“Ah.”>
“I walked the entire vineyard and then up to the main house thinking you might have gone there for some reason. Simon and Marco were sipping their nightly cocktails, and I guess they could see the worry on my face and asked if they could help me out. At that point I was willing to get any help I could, because I was about ready to call the cops. I gave Manuel a ring at his place, and he joined in the search. Who could have known you would be inside the offices?” He raised his eyebrow and gave her a look from the corner of his eye. “Okay, no questions about that—yet, anyway.”
Whew. Nikki found it interesting that Simon and Marco volunteered to help Derek look for her. She hadn’t gotten any indication the other night when she met them at the party that they cared any more for her than a fly. What were they after?
Derek made a call on his cell phone. From the sound of it, Nikki could tell that it was the police. He ended the call a few minutes later. “Jeanine Wiley is going to meet us at the hospital to take a statement, and I think afterward we should talk some more about new accommodations for you. I’m not comfortable with you alone in the guest cottage any longer. But I also am not too sure about how well you would fare up at the main house. Even I’ve grown suspicious of my family members.”
Could it be? Could this mean that Derek would have her stay with him? Nikki was in one sticky mess, and part of it was a real good kind of sticky, like taffy from a carnival, that is if Derek did invite her to stay with him. The bad sticky part was like bubble gum on the bottom of her only pair of high-heeled Via Spigas. It was the fact that she was going to have to come up with a convincing story about why she’d been inside the Malveaux Estate business offices, and fast. She knew that she wasn’t ready to tell him the real reason, or her suspicions, because she didn’t really trust the local police to get the job done. Nikki thought she was getting closer than they were to figuring out the murders at Malveaux Estate, because someone had tried to stop her only hours earlier. Chances were that the someone who’d whacked her on the head was also the murderer.
Chapter 15
Derek didn’t know what to make of anything, while he waited outside Nikki’s hospital room. Angrily, he paced back and forth. She’d taken to sleuthing on her own, that was clear. He stopped and sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets, staring out a window onto the valley below. Nikki had good theories and thoughts, but they were leading her into dangerous territory. That was obvious. He was as upset with himself for encouraging her by asking her opinion, prompting her to get involved. He should’ve stuck to business with her, and when it turned to something else like murder, then he should’ve done the right thing and insisted she go home. He chastised himself, wondering if any of it with Nikki had ever truly been about business. A question he did not want to answer, even in his own mind.
He left the window and sat down in a waiting room chair. Somehow he could’ve convinced the police to allow her to leave, but his own selfishness had caused him to do what wasn’t in her best interest. He shook his head at all of this nonsense. He really cared for Nikki, and he knew that was in no one’s best interest, his included. He didn’t want to lead her astray, knowing that he wasn’t ready for any type of relationship containing the word commitment in it. He was sure after only knowing Nikki for a few days that she wasn’t a fly-by-night kind of girl. She deserved better than that. He stood up and started pacing again. Thankfully, his cell phone rang, jarring him from his thoughts.
“Mr. Malveaux, sorry I haven’t been able to get down there yet and see Miss Sands, but we may have a lead on the murders, and it’s taking up some time.”
“Really? That’s great, Jeanine. What’s the lead?”
“I can’t discuss it with you right now.”
“You can’t even give me an indication?” Jeanine Wiley paused on the other end of the phone. “Jeanine?” Derek implored impatiently.
“No. I can’t. I’ll be out to the vineyard later to take a statement from Miss Sands. We have a policeman over at your offices right now doing some dusting for fingerprints.”
“Tell me this, does your ‘lead’ have anything to do with any of my relatives?”
“No.”
“In your opinion, since someone tried to harm Miss Sands tonight, would she be safe up in the estate mansion? Considering this strong lead?”
“I’d say she’d be safe there, yes. I can’t tell you anything else. It is an ongoing investigation, sir, and I have to be discreet about the information that the police force has obtained,” Jeanine replied. “I have to go.”
Derek turned off his phone after the short conversation with Jeanine. His head was starting to pound when Nikki came out of the hospital room. The sight of her almost took away the oncoming headache.
He put his arm around her. At first she tensed up, but a moment passed, and she finally relaxed. Twenty minutes later they pulled up in front of the main house after retrieving Ollie from Derek’s place.
Before getting out of the truck, he placed a hand over hers, which was resting in her lap. “I know I told you that I was hesitant about your staying here. I’d initially made some arrangements for you to stay in a B-and-B downtown, but thankfully that’s changed. You won’t have to leave the vineyard after all. You are safe here at the main house.”
