Of Merlot & Murder (A Tangled Vines Mystery) (9 page)

“Get what done as quickly as possible?”

The group had been so intent on their conversation that nobody noticed Jackson and Deputy Stockton walk up. Elise turned her notepad over as nonchalantly as she could with the hope that Jackson wouldn’t notice what she’d written there.

“Hey, Jax,” Ross said, gaining Jackson’s attention as a distraction. “What are you guys doing out here? I thought you’d have your hands full with Divia Larson’s death.”

Elise noticed that Jackson gave her and her notepad the eye before turning to Ross.

“That’s a fact. We just spoke to Garrett and got his information. We’re going to interview the staff at Third Coast’s booth to try and put together a timeline of Mrs. Larson’s movements. The M.E. will give us an approximate time of death, but right now I’m more interested in what she did leading up to that point.”

“How are Garrett and Toby doing?” Madison asked. “They were both in pretty awful shape last night, as you would expect.”

Jackson scratched his head and nodded. “Garrett seems to be holding his own—at least, as best he can. Toby is another story. Doc Nagle went out and met with him again this morning. We haven’t been able to get much out of him yet.”

C.C. gestured toward Third Coast’s booth and the long lines still forming across the aisle. “They’ve been bombarded over there all morning long. It’s just gruesome.”

“Well, we’re going to give them a short reprieve as we interview the staff. So, we better get to it,” Jackson said, then looked at Elise. “What time are you done today?”

Leaning against a post, she gave him a smile and wiggled her eyebrows. “What did you have in mind, Officer?”

He laughed and shook his head. “It’s going to be probably six-thirty or so when I get a break and can head home. I thought I’d stop by the apartment if you’re going to be there.”

“Works for me, big guy. I should be home before then. Give me a call when you’re on your way. I’ll have a cold beer waiting.”

“Cold beer?” Madison exclaimed with mock horror. “Sacrilege! You come from wine stock, mister. You’re standing in the middle of a wine festival, for God’s sake.”

Jackson laughed out loud, a rich, warm sound that Elise felt all the way to her toes. “You know, Maddy, I hate to tell you, but sometimes wine just doesn’t do the trick.”

“I say again, blasphemy. But because I like you so much, I’ll let it go. This time,” she answered with a twinkle in her eye.

“Whew. I’m glad to hear it. Catch you guys later.”

Nobody said a word for a few moments until Jackson and the other officer were out of earshot. Then Ross turned to Elise. “Are you going to tell Jax what we’ve learned so far?”

Elise narrowed her eyes in thought. “I don’t know. I’ll see what information I can get out of him first and then make that decision. It may be too soon, and I don’t want him to spool up the lecture machine just yet. But at some point I’m gonna have to come clean with him—and hope he doesn’t blow a gasket.”

nine

Jackson was under no
illusion that the four little snoops at River Bend’s booth were just innocently hanging out and chewing the fat mid-morning on a Saturday. They were up to something. He could almost smell it on the light autumn breeze.

It wasn’t so much their words or actions. But the over-bright chatter and nervous body language that all four exhibited when they realized that he and Jim were standing there had his radar up.

He didn’t get a good look at what Elise had written on her notepad, but when she turned it over the minute he arrived at the booth, it was a dead giveaway it had nothing to do with wine. It was so obviously something she didn’t want him to see.

Inquisitive little twerp.

Fortunately for them, he had bigger fish to fry at the moment and didn’t have time for their nonsense. However, come this evening, he and Elise were going to have the conversation.

Again.

He wondered how many times he would have to remind her to keep her pretty little nose out of his investigations before she finally did as he asked.

Because he was certain that’s what she and her playmates had in the works. Almost getting herself killed after meddling in his last investigation had slowed her down for a short time, but it was beginning to look like even that hadn’t completely put a stop to her snooping.

“So how do you want to do this?” Deputy Stockton asked, bringing him back to the business at hand. “You want to shut the booth completely down for the interviews? Or just take Third Coast’s staff members one at a time?”

“Let’s see how it goes. I don’t want to disrupt their routine any more than we need to, and I definitely don’t want to add to the gossip that’s probably already out there.”

As it turned out, the Third Coast staff was happy to comply and willing to shut down for as long as it took to complete the interviews. It seemed they were running low on wine after the rush they’d had all morning and needed to restock from their trailer. While Jackson allowed two of the four employees to retrieve the new stock, he and Jim took the remaining two aside to interview separately.

Kayla McGovern had been with Third Coast winery the longest of the four, and Jackson accompanied her to a set of picnic tables in a quiet spot behind the booths.

“This is all so sad and terribly shocking,” the short brunette began when they were seated
at the table. “I know there were some who had issues with her, but Divia was usually quite pleasant to me. I mean, sure, she could be difficult at times, but I can’t believe someone would kill her. Who on earth would do something like this?”

Jackson frowned. “We don’t know exactly what happened yet, Kayla. I’m curious as to why you think this is a homicide?”

