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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