Aged for Death, page 20
“Oh, my word!” Olivia exclaimed. “Thank you! The police will be on their way now, won’t they, Detective Caputi? We just have to arrest the suspect before he gets his boarding pass!”
Olivia’s voice rose to a shout as she saw the counter attendant hand Sven his pass.
He turned to look at her again, and this time she saw doubt in his eyes.
“Arrest him, now!” Olivia pleaded. “We’ve found the wine bottle you used, Sven, buried in a flower bed at Villa Ultima. And the plastic container which I’m sure is also yours. The police can test that bottle, and the container. Glass holds fingerprints beautifully. I bet you didn’t wipe down the bottle, not if you buried it. I can guarantee you, Sven, that anyone who has their company logo printed on their underwear thinks they’re too important to be found out by a simple thing like fingerprints!”
Olivia was glad she’d been able to make mention of the boxer shorts. It was unacceptable, in her opinion.
To her delight, she saw her words had struck home. Sven looked stunned. In fact, he was panicking. As Caputi’s gaze snapped between the two of them—probably trying to work out if there was a way she could arrest them both, Olivia thought—Sven broke and ran.
He ducked away from the counter, vaulted clumsily over the barrier tape, and charged headlong through the airport, heading for the exit.
Caputi made her decision.
“Chase him down!” she shouted, barking commands into her walkie-talkie.
The officers sprinted away in pursuit, hurdling the barrier with significantly more ease than Sven had done. Olivia guessed they would catch him before he reached the exit.
Even if he did, there was nowhere for him to go.
Olivia felt deeply relieved that thanks to Alexander’s quick thinking and Erba’s incredible talent for sniffing out bad wine, Sven’s bag, and his branded underwear, would be heading home without him.
But as she glanced at the detective, she saw to her consternation that Caputi was not yet convinced.
“We will all return to the villa for further questioning,” she declared, taking Olivia’s arm in an iron grip. “After all, Signor Schwarz could have planted the bottle in the flower bed himself.”
Olivia marched alongside the detective, filled with trepidation all over again. How was she going to manage to pin the crime on Sven, when he’d already shown himself to be an accomplished liar?
*
Half an hour later, they were gathered in Villa Ultima’s enormous kitchen.
This time, they weren’t using the pale yellow stools, but were seated around the sky blue table in the corner. Olivia perched uneasily on her ice-blue steel chair, glancing up in anxiety as she heard footsteps approach.
Nadia had arrived.
She no longer had handcuffs on, and was stomping two paces in front of the detective who’d been put in charge of her.
Olivia thought the detective appeared browbeaten and demoralized. After having to deal with Nadia’s fiery temper for nearly two hours, she wasn’t surprised. You didn’t want to get on the wrong side of Nadia, ever. Handcuffing her, or trying to, had been his first big mistake. Clearly, he was regretting many of his life choices, starting with arriving at work that morning.
Behind them, Marcello followed, looking anxious.
Seated on Olivia’s right-hand side, Alexander was betraying his nerves by fidgeting with the blue strap of his Montre Exacte wristwatch.
Even Erba, peering in through the kitchen window, looked concerned.
The only one of the party who was completely calm was Sven. He was lounging in his chair, tipping it back, glancing from face to face as he took in the others’ anxiety.
Olivia knew she’d have to be on top of her game to outwit him. The problem was that she didn’t feel that way. Rather, she felt panicked. If Alexander, or Nadia, or herself ended up being accused of this crime and going to prison, it would be her fault and her failure.
“I apologize for my speedy retreat from the airport,” Sven said, giving Detective Caputi a deprecating smile. “I realized I had forgotten my house keys in the hired car. Or rather, I thought I had. It was only as I sprinted back to the drop-off area that I remembered they were in my jacket pocket.”
Detective Caputi seemed to have developed some immunity to Sven’s charm, Olivia was glad to see. She glowered in response, and then turned to Olivia.
“Explain yourself,” she snapped. “Why did you publicly accuse this man of the murder?”
Olivia swallowed, glancing down at the tape recorder in front of the detective. She couldn’t afford to say the wrong thing when every word would go onto the police records.
“I first started to suspect Sven when I saw the size of his luggage,” Olivia said.
“What?” Sven burst out laughing. “My what?”
Olivia glared at him, feeling defensive.
“You said you’d been on a week’s vacation, but that was an overnight case—there was no way you could fit a week’s worth of clothing inside.”
“And that means I committed a murder?” Sven rolled his eyes, spreading his hands wide. “Please, Detective, if I hurry I can get the next plane. I’ve missed out on a free business-class upgrade on this flight already. If you must know, I have to go straight from the airport into a long meeting, so I sent the bulk of my luggage home yesterday with one of the courier firms that provide door-to-door customized transport.”
Olivia was convinced this was another lie, but yet, it sounded plausible. His confidence was rattling her and she worried it was making her look foolish.
“While I was speaking to Sven, Erba rooted through his garbage can and knocked it over. I noticed an empty bottle of Valley Wine there, and thought it was very odd. The presence of that bottle was suspicious, and it also provided a link to Vernon, and made me wonder if there was a connection between the two,” Olivia said.