The woman looked taken aback for a moment. “Oh. Well, you know I don’t like to listen to gossip,” she murmured with a look that clearly said otherwise. “But that’s kind of the scuttle-butt that’s been going around this morning. So, are you saying that she wasn’t deliberately poisoned? That maybe it was an accident of some kind?”

Jackson pulled out his notepad and pen—and mentally counted to ten. He was rarely surprised by how quickly rumors spread in cases like this—there was always someone listening when you least expected it—but it still chapped his ass. Rumors often had only a passing nod at the truth and became outlandish in nature in a New York minute.

“What I’m saying is that until I hear back from the medical examiner in Austin, I won’t speculate on anything.” His reply was more abrupt than he’d meant it to be, and with a sigh, he smiled to soften his approach. “What I would like is for you to tell me how the day went yesterday here at the festival. We’re trying to put together a timeline of what Mrs. Larson did, where she went, that sort of thing. You worked the booth yesterday?”

Kayla nodded and folded her arms on the table. “Yes. I came in before the doors opened and didn’t leave until after closing.”

“Was Mrs. Larson here during the day?”

“Off and on.” The woman tilted her head and gazed at a point over his left shoulder as if looking back on the previous day. “I seem to remember her coming in sometime around mid-morning, maybe ten-ish. She didn’t like the way the booth was organized or how Ricky had stacked the crates at the back. Said it looked cluttered. She gave us some
direction
on reorganizing the booth. Unfortunately, with Divia, direction was always more like ordering folks around. But she was the boss.”

“Reorganizing. Uh-huh.” Jackson made a few notes without looking up. “And did anything out of the ordinary happen that you can recall?”

“No. Not that I can think of,” Kayla replied. “At least nothing like
the fireworks of Thursday morning.”

Jackson looked up at that. “What do you mean? What fireworks?”

The woman seemed confused for a moment. “Oh, I thought you would have heard. It was quite a display. Divia and that Frenchwoman, Monique Toussaint had a rather explosive row right there in front of the booth. A real catfight.”

“Really? Do you know what it was about?” Jackson asked with a frown.

“Well, sure. Everyone heard what they were fighting over. It was
loud and proud. Monique told Divia to stay away from her husband
or she’d be sorry.”

“This fight was over Alain Toussaint?”

Kayla nodded. “It got really ugly, too. Divia told the woman that if she couldn’t control her husband it wasn’t her problem. That’s when Monique asked Divia if Garrett knew about Toby’s ‘funny business’ with the winery’s books.”

“Wait. The winery’s books? What did she mean by that? Is there a problem with the winery’s accounting?”

“I don’t know, but Divia was visibly shaken by the comment, I can tell you. The next instant they sort of launched at each other. It was crazy—punching, scratching, hair-pulling, the whole bit.”

Jackson worked to keep a straight face in light of Kayla’s description. “So what happened then? How did this catfight end?”

“Well, Toby showed up about the same time as another man. I think it was Mr. Toussaint’s brother. Anyway, they pulled the two women apart and tried to diffuse the situation as quickly as they could.”

“And that ended the fight?” Jackson asked, making a few more notes.

“Pretty much,” Kayla replied. “But Monique made a very nasty parting shot before the man dragged her away. She said that Divia better watch her step or she just might end up dead.”

Jackson’s head snapped up at that comment and he narrowed his eyes at her. “She actually used those words?”

Kayla nodded and an almost gleeful look crossed the woman’s face. “Yes. She did. And Divia was in such a state when they finally walked away that she yelled at poor Ms. DeVries when she was just trying to help.”

“What? Wait a minute. Miss Abby was there during this whole thing?”

“Well, no, not the entire thing. She and the other two girls came running toward the end.”

Jackson tilted his head and gave her a quizzical glance. “Other two girls?”

“Yes, Ms. DeVries’ granddaughter and her friend. They were working the booth with her.”

Here was another thing Elise was going to have to explain when he went by the apartment later. She and C.C. witnessed the incident, and she’d said nothing to him about it.

“Anyway,” Kayla continued. “Ms. DeVries was just trying to offer support, but Divia acted horribly toward her. Then everyone went their separate ways, and it was over.”

“Okay. Well, thank you for your input. It’s been very helpful. Anything else you want to add?”

“No. I think that’s it.” Kayla started to get up, and then sat back down. “You know, now that I think about it, there was one other thing that I noticed yesterday.”

“And what was that?”

“I don’t know that it has anything to do with what’s happened, but since you’re looking at a timeline
…
”

“Yes?”

“Well, I was on a break out here, and I saw Divia having what looked like a fairly tense conversation with another woman.”

“A tense conversation?” Jackson asked, wishing Kayla would just get to the point. “Do you know who this woman was?”

Kayla shook her head. “I didn’t know her, but she looked familiar. I think she was from one of the booths over on Restaurant Row. Anyway, I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Divia was pretty animated. She seemed to be trying to convince the other woman of something, but the other woman was not very receptive and looked terribly upset.”

