From Port to Rigor Morte

by J. C. Eaton

  “Yeah. My dad’s going all postal in there.”

  As we got closer, I could hear every word and I knew they’d discovered Boyd’s body.

  “No, I can’t explain it.” Definitely Henry’s voice. “How on earth can I explain it? Christopher Columbus! This is all I need! Don’t stand there. Call my attorney. He might as well earn the money he gets on retainer.”

  “Calm down, Henry. Norrie’s bringing Eli and Stuart back. We can’t risk upsetting them. They’re at such a fragile age.”

  “Fragile my butt! If anyone’s upset, it’s me. I’m already a person of interest on the Brewer murder. If I don’t walk out of here in handcuffs, it’ll be a miracle.”

  Chapter 24

  “Uh-oh,” I whispered to Theo. “Sounds like they already called Grizzly Gary. He’ll take one look at us and we’ll all be cellmates at the county jail.”

  I took a breath and ushered the boys inside. “Stay here until—” But it was too late. Eli and Stuart charged the storage area like the Battle of Waterloo, and like Napoleon, Henry and Delia were taken off guard.

  “Did you find the body?” Eli shouted from across the room. “It’s right behind the gold medal wines.”

  “Don’t touch anything!” Henry shouted. “And once this is over, I intend to deal with you, young man. Is that understood?” Eli never got a chance to answer because Henry kept yelling. “First of all, this building is off-limits to you. Second of all, you were not to leave the property. Third of all, when you find a dead body you are to report it to the winery where you found it. Oh, good gracious. This is the last straw. The L A S T straw, Eli Speltmore. Pull out one of those folding chairs and sit down. Stuart, too.”

  Eli remained undaunted. “But don’t you want to see where I found him?”

  “Unless he got up and moved, he’s still in the same place where your mother and I looked.”

  Eli skirted past his father and darted over to the palettes that held the cases of wine. “I’ll know if it’s the same guy.”

  “Don’t you dare make another move. Of course it’s the same person. Who else would it be? This isn’t the county morgue.” Then he turned to Delia. “This is your fault. You spoil the boy and—”

  At that moment, a siren cut into Henry’s diatribe, forcing him to drop the subject. “That would be the county sheriff’s office responding to our nine-one-one call. I suggest everyone remain standing and allow me to usher the deputies inside.”

  As Henry walked to the front entrance, Delia approached Theo and me. “Thank you so much for bringing the boys back. Henry’s not himself. Goodness. I don’t even know if he saw you. I mean, yes, he saw you, but I don’t think it registered. This is much too much a situation for him. And on top of all that we have the tawny port wine release event next Saturday. How can we host a spectacular wine release knowing our publicist’s corpse was found in our wine racks?”

  “I take it you recognized the body as Emerson Boyd’s?” I asked.

  “Oh, no. Henry and I didn’t go anywhere near the body. We could see the undersides of the man’s shoes and his legs but we didn’t dare take a closer look.”

  Just then, Eli made a mad dive toward the body. “It’s the same stiff. Check out his wrist. The tattoo is still there.”

  What tattoo? What wrist? What did I miss?

  Delia gasped. “You didn’t touch that man’s wrist, did you?”

  Eli shook his head. “I’m not that dumb. I wasn’t gonna get my fingerprints on the guy.”

  While Henry stood at the entrance and Delia remained otherwise engaged with her son, I whispered to Theo, “Lizzie mentioned a customer with a tattoo on his wrist.”

  “Lots of customers have tattoos. I think it’s a law in California but I’m not sure about New York.”

  “Very funny. Not just a customer. It was the man who picked up the red baseball cap I found. I told you about that, didn’t I?”

  “No, you didn’t.”

  “I’ll make it quick.” I kept my voice low and gave Theo the rundown about the couple who picked up the baseball cap and their unsettling conversation. Then I went on to tell him about the poker game in Dresden, the kissing couple, and the man with the Coors beer at the Dresden Hotel.

  “And Bradley was okay with all of this?”

  “Yeah, he practically ate it up.”

