A Food and Wine Club Mystery Boxset Books 1 through 5

by Cat Chandler

  Although very logical, Nicki still shook her head. “I’ve talked with her, Matt. She didn’t kill her mother.”

  “Who do you think did?” Jenna asked.

  “If Alex were here, she’d vote for Suzanne. So that would be three different opinions and three different conclusions.” She crossed the room and sat back down in her desk chair. “I don’t know who did it. I only know I’m sure it wasn’t Ramona Dunton or Charlie Freeman.”

  They were all staring at the board when Nicki’s cell phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID before she tapped on the answer button.

  “Hi, Maxie.”

  “Nicki, this is Mason Edwards. I’m using Maxie’s phone. She asked me to call you.”

  Clutching her phone tighter and pressing it more firmly to her ear, Nicki jumped up from her chair. “Is she all right?”

  “She’s upset, but she’s fine.” Mason paused for a moment and Nicki tensed when she heard him suck in a breath.

  “Maxie wanted me to let you know that I got a call from Chief Turnlow a few minutes ago. He’s arrested Charlie for murder.”

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  After Mason had hung up, Nicki held her phone out and stared at it.

  Both Matt and Jenna jumped to their feet and rushed across the room.

  Jenna put her arms around her friend’s shoulders and pulled her close in a protective gesture. “What’s wrong? What’s happened? Is Maxie okay?”

  “She’s fine. Maxie is fine.” Nicki’s voice was flat. “It’s Charlie.” She looked up at Matt who was standing in front of her. “Chief Turnlow has arrested poor Charlie.”

  “The boyfriend? That nice old guy with the really bad wine?” Jenna exclaimed. “Why him?”

  “I don’t know.” Nicki could feel the bubble of anger growing.

  This has to be killing Maxie, she thought. And the bubble rose higher. Clenching he fists, the anger mixed with helplessness. Charlie. That loveable old bachelor who’d never hurt any living thing in his life. Maxie’s friend who Nicki had promised to keep the investigation away from. Within a minute Nicki was so angry and frustrated, she couldn’t keep a fat tear from rolling down her cheek.

  “Oh shit,” Matt said under his breath just as the oven timer went off in the kitchen.

  When he didn’t move, Jenna darted a look between his face and Nicki’s before pushing her friend forward until her forehead bumped against Matt’s chest. “Find out what’s going on while I get the tarts out of the oven.”

  Looking like he was on the edge of panic, Matt opened his mouth and shut it again before he simply put his arms around Nicki, drawing her close.

  Nicki was grateful when she circled her arms around his waist and he quietly rested one cheek on top of her head and just let her cry her anger and frustration out, even if he did wince at every tear soaking into his shirt. It didn’t take long for the sudden storm of emotion to blow through, and Nicki stood quietly, her arms still around Matt and his around her, as she gathered up her scattered thoughts.

  When she sniffled loudly and then sighed, he leaned back far enough to be able to look into her face. “Feel better?”

  “Yes. Thank you.” She knew she sounded pathetic, but right now she really didn’t care, and didn’t make any protest when he led her over to the sofa and urged her to sit. Once he’d managed that, he strode over to the desk and grabbed the chair along with a box of tissues he spotted next to the computer.

  Pushing the chair over to the sofa, he sat down directly in front of her and set the tissue box on the cushion right next to her. He waited patiently while she dabbed at her face, and when her hand dropped back down into her lap, still clutching a tissue, he put one hand on her knee and with the other used two fingers to lift her chin so she’d meet his worried gaze.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I’m just angry, Matt. I promised Maxie we’d help Charlie stay out of jail. And now that’s exactly where he is. I let her down. I let them both down.” Nicki sniffed again and raised the tissue to dab some more at her eyes, blinking rapidly to hold back a fresh surge of tears. “I hate letting people down.”

  “I do know that about you,” Matt agreed. “But I don’t think Maxie is going to blame you because Charlie got arrested. She’s more likely to blame Chief Turnlow.”

