Chapter 28
It was Sunday morning and Toni was in the middle of explaining to her mother why she wouldn’t be at mass that morning when Katherine and Baxter rolled up in their sensible compact car, followed shortly by Megan and her three kids in their SUV.
Katherine got out of the car, and Archie came bounding after her. The large goldendoodle puppy loved chasing the rabbits at Toni’s house, but he stopped and froze when he saw Earl, who was standing on the porch.
“Uh-oh.” Henry walked out on the deck. “Are we gonna have a standoff?”
Baxter leaned against the car and observed. “This should be interesting.”
Earl stood from sitting and slowly walked down the steps toward Archie.
“He’s very well-trained,” Henry said. “So don’t worry— Earl!”
The big dog bounded over to Archie and laid a massive lick right across the smaller dog’s face. Then the two of them took off into the brush without a single look back.
“So they’re friends.” Katherine nodded. “I suspected they would be. They’re both neutered males, so hormonally charged disagreements about territory shouldn’t be an issue.”
“Okay then.” Henry sipped his coffee with a smile playing around the corners of his mouth. “Katherine, I can see why Toni likes you so much.”
“I see why she likes you too.” Katherine opened her mouth to say more, but Toni cut her off.
“Yep. Dogs.” Toni nodded. “So… doggy. Gotta love those dogs.”
Toni needed to change the subject before Katherine could launch into some interesting but distracting lecture about symmetrical features or hormone dominance or whatever it was that caused Toni to want to climb Henry like a tree.
Marissa wasn’t wrong on that. Toni didn’t like the woman, but she wasn’t wrong. Henry was very sexy and also very cute. And climbable.
Stop thinking about sex, Toni.
She saw Nico’s pickup truck rolling down the hill past the barn, and she clapped her hands together to grab everyone’s attention. “Okay, who wants to ride in the back of the pickup and who wants to walk?”
Megan’s three kids all raised their hands immediately. “Truck!”
Henry said, “I can take my truck down too. If Megan rides with Nico and puts the kids in the back, then Katherine and Baxter can come with us.”
“Should we put the dogs in the barn?”
“Probably. Hopefully Enzo won’t harass them while we’re gone.” Henry whistled for Earl and got the canines settled while Toni went to talk to Katherine, Megan, and Baxter.
“Okay,” Toni said. “I have a feeling that we may need Megan’s skills today, so we’re going to have to come up with some ways to distract Nico and the kids when the time comes.”
“I’ll keep an eye on them,” Katherine said. “Hopefully there will be enough going on that I won’t have to do too much. I don’t think we’re going to need a seer to find the caves.”
“I imagine not,” Baxter said. “But I’m glad the antihistamines are working anyway.”
“Seriously?” Megan asked. “Your hay fever was blocking your visions?”
“Apparently.” Katherine shrugged. “Psychic powers are strange and unpredictable.”
Toni agreed, but luckily the emotional mood of the group that morning was excited and optimistic, especially if she stayed close to Megan, Henry, and Baxter. She hopped in the back of the truck and let Baxter sit in front with the plans. Then they followed Nico’s vehicle down the road toward the picturesque bend in Ferraro Creek that had been such a topic of interest.
Baxter pointed to the creek. “Since the creek is most prominent in the site plan, we should find a good place to park along it. We ought to be able to find the two cave portals from there.”
“Cool.” Henry pulled out his phone and called Nico. “Baxter said we should park by that big oak between the two sycamores.”
“Got it.”
Toni saw Nico’s truck veer off the gravel road and toward a clear patch of dirt where a spraying rig and an old wagon sat under a stand of trees.
Henry parked next to him and shut off the truck; then they all began unloading shovels and hedge trimmers from the back of the pickups.
“If we haven’t spotted it already,” Nico said, “then it’s camouflaged in some way. So maybe look for areas of dense brush that don’t really belong. Rocks that seems to have been placed deliberately.”
Baxter walked to the creek and turned in circles, trying to orient himself with the site plan. “Does anyone have a compass? The one on my phone isn’t working.”
