Cabernet Capers

by Dan Kelly

  “Well, I don’t have a problem with you tagging along. Don’t wear your uniform though. Bemis in uniform will be enough. Uniforms can be distracting. I want them concentrating on what I’m saying and asking them to do and nothing else.”

  “Okay and thanks.”

  “You’re welcome. Besides, another pair of eyes on the audience can’t hurt.”

  Chapter 13

  After thanking Whitman for coming out to help them with the deputies’ questions and sending him on his way, the two brothers go back to Duilio’s office where they immediately begin to vent their anger over this latest development. Duilio blasts off with, “Damn it! If Nick Petrillo and friends hadn’t interfered with how we were putting pressure on the wineries to sell out, we wouldn’t be having deputies knocking on our door. We were interrupting operations on a subtle, hard to prove basis, low key enough to probably avoid anything but the most cursory investigation of those events by the Sherriff’s Department. But this wasn’t good enough, fast enough, for them. They had to be more blatant, more intimidating, including murdering a field hand for no damn good reason and now we’re being put under a microscope.”

  Riccardo joined in with, “Their questions definitely gave off an aroma of suspicion about our involvement in things. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of them.”

  “Aromas can be neutralized with a good air freshener, Riccardo. The one I’m thinking of has a lot of Pb in it.”

  “Pb? What the hell are you talking about, Duilio?”

  “Lead, Riccardo, lead.”

  “That’s crazy, Duilio. Killing cops would definitely not be good for business. That’s an automatic death sentence if we get caught.”

  “Riccardo, the killing of that field hand makes us accessories to murder for which we could get the death sentence. If these deputies stay on our butts, we may have to do something about that, so you better prepare yourself for the worst.”

  “Son of a bitch!”

  “My feelings exactly, but you know that old saying, bro, in for a dime, in for a dollar.”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right. When do you think we’ll hear back from Nick Petrillo about our black mail scheme? I think we should lay off with the sabotage for a while.”

  “I would expect to hear from him sometime today or tomorrow. If I don’t hear from him by then, I’ll call him.”

  “Okay, I’d better get back to work. I’m in the middle of negotiating some more long-term leases for our new retail outlets on the north end of the Valley.”

  “I’d better get a move on too. I’m meeting with the attorneys for a potential distributor for our wines in the Portland and Seattle markets in an hour and have some things to do in preparation for that meeting.”

  Opening the door Riccardo stops, turns to face his brother and says, “I sure hope our new partners don’t do anything else to screw up our expansion plans. I think our chances of achieving our goals are very good if they will just sit back and watch.”

  “If they don’t, that’s something else we’ll have to take care of.”

  Riccardo shakes his head and says, “We’d better think real hard about how we go about that. That, too, could lead to a death sentence.”

  “Riccardo, what it all boils down to is we’ve gotta do what we’ve gotta do if we want a bigger piece of the pie. If we’re not prepared to do that, we’re doomed to failure.”

  Walking out the door and shaking his head again he mumbles, “I can’t argue with that, but I’d prefer doing that without resorting to your Pb solution. That could get us into a whole lot of trouble.”

  As his brother leaves the office, Duilio is experiencing his first doubts of his brother’s commitment to stay the course. He’s thinking, “I’m going to have to keep a close eye on him. I can’t allow Riccardo to become my Achilles heel. A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.”

  Brotherly love only goes so far with Duilio. The man is definitely a piece of work and a half.

  Chapter 14

  A few minutes before seven on Friday evening, Derrick, Bill Bemis and Julie are standing in a hallway of the Harvest Inn in St. Helena watching the vintners file from the lounge and the parking lot into a large conference room where the Napa Valley Vintners Association holds its monthly meetings. It appears there’s going to be a good turnout which is what Derrick was hoping for.

  Having Julie wear casual clothes instead of her uniform to keep the distraction of the presence of law enforcement to a minimum is proving to be an exercise in futility as Julie’s appearance alone is attracting the prolonged attention of just about every male that walks into the conference room. There’s nothing more distracting to a man with a normal libido than a beautiful woman less than fifteen feet away. Derrick’s now thinking there’d be less distraction if she was in uniform.

  At the top of the hour, the meeting is called to order and after some routine matters are addressed Derrick and Bill are introduced and the purpose of their visit in general terms is announced. Derrick fills the members in on all the details and finishes up with, “My main purpose for being here tonight is to make all of you aware of what is going on and to encourage you to be on the alert for anything out of the ordinary coming your way and to urge you to pass on to me what you’ve zeroed in on no matter how unimportant you think it might be. By itself it might appear to be no big deal, but when I put it together with the info I have in my data base it could prove to be the key link to the people behind what has been going on. So please, don’t toss anything aside. I want to evaluate everything you come across. Deputy Styversant is handing out my business card which has all of my contact information. Now that I’ve said my piece, Sheriff Bemis has a few words he’d like to say.”

