Truth Is Found (20 page)

He knew what worked, and he was more than happy to do it again and again.

Beau loved this PI stuff.

After this case, he already knew that he’d never be the same again.

“This is still crazy,” she stated, barely able to breathe after that kiss. Never in her life had she felt anything quite like that. Nyx wanted to melt into the bed. “How am I going to eat?” she squeaked.

He took her hand in his. “You’re going to have to trust me, Nyx. I’ve got you, and I’ll hold your hand--literally.”

She couldn’t look away. The look in his stormy blue eyes was so self-assure that Nyx didn't have a choice.

“Well?”

“I’ll be honest, I’ll trust you, and I won’t yank your chain either. Just don’t let me fall.”

“Never. Let me silence your demons, Nyx.”

This was the biggest gamble of her life.

“Bring it on, Beau. Bring it on.”

CHAPTER Nine

Julian couldn’t believe their luck.

Now the only obstacle in their job was if the man who hired them would be interested in finding out the whole truth. It was one thing to hire them to find the person who was destroying his business, but it was something entirely different to come out and find bodies on his property, and out his wife as a cheating hussy.

This could get ugly.

It was all going to come down to Daniel and what he really, truly wanted.

While Tori was waiting Sheila out, he opted to cozy up to Daniel on the tour.

It was just about time to lay the groundwork. If they were going to drop this bomb, he wanted assurance that they wouldn’t be left holding the bag.

It wasn’t about the money.

It was about the principle.

The last thing they needed was for the business to get a bad reputation from a client. Julian didn't want that to happen.

Granted, there was always the chance that he wouldn’t want
all
the dirt. Finding out that he had hidden bodies of young children, somewhere on the vineyard, was going to be bad enough.

But Sheila?

What if she was behind all this?

Could she be ruining her husband’s business all to get him to divorce her?

Julian would kill to know if there had been a prenup. Then he’d have a better idea what Daniel could lose.

Yeah, this was going to be tricky, and he knew it.

As he silently observed the man, Julian noticed he was watching his son do the tour of the winery labs. He actually looked to be enjoying it.

Dad was proud.

You could tell.

It was also obvious that Romeo liked what he did. That was just one more reason Julian regretted what was going on around him. The poor guy was going to be blindsided.

Before he could head over to him, he was distracted by one of the other guests on the tour. Roman Remington got a little too close to a table, and his camera, which was slung over his shoulder, knocked some wine samples to the floor.

Everyone looked over.

“Oh crap! I’m sorry!”

Immediately, the wine lab supervisor was at his side cleaning up the spilled vintage.

“No worries! It happens all the time,” he stated. “We spill a lot of wine in here. That’s why we have concrete floors. It’s probably from drinking and working,” he teased, winking at the rest of the guests. “You can’t help but get tipsy when you taste all day long.”

Daniel Nelms laughed. “Kirby Andrews is the best wine creator in the entire valley. I was lucky to get him. He’s been a godsend.”

The man beamed. “Thank you, sir. I love what I do.”

Mitch Pettigrew chimed in. “Could you explain your job a little more?”

As if on cue, the man began his part of the tour. As he poured more samples and passed them around, he told them about his duties there at the vineyard.

“I’m like the chef here. It’s my job to concoct the different tastes in the wines--like the one you’re tasting now. You may notice that it has some chocolate undertones just below the fruitiness.”

It took everything Julian had not to roll his eyes. It tasted like fermented grapes.

PERIOD.

He was probably the last person who should be doing this tour. This was insane. He swore to himself that if he survived all the booze today, he wasn’t going to partake tonight.

“Oh, well, is it hard to make these formulas?” asked Allene Bunchen. “Or can anyone whip them together?”

“It’s not too hard if you know what you’re doing, but it is proprietary. Each ‘recipe’ is like a signature. We use oak barrels that are made especially for us,” he stated, pointing across the giant room to a stack of barrels. “Those are on the way to the storage unit for fermentation, and that one over there is getting ready for tonight’s pour. The one upfront is the one we’ll be bottling next. That is after we taste it!”

“Don’t they go bad?” Allene asked.

Julian was bored out of his mind. At that moment, he wished he was with Tori peeping on cheaters.

“Well, it’s called fermentation. They sort of have to sit around and go ‘bad’. They’ll remain there for a year or possibly two. Most wineries can’t afford to let the vintage sit around for that long, but we can. That’s why our wines are pricy. You get a better bottle if you let it age naturally. The saying is true. You do get what you pay for.”

“I heard AngelCake’s winery has a bottle that’s exactly like yours,” she asked. “I read it in the paper. You can’t tell the difference by taste.”

Kirby Andrew’s face changed. It was only for a split second, but Julian caught it.

“That’s what I hear. I don’t drink the competition,” he admitted. “It taints my ability to be objective.”

This was interesting. Why was the woman bringing up the other winery again? It was as if she was trying to get a rise out of them.

Or…she was digging too.

Julian went on alert.

While Allene was asking uncomfortable questions, her husband Brandon was taking pictures of just about everything in there.

If Julian wasn’t a suspicious man, he might have missed it. This looked to be more than just tourist habits.

They were casing the place.

As Allene kept questioning Kirby, Julian could sense eyes on him. Roman and Mitch were moving in. Slowly, they were getting into position to flank him.

“Where’s your lovely wife?” Roman asked.

“Shopping,” Julian replied, pretending to taste the wine. The last thing he wanted was to be foggy at that time of the day. They had work to do.

“She didn't want to join you?”

He shook his head. “She can’t drink, so she opted to do some touristy things in town.” He wanted to add that he didn't blame her, but he managed to keep his trap shut.