  “He may be a keeper, Norrie. Not many of us Hardy Boys out there.”

  No sooner had the siren noise reached its full peak than it suddenly stopped. “Shh,” Theo said. “I think Inspector Poirot is about to make his grand entrance.”

  “Too bad we can’t make a grand disappearance like Harry Houdini.”

  “Too late. I can hear his voice at the door.”

  Within seconds, Deputy Hickman entered the storage area followed by a rather nervous-looking Clarence. Delia had managed to get Eli seated next to Stuart by the stack of fold-up chairs. She put a finger to her lips and made eye contact with both boys.

  “Good luck with that,” Theo muttered under his breath.

  I took a few steps backward until I was practically leaning against the wall perpendicular to where the body was. Theo had the same idea and stood inches from me. I hoped Grizzly Gary would fixate on the scene in front of him, but needless to say, I was disappointed.

  He took one look at Theo and me, crossed his arms, and took three methodical steps toward us. With a resounding foot stomp, he looked directly at Theo.

  “Mr. Buchman. So glad to find you at another possible crime scene once again. Frankly, I fully expected to see you last night in Dresden, so imagine my surprise when an understudy showed up instead.”

  Then Grizzly Gary glared at me. “What are you doing, Miss Ellington? Recruiting a cadre of amateur sleuths? If I didn’t know any better I would swear you opened up your own school. Interfering with a crime investigation is a crime. You’d better have a darned good reason to be here or this time I will have you placed under arrest.”

  At that moment Delia rushed toward us. “Norrie and Theo were kind enough to drive my son and his friend home. The boys were the ones who discovered the body, but instead of informing us, they went to Two Witches and told Norrie about it. She was the one who called me.”

  “All right. All right,” Deputy Hickman said, “I have a forensic team on the way along with the coroner, seeing as Mr. Speltmore was quite adamant you’ve got a corpse stashed behind your wine bottles.”

  Delia wrung her hands. “We didn’t stash him. We don’t know how he got there.”

  With that, Delia pointed to the palette that contained cases of wine, and to the best of my knowledge, Emerson Boyd. Her fingers trembled and she stepped aside to let the deputy pass. Henry stood at arm’s length from Delia and didn’t say a word. Meanwhile, Clarence pulled out a pad and pen and started writing. What he wrote was anyone’s guess but I imagined he was told to take notes.

  While the four of them were otherwise occupied, I tiptoed over to where Eli and Stuart sat. “Shh, keep your voices low. Tell me, what did that tattoo on the man’s wrist look like?”

  “It was a jug of water.” Eli said. “Dumb, huh? If I was gonna get a tattoo it would be something cool like Beast Boy or Starfire.”

  Beast Boy or Starfire? Whatever happened to Spiderman or the Green Lantern? I’m not that old, am I?

  “You sure it looked like a jug or pitcher of water?”

  “I know what a pitcher of water looks like. And it was tipped over. You know, pouring out stuff.”

  In that instant I knew the body didn’t belong to Emerson Boyd. But it didn’t matter. Henry identified him with a thunderous shout. “That’s Frank Liguori, regional manager for Libations. What the bloody hell is his lifeless body doing in my winery?”

  Oops. So much for Emerson Boyd.

  The next voice was the deputy’s. “That, Mr. Speltmore, is what we need to find out.”

  “Well, you’re certainly not going to question my son and his friend. Not without an attorney present.”


  Delia put her hand on Henry’s arm and spoke softly. “I don’t think Deputy Hickman believes the boys are responsible for Mr. Liguori’s death.”

  Grizzly Gary gave Eli and Stuart a cutting glance before he spoke. “It would seem unlikely, and as of this moment, they are not suspects. However, from what you said earlier, they were the ones who discovered Mr. Liguori. I will need to take their statements.”

  Clarence, who had been quiet up until that moment, approached Deputy Hickman as if he was stepping on a mine field. “If you don’t mind, I can question them, sir. I have the protocol all written down.”

  “Fine,” Deputy Hickman said. “And don’t leave anything out.”

