“Trina didn’t have access either?”
“No,” Antonio said. “Jose refused to let her have it.”
Trina flinched. She looked away, clearly embarrassed.
“Why not Trina?” Tyler asked. “She’s your full-time employee. Isn’t it risky to restrict access to only one person? What if something happened to you?”
“It’s more about Jose than it is about Trina,” Antonio said. “He thinks Trina acts more like an owner than an employee. That’s what I like about her—she treats our business like it’s her own. She makes good decisions, and she’s got me out of a pinch more times than I can count. The truth is, I couldn’t do it without her. Jose’s always leaving me in the lurch, and I can count on Trina to take care of things. I don’t know why I kowtow to him all the time. In fact, when the tech comes on Monday, I’m going to ask him to set her up with wine cellar access. I don’t care whether Jose likes it or not.”
“Come Monday, it could be the bank calling the shots,” I reminded Antonio. “Besides, this is an active murder investigation. There’s no way you’re going to be allowed to alter user access for the wine cellar lock. I doubt you’ll even be able to get the light fixed. Everything is evidence and has to stay exactly as it is for now.”
“Cen’s right,” Tyler said. “Everything’s on hold right now.”
“Even the foreclosure?” Trina looked hopeful.
“Physical possession, at least.” Tyler looked at Antonio. “One more thing…you’ll need to find somewhere else to stay for the next while.”
I wondered how the bank would gain access once the winery was foreclosed on. Could they force Antonio to unlock it with his fingerprint? Or could the door be removed somehow?
It was as if Antonio read my mind. “Make sure you keep that wine cellar door open. If it locks, there’s no way to reopen it yourself. Even the hinges are on the inside so they can’t be tampered with.”
“Nothing’s tamperproof. With the right tools—” I stopped myself. A toolkit of spells could probably open the door too. I had to acknowledge that fact, unpleasant as it was.
“You planning on going somewhere, Antonio?” Tyler’s eyes locked on his.
“No, of course not,” Antonio said. “Only that if I’m not allowed back on my own property, then you’ll need a backup plan for the lock.”
Tyler cleared his throat. “Said by the guy with no backup plan. Everything about that lock says that you’re the one that opened it, Antonio. If you have any information that says otherwise, you need to tell me right now.”
“You’ll have to ask SecureTech, the company that installed it,” Antonio said. “I already have a technician coming on Monday to fix a burnt-out bulb and bring me a new instruction manual. You can talk to him then.”
“Can’t wait that long,” Tyler said. “I’ll call and get them out here right away.”
Antonio shook his head. “You can’t get anyone out here on a Saturday. They’re an hour away and closed till Monday. You can’t reach anyone by phone on weekends either.”
“I’ll need your code.” Tyler handed Antonio his notepad and a pen. He waited until Antonio wrote it down and handed the pen and paper back. “Also, I’ll be confirming everything you said with Jose.”
“Go ahead. He’s out of town for a few days, though, out on the coast delivering wine,” Antonio said.
Tyler frowned. “That’s okay, I’ll track him down.”
“I just did,” Trina said. “He turned the truck around, and he’s heading back right now.”
Tyler said, “You say you’re the only one with access, Antonio. Yet I didn’t see any signs of forced entry.”
“SecureTech has a lot of explaining to do,” Antonio said. “They told me that their technology can’t be compromised, that even copying my fingerprint wouldn’t defeat their secret technology. I don’t understand how anyone got inside.”
“I don’t either,” Tyler said tersely. “Unless Richard somehow unlocked the door, closed it behind him, and then killed himself.”
Antonio shrugged. “It seemed impossible to me too, but there he was. My foot hit something heavy, and that’s when I tripped and lost my balance. I fell right on top of him. His body felt kind of uh, I don’t know…lifeless and dense. I don’t know how to explain it, but he didn’t move or make a sound when—” Antonio shuddered and sucked in his breath. “I definitely locked the wine cellar, Tyler. Trina already told you that, so you have her word too.”
Tyler said. “You didn’t go into the wine cellar this morning? Maybe grab a few extra bottles for the wine festival?”
Antonio shook his head. “No. Cen and Pearl helped me pack up the truck Friday afternoon so that I wouldn’t have to do anything in the morning. I was all set, at least until I got to the festival and discovered that most of my wine was missing.”
I caught my breath. Since Aunt Pearl had ended up with all of Antonio’s wine, it was reasonable to assume that she had been in the winery, if not the wine cellar. She had been very interested in the wine cellar lock and she liked a challenge. Could witchcraft defeat a fingerprint scan? If so, that meant that the wine cellar could have been unlocked by someone other than Antonio.
Maybe. I had to find out somehow.
Tyler asked, “Why didn’t you notice your missing wine before you arrived at the wine festival? Didn’t you notice your truck had been broken into?”
Antonio shook his head no.
Lombard Wines had a locked gate at the driveway, and the wine cases had been loaded into the truck’s cab and canopy-covered truck bed. I had seen Antonio lock the truck once we had finished loading it late Friday afternoon.
“The truck was locked and packed full with at least fifty cases of wine.
