One Foot in the Grape (7 page)

The evening fog had rolled in, a regular occurrence this close to the water. Below, in the clearing, the light from Hayley's flashlight moved through the mist.

As I walked back up the front steps, someone shouted. It sounded like it came from the fermentation building. I stopped to listen. Nothing. I turned back toward the house but hesitated. If someone was ruining the wines, it would need to be now, when the wine was aging in the barrels, before it was bottled. Also, it would be at this time of day, when it was unlikely that anyone would be about. All in all, this could be a pretty good opportunity for me to find something out.

Oddly enough, the possibility that I might actually surprise someone didn't get my feet moving. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of looking for anyone in the dark.

The thing that got me back down the front steps and moving toward the fermentation building was Connor. He'd said getting involved was a bad idea, and I hated the thought of admitting he was right. A quick look around and I'd be out of there. I didn't have a flashlight and picked my way along the path. The fog now rolled in drifts, moving across the ground around me.

The heavy double doors creaked when I pushed them open. Rows of barrels loomed in the semidarkness ahead. If the goal was to surprise someone, I needed to leave the lights off. I waited for my eyes to adjust and crept to the rear of the building.

The only sounds were my footsteps and the soft hum of the fans. I walked slowly down the center aisle. Nothing seemed out of place. If there had been someone in the building, they were gone now.

I turned around at the large metal tanks and retraced my steps. When I reached the middle of the row, there was a crash from outside to the rear of the building, then the whine of an electric motor. There was a shout and the whirl of machinery beyond the back doors.

I ran back, pushed open the rear exit and stumbled outside. In front of me were the two winery crushers. The crusher to my left was on. The grind of machinery and the whirl of spinning blades filled the night air.

I went to the machine and climbed the four metal steps to where the grapes were dumped into the crusher. The moon broke through the fog and exposed the silver lever. I stepped on something as I reached and turned off the machine. Silenced descended. The moonlight was bright now as I looked down into the crusher.

It took a moment for my brain to catch up and for me to realize the crusher wasn't empty, that it wasn't a simple trick of the light. It took even longer to understand the dark stain that covered the steel beneath me. I looked again and turned away. My eyes landed on what I'd kicked. A Stetson hat.

I
GRABBED
the rail, took a deep breath and managed to make it down the stairs before my knees gave out. I collapsed onto the bottom step and stared at the moon until it began to blur. Then I dropped my head between my knees and tried not to pass out.

Crushers were designed to slice through grapes and any remaining stems. There wasn't any need to call for help. The only thing I'd recognized was Todd's hat. My eyes closed against the night, against what I'd just seen. I sat for a few moments, breathing deeply.

When I could, I opened my eyes and waited for my head to clear. The flashlight swung up the front steps as Hayley returned to the house. I started to yell but turned to look down to the clearing, and the sound died on my lips. Hayley stood next to our booth in the festival area stacking boxes.

My eyes shifted back to the house. Whoever held the light
was at the top of the steps. The beam arched across the landscape and the entire yard was illuminated. The light swung my way. Even though it was too far away for me to be seen, instinct took over and I ducked. The light lingered for what seemed an eternity. It finally disappeared, and the front door softly closed.

With both hands on the rail, I pulled myself up. I swayed and stumbled back into the fermentation building. The fire alarm was to the side of the door and I hit the switch. The sound blared through the building and bounced off the steel tanks. I turned on the lights. Whoever had killed Todd hadn't turned any of them on, hadn't touched any of the switches. Not that it would matter. It was someone who'd returned to the main house, someone whose fingerprints belonged there. I walked down the row and reached the front doors just as they opened.

Brice shut his phone as he stepped into the building, with Francesca right behind him. She was pushed out of the way by Stephen. Veronica clung to his arm, and both of them now wore robes.

“I've called the fire station,” Stephen shouted.

Connor arrived with Antonia, and he ran to turn off the alarm.

Hayley came through the rear double doors, followed by Marvin.

Chantal was the last to enter the building. She'd changed into red hip-skimming sweats and a midriff top and was out of breath.

“So,” Francesca glanced around. “Not that it's any of my concern, but where's the fire?”

“Todd's dead.” It came out as a whisper and nobody heard me.

“There isn't any fire.” I spoke louder this time. I wiped the dampness from my forehead with the back of my sleeve.

