Murder & Mayhem

by T Wells Brown

  He also didn’t realize how in love with him she was until he saw the level of pain on her face from his betrayal.

  And he certainly wasn’t prepared for the panic that coursed through his body when she told him he would never lay hands on her again.

  Regret wasn’t an emotion Cabe knew very well or was comfortable with.

  He’d done something he had made a lifetime career out of not doing.

  Making bad decisions.

  He knew with every fiber of his being he’d made a very… very bad decision by betraying her.

  Chapter 16

  Winemakers and Tummy Troubles

  After the night in the bar, I spent the next three nights staying at Steve and Allistor’s B&B. It was close to Bellini Estate, so I was able to go to the estate for baking, but it was far enough away that I didn’t have to worry about running into Cabe, or even worse, worry about him hearing me cry myself to sleep each night.

  That’s exactly what I did – I showed up each day as the rooster crowed and high tailed it outta there as soon as my baking and cooking was finished for the day.

  Sydney and Stacy knew where I was and were in constant contact.

  You know who wasn’t in contact?

  Cabe.

  Cabe Butt Head Brown was not in contact with me, not once.

  He didn’t text. He didn’t call. And later, when I finally went back home, he didn’t show up in my kitchen to eat any of my cooking .

  I knew through reports from the staff, that Cabe and the Macho Men’s security system was finally completed, and they had transitioned to monitoring remotely. Roman found me and showed me how to view the system on all of my various devices and sign in, if I needed to, from somewhere else.

  Luckily, my uncle’s brother and sister in law, Francisco and Sophia had come back from Italy just in time to work the grapes into must and start the fermenting process in the winery. Turns out, the fire at their winery in Italy was a small accident that got blown out of proportion because everyone was so hyper vigilant.

  One great thing that happened: we interviewed a few winemakers and were very fortunate to have a female winemaker come in and blow everyone away with her interview. Her knowledge of the region and wine making process from harvest to bottling was extensive (Sydney’s words, not mine) and, everyone really liked her.

  Her name was Sloane, and she seemed to me to be very guarded. She had impeccable references and Sydney liked her right off, so we had her start immediately and set her up in one of the little homes on the estate as part of her salary.

  Sloane was beautiful, no – striking. That is a better way to describe her. A striking woman. She had the lightest long blonde hair I’d ever seen, with strawberry blonde low lights, large dark brown eyes and brown eyebrows. Her eyes, in contrast to her fair coloring and hair, gave her an ethereal appearance. She had a small smattering of freckles across her nose, and was a tiny little thing. She had all the right parts in all the right places and her parts were correctly proportioned to her frame, but she was so small.

  As petite as she looked, I thought she couldn’t lift a feather, but she ended up being crazy strong and extremely active. She ran circles around the guys who worked in her department with her. Not to be outdone by a tiny woman who looked like a fairy princess, all the guys picked up their pace and got moving. They were having a heck of a time keeping up. It was funny to watch and gave me the warm fuzzies to know a tiny fair gal could still wreak havoc on a bunch of rugged farm hands.

  The women really liked Sloane, and even though she had a secretive nature and a past that she wouldn’t talk much about, she fit in really well with the wine country tribe. It was nice for us and probably even nicer for her. Little did she know with this group; her secretive nature would only make us more curious and cause us to dig into her background further.

  My attempts to avoid Cabe seemed to pay off, as I didn’t see him for a couple of weeks after the bar incident.

  Sydney told me Cabe was working with Roman on Raquel and Antonio’s car, they knew it had been tampered with, and were now ruling it as a homicide.

  Mark Sephos was the number one suspect, but we couldn’t place him in California at the same time as my aunt and uncle’s car wreck, because he was with me and my mother in Texas.

  Then I remembered that my momma and Mark had made an impromptu quick trip out of Texas and were gone for a little bit of time, but then came right back. I didn’t think anything of it as my momma would accompany Mark on weekend trips, or a few day, or overnight trips while they were dating. I wasn’t sure if this information would put Mark and my momma in California around the time that my aunt and uncle’s car was sabotaged, but the information gave Roman and Cabe an area to focus on.