  “I promised her, Matt. And you’ve met Charlie. He didn’t do this. I know he didn’t do this, but I don’t know what I can do to help him.” Nicki turned her head to the side and closed her eyes. “I can’t imagine that sweet old man being dragged off and withering away all alone in a jail cell.”

  When Nicki turned her gaze back to him, Matt’s lips were clamped tightly together, and he looked as if he was trying not to burst out laughing. Nicki’s eyes narrowed. Okay. Maybe that had been a dramatic, but if he laughed, she swore she’d kick him in the shin and never give him another double fudge brownie for as long as he lived.

  Fortunately for Matt’s future chocolate intake, he managed to get the impulse under control.

  “Honey, we don’t know if Charlie did or didn’t kill his girlfriend. All we know for sure is that he’s been arrested. We don’t even know why he was arrested. Last time you talked with the chief, all he could say about Charlie was that he was Catherine’s boyfriend, who’s approaching seventy, with no solid alibi, and maybe left a few fingerprints around her place. Hardly seems like enough to arrest a guy. Especially for a cop with as much homicide experience as the chief has.”

  Nicki blinked and then stared at him, her eyes wide. Her tears dried up and the color rushed back into her face. When she tried to stand, he got to his feet, shoving the office chair backwards with one quick kick as he pulled her up with him. She knew she caught him by surprise when she rose on her toes and planted a soft kiss square on his lips. She drew back and smiled when he just stood there, staring down into her upturned face.

  “Thank you, Matt. You’re right. We don’t know what the chief has on Charlie and standing here crying isn’t going to help him. It’s just that Maxie is special. She’s… well, she’s…”

  “Like a second mother?” He smiled. “Yeah. To me too.”

  When she skirted around him, he quickly turned and frowned as she went to her desk and picked up her cell phone.

  “And I suppose you intend to do something to help him? If it involves getting into a car, then I’m doing the driving. I don’t want you spending any more time than necessary in that rundown excuse of a car that you own.” He ran a hand through his hair, leaving strands sticking up in its wake. “I’m going to have nightmares about you being stranded on a dark road somewhere because of that car.”

  He looked more resigned than surprised when she answered him with a “to see the chief.” But he did shake his head at the next thing out of her mouth.

  “Jenna needs to get back to work and you need to get ready to fly to L.A. tomorrow. I’ll be fine going into town in broad daylight.”

  “Correction.” Matt crossed his arms over his chest. “We will be going into town in broad daylight, and I will decide whether or not I’m going to L.A. tomorrow.”

  “Second correction,” Jenna said from the doorway. “Jenna will decide if she needs to get back to work or not, and I am deciding ‘not’. So I’m going with you. And Alex and Ty will be on their way here in a couple of hours.” Jenna held up her cell phone. “I just talked to her.”

  “We can call Maxie on our way into town and let her know what we’re up to,” Matt said. “We’d better get going.”

  “Glove? What glove?” Nicki demanded, leaning over the chief’s desk, sparks flying out of her eyes. Between her office and arriving at the police station, Nicki had gone from frustrated tears to fuming and back again. She didn’t care what evidence the chief had. Charlie Freeman did not kill anyone. She knew it, and she was positive the chief knew it too. He’d been a homicide detective for over twenty years, how could he not know Charlie wasn’t a murderer?

  The chief sighed and gestured for her to sit ba
ck down. When she didn’t comply, he looked over at Matt.

  The next thing she knew she’d been pulled back into the chair next to her editor, and he was leaning down close enough she could feel his breath on her cheek.

  “Calm down, Sherlock. We need information, and we aren’t going to get it if you antagonize the chief.”

  “She might,” the chief huffed out. “I’ve been sitting here expecting you for the last hour. Ever since I called Mason. I’m surprised it took you so long to get here.”

  “We had to get over the shock first,” Jenna said. She had the same glare as Nicki fixed on the chief. “All this brouhaha over a glove?”

  Chief Turnlow folded his hands on top of his desk and looked calmly back at the tall computer whiz with the big glasses. “A glove with Catherine Dunton’s blood on it, found on a bench in Charlie’s greenhouse. And his prints found in Mrs. Dunton’s dining room.”

