Corked by Cabernet (26 page)

Her mind was racing with these questions, along with questions about Kurt Kensington. His strange behavior and what she’d learned about him on his application still made him look like the number one suspect in her book. She wished she could get Robinson to see eye to eye with her on that. There was also this Gonzales-Pearlman angle, and she knew that Robinson felt the answers were snarled up in that web.

She shook her head. Wherever the answers lay as to who had committed the murders, they weren’t going to be found tonight.

Dessert went over as well as dinner, and before long everyone was getting ready to leave. Everyone except for Alyssa and Robinson. Petie had fallen asleep with his head in his mother’s lap on the couch.

Nikki said good night to the guests who were leaving. Marco kissed her on the cheeks as usual. “Beautiful, Bellissima. Lovely party. Thank you.” She kissed him back.

Simon wrapped an arm around her and leaned a head on her shoulder. He glanced at Alyssa and Robinson. “You are good. I’m impressed, Snow White.”

Nikki didn’t bother the couple, who continued to talk while she did most of the dishes. It was after ten when they told her good night and Robinson carried Petie out to the car for her.

Alyssa walked ahead with Petie’s bag. Robinson thanked her.

“Learn anything?” she asked.

“Not a damn thing about the investigation.” He smiled. “But I did discover you sure can cook. I had a great time, Nikki.”

She closed the door behind Robinson. She wanted to tell him what she’d discovered about Kensington, her thoughts on Jen and Sierra, and give him the note. But at that moment, after seeing him with Alyssa and Petie, she decided to wait until the morning. Maybe tonight she hadn’t been able to tie this mystery together, but at least she was making people happy.

Nikki has herself in one spicy mess, but at least she’s good at mixing things up. Way to go on the matchmaker front. If you have to put together a shindig for a group of your family and friends, or else enlightened dysfunctionals (who could also be family and friends), then fix a pot of chili and uncork this simple, soft Merlot by Hahn Estate, with fruit flavors of black cherry and raspberry that are the perfect pairing with this chili.

 

In a large Dutch oven, heat cooking oil over medium heat and cook beef until brown on all sides. Add onions, peppers, tomato sauce, beer, beef broth, chicken broth, and spice mix A. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer for about 1 ½ hours.

Stir in spice mix B, chipotle sauce, and Tabasco. Simmer ½ hour longer.

THE night had been interesting on so many fronts. Nikki was tired but she wanted to write it all down and sort through her thoughts. Ollie climbed up next to her. “You’re getting spoiled,” she said. “Wait until your master gets home.” Thinking about Derek made her sad. She wished he’d call.

If there was anything at all to that “ask and you shall receive” verse, or the law of the universe stuff, then it must’ve been working because the phone rang and on the other end was Derek.

“It is so good to hear your voice. Why haven’t you called?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” he said, sounding exhausted.

“Of course I would. Is everything okay?”

“For the most part.” Derek’s voice sounded funny.

“Derek, what in the heck are you talking about?”

“I don’t think this thing between us and the Salvatores is going to work out.”

“Why? What gives?”

“Today, Vicente decides he wants to go to the Catskills. It’s freezing-ass cold and he wants to drive to the
Catskills
. Let me remind you that the biggest snowstorm ever is going on here.”

Uh-oh. He’d had a few drinks. Not like Derek to sound tipsy and even then some. He would often have a glass or two of wine in the evening, but never enough to make him slur. And he was definitely slurring tonight. “Uh-huh.”

“Right. We all get in the limo, and don’t ask me why I agreed to this. Right now I feel so stupid.”

“Who is ‘we all’?”

“Vicente, and get this, he has a bodyguard.”

“Is he in the mob?”

“I wonder. Total ass, though.”

“You’re kind of scaring me.” She scratched Ollie between his ears, reminding herself that there was nothing to be scared of with him right there.

“And his daughter was with us, too.”

“Sophia, right?” She jumped up and went straight for the computer. She’d forgotten to Google “Sophia Salvatore.” She kept the phone in the crook of her chin. Ollie did not follow her. Bad dog.

“Yeah, yeah. Her.”

“Oh.” Oh. Sophia Salvatore was listed on some site about Italian winery owners. The photo was small. She stood next to her father, but small or not, Nikki could tell she was gorgeous. Just as she’d thought. “What happened?”