Brice waved his phone in the air. “What kind of game is this? I'm trying to work. I only get coverage in a couple of spots here, and the patient—”

“That's enough,” Antonia said. “Penelope must have had a reason for setting off the alarm. Now tell us, Penelope”— her eyes turned toward me—“what it is.”

“Brice, call the police. Todd's dead.”

Brice opened his phone and moved toward me. “Where is he?”

“He's dead.”

“Since when are you a doctor?”

“He's in the crusher. It was turned on.”

Everyone in the room knew what a crusher could do. Brice stopped and closed his phone. “I'll go check on him, but I don't need to call. The fire department will bring the police and paramedics.” He walked through the rear doors.

Hayley came up to me and pulled me close.

I looked over her shoulder at the faces around me. The shock was evident but seemed to hit Chantal hardest. She moaned, turned pale and grabbed for the door to steady herself.

When Brice came back a few minutes later, he silently shook his head, and Chantal's sobs filled the room.

It felt good to have Hayley's arm around me. I only had a few moments before the police arrived. All I had was the knowledge that one of them had returned to the house. One of them knew something. I took a deep breath and put the image I'd seen from my mind. “Did any of you go outside within the last hour?”

Silence.

“I was in the library,” Antonia said. “With Connor. The rest of you answer her immediately.”

As the silence resumed, Antonia struck her cane against the cement floor. “Answer her!”

“I was in the breakfast room,” Chantal sobbed, tearstains dark on her red shirt.

“Did anyone see you in there?” The breakfast room had glass doors that led onto the patio, just a short walk from the path.

“I saw her.” Trust Stephen to be able to account for his sister's whereabouts. “Just as Veronica and I went upstairs. The rest of the time, Veronica and I were both in the west wing.”

“I saw Chantal too,” Marvin spoke up. “I also saw Veronica in the kitchen.” He rubbed his hand across raspy chin whiskers.

Veronica pulled her robe belt tighter. “I came back down to make tea while Stephen was in the shower,” she whispered.

“That's true,” Marvin said. “She did. I can see most of the main floor from the winery office.”

Veronica looked at him quickly, as did several others. It must have been strange for them to realize Marvin was able to observe them at will.

“'Course, if we have to answer, then you do too,” Marvin said.

I looked at him. “You know where I was. I'm the one that found him.”

“Not you.” He pointed to Hayley. “You.”

“I
WAS
at our booth.”

“I saw her down there.” I gave Hayley's arm a small squeeze. “She was on the festival grounds when I found the body.”

Marvin watched Hayley. “Before that, before you went to the booth, you and Todd were right outside the fermentation building.” He nodded his head toward the kitchen. “I was bringing back my dinner tray, and there you were, just the two of you.”

“That's where I left him. I walked down the path and he went inside. He said he had something to take care of.”

“Sure. I figured that's what you'd say.”

“Marvin, I just told you I saw Hayley down the hill, next to our booth.”

“Yeah, after Todd was killed.”

“How would she get there so fast?”

Antonia stamped her cane once again. “That's enough, Marvin.” Antonia gazed around the room. “Francesca, where were you?”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Francesca shrugged. “No matter. Brice and I've been working in the study the entire time.”

“Not the entire time.” Connor looked at Brice. “You walked out the side door at one point. You were out there for at least fifteen minutes.”

“Yes, damn it, but I was just on the porch. My phone doesn't get good reception in the house and it was an important call.”

That meant Francesca was alone for at least that long as well. Everyone in the house could have slipped away.

Marvin watched Hayley. I tightened my arm around her, but her pale face didn't respond.

*   *   *

CYPRESS
Cove doesn't have much of a police force. We don't often need one, and we like it that way. A loud party or a tourist who'd indulged too much was a busy night. The entire force was Chief Lucas and a few deputies. Lucas was young, around thirty, with sandy blond hair and intelligent blue eyes. I liked him.

When he arrived, he had us return to the house while his men taped off the crushers and fermentation building. As he and one of his men questioned us individually in the breakfast room, the rest of us waited with another deputy in the library.

Since I was the one to find the body, he questioned me first, taking notes as I retraced the evening's events. Chief
Lucas listened without comment until I told him I saw someone enter the house right after I found the body. He put his pen down.

“Do you know if someone in this family had a problem with Todd or might want him dead?”

“No. Chantal's interest was more than platonic and Marvin is jealous of anyone that shows promise, but Todd was only in charge of the tasting room.” I thought of his wedding day and the photographs I'd never take. “He was engaged to be married.” I thought once again of the sight in the crusher and tried to remember Todd's smile instead.

