White Cloud Retreat (8 page)

“Sorry I’m late, Mike. Hope you
didn’t worry about me. I needed to run some errands and they took longer than I
thought.” She walked over to where he was sitting in his favorite chair looking
out at the ocean and enjoying the last rays of the sun reflecting off of the
calm water. “I need to take a shower and I guarantee you’re not going to
believe what I’m going to tell you. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

When she returned, she sat
across from him, and took her phone out of her purse. First, she told him about
her conversation with Diedre and then she showed him the pictures she’d taken
in Diedre’s apartment. Next, she told him about the Bible study group and the
conversation she’d overheard when they were at the coffee shop having their
weekly lunch. She ended by telling him about her conversation with Patti.
“Well, so what do you think?”

“What I think is that the
case is starting to have some suspects. Certainly Deidre seems like one and so
does Ellie’s husband, Jim. Sounds like both Diedre and Jim probably had a
motive to kill Scott. Not anything a normal person would think of as a motive,
but from what you’re telling me, neither of those two people seems to be real
normal. Plus, if Luke was embezzling funds from the Center, he would have had a
motive to kill his brother, too. After all, we know Scott was down at the bank
asking questions about the Center’s account. Maybe Luke found out about it and
started feeling enough heat that it prompted him to take some dramatic action.”

“So how was your day? Find
out anything new and interesting?” she asked.

He told her about his
conversation with Bob Waters from the Department of Agriculture and the
problems the state had experienced with the Pellino brothers.

“Well, from what you’re
telling me it sounds like Scott might have had more of a reason for killing
them then the other way around. What did he ever do to them to merit death?”

“Evidently they hated him
for producing such a top notch pinot noir. Remember Jesse from down at The
Crush told you they’d tried to bribe him to sell their pinot noir in his shop
and not Scott’s, but he refused, saying that Scott’s was much better. From what
Jesse said, coupled with what Bob told me in my telephone conversation with him
today, it only confirms my initial feeling when I met them – that these are not
nice people. Maybe they figured if they killed Scott whoever took over the
Center wouldn’t be as good a vintner as Scott. That’s certainly a motive. I
mean, if they can shoot and kill that many deer, they probably would have guns
with silencers that could kill a man. I thought it was odd when I interviewed
everyone at the Center after Scott’s murder, and even though a number of them
were in the forest when he was killed, not one of them heard a gunshot, not
even you. So I’m thinking that whoever did it must have used a gun with a
silencer attached to the barrel.”

“Mike, enough about the
case. You look really tired. Are you feeling okay?”

“This is going to sound
really odd, but like I mentioned before, I’ve got this feeling I’m being
watched. It’s the strangest thing. I’ll be walking somewhere and I feel like a
set of eyes are on me wherever I go. Maybe I’m getting paranoid in my old age,
but I’ve been in this business long enough to sense when something isn’t right.
Plus, I’ve been getting a lot of hang-up calls from a blocked number. It’s only
been for the last few days. I don’t know what’s going on. Oh, by the way, I
forgot to tell you that Rich called the phone company to get a copy of the
mysterious phone calls that were made to Scott. Remember, Luke mentioned to you
that someone had been calling Scott and hanging up. Well, they were from a
blocked number and the phone company wouldn’t release the information without a
search warrant. I’ve been reluctant to ask the court for one until I had some
stronger facts on which to base the issuance of a warrant. Right now I don’t
think I have enough for a warrant to be issued by the court.”

“You’ve been in the law
enforcement business for a long time and I know you’ve created some enemies
along the way. Can you think of anyone who was scheduled to get out of prison
and might be looking for you?”

“No, no one comes to mind.
Yes, I’ve been responsible for a lot of people going to prison, but I’ve never
had a feeling like this. As I said, maybe it’s time for me to retire. I have
enough years of service that I could if I wanted to. If I did retire, I was
thinking maybe I could help you out at the coffee shop.”

“You know you’re always
welcome. I’m glad you’re taking Rebel to work with you. Between your gun and
Rebel, I think you’ll be fine, but I would ask that you keep me up to date. I’m
really concerned.”

“I’ve been debating about
whether I should tell you this, but I finally decided I should. I just didn’t
want to alarm you. With the wedding coming up and Scott’s murder, I think your
plate is full. I didn’t want to add to your problems.”

