Tyler didn’t give me any instructions, so I followed behind him into the winery. I half-ran in order to keep pace with his longer gait.
He turned to me. “Cen, it’s a crime scene. I don’t think you should…”
“I’ve been to almost every crime scene you have. I’m covering the story, so I might as well go with you. I can be a second set of eyes.”
Tyler shook his head. “No. You can’t divulge non-public information.”
I raised my brows. “You know I won’t print anything without running it by you. Besides, you shouldn’t be in there by yourself. I can corroborate what you see and help you document things. At least let me stay until the Shady Creek Police get here.”
“Alright. Just don’t touch anything.” Tyler pulled a bag of latex gloves from his pocket. He held it out to me. I pulled out a pair of gloves and put them on. He placed the bag back in his pocket after also donning gloves.
As we descended the stairs, the warm glow of the cellar light illuminated the hallway. The cellar door was ajar, the yellow glow of the cellar light almost inviting.
Tyler stepped inside and motioned for me to follow him in a wide arc to the right.
I soon saw why. Faint bloody footprints crossed the cellar’s polished concrete floor. The prints grew darker and more defined the further we stepped into the cellar. Judging from the size of the footprints, they seemed to be men’s shoes with tread like that of a running shoe. They traveled in circles before disappearing into the large pools of smeared blood that stained the floor. In the center of all that blood was a man’s body. He lay on the floor on his back, one arm across his stomach and the other by his side. His shirt was so blood-soaked that it was impossible to tell what color it was.
The man’s face was completely covered in blood, his face almost unrecognizable. I knew it had to be Richard though, because his height and build was unmistakable. His arms were slashed multiple times with what appeared to be defensive wounds.
Richard had fought hard for his life but lost.
The injuries were far beyond what was needed to kill someone. Even I saw that. Whoever the killer was, he had a lot of anger and must have hated Richard with a vengeance.
Tyler held up his cell phone as he dictated his findings. “Multiple stab wounds, chest and neck.”
“More footprints.” I pointed at the polished concrete. There appeared to be two sets, evident by the different tread patterns. Some were clear, others smeared. The second set were also large prints, clearly men’s shoes. I hadn’t noticed two sets of prints on the way inside, but then again, I had been focused on readying myself for what I was about to see in the wine cellar.
“One pair of shoes for the victim, one for the killer?” I asked.
Tyler frowned. “Could be, but I doubt the victim would still be standing upright after losing that much blood. Could be a killer and an accomplice.”
“I can’t believe Antonio did this. How could he? He had left the wine festival alone and called in about fifteen minutes later. Is that enough time to kill someone? Richard left right before Antonio, according to Aunt Pearl. Each was in their own car.”
“The killer’s accomplice could have been already waiting here,” Tyler said.
At least he was open-minded enough not to say Antonio’s accomplice.
Tyler again dictated into his phone. “No signs of robbery or forced entry. Clearly a lot of rage against the victim judging by the many stab wounds. This crime was personal.”
I nodded. “Richard’s a large man. It would have been hard to take him down, even a surprise attack in a fit of rage.” My pulse quickened as I recalled Antonio’s angry encounter with Richard yesterday. He hadn’t been himself lately, but he wouldn’t go so far as to kill someone.
Or would he? He had been acting so strange lately that anything was possible.
Tyler slipped his phone into his jacket pocket. “You’d be surprised at what people will do when they’re desperate, Cen. Right now, everything points to Antonio. He discovered Richard’s body and, according to Pearl’s eyewitness account, he drove out of the school parking lot right behind Richard. That meant Antonio was likely the last person to see Richard alive. I don’t want to believe it either, but unless Antonio can place other people in that timeline, there’s nobody else involved.”
“But—”
“I’ve got to go where the facts lead me.” Tyler motioned to the stairs. “Head upstairs and I’ll follow in a minute. I want to film the scene for review later.”
“Won’t the Shady Creek crime scene techs take care of that?”
He nodded. “They will, but for now I’m going record my own version so I can start working the case right away. The whole town will be on edge. I need to solve this fast.”
I headed up the cellar stairs and walked through the winery, careful to stay away from the bloody footprints that grew fainter as they exited the wine cellar. The second set was barely visible except for smeared heels, almost like the person was limping or somehow walking unevenly.
There was something else. We had loaded up Antonio’s truck last night, but that hadn’t been all of the wine. There had been too much to fit in Antonio’s truck, so we had stacked the excess against the wall in the winery. Yet it was now all gone.
Had Aunt Pearl taken both the wine in Antonio’s truck and the wine left behind inside the winery? That meant she had also returned to the winery. Had she returned to the wine cellar too?
I walked through the open winery door and inhaled the fresh air. I felt Antonio’s eyes on me as I walked toward
