A Flair for Chardonnay

by Deborah Garner

  Sadie made her way across the grounds toward the tasting room, taking her time to look around. There was no sign of Tina or any of the other Tremiato siblings. Most of the mingling crowd appeared to be tourists, identifiable by their cameras and area maps. Their likely plan was to enjoy the festival and then hit a few other wineries later in the day. A few locals littered the grounds, as well. By now Sadie recognized several faces from the meals she’d eaten at The Grapevine. She was certain she spotted the two chatty ladies who’d sat next to her at the counter the night before. And Detectives Hudson and Shafer were there, out of uniform, blending in seamlessly with those around them.

  The tasting room was already full. Sadie was happy to see the family had ordered the same appetizer spread from the week before. She grabbed a stuffed mushroom and looked around, finally spotting a Tremiato as he approached her.

  “Here you go.” Stefano donned one of his classic smiles as he handed Sadie a glass of what she guessed would be chardonnay. One sip told her she was right.

  “Thank you, Stefano,” Sadie said. “Looks like you’re going to have quite a crowd today.”

  “Yes, I think you’re right,” Stefano replied, turning his head slightly as two attractive women eyed him on the way to the appetizer table. Sadie had to admit he looked dapper in his crisp khaki trousers and light blue button-down shirt, sleeves rolled up.

  “Where is Tina?”

  “What do you mean, where is Tina?” Stefano looked puzzled.

  “She left me a note saying she’d see me here. I assumed she’d come here to help with preparations.”

  “She had to stop by Nick Perry’s office,” Stefano said. “But she’s here now. I saw her car pull in a few minutes ago.

  “Yes,” Luisa said, joining Sadie and Stefano. “Nick called here this morning, looking for her.” She paused, holding out a ceramic platter. “Bruschetta?”

  Sadie readily accepted the appetizer. She’d polished off the stuffed mushroom even before her first sip of chardonnay. She’d have to pace herself if she wanted to save room for cream puffs later.

  “I’m surprised she even planned to come today,” Luisa added. “Considering what she’s been through, that is. I’d be inclined to hide out.”

  “Luisa, she has no reason to hide. She hasn’t done anything wrong,” Stefano said. “But at least you didn’t ask her to help out here like you did last week. That didn’t go too well.”

  “No, it certainly didn’t,” Luisa said. “I should have just done everything myself, like I always do.”

  “Stefano,” Sadie interrupted, glad for an excuse to ask something she’d been wondering. “Aren’t you the one who suggested Luisa call Tina for help last week?”

  Both Luisa and Stefano looked at Sadie, confused,

  “No,” Stefano said. “Why would you think that? I didn’t know Luisa needed help. She usually manages to do the work of five women instead of one.”

  Luisa smiled at her younger brother.

  Sadie bit her lip, searching for a quick answer. Saying that Tina thought he’d suggested the call to set her up was out of the question. Fortunately, Luisa spoke before Sadie was forced to stumble into an awkward answer.

  “My calling Tina was Nick’s idea,” Luisa said. “I was running short on time that morning and he saw me panicking. He said I was taking too much on myself and I should ask Tina to help, to let her do her share of the work. This time we hired extra staff.” She paused, looking around. “Speaking of Nick, he must be here somewhere.”

  Luisa moved away, mingling with the growing crowd, welcoming visitors and passing out bruschetta. Angelo had taken a place at the counter by now and was pouring generous portions of wine into glasses with the Tremiato name etched on the side. A sign announced free souvenir glasses, one each with the purchase of a bottle of wine. The enthusiastic group gathered around Angelo proved the promotion was a smart marketing tactic. Several guests had already claimed four wine bottles in order to score a set of four glasses.

  Elena appeared, dressed in a modest skirt and blouse, with a shawl around her shoulders. Her serenity was a stark contrast to last week’s flustered anger. Stefano took his mother’s arm and led her to a chair, which a guest readily vacated when she saw the elderly woman approaching. Aside from her age, there was something about the Tremiato matriarch that commanded respect.

