Aged for Murder by Fiona Grace

Author:Fiona Grace [Grace, Fiona]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fiona Grace
Published: 2020-04-27T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

As Olivia and Marcello ran into the storage room, Nadia screamed again.

“Help me! Somebody! Come quick!”

Nadia stood at the far end of the storage room, beyond the wine shelves, staring down and wringing her hands. Marcello rushed up to his sister, placing his hands protectively on her shoulders.

“Oh, mio Dio,” he murmured.

Olivia stopped by the shelves, feeling unsure about what to do, watching in growing apprehension as Marcello crossed himself. She noticed, again, the smell of wine—more intense than usual, as if a bottle had spilled.

Dread curdled in Olivia’s stomach as she began to suspect what had happened.

She needed to be sure. Her curiosity was stronger than her fear—or more likely, it was her stupidity that was stronger. At any rate, she had a morbid compulsion to see what was there, why Nadia’s face was sheet-white, and why Marcello’s hands were visibly trembling as he opened his phone.

Tiptoeing around the shelf, she took a look at the scene.

Olivia clapped her hand over her mouth to muffle the terrified squeak that emerged.

Luigi lay on his back. His eyes and mouth were wide open, his arms spread wide. Around him, on the white-tiled floor, lay a giant pool of blood.

Even as Olivia goggled in dismay, she realized it wasn’t blood. There was broken glass in it. It was red wine. That was where the smell was coming from, that sharp, rich odor of freshly poured wine.

Nadia was in tears, sobbing, hyperventilating. She stumbled past Olivia, nearly knocking her off her feet.

“I cannot stand to see this. I am in shock. I need air,” she said, and staggered blindly out of the storage room. Olivia flinched as she bumped one of the shelves, but although there was an ominous clanking, no bottles fell.

Marcello turned to her, his face drawn with tension.

“Olivia, are you able to help me?”

“Yes, I will try.” She wasn’t sure if she would be able to, because her heart was pounding and she felt as if she was having an out-of-body experience, but she had to do her best. For him.

“There are guests waiting to do a tasting. We must ask them to leave. Will you be able to handle that for me? The police might want to speak to them at a later stage, so we should take their information.”

“Of course I will.”

“Thank you.” His voice was filled with gratitude.

Olivia felt dizzy with shock. She found herself unable to process what had just happened. She hoped that she could pull herself together enough to reassure the waiting guests, and send them on their way calmly, so that none of them suspected a dead body was lying in the storage room.

A dead body? She’d never seen a dead body before. She was struggling to accept such a thing had actually happened. She had believed, in that first shocked moment, that Marcello would say it was just a concussion, and that Luigi would climb to his feet and probably start ranting at her for causing the mess.

Then her next assumption

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