Seven Sisters - Earlene Fowler [49]
“So Arcadia marrying into a Napa Valley wine dynasty was definitely something that made Willow happy. That might eliminate her as a suspect. Killing Giles would be like killing the proverbial goose with the golden egg. Besides, I honestly can’t imagine Willow shooting someone.”
“That’s how much you don’t know about the Brown women,” JJ said grimly. “All of them were taught to use guns early in their lives by my great-grandfather. That’s one of the reasons my mother moved away so young, I think. She’s always hated guns and anything to do with hunting. Willow and Etta are just as capable of shooting someone as Cappy, believe me.”
I looked at her in surprise, struck dumb for a moment. Then I asked, “What about Chase? Did he and Giles get along?”
“They liked to drink together. And they were hunting buddies. I never saw them argue, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“How did Chase feel about this merger with Giles’s family’s winery?”
“I think that Uncle Chase would be fine as long as no one cut off his allowance.” She said the words without rancor or bitterness, just stating a fact. Then she thought for a moment. “Cappy was counting on him to vote her way at the next family meeting. From what Susa said, the executor of the trust fund said that someone was going to have to start cutting back, that the trust can’t afford to support two unprofitable businesses.”
“So the winery isn’t doing well either?”
“It’s up and down, I guess. They had a bad year a couple of years ago, lost sixty percent of their grapes to an early frost. It’s a business that’s always on the edge.”
“Like horsebreeding and racing.”
She nodded, her hands still grasped tightly in her lap. Her skin was pale under its bright makeup. A sheen of tears brightened her eyes.
I thought for a moment. “Okay, what about Arcadia? How were things between her and Giles?”
“They had their fights from what Bliss told me. He wasn’t exactly faithful.”
“Anyone in particular?”
“From what I hear, he wasn’t particular. Bliss once said that he and Chase hunted more than just wild boar together, but she never went into detail. The only thing I ever heard about was she caught him a few months back with one of the tasting room girls. Grandma Cappy and my aunts put a stop to that, though I heard they didn’t fire the girl. That surprised me, actually. I guess Giles had more power in the family than I realized ’cause Arcadia is Willow’s little darling. Bliss said Cappy wouldn’t let them fire her. I have no idea what that was about.”
“So, Arcadia certainly had a motive and as much opportunity as anyone at the party. Can she shoot? Do you think she’d have the nerve to do it?”
“I have no idea. It seems like I remember Susa saying Arcadia’s father fit into the Brown family perfectly, that he was a gun nut like everyone else in the family. But she was nine when he died, so I don’t know if he ever taught her to shoot.”
“Just out of curiosity, what’s the story on the men in this family?”
She held out a hand and started counting them off on her blue-tipped fingernails. “My dad’s up north. Cappy’s husband, Stephen . . . ”
“You mean your grandfather.”
“Right. I never met him, so he’s only a name to me. Anyway, he ran off to Taos in the late fifties to be a painter. My mom was just a little girl. He died in the sixties, I think. Aunt Willow’s husband . . . ”
“Arcadia’s grandfather.”
“Right. He was a rodeo rider. The story is he was gored to death by a bull in Reno, but the truth is he was shot by a jealous husband in Barstow.”
“Prim and proper Willow Brown was married to a rodeo rider?” I couldn’t help laughing at that incongruous picture.
JJ joined my laughter. “I guess we all have our weak moments, and he was Great-Aunt Willow’s. Cappy apparently teased her unmercifully about it until Willow flew to Taos and seduced my grandfather and made sure Cappy heard all the details. There’s a family rumor that there’s a nude painting of Willow painted by my grandfather