by Morgana Best
Owen nodded. “All right then, Pepper, I’ll ask you to drive back home now. This is a crime scene. One of the officers can take Mr O’Callaghan back when he’s finished here.”
I turned to leave, but Lucas touched my arm. “Thank you.” With that, he marched after Owen into the closest building.
A flock of huge black cockatoos appeared from nowhere, flying low and uttering their weird, blood-curdling cry.
I walked back to my car slowly. How had Linda Williams simply vanished like that? What was her connection to the winery? The only one I knew was that she used to date Henry Ichor, but she hadn’t seen him in years, or so she said.
Chapter 17
I arrived back at Mugwort Manor anxious to tell my aunts what I had learnt.
They were all sitting in the living room, knitting, looking as though butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths. Aunt Dorothy was breathless. I figured they had been up to something and then assembled in the living room to put on a good front for me.
I narrowed my eyes. “What have you all been up to?”
“Nothing,” they said in unison.
“Is there much damage at the winery?” Aunt Agnes asked.
“No, but Linda Williams is missing. Her car and purse are there, but there’s no sign of her. Her purse was found on the ground,” I added.
“That explains why the detectives were at their cottage,” Aunt Maude said. “They must’ve been speaking with Paul Williams.” She abandoned her knitting to pour me a glass of wine.
I accepted it and sat in the striped armchair. “I went to a café as you suggested, and Linda Williams saw me and came over.”
All three aunts stopped knitting. “What did she have to say for herself?” Aunt Agnes said.
“She said she used to date Henry Ichor.” The aunts raised their eyebrows, and I pushed on. “She has some sort of bizarre grudge against him due to investment advice he gave her years ago.”
“But that hardly matters, does it?” Aunt Agnes said. “We know he was overseas when he died.”
“Maybe not,” I said, “but don’t they say innocent people don’t have alibis? She said she was here in this country when he was killed, but something else interesting, she also thought he was murdered. Anyway, the main thing is she ate a rare steak and she gobbled it up.”
My aunts all looked confused, yet they restarted their knitting. “I’m not sure what the steak has to do with anything,” Aunt Agnes said.
“I thought she might be the Shifter,” I said. “She certainly was eating a huge amount of red meat, and cooked rare at that. Why, it was practically raw. It turned my stomach.”
“Oh, I see. Valkyrie thinks werewolves exhibit dog-like behaviour when they’re in the human form,” Dorothy said to the other two aunts.
I was puzzled. “Are you saying that’s not the case? But what about Marius eating all those steak pizzas? You seemed interested in that.”
Aunt Agnes’s eyes darted from side to side, as they always did when she was trying to avoid something. “No, werewolves don’t eat a lot of meat when in the human form,” she said with a smirk, “any more than they don’t sniff other people’s posteriors, and run after the postman and bite his leg.”
I narrowed my eyes. I hadn’t been mistaken, surely—I knew they thought it strange that Marius had eaten five steak pizzas. They also seemed quite interested in what I had to say about Linda. Surely they were withholding information from me once more. “So are you saying she’s not the Shifter?”
Aunt Agnes shook her head. “I’m not saying that at all. She could well be the Shifter. All I’m saying is, eating lots of red meat doesn’t mean that someone is a Shifter. Yowies, that is, non-Shifter Yowies, are known to eat nuts and berries as well as killing for their food.”
I bit my lip. “Oh well, I had better start work on your website.”
Aunt Agnes stood up so fast I hardly saw her move. “I don’t think you should sit in a stuffy house and work on the website until later,” she said. “You haven’t even been to the beach yet. Why don’t you go to the beach now?”
I figured I might as well come out and ask. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“Oh no, no,” all aunts said in unison, a guilty look travelling over each one’s face.
I considered calling them on it, but then again, I hadn’t been to the beach yet. “Okay then. I just don’t want to let you down.”
