Free 5 Blue Period by Melanie Jackson Page A

air.…”
     
    It was almost dark when they left the restaurant and for a few moments they were able to enjoy the fiery orange of the dying sun. But the strident glory of the sunset was cut short by the evening wind which brought the mist. Just before full dark, the ocean began heaving its fog over the hills and filling up the surrounding vineyards with thick vapor. The roads had enough traffic on them to remain clear for a while, but in an hour or two they would also be veiled.
    Living there was like having a malarial infection—hot then cold, sweaty in the day and then shivering at night. Juliet was heartily sick of it. They needed to find the killer or else concede defeat and go home.
    “Does this always happen?” she asked.
    “No, usually it has stopped by now. Of course, with the weather changing everywhere, who is to say what is normal now?”
    “ Bella ,” Esteban scolded and dropped his linen jacket over her shoulders. “So, is tonight the night that we visit your bottling facility?”
    “I suppose,” Juliet said. Mostly she just wanted to make a cup of tea and then go to bed , but when duty whispered lo, thou must then you just had to get on with it. Their time was limited. They couldn’t stay in their borrowed cottages forever.
    “We should dress for the party. Formal attire,” Esteban said. “You have something in black?”
    “I brought my cat burglar clothes,” Juliet admitted.
    “Then Raphael will see you home and I shall join you at the quarter of the hour. Warn the guards I am coming. They are probably nervous about visitors after the murder.”
     
    Esteban was punctual. Raphael had called the night guards to tell them to expect a visitor. He was going to play lookout from the terrace while they looked around and would signal them with a lighter if he saw anyone approaching while they were breaking and entering.
    Esteban wasted no time once they were out of the car which he left in the darkest part of the visitors’ lot. There were a few hunched cars there, damp with mist which speckled the dust that covered the vehicles and puddled into drops. There was a faint scent of lavender in the heavy air which now seemed sinister.
    Juliet glanced up at the cottages so far removed from their skullduggery. She couldn’t see Raphael but was glad that he was there keeping an eye on them. Once again she had to wonder why she had volunteered for this. She did not like creeping around. At night. In old building s that probably had black widows and rattlesnakes and skunks hiding in them. Of course, it was this damned feeling of moral obligation that she couldn’t be rid of that had her risking embarrassment and arrest. It insisted that the abuse of her host’s hospitality was acceptable if it meant finding a killer.
    And since she was snooping, she was better off burying any shocked sensibilities and get ting on with the job.
    Thank heavens she had gloves.
    Security was mostly directed outward, keeping the rest of the world out of the facility and not concerning itself with what went on behind the winery’s wall, so Esteban moved quietly and quickly, but not surreptitiously. Juliet did her best to emulate him as he moved from dark spot to dark spot in a casual, efficient manner. If she wasn’t quite as silent or fleet, the noise of the crushers and the harvesters out in the more distant acreage covered any sounds she made. The machines worked day and night. It had been a banner year and there were a million tons of grapes to be squished and juiced and made into wine.
    The moon would need a couple more hours and a settling of the mist for it to be either a help or a hindrance to them. She preferred the fixed lights that didn’t play peek-a-boo with the fog. They could be gotten around more easily.
    Still, for all her rationalizations and fear of spiders, it was a relief to finally get inside. The old bottling facility was less sterile and more welcoming than the one where wine was currently being