Authors: Michele Scott
Murder Uncorked (21 page)
They slowly walked to the bathroom, his strong arm a comfort around her. Luckily they passed by the copy room, and Nikki was able to get a peek inside. She didn’t see the accounting book. She also knew that she’d left a couple of them sitting out on Minnie’s desk. She realized she wouldn’t be able to get back in there, but she had the sneaking suspicion that they were probably missing, too.
“Miss Sands?” Manuel said coming out of the copy room, as Derek went inside the rest room. “There’s no purse in there.”
“Really? I could’ve sworn that that’s where I left it.”
Derek came out and told her it was okay to go on in.
“I’ll look around for it,” Manuel told her.
Once inside the stall, Nikki sat down on the toilet. She really didn’t have to pee, but it made for a good excuse to get past the copy room. Her head feeling like it was trapped in a vise, she sighed. What to do here? Nikki knew that if there wasn’t a Derek Malveaux standing outside the bathroom door waiting for her, she’d have been out of this place the second she’d found the dead winemaker.
She gave herself ample time, and then left the rest room. Manuel explained that he still hadn’t found her purse but that he would look a little while longer and then lock up for Derek. Derek thanked him and took Nikki outside. A cold chill enveloped her, and she wrapped her arms tightly around herself. A heavy mist settled on the vineyard. The spookiness of it sent shivers throughout Nikki, along with the thought that she’d been unconscious inside that building by herself for so long.
Derek’s Range Rover was outside the business office, even though he wasn’t that far from the house. She saw two figures approaching.
“Thank goodness you found her,” Simon said, Marco at his side. “We were beside ourselves thinking maybe the killer had gotten to you, too.”
“You poor thing,” Marco said. “What happened to you? You don’t look so good. Your hair, I am so sorry, but it is such a mess.”
Derek shot him a nasty look.
“Oh. My apology please. Accept it. No?” Marco said.
“Thanks for your help,” Derek said to them. He opened the door for Nikki and helped her into the SUV. They left his brother and Marco in the dust.
“They were helping you look for me?” Nikki asked.
“Believe it or not, they were.”
Nikki was sure that both Simon and Marco had their motives. She wasn’t buying into their concern whatsoever. “What made you start looking in the first place?” she asked.
“When I came to the cottage about five to take you to dinner and you weren’t there, I thought maybe you’d gone out for a run and were late. After a half hour of waiting on the cottage porch and you still weren’t back, I started to worry. The farther the sun went down, the more my gut told me that you weren’t out for a jog. I also knew you hadn’t gone into town, because the truck was here. It bugged me, too, that Oliver wasn’t with you. He was waiting at my place earlier before I left to meet you. I put him inside my house, then went over to the cottage.”
“Ah.”>
“I walked the entire vineyard and then up to the main house thinking you might have gone there for some reason. Simon and Marco were sipping their nightly cocktails, and I guess they could see the worry on my face and asked if they could help me out. At that point I was willing to get any help I could, because I was about ready to call the cops. I gave Manuel a ring at his place, and he joined in the search. Who could have known you would be inside the offices?” He raised his eyebrow and gave her a look from the corner of his eye. “Okay, no questions about that—yet, anyway.”
Whew.
Nikki found it interesting that Simon and Marco volunteered to help Derek look for her. She hadn’t gotten any indication the other night when she met them at the party that they cared any more for her than a fly. What were they after?
Nikki found it interesting that Simon and Marco volunteered to help Derek look for her. She hadn’t gotten any indication the other night when she met them at the party that they cared any more for her than a fly. What were they after?
Derek made a call on his cell phone. From the sound of it, Nikki could tell that it was the police. He ended the call a few minutes later. “Jeanine Wiley is going to meet us at the hospital to take a statement, and I think afterward we should talk some more about new accommodations for you. I’m not comfortable with you alone in the guest cottage any longer. But I also am not too sure about how well you would fare up at the main house. Even I’ve grown suspicious of my family members.”
Could it be? Could this mean that Derek would have her stay with him? Nikki was in one sticky mess, and part of it was a real good kind of sticky, like taffy from a carnival, that is if Derek did invite her to stay with him. The bad sticky part was like bubble gum on the bottom of her only pair of high-heeled Via Spigas. It was the fact that she was going to have to come up with a convincing story about why she’d been inside the Malveaux Estate business offices, and fast. She knew that she wasn’t ready to tell him the real reason, or her suspicions, because she didn’t really trust the local police to get the job done. Nikki thought she was getting closer than they were to figuring out the murders at Malveaux Estate, because someone had tried to stop her only hours earlier. Chances were that the someone who’d whacked her on the head was also the murderer.
Chapter 15
Derek didn’t know what to make of anything, while he waited outside Nikki’s hospital room. Angrily, he paced back and forth. She’d taken to sleuthing on her own, that was clear. He stopped and sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets, staring out a window onto the valley below. Nikki had good theories and thoughts, but they were leading her into dangerous territory. That was obvious. He was as upset with himself for encouraging her by asking her opinion, prompting her to get involved. He should’ve stuck to business with her, and when it turned to something else like
murder
, then he should’ve done the right thing and insisted she go home. He chastised himself, wondering if any of it with Nikki had ever truly been about business. A question he did not want to answer, even in his own mind.
murder
, then he should’ve done the right thing and insisted she go home. He chastised himself, wondering if any of it with Nikki had ever truly been about business. A question he did not want to answer, even in his own mind.
