Crush - Alan Jacobson [29]
Lugo straightened, moving from family friend back to detective. “You’re thinking motive?”
“Doesn’t really fit what we saw at the crime scene,” Vail said. “Still, worth checking out.”
Dixon matched Vail’s low volume. “We need to ask Kevin if he knows anything about this feud.”
Lugo looked over his shoulder nervously, then turned back to Dixon. “He’s kind of in a bad way. Later may be better.”
“If this is a straight murder, then any delay could compromise our ability to close the case,” Vail said. “If it’s a serial, like I think it is, and this feud is unrelated, then it’s better we get out in front of it ASAP.” Sensing Lugo’s persisting hesitation, she said, “Don’t worry, we’ll go easy on him.”
Lugo turned and led them left, down a hall that fed into an expansive, tiled family room. “Kevin,” Lugo said to the man sitting stone-faced on a desk chair. Kevin didn’t appear to be aware of their presence. He was staring ahead, shoulders slumped and jaw hanging slack.
Depression, shock, disbelief.
Vail had seen the look many times before. She moved in front of Kevin Cameron and sat down. “Mr. Cameron, I’m Special Agent Karen Vail with the FBI and this is Investigator Dixon. You spoke to her on the phone a little while ago.” She leaned forward slightly. “I’m sorry about Victoria’s death. But we need your help if we’re going to catch the guy who . . . took her life. Will you help us?”
Kevin’s eyes, glazed and red, canted upward to Vail. He examined her face, then his gaze moved to Dixon, and he did the same with her. “Yes,” he finally said in a near whisper.
“We know about the feud your wife’s family’s had with the family that owns Silver Ridge Estates. Can you tell us who your disagreement is with, and what it was all about?”
He stared ahead for a long moment, then refocused his eyes. “It goes back to the parents, Harold and Anna. That’s when the whole thing started. It all had to do with typical wine industry stuff. Frederick was just taking over the business from his father, Gerard, and he was aggressive coming out of the gate. He wanted to really inject some energy into the brand, which he felt was stale, not growing, and maybe losing market share.” Kevin stopped, shuddered as he took an uneven breath.
“Silver Ridge had won a lot of wine competitions, and they were kind of full of themselves. Frederick wanted to make a splash, so he set his sights on Silver Ridge’s up and coming star winemaker. He spent a year trying to lure him away but the guy was loyal to Harold and Anna. Fifteen years later, Silver Ridge hit a tough spot. Harold had a stroke and Anna had some health problems, too. The sons, who didn’t get along too well to begin with, took over day-to-day operation of the winery. So with all that uncertainty, and with Montalvo doing better but still not reaching its potential, Frederick swooped in and snagged the winemaker.”
Vail added all this up to motive. But there were still disconnects. “The family feud is obvious. But how malignant did it get—how bad were the feelings between the families?”
Kevin shrugged. “I’m relaying all this as it was told to me. I wasn’t around, so I can’t really judge. But from what Victoria said, and from what Frederick told me once, it was pretty poisonous stuff. They had some arguments over the years that the AVA board had to step in to resolve.”
“AVA?” Vail asked.
“American Viticultural Area. It’s a designation determined by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to specify where a wine is grown and made. Think of it like a branding. When it says Napa Valley on the label, you know that at least 75 percent of the grapes used in that wine are from the Napa Valley.”
“Why wouldn’t all the grapes come from the valley?”
Dixon chuckled. “Sticky question. Grape prices are lower, as you’d imagine, in other regions of California that don’t have the cachet of Napa. Some would say the quality of Napa. So it’s okay to mix some grapes from, say, the Central Valley, provided 75 percent of the grapes used are from