I was trying to be proactive!
Jumpin’ Jezebels! So much for a little peace on the home front.
“Becca!” Jenna yelled at her friend.
“What! He wasn’t going to do anything. Now he thinks Isabella is going to try to solve this with our help, so he will enlist every person he knows to get the job done.”
“You don’t think he was already doing that?”
“Raquel and Antonio are dead. That’s what I think. I am NOT standing by and letting anything more happen to our Bella! She is all we have left of them! We have been dang lucky so far!” she finished, and caught herself with tears in her eyes. Becca, our tough as nails girl, was scared shitless and worried for me. It broke me a little to see. I looked around the room at these ladies, who were my aunt’s closest friends and now, were my closest friends. They were all grieving and scared too. Maybe it wasn’t so smart getting them all involved after all.
I needed to rethink this whole strategy.
“Oh no you don’t. I know, by the look on your face, what you’re thinking and it’s too late to shut us out. So just get that out of your head. We would never forgive you if you went at this without us at your back,” Jenna said. She looked around the room, “We all have our assignments: we stay in contact and fill the other gals in on whatever we can, except Syd and Francesca. They can be brought up to speed once we figure out what’s happening and we know they can deal with it.”
Everyone nodded in agreement and we all went about our assigned tasks.
Mine, unfortunately, was texting momma and trying to weasel out of her what the heck she and her guy were up to. I did not trust him one bit.
Without waiting, I sent my momma a quick text and asked her if she was ok and if she was planning to stay in California or if she was heading back to Texas. I figured it was a good opener and would tell me whether or not if she was still in play.
While I waited to hear back, I checked the schedule for the next events and got started, puttering around the kitchen, gathering ingredients and prepping for the baking I needed to do.
I set my tablet up for viewing, located one of my favorite bakers who was doing a Facebook live to play in the back ground, and got to work.
I had several trays of garlic roasting in the broilers and a choice rib roast in the rotisserie and was just sticking some little puff pastry bites filled with brie, rosemary and fig into the oven when my phone dinged .
Thinking it was momma, I quickly grabbed it up and checked my text messages. It was Cabe and he was asking if there was any food. Like literally his text was:
‘ Foo d ?’
That was it. No hi. No, I’m sorry I hung up on you.
Just Food?
Men.
I texted him back that there was food and he could come in and eat in the house kitchen.
I took a French bread loaf from some of the loaves I’d made for lunch, out of the cold storage, warmed it slightly and cut it in thirds. I hollowed out an end piece and filled it with some of the chicken salad that was left over from lunch. Poured a glass of iced tea and quickly sautéed garlic, ginger, snow peas and water chestnuts with a little brown sugar and garlic chili sauce as a side.
Big Bad Brown’s lunch was all set up for him when he waltzed in to my kitchen…with his two friends.
Mind you, not just any ol’ male friends, of course not, they were, of the Macho Man variety, all dark haired - broad shouldered, with thick thighs, and (not that I was lookin’ or anythin’ but it was hard for a girl not to notice), their jeans cupped and flattened in all the right places and showcased their assets shall we say - front and back - brilliantly.
They were two really good-looking friends who I’d seen at the funeral and around the estate helping Cabe, but not yet met formally.
“Wow it smells great in here!” said tall dark and handsome number one.
‘Uh…” I started, and broke out in a panic, snatching Cabe’s plate out from in front of him where he’d sat at the bar and started to dig in, fork in mid-air.
“What the…?” Cabe started.
“You didn’t say you had friends with you! When you come to my kitchen to eat, you indicate to me first off if you have anyone with you. DO YOU HEAR ME?” I finished with a shout and stomped away with Cabe’s plate muttering about poor manners and ungrateful men, and quickly made up the rest of the chicken salad and sautéed more snow peas and water chestnuts, stomping and complaining the entire time.
I set two more places at the island bar, shot Cabe with my best stink eye every chance I got, and ignored both of his friends’ low laughter.
Finally, the veggies were perfect and I plated them with the sandwiches, and tea poured for everyone. Only after I served Cabe’s friends with a big smile, did I place Cabe’s plate back in front of him.
I turned away, only to smile to myself when I heard the appreciative moans; this was my favorite time, when someone first dug into the food, I’d made them, and they couldn’t hold in the happiness it produced .
“Ma’am, my name’s Marcus and I’d like to officially proclaim my undying love for you and ask for your hand in marriage.” The was from the Macho Man, aka hot guy number two, sitting furthest from Cabe luckily for him, ‘cause Cabe shot him with a death glare if I’d ever seen one.
“Well, since you’re the second man this month to ask for my hand in marriage after tasting my food, I’m afraid my response will have to be: get in line.”
In unison the men, even Cabe, all threw their heads back and roared with laughter.
I thought it was humorous, but not that funny.
Men.
My attention was diverted when my phone dinged again and when I checked this time; it was my momma.
‘Styn n cali u ddnt thnk ud get rid of me tht ezy did ya?’
Shoot. A girl could hope couldn’t she. I texted her back.
