The front door opened. Nikki looked up to see Derek in sweatpants and worn tee. Something about him like that, looking almost boyish, sent the spine-tingling good kind of willies down her back. “Hi.”
“Hello. I thought I heard someone.”
“Who’s there?” Simon called out in the background.
Nikki arched an eyebrow. “The Boys of Summer are hanging out here?” Quite a twist, considering Derek and his half brother Simon weren’t exactly close, and Marco, Simon’s boyfriend, was nothing less than a royal pain in the rear.
“Marco has actually designed a decent ad campaign for the winery and asked if I’d take a look.”
He was still being way too formal, and acting way too weird.
“Is that Goldilocks? Come on in,” Marco hollered out in his Italian accent.
Derek hesitated before swinging the door open. It made her pause, too, before she walked in. Those vibes she was feeling directed at her were nasty and angry. But the boys did appear sort of happy to see her.
Marco poured her a glass of wine as she walked over to the dining room table where they’d apparently been going over Marco’s ad ideas. Derek followed behind her. Nikki took the glass of red, took a sip. After tonight, she was in need and wouldn’t turn it down even if the offer came from Marco.
“Getting out of the haute couture business?” she asked.
“Ah,” Marco sighed and continued on in his Italian accent. “The world of fashion as you know, is about the materialistic world and around money and who has it and who doesn’t, and I am simply tiring of it.”
Nikki just about spit the wine across the room. Marco a-materialistic? Now, that was a joke.
Simon sidled up next to her. “We told you we’ve been reflecting on our lives after doing the Zen thing, and our growth is amazing. Marco wants to expand his horizons and since he truly is an artiste, what better for him than to think of Malveaux and the family business?”
“Yes, that is very true,” Marco said. “Guru Sansibaba, who we studied with at the spa in magnificent Sedona, says that the God within us is caused by the God outside of us. This is the reflection of all that we do, and all that others do, and we are one microcosm of the macrocosm. One tiny cell in a larger one. By thinking blindly about riches and speaking ugly of others, we are only harming ourselves.”
“Mhhm. Guru Sansibaba, such an intelligent man,” Simon chimed in.
Oh, brother. Nikki wondered if Derek could read through these two as clearly as she could. After Gabriel’s murder last fall, Derek had basically given them the boot for their part in everything. They’d tried desperately to run Nikki off the vineyard, afraid that she might be after what they were after—the Malveaux fortune. She wasn’t buying into the idea that some guru at a spa in Sedona had turned these two into spiritual, loving beings.
“My suggestion with a new ad campaign is intelligent and filled with amore. I am making a suggestion to Derek that the winery incorporate the concept of Zen into their ads. It is all about peace and love, and what a grand idea to associate it with a vineyard. Guru Sansibaba says that what grows in the ground can only be ripened through love and nourishment. That said, there is much love at Malveaux Estate.” He winked at Nikki, then shot a glance at Derek.
She didn’t know what to say. Derek took her by the elbow, and they walked over to the sofa. The boys jabbered on to each other about the spiritual growth they were feeling within themselves and for each other and the brilliance of the guru.
Derek gestured for her to sit down. “I take it this isn’t a social visit,” he said in that same cold tone he had used on the answering machine.
“I, well . . . Actually, did I do something wrong? Are you upset with me?”
His eyes widened. “Should I be?”
“Not that I can think of. You sounded kind of perturbed with me on the message you left, and I thought I’d ask.”
“No. We’re fine. As I said something else has come up for me tomorrow night and I can’t make our dinner. That’s all.”
“Oh. I understand.” Not really. Usually he’d tell her what had come up or why he couldn’t make it. But she was getting nothing. He’d never sounded so abrupt with her. “Did you have a good trip?”
“Fine.”
Nikki set her wine glass on the coffee table in front of her. This was going well. “Do you want to reschedule, maybe?”
“I’m not sure of my schedule. My planner is up in the office. We can talk about it next week.”
Nikki was going to go out on a limb here, but she was losing ground with him and really wanted to get some traction back before that slight crack in the window she’d noticed at the wedding was nailed shut. “I need to go into the city this weekend and see a friend. Would you like to join me?”
Derek studied her for a moment. “I’m sure there’s someone else you’d rather take along.”
“No. There isn’t. I’m still fairly new around here and haven’t been to the city but a few times. When I lived in L.A. I didn’t get north often. I could use someone to tour around with me.”
“What about your friend that you’re going to visit?”
This was dicey because she didn’t want to give him any indication about her real reasons for going. However, she did want to stick as close to the truth as possible. “She’s not exactly a close friend, more of an acquaintance, really.”
“Why are you going into the city to see an acquaintance?” he asked, probably sensing she was up to something.
Now she would have to tell a story. “I think I told you about my interest in writing, after my acting career failed.”