  “Folks, I want to emphasize the necessity of you taking very seriously what Deputy Chandler has shared with you tonight. These people are very dangerous and very determined to get what they want. They’ve already killed once so killing again won’t be a problem for them. Tighten your security measures with respect to your computer systems as well as access to your buildings and equipment in the field. Alert your employees to keep their eyes and ears open and instruct them to notify you about any abnormalities in your operations. Share your ideas about security with each other. I know you are all competing for market share when it comes to your products, but with respect to this challenge it’s in your best interest to all be on the same team. We’re going to get these people and with your help it will be sooner rather than later. We thank you for your courtesy and attention and look forward to working with you. If anyone has any questions, fire away.”

  At first no one raises their hand, but then a hand in the middle of the audience pops up and it belongs to none other than Duilio Paganelli. When Bemis acknowledges him Duilio asks, “Do you have any leads at the present time?”

  Derrick fielded this one with, “There are some people who have piqued our interest, but it wouldn’t be appropriate to reveal who they are at this time.”

  Riccardo then raises his hand and says, “So it’s accurate to say that after everything that has happened to date you still don’t have the slightest idea who is behind these events or how to continue with your investigation. With that kind of performance, why should we want to work with you? Perhaps we should hire private investigators to help us get to the bottom of what is going on.”

  “Derrick responds with, “You are free to hire anyone you desire as long as they don’t interfere with our investigation, but I am confident we have done and are doing everything possible to bring these people to justice. Despite what you see on TV, crimes of this nature normally take a while to solve.”

  After handling a few more questions, Derrick thanks everyone for their attention and co-operation and he, Bill and Julie head for the parking lot. When they get to Derrick’s car Bill says, “That was an interesting ploy of the Paganellis to try to discredit our ability to conduct a productive investigation and thereby discourage membership co-operation. Derrick, I think you’re d
ead on with your gut feeling about them and I think you’re starting to give them some concern.

  “Going forward, I believe things are going to heat up and it won’t hurt to continue to have someone watching your back when you’re out and about until we close this case out. Julie, as of now you are assigned to that duty as well as to assist Derrick in any way he deems helpful. You’ve expressed a desire to follow in your Dad’s footsteps and become a detective and this will both be an ideal learning experience for you and help me build some depth in the department when it comes to conducting criminal investigations. Now, I’m out of here. Good night.”

  As Bill walks over to his car Julie asks, “Are you okay with this? I know you’ve been thinking of ways to use yourself as bait to draw the people we’re looking for out into the open so you can nail them. If I’m around all the time, my presence might make that a lot more difficult.”

  “Julie, first of all having someone like you guarding my back does a lot for my piece of mind and frees up more time for me to spend on catching these people. Secondly, there are ways for you to babysit me along with helping with the investigation without being obvious about it.”

  “Okay, I’m listening.”

  “Good. First thing Monday morning we’ll have a strategy session and I’ll explain where I’m coming from. As long as you’re working with me wear street clothes. I don the uniform only when I want to impress, think it will shake up someone I want to shake up or when I have to participate in a ceremony of some kind, all of which seldom occur. Enjoy your weekend.”

  Derrick climbs into his car and waits until Julie is in hers before he heads for home. As he pulls out of the parking lot he realizes what he just did without thinking and laughs at himself. “She doesn’t need anyone worrying about her having her purse snatched or being molested. Anyone messing with her is headed for a world of hurt.”

  Chapter 15

  When Monday morning rolls around, it’s overcast and unusually cool for Napa Valley. Derrick arrives at the Sheriffs’ office about ten minutes before eight and finds Julie already sitting in the chair beside his desk writing in a pocket notebook.

  “Good morning, Julie. Are you a doodler like Bemis?”

  “Good morning. No, I’m just jotting down some thoughts I had about what’s been happening at the wineries.”

  “I’d like to hear them, but first things first. If don’t get my caffeine jolt first thing in the morning, my brain takes forever to get up and running on all cylinders.”

  When Derrick returns with his cup filled to the brim just a fraction of an inch from overflowing thanks to surface tension, his phone is ringing. It’s Maury Hoagland.

