Murder Uncorked (22 page)

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Authors: Michele Scott

BOOK: Murder Uncorked
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Marco cocked his head to the side and frowned. “Ah.” He clucked his tongue. “
Buena notte.
”
“Yes, good night, Goldilocks,” Simon chimed in. “Glad to see that you’re all right.”
“Nikki muttered,“Good night,” back to them.
“Where is everyone else?” Derek asked them.
“My mother and Meredith have toddled out for the evening. Apparently there’s a cocktail thingy down at Domaine Chandon,” Simon replied.
“I’ll deal with them in the morning, then.” Ollie walked up next to Derek and nudged his hand, coming in from the entryway, sniffing the new surroundings.
“Wait a minute, what is he doing in here?” Simon asked, raising his voice by at least an octave.
“He’s protection for Nikki from all of you.”
“Oh, my, aren’t you man enough to protect her?” Simon asked.
Derek shot him a dirty look. “You are a very disturbed individual.” He took Nikki’s hand, leading her up the staircase. The entire time they climbed the stairs Simon bellowed about his pet allergies and Derek’s insensitivity. He glanced at Nikki, and both of them couldn’t help but laugh quietly, easing the tension between them somewhat.
He took her to the spare room that had been his when he was a little boy. Not much had changed. No one ever used this room any longer.
“I feel like a ten-year-old boy,” she said.
“That would be accurate.” He sat down on the end of his old twin bed, covered with a checkered plaid print, and patted it. She sat down next to him, and they were silent for a long time. The room held a lot of memories for him—some good, some bad; it all depended on if they were memories prior to his mother’s death.
“I’m not going to pry about why you were in the offices tonight. We can talk about it tomorrow. You need some rest, and for that matter, so do I. I have a feeling after speaking with Jeanine tonight that tomorrow will be quite a day if an arrest is made.”
“Who do you think it is?”
“I don’t know.” Derek shrugged and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “I don’t care right now. All I care about is your safety, and that this nightmare will be over and done with soon. Then, we can all move on with our lives and repair the damage that has been done here at the winery.”
She nodded and smiled at him, but it was a sad smile, and it tore at his heart.
“What is it, Nikki?”
“I don’t know if I’m the right person for the job here.”
At first he didn’t know what to say. What he did know was that he didn’t want to see Nikki leave. “Why don’t we talk about that tomorrow, too? It’s late. It’s been a long day, and sometimes our emotions at night do more of the talking, if you know what I mean. And by the way, I know you can do the job here.” He meant that, but the question was, did he want her to stay for the job or for him? “Do you need me to go down to the cottage and bring you back some clothes?”
“Do you have a T-shirt here, or something?”
He got off the bed and rummaged through his old dresser. He found a shirt and a pair of boxers that he thought might fit her. “How about these? They’re not exactly fashionable, but . . .”
“They’ll do.” She took them from him and said, “Good night.”
“I’ll come by first thing in the morning, so we can talk, and you can go down to the cottage for your clothes.”
He stroked his hand lightly across her face.
She turned away from him, and when she faced him again, he thought maybe she was fighting back tears.
“I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Okay,” she replied.
He told Ollie to lie down on the rug next to the bed. The dog obeyed. He wanted to say something more to Nikki, but he didn’t know what, and even if he had the right words, he wouldn’t know how to say them. By the way she looked at him with confusion in her eyes, she obviously didn’t want him hanging around. He told her good night and closed the door to his childhood room, hoping Nikki would be able to sleep tonight, because he knew he wouldn’t be able to.
Chapter 16
Nikki tossed and turned half the night, until finally right before dawn she fell into a deep sleep, only to be woken up by the sound of sirens. She got out of bed and peered out the window of Derek’s old bedroom, which held a faint scent of gym socks. Something was happening on the vineyard, but she couldn’t tell exactly what. She could see a faint red-and-blue light flashing up into the sky. Emergency vehicles of some sort were out there.
She pulled on her jeans and called to Ollie, who reluctantly woke up and followed her down and out of the house. The place was quiet, signifying to her that the disturbance down the road hadn’t woken anyone else.
After shutting the front door quietly behind her, she broke into a jog, heading down to where the lights were coming from. They were farther down past Derek’s and the cottage. She knew that some of the workers lived on the vineyard in smaller homes that Derek had hired contractors to build for them. He’d shown them to her the other day on their tour, and she was impressed by the idea that he would do that for his employees.
“Basically they pay me rent. I keep it at a low cost for them, so they can get ahead somewhat. Most of the men and women working in the vines are migrants and don’t have a lot to their name. I try hard to give back to the ones who have been here for some time and shown their dedication. This is one of the ways I can do that,” he’d explained to her.
Nikki found Derek’s generosity endearing. As she increased her pace, a gust of chilly wind hit her, causing her bones to ache further from stress and lack of sleep. The thought crossed her mind that the police were on the property because of the murders, then a more frightening thought filled her head.
What if someone else had been murdered?
She stopped, stiffening at the sight of three police vehicles parked in front of Manuel’s house. At least she thought it was his house, if she remembered correctly from one of the tours Derek had taken her on. Could someone have hurt that gentle, sweet man?
