Clarets of Fire

by Christine E. Blum

  “Now, Mrs. Bruno,” he began.

  “Isabella, please.” She gave him a warm smile.

  “Right, Isabella. Can you explain how Brandon came to be here among the grapevines? He wasn’t invited to the harvest celebration, was he?”

  “Not at all, and this is the first time I’m seeing him here,” I explained to Augie.

  “You’ll have to ask him that question, Augie. I had overheard Halsey shout that someone was trying to burn down the fields, and I rushed out to help. It would break my heart if anything happened to this beautiful winery.” Isabella started to weep.

  “That’s a crock,” Brandon shouted from the cart.

  “If I may,” I said to Augie. “Isabella, where were you when you heard me express concern about a fire?”

  I’d said it on the interior balcony of the barn, just after we discovered that Isabella wasn’t in her room.

  “Where was I? Where you all were, of course!”

  “So you were in the library? I didn’t see you there.” I was laying out a trap that should work unless someone else says something to ruin it.

  Isabella nodded. “I was there but standing on the other side of that rolling ladder; maybe that hid me from view. I didn’t realize.”

  “Jack and Augie, have either of you been in the library in the main house?” I pushed on.

  “You mean the bookshelves on either side of the big fireplace in the barn?” Jack asked.

  “No, this is an entire room in the main house. With a floor-to-ceiling library ladder on wheels, just as Isabella described.”

  “Then no.”

  Augie shook his head as well. “We’ve only been here for maybe two hours, so we’ve only seen the barn and that garage where we got the carts.”

  “You must have been with the others in the library or maybe it was another room. I’ve been up and working for about twenty-two hours, I’m very tired.” Isabella looked from one of us to the other to show her sincerity.

  “Of course, Isabella, I understand. And once again the pizza was spectacular. You’ll have to try some, Jack. If there are any leftovers that is. How on earth did you light that brand-new pizza oven? It didn’t look like something you just put a match to or flip a switch.”

  “No, you don’t, Halsey. It is quite a process and not something that you want to do if you’re timid around fire.” Isabella made herself stand taller, proud of her accomplishment.

  “So, you did this all on your own? Rico said that you were always afraid of even going near the oven.” I was closing in.

  Isabella realized her mistake and quickly tried to backtrack.

  “Me? I watched from a distance; it was Andrew who got it going.”

  “I did not!” Andrew had climbed up from a lower row to join us. “You seemed to know all about those ovens, Isabella, remember? You assured me that you could have it up and running at least a day before the harvest.”

  “I never said that, Andrew.”

  “Of course you did. It was on the patio the day before everyone arrived. It was just after you asked me if I had the receipt for the delivery of the oven.”

  “So, Isabella was trying to clear Rico despite his foolish pride?” Jack asked.

  “Not exactly, more like the opposite. She was trying to destroy the evidence that proved that Malcolm had paid for the oven.” Just as I finished saying that, Isabella took off in a sprint. She didn’t get far. Andrew’s strong surfer legs caught her almost immediately.

  Augie zip-tied Isabella’s hands and led her to our golf cart.

  “I suggest that we pick this up on level ground now. I’ll let Malcolm know what has happened, and when they are satisfied that all the incendiary devices have been destroyed, they can join us.

  Andrew sat next to Isabella in the backseat to make sure that she stayed put on the ride back up the hill. Bardot and I climbed into the front next to Jack.

  “Have I ever told you that you’re brilliant?” he asked me.

  “Not nearly often enough.”

  Chapter Twenty-six

  We gathered in the kitchen because all this excitement had given everyone a ravenous appetite and thirst. Augie had called for a couple of squad cars to take the suspects to jail and wanted to run through the sequence of events and clues with us before the police arrived.

  If you ask me, I think that he was beyond pleased that he had made an arrest in at least part of this case.

  The big kitchen island was resplendent with cold burgers, salads, cheeses, pizza, and desserts. Some were eating right from the platters—too hungry to fix plates.

