“What do you do with the rest of the bottle?”
He shrugged. “If it’s something I’m interested in carrying, I make sure to have the staff taste it. That way they have an understanding of the wine, otherwise it goes down the sink.”
Nodding, I realized there really was a world of difference between a place like this and buying wine at Publix, like I usually did. It would be fun to keep talking about wine, but it was time to move on.
“By the way, I noticed empty spots in the racks. Seems like there’s a lot less inventory.”
“We’ve got a ton of wine coming in. Frankly, I don’t know where I’m going to put it all.”
“Sounds good. Look, I wanted to go over a couple of items with you concerning Marilyn Boggs.”
Barnet stiffened, pulling his hands off the table.
“You had said that her favorite wine was Sauvignon Blanc.”
“Yes, she enjoyed that as well as the white wines of Bordeaux, which are made of Semillon and Sauv Blanc.”
“But on the day of her murder we found an open bottle of pinot noir on the kitchen counter.”
“Maybe she was having it with the person who did it.”
My ears perked at the ‘who did it.’ Was it his emotional attachment to Marilyn that prevented him from facing the facts she was stabbed to death? Or was it a subconscious sidestep to soften the violent act? Before I could say anything, he added, “It was probably Gideon.”
“He likes pinot noir?”
“I think so.”
“Your last time together with Marilyn, did you have sexual intercourse?”
“Come on, Detective, isn’t that a bit personal?”
“Answer the question, please.”
Barnet wagged his head. “Yes.”
According to the autopsy, he was lying. Tucking the deception into a mind file, I moved on.
“Gideon Brighthouse said the two of you were arguing when he came into the house the afternoon of her murder.”
“Arguing? No, he’s got it wrong.”
“What was it then?”
“I can’t remember what we were talking about when he came in, but we certainly weren’t arguing.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Detective, I hope you’re not trying to imply that we were arguing and . . . well, you know.”
“I don’t deal in implications; my world is all about the evidence.”
Chapter 47
Luca
I was chatting with a patrolwoman who had just joined the department when Vargas stuck her head out of our office door.
“Hey Frank! Come here.”
The new hire was cute; was Vargas jealous?
“What’s up?”
“Just heard from George King.”
“Who?”
“He worked with Brighthouse on Senator White’s reelection. He finally returned, like, my tenth call.”
“And?”
“He claims Brighthouse has temper issues. Said he was erratic at times and that he even saw him hit his wife.”
“What? What exactly did he say?”
“It was right when the pay-for-play stuff came out on White. There was a small gathering for bundlers—”
“Bundlers?”
Vargas nodded. “They’re people who not only heavily donate to a campaign but also go out and get other donors to support the campaign. Anyway, it was up at Fleming’s Steak, and right before they were about to attend, Marilyn Boggs somehow got wind of the news about White. King said it was just the three of them left in the office and that Marilyn didn’t want to go to the dinner. Brighthouse insisted that she had to go and they started arguing. King was right there, became uncomfortable and went to his office. After a few minutes, King came out and saw Marilyn heading for the door when Gideon grabbed her arm, spinning her around. Marilyn lost her balance and crashed into a photocopy machine. But instead of cooling things off, Gideon got back in her face. King jumped in the middle and broke up the fight, saying he believed Marilyn was in danger and that Gideon had totally lost control.”
I was shocked; Brighthouse seemed reserved, almost meek. “He got physical with her?”
“According to King. He also said Brighthouse was prone to anger when the campaign started going south. Told me Brighthouse said, a number of times, that he wanted to kill the guy at Fox who broke the story.”
“Words may establish patterns, but if we locked up everyone who said out of anger they wanted to kill someone, we be patrolling empty streets. What needs following up is the physical abuse aspect. But remember, there’s no history of him being violent.”
“This is a high-powered family. Who knows if there were any cover-ups? They could’ve paid someone or multiple people to keep quiet. Those agreements are sealed.”
“I know money can buy silence, but there’s always a whisper, a willingness to look the other way that seeps out. In this case we’ve got zippo indication he was violent.”
Vargas said, “Remember, those agreements are secret, sealed by a court.”
“And the only way to keep a secret between two people is when one of them is dead.”
Vargas smiled. “As soon as ‘secret’ came out of my mouth, I knew you were gonna invoke that Lucaism.”
“Lucaism, I like that. Maybe I’ll start a blog with that name.”
“Seriously, we need to ask Brighthouse about this. I’ll reach out to Gerey to set it up.”
“Okay, you know it might be worth running back over the campaign contacts, see if this guy King had an ax to grind with Brighthouse.”
“Sure. We’ve got to check on the drugs he’s taking. Maybe they’re related to this. Why don’t you ask the pharmacology department at Gulf Coast University? They’ll know if they can make you violent.”
Another Vargas gem. “Good idea, but the campaign thing happened before Brighthouse started getting his panic attacks.”
“Still worth checking.”
“I got it covered.”
***
Closing an email, I said, “Is this guy kidding me? Gerey wants us to submit our questions in writing. Says it’ll be too much for his client to come in. Gerey is claiming Brighthouse is under too much stress.”
