“Oldest and youngest.” Danny traced circles on the table. “Our moms don’t really get along, but when I wanted to get in the wine business, I went to talk to Ruben and he told me to go talk to Nico. Said Nico might give me a job or something.”
Was it Ruben all along?
Had Ruben killed Fairfield? Why?
Had Ruben beat up Marissa? How had he kept her quiet?
Drew was taking furious notes. “Did Ruben beat up Marissa Dusi?”
“I don’t know for sure.”
Drew glanced at Toni.
“That’s the truth,” Toni said. “But I’m getting all sorts of doubt all over the place. He’s not sure of much right now.”
All this was making Danny’s lawyer very nervous. Her emotional signature was like a pinball. “Detective Bisset, I don’t know who your consultant is, but I’d like to pause this interview to speak with my client—”
“No, I need to tell them.” Danny wasn’t finished talking. “I don’t know… I mean, he might go after her at this other place, you know?”
Drew turned to the uniformed officer in the room. “Get over to Hillside Rehab, and call the front desk right now. Tell them their security needs to be on alert. Park a cruiser in front until I can get there.”
“You got it.” The officer hightailed it out of the room, but Danny had more to say.
“See, I don’t know if Nico knows, but there’s a thing on that land that Ruben’s boss wanted to buy. And Ruben’s dad, he knew about it because he helped that weird old man build it.”
“We know about the caves,” Toni said.
“Okay.” Danny nodded. “So the story is, our grandpa was a bricklayer, and he helped build it and he told Ruben about it. He was already dead when I was born, so I didn’t hear it, but after Fairfield hired me to… you know.”
“Sabotage the Dusi winery?” Drew offered.
“Yeah.” Danny shrugged. “After he called me, I went to Ruben because I knew the guy was Ruben’s boss and all.” Danny kept his eyes on the table. “And Ruben told me about it, and he said that his boss needed that land and we were gonna help him get it, and if we did that, he’d have a better job for me at Fairfield’s place. Something with the wine and not just, like, fixing the tractors and keeping the equipment going, you know? I’d really learn about making wine.”
“So Ruben told Fairfield about the caves in the creekside land,” Toni said. “Then Ruben told Fairfield you needed fast cash.” What a dick! Who would hang their younger cousin out to dry for a piece of shit like Whit Fairfield?
Drew said, “And Fairfield hired you to sabotage Nico’s winery so he’d lose money.”
“Not like the whole winery, you know?” Danny said. “Just enough that Fairfield could offer him a bunch of money at the end of the season and he’d sell that piece of land. No one was supposed to get hurt. I told Ruben and Fairfield that I wouldn’t do anything that would hurt someone.”
“Did Ruben kill Fairfield?” Drew asked. “Is that where the blood came from? Whit Fairfield was beat up pretty bad before he was shot.”
“I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know what to think.” Danny gripped a handful of his hair. “Did he borrow my truck? Yes.”
Toni and Drew exchanged a look. “Okay, when?”
“Ruben’s not that kind of guy,” Danny said. “Sure, he has a temper, but that’s why he doesn’t have a gun. He’s never owned one. He used to joke about it. Joke about how he’d end up in jail with his temper if he ever bought a gun.”
Toni’s gauges were swinging back and forth like a pendulum. Danny didn’t want to believe Ruben was guilty, but there was something giving the man a walloping sense of guilt.
“There’s something that’s making you think Ruben might have been involved though,” Toni said. “More than just the shirt. You don’t want to believe it, but you suspect him anyway. Why?”
Danny shook his head. “It’s like you can see right into my brain. How the hell can you do that?”
“Just answer the question,” Drew said. “What makes you suspect that your cousin killed Whit Fairfield?”
“Because Ruben’s the one who told me to stop.” Danny’s voice was barely over a whisper. “After the tractor thing happened. After I cut the wires. He called me that night, and he told me I didn’t need to do any of that stuff to sabotage Nico anymore. That the job was done.”
