Of Merlot & Murder (A Tangled Vines Mystery) (7 page)

Abigail took Mr. Larson by the arm and guided him down the breezeway toward his new room, passing Madison as she came out of Toby’s room.

“Mr. Larson finally got back?” Madison asked when she reached them. “I’m glad he got here before everyone left. That would have made a terrible situation even worse.”

Slipping an arm around Jackson, Elise took comfort from him when he enfolded her into his embrace. “Oh Jax, this is all so sad. I mean, Divia may not have been the most well-liked person in town, but why would someone intentionally poison her?”

“I know. And not to sound callous, but it’s a really crappy way to end my one day off.” He gave her a quick squeeze. “Unfortunately, I’m going to be awhile longer, so I’m going to have Ross drop you, okay?”

She nodded. “That’s fine, as long as you promise to stay until Gram heads home as well. I don’t want her out here on her own.”

“Will do.” He leaned in and kissed her. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Toby’s finally asleep,” Madison said. “I am so ready to go home. This whole thing has been too stressful for words, especially after going through everything with Uncle Edmond’s homicide just a couple of months ago.”

“Do you want me to drop you at your car, Maddy? Or do you just
want to ride home with me?” Ross asked.

“You can drop me at the car since you’re taking El home. My car is parked just up the street from her apartment.”

As the three of them headed for Ross’ car, the wheels began to turn in Elise’s mind. “I think the first thing we need to do is make a list,” she said as Ross pulled the car out of the parking lot and onto the highway.

“A list? What kind of list?” Madison asked from the back seat.

“An inventory of all the people who had a problem with Divia Larson.”

Ross chuckled. “I hate to speak ill of the recently dead, but considering the kind of person she was, that
inventory
could be pretty lengthy, El.”

“Well, we have to start somewhere, right?”

“What are you two talking about?” Madison asked. “You’re not butting into Jackson’s police business again, are you?”

“No.” Elise said. “We’re just going to make sure that Gram is cleared of any suspicions.” She gave her sister a run-through of her earlier conversation with Ross. When she was finished, she turned and looked over the seat at Madison. “So? In or out?”

Her sister sighed and rolled her eyes, but in the end relented. “In, of course. Where do we start?”

seven

Good news travels fast.
At least, that’s what Elise had always heard, but what she found was that bad news usually ended up winning the race. By the time the festival gates opened on Saturday morning, it seemed reports of Divia Larson’s death were common knowledge.

And it wasn’t pretty.

While River Bend’s booth was experiencing a lull in customers by mid-morning, Third Coast across the way was jam-packed.

“I’m sorry, but don’t you find it just incredibly ghoulish the way people will flock to a tragedy like maggots to a carcass?” C.C. asked as they watched the frenzy from the other side of the midway. “It’s positively macabre.”

Elise leaned on the counter next to her friend and made a face. “Well, speaking of macabre, I find your analogy gross and completely inappropriate, but I get your point. Yesterday, they were having a hard time giving their wine away over there. Today everybody wants to say they bought their vino from the dead woman’s booth. It’s pretty repulsive, but typical.”

“I guess.”

“You should’ve seen the rubber-neckers pouring out of their rooms last night at the motel trying to get a glimpse of the action. With some of the festival vendors staying at Lost Pines, it’s no wonder the news of Divia’s death has spread like a brush fire.”

C.C. turned to her with a sour look. “I say again, ghoulish.”

Elise laughed at her friend’s expression. “Yes. Very.”

“Hey, aren’t we supposed to be making some kind of list? With
so many people around here having a beef with the victim, we should
probably get started, don’t you think? Might take us a while.”

“Right again, my friend, and I’ve already started it.” Elise pulled a notepad out of her bag before nodding up the midway toward the entrance where the Toussaints could be seen coming their way. “And speaking of suspects
…
”

“Yeah. Scary French chick alert,” C.C. muttered. “I think she should go to the top of the list after that cat fight we witnessed on Thursday.”

“Agreed.”

“And didn’t Frenchie actually say something about Divia ending up dead if she didn’t leave her husband alone?”

“Yes. Loud and clear. I’d venture a guess that Monique wouldn’t think twice about poisoning Divia if she thought she could get away with it. She’d probably enjoy it. And I think a woman would do a better job of cleaning up after killing someone than a man, don’t you?”

“Well, yeah. Men can be such slobs,” C.C. said with a grin. “But that doesn’t mean that Mr.
Handsome
Toussaint there couldn’t have done the deed. After all, the scuffle between those two crazy girls
was
about a little sumpin’-sumpin’ supposedly going on between him and Mrs. Larson, right?”