“This place is a complete dead zone.” Nico tossed a compact compass toward Baxter. Then he squinted and shaded his eyes from the sun. “I can see Fairfield’s place across the creek. It really is close.”
“Perhaps that would be a better approach,” Baxter said. “Since the plans were drawn from that side of the hill.”
They walked along the path with the oak-covered hill rising along the left and the creek and rows of cabernet vines running along their right.
Nico reached out and pinched off a bunch of dark purple grapes and tossed them in his mouth. “We’re close on these. End of next week, I think.”
Henry reached over and grabbed a handful for himself. “Yeah. End of next week or beginning of the week after.”
“Depends on the weather.”
They walked in silence, and Toni tried to imagine what they might find.
Would the caves be as neat as what they’d seen on the plans? Would they be like her house? Basically sturdy but in need of some TLC?
“If these wine caves are nice,” Nico said, “then I may be looking to move my entire tasting room facility down the hill.”
“And out of the barn?” Toni grinned. “It’s like you’re listening to your mom or something.”
“Ha ha.”
Megan said, “Putting the tasting room closer to the creek and the caves makes sense though. You’re pretty far back from the main road where you are. You’d snag a lot more of the traffic off the main road with good signage and a nice building.”
“As much as I object to people in general,” Toni said, “I can’t argue with Megan’s logic.”
Trina, Megan’s oldest daughter, was a year out of high school and already attending Central Coast State. She sidled up to Nico and said, “You should listen to my mom. She’s really good at advertising and marketing.”
Nico looked amused. “Is she now?”
“Oh yeah. When we lived in Atlanta, having her working for you was a really big deal. She even worked with film studios and stuff.”
Toni tried hard to control her smile. Was Megan’s oldest daughter selling Nico on her mom?
“I’ll have to keep that in mind.” Nico, to his credit, knew not to dismiss teenage girls. “What kind of brand development experience does she have on her résumé?”
“I don’t know exactly what you mean by that, but there was a real big rum company that had a relaunch of their product in Atlanta, and she did the whole thing. Her team designed the labels. They planned the party. They got celebrities and everything there. It was totally in the newspaper.”
“Trina!” Megan called from the front where she was walking next to Baxter. “What are you talking about?”
“Nothing!” Trina winked at Nico and kept her voice low. “Just saying. Her business is gonna take off in a matter of months. You don’t want to sleep on that if you know what’s good for you.”
The corner of Nico’s mouth turned up, showing off the dimple that had charmed half of Moonstone Cove. “Thanks for the tip.”
Henry grabbed Toni’s hand and swung his shovel over his shoulder. “It’s a good idea, but we need to make sure the structure is sound.”
“Such a realist.” Toni squeezed his hand. “I appreciate that.”
* * *
Finding the entrance to a cave wasn’t nearly as easy as Toni had thought it would be. After all, it was a door. Into the ground. But what she realized after
three hours of searching was that as large as doors were, they were not larger than hills.
It wasn’t until Adam, Megan’s son, was randomly swinging a pick into a pile of rocks that they found a clue.
The thunk rang loud across the late morning air.
“Mom!”
Everyone stopped searching in the brush and ran over to the sixteen-year-old boy.
“Look!” He pointed at the pile of rocks and swung the pick again.
Thunk.
“That’s wood.”
Nico and Henry bent down to roll away the stones covering the wooden structure, only to find a sturdy set of doors with two horseshoes bent into handles.
“Okay, let’s pop ’em up.”
Nico and Henry both pulled up and out, exposing not a set of stairs but a storage area with many of the same tools they were already carrying.
“This isn’t a portal.” Katherine started scanning the brush. “But I bet it’s close.”
“Why else would you keep supplies here?” Toni asked.
They focused their attention on the area directly to the right and left of the wooden storage area, and within minutes they’d found the entrance, stacked with rocks, draped with old vines that fell down the hill, and with a menacing tangle of barbed wire mixed in with the brush.