  “Anyone could have planted that glove, Chief,” Nicki said. Only Matt’s heavy hand on top of her leg was keeping her in her seat. “And he was Catherine’s boyfriend. Of course you’d find his fingerprints in a lot of the rooms in her house.”

  “We only dusted the dining room and the door handles, Nicki, so those are the ones that count, and Charlie’s prints showed up. He can’t prove where he was that night, and we did find that glove. I can’t ignore all that.” The chief leaned back and ran a hand through his hair. Thanks to Matt, because he did the same thing, it was a habit Nicki had come to recognize as a sure sign that the chief was frustrated.

  “It doesn’t matter what I think. Those are the facts.”

  Nicki settled down a little and studied him for a moment. “What do you think, Chief? Off the record.” She smiled when he rolled his eyes but he looked to Matt for his agreement to keep everything “off the record”, and then to Jenna, who held up three fingers.”

  “Scouts honor that mum’s the word.”

  “I suppose that’s the same scout troop that Nicki was in?” the chief said in a dry tone before running his hand over the top of his head again. “I don’t think Charlie is guilty. I’d be surprised if he ever swatted a fly much less killed another human being.”

  “Then why did you arrest him?” Jenna demanded.

  “Glove, fingerprints, possibly a jealous motive.”

  “Jealous?” Charlie? Nicki thought the chief was way, way out in left field on that one.

  “Suzanne Abbott stated for the record that a lot of other men were attracted to Catherine, and her friend was constantly fending them off whenever they went out on a girl’s night. Even though she was married. It could be argued that maybe Mrs. Dunton didn’t turn all of them down.”

  “Then maybe you should look at the ex-husband who gives slimeball a new meaning,” Matt said.

  “Have to agree with you there,” the chief nodded. “But we didn’t find that glove in his gallery.”

  Nicki snorted. “Charlie wasn’t jealous of anybody, and someone planted that glove to make him look guilty. All we have to do is figure out who.”

  “I hope you can, Nicki. And I’m going to keep poking around, too. In the meantime, Charlie stays under arrest, and it will be up to the county prosecutor whether or not the evidence is enough to keep him in jail.”

  The ride back to Nicki’s townhouse was a quiet one. Both she and Jenna spent most of the fifteen minutes staring out the window. As they turned into the drive leading onto the Edwards’ property, Nicki couldn’t help but sigh.

  “What am I going to tell Maxie? Charlie’s in jail and I don’t have any idea who killed Catherine.”

  “Neither does the chief of police,” Matt pointed out. “And he has a lot more resources at his disposal.”

  “Well, whatever we’re going to say to Maxie we’d better come up with it quick. That’s her car in front of the townhouse,” Jenna said.

  Nicki’s head snapped around to the forward windshield as Matt approached the cul-de-sac that housed half of the townhouses in Maxie’s writer’s colony, including the one Nicki and Jenna occupied. Sure enough, the white Lincoln town car was behind her little Toyota in the driveway, and partially sticking out into the street. Since neither Maxie nor her husband were anywhere in sight, Nicki thought they were probably waiting for them inside.

  While she didn’t drag her feet up the walkway, she wasn’t exactly making good time either. Until Matt came up behind her, grabbed her arm and propelled her along.

  “Come on, Nicki. She’s not going to yell at you.”

  “You mean the way you did when you were upset with me over George Lancer’s murder investigation?” Nicki snapped her mouth shut. It really wasn’t fair of her to bring that up, but she wasn’t in the mood to take it back, so she settled on just being quiet.

  “Yeah,” Matt said as he kept her moving along. “But I apologized.”

  At the front door Nicki dug her heels in and faced him. “And I should too. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t take my nerves out on you.”

  He smiled. “We’ll just put that one in the bank against a future misstep on my part.”

  Nicki smiled her agreement as he opened the door. She got just a foot inside before she was enveloped in a giant hug. Recognizing Maxie’s perfume, which was all she could manage since her face was buried in the silk covering Maxie’s shoulder, Nicki relaxed under a wave of relief and hugged her landlady right back.