Unfortunately, that didn't work for the other men. Instead, they kept asking questions, and Julian kept dismissing them. When they’d ask about his job, he would try to evade or politely escape the conversation.

Julian was relieved when Reggie Zellers, the winery’s sale manager approached. It gave him the opportunity to escape.

“Mr. Littlemoon, you have a business. Have you ever thought about getting your own specific vintage made to give out as business gifts? They make the perfect present.”

Julian grinned. He was so happy to be able to escape the two gay men’s invasive questions that he’d entertain just about anything at that point.

“No, I never have. Do tell me more.”

The man seemed to buy it.

“You can take flavors that are unique to your ethnicity, and we can put them in a wine. It might be a smashing success!”

“Oh, you have essence of peyote?”

“I’m sure we could get it,” he stated.

That cracked him up. Instead of letting the man in on the joke, he simply patted him on the back. Somehow, he didn't think the man realized what it was.

This guy was desperate to make a sale.

“Send me the information, and let me know if you can get me some peyote,” he added, just for his own amusement.

“Sure thing!”

Julian took that moment to slip away from the group. Daniel Nelms was close by, and he wanted to get in a mini update. The man was his boss, and he deserved to get his money’s worth.

“Can we talk?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Daniel Nelms glanced over, smiling. “Sure thing, Mr. Littlemoon. Did you find anything?”

“Not anything substantial, but we’re working on it. Where’s your wife?” he asked, looking around. “She seemed to rush out of breakfast in a hurry.”

It took Daniel a second to register the question. “Oh! Sheila! Well, she has yoga three days a week. She likes to keep her body and mind in tune with the universe.”

Julian didn't get that, but then again, he would take one of his horses out if he wanted to focus. It was probably the same thing.

Sort of.

Sheila was definitely riding something.

“You look a little worried. Are you okay?” Julian asked.

Daniel looked around and lowered his voice. “I am. I know my daughter runs a little wild, and that’s my fault, but I’m worried about her. It’s not like her to flake on her job. She likes money, and I won’t pay if she doesn’t pull her weight in the family business. Plus, we have someone trying to sabotage us. It makes me nervous.”

“Yeah, I see how it would.”

“Mr. Littlemoon,” he began.

“Julian is fine.”

He smiled. “Julian, where’s the man you sent to watch the business? He’s missing too. You don’t think he ran off with Pearlie, do you? She was hanging around the tasting room yesterday while he was waiting on the guests.”

Julian stood up for Beau. They didn't run that kind of business. There was no way his brother-in-law would touch the daughter of their client--especially since she was barely legal.

“Actually, he’s working another angle. He’s on stakeout. We had him check in this morning, and he isn't with her.”

That perked him up. “Oh, who is he watching?”

“He’s all over the psychic who recommended us to you. We need to cover all our bases, and she showed up here last night.”

He nodded. “I didn't even think of her. Could she be doing this?”

Julian knew she wasn’t, but he didn't want Beau being the focus of a worked up father. That was the last mess they needed to fall into.

“He’s been on her since last night around nine. Right when you sent him off the job to head out. Wasn’t Pearlie still here?” he asked.

“Yes, come to think of it, she was. I saw her still here around ten.”

“If I run into her, we’ll tell her you’re looking for her,” Julian offered.

He nodded. “I’m still worried. Are we really haunted? I walked in and those glasses were exploding left and right. Your guy looked freaked out.”

Yeah, how to handle this?

“He told us about it, and he was scared. I just don’t buy that the place is haunted. I haven’t seen anything.”

Technically, that wasn’t a lie.

When in doubt, lie, lie, lie--especially when it came to things that mysteriously couldn’t be explained like ghosts, spirits, or invisible things that went bump in the night.

“Well, that’s a relief.”

Julian had a pang of guilt.

When they pulled those bodies off his property, Daniel was going to be in for a shock. The second the media got wind of that, Darkwood Monastery was going to either explode with macabre followers, or go under from appalled consumers.

It was a fifty-fifty chance.

“I hate to ask this, and I’ll pay more, but can you maybe see if you can figure out where the hell my daughter is?” Daniel asked. “I’m sure she’s with a boy, but…”

He patted him on the shoulder. “I’m having a daughter. You don’t have to explain. After this little wine lesson, I’m going to slip away. Can you buy me some time?”

“Certainly! This is all very spy-like,” he stated, mopping his baldhead with a handkerchief.

“Do I have your permission to sneak around in your personal area?”

He nodded. “I hired you, Mr. Littlemoon. You have access to everywhere on this property. You don’t have to ask. You do your job, and I’ll do mine.”

“Just keep the guests busy for me. I don’t want to be caught in your rooms.”

“Not a problem. I’ll take them out to the old chapel after this.”

That was perfect. If they were out of the main area, Julian would have free reign.

“Thank you.”

“I want to know everything you find, Julian. I mean it. I love this business, and I don’t want to lose it.”

Here came the tricky part.

“Even if it’s going to be painful?” he asked, thinking about the man’s wife. “Sometimes, we get clients who say that, but they really don’t want to know the truth.”

“If you find anything like that, I definitely want to know about it. I’m a big boy, and I can handle it.”

Julian didn't believe that whole spiel.

What was on the horizon had the potential to break the man’s heart.

No one, in any situation, would be ready for what was coming, and he knew that from personal experience.

The day his girlfriend was caught in bed with another man, life changed.

Then again, it was for the best.

He’d found his Victoria, and that was a gift.

“I’ll take care of it.”

With that, Julian slipped away, and headed toward the house. 

He had work to do…

Dirty work.

       
                   
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