The kitchen door flung open and Lizzie announced, “Bradley Jamison is on the winery phone for you, Norrie. Said his calls kept going to voicemail. I’ve got to hurry back to the cash register. Sam’s keeping an eye on it for me.”
The last time I spoke with Bradley was last night. Last night! What the heck was wrong with me? I was dating the guy, after all. Shouldn’t I have at least called him about the body in the pond? It was a good thing he couldn’t see the look on my face when I picked up the phone. There was only one word to describe it—sheepish.
I tried to sound nonchalant. “Bradley, hi!”
He sounded as if he was out of breath but it could have been the connection. “Sorry to bother you during a wine event,” he said, “but I thought you should know something. Marvin called me from his sister’s house. His nephew is an EMT in Yates County and he was supposed to have a family luncheon with them today, only he got called over to your neighbor’s property for a search and recover. Gable Hill Winery. I don’t know the details but thought you should be aware. I hope it doesn’t have anything to do with the wine event.”
At that moment I felt like the biggest heel in dating history. I should have at least phoned him. I took a breath, cleared my throat and said, “Charlie found the evidence leading up to finding a body in their irrigation pond this morning. It’s been a circus ever since. I was going to call you but Deputy Hickman showed up at the winery and things sort of spiraled from there.”
“Hey, don’t beat yourself up over it. I understand. Is there anything I can do?”
Not unless you can wave a magic wand and make all of this go away.
“Not really. The sheriff’s office hasn’t made an official identification of the body but I’ll tell you who I think it is. It’s the film director for Windswept Love. Devora Dobrowski. The she-witch from Toronto. Oh, my gosh. I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead.”
Then, for the next five minutes, while dodging Lizzie’s looks since the phone was right behind her counter, I went on to tell Bradley everything about Devora and the rest of the crew.
“Yeah,” he said. “You mentioned what a tyrant she was but you never told me her name. Devora Dobrowski, right? Could it possibly be the same woman from that infamous Dobrowski divorce case in Canada that wound up in law school classes everywhere? Not the divorce itself, mind you. The property division and all the tentacles that went with it. Including a multitude of legal briefs, but that’s not all. Are you ready for this? It’s still going on. Not only that, but since Canadian divorce laws are akin to ours, there are law classes that deal solely with that divorce.”
“You’ve got to be kidding? I thought Canada was a no-fault country as far as divorce goes.”
“It is. They operate under the premise of a marriage breakdown. But we’re not talking divorce per se, we’re talking settlement.”
“And you think it could be the same woman? The director?”
“I know the husband is Gerard Dobrowski, the CEO of Brouse Candies, a multinational company, but I’m not sure about the wife. Look, how about if I do a little digging and let you know?”
“That would be fantastic. If it is her, then maybe her estranged husband had something to do with her death. And notice I’m saying death and not murder because, according to Deputy Hickman, ‘the situation is under investigation.’”
“That means the body, too, Norrie. As a lawyer as well as the guy you’re dating, please take my advice and don’t say anything to anyone until the sheriff makes a positive ID. Okay?”
Define “anyone.”
“No problem.”
“How about I pick you up on Wednesday and we chow down at Uncle Joe’s, or maybe even Stonecutter’s Tavern?”
“You’ve got a deal. See you then.”
I kept my word as far as not telling anyone else about my recent revelation regarding the body in the pond. At least until four fifteen. That’s when Stefan came back into the winery looking for me. I was helping Emma dole out the last of the mac and cheese since the part-time workers were on break.
Stefan spotted me and hurried over. “Skylar, Rikesh, and Mickey are done for the day. At least in the vineyard. Gavin and Priscilla left for the Ramada about an hour ago. They would’ve left sooner but Priscilla went nuts because her necklace was missing. Pain in the butt for us, too, since that necklace appeared in prior footage. I told her to get her rear end over to Walmart or Target and buy something that looked similar. You can’t believe how berserk viewers get when all of a sudden something a character was wearing isn’t there anymore. Especially in the same scene.”
“Won’t they notice a different necklace?”
“Nah. We’ll make sure not to zoom in on the necklace.” Then he sighed. “What a day. If looking for the necklace wasn’t enough, Priscilla wound up posing for selfies with a few fans and two of your guys who looked like college kids.”
Marc and Enzo, no doubt.
I started to say something but Stefan kept talking. “Listen, if Devora shows up, tell her we went back to the hotel. Skylar and Rikesh need to review the footage with her. With my dumb luck, we’ll probably pass her on the road and not know it.”
It was all I could do not to blurt out, “Your director is dead,” but I bit my lower lip and mumbled, “Uh, sure thing.”
“Great,” he said. “We’ll be back tomorrow morning. Should be a tad easier, eh? Without that wine and cheese thing going on.”
Easier was the last word I’d use to describe the situation but I bobbed my head and smiled. Either Priscilla was a better actress than I thought and pretended to have lost the necklace when in fact she used it to commit a murder, or she really did lose it and someone else found the perfect weapon.
