“No, not lonely,” Fred said, with a frown. “Grayson climbs up between us on the bed.”
This time Caprice did laugh out loud, and Agnes and Fred joined her. “That’s what pets who bond with their parents do,” she told them.
“I used the search engine on my phone to find out more about you,” Fred confessed.
Caprice wasn’t insulted. After all, she’d brought him a dog without asking. “And what did you find out?”
“I found out that you rescue lots of animals and try to find them homes. Besides that . . . you’ve solved a few murders.”
“I’ve helped solve a few murders,” she corrected.
“Nonsense. You’ve put yourself in danger more than once. There was that fire, and a chase through woods, and something about you using self-defense techniques.”
“I had taken a self-defense course years ago and then I took a refresher. It seemed like the prudent thing to do if I was going to nose around in murder investigations.”
“You first did it because of your best friend.”
“That’s right, I did. And this one . . . It’s not just my wedding reception at stake, or Michelle’s winery. My brother Vince knew Michelle before, and he’s advising her when the police call her in. Roz, who is my best friend, is living with Vince. His involvement is causing tension between them.”
“Living together, not married?” Fred asked, with a bit of judgment in his voice.
Caprice shrugged. “Vince had the same parochial school training that I did. I figure he has his base values and I have mine. So I don’t interfere in his life.”
“But you are now.”
“Not directly,” she hedged. “But if this murder gets solved, that will help everyone who’s involved in any way.”
“Have you made any progress? Do you have any idea who did it?” Agnes asked.
“There are a lot of suspects.”
“I was at that convenience store that’s not too far from the winery. I heard that Vivian’s back. Is that true?”
Gossip zoomed around Kismet as fast as the electricity over the wires on the poles. “Yes, she’s returned. She’s staying in the house with Michelle and Jarrett.”
“At least Michelle and Jarrett have a chaperone,” Fred grumbled. “That is they do if Vivian’s sober. Is she?”
“I’ve only seen her briefly, but from what I could tell, yes, she was sober.”
“William drove her to drink,” Agnes said sadly.
“Why do you say that?” Caprice asked, ready to soak in new information.
“He wanted her involved in charity work and the hospital board,” Agnes maintained.
“But she didn’t have the personality for that,” Fred added. “She wasn’t cut out for it. Agnes and I went to cocktail parties now and then when William was introducing a new wine or having a seasonal promotional event. Vivian would just stand in a corner. She had trouble making conversation with strangers. Travis and his dad saw that weakness and they hated her for it. They judged her because of it. Their judgment led to her drinking.”
“So it’s true that Vivian’s drinking is the reason William divorced her?”
“I think she became a bother and a nuisance to him,” Fred explained. “William didn’t want to come home and find her drunk. He didn’t want her embarrassing him anywhere they went together. The more he yelled and scolded, the worse her drinking got.”
“A lonely woman with too much time and money on her hands turns to something that will give her a little peace,” Agnes noted perceptively.
Caprice supposed that was true. She asked Fred, “Have you put in applications for a job at other wineries around here?”
“I don’t want a long commute. Most of the local wineries are small. They don’t need me. But, yes, I put applications in. I even looked up how to do a résumé and submitted those with my letter. But I haven’t heard anything from anyone. They probably put it in their circular file.”
The waste can. Caprice hoped that wasn’t true. She had a feeling that Fred had loved making wine. Yes, he was older but she imagined he still enjoyed working in a field he had a passion for.
She liked talking to this couple and making friends with them. She just might have to invite them to her wedding.
Chapter Fourteen
That afternoon, Caprice tried the door to the events room at Rambling Vines Winery and it opened. She said to Nikki, “Michelle told me she’d keep it open for us. She had errands to run.”
Following Caprice inside, Nikki’s gaze canvased the room. “I think I remembered correctly, but I want to make a diagram so I can decide where to set up the servers’ station.”
As they walked through the large hall, Caprice suggested, “Probably over near the bar, don’t you think?”
“What will you have at the bar? Beer, cocktails, wine?”
“Just wine. Several different kinds. But just wine. Grant and I discussed it and that seems to be the best idea.”
Over at the bar area, Nikki made notes and drew something with her finger on the screen of her tablet. Off-handedly she commented, “I’m seriously considering renting space for Catered Capers. I think it’s time to move my cooking base out of the condo. I think I found a storefront that will work. It used to be a French café. It won’t take too much modification, and the rent is right.”
“Where is it?”
“It’s behind Country Fields Shopping Center next to a donut shop. I really don’t need to be in a high traffic area since everything I do will be behind the scenes. I can cook at a greater volume, maybe hire more assistants. I should be able to increase the money I bring in that way.”
As they strolled over toward the bar area, Caprice asked, “Have you talked about your business plan with anyone?”
“I’ve talked about it with Brett.”
“Is he good with figures?”
“He’s good with just about everything except . . .” Caprice focused on her sister rather than wedding incidentals. “Except?”
Nikki looked up from her tablet. “Believing I’ll stick around. So I guess I’ll just have to prove it to him and stick. Anyway, can we look at the space on the way home?”
“Sure. Will it be open?”
