Clarets of Fire Page 19

  Maybe I need searchlights.

  I could see Jack looking at me in the rearview mirror. “Augie called me a couple of hours ago to find out where Isabella was. He said that Inspector Mason had been sent a text with a receipt attached showing delivery of a pizza oven to the winery. Mason was able to contact the distributor and confirm that they had been paid with a cashier’s check, drawn from Malcolm’s bank.”

  “Thank goodness. Malcolm must have found the receipt sometime this evening and sent the text.” My brain was slowly starting to charge its pistons.

  “I don’t think that it was Malcolm, but Augie will know.” Jack was safely and easily driving up the hill when we encountered Penelope leading Sally, Peggy, and Aimee down the road with torches. Jack rolled down his window.

  “Jack, you made it tonight. I guess you couldn’t bear to be without your sweetheart for even one night,” Penelope teased.

  “It’s a little more complicated than that. Halsey and Marisol had an accident and drove off the road.”

  “What?” Sally screamed.

  “She seems alert and Marisol is fine,” Jack said, trying to calm her down. “Let’s meet up at the winery where you can examine her more closely.”

  “Take her directly to the barn,” Penelope instructed. “We’ll meet you there. Sally, I have a most impressive first aid kit that you can use.”

  “What about Bardot? Did you find her?” Peggy was also getting frantic.

  “She’s on her back snoring on the seat right now, showing us her coochie in all its glory,” Marisol hollered from the backseat.

  “That girl, she’s something,” Aimee said, smile/crying.

  “When you arrive, bring Halsey to the sofa in front of the fire, Jack.”

  “Will do, Penelope.”

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Jack drove the rest of the way up and pulled over into the parking area that we were all using.

  “Slide over a bit, Halsey, and I’ll carry you into the barn,” Jack offered.

  “I want to try my legs out and see how I feel. Can you just help me up?”

  “Sure, babe.”

  I stood and was grateful that I didn’t feel any shooting pain either up or down my legs or my spine. The only place that was throbbing a little was my backside.

  “I’m starting to remember what happened. I think after the car stopped, I had this premonition of it catching fire and having trouble getting out. I must have released my seat belt, opened my door, and rolled out. For a moment I guess I forgot that I drive an SUV and landed directly on my backside.”

  “You did and all the while you were yelling ‘I didn’t start the fire,’” Marisol explained, extending her hand to help me walk.

  Billy Joel? Really? Was he to be my last dying thought?

  Augie and Rico arrived and parked beside us.

  “Rico, I have no idea where Isabella is, but Penelope is meeting us in the barn and I’m sure she’ll know.”

  “Thank you, Halsey. Let me help you walk.” Rico took my other arm, and the two pretty much acted as human crutches.

  Once we were settled on the sofa and club chairs, Jack knelt beside me and checked for damage.

  “Does this hurt?” He touched my knee and I shook my head. “How about this?” he asked, checking both my wrists. Once again, I shook my head.

  “Jack, there is only one spot on my body that must have taken the brunt of the impact when I fell out of the car.”

  “It has to be her bootie, she landed right on it.”

  Thanks, Marisol.

  Jack was about to roll me over when I stopped him.

  “Sally will be here any second. Augie, did you call Inspector Mason or did he call you?” I asked, sitting up and then feeling the weight shoot straight to my butt.

  “He called me,” Augie responded, looking concerned for my injuries. I remembered that he was very squeamish when it came to medical conditions and especially needles. I’d hoped that there was one in Penelope’s first aid kit. I’d hardly had any fun this evening.

  “Here we are,” Penelope said, riding in on a golf cart. Her passengers were Sally, Peggy, and Aimee. Even Bardot woke up, sensing a party brewing.

  “I’m going to take your vitals first,” nurse Sally explained, relieving Jack.

  “Augie, where’d you come from?” Peggy looked bewildered, wide-eyed. When she saw Rico, she went into full-on confusion.

  Augie recounted the story of the receipt, the text to Inspector Mason, and Rico’s resulting acquittal.

