Pinot Noir and Poison

by Sandra Woffington

  We are all capable of killing—if pushed past our threshold

  “Poison, as you can see, is an equal-opportunity killer.” Joy clicked a button and the screen disappeared.

  As the lecture rolled along, Max took notes, but he couldn’t help linking the lecture to his current case. Was Sally’s murderer a woman? Not necessarily. Elliot knew all about poison mushrooms. Rio and Lizzy had biochemistry degrees. Lizzy had a home-garden. And Kate, a renowned chef, had a garden as well. What about the myriad of chemists and others who had access to Sally’s toxic garden?

  The back door opened noisily. Max turned. A student rushed in late and grabbed a seat in the last row. Max shook his head and returned to his notes, but he felt a sudden chill run up his spine. His brain had registered an anomaly. He turned back toward the visitor.

  A dark-haired woman sat on the end seat, her face hidden in the shadows. She rested white-gloved hands on her purse, rather than taking notes.

  “Max!” called Dr. Burton.

  Max spun around. “I’m sorry. Could you repeat the question?”

  “I was hoping you could share a bit about your recent hemlock poisoning. What did it feel like?”

  “Oh, um, well, tingly in my toes and fingers at first. My vision became blurry. I felt the muscles in my arms and legs spasm. I convulsed. The creepiest part was that I was aware the entire time. At the hospital, I remember how much I feared dying. I tried to breathe, but nothing happened. It was like my brain told my body to breathe in and it didn’t respond. That’s it before I blacked out. Recovery took a couple of days. I think the weirdest part about it was that I knew in my head what was happening to me.”

  Joy addressed the audience. “That is because hemlock causes a neuromuscular blockage that stops the muscles from receiving messages from the brain, but it does not interfere with brain capacity or thought, like other substances. Thanks for sharing, Max.”

  Joy continued, “In ancient Greece, condemned prisoners were given a hemlock tincture to drink. Knowing what we know now, this seems rather cruel. Those who drank it, including Socrates, remained aware of each moment they moved closer to death. From the loss of the use of their limbs to the eventual paralysis of their diaphragm muscle, which contracts and relaxes to fill and expel air from the lungs. In essence, death by hemlock is death by asphyxiation—the victim is conscious of every moment of suffocation. And on that note, we’ll take a break. Be back in ten.”

  Max turned around to get a better look at the woman in the back row. She rose from her seat and pushed open the door. Fueled by instinct, Max raced up the aisle after her. He shoved the door open with a bang and stood in the hallway, which still smelled of new paint and carpet glue. He looked right and left, but the woman had vanished.

  15

  The following morning, Max and Joy stepped out of the Kinsey Pharmaceutical elevators and strolled down the corridor of black and white photos in orange frames that showed a younger Harold standing in his first laboratory, beside his first employees. Later images recorded the construction of the new facility. A family photo showed the Kinsey family standing in front of the finished building. A dour Sally stood beside Elliot and her father Harold, who stood beside his wife Allison. Lizzy stood beside her mother, and another man stood beside her, clutching the hand of a child.

  Max approached Alice, who led them to the conference room where the reading of the will would take place. Max and Joy stood at the back of the room. Around the long table sat Todd, Elliot, Lizzy, Maria, and Rio. Todd leaned back, at ease and even jovial with Elliot. Lizzy and Elliot sat together, each with signs of trepidation and concern on their faces. Maria wept into a tissue, and Rio, sitting next to his mother, folded his arms in defiance. Max, too, wondered why Rio was present—he must be in the will.

  Sally’s attorney, with a dour face, stepped into the room, swinging her briefcase. She marched to the head of the room. Alice stepped inside and closed the door.

  Paula Cohen wore a black suit and a crisp white shirt. A clunky silver necklace hung about her neck. Her short chestnut hair swept back from her face, the most prominent feature of which was her nose. She was all business. She did not flash a smile. She set her briefcase on the table, opened it, and grabbed the will. She put on her half-glasses but peered over them to address her audience.

  Todd rose to greet her. “Hi, Paula. It’s good to see you.”

  “You too, Todd. Have as seat. You know Sally. This will be a bumpy ride.”

  Todd laughed and took his seat.

