A Food and Wine Club Mystery Boxset Books 1 through 5

by Cat Chandler

  Nicki smiled when she heard Jenna yawn through the phone. “You leave my rice cakes alone, and I plan to run this afternoon when I get back.”

  “Fine. I’ll put your health-nut food in the pantry before I leave. And Maxie came by to remind you about the lemon cake and the Ladies in Writing Society meeting tomorrow morning.”

  With a mental groan, Nicki added one more thing to her task list when she got home.

  “I didn’t call you about lemon or rice cakes, though. I thought you’d like to know that lover-boy Rob called. Your Skype kept ringing until we couldn’t stand it anymore. I’ll bet he’s left a million voice mails on your phone,” Jenna complained. “Anyway, Alex and I did rock-paper-scissors to decide who had to talk to him and tell him to stop calling. I lost. Which is fine since I didn’t want to listen to that constant ringing through the walls while I was working, and didn’t mind telling him that.”

  Jenna gave a loud sniff. “Geez. If you aren’t home, you aren’t home. He should take the hint.”

  Having waited patiently through her former roommate’s usual rant about Rob, Nicki sighed when the computer geek paused. “Well, what did he want?”

  “To let you know he’s coming home tonight after all, and he wants to see you. It’s important,” Jenna said. “Which I take to mean whatever it is, it must involve him.”

  “I can’t drive into the city tonight.” Nicki frowned. She still had to finish the article for Matt and wanted to get a fresh start on more interviews tomorrow. And there was also the matter of the lemon cake.

  “I told him you were extremely busy. Too busy to come into the city on no notice at all. So he said he’d be driving up here to see you tomorrow. About six,” Jenna said. When Nicki let out a gasp, she quickly added, “I’m sorry to deliver the bad news. Well, I have to go if I want to get any work done.”

  The phone went dead and Nicki glared at it. “Thanks a bunch.”

  Realizing she was sitting on the cold, stone floor with the contents of her purse scattered out in front of her, Nicki sighed and gathered everything up, dumping it all back into her bag before pushing herself up to a standing position. She was patting the dust off her pants when she froze. The distinct sound of footsteps echoed down the hallway followed by a voice from the arched entrance to the room.

  “What are you doing in here?”

  Chapter Twelve

  Nicki smiled at the older gentleman with the long, droopy moustache. Dressed in jeans and a collared shirt, he didn’t look at all menacing, even with the frown on his face.

  “Hi. I’m Nicki Connors. I came to see Jim Holland and thought it would be all right if I looked around.”

  “Nicki Connors, did you say? The woman who was with Geri when she found the body?”

  That wasn’t the way Nicki remembered it, but she was okay with that if it kept her from being thrown off the property.

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Well, you come on out of there now. I’m sure it was a horrible experience, but coming back here isn’t going to change anything.” He made a gesture for Nicki to precede him through the archway, which she promptly did. At least the hallway had more light from its overhead bulbs so it lessened the feeling of being trapped in a dark room with a potential serial killer, even though the man with the big mustache didn’t act like one.

  “I’m Pete. I handle the security here at the winery, although that doesn’t amount to much. I usually work the night shift, but got switched around this week because the day guy is on vacation.” Pete nodded and walked with her down the hallway, back to the junction point.

  “You said you were here to see Mr. Holland? I can take you over to his office,” Pete offered.

  “Oh, no. That won’t be necessary,” Nicki said with a smile. “I’ve already seen him. I just thought I’d drop in at the tasting room through the backdoor. The next thing I knew I was standing in front of the police tape. I stepped into the room next to it to get away and calm myself a bit.” Nicki thought her story sounded weak, even to her own ears, and wondered if you had to be an expert liar to be an investigator. Because from her limited experience, it seemed it sure would help.

  “Why don’t you come into the tasting room and sit down for a few minutes? No one’s in there but Victor and Kurt.”

  Since she wanted to talk to Kurt, the waiter George had humiliated the night of the murder, Nicki wasn’t going to turn away from the unexpected opportunity, so she fell into step beside Pete. “I don’t believe I’ve met Victor?”

