Decanting a Murder

by Nadine Nettmann

  “Earth to Katie. Where are you? Stop ignoring me.”

  “Sorry, I’m not.” I turned to Tessa. “It’s just …” I took a deep breath. “I didn’t pass the exam.”

  Tessa stopped. “Are you serious?”

  My chest tightened. “I guess I wasn’t ready.”

  The smile drained from Tessa’s face. “But you never fail at anything. Please tell me you’re kidding.”

  “Let’s talk about it later.” I glanced up at the buildings. “I’m here now. I want to enjoy this.”

  “Yes, but are you okay?” Tessa raised her manicured eyebrows, her eyes sympathetic.

  “I’m fine. Really. In fact, I’m better than fine because I’m actually here at Frontier.”

  “Okay.” Tessa brightened and squeezed my arm. “So what do you think of my place?”

  “Your place?” I laughed. “You’ve worked here for four months.”

  Tessa shrugged. “Details, details.” She motioned to my dress. “I remember this dress. Looking to get lucky?”

  I looked down at my black cocktail dress with its high neck and low hemline that fell an inch above my knees. “I actually thought it was pretty conservative.”

  “I’m being sarcastic. Come on, Katie, would it kill you to show a little cleavage once in a while?”

  “You mean like you?”

  “If you’ve got ’em, flaunt ’em.” Tessa shook her chest as she kicked out her leg, the edge of her three-inch heel barely missing my shin.

  “How do you walk in those?”

  “Practice. Plus, they’re my new favorite shoes. Come on.” Tessa looped arms with me. “Let’s get you something to drink.” She pulled me toward a lawn peppered with round tables and white tablecloths.

  “Wait, can I see the place? I’ve been dying to come in here for years.”

  Tessa pointed to the buildings behind us. “It’s right here.”

  “No, I mean a tour.”

  “This building holds the offices and the owners live on the top floor. That one is the winery where all the fun stuff happens, and behind it is a creepy old wine cellar. Good?”

  “Really? That’s all I get?” I took a step forward. “Is there at least a bathroom I can use? It was a long drive from the city.”

  “Let’s go inside the offices. We’ve ordered fancy port-a-potties for tonight, but I’d never do that to you.”

  We entered the first building into a long hallway with a dark wood floor and beige walls that appeared darker than they should due to the poor lighting. The same musty smell that seemed to inhabit all older buildings was heavy in the air.

  Tessa pointed to the second door down. “The bathroom is through here, past the break room.”

  “I’ll only be a second.”

  “Good, ’cause we have a date with a bottle of wine.” Tessa winked as she crossed her arms and leaned against the wall.

  I stepped inside the break room. It was the same as any other break room with a microwave, coffeemaker, and a round table with chairs. It was almost strange to see something so normal at a place I had always thought of as practically mythical.

  I shook off the disappointment and headed to the bathroom where I took a moment to reapply my eyeliner and lipstick. I never used much makeup, but Tessa had taught me years ago to keep eyeliner and lipstick in my purse as a quick fix for any occasion.

  I returned to the break room and paused at the table, where a newspaper was open to the games and cartoon section. The sudoku was partially filled in and I stared at it, the numbers moving in my head. After a moment, I met Tessa back in the hallway.

  “About time, slowpoke.”

  “You know if you put a nine and a four in the top row of that sudoku and then an eight and a six in the left middle box, you’ll be able to solve the rest.”

  “You and your puzzles,” said Tessa. She held up a pair of black three-inch heels. “I have something for you to wear.”

  I looked down at my shoes. “What’s wrong with these?”

  “Katie, it’s a special night. You’re finally here at Frontier and you can drink amazing wine while chatting with gorgeous men. Don’t you think heels will make it all the more glamorous?”

  “Maybe.” I stared at the heels in her hand. “I guess. For one night.”

  “That’s all I ask.” Tessa crouched down to replace my shoes.

