Kat clutched her coffee cup in her hands. This was terrible news and perhaps explained his gruffness. “What makes you think they’ve been poisoned, Pappou?”

“How else would four rows of vines suddenly die?” Pappou glared at her. “It’s sabotage and I know who did it.”

“You do?”

“Yes.” His eyes blazed and deep lines furrowed his brow. “Someone who has never been able to accept River Dynasty.”

“Here you are, Theo.” Yia-yia put a cup in front of him and resumed her seat.

“Who do you mean?” Kat asked.

“Euan Levallier.” Pappou thumped the table with his fist and all their coffee cups vibrated.

“Surely not,” Kat said.

“Surely yes. Four rows of semillon vines on the Levallier Dell boundary have been poisoned. Who else besides Euan Levallier would want to harm my vines?” He gave a sharp nod.

“But why…” Kat was stuck for words. She couldn’t associate Euan, the man she’d got to know, with such a terrible act. It was true he had kept her at arm’s length but she had put that down to there being no love lost between Euan and Pappou. There was no way Euan would purposely poison his neighbour’s vines.

“He has never liked the way we do things at River Dynasty. He thinks no one can make wine like he can. And…” Pappou stabbed a finger in the air at her, “he has never forgiven me for buying that piece of land right out from under his lazy nose.”

“Theo, are you sure?” Yia-yia asked. “Euan is an honest man.”

“Who else would poison my vines? It has to be that Levallier fool.”

Chapter 26

CHAPTER 26

Keely sat in the front of the tray-top ute beside Flynn, watching the scenery whiz by as he drove them in to town. She was going with him to collect boxes of his wine to bring back to Levallier Dell, so they could stick on the labels ready for the weekend cellar-door sales.

Her first glimpse of the labels had sent a surge of excitement through her. Not that she had said too much. Maggie had been enthusiastic but Flynn had remained aloof when he handed over a label for her to look at. She hadn’t known how to react. Perhaps he was disappointed with the finished label but she thought her sketch of Euan had come up really well.

The paper colour was Tuscan Tan, an off-white, and the printer had deepened the hues of her sketch, so that the Euan on the label had a much darker brown hat and quite ginger hair. They had used gold to depict the straw stuck in his hat and gold for the lettering. She had been relieved to see that Flynn at least gave a small smile when she said she was pleased with the result.