Elise pointed the pen in her friend’s direction. “You make an excellent point. But we’re going to have to get some evidence to sup
port the allegations. Just because Monique thought there was some
thing going on between Divia and Alain doesn’t necessarily mean there actually was.”

“True,” C.C. said with a naughty gleam in her eye. “But I have to say, it’s quite salacious to think about.”

“Maybe so, but if Divia and Alain
were
having an affair, and Monique already knew about it or at least suspected, then what would be his motive?”

“Hmm. That’s a good question. To which I have no answer
…
yet.”

Monique Toussaint had her arm through her husband’s and looked like she hadn’t a care in the world as she strolled beside him. When they got closer, the couple veered over to River Bend’s booth, and Monique was all smiles.

“
Bonjour
, Elise,” the French beauty said. “Have you heard the ghastly news about Divia Larson?”

Well, for crying out loud. Let’s get right to the gory details, shall we? And with a smile on your face.

“Good morning.” Elise nodded and heaved a sigh. “It’s really terrible, isn’t it?”

“Mmm.” Monique clucked her tongue. “I was thinking this must be quite unsettling for you and your family.”

“I beg your pardon?” Elise couldn’t keep the shock from her voice. “What do you mean by that, Monique? I should think this would be
unsettling
for everyone here at the festival. You included.”

“
Mais oui
, of course. A tragedy
such as this is dreadful for all of us in the vineyard community. I did not intend to cause offense, I only meant that with your uncle’s grizzly murder not so long ago, this horrible news must be doubly upsetting to you.” The French woman gave an exaggerated shudder. “And of course, with your
grand-mère
being the one to find poor Divia. Very distressing, is it not?”

“Yes. Very,” Elise replied in a cool tone.

“I heard somewhere that Garrett and your
grand-mère
were once
sweethearts. Is this true?”

The question was posed innocently enough with just the right amount of concern in her voice, but Elise wasn’t fooled. Monique knew very well the history between Garrett Larson and her grandmother. She read the underlying implication Monique was obviously trying to make with crystal clarity. “Yes. Gram and Garrett were high school sweethearts. But that was ages ago.”

The other woman gave her a sympathetic pout. “Ah, yes. But one never forgets a first love,
n’est-ce-pas?
I’m certain it was difficult for her to see him in a loveless marriage with a woman who thinks only of herself and what she can take.”

“Monique,” Alain Toussaint spoke up in a warning tone. “That is only your opinion. You should not voice things you can’t know as fact.”

Monique’s mouth dropped open and she looked like she would object, but then seemed to catch herself. “But you are correct, of course,
mon cher
. Sometimes my mouth runs away with me.”

“I suppose the police will have questions for everyone who—shall we say—had issues with Divia.” Elise suggested in a mild tone. “Have they contacted you yet?”

Monique blanched and began to sputter. “Me? Why on earth would they want to contact me? We aren’t even staying at that terrible little motel. I know nothing about her death. Other than what I’ve heard this morning, of course.”

“How did you find out? About Divia’s death, I mean,” C.C. asked.

The woman seemed to stumble for a moment before regaining her momentum. “Alain and I first heard it at the bakery in town. But again, the police have no reason to contact either of us. We had nothing to do with that woman.”

“Well, no offense, but that’s not entirely true, is it? I mean, after the little scuffle between you two on Thursday, I would think they would at least want to interview you.” Elise exchanged looks with C.C. before continuing. “Of course, we would never say anything, but there were quite a few spectators that day who heard everything that was said. I should think it’s only a matter of time before the police hear about it as well.”

The look on Alain Toussaint’s face was priceless when he turned to his wife. This was obviously the first he’d heard about the incident between the two women. “What is she talking about, Monique? What
scuffle
? What have you done now?”

The Frenchwoman threw Elise a nasty glare before turning to her husband for some damage control. “It was nothing,
cher
. I simply wanted to have a word with her, and the woman acted in a most hideous way. She attacked me, and I merely defended myself. It was over in an instant,” she said, snapping her fingers for emphasis.

“Really, Monique,” Alain said in dismay. “After we’d talked about this? I told you to stay away from Divia. It was finished.”

Monique’s nonchalant façade cracked wide open then, and she seemed to forget for the moment that Elise and C.C. were avidly listening to the conversation. “Finished? Don’t be such a naïve fool! And
we
talked about nothing, Alain. You issued orders as if I were a wayward child.” The woman shook back her hair and poked her husband in the chest. “As if
I
was the one who’d strayed, instead of you. You say it was finished, but did you really think I would sit by and let that woman ruin everything?”