  “He’s the warehouse foreman. We were exchanging stories about George. But we can talk about something else if you’d like,” Pete said.

  “No, stories about George would be fine. It will help me to…” Nicki trailed off, not quite sure what it would help her with other than a possible clue to his murder. But she was hardly going to tell that to Pete.

  “Find closure?” Pete supplied helpfully.

  “Yes. Closure,” Nicki repeated.

  “My wife’s always saying how important it is to have closure after any traumatic event in your life. Not sure I understand it all, but Phyllis is sure it’s important.” Pete scratched his head and shrugged at the same time. Nicki thought it was a typical male reaction to something he didn’t understand, or care much about even if he did.

  When they reached the door leading into the tasting room, Pete opened it and stepped aside to let Nicki go through first. She quickly walked into the public area, skirting around the bar. Pete was right. There were only two other people in the room, sitting on stools around one of the high tables. Nicki recognized Kurt, which meant the other occupant had to be Victor, the warehouse foreman.

  Pete led her over to the two men and pulled out a stool for her.

  “Hi, Nicki,” Kurt grinned at her, pushing a lock of blond hair off his forehead. “Didn’t expect to see you back here for a long time.”

  She smiled at the twenty-something-surfer-dude. “I had an appointment with Jim Holland.”

  “Found her wandering near George’s barrel room, looking for closure.”

  “Did you find it?” the third man asked. Short, with dark hair and a dark complexion, Victor’s brown eyes sparkled at the question.

  Nicki took an instant liking to him. He was all smiles and open friendliness, the kind that went with people who were naturally good-natured. It would take someone like that, or a doormat like Geri, to work with George Lancer.

  “I’m Nicki Connors.” Nicki held out her hand which Victor took in a firm handshake.

  “Nice to meet you, Miz Connors. Kind of enjoy using that ‘Miz’ for all the ladies. Saves me from having to sneak a peek at their left hand before knowing how to address them,” Victor laughed. “I’m Victor. I’d go with a last name too, but everyone calls me Victor so don’t see the point.”

  Now Nicki laughed. “I’m Nicki. I always forget to answer when someone says ‘Ms. Connors’.”

  “I already introduced myself, and I guess you know Kurt,” Pete said.

  “So what can we do to help you find that closure, Nicki?” Victor asked.

  “Pete said you were exchanging stories about George. I just heard a few from Mr. Holland and wouldn’t mind hearing some of yours, too.”

  “We were mostly talking over the memorial service Geri is putting together,” Victor said. “She’s asking everyone to bring a dish of something and, being bachelors, Kurt and I were trying to figure out what take-out to call to pick up something.”

  “Phyllis is making a casserole,” Pete said.

  “I’m sure Geri would appreciate that. You could also offer to bring paper plates, plastic silverware, napkins—that sort of thing,” Nicki suggested. “Or something already prepared at the market, like a cheese platter, or chips and dip.”

  Kurt’s blue eyes lit up and he clapped Victor on the back. “Yeah, man. I can stop and get a package of paper plates. Shouldn’t take more than a minute or two to do that.”

  “Well, I’m sure George wouldn’t want yo
u to put yourself out,” Nicki said with a hint of dryness in her tone. “I could make a big lasagna and let Geri know it’s from all three of us. Trust me, there will be plenty to go around.”

  “That would be great,” Kurt said with more enthusiasm than the simple suggestion called for.

  “I’ll check with Geri later to be sure if that’s okay, or if she’d rather I made something else.” Nicki all but batted her eyes at Kurt. “I forgot to get her phone number. Do you have it?”

  “Sure.” Kurt tapped away on his phone before turning it around to face Nicki. “Here it is.”

  “Thanks,” Nicki said as she keyed the name and number into the contact list on her phone. “I’ll get in touch with her later this afternoon.”

  “I’m sure Geri will be grateful, even if George wouldn’t be. I worked with that man for a dozen years, Nicki. Believe me when I tell you George wouldn’t have spent even two minutes going out of his way for any of us,” Victor said, along with nods of agreement from the other two men. “It’s nice of Geri to do this, but most of the staff are going because she asked us to and everyone likes Geri. There won’t be any tears shed for George Lanciere, or Lancer, or whatever he was calling himself.”