He nodded.
“And, obviously, you know I love a good mystery.”
“A little too much,” he replied.
“Right. Anyway, this gal has information that could help me write a mystery.”
“Like a writing instructor?”
At least he was opening up to her, but she could hear the skepticism in his voice. “Yeah, kind of like that.”
“Uh, huh. Do you plan on pursuing a writing career, Nikki, or do you want to sell wine?”
Ooh, she’d assumed too quickly that he’d changed his tone with her. “Of course I want to sell wines. I love my job.” How could he doubt her about that? She’d thrown herself into learning everything about wines, winemaking, grapes, all of it from the seed on up. He knew that. “The writing thing is a hobby, that’s all. Now, I’d really like you to come to San Francisco with me.”
“Excuse me, oh excuse me, did I hear someone mention San Francisco?” Simon said.
Derek turned his head towards the boys at the dining room table who had obviously been eavesdropping, feigning to be fawning over their new idea and artwork. “Nikki is going into the city to talk with a woman about mystery writing,” Derek said, his voice strained. “She’s looking for a tour guide.”
Simon and Marco’s eyes both lit up. “Well, Goldilocks, you’ve come to the right place,” Simon said.
“Marvelous, Bellisima. We’ll take you around the wild city, and we’ll have a—how do you say—‘a really good time’ in English?” Marco replied.
“Blast, darling. We’ll have a blast,” Simon instructed his lover. “Good timing, too. I was starting to feel a bit bored here on the vineyard. There’s a darling Japanese man there on Kansas Street that Marco and I must go see. We’re really looking to go feng shui style. Guru Sansibaba says that home decor, especially feng shui, can help bring in the right vibrations for a spiritually profitable life. Vibrations are what connects all of us, in the one energy sphere. What a lovely idea, Goldilocks. We would love to accompany you.”
“Oh, no, that’s okay,” she protested and looked to Derek to save her from this onslaught. However, he appeared to be almost enjoying it, with what could only be construed as an amused smile on his face.
“We would be delighted to take you,” Marco said.
“Yes, of course. Who better than a couple of queens to show you around the kingd
om of queendom?” Simon said. The Boys of Summer broke into simultaneous laughter.
Nikki didn’t laugh as a sinking feeling set into her stomach.
“That settles it, when you get off work tomorrow head on up to the mansion and we’ll set out,” Simon ordered. “Maybe I can get us a dinner reservation at the Big 4 Restaurant on Nob Hill.”
“Oh, yes, that would be splendid,” Marco said and clapped his hands together. “And we have to, have to stay at The Clift. It’s a must, so divine. Our treat. It’s important that those of us who have monetary gain, share with the less fortunate.”
“Super.” She swigged back the wine and stood up. “I need to get going. Thanks for the vino.” She could hear the edge in her own voice now, and wondered what she could have done to Derek to start this pissing contest? Because now she was involved in it and not by choice. At that moment she wasn’t at all happy with the man of her dreams.
As she closed the door behind her and started to walk back to her place, a cool wind slapped her slightly across the face. Whether it was the chill traveling through her or the light bulb in her brain finally flickering to light, Nikki had a thought. The car the other night. When Andrés had brought her home from dinner in Sonoma with Deirdre. She smacked herself on the forehead. Duh. It had to have been the boys who’d sped on past and then reported in to Derek that they’d seen her with Andrés. How would she patch this one up? It wasn’t like he was going to admit that he might be jealous. Hell, she wasn’t even sure if that was the case. Turn around and go back to his place and say, “Oh, by the way, I didn’t have dinner with Andrés the other night, he just brought me home. It’s you I want.”
She made it back to her place, flopped down on the couch, and used her remote to turn on the TV. TLC was playing an oldie-but-goodie—When Harry Met Sally. Perfect.
There was a part of her that wanted to go back to Derek and tell him about the other night, make it clear to him that she wanted to be with him, as unprofessional and desperate as it might sound. But there was also a little part inside her that couldn’t help wondering what Andrés was up to at that moment.
Chapter 14
Friday morning before work, Nikki packed for the weekend and then went to see Isabel as soon as visiting hours began. Her dear friend sat opposite her on the other side of a glass partition wearing a sad expression. Simultaneously, Isabel and Nikki picked up their phones so they could speak with each other. Deep lines across Isabel’s young face had formed in a matter of a couple of days, and her eyes were sunken with dark circles framing them.
“I’m going to get you out of here,” Nikki promised.
Isabel nodded and gave her a pathetic attempt at a smile. “They think that I gave Susan a vial of that poison and told her it was cocaine.”
“What? Why would they think that?” Nikki asked, shocked to hear this turn of events. She knew that the cops thought Isabel had poisoned Susan, but she was under the assumption that since Isabel had catered the event that the police thought Isabel had put the poison in the food or wine.