It took Toni a second to realize the implications. “Ruben knew he was dead.”
Danny nodded.
“Fairfield’s body wasn’t found for a week and a half,” Toni said. “When you cut the wires, he was still considered missing.”
“But Ruben knew to call you off,” Drew said. “Ruben already knew that Whit Fairfield was dead.”
Chapter 27
Henry and Megan followed Toni as she and Drew raced to Hillside Rehab Center.
“If Ruben knew Fairfield was dead, then he killed him,” Drew said. “Or he knows who did.”
“But why? You said it yourself, he was better off with Fairfield. He had information the man wanted and job security.”
“Maybe he grew a conscience and didn’t want to cover for the man. Maybe he got impatient and suspected Fairfield would cut him out. Maybe Fairfield took it a step too far and threatened him.”
“Maybe.” Toni still felt like, even with Danny’s confession, there was a lot they weren’t seeing. “Are your guys already at the rehab center?”
“Yeah. You call your cousin?”
Toni nodded. “He’s already there. Going to take Marissa to her parents’ place in Santa Cruz tonight.”
“Good. I’ll call the police up there, but I have a hard time imagining that Ruben Montenegro has hardened criminal connections.” Drew’s mouth was set in a grim line. “I have a feeling that this was a ‘brilliant plan’ that spiraled way out of control.”
They arrived in silence at the Hillside Rehab Center and parked between the patrol car and Nico’s work truck. Toni hopped out of the car and walked straight toward the glass double doors.
“Miss.” The receptionist stood. “I’m afraid you can’t—”
“I’m consulting with the police.” She pointed back to Drew. “Need to speak with the witness before she leaves.”
“But the officer said—”
“She’s fine.” Drew walked in behind her, holding out his badge. “I’m Detective Bisset. Are you Isabelle?”
Toni ignored the voices behind her and listened for Marissa.
“…still trying to tell me how to live my life.”
“…not going to argue with you about this. Do you know what it would do to Beth and Ethan if something happened to you?”
“They don’t care about me.” Marissa sulked. Her head shot up when she saw Toni walk through the cracked-open door. “Oh. You.”
“Great to see you too.” She turned to Nico. “Are you driving her up to her parents’?”
“Yeah. The police are even going to escort us, I think? Which is weird.”
Toni turned to Marissa. “Rumor has it, you were trying to get something out of Nico to sign the divorce papers. What was it?”
Marissa didn’t look well. Her rich, olive-toned complexion was wan and dull. She’d lost weight, and her cheeks were hollow. Her expression hardly changed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. And even if I did, it’s none of your business, Toni.”
“Sure you do,” Nico said. “You brought up the Ferraro Creek acreage about two and a half weeks ago, right before you got beaten up.”
She blinked rapidly. “What creek land?”
Toni exchanged a look with Nico. “Okay, so I’m going to get her to tell us the truth. Save your questions for later.”
Nico looked confused. “What?”
“Just go with it.” She grabbed Marissa’s hand and held it firmly between her palms, letting a creeping sense of calm settle over the woman. Marissa’s eyes went wide, then unfocused.
“Hey.” She blinked slowly.
&n
bsp; “Hey. Did you know about the wine caves on the creek land?”
“Yup.” She popped her lips together on the p sound. “I did know that. And so did Whit.”
“Who told you?”
“Ruben of course.” She scrunched up her face. “He told me all kinds of stuff. He was real angry at Whit.”
“About what?”
“Supposed to be partial owner. Whit told Ruben he was gonna be a partial owner of the whooooole place. But then Whit told me he wasn’t really gonna do that.”
“And you told Ruben?”
“I mean…”
Toni felt an unexpected wave of emotion from Marissa. Something between shame and embarrassment.
“It wasn’t right.” Marissa looked to the side. “Ruben told him all that. And Nico didn’t even know that shit, but Ruben just told him because he was loyal. And then Whit decided to cut him out.”
