White Cloud Retreat (6 page)

“Mike, I am so glad to be home. The
skies look like they’re about ready to open up. I decided we need a fire and
like I told you I was going to do earlier, I stopped by The Crush and bought a
bottle of White Cloud Pinot Noir. It sounded perfect for a rainy night.” Rebel
walked over to where she and Lady were standing and looked up at her, hoping
for an ear scratch. Kelly bent down and obliged.

“Give me about an hour and
then I’ll be more than ready for a glass of it. I need to finish up some
thoughts on what I have to do tomorrow on the Monroe case. I don’t have a
handle on it and with every hour that goes by, statistically it gets harder to
find the killer. Maybe if I write some things down, I’ll get a little clarity.
I sure don’t seem to have any right now.”

“Actually, that would work
out well. I need to do a little work on my computer, so I’ll see you then.” She
walked into the bedroom she’d made into her office. It was cozy and inviting
with the large couch piled up with pillows she’d needlepointed over the years,
the white walls filled with paintings by local artists, and the vase of fresh
flowers she always kept on her old-fashioned desk. Books overflowed out of the
corner bookcase and she once again made a promise to herself to go through them
and donate some of them to the library.

Kelly booted up her
computer and Googled “Pinot noir growers Cedar…” Before she could even type in
the word “Bay,” three vineyards popped up on the screen as well as the names of
the owners of the vineyards. It only took a moment to learn that Dante and Luca
Pellino were the owners of the Pellino Brothers Vineyard, specializing in pinot
noir wines. She scrolled down their web site and read for a few minutes. Just
as Jesse had told her earlier, their vineyard wasn’t far from Cedar Bay and was
located adjacent to the White Cloud Retreat Center, separated by a county road.
Luca was the president of the Oregon Wine Growers Association and had recently
made a presentation at the annual conference. One article stated that they were
well known for doing a high volume of business with discount chain stores.

I think I need to go over
there tomorrow after work. Both jealousy and cutthroat business competition
could possibly provide a powerful motive for murder. Maybe I’ll get a sense of
whether or not one or both of them could be the killer. And if nothing else, I
can always pick up another bottle of wine. Now off to a glass of wine and
dinner. Along with the manicotti that Mike ate the last of, we served baked
burritos at the coffee shop for lunch, and they were a huge hit. I brought the
leftover chicken mixture home and I’ve got the rest of the ingredients for
them. I’ll make a green salad and I’ve got time to make Mike’s favorite ricotta
cake. It’s about the easiest thing in the world and he loves it. Might help
make up for the vegetarian casserole I served him last night.

Two hours later Mike
finished his piece of cake and looked over at Kelly. “Sweetheart, I don’t know
how you manage to do it, but it seems like every meal is better than the last
one. You know how I love Mexican food and those burritos were as good as any
I’ve ever had. And the cake! If I dropped dead right here at the dinner table,
I’d die a happy man because of that cake.”

“Well, if you did, I
wouldn’t be very happy about it. That would give a whole new meaning to the
term, being left at the altar. It would be more like he never showed up at the
altar because he overdosed on food two and a half weeks before the wedding.
Don’t think that would help my coffee shop business.”

Mike took his buzzing
phone from its holster. “This is Sheriff Mike. Can I help you?” He listened to
the voice on the other end for a moment. “Of course I don’t mind you calling me
at home, Doc, and I don’t think your question is the least bit strange. I’m
going to be wearing a dark suit at the wedding, so the same would probably be
appropriate for you. Let me ask Kelly.”

“Tell him that would be
fine.”

“The boss says that would
be fine.” He listened to Doc and then raised his eyebrows and looked over at
Kelly. “No, she didn’t tell me that, but I have to say in her defense that we
haven’t discussed the case this evening. I’ll look into it tomorrow. Thanks for
telling me. I’ll ask her about it now. Talk to you soon.”

He put his phone back in
its holster and looked at her. “I’m going to give you the benefit of doubt on
this one…”

She interrupted, “If Doc
was talking to you about the guy Scott mentioned when he went to see Doc, I was
going to tell you all about it. Honest. We just haven’t had an opportunity to
talk about the case tonight.”

“Like I said, I’ll give
you the benefit of doubt. Doc said you could tell me about it. I’d like to hear
it.”

“Well, Doc came in for
lunch and told me he’d heard about Scott’s death and was really sorry. He said
Scott came to the clinic to see him recently because he’d gotten a cut from a
rose bush in his vineyard and it wasn’t healing properly. He mentioned to Doc
that he was really angry at one of the men who was taking part in the
residential training program at the Center. You probably remember from when you
interviewed people at the Center that the people who are in the program have to
work in the vineyards. That’s how they pay their tuition for the program. It’s
kind of a trade-off thing. Anyway, Scott told Doc that the guy pruned the vines
too short and he was worried that the grapes from those vines wouldn’t be very
good this year.”