  I lifted one foot at a time as Tessa placed the heels on my feet. My ankles wobbled as I stood with the new height. “I can’t wear these. I’ll trip and look drunk.”

  “Then you’ll fit in with the party guests!” Tessa opened a door and tossed in my shoes. “Don’t forget they’re in this closet.” She grabbed my hand and pushed open the door to outside. “Come on, let’s get to the party and start drinking.”

  “Okay, but not too much. I have to drive back to the city tonight.” I took the steps one at a time, my heels sliding when I reached the gravel driveway.

  “So law-abiding!”

  “Always.” I shuddered as a distinct memory came to my mind.

  “You okay? We need to get you some wine. The ’08 Cabernet will help. It helps everything. Besides, there are some fun surprises planned for tonight. Be prepared to have your socks knocked off. Not that you’re wearing socks.” Tessa smiled with her lips closed as we approached the lawn.

  “Wait, I know that smile. You’re up to something.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Tessa as she stepped onto the grass, her blond hair swaying as she walked. “What did you always say? That I’m like a wine?”

  “Yes.” But unlike Merlot, which was making a comeback with wine drinkers everywhere, Tessa’s reputation was getting worse. When a wine is left out and turns to vinegar, it’s never the wine’s fault. Tessa’s reputation over the last twelve years wasn’t her fault either. It was mine.

  two

  pairing suggestion: sparkling wine—sonoma, ca

  A crisp wine which pairs well with parties and celebrations.

  -

  Long strands of lights with white paper lanterns stretched high above the lawn, poised to illuminate the area as soon as the golden hues of daylight were replaced by the blackness of night.

  My borrowed heels dug into the soft earth and the green aroma of freshly cut grass floated in the air as I counted ten round tables, each carefully positioned to eliminate any chance of a table slant from the slight uphill of the lawn. Vases overflowing with full white flowers and purple irises adorned the center of each table.

  “How many people are coming tonight?”

  “Only our wine club members—about one hundred people, I guess,” said Tessa. “It’s not exactly an event open to just anyone.”

  “I would expect nothing less. After all, it is Frontier.” My fingers grazed the smooth petal of a stargazer lily as we walked past a table. “These kind of remind me of our prom flowers.”

  “I know, right? But these are much better. You know why?” Tessa grinned.

  “Because we don’t have to deal with Marcie and Tina acting like they own the place?”

  “I was gonna say because I ordered them, but I like your reason better.” Tessa nudged me with her shoulder. “I’m so glad you could come tonight. You’re my date for the night.”

  “I’m your date? Really? I’m surprised you don’t have a new flavor of the month.”

  Tessa stopped and looked at me. “Who says I don’t? I bet we can find you one tonight, too.”

  “Unlikely.”

  “You work too much.”

  “I love my job.”

  “You love excuses.” Tessa faced me. “Katie, you have to keep your eyes open. There are available guys everywhere.” She looked around at the empty tables. “Okay, maybe not yet, but there will be once more guests arrive.” She pointed to the far side of the lawn, w
here two long tables were covered with wineglasses next to the catering booths. “The wine stands are my favorite part of tonight. Come on, let’s go get a drink.”

  “So tell me,” I said as we walked, “how exactly did you get a job here? You never told me.”

  Tessa shifted uncomfortably. “It’s a long story.”

  I thought I saw something stir in Tessa’s eyes, but I left it alone. “Well, thanks again for inviting me, I really appreciate it.”

  A man and woman stood near the far booth, a clipboard in the woman’s hand. She pointed at the clipboard while the man leaned against the booth and nodded.

  “Tessa, who are they?”

  “The owners.”

  “Mark Plueger, right? And I bet that’s his wife, Vanessa. I’ve heard the winery’s been in his family for generations.”

  Tessa shrugged. “Something like that.”

  I paused, my heels wobbling. “Can we meet them?”

  “Let’s get a drink first.” Tessa continued toward the table.

  “Come on, it will only take a second.”

  Tessa turned and faced me. “Why do you want to meet them?”