“Of course you’re not letting us down, Valkyrie,” Aunt Agnes said with a smile. “Go and have a nice walk along the beach. That will soothe your nerves, and when you get back, I’ll have lunch waiting for you.”
I thanked her and went to my bedroom to change into shorts and a top. I was looking forward to the beach. When I walked back down the stairs, all three aunts were sitting there primly, knitting. I suspected that if I returned after five minutes or so, I would catch them doing something—but what?
I said goodbye and left the house by the kitchen door. I had to walk past the cottages on my way to the beach, and I hoped I wouldn’t come across Lucas O’Callaghan, who would no doubt think I was seeking him out.
I loved the smell of sea air, and took a deep breath as I made my way down the sandy path to the beach. It was nice to have direct access from the back of the Mugwort Manor estate. Lighthouse Bay had five beaches, four of them in town.
I stopped and sighed with sheer delight when I reached the edge of the beach. To my right was a viewing platform, and to my left and off in the distance, at the top of a sheer cliff, was the lighthouse.
I left my sandals alongside the sandy path on a clump of grass, and walked on barefoot. This was not a patrolled beach, at least not at this end. The patrolled beach was off to my right towards the lighthouse, and was where people went to swim and surf. Mugwort Manor backed onto the long dog beach, a designated off-leash dog area that stretched for a considerable distance until the next headland.
I passed an elderly couple with a white poodle that was barking at a Great Dane, much to the consternation of the Great Dane’s owner. I walked on, letting the waves lap at my feet. The tide was coming in, so I kept a close eye on the surf. I didn’t want to walk too far, not with a Shifter on the loose, but my aunts had assured me that Shifters didn’t kill randomly—that the murder had been a target on a particular person. Still, I thought it better to be prudent, and at any rate, I didn’t want to walk too far up a lonely beach.
Still, I soon forgot myself and fell into a rhythm of walking through the gently lapping waves. It was so peaceful, listening to the seagulls and the rhythmic crashing of the waves, and revelling in the scent of the crisp salt air. The light breeze was gentle on my skin. Although it was summer, the temperature was entirely bearable.
The cry of a seagull broke me from my reverie, and I realised with a start that the beach was deserted—not a dog or an owner in sight.
My right eye twitched.
My heart beat faster and I broke into a cold sweat. I could feel the danger, almost taste it.
I turned around and picked up the pace, heading back to Mugwort Manor.
I saw movement ahead to my left, in the sand dunes, all of which were covered with tea trees and tall scrubby undergrowth. I hoped it wasn’t a Shifter. Much to my relief, I saw that the movement in the undergrowth was moving away from me and not towards me. The figure continued to move away from me, and my breathing calmed somewhat.
I could see a head, and could make out the shape of a man. Still, that didn’t mean the man couldn’t transform into a Shifter, but it would be rather a silly thing to do on a beach that was a popular off-leash dog beach.
I edged closer to the sand dunes and away from the water, but continued walking back to the Manor. The man now came to a standstill, so I hesitated. There was something in his hand. I thought it was a shovel, but I was too far away to see.
I kept walking, but I edged ever closer to the soft sand. He was still between me and the manor, but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to look—although what i
f he chased me?
The thought of someone chasing me scared me, so I decided to walk back down to the water where the sand was firm, and I would be able to run if it came to that. Yet no sooner had I made the decision, than the man spotted me. I stopped and froze on the spot.
He waved to me in a friendly fashion, and I waved back. I thought it best to act like I hadn’t caught him doing something wrong. In fact, I didn’t know if I had, but what would someone be doing scuttling along in the undergrowth? No one ever walked up there.
The man headed towards me, and I didn’t know what to do. Should I make a run for it? Or should I stand my ground and talk to him? If I acted like I didn’t think he was doing anything wrong, I might be able to talk my way out of it, assuming he did have ill intent towards me. I was also taking it as a good sign that he hadn’t transformed into a Shifter.
