Read A Vintage To Die For (Violet Vineyard Murder Mysteries Book 2) for Free Online Page A

times then forked the sign of the evil eye at her with two grizzled fingers. He glared at her one more time, spun on his heel and marched back down the hallway.
    Dimitri took the bloody cloth from his nose. “And to hell with you, too, Xenos!” he yelled at Samson's back. “We will get what is ours!”
    Samson stutter-stepped and I thought for sure he'd come charging back into the room - he was a man who loved a juicy confrontation - but instead he squared his shoulders and continued on. I heard the cellar door slam closed behind him.
    “What was that about?” I asked, looking from Alexandra to the puddle of spittle on the floor at my feet. Gross. I was considering stomping down to the cellar, grabbing Samson by the ear and hauling him back up here like a puppy that had piddled on the floor, but Alexandra took a Wet-Wipe from her purse, stooped, and cleaned it up.
    “Samson and I—” she began, but Dimitri cut her off.
    “The doctor, de Montagne!”
    “All right!” I yelled back. But I wasn't going to let this lie. I'd find out what was going on, from her or from Samson.
    I didn’t have to call a doctor - there were two of them at the party. I headed out back and tracked down Phillip Spoetzel, a plastic surgeon turned winemaker who had made his money artificially enhancing the chests of a few thousand women. He was now busily losing all that money trying to grow zinfandel on a piece of flat land that would have been better suited to growing apples.
    Phillip was reluctant to leave the party. He was dressed up in his party-down clothes - a cabana shirt covered in palm trees over plaid shorts - and just a little tipsy, but I dragged him inside anyway. It wasn't like he was being asked to perform brain surgery, after all. I left him in the living room with the married couple and returned to the party.
    I arrived back outside just as my daughter Jessica and Blake Becker came around the corner of my wine cellar.
    Jessica had a half-melted bag of ice in each hand, dripping water, and Blake was loaded down with four more bags. Jessica looked tousled and flushed. She gave me a guilty look and then dropped her head and hurried my way. Blake barely met my eyes. He too looked flushed and a little sweaty. And that made me more than a little suspicious. The two of them had been spending a lot of time together since I had made the decision to auction fifty cases of cabernet through Star Crossed, but until that moment I’d had no suspicions it was anything more than business.
    I know, I know, meddling mother alert. Jessica is twenty-seven years old - theoretically old enough to make her own decisions - but her love life has been a source of drama and conflict for us since she hit puberty. And Blake, while still vigorous and good-looking, was only ten years younger than I was! But that was an issue I would have to take up later.
    “The washtub is low on ice,” I said to Jess. “Put a couple of bags in it and the rest in the freezer.
    “Did Marjory really—” Jessica began, but I cut her off.
    “We can discuss that later,” I said, giving her the mom-eye, letting her know that Marjory wasn't the only thing we'd be discussing. I shot Blake the same look and his flush grew even deeper. They went past me to the washtub and I rejoined the party.
     
    Everyone wanted to talk about Marjory, who had yet to return from my wine cellar, and the punch she had given Dimitri. No one seemed all that concerned about Dimitri's good health. In fact, most of them would have been happy to put the boots to him while he was down. Only Hunter was taking the issue seriously.
    He pulled me aside and spoke in low tones. “Dimitri's got a case, Claire,” he said. “If he files charges, I'll have to arrest Marjory.”
    “Hopefully it won’t come to that,” I said. “Maybe Alexandra will talk him out of it.”
    “Or maybe he'll decide that he doesn’t need the embarrassment of having the story spread across the entire Valley.” Hunt said