  “If you don’t mind, Miss Penelope, I’d like to see my wife. Do you know where Isabella is right now?” Rico pleaded softly.

  “She wasn’t down at the bonfire. What happened, Penelope?” Malcolm asked after entering the barn and seeing Sally taking my blood pressure.

  “Hello, darling. I’m so glad that you’re here . . . Halsey and Marisol were in an accident on our horribly dark road to the vineyards. We need to get lights installed immediately.”

  “The electrician’s coming on Saturday, my dear,” Malcolm assured her. “Is Halsey going to be okay?” He peered over Sally’s shoulder at me.

  “Her vitals are stable, and she’s confided in me where her pain is centered. I’m going to need to examine her privately,” Sally stated matter-of-factly.

  “She busted her butt,” Marisol translated.

  “Then let’s get Halsey up to her room.” Penelope took charge. “If you boys want to wash up and get something to eat or drink, Malcolm can show you to the downstairs bath and kitchen.”

  I really didn’t want to move . . . the warm fire was so comforting, the buttery soft leather sofa was cradling me in its arms, and the people and dog that I love surrounded me. When I didn’t move right away, I started to get concerned looks. I didn’t want to have the ambulance discussion again, so I got to my feet.

  Penelope smiled and swung an arm over my shoulders. “Rico, follow us, and I’ll show you where Isabella is staying. Poor dear, she’s probably fast asleep after such a busy evening. But everyone agreed, her pizzas were absolutely divine.”

  “Great, so the clay oven in the patio worked well, yes?” Rico asked.

  “What? Oh no, luv, she baked them in the new oven. That definitely made a huge difference.”

  Rico stopped in his tracks. “Oh, did someone light the oven for her?”

  “I don’t think so.” Penelope looked to Malcolm and he shook his head. At this point we were all stopped on the second-floor balcony.

  “She doesn’t know anything about the oven heat-up procedure, so she wouldn’t know how to light the pilot. She always said that she was afraid of the fire.” I saw fear in Rico’s eyes.

  “Augie?” I shouted down to him.

  “Yes?” He looked up at me.

  “Did Inspector Mason tell you who sent him the text with the receipt attached?”

  “I believe that he said it was Andrew, why?”

  “Penelope, which room is Isabella’s?” I asked.

  It was the second one in. Penelope tapped at the door and then tried the knob. It opened, and she switched on the light.

  “It’s empty . . . she’s not here!”

  A flood of images and words suddenly were placed in the correct order in my mind.

  “Quick,” I shouted. “We’ve got to get to the grapevines. I have a strong feeling that incendiary devices are being set around them as we speak.”

  “Why?” Malcolm shouted back to me.

  “Because I think that someone wants your entire harvest to go up in flames!”

  * * *

  We followed Malcolm to a separate structure that served as a storeroom/garage. He doled out high-power flashlights and two-way radios that we made sure were all set to the same channel. I saw Marisol’s eyes light up at the introduction of equipment used in espionage.

  There were also three more golf carts charged and ready to go. Jack took charge, my manly man.

  “Malcolm you take a cart, and, Peggy and Sally, you g
o ahead and ride with him.”

  They nodded and took their seats.

  “Augie, you take this one and Rico and Marisol.”

  “Got it,” he said.

  “We need to cover as much ground as possible because the fire starters could be set anywhere. In this dry brush a fire will spread quickly,” I informed them.

  “Exactly, so, Aimee, you ride with Penelope and I’ll take Halsey and Bardot,” Jack concluded. “Malcolm, do you want to assign each of us a tier?”

  “Right. We’ll double up on the lowest tier because it has the most acreage.” Malcolm continued his instructions as he passed out fire extinguishers for each party.

  “Are you sure about this?” Jack whispered to me when we got into the cart.

  “Pretty much. I just don’t know one hundred percent who will be holding the match.”

  “There’s only one way to find out.” Jack backed the cart out and we headed down the hill toward the second tier.

  “Tell me how your thinking got you to this point, Halsey?” Despite the urgency, Jack was taking the curves slowly. One crash a night was enough.