  “You’ve been asked here today to hear the last will of Sally Kinsey Fee. Those present have been named personally in the document. This last will and testament is dated a week ago, Aug—” She read the date.

  “Hold on!” Todd uncrossed his legs, leaned forward, and protested. “Are you saying that Sally made a new will a week ago?”

  Max and Joy exchanged curious glances. So too did Lizzy and Elliot.

  Paula Cohen peered straight at Todd. “This is on the Kinsey dime. If you want me to repeat everything twice, it will cost twice as much.”

  Todd stammered. He ran a hand over his salt-and-pepper hair. “Who’s the executor?”

  “I was just getting to that. I am, Mr. Baxter. May I proceed?” Paula Cohen lowered the paper. “Before I read this, I think we all know that Sally was a pistol, God love her. I’m reading exactly what she wanted you all to hear—so don’t shoot the messenger.” With that, she straightened her glasses, cleared her throat, and began: “To Maria, I leave a gift of one hundred thousand dollars. You did your best. Any humanity I have, I owe to you.”

  “Dios mio!” cried Maria, who made the sign of the cross and silently wept. “Gracias.”

  “To Lizzy, I leave bupkis. Actually, I leave butt-kiss as in kiss my ass! I wish you’d never have been born. We were never sisters, just Harold Kinsey’s…” Paula Cohen rolled her eyes skyward and shook her head, as if the words that came next were difficult, even for her. “…just Harold Kinsey’s lustful, arm-candy offspring. The man had no balls, just a dick.”

  Rio put an arm around his mother and whispered in her ear. Elliot grabbed Lizzy’s hand and mouthed the words, “I’m sorry.”

  Lizzy’s shoulders sagged. Her chin fell to her chest.

  Paula Cohen cleared her throat again. Her face remained stoic. “To Rio, I bequeath this picture, after Lizzy sees it. You can tear it up if you wish and be free, or keep it with fond memories. Frankly, I don’t give a damn. And frankly, I know that it will stay burned in both of your brains for an eternity.” Paula Cohen reached into her briefcase and held up an envelope. “If you would step over to me. I am required to witness your viewing the image.”

  “And if I refuse?” asked Lizzy.

  “Then the picture is bequeathed to Todd.” Paula Cohen huffed in exasperation.

  Lizzy rose to her feet. She whispered to Rio,. “It’s okay.”

  Rio’s face turned red. He hung his head. His shoulders stooped with shame, knowing what his mother would see.

  Lizzy approached Paula Cohen, who turned her back to the audience. Lizzy stood facing her, so that only she would see the picture withdrawn from the package. Paula Cohen slid the image out of the envelope, seeing only the back of it, and she watched Lizzy’s face.

  Lizzy gazed at the selfie of a naked Sally, sitting atop Rio. Sally’s red hair spiked out like a witch. Her red lips curved sadistically. Lizzy kept her back as straight as possible, given the circumstances.

  To Max, Lizzy’s face remained calm, as if she had known what to expect. And she was not going to let it destroy her.

  Paula Cohen slid the picture back into the envelope and handed it to Lizzy. Lizzy handed it to Rio. Rio jumped up and tore the envelope in half. “Burn in hell, Sally!” He stormed out.

  Joy whispered to Max, “One last jab from the grave.”

  “It’s not the last,” whispered Max.

  Paula Cohen continued, “Elliot, despite your weaknesses, we shared a few laughs. I expe
cted you to fight for me, like I expected my father to love me. But neither of you ever came after me. You turned a blind eye, and maybe that was best. We’ll never know. I asked you once why you stayed with me, and you said ‘we deserve each other’ and that you are ‘no better than me.’ Maybe we were more alike than I thought. Maybe you are ruthless in your own way. But, it doesn’t matter now. I’ve no living relatives, and you’re the most loyal of the bunch, so I leave you the house, all of my personal possessions, and all of my shares in Kinsey Pharmaceuticals. Congratulations!”

  Lizzy shook hands with Elliot, whose mouth hung open in utter shock. They beamed unexpected smiles of surprise.

  Todd jumped to his feet. His hands waved about in wild gyrations. “She wouldn’t do that. I contest this will!”