  “And I don’t know why Geri is bothering, either. It’s not like he treated her very well,” Kurt said.

  Pete snorted. “The man didn’t treat anyone very well.” He looked at Nicki. “Never even talked to me the nights he worked late and we were the only two people here.”

  “Worked late?” Nicki asked. Now that was interesting. Jim Holland thought George barely worked at all, much less stayed late. Then she frowned. “I thought you usually worked the night shift?”

  “I do,” the guard nodded. “He’d come in around midnight, stay an hour or so and then leave.”

  “Was he catching up on paperwork?” Nicki wondered, her question answered when both Pete and Victor shook their heads.

  “Nope. Spent the time mostly running around on a forklift back in his aging room,” Pete said.

  “A forklift?”

  The night guard nodded at her. “No idea what he was doing with it. I wandered back there once and he screamed at me to stay away from that whole hallway whenever he was working there or he’d get me fired. Didn’t make any difference to me what he was doing, and I like this job well enough, so I just stayed away.”

  “I know he was doing a lot of tasting, probably to make sure his chardonnay was barreled the proper amount of time. Too much or too little time in the barrel can ruin a good wine,” Victor said. “My men complained he’d always leave the testing and tasting equipment around for them to clean up, even when he was doing his regular work at the winery. But they’d also find it waiting for them at the beginning of their shift. That’s how they knew George was here the night before.”

  “But that wouldn’t need a forklift,” Nicki pointed out. “I’m surprised he even knew how to use one.”

  Victor casually waved that away. “Practically everyone’s been here so long they’ve learned how to run a forklift. Even Geri and the kid here can.” Victor pointed at Kurt. “The only one I know of that can’t is Pete. His eyesight is too bad to let him handle a forklift. He’d be knocking the barrel racks over.”

  “That’s true,” Pete chuckled. “Got some permanent nerve damage in an accident a few years back. Can’t run the forklift and don’t have a driver’s license either. Wife brings me and picks me up from work.”

  “Doesn’t that make your job a little harder?” Nicki asked.

  “Not on the night shift. You use your ears more than your eyes, and my hearing is just fine.”

  Nicki was positive Pete’s hearing was fine since he’d heard her talking to Jenna, even though she was whispering. But she sure hoped he wasn’t expected to carry a gun.

  “Well I’m not going to miss George’s fake smoking,” Kurt declared. “There was no point in stinking up the place when he didn’t even smoke. But he always smelled like a full ashtray if you got within ten feet of him.”

  Nicki knew the autopsy showed no physical signs of George being a heavy smoker. But how did Kurt know that? As far as everyone else was concerned, the man smoked like a chimney.

  “What makes you think he wasn’t a real smoker?” Nicki asked. Leaning her elbows on the table, she gave Kurt a bright smile.

  The server’s chest puffed out and he grinned back at her. “Because we liked to take our breaks in the same place, out behind the loading docks. And whenever he was there I’d stand off to the side, where he wouldn’t notice me. He always had a cigarette lit in his hand, but I never once saw him take a puff.”

  Nicki blinked, surprised at the picture Kurt painted. “George just stood behind the loading docks, with a cigarette in his hand that he never smoked?”

  “Well, I never saw him blow any smoke out. He spent most of his time on the phone, talking to his bookie as far as I could hear, but when one cigarette went out, he’d light another one. Never could figure out why he did that.”

  Nicki doubted if she’d ever figure it out either. Unless… he used the cigarette smoke to keep other people away. So they couldn’t hear what he was talking about, or whom he was talking to.

  “His bookie? George was a gambler?”

  “I overheard him a couple of times, too,” Victor said. “I don’t know if it was a bookie, but he was going over the betting lines on some ball games.”

  “That’s what I heard too,” Kurt admitted. “Except for that one time he was having an argument. A loud, nasty one too. And it wasn’t about sports.”