‘Momma, if you go home now, I’ll sign the house over to you. It’ll be yours free and clear. I will even pay the taxes and keep the lights, water and trash going for you.’
I held my breath waiting for the response, not realizing the kitchen had gone quiet and the men were watching me closely. Her text came back immediately.
‘Whyd i do tht whn im gttn it all anywy '
Well shit. That was that. She was going to be something else to keep in my focus. My momma was mean and wily and was almost scarier than the men ramming me with their SUV’s. Almost.
I looked up at Cabe and said, “Momma’s stayin’ in California.”
“I know.”
“You know?”
“Yes.”
“You’d think maybe to keep me informed too?” I knew he wasn’t going to, but it didn’t mean I was any less irritated about it. “Did you also know that Mark Sephos was here today and threatened to fire Rafael?”
Cabe’s body language told me that he did not, in fact, know about Mark and he didn’t look happy about it. I liked that, so I continued, “And did you also know Mark was caught speaking privately to the new winemaker and Rafael says the new guy is going to ruin the grapes?”
I stopped speaking when I heard the loud front door chimes go off. It was weird, because no one but staff was around the house and they would know to come in this time of day. It also was weird, ‘cause I’d never heard them before. They were beautiful, and loud, and…somehow, I knew I would grow to dread those chimes anytime I heard them.
Chapter 12
Momma Strikes Again
My phone, Cabe’s phone, the house phone and the door chimes, all went off around the same time. I started towards the door, but stopped short when my phone started ringing and Cabe’s shortly after that. It was so much ruckus, I became a little over sensitized and it slowed my responses – I honestly wasn’t sure what to do first.
The sudden commotion had Cabe reacting very differently than me. He immediately answered his phone, and whoever was on the other end, and whatever they said to him, gave him the info he needed to storm, in long aggr
essive strides, from the kitchen to the front door. I went to follow, but hottie number one (who later I found out was named Lucas) gently caught my arm in a loose grip as I tried to swing past him and said, “Go ahead and answer your phone Chica , Let Cabe handle whoever is at the door. If it’s for you, he’ll come get you.”
It was said super sweet and he wasn’t holding firmly onto me, but I still got the feeling I wasn’t leaving the kitchen. Now, normally I would have had a serious attitude about this and given him some of my “You aren’t the boss of me” sass; but I gotta say having your car destroyed by being rammed, and shot at, forcing you to be in the hospital for several days changes how you respond to certain circumstances. When you’ve got a couple of big badass Macho Men who know how to handle themselves, offering suggestions of safety – well, if you have any smarts about you at all, you at least listen to them.
Which I did.
I answered my phone and it was Stacy, who was calling to let me know she had received a call from one of the recipients from the scholarship Raquel and Antonio had given out. They had been served with legal papers saying the will was being contested.
I was in shock. The house phone started ringing again, prompting me to run to the office/library to answer it. The caller was also a very upset employees’ wife who had also received legal documents that said their inheritance (this time one of the rental homes) was being contested.
I knew in my gut what this was - who this was, and a cold numbness washed over me. Would I never be free of this woman? Would I never be able to have any kind of a life? Would she always be there to screw things up for me?
Yes.
Yes, she would. I knew it was my momma who was behind this and I also had a pretty good idea that her boyfriend Mark was knee deep in it as well. I was sure at this point he came looking for momma and I think he wined and dined and white knighted her, the entire time working to get her to fall for him on purpose. Which also then led me to believe he did this knowing my aunt and uncle were going to die, and this also meant he killed them or had the knowledge someone was going to kill them.
A cold shudder rocked my body with these dark thoughts.
Cabe came walking back into the kitchen furious, holding a package of papers in his hand. I could tell right away that this was not going to be a good situation.
“Isabella, you might want to take a seat,” I took one look at him and I thought “Okay - maybe I wanted to take a seat.”
Hottie number one and hottie number two both stood, and since their chairs at the bar where they were eating were vacant, I sat down in the closest one to me, “Isabella, your fucking mother is contesting the will; she’s sent a fucking cease-and-desist letter and a contested notification to every single person who was in Raquel and Antonio’s will, so right now everything is frozen and we can’t do a fucking thing until this is resolved through legal avenues. Sydney was on the phone with me; she got served first and honey, this shit is not good. Her attorney is the Markin’s attorney.”
Cabe stopped speaking for a minute to gage my reaction, I think – or just take a breath. Either way, he stopped speaking and it gave me a second to start to process when he said, “Sydney is aware of this, their attorney is really, really good. No, he’s a fucking shark, but he’s a really good fucking shark, so right now we’ve just got to play everything tight and close to the vest, keep things going as if everything is normal, but we got to keep a fucking close eye on everything that’s happening here at the estate.” Then he threw his head back and yelled to the ceiling, “Like I needed one more fucking thing to deal with!”
I was so shocked that I couldn’t really speak. I was trying to take everything in, and, to be honest, I wasn’t sure how good I was doing coping with all of the things I’d been hit with. Since my aunt and uncle had passed, it seemed like I was on a game show featuring me and the premise of the show was to see how many hits I could take before I caved. My ears were ringing and I was sure my blood pressure had risen so high they were gonna be hauling me off to the hospital again!
