ChardonNOIR – Episode 5: The Last Pour
Claire’s phone screen cast a pale glow in the pitch-black cellar.
“Beatrice locked us in,” she whispered.
Rex was already checking the door. “She’s probably calling the cops right now. Framing us for Marcus’s murder.” He slammed his fist against the wood. “We need to get out of here.”
Claire wasn’t listening. She was staring at her aunt’s journal entry from six months ago, the one she’d found tucked inside a wine case:
“Beatrice has been skimming premium bottles for years. Replacing them with cheap blends. I confronted her today. She smiled and said, ‘Accidents happen in wine cellars all the time.’ I’m going to the police tomorrow.”
Her aunt never made it to tomorrow.
“She killed my aunt,” Claire said quietly. “And Marcus must have figured it out. He was the distributor—he would’ve noticed the switch.”
A crash upstairs. Shouting. Burns’ voice: “Police! Nobody move!”
Then Beatrice’s voice, shrill and panicked: “Detective! They’re in the cellar! Rex and Claire—they killed Marcus! I saw them tampering with the wine!”
Rex swore. “She’s flipping the script.”
Claire looked at the hidden cases of Reserve Selection. Then at her phone. She had one chance.
She opened the camera and hit record.
“Detective Burns,” she called through the door. “Before you arrest us, you should know Beatrice has been running a fraud operation for years. Check the cellar security footage. And check the bottle in Marcus’s hand when he died.”
Silence.
Then Burns’ voice: “What bottle?”
“The one Beatrice took after you weren’t looking. The one with her fingerprints on it. The poisoned one.”
More silence. Then footsteps on the stairs.
The cellar door unlocked.
Burns stood there, Beatrice’s arm twisted behind her back, her face twisted with rage.
“You have no proof,” Beatrice hissed.
Claire held up her phone. “Actually, I have my aunt’s journal. And twelve cases of fraudulent wine with your handwriting on the shipping manifests.”
Burns looked at the hidden cache. Then at Beatrice. “You’re under arrest.”
But Claire wasn’t done. Because there was still one question that didn’t make sense.
She turned to Rex. “You said someone was skimming bottles. Replacing good vintages with cheap ones. But you also said you produced this wine.”
Rex went pale.
“You weren’t a victim,” Claire said slowly. “You were her partner.”
Before Rex could run, Burns had him in cuffs too.
The case was closed. The killers caught.
But as Claire climbed out of the cellar, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was still wrong.
The wine had been trying to tell her something all along.
And she’d finally figured out what.
Episode 1: https://wineanddrama.com/chardonnoir-episode-1-death-by-chardonnay/
Episode 2: https://wineanddrama.com/chardonnoir-sour-grapes-episode-2/
Episode 3: https://wineanddrama.com/chardonnoir-episode-3-tainted-notes/
Episode 4: https://wineanddrama.com/chardonnoir-episode-4-bitter-finish/
Episode 6: https://wineanddrama.com/chardonnoir-episode-6-the-ghost-in-the-bottle/
