Blood Is Thicker Than Wine

by Liz Eagle

  “Do you think you should show it to Judge Stone?” Joe asked.

  “Perhaps,” Lil said. “I believe he will know what to do from this point forward.”

  “Yes, I think he will know,” Joe said. “I doubt there is anything to do since all the parties are dead.”

  “Right, except there are a few parties that are still alive,” Lil said. “Remember we were almost killed by someone at the beach house that could have been Dr. Lewis’s daughter. It could have been her trying to break in last night. I still get cold chills when I think about how close that bullet was to my head. Whoever that was, they could have killed us all. If it was Doc Lewis’ daughter, I wonder whatever happened to her, if they’ve caught her yet? I also wonder if she somehow knows something about the girls or even this death certificate. Maybe she knows that someone put it in this box?”

  “I know. It was an awful ordeal. I hope we never have to go through that again,” Joe said.

  “If she knows there was another death certificate, she may think I have it and wanted to dissuade me from finding it.” Lil said. “If so, that was a pretty strong effort, in my book. I doubt she knows about these mysterious boxes, but my phone call certainly tipped her.”

  Chapter 53

  Winston-Salem, North Carolina

  “Do you have some time for me to come to your chambers, Judge Stone?” Lil asked. “I found something interesting in the last box and would like to share it with you. I might need some legal advice, after all.”

  “Why, of course,” Judge Stone said. “Can you come to the courthouse around three?” he asked. The judge had some news to relay to Lil as well and figured that would be just as good a time as any.

  “Thank you, Judge.” Lil said. “I will be there.”

  Lil made sure to be in chambers precisely at three. “Thank you for seeing me, Judge,” she said. “I think I have solved the mystery of my family, but it is not very encouraging.” Lil went on to explain the latest developments and showed the judge the death certificate.

  “Oh my,” Judge Stone said. “That does not sound very good for your aunt and uncle, or your grandparents. It appears they were all a party to murder and held the secret very well.” The judge looked up at the ceiling, rocked back in his big black chair and put the tips of his fingers together.

  Right then, there was a knock on the judge’s door. “Excuse me, Judge,” a Deputy US Marshal said. “I have some news about that matter you had assigned to me a few weeks ago.” Judge Stone motioned for the Marshal to enter.

  “No point in keeping our secret anymore,” Judge Stone said. “Do I understand the matter has been resolved?”

  “Yes,” the Marshal said. “May I speak freely in front of Probation Officer Starling, your honor?”

  “Yes,” the judge said. “I think she will be relieved after hearing the news you have.”

  “Very well,” the Marshal said as he took a seat next to Lil in front of the judge’s desk. “I believe that the person who took the shot at you at the beach was arrested yesterday. She was very conversant, and admitted to trying to kill you, Lil, and also to breaking into your house. She was, in fact, doctor Lewis’s daughter. She was afraid you would find out her family’s secret. She confessed quite openly that her father, the doctor, gave her a deathbed confession and swore her to secrecy. Apparently, he admitted that the McDougals’ wine was in fact tainted with copper sulfate and that it caused the two girls at the park to become violently ill, but not enough to kill them. It was tainted wine or brandy, and tainted by accident, she assured me, but her father took the opportunity to strangle the two poor girls because he had had affairs with them in the town. They were blackmailing him, and he used their weakened condition after they ingested the tainted wine to cover up his secret. He led the Chandlers and the McDougals to believe that they were equally responsible. He wanted to keep them in his favor because they knew about all his affairs.” The marshal waited until he was given a nod by the judge to continue. “There is one more thing. We set up a stake out at your home here and observed a car, similar to what Joe described in Cherry Grove, drive by your house. In fact, it drove by the night of the break in. I was about to pull away from your house when you reported the break-in. I was able to capture her running down the hill toward her car and arrested her. The car with the NY plates belonged to AUSA Harris and she is, in fact, Dr. Lewis’s daughter. As it turned out, when she was still an AUSA in Buffalo she heard about your dad’s death. She went to your stepmother’s cottage to visit her after the funeral and found out your stepmother had given you the boxes of documents from the basement. She suspected that they contained incriminating evidence in her father’s murder of the two girls. I believe she would have gone to great measures to get them from you. The other AUSAs in the office here were very cooperative and advised that she made many inquiries about you, your family and your beach house. That appears to be how she located you there.

  “My goodness. It was Harris, are you certain?” Lil asked. She recalled how unprofessional she acted toward Lil. This was a big surprise and Lil wondered how she was not able to put it all together for herself. “Thank you for your hard work. I, and my family, can’t thank you enough for your work on this. I had no idea that Harris was Dr. Lewis’s daughter. She looked so different. But, it all that makes sense after what I have read. So, I suppose that I am off the hook for a family with murderous secrets.” Lil sat back in the chair and took a long breath. “That is somewhat reassuring. I thank you, Judge, for helping me all this time.” She looked at the marshal and shook his hand before he left chambers.

  “Lil,” Judge Stone said. “I am so glad it turned out this way. What is that phrase about blood being thicker than something?

  Lil laughed and said, “Right, but in this case, blood is thicker than wine.”

  The End

  About the Author

  Liz is a retired United States Probation Officer from the Middle District of North Carolina where she worked in her law enforcement career for 21 years. She enjoys reading fiction, writing, relaxing on the beach and drinking good wine. She lives in Mocksville, NC with her husband and dog. She loves to spend time with her two children and two step children. She grew up in Warsaw, NY, the quaint town in Western New York which she writes about in this story, and she makes regular trips there because her closest and dearest friend still lives there.