Dandelion Dead (18 page)

Harrison looked at me. “If you're here with me, and not with him and your pups, it must be something serious. What's up?”

“You know about my work as an amateur sleuth, right?”

“Sure do. Are you working on something now?”

“Yes, and I'm having trouble. The police think, and so do Jackson, Simon, and I, that Amy Lord was poisoned by accident at the Pure party.”

“How so?”

“Amy ate one of David's appetizers, and it was poisoned. That's why we think she died.”

“Poisoned with what?”

“Poison hemlock, and I've been checking the various vineyards out here to see if they had access. So far the places I've found it—at Crocker Cellars, St. Ives,
Sisterhood Wines, and even out behind Pure—all have people who didn't like David.”

“What, you're checking me out?” He feigned insult.

“No, I needed to speak with you, get some background info.”

“Okay, well, just so you know, I don't have it, and I like David but not Ivy. Simon can be a little out there.”

“Yes, we know.”

“But poison—that's really terrible,” Harrison said. “Amy was always my favorite member of the Lord family. I would have been at the funeral but I had an important meeting in the city with a top exec from Silicon Valley about a big deal, and I just couldn't miss it. Not that Ivy and David and I were close, we didn't socialize or anything, but I was still in touch with Amy. Still, I felt terrible for the family. I did send flowers.”

“That's what I'm wondering about, Harrison, the Lord family. I was talking to Ivy's grandmother, Emily Lord, at the get-together at Salt after the funeral, and she told me that David and Amy were originally a couple, not David and Ivy. She seemed pretty sharp and it sounded like the truth. What happened?”

Harrison turned to watch the dogs playing and didn't say anything for a long time. “She is sharp, and she isn't misremembering at all. But no one really talked about it. One minute, David and Amy were together, happily making wedding plans, and the next, it was off. By the next winter, he was with Ivy, and I have to say Amy didn't take it well at all. It took her a long time before she was her smiling self again.”

“Do you have any idea about what might have gone wrong? Emily Lord intimated that Ivy is used to getting her own way. Maybe Ivy decided she wanted David and pushed her sister to the side? Is that possible?”

“It is, and it's what I was just going to say to you. Ivy has a stubborn streak, always has since we were friends as teenagers. They had a second home, really a mansion, down the block from our summer house in Orient. If we all wanted to go to the beach at the end of the block, and she wanted to go to the ocean instead, guess where we went? There was just no arguing with Ivy. I think it was tough for everyone, especially Amy. Then, when the grandfather, Walter Lord, died in 2012, and his fortune went to Ivy, along with total control of the estate after providing for his wife, Emily, of course it just made things worse. Overall, it's just a very dysfunctional family.”

“With all that negative history and bad blood, it seems strange to me that Amy would choose to work out here with her former boyfriend and her sister.”

“I think Ivy wanted her here, where she could keep an eye on her. She also had control of the finances, and I don't think Amy was strong enough to strike out on her own. So Ivy got what she wanted, again.” Through the trees, I watched as Jackson slowly made his way down the path that crossed the cliffs, with the dogs running in front of him. “Looks like they're having fun.”

“We're like you, Harrison, everything is better when the dogs are along for the ride.”

“Why don't you go catch up with them?”

“Just one more thing. Did Amy ever mention that
she was involved with the winemaker at Pure? His name is Gerald, and he seems pretty torn up about her death.”

“Yes, she did, more than once, but when I asked her if something was going on romantically, she said she didn't want to talk about it. Maybe she was afraid that if anyone—think Ivy—knew, she'd wreck it for her.”

After my conversation with Harrison,
I felt more confused than ever. Was the motive for David's almost murder and Amy's accidental killing personal or business? On our way back to Nature's Way, I filled Jackson in, while the dogs, now tired from their run, slept on the seat between us. The sun had gone down, and the temperature had suddenly turned colder, so I turned up the heat for all of us.