Alain’s expression hardened and he leaned in close to his wife’s face. “I expected you to act with a small amount of dignity. But I can see that my expectations were perhaps too high. Now you may have involved us in a murder investigation.”

With an oath, Alain turned on his heel and stormed away, leaving Elise and C.C. to deal with a fuming Monique.

“Well, I hope you’re happy with the little scene you caused.”

Elise gave the woman her most innocent look. “I’m so sorry, Monique. I truly didn’t mean to cause trouble between the two of you. I had no idea that you hadn’t told Alain about your run-in with Divia, or what the fight was about.”

The woman took a deep breath and stared at Elise for a long moment as if trying to control her emotions before responding. Finally, she waved a hand in the air and shook her head. “Forget it. The whole incident has been blown out of proportion. This is the reason I said nothing to Alain about the horrible scene in the first place. He has a tendency to overreact, as you just witnessed.”

“Men, huh?” C.C. gave the woman a congenial smile, then shook her head. “So dramatic. Besides, I’m sure you both have an alibi for Friday night, right? You and your husband were probably out to dinner or something, like everyone else. So you won’t have a thing to worry about when the police get around to questioning you about it.”

C.C.’s comments were sheer genius,
Elise,thought,
and she wanted to laugh out loud. By the look of sheer panic that briefly crossed Monique’s face, Elise was pretty sure no alibi would be forthcoming anytime soon, which was an interesting development. If the Toussaints weren’t together on Friday night around the time of the murder, Monique would be scrambling to come up with something plausible. It also led to the question of where they each were during that crucial hour.

But she had to hand it to Monique. The woman recovered quickly.

“Yes, of course you are correct. Alain and I have nothing to worry about.” She sniffed before adding, “Well, I really should catch up to him, smooth his ruffled feathers. Otherwise, he will brood. You understand.”

“Yes, yes I do,” C.C. said under her breath as they watched the Frenchwoman hurry away. Turning, she gave Elise a low five.

“
O-M-G!
That was awesome!” Elise said with a grin when Monique was out of hearing range.

C.C. returned the smile. “You bet. Scary French chick doesn’t like it so much when someone else is dishing it out.”

“She sure doesn’t. Conniving wench.”

C.C. batted her eyelashes and effected an awful French accent. “
Oh, Ele-e-ze. Zees must be quite unsettling for you and your fam-i-ly. Oh, no, I did not mean to cause offense.
Please. What a crock. She knew exactly what she was doing.”

Elise laughed out loud at her friend’s antics. “And did you see the look on her face when you mentioned the bit about having an alibi? I thought she was gonna pop a vein. That was a stroke of genius.”

“Yeah. I got the feeling that perhaps Mr. and Mrs. Toussaint weren’t enjoying each other’s company on Friday night. I also think she had more on her mind than her husband off brooding somewhere when she hurried away to find him.”

“And if they weren’t together, it will be interesting to find out where they were and what they were doing.”

C.C. nodded. “Perhaps one of them was drinking wine with the late Mrs. Larson?”

“Could be, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

“Do you think Alain would lie for her? I mean, if neither of them
has an alibi?”

Elise pursed her lips in thought. “I don’t know. He seemed pretty
pissed off, but then again, she is his wife. And to give himself an alibi
I think it would be a necessary evil—something he would do whether
he liked it or not.”

“Oh, to be a fly on the wall when
that
conversation takes place.”

“But if they weren’t together and they try to say they were
…
well
…
there’s always someone watching. Somebody will have seen something. We just have to find that somebody.”

C.C. paused and narrowed her eyes in Elise’s direction. “Are you going to tell Jackson about this?”

Elise nodded, and then heaved a sigh. “I’ll have to be careful about it, though. He’s so touchy about his investigations, especially after the fiasco with Uncle Edmond’s murder inquiry.”

“Well, yeah. That and you almost getting yourself killed over the whole thing. Our Jackson didn’t take too kindly to that, either.”

“I know, I know. But this is different. I’m just asking a few questions here and there, and it’s all to make sure Gram is in the clear.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that how your uncle’s deal started out? Just asking a few questions? Then it was just checking out his house?”

“Geez, C.C., whose side are you on?” Elise asked with a frown.

“I’m always on your side, girlfriend. I’m just saying that you need to watch your back.”

“Okay, okay,” Elise relented. “But it’s not just me snooping around
this time, you know. There are four of us in this little sleuthing club.
Remember?”

“Absolutely.” C.C. nodded vigorously. “So, where do we go from here? And how do we get the dirt on the Toussaints?”