  Once Augie had staved off his need for nourishment, he began.

  “Okay, everyone, forgive me in advance if I seem to be overly meticulous about the details that I am going to ask you about, but I must be thorough. You two will be asked for your statements when we get you to the station,” Augie said, looking at Brandon and Isabella, stiff-cuffed and seated in wooden chairs.

  “Thank God everyone is safe!” Aimee screamed, running into the kitchen and hugging each of us. I doubt that she even noticed that Isabella and Brandon were restrained.

  “I hear that you’ve solved another mystery.” Peggy patted my back and winked.

  “Not without everyone’s help and wise advice,” I replied, hugging Sally who had come in toting a most beautiful looking bunch of grapes.

  Malcolm and Penelope came up to me, and we must have stood in a group hug for over two minutes.

  “How will we ever repay you for saving our harvest, Halsey?” Penelope asked.

  “If everyone would have a seat, please. I was about to go over the events that have led up to the arrests that we have just made,” Augie instructed.

  “Isabella!” Rico cried, seeing her.

  “It’s all a mistake, my love, I’ll be fine. Brandon is the criminal here.”

  “You’ll be fine in jail for the rest of your life, Isabella.” Brandon glared at her. “Roberto was my friend!”

  “Quiet! Or I will remove you both from the room, which would deprive you of the chance to tell the truth and perhaps get you a lighter sentence.”

  I thought that Augie would have removed them anyway. This seemed to be out of protocol, but I guess that he had his reasons.

  “We’re going to work backward,” Augie announced. “I’ll sketch out the events and I want you all to add details. “There were two teams looking for fire starters on the lowest tier, Malcolm, Peggy, and Sally—also Rico, Marisol, and myself.”

  I looked around for Marisol and didn’t see her. My bet was that she was snooping while everyone else was otherwise occupied.

  “Jack and Halsey, you covered the middle tier,” Augie continued.

  “Along with me,” Andrew chimed in. “I’d heard all the chatter over the radio, saw two carts heading down to the bottom, and decided to start on the middle.”

  “That was you in the El Camino zipping down the hill, wasn’t it?” I asked Andrew.

  “Guilty as charged. Oops . . . maybe not the best choice of words. I’d left Malcolm and his buddies from the next winery to tend to the bonfire and walked back up here for a rest and some fresh air. We’d had it out a bit, and I needed to be alone and calm down. There were so many people milling about that I hopped in my truck and decided to head down to the ocean for a bit.”

  “Did you know that Bardot had hopped into the back of your El Camino?” I asked Andrew.

  “Really? No way, I was still a little pissed, and I was blasting music. Geez, she’s okay though?” He knelt down to pet Bardot and check her over for injuries.

  “She’s fine. Did you stop somewhere along the way down?”

  “Yes, Halsey, that’s the thing. I never made it to the ocean. I spotted a couple of people walking along the lowest tier and wondered if some of the ladies from your group had gotten lost. I quickly veered off the road and went after them.”

  “Did you catch up to them, Andrew?” Augie picked up the trail.

  “No, and I hadn�
��t brought my flashlight from the truck or my radio. I went back to get them and then took up their trail again. About that time, I saw a truck driving up the hill. I remember wondering if the two were related.”

  Jack had finished his third slice of pizza and was carefully cleaning his beard with a paper towel.

  “That would have been us,” Jack explained. “I had Rico and Augie with me. Right after he was released, Rico wanted to see Isabella as soon as possible.”

  Rico groaned loudly.

  “I invited Augie to tag along and promised to take him to my favorite fish taco place for a late supper on the way back. I knew that I had to pick up all the guys in the morning, Halsey.”

  I smiled at my man. Behind him Isabella sat, expressionless.

  “Please continue, Andrew.”

  “I kept searching for the people I’d seen but wasn’t having much luck. I’d heard leaves rustling, some whispered conversations that I couldn’t quite make out, even footsteps when I thought I was getting close to someone. I kept thinking that it had to be one or two of the girls from Rose Avenue . . . I even called out a couple of your names. After a while I moved up to the second tier. When I saw flashlights and heard carts driving down the hill I switched on my radio. As soon as I heard the news, I started finding fire starters and dismantling them. I was by myself until Bardot and then Halsey and Jack found me.”