  Sadie slipped into the tasting room, hoping for a minute of Angelo’s time. He looked as happy as she’d ever seen him in their short acquaintance, competently filling glasses, popping corks, wiping spills off the smooth surface with a bar rag. As if he could feel her watching him, he looked up and smiled at Sadie, then handed a bottle to a short, blonde server and moved to the end of the counter to meet her.

  “I’m so glad you were able to make it back to our vineyards, Sadie. What a change from last week, huh?”

  “Indeed,” Sadie said and reached into her silky slacks for the silver Cross pen. “I think you might have dropped this in Stefano’s shop.” She watched his face closely. “It is yours, isn’t it?” Sadie held the pen toward him but didn’t let it go.

  She was surprised when Angelo let out a hearty laugh. “Yes! This is my pen, but I didn’t drop it at Vines and Tines. Stefano is always ‘accidentally’ forgetting to return this pen to me when we get together to sign for deliveries or business papers. It’s a running joke between us. It was part of an award I won in high school for community service. Stefano always thought he should have won that award.”

  “So you weren’t in Stefano’s shop last night after it was closed?”

  Angelo shook his head. “No. I was here making sure Luisa didn’t give our temporary workers nervous breakdowns and preparing the tasting room for the festival. I didn’t have time to leave the property.”

  Sadie handed the pen to Angelo who bowed his head and slipped it into his shirt pocket.

  “I’ll let you get back to work, then,” Sadie said.

  “You call this work? I call this life,” he said, and it occurred to Sadie that despite the jockeying for power between Angelo and Luisa, despite the sniping and complaining, both of them really did love the winery and the work they did there.

  A brief jostling in her tote bag alerted Sadie to the fact a band had started up outside on the patio. Recognizing the song as “Volare,” another of Coco’s least favorites, she moved to the back door of the tasting room and stepped outside, farther away from the music. “I promise to set up a salsa-mambo medley on your iPod later,” she whispered into the bag as the little dog settled down.

  “You know, the winery is actually pet friendly. You don’t need to keep it hidden.”

  Sadie turned to see Nick Perry leaning against the side of the building.

  “Coco is a ‘she,’ and prefers to be referred to by her own name.”

  “Well, in that case, let Coco out so she can enjoy the full experience.” Nick grinned, and Sadie wondered if he was being serious or not.

  “It’s not that simple,” Sadie explained. “She despises Dean Martin.”

  Nick laughed then, showing his white teeth and a set of dimples Sadie suspected might have been part of why Luisa had fallen for him. “I find that hard to believe,” Nick ventured. “No one hates Dean Martin.”

  “Yes, many people do.”

  “But Coco is not a person.”

  Sadie could never quite understand why people were puzzled that Coco had such definite opinions about music, “Nice crowd,” she said, eager to change the subject before she popped Nick in the nose. “And no one seems put off by the events of last week. It’s almost as if it never happened.”

  “I was thinking the same thing,” Nick said. “Maybe it will just fade away. That would be nice for the Tremiatos.”

  “You don’t think Tina will end up being indicted?”

  “I doubt it at this point,” Nick said. “But even if she is, it should be easy to get the charges dropped. All the evidence is circumstantial.”

  “You really support th
is family, don’t you?”

  Nick looked surprised at Sadie’s statement. “Well, yes, of course I do. First of all, that’s my job as their lawyer. And, second of all, they’re a good family.”

  “Especially certain ones?” Sadie smiled at the young attorney.

  “Yes, Ms. Kramer,” Nick said. “I’m not completely unbiased, as I’m sure you know by now. But Luisa and I are very good at keeping business and personal matters separate.”

  “I don’t doubt it,” Sadie said. “Speaking of which…”

  “There you are,” Luisa said, stepping out of the tasting room’s back door. “I was looking for you earlier.”

  “I had to stop by the office on my way here.” Nick kissed Luisa’s cheek, and the Tremiato sister betrayed her ice queen reputation by blushing a bit. “Sorry to be late.”

  “I was just worried,” Luisa added. “I haven’t heard from you for a couple of days. I even called your sister, so you’ll have to apologize for me the next time you see her.”

  “You called my sister?”