  “The first big hurdle was deciding if the fire and the stealing of the drugstore safe were two separate crimes or one big act of defiance. I kept going back and forth on that.”

  “Understandable.”

  “Then with the attrition of suspects and my gut belief that Rico would never commit a crime, let alone arson, the field slimmed down quickly.”

  “This looks like the entrance,” Jack said, and pulled off onto a narrower pathway that ran the side of the hill in between rows of grapevines. He stopped the cart and we surveyed the scene. Below we could see intermittent lights from the first-tier search teams.

  “I guess we should just go along one row to the end and then switchback to the next?” Jack tugged at his beard.

  Clouds that had formed as a result of the temperature shift to colder air had obscured the moon. We were riding low, and I was struck by how dry the ground was as compared to say, strawberry fields. I remembered overhearing Andrew tell Sally earlier at dinner that grapes are a dry climate fruit. If you restrict their water the right amount during the season they’ll work harder to grow and become their most flavorful. He certainly knew his viticulture, which made it difficult for me to imagine his wanting to destroy these beautiful vines.

  The pathway between the rows was dirt with sparse bits of grass growing thanks to stray spritzes of water that came off the irrigation system. The vines themselves grew out of short root stocks and were supported by a trellis made up of several rows of heavy wire attached to posts about six feet high.

  Bardot’s eyes were wide open, and her nose was working overtime. Noticing this, Jack said, “I think that we need to put Bardot to work.”

  “This might help.” I produced the piece of orange plastic from my pocket and let her take in a good, long sniff.

  “What’s that?” Jack took it from my hands for a closer look.

  “It’s something that was found in the ashes after the fire.”

  “You mean like evidence? How did you get this? Shouldn’t it be with the police or fire inspectors?”

  This line of questioning was going to land me in hot water with Jack, and we had bigger fish to fry just now.

  “I’ll explain later, Jack. I’m going to send Bardot loose and we can follow slowly behind. Use your flashlight along the base of the vines. You’re looking for mounds of brush with maybe a wine bottle underneath.”

  “Okay, but I’m not forgetting about this.”

  “Of course you’re not.”

  “How long do you guess it will take these timed devices to ignite, Halsey?”

  “From the little bit of research that I’ve done, I say ten minutes, max. I need to radio everyone and tell them what to look for.”

  I kept my eyes on Bardot while I relayed the information. When I was done, I had a thought and got back on the radio.

  “Hey, Rico? This is Halsey again.”

  “Yes?”

  “Odd question, but what do you usually use to ignite the pilot light in your pizza oven?” I was reaching, but the right response would tell me a lot.

  “I have a box of these sticks that are made of wood and paraffin wax.”

  “Hey, Halsey?” This time it was Malcolm speaking.

  “Hi, Malcolm.”

  “We use the same sticks to light the clay oven. There’s a big box of them in the kitchen if you need any.”

  “No, Malcolm, I don’t, but I suggest you look out for them on any piles of brush that you find.”

  “Will do. Oh no . . . there are flames right in front of us. Got to go!”

  Just then Bardot stuck her nose in the air and then took off like a shot down the path.

  “Follow her!” I told Jack.

  “I’m trying, but Bardot is way faster than this bucket of bolts.”

  It was hard to keep up and see her. Jack accelerated the cart and it bumped and jostled us, making my hand holding the flashlight go haywire. The vines with their lush leaves spread wide along the row, making it easy for someone to hide among them.

  I tried to keep a light on her even though she was far ahead of us. If my butt hadn’t been so sore, I would have gotten out and ran. I watched as she came to a stop, stuck her head into the leaves of some vines, and wagged her tail. I hoped that last gesture was a good sign.

  When we caught up with Bardot, I shone my flashlight around the area. I recognized her yellow tail swishing among the grape leaves. Then the light caught a pair of hands wielding an orange forked tool on the other side of the vine.

  “I barely caught this one in time,” said a male voice. “Had to sacrifice some grapes I’m afraid.”