  “Are you really going to go through every minute of this evening, Detective? In another hour it will be light out,” Isabella said.

  I saw Sally give a slight nod in agreement. I moved over to Augie and whispered, “She’s got a point. We’d all be happy to take this up again tomorrow.”

  Augie cupped his hand to his mouth and said in a faint voice, “I really don’t have enough to arrest them, Halsey, unless we can catch them in more lies. The library question was a good start.”

  He continued whispering to me for a bit more.

  I nodded and stepped back so that Augie could continue.

  “Brandon, when did you get here and why?”

  Brandon looked at Isabella and paused but then said, “What the hell, she’s going to try and throw me under the bus anyway. Isabella called me this afternoon and said that she needed my help tonight with something that was very important.”

  “And you agreed to help her? That’s awfully civilized of you, Brandon. So you two kept in touch after the fire?” I asked him, and he squirmed in his chair.

  In the distance we could hear sirens. Augie quickly grabbed his cell phone, punched a number, and said, “This is a Code two, do you read? Shut off those sirens.”

  Moments later the sound disappeared.

  “I kinda had to do whatever Isabella asked, Halsey. You see we were sort of blackmailing each other.”

  “Sweet Jesus, Mary, and Joseph and pass the marmalade,” Sally hollered.

  “This boy is clearly on drugs,” Isabella said.

  “Nope, not unless he just started doing them today. I’ve had my resources check out Brandon Dawson. His father is an addict, comes and goes all the time,” Peggy piped up. “But that must have made the kid not go near them. He’s been picked up by EMTs numerous times getting banged up when trying to surf. Each time he was tested, and the results were negative. I just got this news a couple of hours ago, when I checked my emails, Halsey.”

  Way to go, Peggy!

  “Tell us about the blackmail, Brandon,” I gently urged him.

  “The day after the fire I ran into Isabella when I’d returned to the mall to see if there was anything incriminating that I’d left behind. I think Rico was talking with the insurance guy or something. Isabella said that she knew that I stole the safe from the drugstore and that she’d keep quiet about it under the right conditions.”

  “Liar!”

  “Isabella, don’t say anything more,” Rico implored her.

  “I was scared to death and I couldn’t think straight. I told her that I’d do whatever she wanted. That was the day that I met you at the site, Halsey. I wanted to do a quick check to make sure that I hadn’t left anything that could pin me in the drugstore. When I heard Inspector Mason’s voice, I climbed over stuff and bolted out the back.”

  Jack had slowly and nonchalantly moved over to where Isabella was seated.

  “What were Isabella’s demands, Brandon?” Augie was keeping the confession going.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I thought that I saw a small figure darting about in the dark side of the kitchen. Bardot’s head went up as well.

  “She insisted that we split the money from the drug sales fifty-fifty. She said that she was sick of the daily drudgery of running a business and dealing with a deadbeat landlord. She wanted to come work here for Penelope.”

  “What? She never said any such thing to me about this. You?” Penelope asked Malcolm and he shook his head.

  “She’d made that pretty clear to me,” Andrew said. “I gave her a tour of the winery a week before you two got back from your honeymoon. She had a couple of glasses of wine and got swept up in the beauty of the place. She even let on that Rico refused to sell the business. Isabella said they still had bills to pay off.”

  “No!” Rico was on his feet.

  “I may have told Brandon how tired I was, but I swear this whole safe thing is a total lie.” Isabella’s poker face was starting to crack.

  “Brandon, you said that this blackmailing went both ways. What did you have on Isabella?” I walked over to him for his answer.