  “I’m sorry,” Luisa said. “Now I feel silly about it. I shouldn’t have bothered her. Besides, I think she was confused. She said she hadn’t seen you since you stopped by before some costume party earlier this week. What costume party?”

  Nick laughed. “She was definitely confused. A bunch of guys from the law building were getting together for a happy hour Halloween shindig, but I didn’t go. I must have mentioned it in passing.” Although Nick was still smiling, Sadie thought the smile hadn’t reached his eyes. He looked into the tasting room, waved at someone, and excused himself.

  Sadie turned back to Luisa. “Lawyers, hmm? Can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em.”

  The expression that crossed the Tremiato sister’s face was the warmest smile Sadie had yet seen on her. Sadie knew the look of someone smitten.

  “Lawyers, indeed,” Luisa said. “If it’s not golf it’s happy hour, or breakfast meetings, or art openings, or a dozen other social events. It’s hard to believe they ever have time to file briefs or make objections or whatever work they do all day.” She sighed and excused herself. “I need to check on our mother.”

  Sadie wandered back through the tasting room and out to the front courtyard. As expected, the crowd was growing quickly, with cars now parking along the lower half of the long driveway. The band had just finished one instrumental and was starting into another. Tina had joined Stefano and was sipping wine and swaying to the music.

  A well-dressed server passed by with a tray of miniature quiches. Sadie took one delicately from the platter and then slyly swiped a second. Just before he walked away, she abruptly grabbed the entire tray, thanked the server and proceeded across the courtyard.

  Pausing to offer appetizers to a few guests on the way, she approached Detectives Shafer and Hudson and insisted they each take a quiche, whispering across the tray as they did. Continuing through the crowd, she circled around to Nick, who also accepted the offering. Sadie waited patiently while he took a bite.

  “So what do you think of the quiche, Nick?”

  “Delicious,” he said with his full mouth. “The Tremiatos know how to put on a good spread.”

  “They do, don’t they, Nicolo? I’ve always admired the Italian love of food.”

  Sadie noticed that Nick’s right eye twitched. “That’s your name, right? Nicolo Perino-Serrano.

  Nick took a step back, a motion that looked awkward compared to the lawyer’s usual graceful and confident movements. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Oh, I think you do,” Sadie said.

  Detectives Shafer and Hudson stepped forward, one from each side, where they’d been positioned behind Nick.

  “It took me some time to figure this out, but you resented Flanagan,” Sadie continued. “You wanted that sale to go through and he couldn’t make it happen.”

  “Flanagan was an idiot!” Nick snarled. “But I didn’t go there to meet him.”

  “Then who did you go to meet?”

  “I went to see Matteo, to intercept the evidence he was going to pass on to him. I thought I could talk him down, keep him from telling Flanagan the truth about my grandfather.”

  “About the embezzling,” Sadie filled in. “And you came to the winery that night because you bugged Simon Flanagan’s phone and heard their plan to meet.”

  “Yes. But Matteo wasn’t even there.”

  “But Flanagan was,” Sadie said. “And you confronted him.”

  “I had to! He was flaunting the fact he’d finally be able to prove his father’s innocence. I couldn’t let that happen!”

  A crowd began to gather, many of the guests whispering to each other.

  “I don’t think that’s all of it,” Sadie said. “He also threatened to make it public that you were really a part of Serrano-Flanagan, didn’t he? He was going to tell everyone you were working both sides of the acquisition deals, which was a conflict of interest and would have affected your position as an attorney.”

  “Yes!” Nick yelled. “Don’t you see? That would have ruined me. He wouldn’t stop pushing. So smug, that little weasel of a salesman. After all I’d done for him over the years. Just like the Serranos have always done for the Flanagans – giving them more of the business than they deserve. Then he thinks he can stab me in the back? Take everything I’ve worked for away?”

  “No, I suppose that wouldn’t have been good at all,” Sadie said. She tapped a finger against her pursed lips. Sunlight reflected off a flashy cluster of topaz on her ring finger. “So in your anger, you grabbed the nearest item, a bottle of wine. You hit him over the head and the bottle broke, cutting his neck. You tried to move him, realized he was dead, and panicked and ran. But then you went back to retrieve the bottleneck, knowing your prints would be on it. That’s when you wiped the doorknob clean.

