“Always, sir.”
After ending the call, Remy pocketed his phone before stopping in the kitchen to give his brothers a kiss good-bye. “You guys be good for Mrs. B. today,” he warned them, heading for the back door.
“Don’t you worry, Remy, the boys and I will be fine,” Mrs. Beasley said, her voice following him out.
Shutting the door behind him, Remy stopped, sniffing the air. Satisfied, he hurried to his car, climbed in and headed down the service road that would lead him to the winery. “Sonofabitch!” he muttered, pressing down on the accelerator. Jerking the steering wheel back and forth, Remy tried to avoid the deep ruts left over from the last rainstorm. Making another mental note to have Jules regrade the road, he finally skidded to a stop in front of the building housing the fermenting tanks.
As the dust settled around the car, Remy climbed out, walking over to the locked door. Entering the security code, he waited until he heard the click, then entered, finding Pierre waiting for him just inside. “Did you check the security video, yet?”
“Oui, but there’s nothing.”
“Nothing? You didn’t see who did it?” asked Remy.
“Non,” Pierre answered, “because the video was black. There was nothing on it.”
“How can that be? Did we lose power last night?” asked Remy.
“Not that I can tell. There aren’t any records of alarms last night,” Pierre said. “And the cameras were running but someone blocked the lenses.”
“Fuck! So it must be an inside job if someone knew where the cameras were located.” Heading towards the fermenting room, he said, “Show me what you found.”
“I didn’t see anything out of order until I walked over to this first tank,” Pierre said, gesturing towards a big steel tank just inside the doorway. “When I opened it up to check, I found out it had spoiled—then I saw these,” he said, pointing to a few bugs at the base of the tank. “It’s the same for the next two. That’s when I called you.”
“You didn’t check any others?” asked Remy.
“Non,” Pierre said, “I waited for you.”
“Okay.” Remy walked over to the fourth tank, finding the same bugs on the floor. “Shit! Check this one.” Then he continued down the line finding three more that also had evidence of tampering. By the time they were through checking the rest, Remy counted seven tanks that were contaminated; the wine in them a total loss. “Damn!” he murmured. Standing back, he stared at the crime scene—something wasn’t adding up. Walking up to one tank, he squatted, picking up one of the bugs and rolling it between his fingers. Then laying the palm of his hand on the side of the tank, he closed his eyes, unleashing his other senses to explore. The shock zapping through his hand caused Remy to fall backward, landing on his ass.Holy fucking shit! No wonder the security video was black.
“Hey, what happened? Are you okay?” asked Pierre, offering a hand to help his boss up.
Rising, then brushing off the back of his pants, Remy answered, “Yeah, thanks. Hey, check that tank’s electrical, will you? Make sure there isn’t a short.”
“Sure. What do you want to do with the wine in the seven tanks?”
“Dump it,” Remy ordered, “it’s no use to us. But before you do that, show me the security video from last night.”
Pierre grunted, leading the way back to his office. “The only possibility I came up with was someone put a black cloth over the cameras.”
“Every one?” asked Remy. “What about the ones outside? Did you check those?”
Nodding, Pierre sat down at his desk, pulling up the camera videos on his computer monitor. “See, the cameras are working perfectly,” he said, watching the screen.
“What time did they go black?” asked Remy.
“When the shift changed…2 a.m.”
Remy examined the videos and wasn’t surprised at what he saw, especially after what happened back at the tank. “Okay, I’ve seen enough,” he said, heading towards thedoor. “I’ll be in my office. I’ll be tied up for most of the day, but I want the guards doubled from now on.”
“I’ll see to it,” Pierre replied, rising from his desk.
Climbing the wooden staircase to his office above the winery tasting room, Remy was deep in thought about what he found. Then sitting down at his desk, he swiveled his chair, his eyes looking out over the vineyards as his mind mulled over a mess of conflicting ideas.Was my instinct right? This was a personal attack meant to cause me harm…especially since it was done on the day the new owner was arriving.It was an easy conclusion to jump to but it didn’t explain the other times.But then, what about what I sensed? That certainly leads to me as the target. And I didn’t find it at the other crime scenes so whoever it is must be targeting me. The question is, why?
Leaning his head back, Remy closed his eyes, sighing at the latest problem dumped in his lap. Thinking back to the first incident of sabotage, he let his mind float, reviewing the evidence he found. And after not seeing any connection with the current one, he went on to the next one, and then the others. But as much as Remy tried, he couldn’t find a pattern.I must be missing something.What he sensed today was the strongest clue he had that the perpetrator was after him.Oh gods, I wish my parents were alive…they would have the answers I need.
Hearing a door open, followed by voices, Remy sat up. Rolling his chair over to the inside window, Remy saw the first group of tourists and wine connoisseurs arriving for a tour and tasting. Catching the eye of the guide, Remy nodded, then moved back to his desk. Glancing at his phone, he realized Henri would be arriving at the airport in a few minutes. That would give him a little more than two hours to prepare a report about the spoiledwine and the financial loss for the new owner and the Dire Enterprises’ representative.I hope Fionn MacDùghlasisn’t anything like his father.
Chapter 3
