Corked by Cabernet

Eleven

WITH her brain still in overdrive, Nikki tried hard to switch gears. The Japanese connection between Iwao and Ruben could be completely fruitless and simply wishful thinking, and right now she needed to turn her focus on Hayden Sansi. She could not waste this opportunity. Befriend the woman. Get her talking about something she’d surely want to talk about.

“You’re getting married. When is the wedding?”

Hayden lit up. “Only three months away. Rich is wonderful. Look at him up there.”

Rich Higgins was walking alongside Alan, and they looked to be in an intense conversation.

“He wanted to get married sooner, but he knows how important it is for me to have the perfect wedding.”

“Sounds like a good guy. We all dream of the fairy-tale wedding, I think. At least women do.” She thought about Derek for a minute. Was there a wedding in her future?

“And Rich has been so helpful. He’s right there with me, planning away. He’s going to fit so well into my family. My mom and dad adore him and think he’s perfect.”

What was it with Hayden and perfection? By the way she made that comment about her parents loving her fiancé, Nikki wondered if she was trying to convince herself of this. “That’s great. I guess you met him because he publishes your dad’s books.”

She nodded. “He’s only recently taken over the active role as publisher. He’s always been involved with the business, but it was his mother who started the company, and that’s who my dad’s relationship was with. His mom lost her battle to cancer last year and Rich had to fill in for her. He and my dad are still negotiating how their relationship works on both a business and personal level.”

“Really? I don’t understand. They get along, don’t they?”

“Sure, sure.” Hayden nodded emphatically. “But Rich does things differently from his mom. He’s a better businessperson in reality. He understands bottom lines and how to manage marketing campaigns. He knows how to grow a business.”

“His mother didn’t?” Nikki was perplexed by what Hayden was telling her. “She must’ve understood business to some degree. She seems to have built a good business with so much of it around your dad’s work.”

“Yes. True.”

That was all she added.

“Right,” Nikki said. “I don’t mean to pry.” Sure she didn’t. “But you’re kind of indicating that the waters are troubled between your dad and Rich.”

“Am I? That’s not what I said. I said that Rich does things differently from his mom and that kind of makes my dad, I guess, irritated at times.”

Nikki did know how to twist words, but she also knew how to read between the lines and when she was pushing the envelope-like now. “I did gather your father is pretty loyal to Inspiritus. In fact, last night Iwao had been talking to your dad and brother about publishing their books in Japan.”

She laughed. “My dad would never do that, even if he thinks that Rich is a little too marketing oriented and isn’t prone to allowing things to go and flow. He finds Rich to be not as sage-like as his mother, Jade, had been.”

“Jade? Kind of a different name for an older woman.”

“She changed it back in the seventies. I think it used to be Amy or something.”

“Ah,” Nikki replied. “Your dad then had a strong loyalty to Rich’s mom and he’d never consider another publisher?”

“Not in a million years.”

“Your brother seemed interested in speaking with Iwao about it.”

Hayden laughed at this, too. “Yeah, my brother, Eli. He wishes he was another one of my dad, but he’s no carbon copy. Dad keeps trying to convince him that he has to follow his own dreams and not try to pattern himself after him, and Eli keeps trying to convince Dad that being like him is his dream. No one’s buying it, though. The facts are that Eli wants to be like Dad because it’s lucrative.”

“Doesn’t sound too enlightened.”

Hayden nodded. “Well, not all of us can be like dear old Dad, and I can’t blame Eli for seeing a good thing and wanting to hang on to it. My father helps us all out, but at a certain point he and my mom have to cut the financial ties between us and let us flop or soar.”

“And you look to be soaring.” Nikki wondered about the nepotism in the family.

Hayden seemed to sense what she was getting at, even though Nikki tried to keep the edge out of her tone. “I soar because I’ve proven to both of my folks that I’m worth working for their business. I keep things organized. Believe it or not, organizational skills aren’t what my parents are great at. I’m a Virgo, so it’s by nature that I can keep things together.”

“You do seem to be pretty together. How about your sister, how is she today?” Sierra Sansi had not joined the hike that morning.

“My sister could be better. Last night when she found Mr. Yamimoto, it was difficult and horrible for her, for more reasons than just finding him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Mr. Yamimoto was almost family about a year ago.”

“What?” Nikki practically rubbed her hands together, like this was about to get really good.

“Sierra was engaged to Iwao’s nephew, Jen.”

“Nephew?” Not his son?

“Yes. Jen Yamimoto met my sister through martial arts actually. It’s a long story, but basically Jen broke my sister’s heart and she’s been on a downward spiral ever since.”

“That’s terrible. She’s a martial artist?”

“Yes. An excellent one, too. Black belt. The whole nine yards. It’s a shame for her to be where she’s at in life. There’s no need for it. She was really doing great. Sierra had some substance abuse problems when she was a teenager. Then Dad got her into karate and kickboxing. It mellowed her out and focused her, even though she could totally use her skills and knowledge to really hurt someone. I wish she’d get off of the direction she’s going in and get back with it. My dad even lined her up with a major movie studio, like Paramount or something. She was helping choreograph different moves for dancers and even stunts for martial arts-type movies. That’s how she met Jen. That was also what he did. Or does. I’m not sure what he’s doing actually. I think he could have gone back to Japan.”

