Maybe he’s just trying to do his job, I thought. I kept the words to myself, not only because speaking them would only make Stella madder but also because I couldn’t believe I might actually be defending the detective.

  “How do they know the murder weapon came from Issley’s?”

  “Shannon had a bunch of braided leather pieces in her collection, but there was only one blue piece,” Amy said. “She had it all marked down in her inventory. And she took pictures of everyone with their jewelry pieces that day—she planned to make a collage of pictures. You know how she likes to do that.”

  I nodded. One whole side of her store was covered in collages of past events.

  “She has a picture of everyone who went through the workshop, and none of them made jewelry with blue braided leather.”

  “But it was there on the table,” Stella said. “I saw it and suggested Hudson use it in his project. He wanted to make a charm bracelet, and it seemed perfect for those little charms Shannon had out. He chose the green one instead.”

  “So the blue braided leather disappeared from Issley’s shop, and the fibers and markings on Katie were consistent with what went missing,” I said.

  Stella and Amy nodded.

  “I just don’t see how taking fingerprints is going to help here,” Stella huffed. She pursed her lips and rolled her eyes. “Okay, actually, I understand why it’s important. Fitts’ big-shot attitude just irks me. He walks around supremely-important and all-knowing. Not an ounce of him seems to care that people here are distraught over losing Katie.”

  I nodded. There wasn’t anything I could say to help the situation. Stella was kind, generous, and overall pretty patient. It took a lot to get on her bad side and even more to get back on her good side. Fitts had been on her bad side since she was fourteen, and I doubted there was much he could do at this point to venture back to her good side. Fingerprinting her certainly wasn’t going to do the trick—not when she was already upset about what happened to Katie.

  Not that Fitts cared. Stella was probably on his bad side, too. But it would have been nice if everyone just got along.

  Stella looked at her watch and pushed herself out of her chair. “I better go down to the station now. How long does it take to be fingerprinted? I need to pick up Hudson and Thatcher from a playdate in an hour.”

  I smiled at my sister. “Probably not that long. When I did it to be a teacher, it was fast.”

  “Let us know how it goes,” Amy said.

  “Shannon wants to do a candle light vigil for Katie tonight.” Stella directed her words at me. “Eight o’clock. I’ll probably see Shannon at the police station, so I’ll get more details from her then.”

  I nodded and then watched Stella stalk through the archway toward the front door in the coffee shop. After she disappeared, I turned to Amy.

  “Fitts told me this morning they identified the murder weapon, but he didn’t tell me what it was.”

  Amy took a deep breath and gazed out the front window. “This is a nightmare.”

  That pretty much summed it up.

  After a moment passed, I said, “So I have a theory I wanted to run by you.”

  Amy’s eyes swooped back to me, and she straightened up. I told her how Katie was staying with some guy in OV after Daniel broke up with her and how I thought it could have been Chris. All the pieces seemed to fit together so nicely. He had been single, he didn’t live in OV so we wouldn’t have seen Katie going into his home, and Elita would certainly be jealous if she found out.

  Amy listened, nodding along at intervals as she considered the logic. When I finished explaining my theory, she sank back in her chair and looked out the front window again.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “It makes sense that Chris could be the guy. But I’m pretty sure that he would have told Will if he was dating someone, and then Will would have told me. Of course, he could have asked Will to keep it a secret.” She paused, mulling over the possibility. “But Will’s just about as bad at keeping secrets as I am. He would have told me anyway, and then I probably wouldn’t have been able to stop from telling you and the other girls.”

  “But maybe, since it was all so scandalous with Katie cheating on Daniel, Chris would have kept quiet and hidden it from everyone, including Will.”

  “That’s possible.” Amy continued to look out the front window. “I did actually think that something strange was going on with Chris lately. He’s been a little distracted. But I thought that it had to do with Elita. Like maybe they were dating again, and he kept quiet about it because didn’t want anyone to give him a bad time about going back to her. I didn’t think it had to do with Katie, but maybe it did.”