“Okay, so we get halfway there, going as slow as can be, and even the bodyguard is trying to explain to Vicente that we should go back to the city, but you think that old fart is listening to anyone else? No. Claims he’s on his death bed practically and may never get back here and something about his aunt who moved to the Catskills when he was a boy and he wanted to go back because he’d spent a summer with her before she died and it was the best time of his life. Talk about sentimental.” Man, was Derek rambling tonight.

“Oh, Derek.”

“It gets better. We get out and the driver gets lost, and the next thing I know, we start having car trouble and the driver has to pull over. He calls his dispatch service and they tell him it’s gonna be at least two hours before anyone can get out there. So, we’re sitting there with the heater on, and I’m still trying to make a deal with this guy, and all he wants to do is drink port and shove his daughter on me while telling me I need to marry her.”

Nikki’s hands folded into fists. “He what? That—”

“I know. Don’t get yourself all worked up.”

“Excuse me?”

“I love you and only you. Finally, after something like three hours or more . . . God, I don’t know, I lost track of time . . . but finally some guy pulls over in an old pickup and offers help. About that time another limo pulls up for the Salvatores. I was three sheets to the wind by then, and I told Vicente to forget the deal. He was too difficult to work with and I didn’t want to marry his daughter. I paid the guy who stopped to help us two hundred dollars to drive me back to Manhattan. I just got back here.”

“Oh, no.” Nikki tried not to laugh.

“How about you? How was your day? Tell me they caught whoever murdered Iwao. I’m hoping I can get out of here in the morning. They’re saying there’s a chance.”

“No. They actually don’t have a suspect yet.”

“Hmmm.”

She couldn’t tell him now about Mizuki. Not after the day he had, and he sounded like he needed to go to bed. “Gosh, it must be two o’ clock in the morning there.”

“Don’t I know it. I’m worried about you, and I miss you.”

“I miss you, too, but you don’t have to worry. I have Ollie at my side.”

“Yeah. Good. How is the boy?”

Nikki removed herself from the desk and went back into the bedroom, sliding in between the covers. “He’s good.”

“You in bed?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Nice. I wish I was there. What are you wearing?” he asked.

“Well, um. It’s lacy and blue and very pretty.” She was never good at this kind of thing, and lacy, blue, and pretty wasn’t even close to what she had on.

“Liar.”

“I know.”

“I know what you’re wearing. You’re wearing one of my old T-shirts and a pair of flannel pajama bottoms.”

“Nope. I have your boxers on.”

He cracked up. “I can’t wait to see you.”

“You better get some sleep.”

“You, too. I love you, Nikki.”

“I love you, too.”

A few minutes after they’d hung up, Nikki thought about getting back up and writing down her thoughts about the night. Instead she opted for falling asleep, knowing that there was a man a few thousand miles away, a man who really loved her, who was keeping her warm with his words.

EARLY the following morning, Nikki checked the news and found out that the airports were still closed on the East Coast. The snowstorm was causing major mayhem all over the country, and after talking to Derek last night, there was nothing she wanted more than for him to come home.

She grabbed the notebook she was going to use to write down her murder theories and notes, and then the phone rang. Maybe it was Derek and the news was wrong. Instead, it was Robinson.

“Hey, I was just calling to thank you for last night. I know it was kind of weird under the circumstances and I’m not sure everyone there was exactly pleased to see me. I got the feeling that I threw a few people off their game. But after the Sansis left, when it was just you and Alyssa, it was cool. I can’t remember having such a good time in ages.”

Nikki looked out the family room window and watched a few ducks fly in on the pond. She grabbed her sweater off the back end of one of the chairs and wrapped it around her. The early spring morning had a chill to it. She wondered where Robinson was sitting or what he was looking at. Was he already at work? “Did you like Alyssa?”

He laughed a little. “Don’t think that I don’t know what you’re up to. I know you’re playing Cupid, but I can’t say that I’m unhappy about it. Your friend Alyssa is cool and, yeah, I like her. A lot.”

“She’s a good lady and she’s been through some hard times.” Nikki watched the ducks fly off and went back into the kitchen, where she started doing dishes from the night before. She’d had a few left over to clean and hated coming home at the end of the day to dirty dishes.

“I get the feeling you’re now going to give me the don’t-hurt-my-friend speech.”

“Sounds like you’ve heard it before.”

“What’s all that noise you’re making?”

“I’m doing the dishes and don’t try to change the subject. Yes, I am playing Cupid, but I will still give you that warning. I don’t know you all that well, Robinson, but you’ve got some dimensions about you that I think are really great. Still I’ll wager there’s a bad boy lurking in there somewhere.”