by Liz Eagle
Milton was not too worried, but he did not want anyone questioning Harvey. He wondered if Gus had been to Attica Prison to talk directly with the inmate. Milton hoped that a call to the warden would not alert anyone to any suspicions. But after making his second phone call, Milton’s worry grew almost to the point of paranoia about the whole situation. This Gus Gaylord fellow was getting entirely too close to a family secret he hoped would never rear its ugly head. He needed to talk to Max and Gynnie as soon as he could.
Chapter 21
1945 Warsaw, New York
“Marry you?!” Jacqueline exclaimed, cradling her stomach as she did so. “Are you serious? You hardly know me or anything about me.” She was shocked by Phillip’s impromptu proposal. She was still not feeling well and hoped it would pass.
“Well, yes, I am serious,” Phillip said. “We like each other a lot. I am about to graduate from law school, and you like this town. We could get married here in my church and live in Warsaw. That doesn’t sound all that bad, does it?” he asked. Phillip could hardly believe what he had said. He knew he would never be able to keep his eyes off of other women, it wasn’t in his nature to be monogamous. A marriage would provide a good cover. It might make people in this town respect him, for once. He would be married to a real beauty, and all the other men would be jealous.
Jacqueline wondered how her father would feel. “I can’t give you an answer just yet,” she said. “I want to talk to my father first.” She knew that was a lame excuse, and she hoped it did not hurt Phillip’s feelings, but that was all she could think of to say for now. She needed some time, and the pain in her stomach was beginning to cloud her thoughts
“Where would we live?” Jacqueline asked Phillip, as they continued walking towards the McDougals’.
“For starters, we could live with Uncle Max and Aunt Gynnie,” he said. “They have plenty of room upstairs. Once I start in the law firm, we will build our own house in town.” He had it all planned.
“Where would I work?” Jacqueline asked. She had not had her big break, and who knows when that would happen. If she moved to Small Town USA, she would be giving up her entire career and education. She was not sure about all that. Jacqueline certainly liked Phillip but wasn’t sure she liked him enough to marry him.
“Darling, you would never have to work,” Phillip said. “You could just cook, clean house and go to ladies’ meetings or join clubs, whatever they are, and eat brunch at the country club. I will buy you mink stoles and diamonds with all the money I will make.” Phillip was pleased with his proposal, thinking he was pretty smooth.
“That sounds tempting,” Jacqueline said, trying to take slow, deep breaths to lessen the pain. “But, do you mind if I think about it for awhile? Marriage is a big step, and we don’t really know each other that well. I want to make sure. You don’t even know if I am already married or anything.” She wanted to bring up her concerns about his family as well, but wondered if it was a good time.
Although this should have been something he already knew, he decided to pursue it anyway. “You are right,” he said. “Well, are you married?”
“No,” Jacqueline replied. “Well, not at the moment.” How would he react?
“Have you ever been married?” Phillip asked, beginning to sound more and more like an attorney questioning a witness.
“Yes. Once, but only briefly.” Jacqueline said. “You see, you didn’t know that about me. I know I should have told you, but I never felt like I had the opportunity.” She wondered if this news was enough to make Phillip renege on his proposal. Either way, Jacqueline was prepared.
“Interesting,” Phillip said. This was news to him. Someone else had already had her. He had wanted to be the first. That was disappointing. “Tell me what happened,” he said. “Are you divorced?”
“Yes,” Jacqueline said. “The marriage was annulled shortly after it began. His name was Frank, and when he was deployed to France right after the wedding, he fell in love with a Parisian woman. He sent me a cable from France, confessed to the whole affair and asked for an annulment.”
Noticing the tears that had begun to well up in Jacqueline’s eyes, Phillip felt bad drilling her on the subject. It was strange, this type of empathy towards a woman wasn’t something he was used to, but he could see that she was clearly upset, and he didn’t like it. “Oh, I am so sorry, my darling,” he said, stopping and reaching out for her hands. “I promise that will never happen to us.” Phillip pulled Jacqueline closer to him and wrapped his arms around her, hoping that was enough to ease her concerns. He had no idea how the marriage would turn out. He had never been faithful to any woman, and he did not know if he ever could.