He was close now, and I could see it was Marius Jones. I did my best to calm my breathing as he approached me.
“Hello Pepper, enjoying a walk?”
“Yes, I am.”
“I just saw a dog running into the bushes, so I went after him,” Marius said.
I thought he was lying, but of course I had to go along with it. “So you didn’t catch him?” I said.
“No, he was much too fast for me. I’m concerned because I can’t see any owners around looking for a dog.”
“Did he have a collar?” I asked him, playing along with his story. I did, however, notice he was covered in dog hair.
“Yes, a red one,” Marius said after hesitating for some time. “I couldn’t get close enough to catch him.”
“I wouldn’t worry,” I said. “There are no roads out this way, so it’s not as if he’ll run into traffic. He’ll probably find his way home, or the owners will come this way looking for him. You could call the council and the local vet and report what you saw.”
“Thanks, Pepper. That’s a good idea.”
I had to fight the urge to run, because my right eye was twitching madly and I knew something was wrong.
Marius took a step towards me and I involuntarily took a step backwards. “So you didn’t see a dog?”
I shook my head. “I wasn’t looking for a dog, though. I was off in my own world, enjoying my walk.”
“But you saw me,” Marius pointed out.
“That’s true.”
“What exactly did you see?” His manner had become threatening, not overly so, but his voice held a clear undertone of menace.
“Just you looking for the dog,” I said in my best imitation of a nonchalant manner.
“You shouldn’t be out walking by yourself, Pepper,” he said, his eyes flashing angrily. “There has already been one murder.”
I measured the distance between us, and the distance to the sandy path that led to the manor. I didn’t think I would be able to sprint away from him. Also, if I ran, then he would know I didn’t trust him, and I didn’t know if the situation had deteriorated quite to that degree.
“Pepper!”
I could have cried with relief. Lucas was striding up the beach towards us. I noticed that Marius took a step backwards and faced him.
“What are you doing here?” Lucas asked me in an abrupt manner.
“Going for a walk along the beach, of course,” I snapped. For all I knew, he had just saved my life, but his unpleasant, superior manner still rankled.
“I’m sorry to intrude. Were the two of you out for a walk together?” Lucas addressed the question to Marius.
“Not at all. I was out walking by myself and saw a stray dog, so I went looking for him,” Marius said.
“And I saw Marius looking for the dog in the bushes, so he came over to speak to me,” I said, and then wondered why I had explained it at all.
“Pepper, I’ll walk you back. I assume you’re going to keep looking for the dog, Marius?”
Marius said that he was. He left us and walked along the sand. Dark waves of anger were still emanating from him.
Lucas watched him go, and then turned to me. “Did he threaten you?”
I shrugged. “I’m not entirely sure, but I did feel that I was in danger. I saw him doing something in the bushes. He walked from that direction, back over there.” I pointed to where I had first seen Marius. “I was watching him for some time, and then he saw me and came over.”
“You didn’t think that was a dangerous thing to do? There is a murderer on the loose, you know.”
“I’m aware of that, and for all I know, it could be you.” I regretted the words as soon as they were out of my mouth.
Lucas looked at me appraisingly, while biting his lip. “Yes, that’s right. You shouldn’t trust anyone at this point, only your aunts. Having said that, please allow me to escort you back to them.”
“Aren’t you afraid that I’ll throw you to the ground and have my wicked way with you?” I had no idea why I said that, either. Perhaps it was the relief that I was now in no danger from Marius, if I ever had been in the first place, but there was something off about the man. And besides, my eye did not twitch when I was around Lucas.
Lucas did not respond, and that made me feel even more foolish. “We should walk on the hard sand,” he said, and I agreed, following him back down to the water.
“The beach is my favourite place in the world,” he said.
I was so surprised that he was making conversation that I didn’t speak for a minute. “Mine, too. If I do in fact end up staying with my aunts, I’m going to get a dog.”
“Why don’t you have a dog now?” he asked me.
