Poison and Pinot (A Paranormal Cozy Mystery) (California Witching Book 2)

by Samantha Silver

  James blinked. "She was a good person, yes. Many say her heart was always in the right place."

  "Many?" I repeated.

  James shrugged. "The issues between a husband and a wife can run deep, and I feel that many people would be surprised to know that she didn't always extend the same warmth to me. Not in the way a wife should, anyway."

  I tried hard not to gag and pull away from him again. What a creep. What kind of man hit on other women and trashed their wife at her own memorial service?

  "I'm sorry to hear that," I managed to get out.

  "No, she hardly ever wanted to fill my needs. But there are ways around that."

  Ew, ew, ew. I had to move the conversation elsewhere before I puked. "It must still be so hard on you and your daughters. Were you together — you and them, I mean, when you found out about Lisa? "

  James took a step back, possibly realizing he was getting nowhere with me. "No, we were not. My youngest one was in school that morning, while I don’t know where Jeanette was, I was on a business trip. I was on my way to San Francisco when the police called me." He shook his head. "I had to go through my meeting knowing what had happened. I've never given a presentation so poorly before."

  His utter lack of respect for his own wife made me want to punch him right in the throat, but I kept my fists to myself and just nodded instead. "It must've been very hard for you."

  Out of the corner of my eye I noticed someone approaching us in the corner very quickly. A blonde someone.

  "James! I've been looking all over the place for you! Has this girl been keeping you from seeing the rest of your guests by any chance?" she asked him, throwing me a scowl. I recognized her after a moment as being Anya White — James’ mistress. It seemed neither one of them had any sort of class; she no longer made any secret of her relationship with James as she took his hand.

  He shook his head again, throwing his arm around her waist and pulling her close to him.

  "No, no. I was just talking with her about Lisa. Anyway," he said, turning back to me with all the wind from his sails gone, "it was nice to meet you, Miss Dean."

  I plastered on the best smile I could muster, meeting his eyes. "It was nice to meet you, too. And I'm sorry for your loss."

  Anya didn't bother with the same niceties, rolling her eyes at me as he whisked her away.

  Now I fully understood just what kind of man James Lim really was.

  Chapter 12

  I took a deep breath as soon as James and Anya walked away, finally having room to breathe. I felt like I needed to take a nice, hot shower, preferably in bleach, after talking to James Lim.

  I must have looked a little spooked because another new face came striding towards me. The look on her face suggested that she was concerned, but I wasn’t totally sure, given how tautly-stretched across the woman’s forehead her skin was.

  Her heels clicked as she quickly made her way over to me.

  "Are you okay? I just saw that from over there. God, James can be such an idiot, I swear."

  The thick, heavy perfume she wore hung over the two of us in a cloud.

  I clutched on tightly to my small purse I'd picked from Karen's closet, nodding. "I'm totally fine, thank you for asking."

  The woman didn't seem to quite believe me, but didn't press any further. "I'm Kayla Murphy," she said, extending her hand forward. "Are you sure you're okay? I'm not opposed to yelling at James on your behalf."

  It took a moment for me to recognize the name, my stomach knotting in the process. Kayla Murphy was Lisa's business partner, according to Karen. And they'd been close.

  "Don't worry about me. Really, I'm fine. I'm Taylor, by the way." I shook her hand gently. "All this going on… I know you and Lisa worked closely together; I should be asking you if you're okay."

  Kayla’s shoulders slumped slightly as she looked down at the ground. I knew she must have been going through a lot — as upset as Karen was about Lisa, I knew it must have been a thousand times worse for Kayla, who sounded like she had been quite close to Lisa. I couldn't imagine losing Karen like that. Just the thought of it had me pulling my arms around myself.

  "It's been rough, I'll be honest. It's like losing an arm or something. I don't even know how I'm standing here, holding it together." Her eyes were rather puffy, which really stood out compared to the rest of her heavily-botoxed face. She looked as though she might break into tears at any moment.

