Blood Is Thicker Than Wine

by Liz Eagle

  “Hi, Mom,” Phillip said.

  “Hello, dear,” Louise said. “How are things going with you?’’

  “Pretty well,” Phillip replied. “I think I will go back to Buffalo to study some more for the bar, so I have some laundry for you to do, if you wouldn’t mind.” He knew she was a pretty good mother, despite being overbearing at times. She did just about anything he asked of her. He knew he was spoiled and tended to take advantage of it.

  “Certainly, dear,” Louise said. “Oh, by the way I just had an interesting phone call.” She wondered if mentioning the call from Cynthia was a good idea. She decided to let Phillip know that she was aware of his trip to the racetrack and, if he did not play his cards right, she may use this as leverage. Bribery is one of a mother’s most effective child rearing methods.

  “Oh, really,” he said. “Who called?”

  “It was Cynthia Lewis, Dr. Lewis’ wife,” his mother responded.

  “Oh, and what did she have to say?” Phillip was not sure where this was going, but he intended to hold back any information until it was absolutely necessary. He would even lie if he needed to. He was, after all, a very good lawyer.

  “Well, she said that she ran into you at the horse races in Batavia and wanted to give you more information on the subject that you two apparently discussed,” Louise continued. “You know that if your father finds out you’ve been spending a significant amount of time doing anything but studying for the bar exam, he would be very upset. There is a lot at stake with your future, and I won’t have you screwing it up! I also don’t want you to be seen in any compromising position with any woman in this town.”

  Phillip had to think for a moment because he could not recall when he had last seen Cynthia. Then he remembered it was the time that he had gone to the races. That was it. He had to figure out how he was going to handle this mess. Stupid Cynthia. He made a mental note to confront her and scold her for calling his home and talking to his mother. He would threaten never to have sex with her again, and he knew she did not want that.

  “Oh, yes,” Phillip said. “I think we ran into each other outside the racetrack. I had stopped to grab a bite to eat in Batavia on my way home from school, and she saw me. I was not really at the races, Mom. I did not even see the first horse. No need to spend any more time on that.” This was good “thinking on his feet,” he surmised. Phillip prided himself on being vague when the situation called for it, and after all, this was a good quality for an effective lawyer. He hoped his vagueness would appease his mother.

  “Oh, alright then,” Louise said, taking her son’s bait. “I will have no need to mention that encounter to your father. But please be careful, darling, with her and all the other women in this town, for that matter, you could find yourself caught up in unnecessary rumors. You are an eligible bachelor with a bright future and the ability to make a lot of money as a lawyer. Please keep in mind that this is a small town and that people do tend to gossip about everyone else’s business. You don’t need to do very much wrong in this town for everyone to find out about it.”

  Phillip had to laugh to himself upon hearing that from his mother. He knew she was such a hypocrite. Phillip figured that while he was there he ought to break the big news to her. She would be happy to be the first to hear it, anyway. “Well, I am not interested in any women in this town,” he said. “In fact, just the other night I asked Jacqueline to marry me. So, ask yourself what motivation Mrs. Lewis would have by discussing our meeting with you when I am already spoken for.”

  Louise felt her face get red. “What?!” she exclaimed. “You did what?! Marry Jacqueline?! Oh, no you don’t. We will not have it! There is no way you will be marrying some low-life wannabe actress that comes from the city. You come from good family stock, and we will not stand for you conducting yourself in this way.” Louise could not think of what else to say. She had to sit down at the table, she wiped her wet hands on her apron and wondered how Phillip could do this to them.

  “Oh, come on Mom, be realistic.” he said. “You must admit she is drop-dead gorgeous, and we will have beautiful children. Not that you will ever see. She is discussing the proposal with her dad as we speak. I met her father at Uncle Max and Aunt Gynnie’s house. He seems like he is from ‘pretty good stock,’ to put it your way. I have not seen any woman in this town who can compare to her. So, get used to it, mother. Unless she turns me down flat, I am going to marry her.” Phillip then turned to go to his room.

  Louise could not help herself. She called her husband at the office, which did not happen often.

  “May I speak to Mr. Chandler, please?” she asked her husband’s receptionist.

  “Certainly, Mrs. Chandler,” the receptionist said. “I will see if he can take your call.” She put Louise on hold while she used the intercom to announce the call to her boss.

  “Mr. Chandler, Mrs. Chandler is on the line,” she said. “Can you take the call?”

  “Yes, put her through,” he said. “She never calls unless it is important.” Answering the call when it came through, Milton said, “Yes, my darling, how are you? Is everything alright?”

  “I just had the most dreadful news from Phillip,” she said. “He said he has proposed to Jacqueline. I don’t know what to do!” Louse said, putting her head in her hands.

  “Well, that is interesting,” Milton said. “I will speak to him when I get home. He is probably not thinking clearly because of all the stress he is under with school and the bar exam. I know when I went through that I was not very focused. He may be just sowing his wild oats but is not really going about it the right way. Thank you for calling, dear. I will handle it later. Now, don’t worry your pretty little head about such things.”