Jackson thought back to the incident on Friday at The Plough’s booth when he and Elise had run into Toby and Madison. When Grace Vanderhouse’s name had been mentioned, Toby’s reaction had been extreme, though he’d tried to blame the humidity. Was it possible that Grace was the woman Kayla had seen speaking with Divia? “Kayla, if you saw this other woman again, do you think you would recognize her?”

“Oh, absolutely. I had an unobstructed view of the whole thing.” She pointed to an area to the left of where they sat. “It happened right over there.”

“All right then,” Jackson said. “We’ll check out what you’ve told me and be in touch. Thank you.”

As Jackson watched Kayla make her way back to the booth, he turned this new information over in his mind. An interview with Monique Toussaint was definitely in order, and he’d have to speak to Miss Abby, Elise, and C.C. about the events of Thursday as well.

He also needed to positively identify the other woman from yesterday’s “tense conversation” and find out what that was all about. With a heavy sigh, he got up and headed back to the booth himself. He definitely had his work cut out for him. And with the festival ending tomorrow afternoon, very little time to sort it all out.

_____

It was almost three by the time they’d finished interviewing the Third Coast staff, and Jackson’s stomach was grumbling. “Let’s go over to Restaurant Row and pick up something. We can compare notes while we eat.”

“Sounds good,” Jim replied. “I’m starving. We could get lunch at The Plough’s booth, maybe check out your theory regarding the Vanderhouse woman.”

“That was just what I was thinking,” he responded. Jackson had filled Jim in about the meeting between Divia and the mystery woman that Kayla had mentioned. He’d also told him about Toby Raymond’s reaction to Grace Vanderhouse’s name on Friday and his theory that Grace may have been the woman Divia had met with behind the booths.

“I mean, sure, it could just be an odd coincidence, and we don’t know if the Larsons and the Vanderhouse woman even knew each other,” Jim said with a wry smile. “But then, I do know how you feel about coincidences.”

“Yeah, it might be a stretch to connect the two, but it’s always prudent to cover the bases.” Jackson shot the other deputy a grin. “I’ve got an idea, so follow along with whatever I say if Grace is there.”

Jim laughed. “Don’t I always?”

Though it was mid-afternoon and well past the lunch hour, The Plough had a short line when they arrived. Jackson spotted Grace working furiously on orders at the back of the stall.

“She looks pretty busy,” Jim commented.

“Yeah. Let’s eat and go over our notes, give her some time to clear the crowd. Then we can come back and have a chat with her afterward.”

They gave the woman at the counter their orders, and taking their drinks, headed for the picnic tables out back while they waited for Grace to finish.

Once they sat down, Jackson began by filling Jim in on the catfight that Kayla had also described to him.

“Yep,” Jim said when he’d finished. “I got pretty much the same story, with some variations, from both of the staff members I interviewed. Man, I gotta say, I would’ve dearly loved to have seen that!”

“Sounds like it was quite a spectacle,” Jackson said with a chuckle
. “I’m going to talk to Elise and Miss Abby about it later. But I think we need to interview Monique Toussaint first thing in the morning. Since the festival is over tomorrow afternoon, I asked the M.E. for a rush on the autopsy, so hopefully I’ll hear something soon. Maybe it will give us an indication of whether we’re dealing with a homicide or not.”

Stockton nodded and took a swig of his soda. “That would be handy to know. If this was murder, we don’t want suspects leaving town prematurely.”

“Yes. Long-distance investigation is something I don’t want to have to do.”

“Hello, deputies.”

Looking up, Jackson watched Grace Vanderhouse walk up to their table carrying their food. “Hey, Grace. Are you serving orders today as well as cooking?”

She laughed. “Stella said you were here, and we’re having a lull, so I thought I’d bring your sandwiches out. We appreciate the business.”

“Well, the food here is top notch, I’ll give you that.” Jackson watched her set the tray down on the table. “And though I can’t wait to dig into mine, there is another reason for our visit.”

Grace’s smile faded, and Jackson thought he saw a quick flash of fear come and go in her eyes. In that moment, he had a gut feeling that his theory was right on the money.

So he went with it.

“Grace, we’re investigating Divia Larson’s death and putting together a timeline. It’s come to our attention that you met with Mrs. Larson yesterday afternoon. I need to ask you about that meeting.”

Grace visibly paled, and her eyes widened slightly. “Where did you hear that?” she countered.

It was a delay tactic, and not a particularly successful one. And by the look on her face, she knew it. Jackson could clearly see her alarm rising. Though she was obviously striving to get her emotions under control, she wasn’t doing a very good job of that, either.

“We actually have a witness who saw the two of you out behind Third Coast’s booth. And from the description, you were quite upset when you left. Want to tell us about it?”

Her façade crumbled at that point. She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, before looking around to see who was in earshot of their conversation. When she seemed satisfied that nobody was close enough to hear, she sat down next to Jackson at the table. “Okay, yes, I met with Divia yesterday. But it’s not what you think. It had nothing to do with her death, I swear.”