  "I'm not really good with words, but I just can't imagine everything you're going through. I'm so sorry, Kayla," I replied, trying my best not to be awkward while patting her shoulder.

  "I am too. For her daughters, as well," she added, throwing another dark glance in James's direction. "I know everyone simply thinks Lisa was this big do gooder in the community, what with all her charity work and community participation. But to me she was more than that. She was my best friend, you know? We’ve lived next door to each other for the past twenty years. I don't know where I would be without her, and I already miss her terribly."

  The hollowness in her voice hit me right in the chest. "I heard that the two of you had a wine glass business. Had you guys been working on that for a while?"

  Kayla leaned against the wall, her eyes on the rest of the crowd as it amassed in middle the room. "Yes, you could say that. I mean we've been working on it for years, but we finally got to a point where we were going to make some real money off of it. Lisa was so excited, she was always craving that recognition with her work. I had the business know how, but Lisa was the genius behind the company."

  "Oh? I didn't realize that," I said, leaning against the wall with her. "She did the actual designs of the glasses?"

  Kayla nodded. "Truth be told, I don't have a creative bone in my body." She gave a little laugh. "But I did have a business degree, and I knew how to drum up advertising with that kind of thing, it's what I was best at. I found all of our materials and a supplier, and a distributor. I kept everything running smoothly, and Lisa made everything pretty," she replied. There was what appeared to be a sad smile on her face, but it was hard to say with the way her skin refused to stretch to accommodate it. "At least that's what she always said."

  "What do you plan on doing with the business now?" Without the artist, there'd be nothing for her to sell, but I didn't want to say that out loud to Kayla.

  Kayla stood up straight, pulling away from the wall. "I'm not entirely sure, to be frank. I'll have to give it some thought."

  I wasn't sure if maybe I had offended her by accident, but something in her demeanor seemed to change toward me the moment I brought up her future business plans. Then I realized she probably didn’t want to think about working on her pride and joy in the future without Lisa. I worked to quickly change the subject, not wanting to upset Kayla further.

  "So, does James seem even the least bit remorseful to you, or is it just me?"

  The peal of humorless laughter that escaped her was quiet enough that only I heard it.

  "James? Remorseful? That man wouldn't have given a hoot about Lisa if it made him the richest man on earth. All he cares about is himself, in case that wasn't made obvious by way he just acted in front of you. Not a remorseful bone in his body."

  I couldn't say I was surprised.

  Kayla heaved a heavy sigh. "I’d better move to the front. I'm supposed to be reading one of her favorite poems in a little bit," she explained.

  I nodded. "Of course. It was very nice meeting you."

  "You, too." Kayla gave me somewhat of a smile before sweeping away and disappearing in the middle of the crowd.

  Fishing for the nearest glass of wine from a serving tray, I stood closer to the throng of people, all talking about Lisa’s life and what a wonderful impact she had made. I made a mental note to try and do enough good in the world that people would say the same about me when my time was up.

  Chapter 13

  "Taylor!" The sound of Corrine Leeman’s voice sent chills down my spine. Unlike her son, Corrine was def
initely not a pleasant person to deal with, and I would have much rather run into the younger Leeman family member first rather than the elder one.

  I turned toward the sound of her voice, and Corrine immediately wrapped her arm around mine, looking up at me.

  "So nice to see you, dear! Such tragic circumstances, of course." Corinne looked out around the room, her face dramatically somber for a moment. "Lisa was such a good soul to us all. She will be fondly remembered and dearly missed." Coming from anyone else the words wouldn't have sounded so contrived, but this was Corinne, and I was pretty sure her middle name was Drama.

  "Hello, Corinne," I sighed, but she was already dragging me across to the other side of the room. I held on tightly to my glass of wine to make sure it didn’t go sloshing all over the front of my dress. The woman had definitely never heard of concepts like personal space, or boundaries.