She was reassured to see Marcello nodding supportively as she spoke.
He believed her. Now all she had to do was convince the detective.
“I apologize. My taste in wine is pedestrian, to say the least,” Sven said.
Olivia thought that he looked less confident than he had. Sven wasn’t happy she’d found that empty bottle in the flower bed, which was being guarded by a police officer until the forensic team arrived.
Detective Caputi sighed. “Can we move on to the point of your conversation, Signorina Glass? We have a busy morning.”
“I soon realized that Sven was a liar,” Olivia said. “He told me that he didn’t know who his neighbor was, which was untrue. Of course he did. That’s why he hired the villa at short notice—so he could get close to Vernon. It was Alexander’s words that finally crystallized my suspicions about Sven. You see, when Alexander arrived at Vernon’s villa to try and plead with him to return the wine bottle, Vernon offered him a glass of an excellent wine that he had ‘just’ received.”
Now it was Olivia’s turn to spread her hands wide.
“Just received it? He had gone straight home from the auction, and had just received a fine bottle of wine? How was that possible? It had to have come from somewhere. And since Sven told me he had noticed Alexander as he arrived, that made me think Sven could have been the one delivering it.”
“I could not have been!” Sven countered.
Olivia sensed he was losing his temper and decided to push it. She needed to force him out of his cool complacency.
“Oh, yes, you could have been!” she shot back.
“Could not!”
“Could too!”
“No way!” Sven retorted angrily.
Detective Caputi slammed her hands down on the table, causing the recorder to jolt sideways.
“Continue!” she thundered.
Hurriedly, Olivia resumed.
“If Sven had been guilty of delivering poisoned wine to Vernon, which he was perfectly positioned to do, there must have been a motive. So I did some research to find out who Sven really was.”
“And who was I?” Sven jeered. Olivia thought he was going to say something else, but Detective Caputi glanced in his direction and he shut his mouth hurriedly.
Silence fell around the room as everyone waited for her to speak again.
“I found out that Sven is the CEO of a supplements and additives company called FlavaWorld. I remembered the logo on his baseball cap, from when I questioned him. I looked them up, and discovered they provided all the flavorants which were used in Valley Wines, including a few formulations that had actually been banned for health reasons. But clearly, Sven still sold them to Vernon, and Vernon still used them.”
Olivia touched her fingers to her temple. Even now, thinking of sipping the odd-tasting Valley Red made her head start to throb in sympathy.
“Valley Wines was FlavaWorld’s biggest customer. From a quick search online, I found that, after the deal was done, the company doubled in size and acquired new premises. Sven’s social media told me that he became a member of the ‘International Yachting Vacations’ Group and the ‘Luxury Homes Around the World’ Group earlier in the year. Then, of course, the FDA raid happened and Valley Wines closed down.”
More nods from around the table. Everyone except Sven seemed to be following her story easily, and without any confusion.
Sven’s face was brick red. He hadn’t met Olivia’s gaze since she’d mentioned the luxury homes. He was frowning deeply, tapping his fingers on the table. Olivia wondered if that meant he was thinking fast, wondering how he could explain away her accusations.
“Worse still for Sven, when Vernon started again, he planned on moving his operation out of the States, and sourcing cheaper suppliers for his additives. That’s what his friend Patrick told me when I called him. He said that Vernon had canceled all his existing supplier contracts, because business was business.”
She paused, summoning up her courage before continuing, because she sensed that Sven was seething with anger.
“That was a death-blow to Sven’s company, and to his aspirations to become mega-wealthy. So he followed Vernon out here. I’m sure he planned all along to murder him, but knowing Sven, he probably made a final pitch for a new contract first.”
“That would seem in character,” Alexander agreed.
Sven let out a sharp, angry snort.
“Vernon, no doubt, turned it down in his usual rude and uncaring style, just the same way he turned down Alexander’s plea to return the wine to La Leggenda,” Olivia continued. “But Sven anticipated this and had a plan ready. When Vernon refused, he gifted him the poisoned wine as a token of goodwill. Vernon had such an ego that he wouldn’t have suspected anything. He would have considered it his due.”
Olivia wondered again how people could run their lives that way—as Alexander had pointed out, judging each transaction solely by the dollars and cents it produced.
“Being the owner of a supplements and additives company, Sven would know exactly what the effects of ethylene glycol were, and would have been able to obtain it easily. Perhaps he even brought a more concentrated version with him in that plastic container that he buried next to the wine bottle.”
Sven was shaking his head vigorously.
“No, no, no,” he muttered under his breath. “What a fake story, you little liar.”
“Where did the bottle of Valley Wine come in?” Alexander asked.
That was where Olivia’s detective work had reached a blind alley, because she had no idea. There must have been a reason for Sven having brought that bottle along. She theorized that he might have taken it over to Vernon’s villa to prove his loyalty, but that didn’t sound very convincing.
Olivia opened her mouth to say, “I don’t know.”
Before she could announce this uncomfortable truth, Sven lost his temper.
He leaped to his feet, the steel chair clattering onto the tiles.