Henry took a pickax and pulled the barbed wire away; then Nico and Megan pushed the rocks to the side.
“You’re strong.” Nico grinned at Megan. “You must work out.”
Megan’s smile was bright. “As often as possible.” She was also a telekinetic who could use her ability to enhance her strength, but there was no need to share that part with poor, unsuspecting Nico.
“Did your ex-wife get up to Santa Cruz okay?” Megan asked.
“Yeah. Jackie called me around two in the morning. They made it up there, got out to her parents’ ranch, and she’ll stay put until they can find Ruben.”
“Did Drew call anyone this morning?” Toni asked.
“No.” Nico rolled the last stone away. “We’ll probably be waiting until next week to hear anything from the crime lab.”
“Fair point.” Toni moved forward when she saw a rusted metal door appear. “There it is.”
Baxter stood in front of it, faced the creek, then turned back to the door. “Yes. The degree is more than a little bit off on the plans, but that might have been intentional.”
“Can we get it open?” Nico pulled on the handle, only to hear nothing as the door swung open.
Not a squeak. Not a creak.
“Someone’s oiled the hinges.” He ducked his head and turned on the large flashlight Baxter handed him. “Okay, folks, let’s see what we’ve got.”
One by one, they disappeared past the door, and then it was only Henry and Toni bringing up the rear.
“Is it bad that part of me really does not want you to go in there until I check it out?” Henry asked. “Seeing as you’re the mother of my unborn child and all.”
“I appreciate the protective instincts more than I expected, but seeing as we can already hear Megan’s kids trying out the echo factor in the caves, it’s probably unnecessary.”
It was true. Toni could already detect the whoops and hollers from the kids as they ran around underground.
“Come on.” Toni grabbed Henry’s hand. “What an adventure, right?”
“Yeah.” He walked through the doorway first, never letting her hand leave his.
The minute they walked into the cave, Toni felt the air temperature drop. She breathed in the scent of soft, slightly damp air, earth, and metal.
“The temperature and humidity are nearly perfect,” Henry muttered. “A little more ventilation to get the humidity down and that’s it. That’s all we’d have to do.”
“What are we walking on?” She pointed her flashlight down at the gently sloping floor. “It’s all brick.”
“Oh my God, Toni, are you seeing this?” Henry pointed his flashlight up. “It’s so beautiful.”
Toni followed the light and saw an intricate pattern of dark and light brick in an arching pattern that mirrored the lines of the barrel-roofed ceiling. He shined his flashlight along the walls, and she saw the flash of bright green and red mosaic tiles placed in a pattern that formed an alley of tall cedars.
Toni swung her flashlight around the larger room they entered where Megan’s kids, along with Katherine and Baxter, were trying out the limits of the echoes. She heard Baxter exclaiming every now and then about some structural detail or referring to the plans.
The cave itself was narrow and looped around in a kind of stretched horseshoe with a central room at the apex of the arch where the children were shouting. The entire structure was lined in brick and tile with small alcoves built into the tunnels on alternating sides where barrels could be racked and stored.
Toni looked up at Henry, who looked like a kid on the most overwhelming Christmas morning ever. “You okay?”
“Our wine is going to be so much better.” He looked like he was nearly crying. “And we won’t have to pay for air-conditioning.”
She looked for Nico, who was leaning against a pillar, staring up at the center of the main room where a two-barred cross was inlaid with red and white brick.
“There it is.” He pointed to the giant cross. “There’s the new logo. Branding done. This is… beyond.”
“Yeah.” She walked over to him. “This is very cool.”
He looked back at her, blinking. “I feel like a complete idiot. This has been sitting here for thirty years. It’s priceless. This isn’t just a cave, it’s a work of art.”
“Mom?” Adam’s voice rang through the darkness. “I found something weird.”
“What is it?” Megan called. “Where are you, honey?”
Toni heard the sound of a gun cocking in the darkness, and a voice came from behind her.
“You know,” Ruben said. “You people really picked the wrong day to go exploring.”
