Death in the Distillery by Kent Conwell

Author:Kent Conwell [Conwell, Kent]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Detective
ISBN: 9780803496699
Google: XYA3AQAACAAJ
Amazon: B00BSOTIGO
Publisher: Avalon Books
Published: 2004-05-15T04:00:00+00:00

I went back to my report. Katherine Voss. A dead end. No connection with Patterson. I shook my head, remembering Hawkins' story about Emmett and Voss making out behind the rackhouse. "Well, no connection as far as his murder," I muttered.

Suddenly, I was struck by the coincidence of the young woman leaving one distillery and showing up at another. Happenstance? Fortuity? Serendipity? Or by design? My pulse picked up. I felt that old curiosity welling up inside.

Thumbing quickly through my notes on Katherine Voss, I noted that she had filled out the application on June 18, 1988. The odds were a thousand to one, but could she have come to Chalk Hills Distillery for a purpose? Maybe she wanted to study the operation, then take the knowledge back to Kentucky. More than one entrepreneur had pirated competition.

But, what was worth stealing around here?

The question rang a bell. I thumbed back through my notes. "Jesus. I wonder if this is it?" I read aloud the notes from my interview with Alonzo Jackson. "One of a kind, it is a pure culture yeast, Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, developed from a single original cell and carefully propagated and maintained until a vigorous strain was produced with its own particular properties to produce whiskey possessing desired characteristics. We made our first breakthrough in nineteen-eighty-eight, and since that time, we have constantly striven to improve the yeast."

I stared at the notebook. My brain raced. I muttered, trying to verbalize my thoughts. "What if she came to Chalk Hills to steal the formula, or some of the culture? That could explain why she was here." I knew I was stretching the envelope, but stranger things have happened.

If only I knew when she left home. I looked at the telephone, reluctant to disturb Voss again. She might not have known about the yeast. She could have simply wanted to see the world, and someone who wants to ramble takes his time. She could have hit New Orleans and remained for months before moving on. But, what if there was only a couple of weeks between the time she left Kentucky and the day she arrived at Chalk Hills? That would indicate some degree of deliberation. - -- - - - - -- - - - - --

I studied the telephone, then grabbed it and quickly dialed the number. If I didn't find out when she left, I'd never stop worrying over it.

Voss answered, his voice weak and old.

"Sorry to bother you again, Mr. Voss. This is Boudreaux. Can you tell me when Katherine left home. The date, more or less?"

Woodenly, he replied, "I'll never forget that day. I drove her down to the Greyhound station in Benchmark. That morning. June fifteen, nineteen-eighty-eight."

I held my voice steady as I thanked him, but my hands were shaking when I replaced the receiver. June 15. Three days before she showed up at Chalk Hills. Three days. On the Greyhound bus. How many ways can you spell deliberate?

More and more loose threads were showing up in the case.

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