“I decanted that pig swill wine into the good bottle and gave it to that rat-faced Carrington, because I wanted his last drink to be the wine that put me out of business!”
He stared around the table and Olivia saw his triumph dissolve into horror as he realized what his words had revealed.
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
Half an hour later, Olivia arrived back at La Leggenda. She climbed out of the Mercedes’s passenger seat feeling weak-kneed with relief.
Sven had confessed and been taken into custody. She, Nadia, and Alexander had been cleared of the crime.
Marcello parked alongside her, and Nadia held the SUV ‘s back door open for Erba to leap out. The goat looked satisfied, as if she’d enjoyed the excitement of the day.
Marcello walked up to the winery’s tall oak doors and flung them wide open.
“We are back in business,” he announced. “As of this afternoon, we may trade to the public again, and since we have been cleared, our winemaking may continue.”
Alexander applauded.
“Bravo, bravo,” he shouted, putting his arm around Nadia and giving her a friendly hug. “I believe we should enjoy a glass of wine together, before you get to work.”
“Olivia, this was all due to you,” Marcello said, and she saw he was looking at her without the usual guarded professionalism. His blue eyes blazed with emotion. “Thank you for your help and courage in solving this!”
His arms wrapped around her, holding her tight, and Olivia felt his lips tickle her ear.
She couldn’t help herself. Olivia hugged him back, giving that full-body hug she’d been wanting to do…well, ever since she’d first met him.
She pressed herself against him and heard him whisper, “Olivia, it feels so good to hold you this way,” and felt a shiver that tingled through every cell of her body.
This entire ordeal had been worthwhile, just for the incredible moment that she and Marcello were sharing. Their unspoken romance had taken another invisible step toward becoming reality.
What a thrill!
It seemed like long minutes before they finally let go of each other, and Marcello smoothed back one of her stray blond locks before he stepped away.
Or perhaps, Olivia thought worriedly, he was removing more of the mulch from her hair.
Even so, she felt as if she was floating on a happy cloud, right up until she glanced in the direction of the restaurant and saw Gabriella there.
Then her stomach crash-landed.
Gabriella’s stare skewered her, spearing all the way through her body and into the stone-clad wall some distance behind her.
Clearly, the restaurateur was furious about what was happening.
Olivia had no doubt that she would seize the right moment to take her revenge, and that the moment would be coming soon.
She felt apprehensive all over again as she headed into the tasting room.
Marcello uncorked a bottle and poured it out.
“Salute,” he said.
They clinked glasses and Olivia sipped the red blend. It was incredible. Robust, earthy, fruity. To her, this vintage embodied Tuscany, and reminded her how grateful she was to have made this dramatic life change.
“Alexander, you mentioned on the phone that you had found something else important in the flower bed,” she said. “The police took you outside after Sven’s confession. Now that you’ve been questioned, and shown them what was there, I was wondering if you could tell us what that item was?”
Her throat felt dry from all the talking she’d done at the villa. After the day’s stresses, the magnificent Sangiovese Special Blend was certainly hitting the right spot.
Alexander nodded.
“The final piece of the puzzle, and the final nail in Sven’s coffin, if you will. While Erba was digging, she also uncovered the auctioned bottle of wine, half-buried in the back of the same flower bed. It was empty.”
Olivia gasped, seeing her own shock reflected in the others’ eyes.
Alexander continued calmly. “As soon as Sven confessed, I took Detective Caputi to the flower bed and showed her this additional proof.” He glanced at Olivia with a knowing expression in his eyes. “I did not mention it beforehand. I thought it wise to keep this card up my sleeve while you were speaking, in case the police believed Sven’s lies.”
“What do you think happened to the bottle?” Nadia asked in a small voice. “How did it end up there?”
After a pause, Olivia replied.
“Sven would have returned to Vernon’s villa later to wash the glass and remove the contaminated bottle, covering his tracks so that there was no evidence left behind. Perhaps he noticed the prized auction wine then and took it with him. He wasn’t at the event, so he would have had no idea how Vernon had obtained it. I think he drank it afterward, as a celebration for having gotten away with murder, and without any idea of the value it held.”
“Mio Dio!” Marcello exclaimed in dismay. Nadia looked crestfallen.
Alexander, however, gave them an encouraging smile.
“The wine is finished, yes. But the bottle itself remains, and the cork, too, was there, so you have not lost this piece of history. In fact, with the wine gone, there is no need for the magnificent bottle to be kept under lock and key in the vault. Instead, it could be proudly displayed in the tasting room, as an example of the vineyard’s heritage. The bottle itself can then be admired and enjoyed by all.”
He cleared his throat. “I, for one, believe that wine should always be consumed. I will tell you a guilty secret. No bottle stays in my collection for longer than five years. When it reaches that time, I drink it. After all, a gap in the wine cellar is the best reason in the world to buy new stock to fill it.”
Olivia stared at Alexander in admiration. Words to live by, she thought.
“I am sure the detectives will need to fingerprint the auction bottle,” Alexander said. “It may form part of the evidence for trial. However, after that, your winery should be able to have it back.”
Marcello raised his glass again.