  Milton hung up the phone and wondered what he could do now. He had to keep a cool head and think like a lawyer and plan. After examining all scenarios, he decided he had to call Dr. Lewis and alert him that things were about to get interesting. If Phillip and Jacqueline were to get married, they would never be rid of her father and whatever he was investigating.

  Milton put some tobacco in his brown pipe and lit it. He stood up to pace his office, but quickly sat back down. His foot was still throbbing from the piece of glass he had stepped on at the McDougal house. Thank the Lord he did not swallow the tainted brandy. That damn family, they were responsible for this entire mess and things were out of control, a situation he did not want to contend with.

  Chapter 38

  1945 Warsaw, New York

  Gus took the envelope and the package up to his room and closed the door. He opened Jackie’s results first, he had to know she was alright.

  Patient: Jacqueline L. Gaylord

  Results: Test results confirm trace amounts of copper sulfate present in the

  blood. Levels are not toxic at this time. Proceed as usual, drinking adequate amounts of

  water will help the body to recover fully. Full recovery expected.

  Gus sighed with relief. This is what he had half expected, but he was not certain as to the exact nature of the chemical just yet, and how toxic it was. He expected this next piece of mail to help him with that. He opened the package and saw that indeed it was the laboratory results he had been waiting for.

  He read through all the documents. “Copper sulfate can be lethal in large doses,” he read. “In only small doses, it causes burning and vomiting.” Gus read over the uses and other information about the drug. There was nothing in the report about a choking sensation or a mimicking of strangulation. That was another dead end.

  The more he learned about the double murders, however, the more he suspected that the wine the girls drank must have somehow been tainted with copper sulfate. If strangulation was not the actual cause of death, there had to be another, and tainted wine was a perfect fit. If two sips made Jackie vomit all night long, he could only imagine what two whole jars could do. But was it actually
Max’s wine? Could he prove it? And if it was, how did the copper sulfate get in it? Did it happen on purpose or by accident? Was this really just about covering up their sex nights, or was there more to the story? How and when did the McDougals meet these girls? And was it the McDougals at all, or perhaps the Chandlers? They also had their hands on some of the tainted brandy. There were still too many questions left to be answered, he realized, as he wrote down notes for his file.

  Hearing steps coming upstairs toward his room, Gus quickly put his notes and the laboratory report in his briefcase and shoved it under the bed.

  Jacqueline knocked on her father’s door.

  “Come in,” Gus said, standing up to straighten the bed cover and kick his briefcase further under the bed.

  “Hi, Dad,” Jacqueline said. She walked into his room and sat on the bed beside him.

  “Oh hi, sweetheart,” Gus said. “How are you? Are you still feeling better?”

  “I am fine, I told you before” Jacqueline said. “I am still thinking about the proposal. I saw Phillip briefly today. He was walking home and is going back to school to study for the bar exam. He says he is able to focus better and concentrate in his dorm room and at the school library. I understand. I will be lonely without him though, so I was thinking you and I could spend some time together this afternoon. Why don’t we go downstairs and have a glass of wine or three?” Jacqueline suggested. It had been too long since she had drunk any wine, and she felt she needed some right now. As long as it was not brandy.

  “Sure, that sounds like a good idea,” her father said. He hoped that they would have some privacy without the McDougals looming around. They headed down the stairs together. Before sitting down, they both got a glass of wine from the cabinet in the front room and clinked their glasses together as if in a toast.

  “So, I think it’s time you finally opened up to me and told me exactly what you are working on so diligently these days,” Jacqueline said as she took her first sip.

  Gus took a large swallow of wine, unintentionally, as he was surprised at the question. It made him cough. Clearing his throat, and treading carefully, Gus said, “Well, there is an inmate, or two, in the Attica prison, who have written letters to the FBI about the ineffectiveness of their attorney representation. I have been assigned to investigate those allegations.”

  Chapter 39

  1945 Warsaw, New York

  Phillip packed his suitcase and loaded it into his car. He begrudgingly kissed his mother on the cheek and headed down Main Street, but instead of going up the west hill to Buffalo, he pulled into the driveway of Dr. Lewis’ home. He figured the doctor was at the hospital and Cynthia would be home. She was probably drinking already.

  He went to the back door and knocked, then continued to knock again and again. The more he knocked on the door, the angrier he became at the thought he she actually called his mother. “Of all the unmitigated gall.” Phillip was going to give her a piece of his mind, and he would never have sex with her again. He was determined to become a changed man and save himself for Jacqueline.

  Cynthia looked out the bedroom window at the driveway below. She could not imagine who would be knocking so loudly on the door in the middle of the afternoon. Then she saw Phillip’s car in the driveway. Contacting Louise got her the results she wanted. She immediately took off her robe revealing her see-through nightgown, she knew this would get his attention. She went downstairs to the kitchen, parted the curtains at the window, and smiled at Phillip.

  “Why, come in, darling,” she said, opening the door and peeking out in the driveway to make sure there was no one else looming around. “It is so good to see you, Phillip,” Cynthia said. “Are you ready to have some fun before you go back to school? I have been dying to see you.” She reached for his shirtsleeve and pulled him close to her.