  “Because—”

  “I know, I know,” interrupted Tessa. “You always want to know the story behind a place. Come on.” She walked in their direction as I followed.

  The woman looked up first, her platinum blond hair pulled back into a French twist. She was in her early forties and had a large scar, approximately three inches, which ran down the left side of her cheek, a thick layer of foundation barely concealing it. She nudged the man next to her with her elbow. He looked up, his soft brown eyes acknowledging both of us as we approached.

  “Mark and Vanessa Plueger, this is my friend Katie Stillwell. She’s a sommelier at Trentino in San Francisco.”

  Vanessa extended her professionally manicured hand toward me, a jasmine fragrance along with it. “It’s nice to meet you,” she said in a gentle voice as she shook my hand. “I’ve dined at your restaurant. Great salmon.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Yes,” said Mark, who was older than Vanessa, with gray hair sprouting alongside his temples and deep grooves in his face. “I’ve heard a lot about you from Tessa.” His handshake was strong, his skin rough from winery work. “Congratulations, I heard you just became Certified with the Court.”

  I glanced at Tessa. “Oh, well,” I stalled. “The test was today.”

  Mark leaned back against the booth and put his hands in his pockets. “Tessa also mentioned that you can tell the vineyard location and year of a wine by tasting it.”

  “Sometimes.” The results of the exam went through my mind as heaviness weighed on my heart.

  Tessa’s arm flew around my shoulder. “Oh please, her wine tasting group calls her The Palate.” She shook me as if trying to reassure me, but the effort was lost. “She needs to learn how to brag about herself,” Tessa continued. “She knows wine and yes, she can tell the year of the wine and all that stuff.”

  “How do you do that?” asked Vanessa. “I can tell a glass of Frontier wine apart from any other glass, but I don’t think I could do any old wine.”

  I put my game face on as I focused on the conversation. “Blind tasting is a process. You learn the different aspects of the varietals and regions, and then when you have the wine in front of you, you break it down into sight, smell, taste, and draw key clues in a deductive way so when you get to the end, you have a narrow idea of what the wine should be. It’s like a puzzle. You have all the pieces in front of you, you just have to solve it.” I paused and glanced at Tessa, then Mark and back to Vanessa. “I’m sorry, I’m rambling. I do that when I talk about wine.”

  Vanessa smiled in a way my mom used to when I talked about my day at school.

  “Well, I look forward to hearing your opinion on my wine,” said Mark. Vanessa gently placed her hand on his arm. “Sorry, our wine,” he added.

  “I’ve been selling your Cabernet at the restaurant for years. It’s a great wine.”

  “That’s what I pay people to tell me but you’re not on my payroll. So I want to hear an honest opinion after you’ve tasted tonight’s wine.” Mark’s kind eyes looked directly into mine and he smiled.

  I returned the smile. “Absolutely.”

  Tessa cocked her head. “Can we open something fun tonight?”

  “What do you mean?” asked Mark.

  “Something neat, something historic. Katie likes the story of a wine, so how about a wine that tells something about Frontier? Ooh, like a bottle of Merlot. Katie is a huge fan of Merlot.” Tessa’s hands flared out to the side to reference a space that would fit a baby elephant. “Like huge.”

  “Tessa.” I shot her a look.

  “What?” Tessa shrugged innocently. “You are.”

  I returned my focus to Mark. “I like a variety of wines.”

  “But Merlot especially?”

  “Yes,” I said as I nudged Tessa. “I do really love Merlot.”

  Mark pulled his fingers through his peppered hair. “Well, we’re serving Cabernet tonight, but why don’t you grab a bottle of the ’94 Merlot from the cellar.” He unclipped his phone from his belt and looked at the time. “The reserve bottles won’t come out for a few minutes, but let’s start celebrating.”

  “Sweetheart, aren’t we serving Merlot tonight?” said Vanessa.