  “Later you disguised yourself as Mr. Collins by having your sister do your makeup for a non-existent costume happy hour. You went to The Vintage Vine, checked in, and hid the cork in the kitchen cabinet and then left in the middle of the night, to make Tina look guilty.”

  “That wasn’t me! I don’t know any Mr. Collins!”

  Sadie ignored him and continued. “I heard you and saw you leave that night. You knew Stefano would go by to see how Tina was doing. It could easily look like he planted the cork, since you knew he was jealous of Matteo. So you set Stefano up to look like he was setting Tina up, all to cover your tracks.”

  Luisa, who had been standing nearby, stunned, spoke for the first time. “Nick, is this true? Tell me she’s wrong!”

  Nick stared directly into Luisa’s eyes for a moment then looked away.

  “I’m afraid she’s right. He played both of us,” Stefano said, stepping to his sister’s side and directing a furious look at the family lawyer. “There was someone in my shop last night, wasn’t there, Nick, or Nicolo?” Stefano’s voice was taunting as he used the lawyer’s Italian name. “What were you doing there? Were you planting more false clues?”

  “No! I was looking for the information Matteo planned to give to Flanagan! You Tremiatos might pretend to hate each other, but I know you’re a tight family. You must have been working with Matteo to hide that proof from me!”

  Stefano blinked once. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I haven’t even spoken to Matteo recently. But I do know one thing now. You are a horrible, despicable man. Offering me your false friendship is one thing, Nick, Nicolo, or whoever you are. But taking advantage of my sister is another. And because of you, my wife had to spend time in a jail cell!” He pulled his right arm back and attempted a swing at Nick’s jaw, but Detective Hudson blocked the blow.

  “We’ll take care of this,” Hudson said, holding Stefano back.

  “Nicolo Perino-Serrano, you’re under arrest for the murder of Simon Flanagan,” Detective Shafer said, slapping handcuffs around Nick’s wrists and continuing to read him his rights.

  Stefano sh
ook free of Detective Hudson and backed off, turning to Sadie. “How did you know?”

  Sadie stepped forward, knowing the lawyer’s wrists were now firmly cuffed. She reached into Nick’s shirt pocket and pulled out a ballpoint pen, holding it up for others to see.

  “A pen?”

  “Not just any pen,” Sadie said, twisting it sideways so the logo on it showed. “This pen is from Culinary Specialty Products, a company that specializes in restaurant marketing.” She turned back to Nick. “You used this pen yesterday to write on the back of the business card you gave me.”

  “So what?”

  “So, it matches this,” Detective Shafer said, pulling a small evidence bag out of her pocket. She held the bag up, showing the small pin that was found at the crime scene. It matched the logo on the pen.

  “Oh!” Tina gasped. “That pin.”

  “You didn’t say you recognized it when we showed it to you,” Detective Hudson said. His voice was half understanding and half reprimanding.

  “I didn’t think it could have been Matteo’s,” Tina said. “I had no idea he’d been up here.”

  “I knew the pin wasn’t Matteo’s,” Sadie added, “though I recognized that company’s catalog at his shop. He’s only one of thousands of people who attend those trade shows. And he doesn’t collect the free merchandise handouts. Neither does Angelo, who also attended that show. But some people do.” Sadie directed the last statement at Nick, who returned her gaze with a glare.

  “How did you figure all this out, anyway?” Nick said.

  “Well, you can thank Sal for that,” Sadie said.

  “Sal who?”

  “No one you know,” Sadie said. “Just a guy with good connections back in Boston who knew the original company name was Perino-Serrano Flanagan. I thought ‘PSF’ meant there were three partners, but it was just your family’s hyphenated name that made it look that way. Eventually, the ‘Perino’ portion of the name was dropped. Conveniently, I imagine, when your father, Giancarlo Perino-Serrano, anglicized his name to John Serrano for the new company, doing the same with your name. You became Nick Perry.”