Crush

created all our proprietary blends.”

“Is he happily married?”

The smile faded from Crystal’s face. “Is who happily married?”

Vail held out her hands, palm up, as if it were obvious. “The winemaker. Wedded Bliss. Surely he must —”

“We actually have some important questions for you,” Dixon said. She looked at Vail and shook her head.

Is she scolding me? Hey, I haven’t had a whole lot of sleep. I’m punchy. She realized Crystal was giving her a sympathetic look. Did I say that out loud? Shit, Dixon was right. I shouldn’t have had that wine. But it was so good. And I did deserve it.

“Agent Vail?”

“Hmm?” Vail focused on Crystal, but her gaze was a bit unsteady. “What do you put in your wine? It’s strong.”

“The alcohol content hovers around 14 percent. It’s not significantly different from any other fine wine. When did you last eat?”

“Eat?”

Crystal reached over, lifted her phone from its cradle, and asked the person at the other end to bring up some soda crackers to her office.

“Good idea,” Dixon said. She looked disapprovingly at Vail, then turned her attention back to Crystal. “Nice to hear about Wedded Bliss, but we really need info on your board. Georges Valley AVA.”

“Sure. But my term as president is due to expire next month. I’m not sure you want to be talking with me, or with the incoming president.”

The doors behind them slid apart and the black suited gentleman who greeted them earlier entered carrying a silver tray. At Crystal’s direction, he set it down on the desk in front of Vail and then left. Vail leaned forward and examined the spread. Soda crackers, as ordered. Sliced fruit, breadsticks, and cubed cheese.

“Please,” Crystal said.

“Don’t mind if I do. Very kind of you.” Jeez, I need to keep my mouth shut till I get some food in my stomach. She took a napkin from the side of the tray, selected a toothpick and loaded up on cheese and crackers. Within seconds, she was munching away.

“Actually,” Dixon said, “you’re the person we want to talk with.” She reached over and removed the manila folder from Vail’s lap, then opened it. “Victoria Cameron was due to take over as president, right?”

Crystal’s cheerful face hardened. Her eyes misted. “Terrible tragedy, Victoria. I—you just never know, do you? I mean, a stroke at thirty-seven? That’s . . . it’s just shocking.”

“Yes, just shocking,” Vail repeated as she reached for a breadstick and more cheese. Got news for you, Crystal. If you find that shocking, I wonder what you’ll think when you find out what really happened to her.

Dixon sighed. “It was tragic. But with Victoria . . . deceased . . . who’s taking her place as incoming president?”

“Well, it’s all spelled out in our bylaws. Victoria was our VP of Administration—she handled administrative matters the board had to deal with, took minutes, distributed proxies, liaised with the VP of Budget and Finance to ensure we had our statements each meeting, that sort of thing. The Admin VP was next in line for president on a three-year rotation. If the Admin VP isn’t able to carry out those duties, it falls to the Marketing VP. And that’s Alec Crawford.”

“Can we get a copy of your bylaws?”

“I’ll have them emailed over to you, if you’d like.”

“That’d be fine.” Dixon dug out a business card and handed it across the desk to Crystal. “And a list of all the names of the board members, too, with phone numbers and addresses.”

“We’ve got a phone tree I can send you.”

“And a copy of your board’s minutes for the past twelve months.”

Crystal tilted her head. “Now that might be a problem. Our minutes are not public record. There are proprietary secrets discussed at these meetings. And I’m not at liberty to release that information.”

“Well I’m at liberty to get it,” Dixon said. “I’ll have a subpoena issued if you think it’s necessary.”

Crystal leaned back in her chair. “I’m afraid it will be necessary.”

Vail had polished off half the tray. Only the fruit was left—and she was already feeling more lucid. “We’re not trying to be difficult. It’s just information we think may be useful.”

“Useful in what?” Crystal asked. “Is this about Victoria?”

“We’re not at liberty to say.” Vail winced. “Sorry, I’m not trying to be a wiseass.” At least, not right now. “But this is a sensitive investigation and we can’t say what it is that we’re investigating.” Sure sounds like bullshit doubletalk to me, but what the hell, sometimes witnesses buy it.

“Do I need my attorney? Or the board’s attorney?” Crystal asked.

Dixon crossed one leg over the other. “Not unless you or your board has done something wrong. And we have no indication of that, if that makes you feel more comfortable.”

“We’re having some difficulties with our investigation,” Vail added. “It’s got nothing to do with Wedded Bliss or the Georges Valley AVA—but we’re doing our due diligence in trying to cover all the bases.”

“You’re fishing,” Crystal said.

Dixon shrugged. “Kind of.”

“I’ll see what I can do about releasing the minutes to you. I have to contact the executive committee.”

“We appreciate it.” Dixon looked down at the file. “Meanwhile, can you tell us what the abbreviation ‘SMB’ might stand for?”

Crystal held out her hands. “In what context? Sounds like someone’s initials.”

Vail didn’t want to disclose they had Victoria’s notes, and she hoped Dixon was on the same page. “Let’s just say we came across it in our investigation. Something from January.”

Crystal nodded animatedly. “Ah, then that would be Superior Mobile Bottling.”

“Do you or any of the other bottlers who are members of your board use Superior?” Vail asked.

Crystal smiled. “Well, the way our AVA works is a little unusual. Our members pool their purchasing power. Wine making is a business like any other. Our goal is to make money while turning out a quality product. All businesses do well to carefully monitor their expenses. The more they pay out—”

“Thanks for the business lesson,” Dixon said. “But the point is—”

“The point is that the more we order of something, the better our prices. We use the AVA as a means of keeping our bottling expenses low. So we contract with Superior to do the bottling for all our member wineries. And as a result, we get rock bottom pricing.”

“You all use the same bottler?”

Crystal bobbed her head. “For the most part. There are a few who’ve had bottling facilities for years, so they don’t participate, unless they have some specialty wines they need bottled a certain way.”

Vail shook her head. “Let’s back up a second. Bottling includes what, exactly?”

“Gas sparging the bottles, filling them with juice, corking them, applying the labels and capsules, and then boxing them into cases.”

“And this is done at the winery, right?” Vail asked.

“That’s what I was saying. Some larger wineries have the capacity to do this. Many don’t. And many don’t want to do it because it means committing a large amount of space to something that only gets used two weeks out of a year. And they have to maintain and upgrade the equipment every so often to increase capacity, or to accommodate new technology to increase efficiency. It’s a lot of headache and expense. Easier, and usually more cost efficient, to let someone else worry about it.”

Dixon nodded. “So the ‘mobile’ in Superior Mobile Bottling means they come to you.”

“Exactly,” Crystal said. “They have semi trucks that are outfitted with all the equipment. They come to your winery, hook up to your electrical grid, and eight hours later, you’ve got finished cases of wine. A state-of-the-art truck, like the kind Superior has, can do a hundred bottles per minute, about 2,500 to 3,000 cases a day.”

Vail picked up a strawberry from the platter. “Sounds like a nobrainer.”