“You're right, the motive could be either business or personal,” Jackson said. “On the personal side, maybe Ivy wanted David out of the way to pursue a relationship with Ramsey. Business motive? She wanted to be in charge, although she'd still have Simon to contend with. Ramsey could have tried to kill David for her, or for the both of them. So that would be personal. Maybe the engagement ring was meant for her. But what does MP mean?”

“Another personal-motive possibility? Gerald could have tried to kill David because he wanted to be free to pursue Amy without any chance they might get back together.”

“But he could also have wanted David out of the way so he could take the credit for Falling Leaves and be head winemaker,” Jackson said. “So it could be business, too. Same goes for the Crockers, and maybe Derek Mortimer.”

“True, all of them had access to poison-hemlock plants. And so did Ivy, Ramsey, and Gerald.”

“Maybe Leonard Sims, the former owner, thought that by getting rid of David, Simon might sell,” Jackson said. “So that's a business motive. But what about the Farmers? Would they really try to kill one of their own?”

“Depends on how deep the hatred and anger goes. Anything is possible.”

“I guess we should check and see if they had access to poison hemlock as well.”

I nodded. “You know, Carla Olsen could have a business and a personal motive to try and kill David. She wants to be number one and she also seemed pretty upset when Lily showed up last night. Let's stop by and see her. It's coming up.”

•  •  •

When we pulled up, Carla
Olsen, petite, with curly red hair, was sitting on the steps of her tasting room, smoking a pipe, wearing overalls over a T-shirt and red high-top sneakers, while two cats lounged on the deck behind her. “You'd better stay here with the dogs,” I said to Jackson. “She's got cats, and most dachshunds see cats as prey.”

“Don't I know it.” Jackson pulled Zeke onto his lap
and grabbed Columbo's and Rockford's collars, so I could open the door. “These three would go absolutely nuts.”

Qigong was super-mellow, and when I said, “I'll be right back, Qigong, stay,” he snuggled up next to Jackson and promptly went back to sleep. “Same goes for all you guys.”

Now that Jackson had the dogs under control, I walked up to Carla, who said, “Back so soon?”

“We were just at Harrison's Vines and Canines walk and thought we'd stop by on the way back. But we have three dachshunds that I think would go crazy over your kitties.”

“I'm sure they would. So please don't let them out.” She tapped her pipe out and went inside her tasting room, which looked like a log cabin both inside and out. A roaring fire was going in the fireplace, with seating provided by two comfy-looking overstuffed chairs, and her vintages were featured on a rustic-looking bar in the back of the space.

She had several prints of her vineyard on the wall, and a whole table full of marketing paraphernalia, from slickly produced four-color brochures with her on the cover to an expensive-looking catalog of her wines. I'd heard she had a background in PR and marketing in book publishing in New York.

“You've really done a lot to promote your winery. Not everyone is up to this standard.”

“It's what I do.” She pulled out a bottle of wine and poured two small glasses. “Would you like to try my latest vintage, Drunken Vines? It's the one I've entered in the
Wine Lovers
magazine contest.” She held up the
bottle. “I went for an antique-vintage vibe.” The label featured a quirky painting of the tasting room with its bright red roof, and a stylized rendering of the name of the vineyard in gold letters.

“Very nice, and, yes, I'd love to try it.” I picked up the glass and took a small sip. “It's very good. I'm partial to white wines myself.”

“Me, too.” She put the cork back into the bottle, but left it there. “So what's up, Willow? I know you didn't stop to talk wine. Is it about David . . . or Lily . . . or both?”

“I guess both. You probably don't know, but Lily is still in jail, although she's expected to be released.”

Carla shook her head. “That girl is crazy.”

“Crazy crazy, Carla? Or just crazy over David?”

Carla blew out a breath. “David, I guess. But there's no need, as you heard last night. David and I were together, but now we're just friends.”

“Excuse me, but you seemed pretty annoyed at Lily last night if you and David are just friends.” I took another sip of wine to be polite.

“Okay, maybe he ended it and I'm still not happy about it, but I'm trying.” She put her finger on her cell phone and spun it around. “I just needed to talk to him last night is all, but between his best-bud bodyguard and his teenage lover, Lily, it didn't go well.”

