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“Mercy,” said Myrtle. “Are you sure?”
A flicker of annoyance crossed Liv’s features. “Of course I am. Everyone seems to think Julia is this sweet girl who does nothing wrong. Nothing could be further from the truth.” Her mouth tightened. “Do you know, she gave me a deadline for moving off the vineyard property? Julia said she’d call the cops on me and tell them I’m trespassing.”
Myrtle said, “Is the deadline generous?”
“There’s nothing generous about it. But I think Julia’s in for an unpleasant surprise. I believe Gerald wrote her out of his will.”
“Did he mention he was going to do that?” asked Miles.
Liv shrugged. “He talked about it. Gerald considered Julia a disappointment. I think he’d always wanted a son and couldn’t connect with a daughter. He’d already changed his will once, after he divorced Julia’s mother. It makes sense that he’d be open to keeping it updated. Besides, Gerald mentioned he’d like to provide for me in his will. We’d been seeing each other for a while, you know. Anyway, I think the unveiling of the will could be an unpleasant event for Julia.” She leaned in closer. “Maybe she got wind of the fact that her father was going to change the will. They’d argued just recently and that might have been something that Gerald let slip in the heat of the moment. I’d say that’s a motive.”
Liv’s gaze moved across the room again, this time lighting on Red once more. “I can’t believe the cops think I had something to do with this. Gerald and I were perfectly happy with each other. Two peas in a pod.”
Myrtle asked, “How did the two of you meet?”
Liv’s mouth curled up in a reminiscent smile. “A couple of my girlfriends wanted to go out for drinks. They were determined to choose some scruffy bar downtown, but I persuaded them to go more upscale. Besides, Gerald had a band out there that day, so we’d get free entertainment at the same time. So there we were, hanging out, laughing it up with our wine. Gerald was there, behind the bar.”
“Working the bar?” asked Myrtle. “Somehow I thought he’d stopped doing most of the work at the winery.”
“Oh, he wasn’t working. He was talking to the bartender. Maybe making sure they were on the same page or something. Anyway, he kept looking over at our group, smiling at me. I smiled back.” She shrugged. “The rest is history.”
“Did the two of you have much in common?” Myrtle asked. She thought about the age difference between them, and the fact that Ben Foster had reported lots of arguments between Gerald and Liv.
“Oh sure, we had plenty in common. Both of us liked funny movies. And having a good time. Gerald had reached the age where he could just sort of oversee the operations at the winery and take time off. We were both interested in traveling.” Her expression darkened. “We didn’t get a chance to do it, though. Which really makes me mad.”
Her focus returned to Julia, and she grimaced. “Julia’s heading this direction. That’s my cue to get out of here.” She stood up. “Good seeing you.” And she was quickly gone.
Miles said uneasily, “Maybe we should go, too. I don’t fancy having to tell Julia what my fictitious connection with her father was.”
“Nonsense. You don’t have to say a word. You can sit here, look sympathetic, and be the strong, silent type.”
Miles seemed to have doubts about whether he could pull that off.
“Besides, I want to speak with Julia again. Ben Foster appears to be head over heels with her.”
Now Miles was even more alarmed than he’d been previously. “You’re not going to do any matchmaking, are you? Not here at her father’s memorial service.”
“For heaven’s sake, Miles, I’m simply going to put a bug in her ear. I’m not going to drag her and Ben to the altar. I thought she might be interested in having something good happen, amid all this mess.”
Miles was unconvinced. “Julia may not be remotely interested in Ben Foster.”
“But what if she is? Wouldn’t she rather know?”
Miles gave her a stern look. Myrtle huffed out a sigh. “All right, all right. You’re giving me Red Clover looks. I’ll focus on Ben, then. He’s here at the reception.”
Their debate was cut short by Julia’s appearance at their table. She smiled at them. “It’s so good of you both to come out.”
Myrtle said, “Of course we’re here. We wouldn’t be anywhere else.”
Miles gave Julia a nervous smile. “I’m Miles Bradford.”