He left the window and sat down in a waiting room chair. Somehow he could’ve convinced the police to allow her to leave, but his own selfishness had caused him to do what wasn’t in her best interest. He shook his head at all of this nonsense. He really cared for Nikki, and he knew
that
was in no one’s best interest, his included. He didn’t want to lead her astray, knowing that he wasn’t ready for any type of relationship containing the word commitment in it. He was sure after only knowing Nikki for a few days that she wasn’t a fly-by-night kind of girl. She deserved better than that. He stood up and started pacing again. Thankfully, his cell phone rang, jarring him from his thoughts.
that
was in no one’s best interest, his included. He didn’t want to lead her astray, knowing that he wasn’t ready for any type of relationship containing the word commitment in it. He was sure after only knowing Nikki for a few days that she wasn’t a fly-by-night kind of girl. She deserved better than that. He stood up and started pacing again. Thankfully, his cell phone rang, jarring him from his thoughts.
“Mr. Malveaux, sorry I haven’t been able to get down there yet and see Miss Sands, but we may have a lead on the murders, and it’s taking up some time.”
“Really? That’s great, Jeanine. What’s the lead?”
“I can’t discuss it with you right now.”
“You can’t even give me an indication?” Jeanine Wiley paused on the other end of the phone. “Jeanine?” Derek implored impatiently.
“No. I can’t. I’ll be out to the vineyard later to take a statement from Miss Sands. We have a policeman over at your offices right now doing some dusting for fingerprints.”
“Tell me this, does your ‘lead’ have anything to do with any of my relatives?”
“No.”
“In your opinion, since someone tried to harm Miss Sands tonight, would she be safe up in the estate mansion? Considering this strong lead?”
“I’d say she’d be safe there, yes. I can’t tell you anything else. It is an ongoing investigation, sir, and I have to be discreet about the information that the police force has obtained,” Jeanine replied. “I have to go.”
Derek turned off his phone after the short conversation with Jeanine. His head was starting to pound when Nikki came out of the hospital room. The sight of her almost took away the oncoming headache.
He put his arm around her. At first she tensed up, but a moment passed, and she finally relaxed. Twenty minutes later they pulled up in front of the main house after retrieving Ollie from Derek’s place.
Before getting out of the truck, he placed a hand over hers, which was resting in her lap. “I know I told you that I was hesitant about your staying here. I’d initially made some arrangements for you to stay in a B-and-B downtown, but thankfully that’s changed. You won’t have to leave the vineyard after all. You are safe here at the main house.”
She frowned and nodded her head, looking away from him. Dammit. Should he just take her to his place? Maybe she would be safer there. Derek didn’t have any correct answers anymore. No. She’d be safer in the mansion. Jeanine Wiley had eased his mind about that. He’d never really believed that anyone in his family could commit murder. Derek also knew that if he invited Nikki to stay, things might rapidly travel in a direction one or both of them could regret later on, and he didn’t want any further regrets in his life. More than that, he didn’t want Nikki to have any.
“How do you know that the killer isn’t in there?” she asked, pointing at the house.
“I know they’re all a bit kooky, but I don’t think any one of them is capable of murder,” he chuckled, trying to make light of a situation that wasn’t even remotely funny.
She didn’t laugh. “Maybe they’re not capable of the actual act, but have you ever thought that one of them could be paying someone else?” she remarked.
He didn’t know how to respond to that. He finally shook his head. “I find it hard to imagine.”
“Derek, I have to be blunt with you. You find a lot hard to imagine. You can’t imagine that your family members who hate you for what you’ve inherited and worked for, might actually scheme against you to take over. You can’t fathom that your trampy ex-wife could sleep with your best friend and partner. You can’t imagine that employees might back stab you and steal from you. People can be horrid some times, and all of these scenarios are
real
possibilities. You might want to rethink your naïve viewpoints and consider exactly what the patrons in that insane asylum might actually
be
capable of,” she again pointed to the house, “like
murder
or paying someone to do the deed.”
real
possibilities. You might want to rethink your naïve viewpoints and consider exactly what the patrons in that insane asylum might actually
be
capable of,” she again pointed to the house, “like
murder
or paying someone to do the deed.”
He raised his eyebrows at this.
She turned away from him for a moment and then faced him again, this time her face drawn. “Tell me why you’d let me sleep in that house with the possibility that a killer could be living in there?”
He heaved a deep sigh and closed his eyes, resting his head against the headrest. “I’m going to shoot straight with you.”
“I wish you would.”
“That can go both ways, Nikki. You haven’t been exactly up front with me tonight, have you?” She didn’t answer. “I didn’t think so. You will come clean with me, but I’ll go first. I wouldn’t let you get close to this place if I thought Patrice, Simon, Marco, or Meredith were capable of murder. A few days ago, I made the suggestion you stay here, and then after Minnie was murdered, I rethought that idea because I, too, wasn’t so certain about my family. But something has changed tonight.”
“What’s that?” She crossed her arms in front of her chest.
“I received a call from Jeanine Wiley while you were in the hospital being checked out. She said that they had a good lead, and it was solid.”
“Really? Who? What is this solid lead?” Nikki asked.
“I asked her what it was, and she said that she couldn’t divulge any of it. I also questioned her on whether or not she felt it was safe for you to stay in the main house. She said that what they’d discovered didn’t involve any of the family members.”
“Are you serious?”
He nodded. “I think until the police do make an actual arrest, you are safer here than alone.”
“Fine.” She shrugged and got out of the car. He escorted her into the house. All was quiet except for Simon and Marco seated in front of the fireplace sipping Grand Marnier.
“What do we have here?” Simon cooed.
“Nikki is going to be staying in one of the spare rooms until the police wrap up this murder case.”
Marco clapped his hands lightly together. “Fun, fun, fun. What a delight to have you here. Come.” He patted the sofa next to him. “Sit. I tell stories. We have vino together. No?”
Both Derek and Nikki answered simultaneously with a resounding, “No.”
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