“Was he in L.A. before?”

“There and New York. Sierra insists he went home.”

“Shouldn’t he be told about his uncle?”

“Yes, I suppose that he should. Don’t you think the police would handle that? Or his mistress?”

“Mizuki?” Nikki was kind of surprised. She’d understood that Mizuki was not the missus, but a mistress?

“Yes. Come on, everyone knows or knew that Mizuki was Mr. Yamimoto’s mistress.”

“I didn’t. How did you?”

“I sorta figured it out. Then Sierra confirmed it, but my dad wouldn’t let us talk about it. He doesn’t like gossip. Says it can ruin the soul, because it is too difficult to determine what is truth and what isn’t.”

Nikki could see that Hayden didn’t follow that philosophy and frankly, for her, that was a good thing at the moment. “It’s interesting, the six degrees of separation. Sierra met Iwao’s nephew and they were involved, and Iwao was a part of this group.”

“No, Mr. Yamimoto actually didn’t join until after Jen and my sister hooked up. Mr. Yamimoto is really the only one who has been able to get a place as a member because he pulled the ‘we know each other’ thing.”

“How does someone get to be a member of the elite group anyway?”

“They apply. They put down a deposit, send in their applications, and then my father makes decisions on who is accepted.”

“Do a lot of people apply?”

“You bet. Thousands.”

“Thousands?” Shocking. There were thousands of people willing to part with a lot-a lot-of money all to be graced by Alan’s presence and words? “How does your dad decide, out of these thousands of applicants, who gets in and who doesn’t, and how often do they rotate in and out?”

“Good questions. But why do you want to know? You’re not thinking of applying, are you?” Hayden asked.

“No. I’m curious how my two pals made it in.” She laughed. “They aren’t exactly as light-filled as some others I’ve met here.” Only one actually showed any hint of enlightenment-Ruben.

“That’s the ticket. Dad chooses people who probably need it more than anyone else. He can read between the lines in everyone’s application and he can tell who is serious about it, who needs the most growth, and who will work hard at it. He likes to choose couples because many times there is more growth for an individual if their significant other is also on the same journey.”

“Ah, makes sense. But Iwao used his connection with his nephew to join the group.”

“Sort of. Yes. I shouldn’t have said that but it’s true. My dad knew he wasn’t here for all the right reasons. Then again most members here aren’t. They discover the real reasons once they belong.”

“So, your dad knows everything there is to know about these people.”

“I suppose. But Dad is funny. He forgets half of it. His focus is much more on the present than anyone’s past or future. I’m the one who keeps everyone’s information together.”

“You do?”

“Yes. Someone has to,” Hayden replied.

“You have everyone’s application that’s in this group?”

“I do.”

“Do you read them?” Nikki asked.

“No. That’s private.”

Nikki wanted those applications. “I suppose you keep them back at your parents’ offices?”

“No. Not the members that are with us. I bring them. There may be an occasion where my dad needs them for some reason.” Hayden stopped and bent down to retie her shoe.

“Right.” A faint twinge of electricity shot through Nikki’s gut and out through her extremities. She could not outright ask Hayden to see these applications. Before she got too excited, she’d have to ask Simon and Marco what exactly existed on them. They would know. It had to be more than name and address. Thank you very much.

Everyone made it to the turnaround point, and fortunately, it had turned out to be an amazing day-clear and crisp, which helped on the hike, keeping everyone from getting overheated. Nikki had been concerned about Ruben Pearlman on the hike up. He’d appeared pretty out of shape.

At the turnaround, waiting for everyone was a picnic lunch that a catering company had prepared. They’d brought the food up ahead of the hikers and a group of waiters were now handing out the lunches to them.

While Nikki planted herself on a boulder and ate a veggie sandwich, Hayden moved and gravitated toward her fiancé, Rich. Now there was a man Nikki needed to talk to. Really she needed to talk to all of them, but what if she could get ahold of those applications each of them had filled out? Could be worthwhile. She had to figure out how to do it. She could go straight to Robinson and tell him about them. He’d get a search warrant or whatever they needed to collect classified material. Were those applications even classified? It wasn’t as if Alan Sansi was a psychiatrist or doctor of some sort. There had to be a way and she’d find it.

Hayden Sansi had filled her with tons of food for fodder, from the Sierra-Jen-Iwao connection and the way Iwao manipulated his way into this group, to information about Rich and his mother and Inspiritus. But the coup was the applications. There were answers there. Nikki knew there had to be. There were lots of answers she’d already learned. The problem was figuring how to fit them into the questions and put it all together. Once she accomplished that, the last piece would appear-the one that revealed to her who had murdered Iwao Yamimoto.