  “Are you out of your mind?!” Phillip said, pulling his arm away from her before pushing her away and shutting the door behind him. “You have some nerve calling my mother,” he said angrily. “Are you on some mission to cause problems for us?”

  Gosh he reminded her of his father, the way he lost his temper. It turned her on even more. Cynthia composed herself and went to the kitchen counter and started to make herself a drink. “Why, what are you referring to, my sexy fellow?” she asked, trying to be coy.

  “You know exactly what I am talking about,” Phillip said. “Mother mentioned your call, and she is now suspicious that I am somehow having an affair with you. Our agreement was to keep our affair as quiet as possible. You have now violated that agreement, and I am through with you.”

  “Oh, come on, darling,” Cynthia said. “I didn’t say anything about our affair. I only told her I ran into you at the races and that we needed to continue our very important conversation. Please don’t be upset with me,” she said in a pouty voice.

  “I am beyond mad,” Phillip said. “I am here to tell you that it is over between us. No more meetings. No more sex. Do you understand what I am saying?” She was just an occasional hop in the hay for him and he needed to concentrate on passing the bar and marrying Jacqueline. Those were his only two priorities.

  Cynthia took a sip of her drink. This was apparently not her first, and she started to slur her words. “Oh darling, I know you are not serious,” she said. “I know you love our arrangement, and you don’t want to stop when it works so well for both of us.” Cynthia took her drink in her hand and waved it around, spilling some of it on the tile floor. She ambled toward Phillip and slipped her nightgown down her arms, exposing her breasts.

  Phillip became even angrier. “What the hell do you think you are doing?” he said, pushing her away and causing her to spill even more of her drink. “I am leaving to go to school. Now you get yourself together and never call or contact me again. This is over. Goodbye.” He turned toward the door and put his hand on the doorknob. But, she was not finished with him.

  “Now wait just a second, my young man,” Cynthia said to Phillip. “I know what you are up to, and I know what you have done. You are not getting away with this on my watch.” She had decided to say and do anything to keep their sex going. She continued, “You and I will continue with our arrangement until I say it’s over. Do you understand?” Cynthia decided to play all her cards. “I know you are planning to marry that little New York City tramp and if you don’t continue with our little arrangement, I will not only tell your mother, but I will tell that tramp and the whole town what kind of a man you really are. Your dirty secret will be out in the open, and what do you think that little tramp will do then? I’ll tell you what she will do. She will get on the first train back to the rock she crawled out from under and then get the hell out of Warsaw. She will leave you so fast it will make your head spin. Now, do you understand, Mr. Big-Shot Lawyer? Do I make myself clear?” Cynthia was starting to wobble from drinking so much. She steadied herself by leaning on the counter. She was pretty sure of herself.

  Phillip could not believe what he was hearing. He had really put himself in a bad spot. Cynthia could not be trusted, and she was certainly capable of doing all she threatened to do. He would need some time to decide exactly how to handle her.

  “Alright, alright,” he said putting his hands in the air. “No need to make any hasty decisions. I will not stop having sex with you if that is what you want. I understand. Just let me get back to school. I must study. You know that I am taking the bar exam and if I fail…well, you know what will happen. I won’t be worthy of your company then.” He needed to say just enough to keep her from making good on her promises.

  Phillip approached her and put his arms around her. He leaned down to kiss her but was completely turned off by the smell of alcohol on her breath. Deciding to whisper in her ear instead, he said, “I will go to school and think about your body every day. When I get home next time, we will go to the races, and I will take you to our usual stop and screw the daylights out of you.
How will that be?” Phillip knew that approach always worked with her.

  “That sounds wonderful, darling,” Cynthia said. “Want to start right now?” she asked, releasing her nightgown and it fell to the floor.

  “No, not here at the house,” Phillip said. “The doc may come home anytime. I don’t want to be seen here anyway. I will call you next time I come home.” He put her nightgown back around her, left through the back door and drove up the west hill to Buffalo. He was concerned, wondering how he was going to handle her. One thing he knew for certain, there was no way on this earth that she was going to screw with his plans to marry Jacqueline. He had to do something about her, but what, that was the question.

  Chapter 40

  Winston-Salem, North Carolina

  Lil was truly frustrated by now. She had been through most of the documents and still had come up with the same conclusions: her mother was an alcoholic and could not stop drinking the homemade wine, and her aunt, uncle and grandparents were completely unhinged. The murder was done by a professional? Like who? Who was a suspect? She seemed to be at a dead end, yet again.

  Joe saw what she was going through. It hurt him to see her this way, so preoccupied in solving a 70-year-old murder. He decided to broach the idea of going to the beach house for the weekend.

  “Hey, Love Bug, why don’t we take some time and go away this week to the beach?” he asked Lil. “The yard probably needs mowing there, and you can take a few boxes with you and still read on the screened porch, if you want. You might even think about putting this family problem aside for a few days. Bury it, so to speak. They are all dead anyway. I hate that they left you with such a mess. Take some time off from this and take a fresh look at it in a few days. Dead men tell no tales, they say.