“What are you talking
about?”

“I went over to The Crush
to see Jesse and find out if he knew anything else besides what he had told
you. We talked for awhile and he told me Scott mentioned to him he was having a
problem with brown leaf spot on his vines and he was really concerned. He told
Jesse he was going to call Bob Waters over at the Oregon Department of
Agriculture and have him come out and look at some of his damaged vines. That
was all Jesse knew. Here’s what I’m getting at. When I left The Crush and
walked out to my car, I noticed that something had been written on my
windshield, probably with a black marking pen. The words said, ‘You’re next.’ I
have no idea what someone meant by that. I consider it a threat, but from whom
and why, I have no idea. If someone has been watching me, which I’ve been
suspecting, they would know that I was in The Crush and they had to have
written the words on the windshield while I was in there. I’m sure it wasn’t a
random thing. It would take a real idiot to mistake a car with the words County
Sheriff written on it for someone else’s car.”

“This is a conversation I
wish we never had to have,” Kelly said. “That really scares me. I’ve always
known your job was dangerous and that at times you’d be in danger, but having
someone spying on you and writing threatening notes…” Her voice trailed off as
tears welled in her eyes.

“Kelly, come here. We’ll
be fine.” He held her in his arms and stroked her hair. “Trust me. I didn’t
make it this long in this business by taking chances and with our wedding
coming up in a couple of weeks, I’m definitely not going to do anything stupid.
Okay?” He put his hand under her chin and tipped her face up to his, kissing
her. “Actually, I think dinner can wait awhile. If anyone is watching me, I’d
like to give them something special to look at.” He reached down, picked her
up, and carried her down the hall to the bedroom. Rebel and Lady stayed where
they were, their doggie radar on full alert to give their masters a little time
and make sure they weren’t interrupted.

“Kelly, you’ve got a phone call.”

“Thanks, Roxie, any idea
who it is?”

“Nope. He didn’t say and I
didn’t recognize the voice.”

“This is Kelly. Can I help
you?”

“This is Luke Monroe. When
you were out here the other day you mentioned that you had a big shoulder. I’m
not going to cry on it, but I would like to talk to you about one of the men
who works at the Center and is in the residential training program. His name is
Blaine Wright and I think he’s been acting rather strangely. I’d like to know
what you think about him. It may be nothing and I really didn’t want to bother
Sheriff Mike about it. After I talk to you, I’d like to know if you think I
should get in touch with him.”

“Sure Luke, I’d be happy
to talk to you. Have I previously met this person? I’ve taken a few classes and
workshops at the Center over the years.”

“I think you may have met
him when you came out here the other day. He was the one who brought you back
to my office that day. By the way, I also called to thank you for the
casserole. It was delicious.”

“My pleasure. I could be
at the Center about 3:00 this afternoon, if that would work for you.”

“Yes. I’ll adjust my
schedule accordingly. See you then.”

Well, that’s interesting.
I wonder what he’s found out. Could there be another suspect in the case? Why
else would he call me?

A few minutes before 3:00
she got her keys out to lock the coffee shop door. “Come on Lady…”

Before she could get the
rest of the sentence out of her mouth, Lady was at the door of the coffee shop
waiting for her to open it.

This dog is beginning to
spook me. I wonder if dogs can have ESP. If they can, I think I’ve got one. I
swear Lady knows what I’m going to say before I even know.

A few minutes later she
pulled into the parking lot of the Center. “Stay, girl, I’ll be back in a
little while.” She opened the door of the Center and immediately sensed a
difference. Usually it hummed with people taking classes and enjoying
themselves. Today, there was almost a desolate and abandoned feel to the
Center.

Blaine walked down the
hall towards her. “Hello, Kelly. It’s good to see you again. Luke is waiting
for you in the office.” She followed him and walked into the room while Blaine
held the door for her.

“Thanks, Blaine, that will
be all for now. Kelly, thanks for coming,” Luke said. He walked over to the
door and closed it. “Please have a seat and here’s your empty casserole dish.
It really was good and I appreciate you bringing it to me.”

“Glad you enjoyed it. I
know you’re a vegetarian, but if you can cheat a little, I brought you some
bacon chocolate chip cookies. They’re a favorite at the coffee shop and my
personal addiction.”