  Clarence ushered the boys to the outer office while a nervous Delia continued to wring her hands.

  “I need to make a call,” she said. “We could be here all night. I’ll see if Stuart’s mother wouldn’t mind having Eli stay overnight with them.”

  Maybe. If she started drinking early in the day . . .

  Delia took out her cell phone and moved away from us. Theo jabbed my elbow and whispered, “Nice call. You identified the wrong corpse.”

  Okay, fine. It wasn’t the first time I was wrong about a dead body, but in all fairness, with Boyd missing, it seemed like a logical conclusion.

  “The wrong body but I think I have the right players lined up. Eli said he overheard two men yelling in here a few days ago. He got a good enough look at them to tell us what they were wearing and that they were average white guys, but he didn’t see their faces. I’m positive that’s why he didn’t identify Frank Liguori as one of those men. Without seeing his face, he wouldn’t have known. Eli strikes me as the kind of kid who doesn’t hold things back.”

  “Gee, you think?”

  From a few yards away I could hear Deputy Hickman telling Henry he would need a detailed statement regarding the incident, including anecdotal information about the last time Henry had come in contact with Frank.

  “I’ll need your wife to do the same once she gets off the phone.”

  At that instant, Delia returned to where the men were standing and I moved a tad closer so I wouldn’t strain to hear them. Theo had the same idea, almost as if we choreographed the move.

  “Stuart’s mother is on her way over,” Delia announced. “I need to go inside the house with the boys to make sure Eli takes a change of clothing and his toothbrush. He’ll forget clean underwear if I don’t go with him.”

  “Criminy sakes, Delia,” Henry sputtered. “We’ve got a dead body in here and you’re worried about clean underwear?”

  “I’m worried about my poor son who will most likely have nightmares.”

  Theo poked my arm and mouthed, “I doubt it.”

  Then Deputy Hickman added his two cents. “I’ll need a full statement from you, Mrs. Speltmore, once you return here. I have a pad and pen with me or you can use the Notes feature on my iPad if you can figure it out.” He looked down at his device and furrowed his brow.

  “Fine. Fine. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to gather up Eli and Stuart and take them to the house.” Then, as if she suddenly remembered Theo and I were a few feet from her, she turned to us before exiting the room and said, “I’m so sorry you had to deal with this awful matter.”

  Deputy Hickman looked up from his iPad straight at Theo and me. “I thought I told you that you could leave.”

  We shook our heads and he continued, “Mrs. Speltmore explained your presence and that’s all there is to it. You cannot remain at an active crime scene.”

  I gulped. “Crime scene? Frank Liguori was murdered?”

  I could have kicked myself for not zooming in quicker to have a look at the body when we first arrived.

  “I did not call this a homicide, Miss Ellington, only a crime scene. And it is being categorized as a crime scene because most people do not die of natural causes on a palette behind cases of wine. For all any of us know, until the coroner conducts a postmortem, the man might have succumbed elsewhere and his body was brought to this location for whatever reason someone might have had.”

  “Still sounds like murder to me,” Theo said.

  “It would be in your best interests, Mr. Buchman, to remain quiet about this. Understood?”

  “Yep, we get it.” I grabbed Theo by the arm and started out the door to the front office.

  “That goes for you as well, Miss Ellington.”

  I smiled, nodded, and got out of there as fast as I could.

  Chapter 25

  Delia stood in front of Eli and Stuart, who had made themselves comfortable in the two desk chairs a few feet away from the actual desk in the front office. Theo and I had just entered the room in time to hear Clarence say he had completed the witness statements before rushing out of there and back to where his boss was undoubtedly waiting.

  “Eli,” Delia said, “your father and I are dealing with an unfortunate situation so you’ll need to spend the night at Stuart’s house. I’ve already called his mother and she’s on her way. And behave yourself. Don’t give Mrs. Landrow any trouble. And don’t say anything that will scare Stuart’s little brother. And I don’t want to hear that the two of you traipsed all over the neighbors’ yards in Dresden. You hear me?”