She frowned and nodded her head, looking away from him. Dammit. Should he just take her to his place? Maybe she would be safer there. Derek didn’t have any correct answers anymore. No. She’d be safer in the mansion. Jeanine Wiley had eased his mind about that. He’d never really believed that anyone in his family could commit murder. Derek also knew that if he invited Nikki to stay, things might rapidly travel in a direction one or both of them could regret later on, and he didn’t want any further regrets in his life. More than that, he didn’t want Nikki to have any.
“How do you know that the killer isn’t in there?” she asked, pointing at the house.
“I know they’re all a bit kooky, but I don’t think any one of them is capable of murder,” he chuckled, trying to make light of a situation that wasn’t even remotely funny.
She didn’t laugh. “Maybe they’re not capable of the actual act, but have you ever thought that one of them could be paying someone else?” she remarked.
He didn’t know how to respond to that. He finally shook his head. “I find it hard to imagine.”
“Derek, I have to be blunt with you. You find a lot hard to imagine. You can’t imagine that your family members who hate you for what you’ve inherited and worked for, might actually scheme against you to take over. You can’t fathom that your trampy ex-wife could sleep with your best friend and partner. You can’t imagine that employees might back stab you and steal from you. People can be horrid some times, and all of these scenarios are real possibilities. You might want to rethink your naïve viewpoints and consider exactly what the patrons in that insane asylum might actually be capable of,” she again pointed to the house, “like murder or paying someone to do the deed.”
He raised his eyebrows at this.
She turned away from him for a moment and then faced him again, this time her face drawn. “Tell me why you’d let me sleep in that house with the possibility that a killer could be living in there?”
He heaved a deep sigh and closed his eyes, resting his head against the headrest. “I’m going to shoot straight with you.”
“I wish you would.”
“That can go both ways, Nikki. You haven’t been exactly up front with me tonight, have you?” She didn’t answer. “I didn’t think so. You will come clean with me, but I’ll go first. I wouldn’t let you get close to this place if I thought Patrice, Simon, Marco, or Meredith were capable of murder. A few days ago, I made the suggestion you stay here, and then after Minnie was murdered, I rethought that idea because I, too, wasn’t so certain about my family. But something has changed tonight.”
“What’s that?” She crossed her arms in front of her chest.
“I received a cal
l from Jeanine Wiley while you were in the hospital being checked out. She said that they had a good lead, and it was solid.”
“Really? Who? What is this solid lead?” Nikki asked.
“I asked her what it was, and she said that she couldn’t divulge any of it. I also questioned her on whether or not she felt it was safe for you to stay in the main house. She said that what they’d discovered didn’t involve any of the family members.”
“Are you serious?”
He nodded. “I think until the police do make an actual arrest, you are safer here than alone.”
“Fine.” She shrugged and got out of the car. He escorted her into the house. All was quiet except for Simon and Marco seated in front of the fireplace sipping Grand Marnier.
“What do we have here?” Simon cooed.
“Nikki is going to be staying in one of the spare rooms until the police wrap up this murder case.”
Marco clapped his hands lightly together. “Fun, fun, fun. What a delight to have you here. Come.” He patted the sofa next to him. “Sit. I tell stories. We have vino together. No?”
Both Derek and Nikki answered simultaneously with a resounding, “No.”
Marco cocked his head to the side and frowned. “Ah.” He clucked his tongue. “Buena notte.”
“Yes, good night, Goldilocks,” Simon chimed in. “Glad to see that you’re all right.”
“Nikki muttered,“Good night,” back to them.
“Where is everyone else?” Derek asked them.
“My mother and Meredith have toddled out for the evening. Apparently there’s a cocktail thingy down at Domaine Chandon,” Simon replied.
“I’ll deal with them in the morning, then.” Ollie walked up next to Derek and nudged his hand, coming in from the entryway, sniffing the new surroundings.
“Wait a minute, what is he doing in here?” Simon asked, raising his voice by at least an octave.
“He’s protection for Nikki from all of you.”
“Oh, my, aren’t you man enough to protect her?” Simon asked.
Derek shot him a dirty look. “You are a very disturbed individual.” He took Nikki’s hand, leading her up the staircase. The entire time they climbed the stairs Simon bellowed about his pet allergies and Derek’s insensitivity. He glanced at Nikki, and both of them couldn’t help but laugh quietly, easing the tension between them somewhat.
He took her to the spare room that had been his when he was a little boy. Not much had changed. No one ever used this room any longer.
“I feel like a ten-year-old boy,” she said.
“That would be accurate.” He sat down on the end of his old twin bed, covered with a checkered plaid print, and patted it. She sat down next to him, and they were silent for a long time. The room held a lot of memories for him—some good, some bad; it all depended on if they were memories prior to his mother’s death.
“I’m not going to pry about why you were in the offices tonight. We can talk about it tomorrow. You need some rest, and for that matter, so do I. I have a feeling after speaking with Jeanine tonight that tomorrow will be quite a day if an arrest is made.”
