Landweir House Chapter 21 (Conclusion) - Tony Lane's Blog

Landweir House

Chapter 21

DNA

When Lisa Marie and Dr. Jacobs returned to Landweir House, workers had just finished cutting a doorway sized section out of the wall in the library. A couple of pushes with a pry bar and down it went. They let the dust settle and then Donald held up a flashlight and stuck his head inside the room.

“My God. Here’s another one.” He said as he entered the room with Lisa Marie, Dr. Jacobs, Terry, Bart and Molly right behind him.

The room was a perfectly preserved time capsule of one fateful day in 1865. The wall coverings, the original bookcases with the books intact and a large desk and chair were in the room. Seated in the chair, with a gun still in his hand, was the skeleton of Carlton Landweir.

“He left a note.” Dr. Jacobs said as he focused his light on the desk. Everyone moved closer to him as he picked up the paper. Everyone that is except for Lisa Marie. She went to the other side of the body and picked up an ornate lock box and fit the key into it and turned it. She opened the box and took out a gris-gris bag from inside and then worked her way over to her husband. Only Dr. Jacobs saw her do this as he pulled out his reading glasses and prepared to read the note. “It is written by Carlton Landweir. He says that he can no longer bear to live without the love of his life, Marie Turnow. He says that his wife Emily had killed Marie and his son and so he has killed his wife and her daughter to avenge their deaths. They are the bodies that are buried in the rose garden.”

“But no mention as to who the other two bodies might be?” Terry asked.

Lisa Marie looked lovingly at Donald who furrowed his brow as if to ask what she wanted. She pressed something into his had and suddenly everything made sense to him.

“It’s good to be home again.” He whispered to his wife and then he kissed her.

“No, no mention of any other bodies.” Jacobs finished.

“Well, Don, I’m not sure that you want to be related to this guy anyway do you?” Bart asked as he nudged Donald in the ribs but then stopped when he saw that Donald was kissing Lisa Marie. Bart got Molly’s attention and pointed to them.

“What ever trips your trigger I suppose.” She said as she shrugged her shoulders.

****

In the following weeks, the viewers of HGTV’s Renovating History program were treated to one amazing revelation after the next. The highlight came with the revealing of the perfectly preserved secret Library and the scandalous story of the first Landweir owners. The network itself had never had such high ratings numbers for any program. Terry was promoted to the position of programming development director for the entire network. Hosts Bart and Molly each got their own shows. The three of them were secretly paid a half of a million dollars apiece by the Landweir’s for their help.

At the very end of the last episode, the esteemed historian Dr. Mortimer Jacobs presented the owners with the results of their DNA profile. It seems that Donald was in fact, related to the first owner of Landweir House and that Dr. Lisa Marie Landweir did have a great number of relatives in New Orleans and her family could be traced back to a free woman of color, as she was called in the 1860’s, Marie Turnow.

The money that was raised by auctioning off the treasures left behind by Robert Breen brought in nearly twelve million dollars to the Landweir’s. Landweir House was completely restored to its original magnificence under the direction of its new owners, Donald and Lisa Marie Landweir.

“You know, there is something more about the DNA findings that I did not share with anyone else.” Dr. Jacobs said as the cameras were being packed away following the final shots.

“What is that Mortimer?” Lisa Marie asked as she took her husband’s hand into hers.

“The DNA was more than a close match to Carlton Landweir and Marie Turnow. They were exact matches.” Jacobs said.

“How can that possibly be?” Lisa Marie asked him as she put her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek.

“That’s just it. It can’t be. It is impossible by any understanding of science.” Jacobs said as he broke from Marie and put his hat back on his head. “But if you don’t mind, I would like to have the chance to speak to you both about New Orleans as it was during the time of the Civil War.”

“Any time Doctor, any time.” Donald said as he shook Jacobs’ hand and with that Mortimer Jacobs left Landweir House.

THE END

Merry Christmas