“The wine cases weren’t gone. I mean, the boxes were all there, except they were empty—all the bottles inside them had disappeared. I only realized that the cartons had nothing inside them when I started unloading them at the wine festival. The wine packed in the truck last night was gone. Yet the winery gate was still locked when I left. My truck was still locked too. I don’t understand what happened.”
“That’s four locks and counting,” Tyler said. “The winery gate, the winery, the wine cellar, and your truck.”
Antonio shrugged. “It’s a mystery to me.”
Aunt Pearl had some explaining to do. Would she at least own up to taking Antonio’s wine? Knowing the extent of her involvement could reveal additional suspects. She had obviously broken into his truck. Had she somehow cracked a high security biometric lock as well? Without her confession, Antonio looked guilty as sin.
“Anybody else have a key to the winery gate?” Tyler asked.
“Trina and Ruby West both have keys to the gate and the winery, but not the wine cellar. Obviously, Jose has keys as well but he’s out of town,” Antonio said. “He wouldn’t steal his own wine. I have my suspicions, though. Pearl West set up a roadside stand outside the wine festival. I heard she was selling my wine from her RV. I never gave her any of my wine, so where did she get it?” Antonio turned to me. “Is that why you were both so eager to help me yesterday? Just so you could leave my wine outside overnight and steal it?”
I was shocked by his accusation. “Of course not! I wanted to help you, and Aunt Pearl insisted on coming with me. I can’t speak for her, obviously, but she probably thought she was helping you out in her own strange way.”
I no longer believed that, but I had no idea what more I could say. Aunt Pearl did a lot of things, but stealing wasn’t one of them. At least not that I was aware of. On the other hand, she could easily have used Mom’s key to the gate, and it was a fact that she was selling Antonio’s wine at her roadside bar without his permission.
Technically she didn’t have to steal Antonio’s wine. She could have just conjured up more wine, but profiting from witchcraft was strictly against the Witches International Community Craft Association rules. Aunt Pearl already had a WICCA warning from last Christmas. She couldn’t afford a second one or else she would be suspended.
So, instead of witchcraft she had physically taken Antonio’s wine, emptying his boxes so she wouldn’t be discovered right away. Instead of breaking the WICCA code, she had broken the criminal code. Aunt Pearl was a thief, and I didn’t envy Tyler having to arrest her.
Except that WICCA warnings had never stopped Aunt Pearl before. She liked breaking rules. In fact, she thrived on it. She knew full well that taking Antonio’s wine would spell disaster for him at the wine festival. Her interference was either terribly mistimed mischief or something much worse. Antonio’s missing wine forced him back to his winery where he found Richard.
Aunt Pearl’s claim of helping Antonio to bottle wine was really about her helping herself. I was furious. If she had another explanation, I couldn’t imagine what it would be. I had to at least talk to her before disclosing my suspicions to Tyler.
But for now, that would have to take a backseat to what was now a murder investigation.
Antonio raised his hands as he talked, revealing several gashes on his forearms. They looked fresh, like he had been in a struggle.
Tyler noticed them too. “What happened?”
“Cut myself on the gate when I returned to the winery as I tried to open it. I got my shirt caught on some barbed wire sticking out. Then when I tried to get myself unstuck, I lost my balance and my arms got caught too. They’re cut so deep that they won’t stop bleeding.”
Trina frowned but didn’t say anything.
“Is that so?” Tyler glanced back at the driveway, but the Shady Creek crime scene techs hadn’t yet arrived. He turned back to Antonio. “Did you arrange the meeting or did Richard?” Tyler’s eyes narrowed as he watched for Antonio’s reaction.
“Neither…there was no meeting. I never called him and he never called me. The gate was locked when I came back, just as I had left it. His car wasn’t outside either. I never expected to see anyone on the property, least of all Richard. He was supposed to be at the wine festival just like me. After all, he was judging the competition.”
“Did you notice anything else out of the ordinary?”
Antonio shook his head. “No. I was in a hurry to get back to the wine festival because Trina was alone at our booth. I went inside the winery and headed straight down to the cellar.”
“You were alone at that time?” Tyler asked.
“Of course, I was alone. You know Trina stayed at the festival.”
Tyler nodded. “No one met you here?”
“How many times do I have to tell you, Tyler? Nobody came with me and no one met me here. Richard already came by yesterday to tell me the bank was going to foreclose. Then he left. There was nothing else to do until I either came up with the money or didn’t. There was no reason for him to be here. He should have been at the wine festival because the judging was about to start. I don’t know why he was here in the first place.”
“The wine festival is only a few minutes’ drive from here,” Tyler said. “Time enough for a quick conversation about something important. Like losing your winery and home.”
“That’s not what happened.” Antonio’s voice rose in frustration. “And I haven’t lost anything yet.”
“No, but you’re about to. Maybe you called Richard to see about an extension or refinancing?”
Antonio raised his hand to object. “I tried that before