“I am glad you now know,” Jacqueline said. “I was worried about it and dreaded telling you.” This mixture of emotional pain and physical nausea was not a good feeling, but Phillip’s embrace made her feel warm and safe.
“Well, let’s put the proposal on hold until you talk to your father,” Phillip said. “I won’t say anything to my family until you have a chance to make up your mind. But don’t take too long.”
“Thank you, Phillip,” Jacqueline said, reaching up to touch his face. The pain and queasiness was growing exponentially, she felt weaker by the moment. Something was terribly wrong and she wanted to get to her room as soon as possible. They continued at a brisker pace and could see the inn just ahead. Jacqueline squeezed Phillip’s hand as tight as she could, anything to divert her focus from the pain.
“Ouch! You really have a tight grip!” He looked over at her and winked, but her face was void of any joy. She looked pale, not well at all. Phillip didn’t think she had had any more alcohol than usual at dinner. “Jacqueline? Darling? Are you alright?”
“I...I don’t know...I really am not well….” Her voice was soft and feeble. She stumbled along but was clearly having a hard time. Phillip’s heart jolted, he didn’t know what he could do; she needed help. He looked over again at her, when, all of a sudden, her body gave out. Her muscles seemed to weaken all at once, and she started to fall. Phillip grabbed her tightly, before she fainted completely onto the hard, cold concrete. He could not let anything happen to this girl, his future wife, he had to get her upstairs. In a strange way, he had a sense of peace with all this. He could not discount the fact that he was starting to feel something for her.
Chapter 22
1945 Warsaw, New York
“Good morning, Sir,” Gus Gaylord said as he stood at the door to his supervisor’s office at FBI headquarters in Buffalo.
“Hey, Gus,” his supervisor replied. “Come in. It is good to see you. How are you doing? How is the investigation going?” Gus was required to report his findings to his superiors, and this was his chance.
“Well, I stayed at the Warsaw Inn for several weekends, and have gotten to know Max and Gynnie McDougal rather well,” he replied. “I got the police report and court records, and I also talked to Harvey at the prison.”
“Good,” his supervisor said, asking, “And what do you conclude?”
“I hate to admit it, but I am still not sure,” Gus said. “I found out from Harvey that the two girls were drinking homemade wine that night, not at all unlike the homemade wine that the McDougal’s make at their inn, which you may have heard about. There is no mention of jars of wine being left at the scene in any report, however, if they were there at all. Mr. Harvey seems adamant that they were, making the McDougals definite suspects. He also contended the girls were only passed out when he left them. They had gotten sick and vomited so he left them but insisted that they were still breathing and very much alive. He said his attorney, Milton Chandler, did not even put up a fight for him. In fact, he called him ‘a piece of shit, worthless attorney.’ Between all the prison complaints about Milton Chandler and now this mysterious missing wine, I am just not sure of anything right now,” Gus concluded.
“Anything suspic
ious going on at the inn?” his supervisor asked.
“Well, I got a good look at the cellar,” Gus said. “Max, the owner, took me down there.” He went on to tell his supervisor that there were a lot of chemicals on the shelves, most of which are used in cooking and canning along with a few that are used to make wine.
“There was one chemical, copper sulfate, that I am concerned about, and I need to follow up with the laboratory while I am here,” Gus said. “I also don’t much like Milton’s son, Phillip Chandler, he is sort of a hotshot cad type. He is just short of graduating from law school and will follow in his father’s footsteps.