Lucas nodded. “Go back to Chantal.”

“Chantal and Todd seemed to be close at one point and, knowing her, I can only imagine it was romance she wanted, but I don't know the details. Stephen wanted to fire him but Antonia wouldn't let him.”

Lucas looked up from his notebook. “Boy, that's an unlikely couple. How'd you hear about it?”

“Thomas told me.”

“What would we do without small-town gossip?”

“Okay, there's something else you're going to hear, probably from Marvin. Hayley and Todd were together right outside the fermentation building before she went down the hill. So, they were alone for a few minutes. It doesn't mean anything, but I wanted you to hear it from me.”

“We'll ask everyone where they were at the time.”

“Huh,” I took a deep breath. “I sort of did that already, while we were waiting for you.”

Lucas just looked at me.

“It was the flashlight. I'd just seen one of them going back
into the house. I didn't want anyone to have time to come up with a plausible story. I thought the less time they had to think, the better.”

“Did it work?”

I hesitated. “Not the way I would have liked. From the sound of it, any one of them could have snuck away for long enough to kill Todd and get back.” I told Lucas where everyone claimed to be.

He looked up from his notes. “So, let's put the flashlight going back into the house aside. From what you've said, at one point after Ross and Thomas left, it was only you, Hayley and Todd outside.”

I kept my eyes on his. “That's because someone is lying. Hayley was in the clearing below right after I saw the flashlight on the front steps. Besides, she doesn't have a motive.”

Lucas looked at me. “Thanks, Penny. I'll have to check all the leads, but I don't think you need to worry.”

I didn't feel reassured. Lucas didn't have a vested interest in keeping Hayley safe, and I took little comfort in his words.

“Anything else?” I told him about Antonia's suspicions of someone tampering with the wine. Lucas listened but didn't ask anything when I'd finished.

“It seems unlikely to kill somebody for that, but we'll investigate everyone's motives.”

Connor was the last to talk with Lucas, and I waited with Hayley in the library. I sat on the couch where Chantal had been earlier in the evening, while Hayley stood by the glass doors and watched the events outside. The coroner had just left with Todd.

I checked my watch. It was one in the morning. All of us
had been in this room at nine thirty. The last time I'd seen Todd alive was outside, at nine forty. I'd given Hayley the prints and the flashlight to take to the booth. Todd and Hayley had walked away together—Todd to the fermentation building and Hayley to the path. I found Todd around ten after ten. Thirty minutes. Time enough to end Todd's life and change the lives of those around him forever.

The outside lights were still on and police tape surrounded the building. I wondered if Todd knew what was about to happen when he was pushed into the crusher. Did he hear it being turned on? He might have still been alive. Still aware.

The room started to spin, and I broke out in a cold sweat.

Hayley was by my side in an instant. “You don't look very good.”

It wouldn't help either one of us if I told her my thoughts. “I can't seem to get warm.”

I closed my eyes and pictured Todd in this room earlier. I stood and rubbed my arms against the chill.

Hayley had walked back to the window and stared out at the night. “They keep reminding me I was the last person to see him, before it happened.”

“Everyone?”

“Mostly Marvin, not that he's said anything more. You can see it in their eyes, though. Now I wish I'd stayed with Todd. I should have followed my instincts.”

“Your instincts? You couldn't have known what was going to happen.”

“There was something, though. Something about Todd that seemed wrong.”

“Like what?”

“He seemed, I don't know, nervous. Excited maybe. He wasn't paying attention, and he stumbled at one point. Just not his normal self. He kept looking at his watch.”

“His watch. Why would he care what time it was, unless he needed to be somewhere? Maybe he was supposed to meet someone at the crusher.”

Hayley turned to me. “I think you're right. Now that I think about it, he could have been in a hurry to get somewhere. At the time the way he was acting didn't seem very important. Now I wish I'd been paying attention. I feel guilty, even though I didn't have anything to do with his death.”

I kicked myself again for the lost opportunity to see who'd returned to the main house.

At the bar, Francesca's handbag still sat on the counter. My eyes fell on the paperwork that had fallen out. Briefs, motions and a bunch of other stuff I didn't understand. There was also a copy of her bio. Under “Education,” it said, “Attended Layton Law School, Class of 1998.”
It didn't say she'd graduated, but it was certainly implied. No mention of any other school. If she'd finished elsewhere, apparently it wasn't as impressive.