  Usually, I would have found any excuse to break away from the conversation with her, but seeing as she was dragging me towards Ken, standing by a large window overlooking the eighteenth hole, looking handsome as ever, I hesitated. I always seemed to catch Ken dressed in a suit and tie. It made me wonder what he looked like in a pair of jeans and a regular T-shirt.

  My cheeks burned as he caught my eye, then the smile that began to form on his face fell as he noticed his mother.

  "Mother, did you really have to?" he hissed at Corinne, frowning. "I'm sorry, Taylor. You know how she can be," he apologized, rolling his eyes at her. "You really shouldn't just assume she wanted to be pulled away from whoever she was talking to."

  But I shook my head, trying to placate the tension between the two of them as Corrine frowned right back at her son.

  "No, no. It's totally fine. I wasn't talking with anyone."

  His expression softened as he pointed to my glass. "Would you like a refill?"

  Apparently, most of my glass of wine hadn’t survived the adventure across the floor being dragged along by Corrine. I looked down quickly, thankful that none of it had spilled on my dress. Luckily, I had gone for white rather than red.

  "No, thank you, though," I said with a smile. Still, I made a mental note to grab another glass as soon as I could. At this point, alcohol could only help me sound like a normal human being when I was next to Ken.

  "Well, I'll leave you two to it, then," Corinne crooned at us, winking super obviously at the two of us before traipsing away to bother some other unassuming person.

  Ken and I exchanged a look before bursting out into laughter, garnering quite a few dirty looks from the guests nearby. I held my hand over my mouth, feeling like an idiot.

  "Ugh, I'm so bad at these things," I muttered.

  He leaned in, the scent of something clean and fresh wafting past me. "I know what you mean," he whispered. "I didn't know Lisa all too well myself, so I feel a little bit awkward being here around all of these people who knew her all so well, despite wanting to pay my respects."

  Doing my best to ignore just how good he smelled, I nodded.

  "Yup. Awkward. That's a good way to put it." Almost as awkward as this conversation.

  Clearing his throat, Ken gestured to my dress. "You look amazing, by the way. Very elegant."

  It took every ounce of effort to form my squeak of a reply.

  "Thanks." It wasn't lost on me that I had taken another step toward him, with a dopey looking grin on my face. "That's a first — looking elegant, I mean. That's not usually my style. I'm more of a jeans and T-shirt kind of gal, myself. I probably resemble a teenager in high school half the time. I mean, you look nice, too."

  My stream of consciousness spilled out of me without hesitation. I wasn’t sure this was actually any better than when I could hardly string two words together in front of Ken without become a blabbering mess.

  Ken saved the day by chuckling, giving me that million watt smile of his. "Thanks."

  It occurred to me right then and there, that I had been paying too much attention to Ken, and not enough attention to asking around about Lisa. If we were ever going to find out anything more about her murder, Karen and I had some questioning to do of the fine people of Rosemary Creek. And since so many of them seemed to have come out to the memorial service, I was losing precious moments by standing around gawking at him. Even if he was very nice to look at.

  "I don't suppose you found anything out about Lisa? About the morning of her death?" I asked him, trying to get back to business. It was a little harder with Ken still smiling at me.

  "I haven’t heard much, no. I do know that they found some foreign chemicals in her body that shouldn't have been there. No one's really saying much about that, though. I definitely think that's suspicious."

  I snagged one of the nearby crackers topped with cheese from a service tray, nodding along with him. "Right. Yes, I heard that too. The police confirmed that it was murder.”

  "Of course. I honestly don't know what I would have done in that situation, so kudos to you for keeping your cool. Do you have any suspects? Because I have a feeling you and Karen aren’t exactly sitting on the sidelines on this one." He let his voice trail off knowingly.

  A small blush of guilt crept up my face. "Maybe. There's definitely something weird going on with a few different people in Lisa’s life." Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Karen's small form not too far off from us. Unfortunately for her, it looked like she was currently being accosted by James Lim, and this time there wasn’t a jealous girlfriend in sight. I frowned.

