Truth Is Found (36 page)

As they stood there, Julian was wearing a suit and smirk. They were getting ready to tap a new vintage of wine, and if he never tasted the red mess, he’d be more than fine.

He was so over wine, that if his wife ever even mentioned that word, he might weep.

Speaking of crying…

Tori was now grinning at him, and that made him feel better. After her meltdown and purging of emotions, she’d managed to get it under control. Tori was like a storm. She’d erupt, and after getting over it, she’d be back to normal.

He was just glad that the trip to visit Bethany didn't hurt her.

The last thing he wanted was for his woman and child to be injured.

As they stood in the winery’s storage area, in front of the ‘special’ vintage, Mr. Nelms was trying to talk about the grapes and process.

Julian and Tori weren’t listening.

Instead, they were looking around the room. The Wirth’s were there getting ready to commence guzzling, but the Bunchen’s were gone.

Surprise.

Surprise.

It seemed that after their talk with the Martin’s from the neighboring winery, there was some family emergency, and they had to take off.

Who would have seen that coming?

Not far away, standing near his ‘partner’, was Roman Remington. When they arrived, Julian slipped the man the paper with the girls’ names. He’d start working, and that was a good thing.

Sheila was around too, and she was red eyed. They just didn't know if it had to do with being outed by the Littlemoons for cheating, or if her ‘lover’ had broken it off.

Either way, they were just glad that there weren’t that many group functions. They were mostly concerned with the next night, and the séance.

Julian couldn’t believe they were taking that route. In all honesty, a part of him thought it was total bullshit. Then his wife emerged from her trance with scratches down her arm. Scratches he watched appear without anyone, or thing, touching her.

It was scary.

It was something new.

For some reason, with each trip to ‘the other side’, Tori came back stronger and with something new in her arsenal. It was a little creepy.

No, it was scary as hell.

And there was nothing Julian could do about it.

As they watched Romeo, they noticed he was busily typing away on his cell phone. Was it work related?

Why didn't he look nearly as distraught as his dad?

His sister was missing, and he didn't seem to give a rat’s ass.

Curious.

This whole case was wonky.

They had a missing girl, a cheating wife, some treasure, which may or may not be what was causing the sabotage, and three dead girls. Toss in a priest, Tori’s dead brother, and Julian was at his max.

He’d tried vetting clients, and it was as if fate was telling him to put his big girl panties on. No matter what he did, they still ran in to the dead.

Maybe this was just what life was meant to behold for them. He never saw this one coming.

That scared the bejezuz out of him.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we’re about to uncork our special vintage. We created this wine the week the winery opened. In fact, it’s the only barrel of its kind. We’re going to taste it tonight, and then bottle the rest. We wanted you to enjoy it with us.”

Everyone clapped.

“Yay,” Julian whispered sarcastically. “I’m not drinking it. I can’t. I’ll pretend, but they can’t make me.”

Tori was amused, but she didn't blame him.

“We hope you like it,” Kirby Andrews added. “It’s my first recipe here at Darkwood Monastery.”

They handed out the glasses. Immediately, everyone began drinking, except Tori and Julian.

“This doesn’t taste right,” stated Cara Wirth.

“She’s right,” Kirby added.

As if they were crazy, Sheila and Romeo each grabbed a glass.

The grimace after tasting it proved that the ones drinking the wine had a point.

Roman glanced over as he sniffed his wine. His face said it all. He wasn’t drinking it.
‘Something’s wrong,
’ he mouthed.

“I don’t get it,” Kirby stated. “It tastes foul. This has never happened with a vintage this old.”

“Something had to get into the wine,” stated Daniel. “This is absolutely putrid.”

Tori was glad she couldn’t drink. Picking up Julian’s glass, she detected a scent of something odd. She’d smelled it before, but not where wine was concerned.

Surely, she couldn’t be right.

“There’s something in my glass,” Cara said, pulling some hair out of her wine. “Eww! Gross!”

Tori touched Julian’s arm.

“We have a problem.”

The scent registered with her. She knew where she remembered it from. Immediately, she held the glass up to the light and stared into the cloudy liquid. There were layers of things that looked like dissolving skin floating in it.

Jesus!

“Open it up,” stated Daniel. “We need to see if something got in that barrel.”

Tori was just about ready to stop him when the top was off, and Kirby began stirring the liquid around with his hand.

Suddenly, something floated up.

It looked like a head. When it turned, two eyes, beginning to decay in the acid stared back.

Sheila screamed.

Romeo began throwing up, and Cara Wirth passed out. Everyone in the room was shocked to see the body stained in the red liquid.

They’d found Pearlie, and from the look of her pickled state, she’d been in the barrel since the day she died.

Roman was at their side. “That can’t be good.”

Julian knew he was right. “Well, that part of the case is solved. It looks like the wine tasting party is over.”

Yeah, just like the young girl’s life.

CHAPTER Nineteen

The sheriff was not amused.

While the media flocked outside the scene, Roman, Tori, and Julian stood back, trying to stay out of his way. When they pulled the body out of the barrel, Tori got a good enough look at Pearlie to know what had likely killed her. While the woman was stained red from the grapes, there was a big gash on her head.