Outside, the fog had thickened, and the world was tucked under muted gray. Todd's death would change things. The festival was to start on Saturday, and Antonia had him scheduled for the Martinelli booth. Beyond that, she would need to hire someone for the tasting room.

Lost in these thoughts, I didn't notice when Antonia came to stand beside me.

“Stay for a moment. Please.”

“Of course.”

Wisps of hair had escaped from the combs at the top of her head and there were circles under her eyes. It was easy to forget Antonia's age, with her perfect posture and tireless energy. Not now, though. Not as she stood and looked out the window at her beloved winery, divided in two by police tape.

When Chief Lucas was through with each of us, he called everyone to the library and addressed the group. “We have what we need for tonight. I may have additional questions for each of you, so please let my deputy know where each of you is going to be for the next seventy-two hours. Also, no one in this room is to leave town.”

Marvin mumbled something under his breath.

Chief Lucas held up his hand. “You have anything to add?”

“Just making sure you meant all of us.” Marvin turned and looked at Hayley.

Chief Lucas looked over at Hayley as well. “Yes, I meant what I said. Everyone.” His eyes lingered on Hayley, but it wasn't a look that held suspicion, and Hayley looked calm as she returned his gaze.

“If there isn't anything else, I'm finished for now.”

Marvin moved to the sliding doors to return to his apartment, and the rest of the family moved in separate directions through the house.

I touched Connor's jacket sleeve. “Can you give me a minute with Antonia? She wants to talk.”

Connor nodded, and walked with Hayley and Chief Lucas to the front door.

Antonia and I took a seat on the library couch. She clutched the silver handle of her cane with both hands.
Although the skin was translucent and the bluish tint of her veins clearly visible, she grasped the handle with surprising strength.

“What prompted you to go into the fermentation building? Why were you out at the crusher?”

I told her everything. If she had a killer in the house, she needed to know.

“Do you think he was already dead when the crusher was turned on?”

“I hope so. At the very least I hope he was unconscious.” A chill once again coursed through me. “What do you think he was doing out there?”

“Todd was a conscientious worker, but I can't imagine any reason for him to be out at the crusher, especially at night. His duties were relegated to the tasting room.”

“Hayley said before she left him to go to the festival grounds he was distracted and kept looking at his watch. I think maybe he had a meeting scheduled with someone.”

“If he did, I don't know anything about it. It certainly had nothing to do with work.”

“Hayley feels like she should have known something was wrong with Todd and she let him down, that somehow she could have made a difference. There's only one way to help her. I want to know who did this. I need to, for Hayley's sake.”

“Good. I hoped you'd feel that way. I believe Hayley was the last person to see Todd alive.”

I looked hard at Antonia. “Except for his killer, of course.”

Antonia waved her hand. “I wasn't listening to Marvin. Of course I don't think Hayley did it. She'd have no reason.
No, Todd's death is somehow connected to this winery. Someone here gained something from it.”

“Maybe what they wanted was to damage the winery. The sabotage wasn't enough, so someone resorted to murder.”

Antonia pushed herself up on her cane and walked to the fireplace.

“Could someone want to destroy this winery that much, enough to kill?”

Antonia studied her hands, turning the ring on her finger. “I don't know. I don't know what to think at this point. This winery is more than a business. It's my life. You know what I'm talking about.”

I nodded. Aunt Monique had felt the same way. I saw it in Connor and Hayley. More than a business. Creating a memorable wine was an art, a passion.

Antonia turned. “Maybe the goal isn't to destroy the winery. Maybe it's to destroy me.” There was pain in her eyes. “I admit it. I'm a better vintner than an employer. Certainly better than a mother.”

She swept her arms at the glass doors, toward the fields and vineyards beyond. “I realize I'm obsessive about this place. In the early years I had to be. It wasn't easy, you know. Not back when your aunt and I were the only two women owners in California. When my husband died, the kids were even more aware they came second to the success of the winery.”

Uncertainty shone in those steely green eyes, a look that didn't suit Antonia.

“Antonia, you might have made some mistakes with your children.” I shrugged. “I wasn't there and don't know. Either way, it doesn't matter now. Adults make their own decisions
regarding the directions of their lives. Apologize for the person you were then, if you need to, but don't take responsibility for their actions now. They're the only ones who can do that.”