“Thanks for being here, Mr. Bradford.” She turned to Myrtle. “No news on the investigation, I’m guessing?”
Myrtle shook her head. “Red operates like a vault when it comes to investigations.” It occurred to her, though, that she hadn’t had the chance to speak with her favorite member of the state police, Lieutenant Perkins. She’d have to call him. Occasionally, he’d be kind enough to give her a snippet of helpful information. At least he was more useful than Red with such matters.
Julia looked disappointed, but nodded. “He seems like he’d be very professional.” She glanced around the room. “It was good seeing you.”
As she moved away, Miles let out a pent-up breath. “Now we’ve spoken with Julia. Ready to head back home?”
But Myrtle was eyeing Ben Foster.
Miles sighed. “You’ve got Ben Foster in your sights.”
“Well, it does make sense to start the matchmaking process when both parties are at the same place.”
Miles said, “Both of the parties or both of the victims?”
“Don’t be obstreperous, Miles! I’m just helping a potential relationship along. I live in Bradley, North Carolina and don’t have a lot to do. Humor me.”
“Go right ahead. I’ll wait at the table for you and finish up my glass of sweet tea.”
So Myrtle headed across the room to where Ben Foster was sitting, alone, at one table. He was so entirely focused on Julia that he didn’t see Myrtle approach him.
He stood up when he did. “Miss Myrtle! Nice to see you.”
She smiled at him and waved him to sit down again, where she joined him. “Hi there, Ben. I won’t be but a minute because my ride is ready to head back home. But I wanted to let you know I was speaking with Julia and she told me how much she respects you.”
Ben immediately turned pink and flustered. “Did she?” His voice squeaked.
Myrtle nodded. “Yes. And she thinks you’re so very accomplished and interesting.”
Ben’s gaze followed Julia again. “But what should I do? This seems like a terrible time to ask her out. Wouldn’t it be very presumptuous? She’s struggling with her father’s death and everything else that goes along with it.”
Myrtle wasn’t at all sure that Julia was struggling at all. If anything, she seemed energized and focused. But then, she’d been wanting to be back at the vineyard for ages, and her father had been her only real obstacle. “I think asking her out right now would make a delightful distraction for Julia.”
Ben still wavered. “I don’t know.”
“Maybe just ask her out for a coffee? Or a drink. Those are pretty easy dates, and short ones.”
Ben nodded, looking across the room again. “Okay. Maybe I’ll just stick around and see if Julia wants a coffee after the service. It’s early for a drink.”
“Good idea,” said Myrtle. “Good luck to you.” And with that, she headed back over to Miles.
Soon, they were both in his car and driving back.
“What are your plans for this afternoon?” asked Myrtle.
Miles said, “I’m completely exhausted. That service really took it out of me.”
“How on earth is that even possible? It was the most innocuous of services. We’ve gone to far more elaborate ones. Ones with choirs and chamber orchestras and eulogies that went on for an hour.”
“Don’t remind me,” said Miles. “Anyway, I’m going to put my feet up for a while. After all, we didn’t get much sleep last night.” The last words were put rather pointedly.
Myrtle, however, was thinking of other things. “At least we had the chance to speak with Liv at the reception. What was your impression of her?”
“Well, she didn’t seem like the harridan Ben had told you she was. And didn’t Julia give you a poor impression of her, too?”
Myrtle said, “She did. I’m more inclined to listen to Ben, since he’s not family. He’d said Liv brought out the worst in Gerald, and then Gerald passed along his bad mood to everyone else.”
“She was certainly on her best behavior at the reception,” said Miles.
“Yes. But she would be, wouldn’t she? The police were there. Plus, she was playing the role of the grieving girlfriend.”
“Although she didn’t seem to be that torn-up over Gerald’s demise,” said Miles.
“No, but we’ve seen people grieve in different ways. She seemed more upset about Julia than anything else.”
Miles nodded as he pulled into Myrtle’s driveway. “True. It sounded like Julia really stepped on Liv’s toes with planning the service.”