  “Dating Elita?” I scrunched my nose. “Why would he do that?”

  Amy shrugged. “Well, here’s the thing. They’ve—” Amy cut the sentence short as something through the front window caught her eye. “What in the world?” She stood and walked toward the window.

  I followed her, very quickly seeing exactly what she was questioning.

  “What is going on out there?” I said.

  She didn’t answer.

  Across the street a stream of guys walked out of Vendemmia hotel’s front door. Amy’s husband, Will, and his buddy, Chris. Stella’s husband, Jason. Livy’s long time-boyfriend, Hunter. My boyfriend, Nico. All members of the Council of Elders: Aldo, Eduardo, Morrie, and Artie. Bradley from Chocolat.

  There were more men filing out, but at that point, I stopped paying attention. I was too busy following Amy through the archway to the coffee shop and out the front door. She stopped at the edge of the sidewalk and planted her hands on her hips. I did the same.

  Most of the men were scattering toward their workplaces, but a handful—including both Will and Nico—stayed in front of Vendemmia. Their backs were to us, and they were bunched together with the others as though deep in conversation. Amy and I waited. I was just about to start a ten-second countdown before crossing the street and asking where the man with the dog was, but then Jason peeled away. As he stepped off the curb toward D’Angelo’s tasting room, he noticed us. With a half-smile, he waved and then turned back to the knot of guys. He must have said something about me and Amy because Will and Nico whirled around, both looking like they had been caught red-handed doing something wrong. They waved. Nico grinned, and if I had to characterize that grin, I’d say it was quite sheepish.

  They crossed the street toward us.

  THIRTEEN

  “Hey,” Nico said once he and Will were nearly across the street. His tone was a little too bright. Something was definitely going on. “Let’s walk.” He grabbed my hand and angled his head toward the west end of the street.

  “Yeah, walking is good,” Will said. “Let’s walk, too. Bianca can handle the shop for a couple minutes, right?”

  Amy and I exchanged a skeptical look as our significant others pulled us in opposite directions.

  “Any chance you had wine at lunch?” Nico asked me.

  “I haven’t had lunch,” I said.

  “Any chance you want to have wine with lunch?”

  “Nico, what’s going on? Why were you all over at Vendemmia? And what’s this bit about seeing a man about a dog?”

  His sheepish smile reappeared, but I only got the profile view as he forged on down the street, eyes cast ahead.

  “Let’s get some lunch,” he said. “Maybe some wine, too. And I just want to remind you that I moved here to be with you. Me being here—I’m here because of you.”

  “Yes, I know. Why?”

  “I’m just saying. Otto Viti is your family. I’m part of it now, but I just came into it recently—this is all new to me.”

  “Nico,” I said. My voice dropped an octave. “What is going on?”

  “You know what? Let’s skip lunch and just do a flight of tastings. I haven’t been to Circe Winery much. Let’s go there.”

  I didn’t answer. I walked with him to Circe’s patio, and we sat at the only open table. For Christmas, Athena had hung oversized blue and silver ornaments from the pergola, but I was far too worried about Nico’s strange behavior to pay much attention.

  Athena was pouring full glasses of wine for another couple on the other side of the patio. She looked toward us and held up two fingers. “Two tastings?” she asked.

  Nico and I nodded.

  “I’ll pick for you,” she said with a wink. “Be back with your first one.” She bustled to the front door and disappeared inside, brown curls bouncy behind her.

  I turned my attention back to Nico. “Is everything okay?”

  He shrugged and then averted his eyes to the street. I could practically see the wheels turning in his head. After the longest minute of my life, I tired of waiting.

  “What’s going on?” I asked. “Whatever it is, it can’t be that bad. Just say it.”

  Athena appeared at our table with two wine glasses, each with a generous pour of light golden liquid. “This is our most popular chardonnay,” she said, placing the glasses in front of us. “I’ll be back to see what you think.”