  "What's wrong?" Ken's voice dipped low.

  I nodded toward them. "Suspect number one. Ugh, he gives me the creeps. He tried flirting with me a little while ago, and had the nerve to put his hands on me. It was so gross." I shook my head, my stomach twisting in knots just thinking about it.

  But I had to admit, seeing Ken's expression turn sour made me feel good inside.

  "I've run into him a few times, and I can't say I'm surprised he treats anyone like that."

  I raised a brow at him. "You’ve run into him a few times? At the law firm?"

  Ken nodded. "Yes. One of my clients had a few grievances against him. He's not known as the most trustworthy of people around here."

  "Which is one of the reasons why he's definitely at the top of my suspect list," I replied, shaking my head.

  "Wait. I wonder where he's off to now," Ken mumbled low enough for just me to hear. I looked over to see Karen gone and James looking around the room before slipping away fast enough for no one to notice. Except for us, that was.

  The soft music in the background cut off with an abrupt squelch. A red-faced woman who looked to be part of the Lion's Club apologized to the room through a microphone.

  "We will be gathering in the adjoined room to begin the service shortly. Please find your seats inside the Beaufort room."

  Everyone slowly started filing out of the main clubhouse room and into the next, but I hung back. Part of me was dying to know why James Lim went the exact opposite direction of the service, and if I didn't find out I might have never known.

  "Is that Karen's boss?" Ken whispered, nodding toward the same door that James had just slipped through. Sure enough, Portia Russo, smoothing down her blonde locks, followed after him.

  I was completely stumped. What on earth was Portia doing? Was she about to corner James herself? Portia had been fond of Lisa, that much I knew. It wouldn't have been a stretch for her to approach him herself, but I was worried it wasn't a good idea.

  Especially since he was at the top of the suspect list.

  I teetered, biting my lip. "I feel like I should make sure she's okay."

  Ken gestured toward the door. "After you. Maybe we can find out what's going on with the supposed grieving husband."

  A swell of gratitude bloomed in my chest but there was no time to dwell on it. We hurried across the room and slipped through the same door James and Portia had gone through, quietly shutting it behind us.

  Instead of leading into another room as I’d expected, the door
led to a long hallway that had 'Staff Only' marked in red letters on the walls every twenty feet or so. There were easily ten different doors along the hallway, none of which showed any signs of having been opened recently. There was no way of knowing which way either of them went, or even if Portia had indeed followed after James. I exchanged a look with Ken.

  "We'll just have to check all of the doors," he said, his voice grim. He sounded as frustrated as I felt.

  I sighed and turned to check the first door on the left, jiggling the metal handle. "Locked."

  "This one, too."

  We went down the first half of the hallway, stopping to check each door. The first four were locked, but the next one I checked opened with a groan, and I peeked inside. The room was dark, but from what I could see it was just a storage room for chairs and tables. "Nothing in here," I whispered.

  Ken went a couple more doors down before he called out to me in a hushed whisper. "Taylor, over here."

  I tip-toed over to him and looked through the gap, covering my mouth to hide the gasp that escaped.

  This door led to an office of sorts, with three desks and file cabinets all over the place. Standing in front of one of the desks was James. Sitting in front of James on the desk, was Portia, wrapped up in his arms, with her legs wrapped around his waist.

  They were passionately kissing, Portia's jacket discarded on the desk beside her.

  I jumped away from the door, my eyes wide as Ken very carefully closed the door without either of them even noticing.

  "Oh my God," I breathed. "I was not expecting that." Bile rose in my throat. Not only had I just witnessed some serious PDA which was bad enough, but it had been between James and Portia—two people I would have never guessed were into each other like that.

  And at his wife’s memorial service. Ugh.

  I had so many questions. I opened my mouth to try and get them off my chest, but Ken just pulled me along after him.

  "Come on. Let's get back to the service. I'm sure it's already starting."