“You wanted to talk to him to see if you could get back together, right?”

She hesitated. “Yes, okay. I was trying to start things up again.”

“With a guy who is married and has a girlfriend? Doesn't sound like there is much left over for anyone else.”

“Probably not, but I'm used to crumbs, I guess. But after last night, I'm out. It's too much of a mess, and David has got to get his head straight. Between Lily, and that bitch of a wife, Ivy, and Amy dying, he's pretty messed up.”

“I'm actually looking into Amy's murder for Simon and David.”

“Yeah, I know, he told me. I don't know what you think you can do, though.”

“For starters, I've been visiting other vineyard owners like yourself, and I've found something interesting.”

“Like what?”

“Like the fact that you and Derek Mortimer and the Crockers all have poison hemlock on your vineyards. That's what was used to kill Amy.”

“That stuff is all over the place, Willow, not just here. I spray for it, but it grows back.” Carla pulled the cork out and poured herself more wine. “As for the Crockers, and Derek Mortimer, I could tell you some interesting things about them.”

“Like what?”

“Derek Mortimer is a pretentious dandy who thinks he knows more about wine than all the rest of us put together. But given the fact that he almost went into business with Leonard Sims, he's not too bright.”

“When was this?”

“When Sims was about to lose Pure, or as it was then, Vista View Vineyards, he needed help, and he went to Derek. He knew him from the East End Wine Council meetings. Derek seriously considered it, but before he did anything, he checked Sims's financial records and found out that he was deeply in debt, and
his house was in foreclosure. He even owed money to several loan sharks in New York, which is how he ended up here in the first place. He was running away from his past. So the deal was off.”

“So that's what Derek Mortimer meant when he said that Sims would never approach him again.”

“Exactly. No way.”

“And the Crockers?”

“Right before Sims sold the vineyard to Simon and David, or should I say to Simon and Ivy, Camille and Carter tried to lure David away. They offered him really good money, bonuses, the works. It would mean getting away from her, and more time for us—we'd just met then. But Simon matched it all, and more, so he stayed. Now, I hear that the Crockers' current winemaker just quit.”

“Yes, she told me that. Who are they trying to hire?”

“Camille would love to get David, but she knows that he won't leave Pure, so she's going for the next-best thing, Gerald. But don't ask me how they're going to pay for it. Rumor is they had a lousy season last year, lots of expenses, mucho debt, and now Carter wants to pull the plug.”

“How do you know all of this?”

Carla smiled. “I heard it through the grapevine.”

“Right.”

“It's very active out here.” She tapped the phone. “I'm on this all day. You can't keep a secret for long.”

•  •  •

On the way back to
Greenport and Nature's Way, I told Jackson about my conversation with Carla. We
both agreed that, yes, she was hung up on David—they had been an item for some time—but neither of us were sure that she had it in her to kill. Both of us found it interesting that Carla and probably most of the wine community out here knew about the Mortimer-Sims deal, and the Crockers' troubles. Jackson was just pulling into the back of Nature's Way when I got a text notice.

“Lily?”

“Yes, she says she's been released and is going home. No charges.”

“It might be a good idea to text her back and tell her to stay away from David. It's only hurting her.”

I quickly tapped out a text. “How about this?” I read it to him: “ ‘Please stay put and rest. DO NOT have any contact with David, until Amy's murder is solved, otherwise it will continue to draw the attention of the police. We are doing everything we can to clear you. I will update you tomorrow morning at the store when you come in. xo Willow.' ”

“Sounds good.”

I pushed send, but then began to worry. “I really hope that she listens to me, and she doesn't show up at David's talk and barrel tasting at Pure tonight.”

“What's that about?”

I pulled up the North Fork UnCorked! website on my phone and scrolled to the Friday-night events. “David is giving a talk in the barn at seven o'clock explaining Pure's gravity-fed winemaking process, natural vineyard yeast fermentation, and how wine is barrel aged. Sounds pretty dry and technical.”