Up In Smoke: Spirit of the Soul Wine Shop Mystery (A Rysen Morris Mystery Book 3) by K.J. Emrick Page A

customer in so far and she was fine handling things here by herself.  Still, Christina should be here by now.  She’d left the house they shared early, before Rysen had even gotten out of bed, leaving a note stuck to the refrigerator that simply said she had errands to run.  Rysen couldn’t imagine what sort of errands would take her sister out of the house that early, but she was the owner of the shop, after all.  If she wanted to be late for work then that was her choice.
    The shopkeeper’s bell over the door rang and Rysen quickly sprang to her feet.  Two tourists, a man and a woman, smiled at her and glanced around the shop.  They were both dressed in khaki shorts and t-shirts that no self-respecting local resident would wear.  No matter.  Rysen wasn’t here to critique their fashion sense.  She was here to sell them wine and make her sister’s shop lots of money.
    “Hello,” she greeted them.  “Welcome to the Spirit of the Soul.  I’m Rysen Morris.  Can I help you find anything?”
    “We’re just looking,” the man said automatically.  He brushed a finger along his mustache with a grimace.
    His companion—probably his wife, judging by the diamond on her left ring finger—stared at him with gentle patience.  Her lovely brown hair had streaks of gray in it.  “We’re looking for a cabernet to bring home to our friends in Reno.  We’ve heard so many good things about your shop.  Can you suggest something for us?”
    Rysen managed a smile, but she knew what sort of things the couple had probably heard about the shop.  Between the thefts of wine shipments they had endured, and then the murder up the street at Beatrice’s flower shop, the lazy town of Cambria had been in the news a lot lately.  Not in the good way.  Strangely enough, tragedy had been good for business.
    “We have a few selections for cabernet,” she told them.  “Right over here.”
    The shop was laid out with low shelves in rows, bottles of wines organized by variety and color and a host of other little details.  It was a testament to how methodical Christina could be when she put her mind to something.  Racks displayed the cheaper varieties that a lot of tourists preferred for a quick purchase.  Murals covered the walls, beautiful paintings of the nearby vineyards and people enjoying glasses of wine.  Christina had done a lot of the work herself.  She loved this business she had created.
    There were a lot of other wine shops in the area, and even a few others right here in Cambria.  Christina’s shop had grown in reputation among both its customers and the homegrown wine makers.  It was nice to see things finally working out.  For both of them.  For a while, when Rysen had first moved back to town, it had looked like Christina’s shop was going under.  Rysen still wasn’t sure if all of their debt had been paid off.  Probably not, but that was something they would work at together.
    The cabernet section had varieties from three different local growers, as well as two nationally known labels.  Rysen hadn’t sampled all of them but she had tasted the two newest acquisitions.  Christina insisted on knowing their stock firsthand.  So she was able to suggest the one over the other to the couple, a minty aftertaste in this one verses a black currant and vanilla with that one. 
    The two of them seemed very impressed by Rysen’s knowledge.  She laughed and told them she only started learning about wine a few months ago.  “You need to talk to my sister if you want a real wine expert.”
    “Oh,” the woman said to her, “is she here?”
    Rysen handed her the bottle they had decided on.  “No, I’m sorry.  I’m not sure where she is, to tell you the truth.  She’s almost always here right when we open.  Was there anything else I can show you today?”
    There wasn’t, so she rang up their purchase and placed it into a paper bag with the store’s name and logo on it, little handles made from