Page 39 of Stronger Than Blood

Chapter thirty-six

Mick

As fate would have it, I loved Essie as much as I did her uncle and cousin Rebecca. She was funny, tough, and didn’t mince words about what her expectations were when it came to good food, but then I wouldn’t expect any less from someone Brenda was considering to replace her.

Bev was a total surprise. She, like Essie, was in her mid-thirties but small and petite.

I would’ve never put the two women together, except I knew how much opposites attract.

I also wouldn’t have thought Bev would be the kind of person who wanted to distill spirits until I learned that she’d worked in bars and restaurants since she turned twenty-one.

Of course, the more she talked, the more her eyes sparkled. We walked through Uncle Eddie’s store, and damn if even I could feel how happy my uncle’s spirit was at the thought of what was happening.

“Are you capable of starting a microdistillery on your own?” Rory asked Bev, but she shook her head.

“No, not by myself. I apologize. I’m still learning, but I’m convinced I could run it once it’s set up.

However, my mentor does this for a living.

He travels all over the country setting these up.

He’s even a distributor for some of the best distillery equipment out there.

I know ’cause I’ve used several different brands, and his is by far the best.”

“So, can you contact him to see if he can come by?” Kalinda asked.

She chuckled. “He’s in the Florida Keys at the moment, but I’m sure he can stop here on his way back up to St. Louis. I’ll give him a call.”

She went outside and made her call before coming back in, smiling. “Yep, said he can stop by tomorrow. Apparently, he’s spending the night in Atlanta and planned to be in Nashville tomorrow.”

“Aah, Bev, that’s perfect,” Kalinda said.

“Don’t thank me yet. The guy is a bit of a shark; he’ll bleed you dry if you aren’t careful, but I trust him when it comes to distilling. You definitely want him to be a friend if you plan to do this.”

After that, I hung out with Rory as Kalinda and Bev sat chatting about our plans.

“All this is overwhelming. Before you and Kalinda blew into town, I lived a quiet, simple life.”

Rory smiled and leaned over, kissing me. “I know, life is coming at me fast at the moment as well, but in my experience, when that’s the case, it’s best just to go with the flow. Let’s get out of here.”

We waved at Kalinda and Bev as we walked over to the hotel and up to his room. “Speaking of going with the flow,” I said as we entered his room. “I-I wouldn’t mind taking things to the next level… if you’re willing.”

Rory’s eyes immediately heated, and he drew me into his arms, kissing me hard before pulling back and smiling. “Oh, I’m willing… really willing,” he said and was leaning back down for another kiss when his phone rang.

“Ignore it,” I whimpered, but he just chuckled since he already had the phone out.

“It’s Kalinda. Sorry, but let’s do a rain check on this for a minute.”

I sighed but nodded. He was right, a lot was going on, and we needed to keep our heads on straight, pun entirely intended.

“Hey,” he answered, and I watched as his smile grew until he was staring at me in shock. “Um, yeah, we’ll be right there.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked, concerned.

“Oh, Mick, it’s too good to be true, maybe. Kalinda showed Bev your uncle’s stock of antique liquor.”

“Yeah?”

“Well, let’s go back, and I’ll let her tell you herself.”

I was confused, but I followed Rory across the town square to Uncle Eddie’s place. Kalinda and Bev were sitting at one of the tables we’d yet to return to the church. When we walked in, Bev looked at me and smiled.

“So, what’s this about?” I asked, and both women beamed, before Kalinda asked Bev to give me the news.

“Well, I worked for a man in St. Louis who collected whiskey. I was with him when he purchased aged shine from a man who had some of Popcorn Sutton’s last shine.

When Kalinda showed me your stash, I immediately noticed a jug with Popcorn’s name on it.

If it’s his, well, I can tell you my boss paid a lot of money for the one he purchased. ”

“How much money?” I asked.

She hesitated, and when she told me, my head swam. “For one jug?”

“No, it was more than you have, but if we can find any information about your great-uncle being involved with shine, so there’s a provenance, even word of mouth, anything written would be better, like was he arrested or anything? That could make this worth a million, maybe more.”

My mouth fell open, and now I understood why Rory looked so shocked. “Um, well, I doubt my great-uncle was ever arrested, but plenty of folks around here would be able to tell you about his stash. We’ll have to ask, and I’m guessing Elias is where we should start,” I said, looking at Rory.

For the rest of the day, we went from person to person, letting them tell us stories of Uncle Eddie’s shenanigans. Bev recorded everything because she said if her former boss wanted to buy this or knew someone who did, we’d need all the anecdotal evidence.

When I said it seemed like a long shot that anecdotal evidence was enough for it to sell for that much, she just laughed.

“Mick, sorry, but the industry was hidden because of the law until less than a decade ago. Most everything is anecdotal, and your great-uncle has more than enough history to draw the interest of buyers for your stash. In fact, when my mentor gets here tomorrow, you should ask him to set up an auction for what you have. But before you do, you own it, correct? There are no other owners?”

I shook my head. “No, I don’t own anything. My great-grandmother does, but I can ask her tonight what she thinks.”

“Perfect. If Kalinda and Rory continue collecting stories with me, I’d like you to get permission to write them.

If my history proves to be true, once it’s found out that you have the stash, things will move fast. You’ll want them to as well because I happen to know others who’ve had theirs stolen.

The entire industry still teeters on the edge of the law.

Even if everything is legal nowadays, for many decades, it wasn’t. ”

“I understand,” I confirmed and asked Kalinda to join me outside before I left.

“Do you think we can trust her? I mean, the whole theft thing kinda scares me.”

Kalinda nodded, then reached over, putting her hand on my shoulder. “Yeah, I think Bev is trustworthy, but I also think she’s excited knowing that with this sale, we have the money to make this happen. Provided your granny and you want to go down that route.”

I chuckled. “My granny won’t want the stuff. She’ll prefer it to be sold, and if it leads to something good, like a store reopening in her beloved town, I’m gonna guess she’ll be all for that as well, but I’ll ask, and I’ll get her to sign off on a sale if she does.”

Kalinda nodded, and I was about to walk away when I was overcome with happiness. Before I could stop myself, I hugged the woman.

Kalinda just laughed. “Oh, sorry, I… well, I don’t know what came over me.”

“I do. It’s happiness, and never apologize for sharing that with me, but I do agree with Bev. I think this will happen quickly, so please ensure it’s all signed off. The spirits are telling me this could happen before we all move back to your home.”

That was the news that sent my happy soaring heart back into my stomach.

Of course, Kalinda noticed and shook her head.

“Remember, don’t give it power. Even now, when you let it drag you down off your emotional high, it helps the entity instead of defeating it.

Stay happy. You taking your home back is a powerful tool. ”

I nodded and forced myself to smile. She was right, of course. I’d spent too many years dreading that hateful ghost. Oh well, I had plenty of other happy things to focus on. Currently, that included possibly securing the funds to start a legal moonshine business here in downtown Piston Creek.

Remembering I still needed to talk to Jonah about the shine, I stopped on my way out of town. He quickly had me sign some paperwork and took a retainer for his services, stating that he needed it to establish me as his client.

Then he handed me the paperwork Granny Ida needed to sign to give permission to sell the stash. He also assured me he could handle all the legal ins and outs of selling the collection Granny Ida had inherited, even if she hadn’t known that she had.

I left town and headed back to my apartment feeling confident that things would work out, at least in my career.