  I swirled the wine and then brought the glass to my nose and inhaled the scents of lemon and grass. Sipping the wine, I watched as Nico swirled his wine once, twice, three times. Each time he held it up to watch the wine tears slide down the glass.

  He was stalling.

  “Come on,” I said. “What’s going on?”

  He smelled the wine and then sipped it. “That’s good,” he muttered before sipping more and then setting down his glass. “Okay, so here’s the deal.” He looked at me. “The Council of Elders, as you call them, declared that we needed to have a meeting today. They wanted to talk to the guys who live or work here. Probably half of us showed up.”

  I tried not to make a face but was unsuccessful. “A meeting? Why?”

  Athena came by with two new glasses, each with another sample of white wine. As she set them down, she asked, “How was the Chardonnay?”

  “It was wonderful,” I said.

  She smiled, lingering next to the table as though expecting us to say something else. Under normal circumstances, I might have asked about the year the wine was produced or commented on how nice the citrus notes were—just something to show my appreciation. But I was too preoccupied with Nico’s strange behavior. Nico probably would have struck up some conversation under normal circumstances as well, but he was too preoccupied with whatever was making him act strangely.

  Athena continued smiling as she picked up our empty glasses. “This next one is our Viognier,” she said, pronouncing it vee-own-yay with a perfect French accent. “Enjoy.” She walked away.

  “Why a meeting?” I asked Nico.

  “Drink your wine, and then I’ll tell you.”

  This was ridiculous.

  “Do you really think it’s upsetting enough that I need some wine to keep me calm?”

  Nico laughed. “I don’t know,” he said. “Jason and Hunter seem to think so.”

  I swallowed the wine, barely tasting it.

  Nico swallowed his wine quickly as well. He placed his forearms on the table and leaned on them. “Your grandfather and his buddies don’t think Otto Viti is safe right now. They’re upset about what happened to Katie, and they’re worried that there’s a killer on the loose.”

  “We all feel that way. It’s scary.”

  Athena appeared at our table with two tastes of red wine. “You two look deep in conversation,” she said. “I’ll tell you about the wine after. This is Sangiovese.” She picked up our Viognier glasses and disappeared.

  I swirled the wine without taking my eyes off Nico.

  “Here’s the issue,” he said. “Aldo and the others want to establish a curfew for the women in OV. They want you all inside early. And they think if you are outside after dark that you should have an escort.”

  I let Nico’s words settle.

  “Oh,” I said.

  I picked up my glass, downed the wine, and dropped the glass to the table with a little more force than intended. I replayed Nico’s words in my head.

  Curfew for women. Escorts after dark.

  I reached across the table and downed his untouched third taste of wine. Again I set the glass down with an unintended thud, and again I replayed Nico’s words in my head.

  Curfew for women. Escorts after dark.

  “Okay,” I said. “So, I do have some thoughts on this.”

  Nico leaned back and nodded, encouraging me to share.

  “First, I can see why Jason and Hunter think this would upset us. Especially Stella and Livy. They’re pretty hardheaded and independent. And vocal. And since it’s completely insane, they’ll have a lot to say.”

  Nico kept nodding.

  “Second, wine does help when hearing that the Elders concocted this absurd plan—so good move there.”

  Athena appeared out of nowhere and swapped out our glasses for our fourth taste. “Merlot,” she muttered before walking away.

  “Let’s see, what else?” I continued. “The idea is completely insulting and impossible to enforce.” My words were picking up speed as I felt myself getting worked up. “And what would we do about the visitors? Would people staying at the inns and bed-and-breakfasts be subjected to this curfew? It doesn’t make sense.”

  I swallowed the wine in one gulp.

  “Oh, and holding a meeting about this—with just the guys? Not only is the idea insulting, but discussing it behind our backs is also extra-insulting.”

  Nico continued nodding, his eyebrows now high in agreement, and pushed his wine glass toward me. I gulped it.