  Maxie finally stepped away and held Nicki at arm’s length. “I can’t tell you how wonderful it is that you went down to the police station and gave Chief Turnlow a good piece of your mind for arresting Charlie. It’s exactly what I wanted to do, but was prevented by an immovable force.” She looked over Nicki’s head and glared at her husband.

  Mason Edwards only smiled at his wife as he shook Matt’s hand. “It’s good to see you again, son.”

  “You too, sir.” Matt grinned. “I’m glad it’s not me who’s in the doghouse this time.”

  “I won’t be for long,” Mason assured him. “I’m just waiting for a callback from Bart Rivers.”

  “Who’s Bart Rivers?” Jenna asked as she came up behind Matt.

  Mason smiled and nodded his head in greeting. “Hello, Jenna. Bart’s our lawyer. His office is in San Francisco, and he’s arranging for a good defense attorney for Charlie. After that’s all fixed up, Charlie should be out on bail within a few hours.”

  “But in the meantime, our good friend is sitting in the hoosegow with who knows what sort of lowlifes and serial killers,” Maxie declared, waving her arms for emphasis.

  “Hoosegow?” Jenna repeated.

  “It’s an old western term for jail,” Mason explained. “And Chief Parks in Santa Rosa assured me Charlie is quite comfortable in his own cell, by himself, and far away from all those ‘lowlifes and serial killers’. Paul Turnlow made it a special request when he took Charlie over there himself.” He shook his head. “Last time Chief Parks looked in on him, Charlie was playing cards with one of the guards who was on his lunch break.”

  Nicki smiled at that. She could imagine Charlie thinking of this whole thing as a unique adventure. But being accused of murder was no joke, and unless a better candidate came along, Charlie might spend the rest of his retirement years behind bars.

  “MyMason’s arranging for an attorney to get bail set, but I can tell by the tone in his voice that it isn’t looking good for Charlie,” Maxie said before shifting her gaze to Nicki. “Do we have any idea who might have done this?”

  Nicki bit her lip as she gave a quick negative shake of her head. “Not a one. Before your husband called, we’d just gone over everything we don’t know. It’s a much longer list than what we know for sure.”

  The older woman sighed long and deep. “That’s not going to let me sleep well tonight.” She glanced toward the kitchen. “I think it’s time to break out your chocolate stash.”

  “And chips,” Jenna chimed in. “We can make a full confession to Alex when she gets here.”

  Just then Nicki’s phone ra
ng, with the distinct ring tone of Carol King’s You’re So Far Away. Before hitting the answer button, she made a swift point toward the kitchen. “Go ahead and get started, Jenna knows where the stash is.” Nicki walked into her office as the others filed toward the back and the kitchen.

  It was less than five minutes later that Nicki joined them. She plucked a chocolate-covered peanut from the pile in front of Jenna and thought about making a big pot of coffee. As she rounded the corner of the island she frowned.

  “Where’s Matt?”

  Maxie lifted her gaze to the ceiling while her husband looked at his feet. Only Jenna didn’t seem to be bothered by her question.

  Her longtime friend separated her pile of candy and shoved half of it over toward Nicki. “He left. He said to tell you he’d see you later.” Jenna popped a chocolate in her mouth and raised an eyebrow at her friend. “I’m guessing that Matt knows the ring tone you use for lover-boy.”

  Chapter Fifty

  Nicki looked around the large barn which had been turned into the local exhibition and event hall a number of years ago by the town council. It kept a modest income rolling in to the city, and gave the various groups in the area a place to hold their events, rather than renting out space at one of the local wineries.

  It was late in the afternoon, and she was about to start her second cooking demonstration for the day. She’d hoped that Matt would make it back to Arson in time to see it, but so far he hadn’t made an appearance. Jenna and Maxie both had told her he didn’t look happy went he’d left so abruptly.

  As the day marched toward evening, and she hadn’t seen or heard from him, she’d begun to wonder if maybe he’d decided to stay in L.A. for the rest of the food and wine festival, and then go back to Kansas City from there. She was almost tempted to call his very scary assistant, Jane, and ask her if Matt had changed his travel plans. Almost.