“I was thinking more about the fact Julia gave Liv a deadline to leave. It sounds as if Julia is ready to move right into the vineyard. I can’t really blame her, though. After all, she’s waited a long time to get back home.”
Miles said, “What did you make of what Liv said about the will? Do you think Gerald was planning on changing it?”
“It sounded very much like wishful thinking to me, on Liv’s part. Or perhaps an attempt to give Julia a motive for murder. She intimated that Julia was trying to get rid of Gerald before he had the chance to create a new will.”
Miles said, “But if that argument was as bad as Liv was saying, it seems like Gerald might have gotten the new will right away.”
“I’m still finding it hard to believe that Gerald wouldn’t give his daughter the vineyard. It’s a family business. That’s the whole point of it. If he truly was going to give it to a charity to sell or some such, it’s just ridiculous.” Myrtle shook her head. “Although he was a stubborn man.”
Miles suddenly looked alarmed. “Myrtle, Erma is coming outside.” They were both still sitting in Miles’s car in Myrtle’s driveway.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake. I’m in no mood to deal with Erma’s foolishness today. Maybe she hasn’t spotted that we’re sitting in the car.”
But, naturally, she had. Erma’s rat-like face broke into a leering grin, and she waved emphatically at both of them.
Miles said, “Well, bye, Myrtle.”
Myrtle glared at him. “You’re usually such a gentleman. And now you’re rushing me out of your car for the sole purpose of saving yourself from an Erma encounter.”
“I sure am,” said Miles fervently. “I’ve reached my quota of things I didn’t want to do today. Having one more might push me over the edge.”
Myrtle scowled at him. “Fine.” She had more to say on the subject, but then realized she needed Miles tomorrow. Or rather, Miles’s car. The only problem is that Miles’s car usually came with Miles. “Hey, I’m planning on returning to Serenity Springs tomorrow to interview Isabella. You’ll come along, won’t you?”
Miles looked uneasy, possibly because of the thought of poisoned wine. “We won’t be drinking, will we?”
“Of course not. I’ll be there on business. You can just sit by the fireplace and fall asleep again, if you want.”
Miles colored. “I won’t be doing that. I’ll just bring my book along. Have you set things up with Isabella?”
“Not yet. I’ll call her when I get inside. It shouldn’t be an issue. I know she’s probably dying for a good write-up in the paper after the disaster on Saturday.”
Miles suddenly said in a panic, “Erma’s walking this way. Bye, Myrtle.”
Myrtle climbed out of Miles’s car, and he sped off with a wave to Erma. Myrtle sighed.
“Whatcha doing?” asked Erma as she approached.
“I’m trying to get back inside my house.”
Erma gave her braying laugh. “Talk about stating the obvious! Listen, I wanted to see what you thought of my yard so far.”
Myrtle spared an unwilling glance over at her neighbor’s yard. It was a total disaster. There were little springs of grass trying valiantly to survive. Everything else was just the red clay that passed for soil in their neck of the woods.
“Well, it looks like you did a good job getting rid of all the weeds,” said Myrtle.
“Yeah! I didn’t realize all that stuff wasn’t grass. I mean, it was green, so I figured that’s what really counted.”
Myrtle wondered once again how all the hours of Erma’s garden club attendance could have resulted in this outcome.
“It’s a good start,” said Myrtle. “I suppose you’re going to aerate it now? Then seed and fertilize?”
Erma frowned. “Aerate? Should I do that?”
“It’s packed red clay, Erma. You want the ground to be receptive to the seeds.” Myrtle stopped herself. This was a problem. She was setting herself up to be Erma’s yard expert. This was decidedly not a position she wanted to hold. “You know what? I don’t know a lot more than that. Tippy, though, is a genuine expert. Aside from a yard care professional, of course. And a professional is going to charge you for the information. Tippy would just be happy to help.” The last bit was said somewhat viciously. Tippy deserved to be thrown under the bus after kidnapping Myrtle.
Erma beamed at her. “Great idea! I’ll give her a call.”
“Good. See you later, Erma.” Although, not if Myrtle saw her first.