It looked like the mad hitter struck again.

She was grateful that Julian had survived his strike to the head, and the mere inkling that he could have ended up in a barrel of wine too made her sick.

This case was getting more and more serious.

Now it was only a matter of time until they narrowed it down and found the guilty party.

Could it be Romeo, the disgruntled pimp, or was it the person looking for the missing gold? Then again, the way this whole case was going, it could be someone entirely different.

At this point, the possibilities were endless.

Anyone staying at the vineyard might be guilty, and they needed to find them, and fast.

As the sheriff headed their way, Julian expected the worst. He went on alert, already preparing their defense in his head. They’d been in this situation countless times before.

Generally, the law didn't like PI’s, and they especially didn't like them when there was a body in the mix.

Great.

The fun was about to begin.

All he could hope was no one was tossed in jail for obstruction of justice.

When the sheriff stopped in front of them, he studied them before setting his focus on Julian.

“Well, well, well, it’s the Littlemoons. Are you two working this as a case?” he asked.

Julian shook his head. “No. We were hired to find the person who’s been sabotaging the Nelms. Things have been breaking, being stolen, and just general mayhem here.”

“Well, this looks like one hell of a way to destroy the man’s life. Killing the guy’s daughter will ruin his day. If you really want to make them run, have them drink dead body. That’s right out of some sick horror movie.”

No one disagreed there.

Julian was just thankful that he was at his max for wine, or he would have ingested a little bit of Pearlie too.

“Yeah, I think everyone here is having a pretty shitty day,” Tori answered.

“I suppose you’re going to want to handle this as part of your ongoing investigation,” he stated.

Tori read his name tag. “Sheriff Marks, in all honesty, you can have it. In the spirit of goodwill, we’ll tell you everything we know, and you can run with it. We won’t interfere. We have too much on our plate.”

He lifted a brow.

This was new.

Did he actually have a PI’s who didn't want in on the action? He wasn’t sure if this was a trap, or they were being honest.

“Why’s that?” he asked “It’s not like investigators to hand something off. This is big publicity.” Then he looked over at the man beside Tori. “Who the hell are you?”

“He’s with us,” stated Julian, covering for the man. If the sheriff found out that he was talking freely in front of a reporter, he’d lose his mind. Then he’d not be so forthcoming with the information in the future.

Why burn your bridges?

“That’s Roman Remington, and he’s helping us with our case.”

Sheriff Marks pondered his choices. “Okay, spill what you have, and if I can use it, I’ll be more than happy to pick up where you left off.”

That was good enough for them.

They were tagging in the local law to alleviate some of the crazy.

“First, you’re going to want to search the family’s private rooms,” stated Julian.

“Do I now? Why’s that?”

“In a shoebox in Romeo’s room, you’re going to find about fifteen grand in cash.”

“From?”

“Pimping. Want to guess who his favorite hooker was?” Tori added.

He looked over at the man standing beside his father. “You’ve gotta be kidding me. He was selling his own sister for cash?”

They all nodded their heads.

Roman just stared at them in awe. This was news to him, and he didn't know how he’d missed it.

“You know I have to ask if you have any proof of what you’re accusing him of, right?”

“We dug up everything we have on social media. You can see Pearlie posting random messages about call girl dates.”

He made notes. “I swear this new internet thing is going to be the downfall of society. People are crazy.”

Tori wanted to point out that the internet wasn’t exactly new, but why risk it? So far, the man was being nice, and that didn't happen all that often.

“Okay, continue.”

“You might want to cross reference Cordell Burdett’s page with Pearlie’s. He had a ‘date’ with her the day she went missing. He was likely the last person who saw her alive.”

“That’s great, but we have a lead on who she was last with on the night of his disappearance. It’s a loner named Beau Christensen. He’s ex-military and wandering through town. You know how those PTSD types are. As soon as we locate him, we’re going to question him.”

Julian was offended for his wife, brother, and brother-in-law. They weren’t crazy. They were heroes. Before he could open his mouth, his wife was all over it.

Tori immediately jumped in, defending her brother. “Yeah, he’s a plant we placed here. He works for us. You can forget about him. He’s clean.”

“Where is he? If he blew town, you might need to get him back here so I can interview him as a technicality.”

“He’s still here,” Julian offered, still not giving away his location. He wasn’t going to let Beau become the scape goat, all because he had a military record. He hated to break it to the sheriff, but between all three Christensen siblings, they had enough medals to fill a chest, and then some. “We’ve had him on a psychic the last few days.”

The man laughed. “Is that how you people solve your cases? Are you yanking my chain? Really? You’re using a psychic to ferret out the suspects?”

They said nothing, but Roman’s eyes narrowed. He obviously knew that when you didn't say anything, you were actually very telling.

Great.

The reporter was on the scent.

“He’s on our payroll. I swear he’s not involved.” Julian only hoped that the man let it go. If he had to explain the whole ‘Nyx Nightingale’ thing, they were going to look like quacks. Sometimes, it was best not to know.