“There is rumor that someone on the catering staff heard Susan say to me that she needed a pick-me-up, and that I supplied that for her.”
“Did Susan say anything like that to you?” Nikki asked.
“I cannot remember anything like that. It is possible. If she did, she said it in passing and I did not take it to mean for real. I was so busy that day. You saw me. If she did say something to me about needing some energy, I would have thought she was asking for coffee, not drugs.”
Nikki pondered all of this for a moment, remembering standing in the foyer at the Waltman Castle shortly after the coroner had taken Susan’s body away. Susan’s sister Jennifer had brought up the fact that her sister liked to dabble in recreational drugs once in a while, and Pamela hadn’t denied it. But why would the police think that Isabel provided it? Yes, they claimed to have found the vial of sodium fluoroacetate in Isabel’s truck, but it wasn’t as if Susan and Isabel were bosom buddies. Nikki doubted that if Susan wanted a toot, she’d go to the caterer she treated as a lowly servant. She brought this point up to Isabel, whose eyes glossed over.
“Nikki, there is something that I have never told to you. It is something I am so ashamed of.”
“There is nothing you need to be ashamed of around me.”
Isabel sighed. “When I first come into this country I was a little more wild. I knew how to party, and I liked to forget my troubles. Things were hard for me after my mother passed and I moved here, though I was going to be here with my brother and there were so many possibilities, I was stupid. I thought the best way to make friends was to throw good parties. One night after moving here, I had people over and there were drugs. My brother heard about it and he told me that if I did not change that I would have to go back to Spain. Since the vineyard owners of Spaniard’s Crest helped to finance the restaurant and I knew that my brother was serious with me, I paid attention. I have never had anything to do with drugs since that night.”
“But there are still some people out there who like to talk trash and this murder has stirred up the gossip again.”
“Yes,” Isabel whispered into the phone.
It was an ugly mess, but Nikki was more determined than ever to wade through it and get to the bottom of all of it. She needed to find out which worker had mentioned to the police about overhearing Susan say to Isabel that she needed a pick-me-up. On that train of thought, she reflected on the young man working that night who Susan had belittled in front of a slew of people. What was his name again? How could she forget? It was the reason Susan jabbed at him. It was Louis Faulker. When Nikki made it back to Sonoma on Sunday, she’d track him down.
“Do you have a roster of people who worked for you that night?” Nikki asked.
“It should be in my office inside my desk. Why?”
“I’d like to see who was working and maybe ask some questions.”
“Is that a good idea? I do not want you to get into any trouble on my account.”
“Listen to me, Isabel. I don’t want to paint an ugly picture, but I think you know how much trouble you are in.”
Isabel’s eyes watered over again as she nodded in response.
“That said, the police seem pretty focused on blaming you for this and finding a way to convict you. Andrés and I think you were framed.”
Isabel’s eyes widened as she absorbed this thought. “But why? I do not think I have any enemies. The only person who never seemed to care for me was Susan Jennings.”
“Exactly. I don’t think that whoever is framing you did it because they have a grudge against you. I think you are the easy fall guy.”
Isabel looked confused.
“Because of the way Susan treated you, and in front of others with no holding back, it made the killer see you as an easy target to blame so that there would be no suspicion on him or her.”
“And you are trying to find out who this person is?”
“Yes.”
“No, Nikki. You cannot put your life in that kind of risk for me. The truth will come out.”
“Don’t be naïve, my friend. Yes, the truth will come out, and I’ll find out the truth. I’m fine. I know what I’m doing.” Although she said it, she couldn’t help wonder in the back of her mind if she really felt it, but she had to give Isabel some hope. “You know and I know that you would do the same for me.”
Isabel placed a hand on the glass partition between them, Nikki met Isabel’s hand with her own. Isabel mouthed the words “thank you.” Both women couldn’t hold back their tears any longer. “Please be careful,” Isabel said.
“I will.”
Their time was up. They said goodbye to each other and Nikki headed back to the vineyard for the day’s work. On her way she stopped off at Grapes. Isabel’s manager, Carmen, was there. She explained to her that Isabel needed her to retrieve something from her desk. Carmen didn’t question her, knowing that the two women were close friends. Nikki found the roste
r right where Isabel instructed. She scrolled down the list of about twenty people and found Louis Faulker’s name. On her way back to Malveaux Estate, she called Louis’s number on her cell. A man answered. When Nikki asked for Louis, she got quite a surprise.
“Lou? Nah. He split,” the man said.
“Split?”
“Yeah, you know like later. I came home Sunday after the national video game tournament in Sacramento, and the dude just left me a note saying he was moving out. I’m sorta pissed, too, you know, cause the dude owes me cash for the phone bill, and the rent’s due.”
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