“He should be, he’s a suspect in his wife’s murder.”
“I don’t know, Vargas. These damn lawyers think they rule the world. But you know what? They can’t push Luca around. Gerey wants to play games? Fine, now I’m gonna send a couple officers out to Keewaydin and drag Gideon’s sophisticated ass down here.”
“Hold on, Frank. It might be a good idea to run all of this by Morgan. We don’t need Gerey running to him.”
She was right, again. “This bureaucratic bullshit is killing me.”
“You want me to go see Morgan?”
I nodded. “He certainly likes you a helluva a lot more than me.”
***
“What’d he say?”
“It’s a good compromise, kinda meet in the middle. He called Gerey, who said getting both Crowley and him to come in wouldn’t be for two weeks.”
“Who the hell is running this show?”
“Hold on, Frank. The interview is set for the Boggs apartment on Fifth Avenue, and Crowley won’t be there.”
“What’s Morgan, like Solomon now?”
“It’s a good setup, Frank. Brighthouse will be off the island and out of his comfort zone.”
“We’ll see. I’m taking bets he either comes in stoned or has another panic attack.”
“Let’s hope not. Hey, you get anything on the drugs from the university?”
“Sorry, it came in this morning. I got distracted with this Gerey bullshit.”
“That’s okay. What’d they say?”
“Basically, that one rarely gets violent when having a panic attack, unless you’re in their way when they want to escape, but the shrink also said that in some patients the interaction of drugs can cause violent outbursts.”
Chapter 48
; A salesclerk knocked on Barnet’s door and said, “John, there’s a Mr. Farnham on one. He’s upset, something about a futures order.”
“Can’t you give it to Bridgette?”
“Uh, you fired her.”
“Give me the damn call!”
“Mr. Farnham. How are you? . . . I understand, sir, I had to let my store manager go. . . . Yes, Bridgette. She made a real mess of the futures program, and it’s going take me a bit of time to sort things out. You can’t believe how she mixed up all the orders. . . . I promise to get back to you in ten days, max. . . . Ten is an outside number. I’ve got to get in touch with all the chateaus. I just can’t trust the records she kept. . . . Thank you for understanding, sir. I should have known better letting someone else handle the orders, but I can tell you, it will never happen again.”
Barnet opened the futures spreadsheet. Column C displayed the total case count─nearly eighty cases of the upcoming Bordeaux vintage were sold. Scrolling to E, he noted the total sold was for $113,450.00, and in column F, the seventy-five- percent deposit money taken in was $85,087.50.
The wine was due to start arriving in five months. His problem was twofold: he’d only ordered a bit more than half the wine he sold futures for, and all the money was gone. If this blew up he’d lose the store, along with everything else he had.
Barnet knew he’d also have to move again, but where? Chicago was a good wine town, but the weather was terrible. What about Scottsdale? Good weather, but it wasn’t a wine town and wasn’t near the water. The prospect of a move made him call a buddy to go out with that night. Barnet was going to go trolling for another lifeline and had a couple of cougars in mind.
***
It was the first time Bridgette had been in the sheriff’s office. The security had frightened her, but, once inside, she was surprised at how quiet it was. The outer wall of the second floor was ringed with offices. Mirroring the one she was in, each had a large plate glass window looking over the bullpen area, which was lined with clumps of desks facing each other. Many of the desks were empty, but those that weren’t were manned by a mix of uniformed and undercover officers.
Detective Wiley said, “Okay, ma’am. Why don’t you tell me why you’re here?”
“John Barnet is ripping off his customers. He should be in jail. He makes it seem—”
“Slow it down, ma’am. Are we talking about the John Barnet from Barnet’s Liquors?”
“Yeah, the one that owns the Waterside store. How do you know him?”
“What are you alleging he is up to?”
“It’s not alleged, he’s doing it. He’s taking money for futures orders but not buying the wine to satisfy the orders.”
“Futures?”
“In the wine business, you have the opportunity to buy a new vintage before it’s released. You see, the wine sits in barrels for a long time before it is bottled and released for sale. So, if you buy in advance you get a better price and a guarantee you will get these highly allocated wines.”
“And how do you know Barnet is not going to deliver the wines that were ordered?”
“I worked as his store manager for almost three years.”
After making a note, Wiley said, “Take it slowly and explain what you believe is going on.”
“We’d never gotten into the futures business before. Bleu Cellar had a lock on the market, but we were slow this summer and John came to me about starting a futures campaign to get some traffic. We got orders but he wasn’t happy with it and wanted more. Anyway, we had over a hundred thousand dollars in orders, but I know he didn’t order all the wine.”
“You know this how?”
“I was the one who did the ordering, and to make matters worse, he sold wine futures for producers who had cut him off because he was way behind in paying them.”
“Isn’t it possible he could buy the wine from a secondary source?”
“It’s possible, but he’d lose money on it, if he could get it in the first place.”
“What do you think he did with the money, if he didn’t order all the wine?”