Chapter 29
Henry stepped in front of Toni. “Ruben, what the hell are you doing?”
Nico turned carefully and looked at the man. “I thought we were friends.”
“Are we?” Ruben kept the gun trained on Nico. “Do friends steal architectural plans, Nico? Do they sabotage your winery and get you in trouble with the new owners?”
Nico was the picture of confusion. “What are you talking about?”
Toni tapped Henry on the shoulder. “Um, I might be able to explain that one.” Anytime Toni tried to get out from behind Henry, he moved in front of her. “Henry, let me—”
“I think Nico and I could be asking the same thing of you,” Henry said. “Aren’t you behind the sabotage at our place?”
“That wasn’t me; that was Danny and Fairfield. I don’t want to hurt anyone.” Ruben carefully positioned himself, blocking the exit. His face was rough, and he looked like he hadn’t slept in about three days. “I have been living with this shit hanging over me for years now. I just want to finish it.”
“So let’s get out of here and sort things out,” Nico said. “There are kids down here and you have a gun. There’s no reason for anyone to get hurt.”
Ruben let out a strangled laugh. “I keep trying to make that happen, and every time I try to make it work, someone else gets hurt. So I don’t know what to do now.”
“Ruben—” Megan stepped forward, and Ruben swung the gun toward her. In the background, one of the girls screamed. “Hey. Hi. It’s Megan; remember me? My kids are down here, Ruben. I have three kids. Can you let my kids go with Baxter and Katherine? The rest of us will stay down here and help you sort things out, but please let my kids go.”
“With the professors? Oh yeah, sure.” Ruben snorted. “So they can run to Toni’s house and call the cops? I don’t think so.”
“Why don’t you want us to call the cops?” Toni asked. “They just want to ask you some questions.”
“Do you think I’m an idiot?” Ruben shouted into the darkness. “
I know Marissa told them. I know Danny’s been talking. I know what’s going to happen if I go to the police!”
Toni stepped to Henry’s side and grabbed his hand. “Ruben, let us help you.”
He snarled at Nico. “If you hadn’t been so goddamn stubborn, none of this would have had to happen. No one would have gotten hurt.”
“So this is my fault?” Nico was getting heated. “Whit Fairfield dead. Marissa beat within an inch of her life. That’s all my fault?”
“If you’d sold the land—”
“It’s not my land to sell.” Nico’s voice was hard. “You pulled my family into this. You pulled your own flesh and blood into this. For what? Money?”
“My grandfather built this!” Ruben shouted. “All of this! It’s his work. Did you know that? His blood, sweat, and tears went into this place. He spent years working on it after he finished his day job. It was supposed to be his retirement money. Years of laying bricks in the dark. Years of switching from one plan to another because that old man changed his mind over and over and over again. And do you know how much that cheap bastard gave him for all this work? Ten grand. That’s it. A third of what my grandfather was promised. And then he shut it up! Didn’t even show it to anyone or give my granddad credit for the build.”
“That’s horrible,” Nico said. “That shouldn’t have happened to him.”
“Then years later, I find out Whit Fairfield was trying to cheat me. Just like my grandfather was cheated.” Ruben shook his head. “Not this time. Not this man. I don’t think so.”
Toni watched Ruben, trying to find a way to get a hand on the man. If she could tackle him and get her hands on him, she could calm him down like she had with Justin McCabe. She could make him cooperate.
But unlike the gym, they didn’t have the element of surprise. Ruben had a firm hold on the gun, and any attempt to rush him could end in tragedy.
Nico spread his hands out. “So what are you gonna do, Ruben? Kill us? Hide our bodies down here? Someone is bound to come looking. The police detective knows about the caves.”
“I’m not gonna kill you. We’re all gonna leave together as soon as I finish setting these charges. Then we’re walking out of there, and I’m gonna blow these tunnels to hell.” Ruben flashed his light over at a different pillar, and Toni saw dynamite strapped to it with duct tape.
Fate Actually: Moonstone Cove Book Two Page 23