Nico walked over. “Fairfield was gonna get the creek land and then cut Ruben out?”
“Yeah. So I told Ruben. And Ruben…” Marissa’s mouth turned up at the corner. “He’s smart. He’s smarter than Whit. He just doesn’t have the money.”
“What did you and Ruben plan?” Toni kept a firm hand on Marissa.
“He told me to get the land from Nico. Use the divorce. Then we could set the price and sell to Whit. Ruben would convince Whit that he couldn’t get a better price for it; then I’d give him half and I’d keep half. Whit really fucking wanted those caves. It was all he talked about for weeks.”
Toni let go of Marissa’s hand and turned to Nico. “So Ruben needed Fairfield to buy that land. Why would he kill him? It makes no sense.”
Marissa was coming back to consciousness. “What the fuck just happened? Toni, what did you do to me?”
Nico had taken out his phone and was dialing. “Change of plans, Marissa. Jackie is gonna take you up to your folks’.”
“What?”
“Jackie or your brother.” He looked at her. “Your choice.”
Marissa slumped in her seat and glared at him. “Jackie.”
“That’s what I thought.” Nico looked at Toni. “Tell Drew that I’m not going up to Santa Cruz and send the cruiser with Jackie and Marissa.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m gonna fucking talk to Ruben Montenegro,” Nico said. “Then we’re gonna find those fucking caves.”
* * *
The only problem with Nico’s plan?
“Where the hell is this guy?” Nico stomped back to the truck, opened the door, got inside, and slammed it shut.
Drew strolled back to his car from Ruben’s front porch. Toni was waiting on the sidewalk.
“So he’s not happy,” Toni said. “And you don’t look much better.”
“No one’s answering, and I can’t get a search warrant until Monday because of the judge. I put an alert out for Ruben Montenegro. At this point, while we’re waiting for the shirt to come back from testing, he’s only wanted for questioning. Hopefully we can avoid any more violence.”
Toni was about ready to collapse. “It’s Saturday night. This was very far from how I thought my weekend was going to go, and right now I just want to go home.”
“Nico gonna take you?”
Toni nodded. “Henry just texted me. He and his big dog are staying at my house tonight, so I won’t be alone.”
“Good. I don’t think Ruben would go after you—he doesn’t have a reason to—but I’d rather you weren’t all alone out there.”
“I won’t be. Nico is just up the hill too.”
Drew hooked his thumbs in his front jeans pockets. “You all going out to try to find those caves tomorrow?”
“It’ll probably depend on Baxter and Katherine. They’re the ones most likely to be able to find it with the plans and stuff.”
“Got it. That area have cell reception at all?”
“Nothing. That’s a complete dead zone.”
“Right.”
She patted his shoulder. “But it’s not far from my house. We’ll call you from there if we find anything.”
“All right.” Drew still looked unsure. “I just have a feeling that you need to be careful.”
“What are you, psychic?” Toni couldn’t stop the smile.
“That’s funny.” Drew pointed at her. “I see you, Dusi. Very funny.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I bet you don’t.” He opened his car door. “Drive safe.”
Toni walked back to Nico’s truck and climbed in, every cell of her body aching. “Take me home or I will pull my weird psychic shit on you too.”
Nico started the truck. “Are you gonna tell me what that is or what?”
“Or what.” She leaned against the door and closed her eyes. “You don’t want to know.”
“Is this why you always win at horseshoes?”
She snorted. “It doesn’t work that way.”
“Are you sure?”
“Nico, just drive.”
* * *
She was half-asleep when Nico drove up to the house. Henry was at the truck, arms out when it came to a stop.
“I can walk.”
Earl woofed and Henry helped her out of the car. “If you say so.”
“I’m just tired. When did you and Megan get back?”
“She dropped me at my house after you and the detective stormed out of the station and didn’t tell us where you were going.”
