Corked by Cabernet

Twenty-six

NIKKI stood up and walked over to the man. She introduced herself. Sierra hadn’t moved from the table.

“Hello. I’m Jen Yamimoto. I’ve come because I’ve been informed of my uncle’s death.” He looked past Nikki. “Sierra?”

She finally stood and came toward them. “Jen.”

“I didn’t know you would be here. I didn’t know that my uncle had come for a workshop. The police told me when they called me, but oh, wow, it’s so good to see you.”

Sierra stared at him.

Jen looked at Nikki, his hands clasped in front of him. “I’m sorry. Could you excuse us?” Then he looked back at Sierra.

Nikki glanced at Sierra, who was beginning to cry again. She didn’t know if she should leave her alone with a man who’d broken her heart. “Sierra, is that okay?”

“Yes,” she replied in a whisper.

“If you need me, please call my cell phone. It’s on the list that I gave everyone when they checked in,” Nikki told her.

She nodded and Nikki called for Ollie, who jumped up.

Back into a run, she and Ollie headed down to the house. She had a big meal to put together and her time spent with Sierra didn’t leave any room for her to head over to the meditation and yoga for the afternoon. Not to mention the fact that she smelled like garbage.

There were a lot of things Sierra had said that Nikki needed to process, and now with Jen Yamimoto showing up, there was an additional element racing through her mind. Jen might have had a motive to murder his uncle. Had he really just arrived in the Napa Valley?