  “We have one bottle on the menu, but it would be nice for them to have a special bottle. After all, it is a celebration.” He squeezed Vanessa’s hand and then looked at Tessa. “Enjoy the ’94 Merlot.”

  “Wow, thanks.” Tessa linked her arm around me. “We’ll go right now.”

  “Thank you so much, it was very nice meeting both of you,” I said as Tessa’s arm pulled me away.

  “Quick,” Tessa whispered as she led me back up the lawn, “before he changes his mind.”

  The stone walkway curved around the winery to a spacious concrete area shaped like half an octagon, the middle section set back as if it held up the hillside.

  I paused and rubbed the ball of my foot on the concrete pad, outlining the small stones methodically placed into it. “The cellar isn’t original?”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “All the concrete. It’s new.”

  “Nah,” said Tessa as she pulled the right handle of two wooden doors that arched in the center of the wall. “It’s been here since the winery opened, but they redid the outside earlier this year. Or maybe it was last year. I don’t know.” She held the door open for me.

  “It’s not locked?”

  “Would that matter?” Tessa waved her fingers in the air. “I learned a few things in the joint.”

  “Tessa, stop.”

  “Get over yourself, Katie. It’s always open during business hours.”

  I stepped inside, the light from the door casting a small rectangle of white onto the stone floor in front of me. The beam faded to obscurity as Tessa closed the door behind us.

  Darkness with a mixture of oak and damp surrounded me. “Tessa? You have a flashlight?”

  No reply.

  “Tessa?” My heart rate began to escalate.

  “Calm down, scaredy-cat. I’m getting to it. Hey, we should open a bottle of wine right now. Would give new meaning to blind tasting, right?”

  I waited for my eyes to adjust, but the black abyss remained. “Tee, are you going to turn a light on anytime soon?”

  “Still don’t like the dark?” There was a giggle to Tessa’s voice.

  “Tessa!” My voice echoed through the cellar.

  Lights flared to life behind barrels stacked two high on either side as the tunnel curved deep into the hillside.

  “One day you’ll stop being afraid of the dark.” Tessa tapped her finger on her lips. “Hmm, maybe we should try that again.” She
reached for the light switch to the left of the door.

  “Not funny, Tessa.”

  Tessa turned around. “I’m just kidding.” She pointed to the cellar. “Now you’ve seen it. Is it as fun as you expected?”

  “I can only see barrels. Are there bottles in here, too?”

  “Yep,” said Tessa as she walked forward, her heels echoing around us. “Remember that party freshman year in Kelly’s basement? This would have been much cooler. And it’s fully stocked.”

  The ceiling changed from stone squares to etched bedrock as we went farther into the cellar.

  “I bet they carved this all by hand.”

  “I guess,” said Tessa. “Sounds like a headache.”

  We passed the first side tunnel, which snaked into the hill at least twenty or so feet, crates of wine stacked on the floor to the right and racks of wine to the left.

  “What wine is this?” I motioned to the crates.

  “I don’t know. New wine?”

  “Really, Tessa?” I laughed. “You work here.”

  “I work for the wine club, not the wine cellar. All I know is that I don’t open that stuff,” she said as she pointed to the crates.

  The next tunnel was only four feet deep, followed by another tunnel that went at least ten feet into the hill. The non-uniformity of it gave me a chill, and I put my hands over my arms.

  Tessa looked over her shoulder at me. “Are you cold?”

  “No, not really. I’m fine.”

  “Don’t worry, we won’t be in here long.”

  I glanced at the tunnels as we passed, the round bottoms of bottles protruding from the shelves in perfect symmetry, their dark glass reflecting in the glow of the overhead bulbs. Certain bottles appeared more illuminated than others. “The lighting makes it look like there’s white wine in here, too.”

  “There is.”

  “I didn’t know Frontier made white wine.”

  “They don’t. It’s from next door,” said Tessa. “Jim Garrett is a friend of theirs and they sometimes swap bottles.”

  “Why aren’t they all together in one place? They’re randomly on different shelves and in different tunnels.”