• • •
A half hour later, the Wine and Cheese event officially concluded. Of course, the winery stayed open until five thirty since it was a special event, so the last of our customers didn’t leave until almost six. No one wanted to rush them as they made their wine and gift purchases.
Then the cleanup began. Glasses that needed to be washed, tables that had to be wiped down, food trays from the mac and cheese that had to be scoured, and ugh, bathrooms that had to be sanitized.
Fortunately, Cammy arranged for a local cleaning service to handle the really dirty work and their crew arrived at six thirty. Two men and a woman. They had worked for us before and knew the routine but Cammy still went over it with them.
“Did you catch the five o’clock news?” the heavyset woman asked. “They found a body at the winery next to yours. It was a woman.”
I all but tackled her. “Did they give a name? Did they say who she was?”
The cleaning woman shook her head. “Nope. The news anchors on Channel 8 said it was still under investigation and a positive identification hadn’t been made.”
“What else did they say?”
“I don’t know. I had to turn off the TV to drive over here from Waterloo.”
Drat. The next news wouldn’t hit the TV until seven. That meant sweating it out for the next half hour because I seriously doubted my news app would have more to offer up. Cammy must have sensed my impatience because she said, “We’ll be fine, Norrie. You might as well get out of here while you can.” Then she pulled me aside and whispered, “Call me if you find out anything.”
“Thanks, everyone!” I shouted. I was out the door before anyone could say anything. Especially Glenda. The last thing I needed was to hear about restless spirits, or worse yet, the stinky and unsavory herbs needed to rid ourselves of them.
As promised to Deputy Hickman, Godfrey, and Bradley, I didn’t say a word to Stefan, but I wondered how long it would take them to notice Devora’s absence, catch the nightly news, and put two and two together.
Charlie rolled his kibble dish into the living room as soon as I opened the door. In all honesty, I couldn’t remember if I’d fed him this morning or not. I immediately poured a heap of his grain-free kibble and then took off my jacket. At least I knew Alvin would be well-fed. The last thing those vineyard guys needed was to have that goat knock down his fence in an attempt to locate some grub.
I turned on the TV but still had fifteen minutes until the news came on. True, I had given my word to keep mum about the pond incident, as I began to call it, but I felt as if I owed it to Renee to keep her informed. That’s when I devised a way to ease her into the situation.
Thanks to speed dial, the connection was instant. Renee picked up after two rings and sounded as chipper as ever. “Hey, Norrie, how’s the filming going? I got a report yesterday afternoon from Devora. She said things were moving slowly due to ‘an overabundance of intoxicated wine drinkers who clogged up the area.’ I reassured her that the event would be over today and she’d have a peaceful week to finish up.”
“Uh, yeah. It’ll be peaceful for her, all right.”
“Good. Good. Did she need you to make many script changes?”
“No, but I didn’t see her today. In fact, neither did her crew. Skylar said they were doing a technical shoot so it wasn’t too unusual for the director to be absent.”
“I know. Lots of adjustments for lighting and sound. At least the weather in your neck of the woods is decent. Wet snow on the ground but no storms. Much better than what we’ve got going on here.”
Don’t bet on it.
“Oh, we’ve had our share of issues here, too. A body was found in the irrigation pond at the winery next door.”
“Oh, dear. That’s horrible. An intoxicated tourist maybe?”
“Oh, hard to say. Um, anyway, I just wanted to check in, that’s all.”
“All right, then. And thanks, Norrie, for being such a sport. We’ll be out of there in no time.”
When I ended the call, I had five minutes to go before the news came on. If nothing else, I had laid the groundwork for what would become a really nasty surprise for Renee. At least I could always say I kept her apprised of things. Then I plunked myself on the couch, flipped on the TV and read my texts. Godfrey said he’d meet me at Tim Hortons at eight. I immediately called him rather than send a text.
“Hey, Godfrey. Can we change the meeting place to the Ramada Inn?”
“Please don’t tell me you plan to snoop around?”
“Not exactly, but I plan to look for evidence.”
He sounded exasperated. “What evidence? The sheriff’s office hasn’t even identified the body.”
“The five o’clock news on Channel 8 said it was a woman. I’m really positive it’s Devora and I’m pretty sure Priscilla may have had something to do with it. Stefan, Devora’s assistant, told me Priscilla lost her necklace. She probably said that to throw everyone off.”
“Even if what you say is true, what do you expect to find at the Ramada?”
I spoke slowly and enunciated every word. “Evidence on Priscilla’s hands.”
“You’ve lost me.”
“Look, if Priscilla used that necklace to strangle Devora, chances are her fingernails are chipped, or at the very least there are small cuts on her hands. Devora must have fought back. When Priscilla was in our winery yesterday, I observed a perfect manicure. I need to see if that’s the case.”
“What do you plan to do? Knock on her door and demand a hand inspection? She’s not in the army.”
“Don’t be silly. We’ll hang out at the bar and buzz her room to invite her for drinks along with the rest of the film crew.”
“And if she declines your offer?”
“I’ll think of something else. In fact, I’ll have a plan B in the works.”
“Heaven help us.”
“Then you’ll meet me at the Ramada?”
“I have to. I’m afraid to leave you alone.”