“I think that’s a pretty
far stretch. I don’t see someone who’s doing Zen residential training being mad
enough at the Zen Master for correcting him to kill him. I’ll look into it, but
I have a hard time buying that one. What’s wrong? You look like you’re
squirming.”

“Well, there’s a little
more to it. Scott also told Doc that a couple of the local wine growers would
love it if the White Cloud Pinot Noir wasn’t so popular. Scott said he’d made
enemies with a couple of them because the Center’s wine was considered by wine
connoisseurs to be much better than theirs.”

“That doesn’t seem like
anything that would make you squirm. What are you leaving out?”

She stood up and took some
dishes over to the sink and began speaking rapidly while her back was turned
toward Mike. “Well, I just happened to be talking to Jesse at The Crush, you
know where I bought the wine we drank tonight, and he told me that there were
two brothers who are vintners and they’d tried to bribe him to sell their wine
and not Scott’s. Here’s the thing. Their vineyard is next to Scott’s and Scott
was an organic vintner. He didn’t believe in using any pesticides or herbicides
on his vines. Jesse said it’s the new trend for a lot of vintners in this area.
He said these two brothers used all types of chemicals on their vines and Scott
was always worried that the chemicals would drift onto his property and damage
his vines.”

“Let me get this straight.
You just happened to be talking to Jesse. Strange, you haven’t been to The
Crush for a long time from what I can remember. No wonder you were squirming.
You went there to find out who the wine growers were after you talked to Doc,
didn’t you?”

She turned around and
faced him raising her hands as if in mock surrender. “I don’t think it was a
conscious act on my part. Honest. Rain was coming and pinot noir sounded like
it would be a good idea on a rainy night, and Jesse was talking about how sorry
he was that Scott died. One thing just led to another.”

“Uh-huh, I’ll bet. Okay,
I’ll bite. Did you find out the names of the vintners?”

“Not from Jesse. When I
got home a couple of hours ago I told you I needed to spend some time on my
computer and while I was checking my email and doing some bookkeeping, I
decided to see if I could find out anything about them, so I Googled them.
Jesse had mentioned their first names and I just typed those in along with
Cedar Bay pinot noir vineyards and guess what?”

“You found out who the
vintners are. Would I be right?”

“Bingo. You win. Their
last name is Pellino and they own the Pellino Brothers Vineyard. I knew there
was a vineyard on the property next to the Center, but I never thought much
about it. Evidently they sell so-so pinot noir wine to several large discount
chains and now they’re making plans to introduce a new premium pinot noir,
hoping to break into the high-end market. I was going to tell you all of this
after dinner. I just didn’t have a chance. Now you know what I know.”

“I think I’ve met them.
Seems to me they were having problems a few years ago with an employee
threatening them because they’d fired him. As I remember, they definitely
weren’t charmers. In fact, they were arrogant and gave the impression they were
better than anyone else. Seemed like the kind of men who would enjoy kicking a
dog. I better pay them a visit.”

“See, aren’t you glad I
took a few moments and looked them up? I probably saved you some time.”

“Kelly, have I ever told
you that you see the world tilted at a little different angle than other people
do? It’s not particularly a bad thing, but at times it drives me nuts.”

“I love you too,
Sweetheart. Now that the subject of the murder is out of the way, let’s enjoy
the fire.”

*****

Luca, I’d like to propose a toast to
our new venture, the Pellino Brothers Vineyard Premium Pinot Noir. With Scott
Monroe dead, our pinot noir will soon become the benchmark for the highest
quality pinot noir in this area and hopefully, in all of Oregon. Glad we called
Mr. Rossi and Guido came out here to Oregon. Pretty smart of him to enroll in
those yoga classes Scott taught. Gave him a good opportunity to get close to
him. Rest in Peace, Zen Master, Dante said.

The next morning, Mike was sitting at
his desk at the Sheriff’s Office when his intercom buzzed.

“Yes, what is it, Angie?”
he asked his long time secretary.

“Sorry to bother you,
Mike, but there’s a guy on line two from the Oregon Department of Agriculture.
He says he wants to talk to you personally rather than to one of the deputies.
His name is Bob Waters.”

“Okay, thanks Angie, I’ll
take it.” He picked up his phone. “Hello, this is Sheriff Mike Reynolds.”

“Sheriff, my name is Bob
Waters and I work for the Oregon Department of Agriculture in Salem. I’m the
Director of the Toxic Substances Division and Chief Enforcement Officer for the
State of Oregon when it comes to prosecuting farmers who use illegal or banned
chemical substances in connection with their farming practices. I think we met
a few years back when you attended a seminar we sponsored dealing with
illegally dumping toxic materials.”

“Of course, Bob. I
remember you. We were having a problem here in Beaver County with some illegal
dumping over at a copper mine on the far side of the county. You gave me some
good tips on how to enforce the laws that were on the books. It’s nice to hear
from you. What can I do for you?”

