Murder by the Glass

Author:Michele Scott
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, General
ISBN: 9781440624537
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 2006-06-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Nikki arrived back at her place just as a full moon rose high above the Mayacamas, lighting the vineyard in an near-ethereal glow. She had plans to make.

The Waltmans and company had done a fine job of creeping her out, and she felt like there were a handful of folks over in Sonoma with some type of motive in seeing Susan dead. But after her fact-gathering evening, she also knew there were a couple more people she needed to see, and those people were in the city.

She checked her answering machine and there was a message from Derek. His voice alone put a smile on her face. Her elation quickly subsided as his tone sounded a wee bit on the cold side.

“Hi, Nikki. It’s Derek. I’m afraid I’ll have to cancel our dinner appointment for tomorrow night. Something else has come up.”

What was that all about? Dinner appointment? Whoever called it a “dinner appointment,” unless it was all business, and they had never been just all business. Plus, they’d agreed there was no need for the accountant to join them. The formalities of spelling out who he was on the message? He sounded so distant, almost angry with her. What had she done? Maybe nothing at all and she was being paranoid for no reason.

Not one to wait around and find out if someone was upset with her, she pulled her knit sweater back on and took the short walk over to Derek’s place. Ollie greeted her at the front door, wiggling his body incessantly. She bent down to pet the massive Rhodesian Ridgeback. “I’ve missed you, big boy,” she said. “You don’t come see me like you used to. Maybe tomorrow I can swing by and we’ll go for a run.” Ollie licked her hand as if he understood her words.

The front door opened. Nikki looked up to see Derek in sweatpants and worn tee. Something about him like that, looking almost boyish, sent the spine-tingling good kind of willies down her back. “Hi.”

“Hello. I thought I heard someone.”

“Who’s there?” Simon called out in the background.

Nikki arched an eyebrow. “The Boys of Summer are hanging out here?” Quite a twist, considering Derek and his half brother Simon weren’t exactly close, and Marco, Simon’s boyfriend, was nothing less than a royal pain in the rear.

“Marco has actually designed a decent ad campaign for the winery and asked if I’d take a look.”

He was still being way too formal, and acting way too weird.

“Is that Goldilocks? Come on in,” Marco hollered out in his Italian accent.

Derek hesitated before swinging the door open. It made her pause, too, before she walked in. Those vibes she was feeling directed at her were nasty and angry. But the boys did appear sort of happy to see her.

Marco poured her a glass of wine as she walked over to the dining room table where they’d apparently been going over Marco’s ad ideas. Derek followed behind her. Nikki took the glass of red, took a sip.

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