“I can text the manager of the property. I have his cell number.” Nikki took one last look around. “I think I have everything I need here.”
“Let’s leave by the back door,” Caprice suggested. “It’s locked from outside in, but the alarm is turned off so we should be able to get out that way. Michelle said just to make sure the door was closed solidly behind us.”
“Why do you want to go out that way?”
“If the doors are up on the garage, I wouldn’t mind taking another peek at those classic cars.”
“I know Dad would like to take a look,” Nikki said.
“Probably.”
Gardens had been planted at the rear side of the property and the grass was manicured. Knockout roses along the building would soon be blooming. There wasn’t a weed in sight.
The doors to two garages were open and Caprice broke into a wide smile. Then she saw someone moving around in the garage.
As they approached, Caprice told Nikki, “That’s Leon Wysocki. He’s the mechanic who restores the cars.”
Leon must have heard their feet crunching on the gravel. He was wearing gray denim overalls, an Orioles ball cap with a large bill, and a white T-shirt. In his hands he held a cloth that was grease streaked.
“Hi, there,” he said, recognizing Caprice.
“Hi, Leon. This is my sister Nikki. I told her about these cars. I was hoping we could catch another glimpse.”
He motioned toward both open garages. “Take a good look. I just waxed them all before I started tuning up the engine on this Thunderbird. I want them in tip-top shape so Michelle can sell them.”
“Is she planning on doing that?”
“She’s not sure yet. What about you? I’ve taken a fancy to that yellow Camaro.”
/> Caprice laughed. “Nope. It’s not for sale. Not now and I hope not ever. I’d like to pass it down to my kids.”
Nikki bumped her elbow and whispered, “So we’re thinking about that, are we?”
In the same whisper, Caprice returned, “Yes, we are.”
Leon had turned back toward the garage and hadn’t heard their interchange. He said, “If you like that classic Camaro so much, then you might be interested in a Dodge Challenger I’m restoring. It’s cobalt blue with a black vinyl top.”
Caprice shook her head. “I don’t think so. One classic car is enough for me.”
Motioning to all the cars again, he claimed, “Travis always insisted that they were a good investment. And they are. But Travis needed to pour his energy into something other than cars and wine.”
Before she could stop herself, Caprice blurted out, “He could have poured it into his marriage.”
As Leon stood by the Coronet, he nodded. “I agree with that. But what not many people know is that when Travis married Michelle, he thought she’d be malleable like his mother was. She wasn’t. After all, Michelle had been a nurse. She saved people’s lives. Just because she was a little quiet didn’t mean she’d do whatever he wanted. He often got angry because she wouldn’t do things his way.”
Anger and a failing marriage could be a lethal combination. “What did he do with his anger?”
“He wasn’t violent or anything like that,” Leon said, though Caprice wondered if anyone knew exactly what went on in a marriage. “But he kept a lot from her.”
“Can you give us an example?” Nikki asked. Leon closed his eyes for a moment as he thought about it. It didn’t take him long to come up with something. “Travis had a way of doing business that Michelle didn’t approve of. Much of that was Neil’s fault. Neil started giving kickbacks to a distributer or two so Rambling Vines wines would get a push and other local wineries wouldn’t.”
Caprice wondered if underhanded tactics were actually common in the wine business despite what Earl Hoff had told her. Maybe that was another question she’d have to ask Neil sometime and see if he looked guilty.
As Nikki and Caprice walked along the garage with Leon, someone called to them.
Caprice walked farther along the gravel lane and saw that the person calling to them was Vivian.
Vivian was a beautiful older woman. She had a confidence and vitality about her now that made it hard for Caprice to imagine she’d been a wallflower during her husband’s cocktail parties. But people could change according to their circumstances. Apparently Vivian had.
As Leon walked back to the garage, Caprice and Nikki met Vivian half way. Caprice introduced Nikki.
“Why don’t you come to the house with me and have a glass of iced tea? Michelle is away on errands and I’m a bit lonely.”
Caprice exchanged a look with her sister, and Nikki gave a small nod that meant she had time. Caprice did too. She had left time in her schedule today for wedding details.
Caprice and Nikki followed Vivian to the house. Instead of going to the parlor, Vivian took them to the kitchen. Caprice had redecorated this room too, suggesting marble counters and a wooden hood above the chef-quality stove. Its stainless steel matched the refrigerator and dishwasher, both which were built-in. There was a copper rack in the ceiling above the kitchen’s island that held saucepans. A chandelier with copper and wrought iron hung above the kitchen table.
The kitchen had been decorated in cream and taupe as Michelle had wanted. There was a framed photograph of poppies on the wall and poppy placemats on the table. Other than that, now the room looked barren and unused.
Going to the refrigerator, Vivian produced a pitcher of iced tea. “I made this myself this morning. It’s country peach, sweetened a little.”
“That sounds good,” Nikki said. “Our sixty-degree days will soon turn into seventy and eighty.”
“As a caterer, I imagine you spend a lot of time over a hot stove,” Vivian noted.
“A good amount,” Nikki confirmed. “My assistants do too. Caprice and I are going to stop at a space I might want to rent for a commercial kitchen.”
