there was any real time to comfort anyone. Everyone sort of had that dumbstruck look on their face.