Page 44 of Murder in the Lighthouse

“Not until we hear from Brogan and Lucien. And we haven’t even met Kenneth Shepherd yet.”

“Then let’s find his office ourselves,” Birk suggested, urging Jade to walk toward the exit.

Halfway to the door, several text messages appeared on his phone, one after the other. He studied the images of the Shepherd brothers and showed them to Jade.

“Now we can leave,” Jade said, bumping into Maryann. “Oh, I’m sorry.”

“I was just looking for you two. I’m sorry that the owner got tied up in a meeting. He won’t be able to work you in for another hour or possibly two.”

“That’s okay,” Birk replied. “We love the wine, and we ordered a couple of cases for our Christmas list.”

“Wonderful,” Maryann cooed. “That’s what we love to hear.”

As their hostess walked away, Birk and Jade quickly headed out of the hospitality center, eager to find Brogan and Lucien. They scanned the surroundings, trying to spot their friends amidst the refined crowd. Spotting a familiar figure near the edges of the vineyard, they hurried over to find Brogan and Lucien crouched behind a row of grapevines, heads close together as they whispered to each other.

“What’s going on?” Jade asked in a hushed tone as they approached.

“We’ve uncovered something big,” Brogan said, her eyes alight with excitement. “The Shepherd brothers are definitely up to no good. We caught them discussing details about a large shipment of wine to Scotland. We snapped some incriminating photos of them changing labels on the bottles, passing someone else’s wine off to their overseas customers.”

Jade’s eyes widened. “We didn’t count on that. Did you find where they might be holding Bethany?”

“No,” Lucien snapped. “If this operation is as big as I think, they’d do anything to keep it hush-hush. If that’s what they’re involved in now, imagine what they’d do if they found out Bethany had been snooping into Connie’s murder.”

“One or both brothers would’ve set up a meeting with her. Wilder Ranch is only fifteen minutes from here,” Brogan pointed out. “It’s where she went missing. If those two were desperate enough, they would have gotten rid of Bethany that day and then turned their attention to Sam when he came looking for her. I doubt Bethany is still alive.”

Jade hung her head. “How sad.”

Brogan nodded in agreement. “We need to get out of here and regroup, talk to Trish about what we found. We think this vineyard is a front for someone else. We don’t think Ken is the one in charge.”

“If that’s true, Noir Hills Estates has a very high-end clientele,” Birk noted as he steered Jade toward the parking lot. “We saw several politicians hobnobbing with local celebrities.”

“Figures,” Lucien stated, hurrying toward their Range Rover. “We should’ve been out of here like twenty minutes ago.”

Three cars hadpulled off the roadway into a clearing half a mile from the winery. They met with Trish after she’d been observing from a hilltop. She wasn’t happy about the turn of events. “Swindling customers in the wine trade is hardly equal to murder.”

“It’s still fraud,” Birk stated.

“You said it might take two visits to find dirt,” Lucien persisted. “It took one visit to know they’re up to no good. Maybe it takes us going back there tonight to look around for any freshly dug ground.”

Trish rubbed her forehead. “That’s a morbid thought. If you get caught, I’ll disavow any knowledge about why you’re there. I’d have to. For now, go home. I need to think about our next step. If there is one.”

“I’m not giving up,” Lucien insisted.

“We’re not,” Brogan tossed out, her voice firm. “This is too important. We need to find out who killed Sam and what happened to Bethany.”

“We’re finding that out without law enforcement’s input,” Birk added. “We’re used to circumventing the cops.”

“What if I contact the person in charge of Sam’s murder investigation?” Trish offered. “Get him in on this op.”

Lucien tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “That would be Theo Woodsong. And he’s less interested than you are.”

“Don’t use that crap on me,” Trish fumed. “I want these guys. But it’s looking less likely that we can get Keith for my sister’s murder or Connie’s or Cynthia’s.”

“That might be true,” Brogan began, leaning toward Lucien in the driver’s seat so she could be heard. “But we can try to get Keith for Sam’s murder and Bethany’s.”

“Maybe we’re barking up the wrong tree,” Trish said.

Brogan shook her head. “No, we’re not. Who had the most to lose if Bethany uncovered something in Connie’s case file that led to her killer? Whoever he or she was, Connie’s killer had the most to lose. But who was she having an affair with before she died? A cop called Keith. Maybe you should dig out Connie’s file from the dustbin instead of fighting with us and learn what Bethany discovered.”

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