This was one of those cases.

The man thought about it. “Well, you did give me two new leads. I guess I can trust your judgment on this one. I still reserve the right to interview him if something comes up.”

Julian didn't say anything about the way Pearlie appeared to die, or that he’d taken a hit to the head. If the man wasn’t paying attention to the lump on his temple, so be it for him to bring it up.

“Thank you, Sheriff Marks. We appreciate it. We’ll stay out of your hair on this one,” Julian stated.

Tori was glad her husband didn't make a promise on that one. As this was looking, they were going to get lucky if they could survive with their reputations intact.

The shit was hitting the fan, and they were standing right in front of it.

“If you’re curious, we interviewed Richard Woodbury. His alibi checks out, but thanks for pointing us in his direction anyway.”

They didn't say anything. This information, while nice, didn't help them. At that moment, they still had a killer, three bodies, and some gold to find. If Roman was right, the sabotage culprit was the same as the priest killer and gold hunter.

They were putting a lot on his theory.

“Can you update us on the autopsy?” Tori asked.

The man laughed. “You’re not cops, so I think you know that answer, pretty lady.”

Tori ignored his tone and instead, she went with facts. “I was once a Fed, and he was once a deputy. Does that count?”

He thought about it. “Yeah, I guess it does. It falls back on that brothers and sisters in arms BS. Just don’t let any media types get their hands on it. You know how cutthroat and greedy they are. I don’t want to see anything else in the media.”

Roman went to open his mouth, and Tori pinched him.

HARD.

Still, he barely flinched. Instead, from behind his glasses, he was thinking. The wheels were turning.

“If we come across anything, Sheriff, we’ll report it to you. We’ll keep our ears and eyes open.”

“You do that. Go get some sleep and have a good night. I’ve got to go babysit the coroner and a rather pickled young prostitute.”

Yeah, they didn't envy him.

Not at all.

When he left, Julian was glad they made it through that relatively unscathed.

“Why does every cop hate the media?” Roman asked. “I’ve never betrayed a source!”

Tori laughed. “That’s exactly why we used to dislike them, and you can add to it the mess they create. Look over there. See all the crazed reporters, trying to get a picture of Pearlie’s body as they take her away? That’s the other reason. Freaking vultures, and I hope present company will prove to be excluded.”

Roman knew he had a lot to prove to them. “Gotcha. Well, I’m not like that, and when I work for you, you’ll see that I’m not bullshitting you.”

Tori wasn’t so sure about that. Yes, she hoped, but in the end, they were likely going to get bit in the ass.

Then she was going to kick her husband’s.

“Can you tell me why your employee is playing with a psychic? I know there’s one in town, I saw you having lunch.”

Yeah, he was losing ground in Tori’s eyes. Apparently, he was super good at spying.

“It’s a long story.”

“Are you ever going to let me in on it?” he asked Julian. “I swear I’ll keep it quiet. I really want this job.”

Again, Julian evaded the man’s question. “Why don’t you get to work on those girl’s names, and we’ll go from there? If you come through, you’ll get more information. For now, we’re on a need to know basis.”

“Yeah, and you don’t need to know anything about the psychic,” Tori admitted.

“You’re going to be the tough nut I have to crack,” he admitted to her. “That’s okay. I like a challenge.”

As he hustled away, Tori gave Julian a look. “You’re not really going to tell him, are you? We’re trying to keep this on the DL and letting him in is the total opposite of that.”

“If we don’t, what do you think he’ll do?”

She didn't have to think.

Tori was well aware.

“He’ll play detective and find out for himself. Then he’s going to out us all.”

“It looks like we’re in bed on this one,” Julian stated, leading her up to her room.

“Oh great--a threesome.”

He stared at her. “You were right. It wasn’t funny when I said it the other day, and it’s even less funny now that it came out of your mouth.”

Tori would have laughed, but she was too damn tired.

     
                  
* * *
  L   i   t   t   l  e  m  o  o  n  * * *

Thursday Night

Nyx’s Apartment

He couldn’t sleep.

Beau was thinking about a million things, and the woman beside him was on the top of the list. Nyx was soundly sleeping and being near her was making it hard to drift off. Each time he’d nearly slipped under, she’d bump into him, or he’d catch a whiff of her scent.

It was maddening.

Then add in the work issues brewing.

Beau had gotten the text message from his brother-in-law, updating him on Pearlie being found. He’d instructed them to lay low, and that put him on alert.

Something had to be up, and at that moment, it was really creeping him out.

The only things he could think about were that a young girl was dead, there was a killer running loose, and his woman was about to play séance later tomorrow.

It all added up to trouble.

It was making Beau nervous, and that was saying a lot. Normally, he was calm under fire.

Well, things had changed.

Sliding out of bed, careful not to bump Nyx, Beau pulled on his jeans and padded out of her room. Once outside the door, he headed to the best place to think.

The kitchen.

Whenever he had to mull things over, eating food always made him feel better. As he rummaged through Nyx’s cabinets, he realized something.

She didn't have snacks.

How was that possible?