I needed to calm myself.
I took a deep breath.
Then I took another.
Looking down at my clenching hands, I worked towards quieting my head so I could think.
I knew this was going to happen. Well, I didn’t know this exact thing would happen, but I should’ve known my momma would do something like this. I am not sure, with everything I knew about my momma, why I was surprised. I didn’t know what was more upsetting: that this was happening, or that I was surprised this was happening ?
Why wasn’t I prepared? I should know better and should be ready for anything she threw at me. I mean, seriously, did she know my aunt and uncle were going to die?
My aunt was very clear about not wanting my momma to have anything. What grounds did my momma really have to stand on? Everybody knew how my aunt felt about my momma. What it really came down to was: I needed to know everything, I needed to know exactly what Cabe knew about my aunt and uncle being killed, and then I needed to share my beliefs with him.
My beliefs were:
One, that Mark is the one who killed them or knew somebody who would kill them, and two, he had made friends with my momma in order to be in her good graces before my Raquel and Antonio died.
So, with that in mind, I turned my body fully towards Cabe and said, “I need you to come clean with me about my aunt and uncle’s car. I need to know exactly what’s going on, I don’t want any more surprises, if you and I are going to be partners whether we are romantically involved or not, you need to treat me like a partner, like an adult, and tell me everything you know, so my decisions are made with all the information available to me.”
Cabe stood very still, quietly looking down at me with an intensity I’d not seen from him before, and said, “You’re right Isabella. You do need to know everything that I know. I’ll fill you in and we’ll make a game plan. But right now, I want you to finish up what you’re doing in here; Sydney is on her way over, when she gets here we will all sit down and talk about everything we all know, because you know stuff, and I know stuff, and Sydney knows stuff and the three of us have got to get a game plan and on the same page, alright with you?”
Thank goodness. A game plan and a clear form of defense was going to be our saving grace.
I released the breath I didn’t realize I had been holding and said, “OK, that sounds great to me. Let me just finish up what I’m doing here,” and said more to myself, “The rotisserie is going to be cooking for a few hours. I don’t have to worry about that. I’ll get the brie bites out and clean up this kitchen and I’m done,” and said to the room, “As soon as Sydney gets here, let me know and I’ll meet you in the library. Now, I need you all out of my kitchen so I can finish up quickly.”
I set about my work and the men left without saying another word. Actually, they both started to leave, spun around, and came back towards where I was standing. They reached around me, grabbed their plates of food and then left without saying a word. Whoever said the path to a man’s heart was through his stomach was freaking right.
After I got the kitchen set straight, the brie bites pulled out and stored properly, I got ahold of Stacy and Rafael on a three-way phone call. I let them know that I needed them to take over, and that if they were served with anything not to worry about it, but to bring the paperwork directly to me. Once I finished with the call, I set about making a pot of strong coffee, knowing from past experience that is what Cabe and Sydney would want to drink, while I preferred tea.
Leaving the kitchen, I found Cabe huddled with his Macho Man group while they made a game plan for the security. They didn’t hide what they were saying; which I appreciated, they simply laid out a game plan and it made me feel like I was on their team. Now, to be honest, I didn’t understand seventy percent of the words they were using because they were using very technical terms about the level of security that was being installed like an umbrella over the vineyards. What I did un
derstand was they had planned out a very in-depth security system with surveillance, that all of us would be able to use on our phones and tablets, which was very convenient.
I also got a phone call from Sophia telling me that she and Francisco had gotten served. They were also calling to let me know they had their vineyard and their winery in working order with Francisco’s brothers (my other aunts and uncles) and they were on their way back to Bellini Estates.
See, I still had family.
Shortly after I finished cleaning and talking to Sophia, the coffee and tea was ready and set up in the library, Sydney arrived.
The three of us huddled, closed up together in my uncle’s library, and talked very frankly about what was happening .
Cabe started, “I think we can all be very clear we definitely believe that Antonio and Raquel, were murdered. Their car crash was no accident. I spoke with the forensic mechanic; he went over the car, and that car was so tampered with there was no way they were coming off that mountain. They’re lucky, I guess, they even got on the mountain. Everything, the brakes, the steering, even the fucking seatbelts: I MEAN everything was tampered with.”
I started crying and silently wept as Cabe went on, “There’s no way they were coming off that mountain. Whoever tampered with their vehicle knew about their plans.” He stopped speaking and looked at us both intently before he went on, “So what I did, and I did this without any of you knowing, was had the house swept for electronic devices. And the house was infested with bugs, numerous listening and numerous video devices. We removed all of them. We did, however, keep a few of the devices active out on the vineyard so we could possibly trace back to their IP address. Unfortunately, it was a very complex system, one that I personally would’ve used myself, which tells me we have experienced players we’re dealing with here. Once the interior video and audio devices were discovered and disconnected, they knew they were being looked at, and whoever they are, immediately stopped all transmission, leaving us sitting on our damn hands.”
Murder & Mayhem Page 11