“Who do you think it is?”
“I don’t know.” Derek shrugged and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “I don’t care right now. All I care about is your safety, and that this nightmare will be over and done with soon. Then, we can all move on with our lives and repair the damage that has been done here at the winery.”
She nodded and smiled at him, but it was a sad smile, and it tore at his heart.
“What is it, Nikki?”
“I don’t know if I’m the right person for the job here.”
At first he didn’t know what to say. What he did know was that he didn’t want to see Nikki leave. “Why don’t we talk about that tomorrow, too? It’s late. It’s been a long day, and sometimes our emotions at night do more of the talking, if you know what I mean. And by the way, I know you can do the job here.” He meant that, but the question was, did he want her to stay for the job or for him? “Do you need me to go down to the cottage and bring you back some clothes?”
“Do you have a T-shirt here, or something?”
He got off the bed and rummaged through his old dresser. He found a shirt and a pair of boxers that he thought might fit her. “How about these? They’re not exactly fashionable, but . . .”
“They’ll do.” She took them from him and said, “Good night.”
“I’ll come by first thing in the morning, so we can talk, and you can go down to the cottage for your clothes.”
He stroked his hand lightly across her face.
She turned away from him, and when she faced him again, he thought maybe she was fighting back tears.
“I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Okay,” she replied.
He told Ollie to lie down on the rug next to the bed. The dog obeyed. He wanted to say something more to Nikki, but he didn’t know what, and even if he had the right words, he wouldn’t know how to say them. By the way she looked at him with confusion in her eyes, she obviously didn’t want him hanging around. He told her good night and closed the door to his childhood room, hoping Nikki would be able to sleep tonight, because he knew he wouldn’t be able to.
Chapter 16
Nikki tossed and turned half the night, until finally right before dawn she fell into a deep sleep, only to be woken up by the sound of sirens. She got out of bed and peered out the window of Derek’s old bedroom, which held a faint scent of gym socks. Something was happening on the vineyard, but she couldn’t tell exactly what. She could see a faint red-and-blue light flashing up into the sky. Emergency vehicles of some sort were out there.
She pulled on her jeans and called to Ollie, who reluctantly woke up and followed her down and out of the house. The place was quiet, signifying to her that the disturbance down the road hadn’t woken anyone else.
After shutting the front door quietly behind her, she broke into a jog, heading down to where the lights were coming from. They were farther down past Derek’s and the cottage. She knew that some of the workers lived on the vineyard in smaller homes that Derek had hired contractors to build for them. He’d shown them to her the other day on their tour, and she was impressed by the idea that he would do that for his employees.
“Basically they pay me rent. I keep it at a low cost for them, so they can get ahead somewhat. Most of the men and women working in the vines are migrants and don’t have a lot to their name. I try hard to give back to the ones who have been here for some time and shown their dedication. This is one of the ways I can do that,” he’d explained to her.
Nikki found Derek’s generosity endearing. As she increased her pace, a gust of chilly wind hit her, causing her bones to ache further from stress and lack of sleep. The thought crossed her mind that the police were on the property because of the murders, then a more frightening thought filled her head. What if someone else had been murdered?
She stopped, stiffening at the sight of three police vehicles parked in front of Manuel’s house. At least she thought it was his house, if she remembered correctly from one of the tours Derek had taken her on. Could someone have hurt that gentle, sweet man?
She made it up to the front of the house seconds later, only to witness Manuel being dragged out of his home in handcuffs by the brute cop, Mark Anderson, whom she’d met during the investigation. Jeanine Wiley was behind them. Nikki recognized shock on Manuel’s face. His eyes widened in what could only be fear. He kept trying to look back behind him, but the bully of a cop continued to shove him forward, pushing him into the backseat of the police car.
Nikki’s arms rippled with goose bumps as the chill of the early morning went through her, combined with the wails of a child. Now she knew why Manuel had been glancing back. Nikki remembered Derek referring to Manuel’s children the other day. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms and searched around for Derek. He had to be there. The child’s cries grew louder, and an instinct Nik
ki didn’t quite recognize kicked in, almost like a punch in the stomach. This punch traveled straight to the heart. She hated hearing that child cry out in such desperation. Adrenaline flowing through her, Nikki went to the house, stopping before reaching the porch to ask Jeanine Wiley what was going on.
“We got our murderer. You know he’s being coined the Wine Lovers’ Killer?”
“That’s ridiculous. Manuel is no more a killer than you are.” Nikki stepped back from Jeanine.
“We’ve got the evidence.”
“What kind of evidence? I’ve met this man, and there is no way he killed anyone.”
Murder Uncorked Page 16