  “What was it about?” Nicki asked.

  “Some kind of partnership,” Kurt said. “Not sure exactly what, but he was talking to one of the winery owners. I heard him say the name loud and clear.

  Nicki arrived home late in the afternoon. She’d stopped at the local market to pick up fresh lemons, tomatoes and a block of mozzarella cheese. A quick glance at the driveway next to her own verified that Jenna’s car was gone, so Nicki assumed she was out visiting one of her customers.

  Hauling her full, reusable grocery bag into the townhouse, she set it on the kitchen counter. For a moment she toyed with making a dash down the hallway and updating the murder board, then thought better of it. First things first. She needed to get the lemon cake going, and then make the slightly spicy sauce for the pan of lasagna she intended to take to George’s memorial service. Plus a dessert she hadn’t decided on yet. Hopefully her food would be enough of a distraction for Geri that she and her friends could do a little undetected sleuthing. She went to the fridge and took out what remained of the hamburger mixture. She’d also need a bribe for Jenna. She was fresh out of zucchini so it was a good thing Alex was back home with Tyler.

  With a quick glance into her pantry, she snagged the flour and sugar bins, setting them on the counter just as her phone erupted with So Far Away. With a sigh of resignation, she retrieved it from her purse and pressed the answer button.

  “Hi, Rob. I can’t wait to see you tomorrow.”

  “Nicki? Why didn’t you return my calls? I must have left you at least ten messages.”

  Nicki got a mixing bowl out from a bottom cupboard. “I just now walked in and haven’t had a chance to do anything but put my purse down.”

  “Then you haven’t talked to Jenna?”

  “I did have a chance to speak to Jenna,” Nicki said, wincing at the sudden silence.

  “So you can take her phone calls but not mine?”

  Nicki instantly felt guilty.

  “No. I had interviews all morning and Jenna happened to call when I was on a short break.” Nicki drew in a breath and smiled so that it would come out in her voice. “I couldn’t talk long, but she did manage to let me know that you said you were flying home after all?”

  “Yes, I am. She also said you’d be too busy to drive into the city tonight. Why is that?”

  “I do have a life, Rob,” Nicki said, getting annoyed at his expectation that she drops everyth
ing and make the hour drive into San Francisco. “And a living to make. Those interviews need to be written up and sent in to the magazine. Finding a dead body has put me a little behind.”

  “Now, babe, no need to get in a huff. When your girlfriend says she doesn’t have the time to see you, what’s a guy supposed to think?”

  “That your girlfriend might need more notice before she has to drive into the city?” Nicki accompanied that statement with an eye roll.

  “Well, let’s move on to something more pleasant. I should be there about six-thirty tomorrow night. I thought we could go out for dinner, unless you feel like cooking me one of those gourmet delights of yours?” Rob asked.

  “I do not,” Nicki said. “I have more interviews tomorrow and won’t get home in time.”

  “Fine. Then we can go out. Pick your favorite place in Sandstone and we’ll make a night of it. I have a surprise for you.” Rob’s voice went into teasing and flirting mode.

  “Soldoff, Rob. And that’s great. I can’t wait.” Nicki put her hand over the phone’s speaker when the front door shut with a loud bang.

  “What was that?”

  “Nothing,” Nicki said. “Just Jenna making her usual entrance.” Nicki motioned Jenna into the kitchen and pointed at the hamburger mix. “We were about to have dinner before I have to get back to work on that article.” Nicki bobbed her head up and down until Jenna, catching on, did the same.

  “Is dinner ready yet? I have a customer stopping by a little later,” Jenna said loudly enough to be heard by the person on the other end of the line.

  “All right. I’ll let you go then,” Rob said. “I have a dinner engagement as well. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  He clicked off and so did Nicki. She glanced over at Jenna and grinned.

  “Thank you. He was getting all snotty because I didn’t return his calls.”

  “He’s always snotty,” Jenna observed. “Does my little white lie really get me another one of your world-class hamburgers?”

  “I don’t know if that was worth one,” Nicki said, pursing her lips and pretending to think it over. “You may have to throw in something else.”