“I shouldn’t admit this,
but I’m a sucker for bacon. I’ll justify it by pretending I didn’t know bacon
was in these. Thanks.”

“Well, what have you found
out?”

“You know my brother was a
man who rarely got angry. In fact in the year I’ve been here, I’ve only seen
him angry twice, both in the last month. You may have noticed that there’s a
vineyard owned by the Pellino brothers located next to our property. The only
thing that separates it is a county road that leads up to the Cascades. They
grow pinot noir grapes and Scott suspected some of their methods were hurting
our grapes. He was a big believer in organic farming and refused to use any
chemicals. He thought it was strange that he’d been having a problem with brown
leaf spot and he contacted an inspector with the Oregon Department of
Agriculture. The inspector came out and told Scott he thought there was a
problem with chemicals that may be drifting from the Pellino Brothers vineyard
onto our vines. Scott was furious. He went over to their vineyard when the
inspector left to confront them, but they were out of town for a few days.

“I don’t know if he ever
was able to get in touch with them. This all happened a couple of weeks before
he died.” He sat back in his chair and said, “Kelly, there’s something else
that a couple of students from the residential program told me that might be of
interest to you. They mentioned that when they were working in the vineyard
next to the county road, they noticed a lot of expensive cars going in and out
of the Pellino Brothers vineyard. They said that the cars seemed to be driven
by dark, swarthy, suspicious looking Italian men. One of the students laughed
and said if he was going to cast a movie with Mafia members in it, he’d cast it
with the people going in and out of the Pellino Brothers Vineyard.”

“I can certainly
understand why Scott was so angry. Do you know anything about the brothers?”

“I met them for the first
time at an Oregon wine conference I attended a few months ago. One of the
brothers is the president of the organization. I can’t say I liked either one
of them. They were very arrogant and I didn’t feel comfortable being around
them. Of course, that might have been because I heard that they were saying bad
things about our wine. Several people told me they were jealous of the success
the White Cloud Pinot Noir has had throughout the state.

“I’ve heard pretty much
the same thing about them,” she said. “Evidently they felt you might put them
out of business since you’re a non-profit business and their business is a run
for profit business which supports their families.”

“That’s interesting,” Luke
said. “Where did you hear that?”

“I honestly don’t
remember,” she said, mentally crossing her fingers behind her back, “and I’m
not sure it’s all that important. When you called, you mentioned something
about Blaine Wright. He’s the young man who escorted me in, isn’t he?”

“Yes. I told you earlier
that there were two times that Scott had recently gotten angry. The second time
involved Blaine. As part of the residential training program in Zen Buddhism,
we require that the trainees work in the vineyard or in some other capacity
here at the Center. It saves us from having to hire people and pay them to
perform routine work here at the Center. We feel it’s fair because we provide
free room and board while they’re living here at the Retreat Center.”

“Scott told me about it
once and it seemed like a win-win situation for everyone involved.”

“I’ve always thought it
worked well. From what I know of the situation involving Blaine and Scott, it
centered around Blaine pruning the grape vines too much. Scott was afraid that
the grapes from those vines wouldn’t be good this year. He was really angry
about it. I think what made him even angrier was that he had made Blaine the
head of the team that worked in the vineyard. Some of the others work in the
kitchen or clean rooms or whatever needs doing. Blaine had grown up on a farm,
so Scott felt he wouldn’t have to explain everything to him. It worked well for
several months, but in the last few weeks Blaine seems to have changed. He was
always really easygoing and everyone liked him. Lately we’ve gotten some
complaints that he’s been surly and unhelpful in a number of ways.”

“I’m surprised. I’ve only
met him twice, but both times he’s been extremely courteous and pleasant to
me.”

“Well, here’s what I’m
getting at. When people come here for the residential training program, they’re
required to fill out a number of forms about their past such as schooling,
illnesses,
etc.
We need to know everything we can about them because they live
in very close quarters and we try to weed out people who may present problems.
Scott was in charge of the residential training program and I never saw the
paperwork. When people started complaining about Blaine, I pulled his file out
and looked at it. I have to say I was rather shocked by what I found out.”

“Such as what?”

“Well, for starters, it
indicated Blaine had been committed to the state mental hospital for three
years.”

