Aged for Death by Fiona Grace

Author:Fiona Grace [Grace, Fiona]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fiona Grace
Published: 2020-07-07T00:00:00+00:00

*

“Tell me about your relationship with the victim,” Detective Caputi said to Olivia, after making more notes and starting a fresh tape recording.

“Well, I used to work in advertising back in the States. I worked for a big firm and Vernon Carrington was one of the firm’s clients. We saw each other a few times at meetings.”

That was the start and end of it, Olivia decided. She was not going to let Detective Caputi draw her out on this or trick her into making any further confessions. Above all else, she must not disclose her involvement with Valley Wines. Gabriella might be hiding the information to use against her, but she knew Detective Caputi would blast her entire secret out into the open if she discovered it.

To her surprise, the detective seemed content to leave this explanation be. Hooking a stray lock of steel-gray hair behind her ear, she asked, “Did you have any contact with Vernon Carrington on the evening of the auction?”

Olivia gave her a winning smile.

“Well, we recognized each other and said hello. He was interested to learn that I was working here. Beyond that, there wasn’t time for much conversation. I was running around, pouring wine, taking food out, looking after the guests. He was focused on the auction and making the winning bid.”

“So you were pouring the wine for guests?” the detective asked meaningfully.

Olivia hesitated, worried about where this line of questioning could end up. It seemed that any word coming out of her mouth could be interpreted as a guilty confession.

She decided to reply with nothing more than a calm nod.

“I understand that the winery was very reluctant to part with the bottle and that it had great emotional value to the Vescovis,” Detective Caputi said.

Olivia agreed enthusiastically, glad that the detective had changed tangent in her questioning.

“Oh, yes, definitely. They were torn up about having to sell it. They didn’t want to lose the history it represented. It was a really tough, sad choice for them to have to make.”

Then she realized the implication of her words.

“Well, no, not so much,” she added hurriedly. “What I meant is that organizing the auction was tough. It was a lot of work, you see. The wine was just an old bottle, stuck away in a vault. They never even saw it from day to day! They weren’t that bothered about selling it. In fact, they couldn’t have cared less about it.”

Despite her best efforts, she’d put her foot in it and managed to incriminate the Vescovis. And herself, as she realized, listening to the detective’s next words.

“Interesting that you are prepared to backtrack, and even lie, to try to protect your employers,” the detective observed. “I wonder what other lengths you were prepared to go to in order to help them.”

Olivia felt sweat spring out on her forehead.

“They’re good people!” she protested. “They would never dream of killing somebody just to get back a valuable bottle of wine that meant a lot to them emotionally!”

“But would you?” Detective Caputi stared at her, narrow-eyed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.