  They still didn’t have anything to tie Mark Sephos to the accident, but they were digging, and they were digging hard. I had not had any more attempts on my life, but I was still under strict security protocols.

  Twice I text my momma, but both times I got no response back. This was very unusual for my mom, because she never missed an opportunity to strike out at me even through text messaging.

  Captain Hernandez became a regular fixture over the next couple of weeks, especially in my kitchen. He showed up just in time for lunch and then would come back around in time for dinner. A couple of those times I packed him lunches and sent them off with him the night before, so he would have something to hold him over if he couldn’t get to my kitchen for lunch the next day.

  He was sweet, kind, playful, and funny, and treated me more like a big brother would a sister than a date or someone he would be romantically interested in. But I thought that about Cabe too, so maybe I wasn’t the best at reading men and their intentions.

  Either way, he was a very nice distraction who kept my mind occupied on something other than Cabe.

  Captain Steve didn’t ask to take me out, and he never tried to kiss me, or touch me in any romantic way, or do anything more than give me a hug as he left at the end of the evening. I didn’t know if he was biding his time to give me room to heal my broken heart, or if he was just keeping an eye on me to keep me safe. I was starting to wonder if it wasn’t more the second than the first.

  I knew one thing for sure, he really liked the way I cooked, and it was nice to have somebody to eat meals with. He would show up in my kitchen at lunch and sit at my island while I was baking and cooking for the events and then he would come at night and we would sit out on my patio under the stars and have a grilled dinner with a lovely wine or maybe a beer and just talk about the day.

  This was something I could get used to. There was an easy, comfortable and relaxing energy about him. Same with conversation, it was easy. I didn’t have to put on airs or worry, and there was no pressure to be anything other than me when we talked about our day.

  We settled into a nice routine with Sloane and Antonio’s brother Francisco working the winery, Rafael and his men put the vineyards to bed. Our new baker, Doug, and Stacy and I, along with support staff worked the event halls and tasting rooms.

  Sydney occasionally showed up, but never stayed long. I honestly didn’t know what she was up to and if I asked, she would act all cagey about it, so I stopped bothering her. I did let her know I was there for her if she needed anything – which resulted in a tight hug from her.

  Weird.

  As things seemed to relax a little bit around the estate, the Macho Men were in and out, but still around. It seemed there was always somebody at the estate from the Macho Man group, but Cabe was rarely, if ever.

  On one of those routine days, a couple weeks after the bar incident, Lance Drake showed up at the winery to attend one of the events. We were short staffed that day, so I was helping to get the buffet set up and was out on the floor in the event hall when he approached me.

  “Hi Isabella, it’s been so long since I’ve seen you,” he said, giving me a brief hug and then looked around, “Is Cabe going to come up and harass me for talking to you?”
<
br />   “Not any time soon Lance. I don’t think we’re gonna have to worry about that,” I muttered, “like ever again.”

  “Oh good! Well, I can’t say that makes me unhappy.” He smiled at me. “So, what do you say Isabella? Think we could finally have that date we never went on?”

  “I don’t know Lance, let me see how this next week schedules out.” I looked at him and watched him deflate a little. I felt bad, so went on to say, “There’re a few things that, as you can imagine, have made me a little bit security conscious. So, while I would like to go out on a date with you, and I really wouldn’t mind having dinner with you, if we did have a date, I think it would need to be here at the winery.”

  “I have an idea. Why don’t you come over to my winery and let me make dinner for you over there?”

  “I think if I went over to your winery to have dinner, I would have to bring the Macho Men brigade with me, and to be honest, I’m a little burned out on all the testosterone, so if you’d like to have dinner with me in the next couple o’ weeks, let’s pick a day and you can come here and we’ll have a nice light hearted dinner outside on the courtyard and we can listen to the music and the fountain.”