“He would almost make a better suspect than his father, given his actions and demeanor,” Gus told his supervisor. “He was all over my daughter, like there was no tomorrow, last weekend.” Gus made the executive decision not to reveal the information about the sex parties just yet, though he knew this was some of the strongest evidence he had collected yet. That would involve his daughter and he wanted to shelter her at the moment. He realized, however, that without digging into Jacqueline’s tip, he did not have much to go on if they were going after Milton Chandler. Aside from being a very poor defense attorney, there was nothing to connect him to the murders, no solid evidence. He knew he needed to dig deeper into the Chandler family as well. He continued his report. “The McDougals flatly denied selling any wine to anyone, and there is no cash register or accounting of the sales, if they exist. I am just perplexed as to how the victims, those two girls, got the wine. I suppose they could have just asked for it. The McDougals seem pretty generous with it, especially if the girls were guests at some point. Or perhaps the girls broke into the house and stole it, but the McDougals have not said anything about a break-in. You see, I still have many questions that I cannot answer.”
Continuing his summary, Gus said, “I am also suspicious, however, about the final medical report as to the cause of death. I know from training that there are usually strangulation marks on the necks, if the cause of the deaths was indeed strangulation. In the photos I saw, there were no visible marks on either of the girl’s necks, but the photo quality was really not that good.”
Gus’ supervisor looked down at the papers on his desk. “That is interesting,” he said. “Do you have the name of the person who signed the death certificates or even who took the pictures? If you could talk to that person, or persons, maybe you could find out more. You might have to go the local hospital or doctor’s office to find out who signed the death certificate. You must be careful in those small towns. Word gets around that you are sniffing up some tree and before you can whistle ‘toot, toot, tootsie goodbye,’ the tree will have vanished and all those cooperating will clam up.” Continuing, Gus’ supervisor said, “You remember the whole reason we started this investigation was because the FBI has received several letters from inmates in Attica all suggesting that Milton Chandler was not doing his job as a lawyer. It was simply too many complaints to ignore, especially the one from Mr. Harvey. He said that Chandler was a fraud and made a vague reference that he was somehow connected to the real killers or at least covering up for them.”
The supervisor continued. “You know, Gus, we get a lot of letters from inmates who are not happy with their prison sentence,” he said, “but there were too many to ignore that referred specifically to Chandler. This would usually be a New York Bar Association issue, but it was transferred to the FBI because the information also implied that the elder Chandler, or someone in the town, was somehow mixed up in these particular murders, per the inmate grapevine. Since the accusations were based on inmate accounts, after they were incarcerated, the reports have to be taken with a grain of salt no matter what agency investigates.”
Gus knew he was not done yet. Even he was aware that there was not much to go on. He would continue to follow the leads and go where they took him.
“Why don’t you keep up the pretense for now, Gus?” his supervisor said. “Go back to the inn. See if you can get down to the cellar by yourself and look for anything that doesn’t look like real wine making chemicals or ingredients. Or perhaps a storage room not readily visible. If you can, get a sample of that chemical. What did you call it? Copper sulfate? You might even sneak around the premises and see if anything outside looks suspicious. If you do see anything that is not right, get you and your daughter the hell out of there,” the supervisor ordered, his voice raising. He knew this was a long shot, but after reading so many letters from inmates, he wanted to know more. Gus had never let him down before.
“Yes, sir,” Gus said. “You can count on me to get a line on something by the time I come back.” He left the supervisor’s office and went to the payroll office to collect reimbursement for his expenses and get an advance to cover his future expenses.
“Hi, Gus,” the payroll clerk said. “Guess you need to be reimbursed for the inn and need more money for the rest of your stay?”
“Yep, he is sending me back for more information,” Gus replied. “Very expensive rent for a small town,” he said, collecting the advance money from the clerk. Gus spent the night in Buffalo and left for Warsaw the next morning.
Chapter 23
1945 Warsaw, New York
Gus drove back to Warsaw and checked in at the inn. “Hi there, Gus,” Max said. “Welcome back. How was your trip to Buffalo?”
“Just fine, Max,” Gus said. “Thank you for asking. Guess I am here for the duration.”