“You’re expanding?” Vivian asked.
“I want to expand. The problem is—I can’t handle more from my condo. It would be nice to have my condo back as a refuge rather than a place I work.”
Vivian addressed Caprice, “But you work at home, correct?”
“I do, but that’s very different. I’m mostly at my computer, taking client appointments, going to rental furniture warehouses, meeting with my assistant at client’s houses for staging. So all of my work isn’t accomplished at home.”
Vivian took a tray of cupcakes from the counter and brought it along with the iced tea to the table. “They are not home-made,” she warned them. “I bought them at The Cupcake House.
“Her red velvet cupcakes are the best,” Caprice said. “They’re a favorite of my friend Roz.”
“Roz is the one who’s dating your brother Vince who’s helping Michelle,” Vivian said, as if she’d gotten a complicated math problem correct.
Caprice smiled. “You’re learning fast.”
She shook her head. “It gives me something to do so I don’t think about Travis. I can’t help but wonder if I hadn’t left, would he’d be dead.”
“Did you have a choice whether or not you wanted to leave?” Caprice asked, remembering the gossip she’d heard.
“If I’d had a stiffer spine and less alcohol in my system, I might have at least gotten a place in Pennsylvania so I could see my sons. On the other hand, if William wouldn’t let me see them, it would have been that much more heartbreaking to stay here. I think that’s why I ran home to New Hampshire. He won full custody so there wasn’t much I could do.”
“That must have been so difficult for you,” Nikki sympathized.
“It was. William met me when I was young and impressionable. He was on vacation in Connecticut as was my family. We met at a yacht club. Back then I was proficient in sailing. I took him out on our boat, but then he rented one twice as big and took me out on his. He was handsome and I wanted to impress him. Apparently I did, but I was smitten with him too. He was ten years older but I didn’t think that would make a difference. Young people never do. Are you and your fiancé close to the same age?”
“Grant’s four years older than I am.”
“That’s about right,” Vivian decided. “My second husband Jeffrey was a year younger than I was, and still he died before me. One can never predict what life’s going to hand out. But I have learned to control what I can. I try not to look back or too much forward. Living in the present is better for everyone.”
Vivian patted Caprice’s hand. “Though I imagine when you’re younger, you want to look forward as much as you can.”
“That’s why Caprice and Grant are building an addition onto her house,” Nikki said. “Then they won’t have to worry about growing pains in the future.”
“The addition will make the house ours,” Caprice explained.
Vivian nodded. “Is it an extra bedroom?” “Actually, no,” Caprice said. “It’s an office for Grant with a powder room. He can work from there, see clients, but also use it as his man-cave.”
“Whoever devised that term man-cave?” Vivian wanted to know. “I’ve never heard my female friends say they needed a woman cave.”
Both Nikki and Caprice laughed.
Becoming serious again, Vivian said, “If I had been older, closer to William’s age, he probably wouldn’t have looked at me. On the other hand, if I had been, maybe I would have been better with people. I don’t have a problem now meeting new people, one on one, but in a crowd, I still freeze. So I avoid crowds. That’s the freedom I’ve had in getting older. My second husband understood that.”
“Michelle said you worked for your husband?” Caprice asked.
“That’s how I met Jeffrey. When I went back to New Hampshire, I had to find a job. I’d managed William’s ho
use before I started drinking so much. I’d organized the staff. So I applied as Jeffrey’s secretary. Back then every female knew how to type. Eventually I began handling his books and inventory too.”
“That’s a lot of responsibility,” Caprice noted.
“It was, and I was good at it. After a few years, we became romantically involved. He was such a gentleman. He hadn’t wanted to start anything before that because he knew something in me was broken. Back in New Hampshire, I began to heal, stand up for myself, and have confidence in my own abilities. After Jeffrey died, I handled running the mill on my own for a few years.”
“Then it’s possible you could help Michelle with the business aspect of the winery,” Caprice suggested.
Vivian took a cupcake and ate it. Then she took a few sips of her iced tea. Caprice and Nikki did the same thing, but Caprice realized Vivian was thinking about something. Whether she should confide in them any more than she already had?
Finally, after she’d turned her sweating glass around twice, Vivian admitted, “I not only returned here for Travis’s funeral but to convince Jarrett to run the winery with Michelle. I thought maybe that would give his life purpose. But he doesn’t want to do it. He has his heart set on working at that crab shack. Can you imagine?”
“I guess the question is whether he wants to work at the crab shack because he enjoys it or because he’s running from something,” Nikki said.
Vivian pointed her finger at Nikki. “You’re a very wise young woman. Maybe I’ll ask Jarrett just that.”
Caprice hoped Nikki hadn’t given Vivian ammunition to start a family argument. On the other hand, it would be a good question for Jarrett to answer.
* * *
As Caprice pulled up to a parking space in front of the address Nikki had given her, Nikki asked, “Is Lady alone?”
“Not exactly alone. Sophia and Mirabelle are with her.”
“You know what I mean. You said you have three appointments this evening. Is Dulcina going to watch her?”
“No, Mom and Dad are. Dad said Blitz needs play time, so leaving Lady with them will work out well.”
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