“Were there any details
concerning his mental condition in the paperwork he submitted?”

“No. I’m getting to that.
The paperwork simply said he had spent some time in a mental hospital, but had
completely recovered. There was no indication whatever of the nature and extent
of his mental illness. Evidently Scott had taken him at his word. I called the
state mental institution and after being put on hold a number of times and
talking to a lot of different people, I was finally able to speak with his
treating physician.”

“What did he say? This is
really interesting.”

“He told me Blaine
suffered from schizophrenia, a condition which resulted in him suffering from
hallucinations and delusions. While he was in there he was given antipsychotic
medications and even underwent some electrical shock therapy. He said Blaine
was a classic schizophrenic, but he felt that the medication and therapy had
helped him enough that he could be released from the hospital. He told me
Blaine had become interested in Zen Buddhism and had become fixated on becoming
a Zen Master. Evidently Blaine didn’t quite know what to do when it came time
for his release, so the doctor recommended that he come here and get involved
in the residential training program and he did.”

“I’m gathering you think
there’s some tie between his recent behavior and his stay in the mental
hospital, is that right?”

“Yes. I told the doctor
about his behavior and his immediate response was that he must have stopped
taking his medications. I asked the doctor if that could result in him becoming
physically violent. Then I told him what had happened to Scott. He explained to
me that it’s not uncommon for a schizophrenic person to become so physically
violent that they are capable of committing murder.”

“Are you saying you think
Blaine might have been responsible for Scott’s death?”

“I’m not accusing anyone,
but certainly he would probably know about Scott being in the forest during a
walking meditation and he knew the grounds here as well as anyone. What I can’t
figure out is what motive he would have for killing Scott.”

“Didn’t you tell me that
he was fixated on becoming a Zen Master?”

“Yes, Zeb even told me
that Blaine had asked him several times if he would give him transmission, you
know, when a teacher tells a student he doesn’t need a teacher anymore.”

“I’ve heard the term, but
I’m not very familiar with it.”

“Evidently Zeb told Blaine
he didn’t think he was ready and that Scott, as the Zen Master, was the only
one who could do give him the transmission he wanted.”

“Maybe Blaine thought that
if Scott was dead, he could be the Zen Master,” Kelly said.

“Could be. Sounds pretty
farfetched to me, but I read up a little on schizophrenia after I talked to the
doctor and grandiose delusions are often part of the disease and that could
have been his delusion. He’s asked me several times if I’m going to take over
the Center as the new Zen Master.”

“What did you tell him?”

“I told him I hadn’t made
a decision. So, what do you think, Kelly, should I call Sheriff Mike and tell
him what I’ve told you?”

“You know he’s my fiancé.
I’ll tell him about our conversation at dinner tonight, but let me ask you
something. Do you think your personal safety might be at risk because of
Blaine? Or for that matter, do you think that anyone else might be in danger?”

“No, I haven’t felt that
way, but I’ll tell you this, I’m keeping my .22 pistol on the nightstand when
I’m in bed and in my desk drawer when I’m here in the office.”

Kelly stood up. “Be
careful, Luke. I’ll talk to Mike and I’ll see you at the service.”

“Thanks for taking the
time to come out here. I feel better that you know about this. I never thought
my brother had an enemy in the world, but now I’ve just told you about two. I
wonder if there are others.”

She turned as she got to
the door. “What do you know about a woman named Deidre Nelson?”

“I think she’s the redhead
who comes here a lot. I don’t know much about her other than Scott mentioned
one time that she was one of the students who wanted the ‘halo effect’.”

Kelly interrupted him.
“What does that mean? I’ve never heard that term.”

“In yoga or meditation it
refers to people who want to get as close as they can to the teacher in hopes
that whatever powers the teacher has will rub off on them. Scott said she was
always in the first row whenever he taught a class. Why do you ask?”

“No reason. I just met her
recently and she told me she’d taken a lot of classes at the Center. She was
quite broken up over Scott’s death.”

“Well, I’m not
particularly looking forward to Scott’s service for that reason. A lot of
people idolized him. I have no idea what to expect. Zeb is planning it, but
I’ll be conducting it.”

“Thanks for taking the
time to share this information with me, Luke. I appreciate it and I’m sure
Sheriff Mike will too.”