“Well, what can we do for you?” Max asked. “Are you hungry? Gynnie fixed a wonderful lunch if you haven’t eaten, homemade chicken salad sandwiches with refrigerator pickles.” Max never asked just what Gus meant about being there for the duration.
“That would be wonderful, Max,” Gus said. “I am a little hungry. Have you seen Jacqueline today? She was supposed to be back this weekend to meet the Chandlers, I was hoping to catch her.”
“Yes, she was with Phillip last night and had dinner with his parents,” Max said. “She is still upstairs in her room, she was quite sick last night. Phillip stayed up there with her for hours. Gynnie tried to see what was the matter but Phillip insisted we leave her alone so we didn’t bother her. Hope she is doing alright. You should probably go up and check on her while we prepare your lunch.”
Gus immediately took his bag and briefcase to his room and put them on the bed. He knew Jacqueline’s drinking was becoming a problem, this could be the last straw. He walked down the hall to her room, knocked on the door and opened it.
“Jackie?” he called. “Are you alright?” He tried to keep his voice soft though he was very worried. Gus walked in to see her lying on the bed, her eyes red from crying, and the rest of her looking very pale. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?” He sat on her bed next to her and put his hand on her back.
“Oh, nothing, really. I just have not felt right since dinner with Phillip’s parents last night. Must have been something I ate. Perhaps it was that last sip of blackberry brandy I had. Who knows?” Jacqueline said. “But, these are really tears of joy. Phillip asked me to marry him last night.” She seemed to be diverting the question.
“Jackie, dear, I really do think you need to slow down with your drinking. You know you are not used to it and it is clearly affecting your health. That blackberry brandy is quite powerful stuff,” Gus replied. Then it sunk in what else she had just told him. “Wait...marry him?! Are you certain? What on earth did you say to him?” He knew that he had not had enough time to find out what was going on with this family yet, but most certainly did not want his daughter that close, regardless. He did not like the thought of Phillip’s slimy hands all over his daughter either, it made him feel sick himself. But it was too late. Phillip had obviously made his move. He should have paid more attention to what his daughter was doing or feeling instead of working on the case the whole time.
“We had a long talk after he proposed,” she said, “and we decided to wait until I talked to yo
u. He said that was best, and it was ever so sweet of him to wait for me talk to you. I think he actually wants to ask you for my hand in marriage,” Jacqueline said, sitting up slowly with her hand gripping her stomach and wiping her eyes with her lace handkerchief.
“Don’t you think this is too soon?” Gus asked his daughter, referring to the annulment from Frank. “You really don’t even know anything about this family or even Phillip for that matter, except what you shared with me. That alone makes me feel uneasy. Besides, don’t you think you may be on the rebound from Frank? It has not been that long. I am worried that you are jumping in too quickly. Did you talk to Phillip at all about these issues? These are important.” She took a long breath and nodded.
“Yes, I did father. We were very honest with each other.” She explained what transpired at the Chandlers’ and how Phillip had acted. She also detailed exactly what he had told her on their walk and how she had discussed Frank with him as well. Before Gus could respond she gripped her stomach even tighter. “Oh my! I feel quite sick again!” She pulled the covers off and ran into the washroom, he could hear her retching horribly. This seemed to be a bit more than an average hangover. She walked back after five minutes or so, looking quite worried. “Father...I know this is not very ladylike of me to tell you, but what just came out of me was a very strange color. A bluish green. I have never seen anything like it. I most definitely did not eat anything of that sort last night...I do feel a bit better now though. I suppose that brandy was strong.” Then Gus remembered something.
“Did you say Louise gave you blackberry brandy?”
“Yes, that was it. It was Max and Gynnie’s, the same kind we had the other night,” she replied.
“Do you remember the jar that Gynnie knocked out of Max’s hand while we were at the park? He said it was bad or something. It seemed very odd to me at the time, and they were acting quite strange about it, but I wonder if you weren’t perhaps given some from the bad batch.” He also remembered the blue crystals he had seen on his trip into the cellar: copper sulfate.