  “Roberto was in on this drug thing. In fact, that was how we were going to pull it off. He had the keys to the parlor, and I was going to meet him outside the back door of the drugstore. The plan was for Roberto to climb up into the attic from the restaurant, crawl over to the location of the drugstore, and enter it from the attic. He’d then open the back door, help me with the safe, and retreat back to the pizza place. He’d then lock up and meet up with me after his delivery shift. Only he never showed.”

  Four uniformed officers appeared at the entry to the kitchen.

  “When I heard that you pulled Roberto out of the parlor, I figured that either Rico or Isabella had run into Roberto in the parlor, and he’d been caught red-handed. Probably clocked him good because he certainly didn’t recover in time to escape the smoke and flames.” Brandon looked spent and I felt sorry for him. He’d made a dumb choice and was now going to pay for it for a long time.

  “Augie.” Sally took charge. “Was there an autopsy done on Roberto?”

  “Yes, but I haven’t had a chance to read the report yet.”

  “Were you able to sell the opioids, Brandon?” I wanted to wrap this up—everyone was fading.

  “Are you kidding? In an instant, I’d already paid Isabella her share, about fifteen thou.”

  “But she wasn’t done with you, was she?”

  “Obviously not, Halsey, or I wouldn’t be here tonight. When she discovered that Rico had been released, she called me and railed over the phone about how much trouble I could be in if I ever said anything.”

  “Isabella lured Brandon out to the vineyard, not to burn down the vines.” Peggy had caught on.

  “That’s correct, Peggy. She must have given Brandon some lame excuse for why she needed him to help her at the winery tonight.”

  “Isabella told me that she had a way to frame Andrew for the theft of the safe. I figured that this was my chance to get out from under suspicion and her control.” Brandon shook his head, realizing that neither had happened.

  “Instead she saw this as the perfect cover to kill Brandon and make it look like he had tried to kill her. And since Isabella had developed a taste for fire starting, burning the vineyard also gave her a chance to stick it to Andrew, who she’d admitted earlier was a smug rich kid.” I’d taken the story full circle.

  “You won’t be able to prove any of it, and since we’re not at the station I’ll deny everything and lawyer up.” This truly was evil Isabella coming to the surface.

  “That’
s okay, Isabella, we have a cooperating witness who will swear to the facts discussed here.”

  “Who? Brandon? We all know he’s a loser, and I sure didn’t see anybody taking notes in here.” Isabella was getting back some smugness.

  “Not notes; I got much better stuff.” Marisol walked out of the darkness and into the lighted area of the kitchen. A headset rested on her shoulders and around her neck.

  “You got it all, right, Auntie?” Augie asked.

  “Every last bit of it.” She grinned and saluted Peggy who returned the gesture.

  “I didn’t agree to this, and you didn’t read me my Miranda rights . . . none of this will be admissible in court.”

  “Of course not, Isabella,” Augie replied. “We don’t intend to use anything you said on this recording in court.”

  “But Augie did have a chance to Mirandize Brandon, and he agreed to participate in exchange for consideration at sentencing.” I revealed what Augie had whispered to me.

  “You two can take Brandon back to the station now,” Augie said to the cops. “You did great, son, and I’ll make sure to put in my recommendation for leniency. But you’ve still got to tell us the details of your car repair scam,” he said to Brandon.

  “Oh, he did great all right.” Isabella’s face was red and screwed up like an old apple. “You and Roberto were talking so loudly during your robbery that I’m surprised some of the neighbors didn’t make a ‘disturbing the peace’ call. Roberto was so proud of himself that he didn’t see me hiding in the attic above our place. He passed right by me on his way back to the restaurant. After I’d set my timed device and Molotov cocktail—the wine bottle was a tip of the hat to Andrew—I snuck back down and saw Roberto smoking in the doorway. It was easy from there to hit him on the head with a dough hook. I even still had gloves on!” Isabella laughed. “Finding, catching, Brandon in a crime was like having a bag of money land in my lap.”

  Isabella bolted out of her chair and tried to make a run for it. I watched her locate the door to the library, which confirmed to me that she’d been the one who ransacked Malcolm’s office. I stepped in front of her, blocking the way.