“Because I couldn’t afford one,” I said, standing still for a moment as a big wave sent some deeper water towards us. “I believe that if someone has a dog, then that person has to be able to afford vet care, and everything like that.”
“Quite so.” We fell into silence after that, but it was a pleasant silence. I thought how the waitresses had fawned all over him, and how Linda Williams had said he was attractive. He certainly was attractive. I shook my head to clear it. I shouldn’t be having these thoughts, especially not with him walking beside me.
“My aunts said that your wine was a special wine, full of vitamins and minerals,” I said.
To my surprise, Lucas stopped, and swung me to him. “What did you just say?” His tone was urgent, his touch light but imperative.
I was taken aback. “I just said that my aunts mentioned that your wine, you know, the wine from the Ambrosia Winery, was full of vitamins and minerals.”
He released me, but I could still feel the tingles coursing through my body at his touch. Why did he react like that? I had at first thought he’d misheard me, but he had appeared just as worried when I repeated it.
We walked back to the manor in silence, but not a companionable silence now. It was decidedly frosty.
Chapter 18
I expected that Lucas would go into his cottage as we walked past it, but he continued on with me to the manor itself. I didn’t know why, but it was obvious that he was tense.
I opened the kitchen door for him and he walked inside. My aunts were sitting at the kitchen table, knitting. It was almost as if they expected him.
“Sorry to intrude, ladies,” he said, “but Pepper here just mentioned something interesting about my wine, and I thought I’d ask you.”
Aunt Agnes raised one eyebrow, but the other aunts’ expressions remained impassive. “Yes, we’d be glad to help if we can,” she said.
I noticed she didn’t offer him some coffee, or anything like that. They were acting normal, knitting away, but I knew they were tense.
“I don’t know much about the Ambrosia Winery,” Lucas said, “and I’m hoping to learn more, obviously. It’s just that Pepper mentioned something that my managers have never mentioned to me. She said you told her that the wine was special, full of vitamins and minerals.”
Aunt Agnes did not miss a beat. “Yes of course. Didn’t you know that? It’s a very special wine, full of all sorts of good things. It�
�s low in alcohol and not like other wine.”
I could feel Lucas’s tension growing. “How do you know that?”
“Well, your uncle told us, of course,” she said. The other two aunts continued to knit, more furiously than ever.
Lucas crossed his arms over his chest. “I thought you said you didn’t know him well?”
“He wasn’t a close friend or anything like that,” Aunt Agnes said, “but everyone knows everyone else in a small town like this. Plus years ago we used to serve dinner to the guests and we used his wine then. He used to sell it to us at a good discount. He said it was more like a special herbal wine. Don’t tell me he was wrong?” She widened her eyes, a picture of innocence.
I could feel Lucas relaxing beside me. “Thank you,” he said.
“Does that help?” Agnes asked him.
He nodded. “Yes, I think so. It’s a shame the managers didn’t tell me that. I hope all Henry’s secrets didn’t die with him.”
My hand flew my to mouth. “Surely not?”
Lucas turned to face me. “What do you mean?”
“If your uncle Henry had a secret formula, then obviously your cousin, the wine scientist knew it, too. Now both your uncle and the wine scientist are dead. Do you think someone was after the secret formula to your wine?”
“Yes, I suppose that’s possible,” Lucas said slowly, tapping his chin, “but it’s not as if it’s a famous winery or anything like that. Who would care about wine from my winery? Uncle Henry never entered any wine shows or competitions. The winery mainly flies under the radar. I doubt anyone would kill somebody just to discover my uncle’s methods.”
“Well, I think you should consider the possibility,” I said flatly. “If it was full of vitamins and minerals, like your uncle said, then…” My voice trailed away. I wasn’t sure where I was going with that train of thought. “Your uncle died, and I don’t know if he was murdered, but we know for a fact that the wine scientist was murdered, and I think that’s too much of a coincidence.”