“Well, I read in the paper
about the death of Scott Monroe, the owner of the White Cloud Winery. I was shocked
to learn that he was murdered. He was a leader here in Oregon in the growing
practice of organic farming, particularly as it relates to vineyards. His
vineyard was one hundred percent organic. He refused to allow any type of
herbicide, pesticide, or artificial fertilizer to be used in his vineyard. In
fact, two years ago we featured his vineyard in our monthly newsletter that
deals with the advantages of organic farming. He’s really going to be missed.

“Anyway, the reason I’m
calling is I wanted to tell you about an incident that happened out at the
White Cloud Vineyard a couple of weeks before Scott was killed. He called me
and told me he was having a problem with brown leaf spot on some of his vines.
He asked me to come out and take a look at a certain area of his vineyard
because he suspected the vines in that area had been exposed to some type of
toxic substance. A couple of days later I went out to the White Cloud Vineyard,
met with Scott, and inspected the vines in question. I told Scott that, in my
professional opinion, I thought they’d been exposed to some type of toxic
chemical, probably Dead Bang. I also remember telling him I thought it had
probably drifted onto some of the vines in his vineyard from an adjoining
property. Dead Bang is a powerful herbicide that’s used to control the growth
of weeds, but it’s been banned for years. Unfortunately, some unscrupulous
farmers are able to get access to it and use it in spite of the ban. It’s a lot
cheaper than the legal weed abatement products that are on the market, so
that’s why they buy and use it.

“Scott’s damaged vines
were located right next to a county gravel road that leads off towards the
Cascades. On the other side of the gravel road is a vineyard owned by the
Pellino brothers called the Pellino Brothers Vineyard. The prevailing winds
from the Pellino’s property blow directly across the road towards Scott’s
vineyard. It looked to me like the only explanation for the damage to Scott’s
vines was that some illegal chemicals drifted across the road from the Pellino
Brothers Vineyard and damaged Scott’s vines. The drifting of chemical sprays in
agricultural areas is a big problem throughout the country and numerous
articles and seminars have been held instructing farmers on the safe practices
that need to be followed in order to avoid it. Obviously, when the Pellino
brothers sprayed the illegal toxic chemical spray on the weeds on their
property they didn’t follow the recommended safe procedures for the application
of chemical sprays. If they had, the chemicals never would have drifted onto
Scott’s property.

“When I told Scott what I
thought had happened he became very angry. I’ve known Scott for a long time
and it certainly wasn’t normal for him to become so angry. As I’m sure you
know, he was a quiet and peaceful man who lived his Buddhist principles on a
day-to-day basis. Becoming as angry as he was when I was there was something he
normally never would allow himself to do.

“He told me he was going
to pay a visit to the Pellino brothers as soon as I left. If he confirmed that
they were using banned chemical substances to control the weeds in their
vineyard, he said he’d call me and ask me to investigate and take the necessary
enforcement steps. I never heard back from him and sort of forgot the whole
incident until I read about Scott’s death in the newspaper.

“By the way, the state has
had several ongoing enforcement problems with the Pellino brothers and their
vineyard. They were issued a citation two years ago for using a chemical
pesticide that had been banned from use. They didn’t fight the citation, paid a
$4,000 fine, and agreed not to use that particular chemical in the future.

“Then there was a problem
they had with the Oregon Department of Fish and Game. Almost all the vineyards
in Oregon have to be enclosed with a ten foot high fence to keep deer from
getting into the vineyard and eating the vines. It’s illegal to shoot a deer,
even when it’s discovered damaging a farmer’s vineyard. Not long ago, Fish and
Game received an anonymous tip that the Pellino brothers were illegally
shooting deer on their property and dumping the carcasses in a ravine three
miles from their vineyard. A warden found the ravine in question and discovered
the remains of twenty-two dead deer in it. He staked out the ravine and watched
for the Pellino brothers to see if he could catch them in the act of disposing
of an illegally killed deer, but he never could and he had to close the case as
unsolved.

“I thought what I’ve just
told you might be of interest to you in your investigation concerning the
murder of Scott Monroe. These Pellino brothers are bad apples and it wouldn’t
surprise me one bit if they were somehow involved in Scott’s death. Hope what
I’ve told you helps and if you need anything else from me feel free to call. “

“Thanks, Bob. What you’ve
told me is very interesting and you can take it to the bank that I’ll be
talking to the Pellino brothers real soon. Thanks again and if you’re ever in
this neck of the woods, stop by and I’ll buy you a cup of coffee.”

Well, well what do you
know? Sounds like Scott was really angry at the Pellino brothers and
apparently was threatening to report them to the authorities for using illegal
chemicals on their property. Wonder if he actually went to their place and
talked with them? If he did, that might very well be a motive for them to want
to shut Scott up for good.