Free Of Merlot & Murder (A Tangled Vines Mystery) by Joni Folger Page A

police investigations.”
    “He did.” She gave an indifferent shrug. “And I won’t put myself in that kind of danger again, but he didn’t say anything about helping to clear a family member’s name. It’s bad enough that Gram got caught up in this and was the one who found Divia’s body. I’ll be damned if I’m going to stand around and see her name dragged through the mud as a suspect, too.” She folded her arms and glared at him. “So, are you going to help me?”
    “Fine. But where do we start? We don’t have much to go on.”
    “We start by keeping our eyes and ears open. Somebody knows what went on here tonight, and they’ll slip up at some point. We just have to be ready when that happens. I’m gonna call C.C. and get her on board, too. The more eyes and ears we have out there, the faster we’ll find the information we’re looking for.”
    They walked back over to where Jackson and Abigail stood just as the EMTs carried Divia’s body out of the room on a gurney and lifted it into the waiting ambulance. Jackson went with the CSI team and lingered while they did a thorough sweep of the Larsons’ room.
    In the light from the open doorway, Elise watched over his shoulder as Jackson pulled out the contents of the purse that had been used to hold the door open, not surprised to find that it had indeed been Divia’s.
    After taking a quick inventory, he bagged it. Elise couldn’t say if anything was missing, but important items like the woman’s cell phone, checkbook, and wallet were all found inside. And the wallet still held several credit cards and a little over two hundred dollars in cash, which seemed to rule out robbery.
    But then, what thief took the time to poison their victims after robbing them?
    Ross did what he did best in stressful situations—he paced—while Elise and Abigail watched the investigators continue their work. That is, what they were able to see. The team kept the room’s curtains closed, but every time Elise saw the flash light up the window, she knew they’d snapped another photograph. Toward the end of their sweep, the techs made several trips to the SUV with sealed brown paper bags containing potential evidence.
    All through the nearly two-hour process, one question kept circling around in her mind. Where was Divia’s husband? The woman had told her grandmother on the phone that Garrett had gone into Austin for a meeting and wouldn’t be back until late. But it was going on eleven o’clock at night and he still hadn’t returned. Madison had tried to contact Garrett with the mobile number Toby had given her earlier, but the calls had gone straight to voicemail.
    Abigail continued to worry that her former beau would get back to the motel after everyone had gone, only to find his wife missing and their room blocked off with crime scene tape. It was a terrible situation and Elise hated seeing her grandmother so upset.
    For the past twenty minutes or so, Jackson had been gently pressuring them all to go home and just when they were about to do that, another vehicle pulled into the parking lot.
    Garrett Larson had finally come back from Austin—or wherever he’d been.
    Elise watched the older man get out of his car and come toward them with a worried look on his face. Then he zeroed in on her grandmother.
    “Abigail? What are you doing here?” His gaze went from the motel room door, to Jackson, and back to her, as if she alone held all the answers he needed. “Why is our room blocked off? Where are Divia and Toby? Has something happened?”
    When Jackson tried to step in, her grandmother stopped him with a shake of her head and a pleading look.
    “Garrett,” Abigail’s tone was soft as she reached out to take the man’s hand. “I’m so sorry, but yes, something terrible has happened. I don’t know how to soften the blow, so I’ll just say it. I’m afraid that Divia is dead.”
    The man blinked several times as if trying to understand a complicated foreign