She made it up to the front of the house seconds later, only to witness Manuel being dragged out of his home in handcuffs by the brute cop, Mark Anderson, whom she’d met during the investigation. Jeanine Wiley was behind them. Nikki recognized shock on Manuel’s face. His eyes widened in what could only be fear. He kept trying to look back behind him, but the bully of a cop continued to shove him forward, pushing him into the backseat of the police car.
Nikki’s arms rippled with goose bumps as the chill of the early morning went through her, combined with the wails of a child. Now she knew why Manuel had been glancing back. Nikki remembered Derek referring to Manuel’s children the other day. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms and searched around for Derek. He had to be there. The child’s cries grew louder, and an instinct Nikki didn’t quite recognize kicked in, almost like a punch in the stomach. This punch traveled straight to the heart. She hated hearing that child cry out in such desperation. Adrenaline flowing through her, Nikki went to the house, stopping before reaching the porch to ask Jeanine Wiley what was going on.
“We got our murderer. You know he’s being coined the Wine Lovers’ Killer?”
“That’s ridiculous. Manuel is no more a killer than you are.” Nikki stepped back from Jeanine.
“We’ve got the evidence.”
“What kind of evidence? I’ve met this man, and there is no way he killed anyone.”
“All I can say is we got a good tip from a trustworthy source, and that’s that. Read the paper tonight, and you’ll get your information. I’ve got to take my suspect down and book him.”
Nikki rolled her eyes at her and lowered her voice. “Use your head, Jeanine. This man was set up. I’d put money on it. Your murders aren’t over, and even if they are, you let the killer get off scot-free by arresting an innocent man.”
Jeanine shoved her hands into her uniform pants pockets and swayed back and forth from one foot to the other. “Really? Do you know something that you haven’t told us, Miss Sands?”
“Of course not.”
Maybe a few things, but
. . . Nikki heard the child in the house cry out again. She turned toward the house. “It’s a gut feeling.”
“I can appreciate that, and believe me, I understand where you’re coming from. You had a great cop show there for a while. I am really sorry it was canceled, like I told you. But the facts are, Miss Sands, you are not a bona fide police officer. That’s my job.”
“You didn’t do your job, then.”
Jeanine Wiley turned red in the face. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to take Mr. Sanchez down to the station. A word of advice. Leave the police work to the
real
police. And, I lied, your show wasn’t that good. I was being nice.” Jeanine walked away.
Nikki called out after her. “What about Manuel’s children?”
“CPS will be here soon. Mr. Malveaux is in there with them now.”
Child Protective Services.
A rush of memory filled her mind, of her childhood best friend—the one she’d shared the best-friends’ charm with—being taken away by them, and for Nikki never to see her again. “Oh, no,” she muttered as she walked into Manuel’s house, spotting Derek sitting on the couch with Manuel’s children.
The little girl was sitting prim and proper, her hands in her lap—very stoic. Nikki recognized that behavior, and her heart hurt even worse for this child, even more so than for her little brother who was huddled in the corner of the sofa crying and wailing in obvious pain and confusion. At least for him, he was in touch with his feelings and could let them out. His sister, on the other hand, had probably taken over the mothering role in the house after her mother’s death and was now trying to remain strong for her baby brother. Nikki shook her head, tears welling in her eyes as she tried desperately to hold them back. Her crying would not help these children.
Derek’s face was drawn and as pained as her heart felt.
“It can’t be true,” she whispered.
He shrugged and shook his head. Nikki could see that something needed to be done here and fast.
“Hi, kids,” she said in a soft voice. The boy buried his face deeper into the pillow, muffling his cries. The girl looked at her suspiciously. “I’m Nikki, and I’m a friend of your daddy’s.”
“You’re here to take us away,” the little girl said dully. “Like they took my daddy away. Like God took my mommy away.”
Nikki knelt down next to the sofa and took the girl’s icy cold hands from her lap, holding them in her own. “Oh, no. No, I’m not going to take you away, and I promise your daddy will come home, too.”
Derek gave her a sharp look.
“I’m here to make you and your brother pancakes. You like pancakes, don’t you?”
The boy peeked out from the pillow, his sobs becoming whimpers. He nodded his head.
“They’re his favorite,” his sister replied.
“They are? Hmmm, I thought so. Have you ever had chocolate chip pancakes?”
This even got a smile out of the girl. “No. I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think so, huh? Well, if you don’t think so, then you’ve never had them, because I guarantee that you would remember chocolate chip pancakes.”
“All we have here is cereal, and it’s kind of stale.”
“I can solve that,” Derek chimed in. “I happen to have chocolate chips and all the necessary ingredients to make pancakes over at my place.”
“Why, Mr. Malveaux, that would be so kind of you. You don’t by chance have any bacon or sausage? I bet two beautiful, smart, growing children like these two, would love some bacon or sausage with their chocolate chip pancakes.”
“You know what? I do have some bacon at home. I’ll be right back with it.” Derek stood up, mouthing the words “thank you,” to her. She smiled back.
While Derek was gone, she sat down on the couch in between the two children. “You know what? You both know my name, but I don’t know yours. Don’t tell me.” She pointed to the girl. “You must be Snow White?” The girl shook her head, a slight smile spreading on her lips. “Cinderella?”
“Nope.”
“Aurora from
Sleeping Beauty.
”

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