  “I mean,” I paused, searching the patio as though there was another point floating around for me to nab and hurl at Nico. “Jeez, what the heck? Seriously? You guys seriously did this?” I couldn’t think of anything purposeful to say, so I settled for just sputtering.

  “All your points,” Nico said, “are completely valid. I understand. When we heard about this meeting, we didn’t know what it was about. It could have been that the Council of Elders wanted to plan a massive Christmas present for all of you.”

  I crossed my arms. “With four days until Christmas? A massive Christmas present for us?”

  “Yes, with four days until Christmas. You know that none of us guys are on top of the holidays. Not one of us has even started our Christmas shopping. We were all kind of hoping that the Elders would hand out gift cards to a steakhouse or something. You know, like they were going to give us an early Christmas present, which we then could pass on to you.”

  That was a pathetic explanation. And yet, it was probably true. Nico had told me just that morning he didn’t have to start shopping until tomorrow since Amazon had two-day shipping, and he planned to wrap everything Christmas Eve night after Aldo’s Feast of the Seven Fishes. It did seem feasible that the guys would hope for a Christmas miracle in the way of a shopping-free holiday. Pathetic, yes, but feasible.

  “Okay,” I muttered.

  “And really, Jill, the Council of Elders put us younger guys in a bad position. I get what you’re saying here. We know that you girls are independent and smart, but we can kind of see it from the Elders’ point of view, too.”

  Athena came by and presented us with our last sample of wine. “Cabernet Sauvignon,” she said before walking away.

  “Just a couple months ago, someone drowned in a vat of wine. That shook everyone up. And Katie was just found dead in Entonces. Of course Aldo is concerned about his granddaughters’ safety. Of course Eduardo is concerned about Elita’s safety. Morrie and Artie—they’re worried and feel a sense of responsibility for everyone’s safety, too. And their generation is different than ours. They’ve changed with the times pretty well, but they still have some old fashioned tendencies. Aldo and Eduardo didn’t even grow up in America, and their backgrounds are way Old World. It’s not necessarily bad that they’re trying to protect you. They don’t want to stifle you. They want to protect you.”

  I swirled my wine and watched the tears slide down the side of the glass.

  “I haven’t been around long,” Nico continued, “but there’s no question that OV is a safe place—most of the time. Right now though, it’s pretty scary that Katie was killed and we don’t know what happened. Hopefully the police will find the person who did it, and then we can go back to how things were before. But should we take any chances until then?”

  I could see his point. I smelled the wine. Berries, chocolate, pepper. I sipped it. There was less pepperiness than I expected.

  “What should the husbands, boyfriends, and concerned men of Otto Viti do right now?” Nico said. “On one side, we have the Elders telling us to help protect our loved ones so that no one else ends up like Katie. On the other side, we have strong and independent women not so happy about these precautions.” He paused. “I assume. I mean, we’re guessing that most of you aren’t going to be happy about it.” He lifted his wine glass to me. “Want the last taste?”

  I shook my head. “You have it.”

  He didn’t bother swirling or smelling before swallowing it. “What do we do?”

  I rolled my eyes and sighed, almost as dramatically as Elita. “I see your point. If there’s someone out there who wants to hurt others, we should be careful. Not being careful would be disrespectful to Katie’s memory—and foolish.”

  “That’s a good way to put it. And really, honestly, this doesn’t change much for you. How often are you walking around in the dark without me or your sisters?”

  “Almost never.”

  “Exactly.”

  “It just bothers me that there was a meeting without us.”

  Nico nodded. “I would feel the same.”

  I straightened up and leaned forward against the table’s edge. “Let me ask you this. Do us little ladies always have to be escorted by a man? Or is it fine if a group of us gals are together?”

  “I couldn’t say for sure since I’m not in charge here. I’m just a messenger trying not to get shot.” He grinned. “But I’d guess that a group of girls is fine. I’m not getting up at six to go running with you and Jules and Livy in the dark, that’s for sure.”

 

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