  “Andrew?” I asked. Jack was out of the cart in a flash and moved into position between the two of us.

  I put my hand on Jack’s arm and tugged him gently back beside me.

  “How did you know what to look for, Andrew?”

  “I heard it on the radio; you all have been blabbering for over an hour.”

  I nodded, letting that piece of the puzzle sink in.

  “What is that orange thing that you’re holding?” I was transfixed on it.

  “This?” Andrew opened his hand to reveal that it had an orange forked end about four inches long attached to a black corrugated handle. “It’s a grape razor harvesting tool. Penelope insisted on orange for the winery, in honor of Malcolm’s hair I guess.”

  “So, you didn’t have anything to do with the fire in the strip mall?” Jack asked, stunned at the realization.

  “Hell no, is that what you think, Jack?”

  Andrew stood up with grapes in one hand and a waxy stick in the other.

  “It’s a good thing that the damp sea air blew in or these things would have gone up like Chinese lanterns. I can finish this row if you want to hit the top one. I suspect that the culprit is long gone by now.”

  “Bardot! Come on up.” I patted the backseat of the cart.

  “This might be a rude question, but why does she like you so much?” I sheepishly said to Andrew.

  “It could be these.” He pulled a baggie out of his pocket. “Dried mangoes. I got hooked on them when a fellow surfer offered me one after we’d paddled out. Great source of antioxidants and gives you an energy boost between sets. Bardot sniffed them out when we met at the block party, and I must confess I’ve been sneaking them to her ever since. I did check that they are safe for dogs to eat.” Andrew grinned and shrugged his shoulders. He was back to being cute again in my eyes.

  I watched Andrew lope off along the row of vineyards to search for more incendiary devices. Bardot looked at me and I could tell that she wanted to follow him.

  “It looks like there’s a fire starting on the row above us, so we’d better boogie, honey.” Jack started up the golf cart and we headed up.

  “See you at the top,” Andrew shouted back to us.

  “I’m totally confused,” Jack said onc
e we rounded the switchback and drove toward the flames. “What just happened back there? And, more importantly, who is setting these fires?” Jack’s raised voice showed his frustration.

  “You’re about to see. I’m afraid that my intuition was correct,” I said as we came to a stop. I doused the fire with one of the extinguishers.

  “You might as well come out, Isabella,” I said, clearing some leaves out of the way.

  Jack shone his flashlight into the vines and caught Isabella’s face. She was smoking a cigarette. I flashed back to Isabella admitting that when Rico wasn’t looking, she’d occasionally sneak out for a smoke with Brandon and Roberto.

  “Where’s your partner in crime, Isabella?” I took her hand and pulled her to her feet.

  “I don’t know what you are talking about? I am trying to put out the fires just like the others.” She couldn’t look me in the eye.

  “Augie? We’re going to need you on tier two,” Jack said into the radio.

  “Go ahead, Isabella, call out his name,” I challenged her. “No reason to protect him now and the truth is going to come out.”

  “Not Rico?” Jack asked me.

  I shook my head.

  “Go on,” I ordered.

  “Okay.” Isabella took in a breath of resignation. “Brandon?”

  “Yeah?”

  From the top row of this tier we heard the rustle of leaves and the crunch of dry earth. We shone our lights in that direction and caught Brandon coming down the hill toward us. He still looked like an aimless surfer dude in board shorts and a graphic tee, but his facial expression betrayed a sense of worry going on inside. When he got close, we lowered our lights so that he could see where he was walking.

  “Oh shit,” he said, recognizing Augie in the group. “Are we busted?” he asked Isabella.

  “You are,” Isabella replied quickly. “I was here trying to stop you. Ungrateful snot that you are.”

  That was an entirely new tone of voice I was hearing from Isabella, and it served to confirm my suspicions.

  Augie put Brandon in zip tie restraints and sat him down in his golf cart. For added good measure he also secured those restraints to the side rail of the seat.

  Once there was no longer a risk of Brandon running away, Augie turned his attention back to us.