  I was getting a little tired of trying to navigate Lance, so when he responded with, “You know Isabella, doesn’t sound like I have much of a choice. I’d rather have dinner with you here then not have dinner with you at all. What day looks good for you?” I was relieved.

  “How does Thursday evening sound? Around seven?”

  “Thursday evening at seven sounds perfect. I’ll be here. ”

  I wasn’t feeling like having dinner with any man except Captain Steve, but I also knew it was good to have a distraction and keep myself busy and dinner with Lance was going to do just that.

  The rest of the week flew by, and before I knew it, Thursday rolled around. I prepared a beautiful roasted rosemary chicken with small colorful potatoes, carrots, celery and turnips with fresh baked biscuits and gravy. I paired this with a lovely IPA from Jenna’s son’s microbrewery, which was a perfect combination with the chicken. For dessert, I prepared my aunt’s lemon raspberry tart and paired that with a freshly made lemon martini. I set the dinner up on the patio off the house kitchen and set flameless candles all around to add a little bit of romance.

  I wore a soft pink tank maxi dress made from a light weight tee-shirt material. I’d left my hair down and full, and I’d applied very light makeup. It was a very romantic scene, and I felt pretty, but it made me a bit sad, because I was so not feeling it with Lance - at all. No matter how hard I tried. And believe me – I tried – hard.

  Lance was an impressive date – he brought a beautiful bouquet of colorful flowers, and looked very handsome. He wore a pair of light khaki slacks with a white polo shirt and was impeccably groomed with impeccable manners. He smelled good, looked good and was the perfect gentleman.

  So why couldn’t I feel anything for him ?

  I tried very hard not to let my lack of interest show, but I think Lance caught on, and finished the date shortly after dessert was served. He gave me a sweet kiss on the cheek, a promise to ‘do this again’ and then he showed himself out.

  I think he left disappointed.

  I noticed as the days went on, and the weeks went by, my energy level seemed to be less and less. I was needing more and more sleep. Then I came down with a silly little tummy flu. The smells from the kitchen really intensified and had me running to the restroom to get rid of whatever I had eaten previously – and then I would be fine, until the next wave came over me.

  Whatever was going on with me, I was going to need to see a doctor pretty soon if it didn’t pass. I couldn’t be sick and preparing everyone’s food and I couldn’t work if I was getting sick every time a smell hit me wrong.

  Chapter 17

  Guns and Galas

  For the next six weeks, while I nursed my broken heart, the Women of Wine Country tribe planned, plotted and executed another large fundraising extravaganza benefiting the Harmony Grove Animal Shelter. This fund raiser was one of many, and we were working on raising enough money to build a new shelter for Becca’s rescue that would eventually become a no kill shelter. Becca would run both the shelter and rescue as the director and we all would take turns serving on the board .

  This new shelter would serve as an over flow for Harmony Grove Animal Shelter and would give Becca the ability to pull from other shelters too, specifically, high kill shelters. The Women of Wine Country tribe had been working on this for years and it was not an easy feat, but the harder they worked and the more traction they got, the more attention people paid. It really was a beautiful thing to see so many come together and donate so generously for animals who were homeless and in need .

  The event was being held at Bellini Estates and everyone was invited. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone: Municipal Advisory Council members, District Supervisors, and Fire District Board Members. We had a California Senator coming, various business owners and the local news media covering the event, in addition to the social media celebrities and influencers of the area.

  We planned a black-tie formal affair set in a Rio de Janeiro Carnival theme, so people were wearing very intricate head-wear and their fanciest attire.

  We decided to use Stephanie (aka ‘crazy wedding planner’) as our event coordinator. Yes, she was super high strung, but really good at her job, and we liked her vision for the event.

  She did not let us down.

