Carter’s and Jess’s gazes darted to Collin. Hers followed. The hair on the right side of his head stood on end, his flannel was askew, and he wore the unmistakable look of a man who’d been kissed within an inch of his life.
Jess’s lips tipped into a small smile, but Carter glared at them. “May we come in?” he asked.
Helia shook her head. “We can go to the main house. Anything you have to say or ask will need to involve my parents.”
Carter started to argue, but Collin stepped forward, took her hand in his, and ushered her out. Carter and Jess stepped back on instinct, and he shut the door behind them. Not having any choice, the detectives followed as he led them to her parents’ place.
Ten minutes later, they were seated at the large kitchen table. When everyone settled with their drink of choice—tea for her, coffee for everyone else—her dad set his elbows on the table and asked, “What can you share?”
Carter pulled out his phone and tapped the screen. “Do any of you know Kurt Fisher?”
Beside her, Collin shook his head. She didn’t need to reach for the phone to see the picture. “Yes,” she said. Carter and Jess turned sharp eyes on her. “He used to work for Yoshi Ito,” she continued, then as an aside, she added for Collin’s benefit, “Yoshi is the broker who imports fish from Japan for a lot of the restaurants in the area.” Jess and Carter both took notes. “But he has dark hair, not blond, and Collin said the body had blond hair.”
“Likely lightened. His driver’s license shows him with dark hair,” Jess answered. “Were you close?”
Under the table, Collin’s large hand slid over her knee. She lowered hers and set it on top of his, the heat seeping through her leggings.
Helia shook her head. “No. We do some business with the company when Akin needs those goods. But Kurt moved away several years ago. Two, maybe three. Maybe longer than that.” She paused. “Last I heard, he was working for some business in San Francisco.”
Her mother nodded. “I remember Asuka, Yoshi’s wife, telling me he had a restaurant job in the city. He was young and wanted to live somewhere a little more exciting than Napa Valley. I think he had family there, too.”
“A brother,” Carter confirmed.
“And you weren’t close?” Jess asked, directing the question to her. Collin’s hand twitched again.
“We weren’t,” was all she said. Collin’s hand relaxed.
“You never dated?”
This time, she tightened her hand on Collin’s. She’d learned from her first go-around with them to only give answers to the specific questions.
“Never,” she answered.
“He ever ask you out?” Carter asked.
“No.”
“If you don’t mind, we’d like to search the premises,” Carter said.
“Not without a warrant,” Collin said, drawing everyone’s attention. “This business and the vineyards are separate companies, right, Harry?”
Her dad nodded. “They are. We have an LLC that leases the vineyard, and then Sundaram is another.”
“It’s at least a half a mile between the property here and where the body was found. Asking to search Sundaram is like asking to search a boutique four blocks from the bank when there’s been a robbery. The two businesses are unrelated, and Sundaram isn’t even the closest structure to where the body was found. That would be the winery to the west and the one to the north. Not to mention, the victim was dumped in that vineyard, not killed there.”
Her parents had always liked Collin, but a new sort of respect, layered over the affection, reflected in their eyes. As if realizing he was no longer the child they’d taken in, but a man with knowledge and experience.
Carter tipped his head. “How do you know he wasn’t killed there?”
“It’s not brain surgery,” Collin replied. “Whoever killed him nearly severed his torso from the rest of his body. The blood spray would be massive, and I saw none of that. Not on the ground and not on the vines where it would clearly show up against the pale winter color of the trunks and branches.”
Silence fell across the room before her dad spoke. “Is that true? He was dumped but not killed there?”
Carter and Jess shared a look. “It’s an ongoing investigation. We can’t comment on that.”
“Then we’ll take that as a yes. I trust Collin to know what he’s talking about,” her dad continued. “About the body and the search.”
Another look passed between the detectives before they rose. “Thank you for your time,” Jess said. “We’ll be in touch.”