  Lizzy jumped to her feet too. “Sit down, Todd. Sally made her choice. Frankly, she chose well. If anyone was loyal, it was Elliot. She’d never leave the shares to me, but Elliot deserves them.”

  Paula Cohen kept a calm tone. “There is a bequeath to you last, Todd. Want to hear it?”

  Todd eyed the group before taking his seat.

  Paula Cohen looked right at Todd as she read. “To Todd Baxter, you’re a lying, sniveling, cheating, bastard. I hope the little bitch—I speak of Alice—was worth it. Did you think I wouldn’t know? After all these years? I married Elliot for convenience, but you and I—we did the dirty work, Todd. We did it together. Partners in crime, lust, and vengeance. Still, you’re one hell of a lawyer, so I’m keeping you around. You earn your paycheck, but you lost the booty—all of it. If Paula is reading this, then I died before you did, and you’re sitting there with your chin hitting your neck.”

  Todd raged. He stormed past Alice, who shrugged, as if stymied as to how Sally had found out about them, but she didn’t seem upset.

  Lizzy and Elliot rose, shook hands with the attorney, who apologized, and left the room.

  Max and Joy approached Paula Cohen and introduced themselves. Max asked, “What was Sally’s demeanor when she came to see you?”

  Paula Cohen laughed. “Sally only had one demeanor—mad as hell.”

  “What exactly did she say to you about her reasons for changing the will?” asked Max.

  Paula Cohen smirked. “That’s confidential. Attorney-client privilege, but she was pissed.”

  “I’m surprised she left her shares to Elliot.” Max said it to Joy, not to the attorney.

  “I’m not,” said Joy. “He never cheated on her. He just hung in there, year after year.”

  Paula Cohen snapped her briefcase closed. “Off the record, I’ll miss that bitch. If there’s one thing you can say about Sally Kinsey Fee—she didn’t hold back.”

  “No, she didn’t,” agreed Max.

  16

  Max and Joy were almost back at the station when Max’s phone rang. He hit the answer button on the steering column. “Hi, Captain. You won’t believe who got the goods—Elliot.”

  Captain Banks overrode Max’s exuberance. “This is a courtesy call, Max.”

  “Why are you whispering?” asked Max.

  “Because Katherine Wolf still hasn’t arrived here at the station, so the chief put out an APB on the vehicles registered to them or the estate. They’ve been spotted moving south, halfway to San Diego. They haven’t broken any laws—yet.”

  “Damn it!” said Max. “We’re on it. Send me the coordinates and the license plate.”

  “Done.” The captain hung up.

  Max flipped the car around and hit the closest freeway entrance. He punched the gas and flipped on the lights and siren. People didn’t always see an undercover car coming, like his silver Ford Taurus. But cars heard the sirens and moved right. Max flew past the traffic. His muscles tensed. As much as he wanted to save Kate and Red, he didn’t want to endanger others.

  “You know them, Max. Where are they headed?”

  “Mexico. They wouldn’t try the San Diego airport. It’s too easy for security to stop them from boarding a plane. But Tijuana International is just across the border.”

  “You’re going a hundred. I presume they’re not speeding to stay beneath the radar, so at this rate, we’ll overtake them in…” Joy did the math in her head. “Thirty-six minutes.”

  Max kept his eyes dead ahead, but he frowned. “Is that for real?”

  Joy gave him a deadpan answer. “I like math, remember. It’s basic algebra.”

  “There is nothing basic about algebra.” Max continued, “What if they’re speeding? Most do.”

  “Then it might be too late. We’ll have to alert the border authorities, and that won’t sit well with a judge that Kate tried to flee.”

  “No, it won’t. We’ll have one guilty fugitive and one guilty accomplice instead of one innocent suspect.”

  “It’s kind of romantic,” said Joy. “He’ll do anything for her.”

  “Yeah, he would. Even mess up his own life to protect her. And I’ll do everything in my power to protect them both.”

  Max flew over the hills that separated Wine Valley from San Diego. He’d taken the road many times, and normally, he enjoyed the calm expanses of golden grass and the rocky faces of rolling hills. He even admired the way mankind had built roads over and between the natural barriers to seek destinies at the other end of a trail. But the blue sky stretched out over the hills like a sea into which Kate and Red would plunge and drown.