“It mostly went to cover the bills. The store really never got the traction he thought it would. You ask me, it was in the wrong location and the rent is out of control. Waterside is filled with all high-end designer shops. It’s a different crowd.”
“You believe Barnet was under monetary pressure and used some of the money he took in to cover his operating expenses?”
“Yeah, like a Ponzi scheme. So, should I be filing a complaint or something?”
“It’s not that simple. First, if you didn’t participate in buying the futures, you don’t have standing to file a complaint. We need one of the customers to file.”
“No problem, how many do you want?”
“In time, as the other problem is that no one has been defrauded yet.”
“But they will be.”
“Maybe, but Barnet could buy the wine he needs to deliver or even just refund the customers their money.”
“Where’s he going to get the money for that?”
“That’s up to him. When are the buyers supposed to get the wine they ordered?”
“Some of it is due to arrive in the States in five months or so.”
“We’ll have wait and see how this plays out and whether Barnet is able to satisfy the buyers, one way or another. At this point, it’s too early to do anything. A crime has not been committed.”
“That’s crazy. I’m telling you, John Barnet is a very dangerous man. He told me he beat up a guy so bad he ended up in intensive care.”
“When was this?”
“I’m not sure, but it was when he was in Los Angeles.”
“That’s way out of our jurisdiction, ma’am.”
“Yeah, well, he did the same thing to a bill collector right here in Naples.”
“Tell me about that.”
“There was this guy, I think his name was Vincent Ropo or something like that, and he would always come to the store and try to collect the money Barnet’s owed to a Chilean winery. John wouldn’t pay, saying the wine was tainted, but I knew he was lying. He didn’t have the money. Anyway, this Vincent guy would come at least twice a week. Then, all of a sudden, he stopped coming.”
“Maybe Barnet paid the bill or the winery wrote the loss off.”
Bridgette shook her head. “I asked John what happened, and he smiled, like, so wickedly, I knew he’d attacked the poor guy.”
Chapter 49
Luca
I hung up the phone just as Vargas swept into the office and said, “I think it might be time to drag Barnet in for a chat.”
“Why? What changed?”
“That was Barnet’s old store manager. She said Barnet doesn’t have the money to replenish stock. He’s into a couple of distributors for some big wood and behind in the rent.”
“She the one who wanted to file a fraud complaint?”
“Yeah, she still doesn’t understand why we’re letting this entire wine futures fraud play out. I told her the same thing Wiley told her—Barnet may be planning, but he hasn’t done anything yet.”
“Just like Brighthouse?”
“I’ll answer that for you as soon as I can. Right now, we know Barnet needs money—a perfect motivation for blackmail, wouldn’t you say?”
“I’m sorry; I just don’t get why Marilyn wouldn’t fight back, especially with the firepower the Boggs have.”
“It’s all about the reputation. Who knows what else Barnet may have had on her?”
“But he didn’t. We know from the Verizon records he only had one on her.”
“He could’ve had it stored on a hard drive, a flash drive, or something.”
“Look, I think this entire filming thing is disgusting, consent or not, but in today’s world it might make a headline on a slow day.”
“We’re not dealing with normal people. You could be right, but it’s what she thought, not what we or others think about it. Who knows, the old man
probably has a section in the trust about it.”
“You might be on to something, Frank. Maybe there is some kind of clause dealing with harming the family reputation or something.”
“If so, the old man must’ve been some sort of narcissist. You think he really believed everyone was focused on the Boggs and what they did?”
“I’m sure it had to do with managing people’s money and having a lily-white reputation, otherwise it’d be tough for people to hand their money over.”
“People really have to stop worrying about what people think of them.”
“I know. Say, before I forget, Assistant DA Lindsey called about Sanchez. He wants to know what’s going on. Wanted to reach out to Immigration and have him deported rather than go to trial if we’re not going to charge him with murder.”
“What the hell is wrong with them? They know Sanchez is one of our major suspects in the Boggs case.”
“That’s what I told them. They’re probably pushing to dispose of cases, knock down their backlog. Make their numbers look good.”
Chapter 50
Luca
Setting a coffee on my desk, I picked up a marker and went to the whiteboard. I drew three circles and put either G, B, or S inside them.
“Let’s start with Gideon.” I wrote below the encircled G: Close to victim, found body, Motive - Money, Planned to kill, No criminal history.
“Anything else?”
Vargas said, “He is on medication, and they’re the type of drugs that some people get violent on. Could’ve been a drug-induced rampage.”
Adding On meds to the list, I took a sip of coffee and said, “Let’s move on to Barnet for the moment.”
Under B, I wrote: Close to victim, present day of murder, motive - revenge? - no record but evidence of attempted extortion.
Vargas said, “I don’t buy the revenge angle. If anything, it could have been an argument that spun out of control. Maybe Barnet was threatening Marilyn to get her to pay and things spun out of control.”
“They were arguing, according to Brighthouse, and though Barnet said they had sex that afternoon, zero evidence of it came out of the autopsy.”
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