  Eli didn’t answer because Delia kept on talking. “We’ve got to hurry. I need you to run upstairs, take your overnight bag and put in a clean T-shirt, shorts, socks, and a change of underwear. Take you PJs and your toothbrush as well. I’ll check your bag when you get downstairs. Now hurry up, the both of you.”

  “We haven’t even had lunch, yet,” he replied. Then he looked at Stuart. “Do you have any good stuff at your house?”

  The exasperation in Delia’s voice was hard to miss. “I’m sure the two of you will be fed once you get over there. Now, please, get a move on.”

  Stuart stood but didn’t budge. “Did you tell my mother about the dead body? Mr. Lick . . . whatever his name is.”

  Delia took a breath and articulated every word as if she was in an elocution class. “I explained we had a situation at the winery since the sheriff’s office is looking into a man’s unfortunate death on our premises.” Then she moved so close to Eli that I imagined he could feel her breath on his face. “Not a word out of you, especially the word murder. None of us knows what really happened. Not until the sheriff’s office completes its investigation.”

  “Okay. If anyone asks, I’ll tell them I found a situation behind the wine cases.”

  “Move it,” Delia said. “And don’t be such a smart mouth.”

  Theo shrugged and gave me a funny look as Delia and the boys left the building. “I’m not sure she even knew we were in here.”

  “I think she’s still trying to process what’s going on. Either that or figure out how to spin the news at their tawny port wine release next Saturday. I’ll tell you this much, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Eli and Stuart knew more than what they said. Especially about what they might have overheard when the men were yelling. And while we can’t be a hundred percent positive, I’d bet money the men were Emerson Boyd and the now-late Frank Liguori. Drat. I should have asked Eli if he noticed anyone else in the storage area with his father.”

  “Too late now. Besides, I’m sure Henry will provide Deputy Hickman with that information.”

  “Unless he has something to hide.”

  “Well, no sense standing around here. I’ve got to get back to the tasting room before Don pitches a fit.”

  “Tasting room? Oh my gosh. I blew out of Two Witches without saying a word to anyone.”

  I was behind the wheel of my car in a matter of seconds and on the road in record time. Once I got to the Grey Egret, Theo opened the passenger door but didn’t budge. “What do you say you stop over here after work and we can piece more of this mess together? Or should I call it a situation?”

  “I had all I could do not to laugh when Delia said that.”

  “Same here. Listen, Don and I have plenty of burgers
and we can throw them on the grill. So, what do you say?”

  “He won’t mind on such late notice?”

  “He’d mind if I didn’t ask you. Besides, someone has to give an imitation of Grizzly Gary’s expression when he saw us.”

  “Great. I’ll have Fred make us a salad, and if we’ve got any leftover cookies, I’ll bring them, too.”

  “You might as well bring Charlie while you’re at it. It gives Isolde something to fixate on instead of getting in our faces while we cook. That long cat hair flies all over the place.”

  “Charlie will love it. Catch you later.”

  Five minutes later, I was back in our tasting room apologizing to everyone for leaving suddenly.

  “That was one heck of a vanishing act,” Cammy said when I caught up to her in the kitchen, “but when we saw those two miscreants at your table, we figured something was up. What did they do this time? Mess up something in Henry’s winery and run for cover over here?”

  “Not exactly. They found another dead body. This time in the production building behind the cases of their new tawny port. And not any old dead body. It was Frank Liguori, the regional manager for Libations.”

  “Holy cannoli. Recently dead?”

  “Um, yeah, I think so, but I didn’t get close enough to have a look. Henry and his wife Delia blocked my view.”

  “Did they mention blood? A gunshot wound? A stab wound? Blue lips and foam on the mouth? Ligature marks on the neck—”

  “How many crime novels have you been reading? And no, they didn’t say a word. In fact, neither did Eli or Stuart. Darn it. I should have asked them. Now it’s too late. I won’t know anything until the coroner releases a preliminary report, and by that time it’ll be all over the news.”

  “Think it’s related to Davis Brewer’s murder?”