  “Derrick, I found the connection between the Paganelli brothers and Investors Anonymous you are looking for. Several wire transfers for large sums of funds have recently been made by an Italian bank in Milan, Banca Popolare di Milano, by order of Industrial Ventures International to Investors Anonymous’s account at Wells Fargo in Napa and then Investors Anonymous has been transferring smaller but still considerable amounts of funds on a more frequent basis to the Paganelli Wineries account at Bank of America. I hope this helps.”

  “Thanks, Maury. This gives me a better handle on the part the Paganelli brothers might be playing in the takeover bids out here. I’ll keep you posted.”

  Derrick passes this bit of news on to Julie who looks at her notes and says, “Okay, Investors Anonymous, under NSA suspicion for playing naughty, is funneling funds directly from the parent company, Industrial Ventures International, or more likely from some unknown source via their parent company to the Paganellis which we’re assuming they’re using to finance their expansion plans. Investors Anonymous has also hired this Giuseppe Pelegrinno to try to broker deals for a client of theirs to acquire wineries in Napa Valley. Their client is probably Paganelli Wineries, but at this point we can only assume that. So, where does this leave us? We have nothing to tie the Paganellis to the acquisition attempts or to the sabotage and killing at the wineries.”

  “Right now all we have are assumptions and suppositions, but it’s a starting point. What we’ve learned and observed to date has given me sufficient cause for suspicion and therefore motivation to dig further into the Paganellis. What else do you have in your notes?”

  “We’ve talked to a lot of people at a lot of wineries in Napa Valley, but I think there are a couple of folks who are being overlooked and shouldn’t be because they might have the wherewithal to uncover the things we need to put an end to all of the intimidation that is being meted out to uncooperative wineries. I’m referring to the founders of the Paganelli Wineries, Basilio and Alfonso Paganelli. Grandfathers and fathers have a way to get to the bottom of things that outsiders don’t have.”

  “They’ve been out of the loop for a while, but it’s worth a shot. Family dynamics can sometimes stir up a lot of emotions and loose talk. Something just might develop that could give us a firmer hold on things. Thanks for the input.

  “Okay, where do we stand in this investigation and where can we go from here. All of the Napa Valley wineries are now in the loop and on guard and will inform us of anything suspicious they come across. We have people watching the Paganellis 24/7 for any overt actions that will give us sufficient cause for an arrest or for a tap being put on their phones. I still don’t have anything back on the ear ring the field worker had in his hand. A clear finger print of someone we have in our files would be nice, but I’m not that lucky. We don’t have the manpower to put people undercover at the wineries approached for acquisition to catch somebody messing with things they shouldn’t be messing with and then getting them to talk. So, we’re down to two courses of action, waiting for something new to happen or trying to force something new to happen.”

  “This is where using yourself as bait might come in right?”

  “Perhaps. There are a couple of things I want to tie down first if I can. I have no strong hunch about the role Giuseppe Pelegrinno or Maria Conti play in the overall scheme of things. I’m completely in the dark about their innocence or guilt. Before I stick my neck out, I’d like to have a better idea about who might try to slit it.”

  “It doesn’t look like we have a lot of options to pursue.”

  “Welcome to the world of detection. A lot of time is spent spinning our wheels looking for something that will give us some traction. Patience and determination are absolute musts if you want to close cases. It also doesn’t hurt to have Lady Luck on your side too.

  “So, let’s pay an unannounced visit to the Paganelli Patriarch and his son to see what we can stir up. Find out where they reside and then we’ll get out of here for a while. When we get back you can help me do a more thorough vetting of Pelegrinno and Conti, including talking with their friends and associates.”

  Chapter 16

  While Julie is getting the addresses for the senior Paganellis, the twins are engaged in a conference call with Nick Petrillo. “I got you some time to try your blackmail schemes. You’ve got sixty days to try things your way during which your new partners will lay off your targets for acquisition. After that, they’ll try their methods of persuasion. I’ll take my reward in Franklins. Put them in a sealed envelope which will be picked up by someone I’ll send over to your office at three this afternoon. The individual will identify himself as Benjie. It’s not the brightest idea I’ve ever had, but it kind of fits the situation."

  Duilio says, “We appreciate your effort, Nick. The money will be here and ready to go at three today.”

  Breaking the connection Duilio says, “Okay, Riccardo, it’s time to turn loose the threat of scandal on these suckers and get their sweating backs up against the wall. It shouldn’t take long to have them agreeing to sign on the dotted line. What’s really nice about this is no one will have any idea it’s us doing the blackmailing. The sellers will think it’s some unknown unscrupulous off shore investor using Investors Anonymous as a go between. When the time comes, we can set up a shell company to pu
t on the paperwork, not leaving any track of the connection between it and us.”

  “And best of all, there will be no need for any more needless killing. When do we launch the first salvo and on whom?”