Toni blinked. “Oh. Oops.”
“We both figured you’d gotten a lead on something, but we couldn’t get through to your phone.”
She pulled it out of her pocket. “It died during my talk with Danny. Let me take a quick shower and I’ll fill you in.”
Henry waved at Nico from the front porch as he drove away; then he helped Toni into the shower and went to make her some food.
It smelled like spaghetti and red sauce by the time she rinsed off and wrapped herself in her favorite fluffy robe. She looked at her face in the mirror and noted the dark circles under her eyes, along with her lips, which looked fuller.
Her belly was starting to get firm and her hips ached. She wasn’t even going to mention her boobs, which were suddenly everything she’d wanted as a thirteen-year-old only somehow far more painful than anything she could have imagined.
She was nearly twelve weeks pregnant, and her next doctor’s appointment was less than a week away. Henry wanted to go to that appointment. By her calculations and her doctor’s reassurances, the chances of miscarriage were getting less likely by the day. The knot in her chest was starting to ease, and the reality of the future was starting to become clear.
A baby. She was going to be a mom. At forty-two. When the kid graduated from high school, she’d be sixty. Sixty?
What was she thinking? She couldn’t do this! Who decided that women could have babies in their forties? That was such bad planning.
“Toni?” Henry called from the kitchen. “You okay?”
Okay. Deep breaths. You can do this. Wasn’t Jamie Lee Curtis sixty? Emma Thompson was too. Or something like that. They weren’t old. She could do this.
And she had Henry. Henry would only be… fifty-three when the kid graduated high school. That wasn’t old at all.
“Toni?” He tapped on the door. “Are you okay?”
She pulled it open and steam rushed out, making Henry blink. “I can do this, right?”
His eyes fell right to her boobs. “Do what?”
“Have a baby. At my age.”
He raised an eyebrow and brought his eyes up to hers. “You are doing it.”
“I know that, but you know what I mean.”
“Will you be able to handle being a mother to an infant? Baby-proofing your house? Breastfeeding?”
“Stop thinking about my boobs, Henry.”
The corner of his mouth turned up. “I can’t help it. They are absolutely incredible right now, and you told me they were hands-off. I’m only human.”
Toni cracked a smile. “All of the above. I have never taken care of a small human before. Not full time.”
“And while I won’t be able to do some of the things, like breastfeeding, I am planning to do half of all the other stuff, so you’re not going to be on your own with all this, okay?” He hooked his finger through the belt on her robe and pulled her toward him. “We’ll figure it out. And we have lots of friends and family who can help.”
Toni took a deep breath. “Okay.”
“Kids are fun. And also a pain in the butt, but they’re fun. And I always wanted one, and I honestly cannot think of a cooler person to do this with.” Henry pulled her closer. “You’re going to be the fiercest, badass-est—”
“I don’t think that’s a word.”
“I think it is because you are.” He kissed her temple. Then her cheekbone. “You’re going to be a really good mom, Toni Dusi. And I’m going to be the best dad I can be.”
“Just don’t…” She lost her train of thought when he started kissing her neck. “Um…”
“What’s that?” His hands were skimming along the outside of her robe, raising goose bumps all over her body as the material brushed against her skin.
“I… don’t remember.”
“Don’t remember what you were worried about?”
“Nope.”
“Good.” He reached down and lifted her up so she was sitting on the edge of the counter. Then he nudged her knees apart and angled his hips between her legs.
The sensation of denim along her inner thighs made every nerve in her body go on alert.
Henry teased his fingers along the collar of her robe. “I like being your boyfriend. It gives me all kinds of ideas about how to distract you.”
“When I get mental?”
“Hey,” he said. “You’re a psychic. I’m guessing it comes with the territory.”
“Okay.” If Henry wanted to distract her, she wasn’t going to complain.
Not even a little bit.
Fate Actually: Moonstone Cove Book Two Page 22