  Everything was decorated gorgeously with beautiful beads, feathers, pearls and crystals in gold, silver, black, blue, green and red. The whole affair was opulent and colorful. I liked the way she had decorated the long table, with beautiful large sprays of white flowers. She’d even brought in giant potted trees that she had strung with warm amber white lights, so that the chandeliers had something to hang from. Our staff also strung a variety of lights in every tree, bush, and along the stair cases. Six large chandeliers holding candles hung low over the center of the tables, and more candles floated in the fountain.

  My team and I worked on the food for two days; prime rib dinner with all the typical fixings, served on the large beautifully laid table outside in the courtyard that sat one hundred, family style.

  The table my food went on was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. The chandeliers dripped with crystals that reflected the candlelight brilliantly, and cast twinkling light all over the table.

  The candlelight also reflected off the highly polished sterling silver cutlery, the crystal goblets and fine bone ivory china.

  The opulence was dazzling.

  We all worked very hard to make this stunning gala happen and each plate sold for one thousand dollars. Without a doubt it was the biggest event we had so far, and we felt like we were almost half way to the amount that we needed to get that first building up. We were all so proud that our group could pull it off.

  Captain Hernandez was working that evening. So, while he was going to be at the estate, he was on duty with the other firefighters hosting a booth, as were our local CHP and our local Sheriff, the local hospital, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and the Harmony Grove animal shelter officers.

  One of our local architects made a 3-D image mock-up of the final buildings and it was really something. We were only tackling one building at a time, but seeing the full vision got everyone excited.

  We invited Vista Rio winery, Lance’s winery, to attend, as well as eight of the other neighboring smaller boutique wineries to pour their wines. We set up makeshift wine tasting stations around the estate. There were tons to do and it was very organized; music in one area, silent auction in another, darts and billiards with a draft beer station set up and hosted by Jenna’s sons’ establishment; Harmony Grove Microbrewery. We worked hard to cover all of the bases; we wanted everyone who attended to be wowed.

  Every item was donated, so every dime earned went directly to the Harmony Grove Animal Shelter fundraising event.

  There were over
two hundred and fifty guests who bought drink and appetizer tickets at two hundred dollars each. Those guests would be able to enjoy the tasting rooms, music, games and other amenities and allowed entry once the dinner was finished and acknowledgements awarded.

  I had been extremely tired the last few weeks. My little tummy flu had gone away, thankfully, and I also seemed to be losing a little bit of weight. That was a super nice surprise. I guess it all made sense; I had been working harder and longer than I ever had before, so that’s why I was so tired. The stomach flu on top of that would explain why I was thinner.

  Jenna, being extremely generous, and also using this function to debut her new formal line; outfitted all of us girls in pearl white and champagne beaded gowns that were strapless, form fitted and flowed to the floor. All of them were similar - but none of them exactly the same. My dress was a fitted, beaded strapless number with a mermaid skirt. It had pearls and rhinestones all over it, and was, to put it mildly: Shut. Your. Mouth. Gorgeous.

  As Jenna instructed, (when Jenna instructed, you did! Seriously, the lady knew her stuff) I had my hair up in a beautiful complicated up-do with little bits flowing down from everywhere. I wore pearl stud earrings, a pearl choker with a beautiful pearl cuff that Jenna gifted to all of us, along with a sweet little silver heart with a paw-print for our charm bracelets.

  She outfitted Steve and Allistor in black tuxes with beautiful beaded ties and pearl cuff links. They were both given beautiful head pieces that matched their extravagant ties. Stella teared up as Jenna was presenting the cuff links to the guys and said, “Raquel would be so happy to see this - how far we’ve come and what we have accomplished…I miss her so much!”

  We took a moment and raised our glasses to my beloved aunt, who was so desperately missed.

  Have I said how much I love these ladies?

  With bright red lips, the only other makeup I had on was a little mascara on my eyes, I felt like I looked good.

  My hairpiece, as with all our hairpieces, matched our dresses. Mine was a large mother of pearl comb with a beautiful bouquet of feathers that cascaded off the right side of the comb and curled around my ear.