  Once over the hill, they dropped down, inching southwest, ever closer to the Pacific Ocean and ever closer to the border crossing to Tijuana.

  Thirty-six minutes came and went. Traffic began to thicken and slow as they neared the border.

  Forty minutes.

  Forty-five.

  “There!” shouted Joy, pointing at a dark green SUV with the Raedwald Estate Winery logo on the door.

  Max maneuvered around cars. He caught up to the SUV and slipped in behind it. Max punched his phone.

  Red answered. “Max, let us go. Please. If you care at all.”

  Max shouted. “Red, if I didn’t care, I wouldn’t have raced here to save your ass. Pull the hell over! Do it!” He hung up the phone. His hands were shaking. He was about to arrest his godmother.

  Red pulled over to the shoulder, next to the concrete barrier. Max parked behind him and kept the lights flashing. Joy stayed in the car.

  Max stepped up to the driver’s side, where Red had already rolled down his window. “You’re just lucky my captain likes me. She gave me a heads up, and here I am. You’re damn lucky, Red! You too, Kate! If you’d have crossed that border, you’d both be fugitives.”

  Red reached over and took Kate’s hand. “Kate is my life, Max. She’s innocent.”

  Joy came rushing up. “Max! We’ve got to get back. Todd is dead.”

  Red tipped his head back, as if relieved. “Now do you believe us?”

  Max yelled. “In the first place, Red, I told you—I believed you both! That doesn’t mean you break the law—it makes you look guilty! Second, depending on the time of death, this little stunt makes you look more guilty. You could have killed him and then left town.”

  Kate stammered, “I guess we didn’t see it like that, Max.”

  “Kate, you’re getting in my car—don’t even try to argue! Red, you can follow us.”

  “Is Red in trouble?” asked Kate. “He was only trying to help me.”

  “No, Kate. You two were just down here visiting the zoo. You weren’t heading to Tijuana, right?”

  “Right.” Kate beamed. “Oh, I really do love the zoo. Especially the penguins. Thanks, Max.”

  “I’m sorry, Max. For what the boys and I said to you,” added Red, keeping his eyes straight ahead while he swallowed hard, as if it was tough to get out the words.

  “You should have trusted me! You’d trust one of your sons.”

  “You’re right.” Red gave him a grim smile. “Save Kate. She didn’t do this.”

  “I will,” promised Max.

  Kate slipped out of the vehi
cle and Joy opened the door for her to slide into the backseat. Joy sat in the back seat with her to ease her concern.

  Max called Captain Banks to let her know the status of their arrival. “We are bringing Kate in, then we’ll head over to the crime scene.”

  “Good. Maybe that will narrow down your suspect list,” said Captain Banks.

  Joy chatted easily with Kate, who kept looking back to see if Red was behind them.

  “I hope you get as lucky as I did, Joy. That man is my life too,” said Kate. “I suppose it’s because we left our homes and started over. We only had one another before the boys arrived. And an empty piece of land.”

  “You’re a lucky woman.”

  “That I am. I’m sorry we put you through a fuss, Max.”

  “That’s what family does, Kate. They protect one another.”

  Kate welled up. “You’ve always been like a son, Max, ‘one of my boys.’ You’re right, we should have trusted you. I’m sorry.”

  Max didn’t reply. He didn’t need to. Families that cared fought for one another, sometimes confronted one another. They yelled and fought because they cared. “I still am, I hope, ‘one of your sons.’”

  “That you are, my boy,” said Kate. “And next time, you can arrest me. I do trust you, Max.”

  “Kate, this is your one and only time that I’ll ever be bringing you in,” said Max.

  While Kate and Joy chatted—mostly Kate—who filled Joy in on each of her sons’ antics and achievements, Max wondered who had killed Todd. And why? Or had he killed himself? Todd had lost it all, effectively. So what was the motive for murder? No shares in the company. It didn’t make any sense. He had a successful career.

  Max called Kinsey and spoke to Alice. She hadn’t let on about the affair, even after Sally’s death. Todd must have wanted it kept a secret. He asked if Alice if she had access to Todd’s house. She had the keys and the security code. Max arranged to meet her at Todd’s house and told her to wait outside for him to arrive.