Chapter 19 #3
Silence came from the other end. Zev muttered something under his breath that she couldn’t quite hear.
Then Zev continued. “What if Randol killed Alice? All I’m saying is, …
what if Alice and Randol had split up, and maybe they’ve been separated for quite a while.
If Alice was going to divorce him, I don’t know whether he would be happy about it or not.
I don’t know if they went to a lawyer to do the paperwork needed for a legal action. ”
Doreen pondered that. “Would Randol already know that he can’t get the family restaurant?”
Zev sighed. “I don’t know. Alice kept the family business very close to her chest, but, as a motive for Randol killing her, it’s not a bad one. Randol definitely has a temper.”
“That’s not a bad motive at all,” Doreen agreed. “I’ll see if I can talk to him.”
“Good luck with that. He’s not very social.”
“Right, and I may have accidentally met him downtown,” she murmured. “If he’s the same man I’m thinking of, he wasn’t very nice at all.”
“That would be a pleasant way to describe him,” Zev said. “By the way, he hates animals, so don’t take them with you. He’ll make sure they have an accident.”
“I already don’t like this man.”
“If just for that reason alone,” Zev replied, “I would be more than happy to see him as the guilty party. Yet, … after what I said about him, I just can’t see it.”
“Why not?” Doreen asked.
“Because … I’m pretty sure my sister was paying him money to keep him away from her.”
“Sorry?” she asked. “As in, he was blackmailing her?”
“Something like that, but I don’t know why, and the more I think about it, … maybe he was just done with her and their marriage. Maybe he figured, if he got the restaurant, it would be better than waiting for the money from her every month. Maybe he figured he could just, you know, have it all.”
“But wouldn’t he know that he wasn’t entitled to the family restaurant?”
“He may not,” Zev pointed out. “You would expect Alice to make that clear, but she wasn’t the nicest person either. Plus, she didn’t discuss the business with me or Danny, so why would she talk to Randol about it? He has no restaurant experience.”
“Good God,” she muttered. “What about you and Danny? Do either of you talk with Randol at all?”
“I don’t know that Danny has ever spoken to Randol.
Between Randol and Danny’s wife, those are two hateful people who are not someone anyone wants to interact with.
As for my speaking to Randol, yes, I have occasionally, but I certainly wouldn’t brace him over this.
When I say he’s not a nice man, I mean it. ”
“Got it,” Doreen replied. “Do you have any contact information for him?”
“Sure,” he said. “I’ll give it to you, but, if you die in the process, you can’t hold it against me.”
“Oh, if I’m dead,” she noted, with a laugh, “I can’t hold anything against anyone.”
“That’s true.” He quickly gave her the number.
She waved at Nan, who gave her a pen and paper, and she wrote it down. “Do you have his full name for me?”
“Just Randol Biscott—some silly last name, like the cookie.”
“Okay.” She stared down at the name. “Do you know if he works? Any idea where he might be?”
“No, I don’t think he works. He’s just been sucking Alice dry, letting her support him.”
“So, part of any divorce settlement may have been alimony that she had to pay to him.”
“Maybe. … That would suck, but I guess that makes sense. Although if that were the case,” he added, “he wouldn’t have killed her because that would have cooked his proverbial goose.”
“True,” Doreen confirmed, “but that might be worth asking him about.”
“I’m just warning you.”
“I hear you,” she said, “and thank you very much for the warning.”
When he rang off, she stared at the people in Nan’s living room. “Anybody know this guy?”
They all shook their heads.
She looked over at Nan. “We need a picture of him.” She quickly went through her phone to try and find something.
“When I get home, I’ll contact Mack. Surely the police have already contacted Alice’s husband.
The death notification is just part of the natural order of things within law enforcement.
And, in this case, when someone dies, the spouse is often the first suspect. ”
Nan nodded. “Don’t talk to that man again, Doreen. Let Mack handle it. You know that’s what he will tell you anyway, right?”
Doreen grimaced. “I guess so.”
Nan continued. “Which is why the police went to Barry’s fiancée about her young man.”
“Exactly.” Doreen pondered that. “It’s so sad about Jillian losing Barry—and her aunt too, all on top of losing her mom a decade ago.” She looked around the room. “Okay, what else have we got?” But nobody seemed to have anything else to add. “I thought you had something to tell me,” she told Nan.
“Not as exciting as what you’re finding out,” Maisie replied. “You make us feel like slugger bugs.”
Doreen laughed. “No, not at all. However, if you want to dredge up any information you can on this Burgon family, then please do so. And, if you know anybody from Red Deer in Alberta, I would love all the information and gossip on Katie Burgon, the woman who was killed there ten years ago.” Doreen frowned.
“I don’t know that Katie used her married name much.
Her husband went missing so long ago. Thank goodness that Jillian had Uncle Zev to fill in as her father figure. ”
“It is rather odd to have three murders in that family, and then for Jillian to have her father leave them too? So sad,” Nan muttered.
“It’s beyond odd, and Mack can’t find a trail on Jillian’s father, so we don’t know whether he’s dead or still hiding out.” Doreen shook her head. “Something is off about that too.”
“Ooh, another mystery. I like the sound of that.” Nan smiled at Doreen. “You’re always so good for our entertainment.”
“Maybe,” Doreen muttered, “but, in this instance, I feel I’m missing something.”
“You’ll find it,” Nan declared comfortably. “You always do.”
“No pressure though, right?” Doreen had to laugh.
Nan chuckled. “No pressure ever, honey. But, having said that …”
“Right.” Doreen groaned, knowing what Nan was about to say. “Time is ticking. I get it.”
When tea was done, Doreen got up. After all her animals managed to complete their goodbyes—which seemed to be quite the process these days—Doreen took them all outside and headed back down to the creek, wondering what to do next.
Randol Biscott was not somebody she wanted to talk to on her own. She just barely made it back home when Mack called her. She chuckled. “You know it’s been one of those days when I just go from meeting to meeting to meeting,” she began, “but you were on my mind, so I’m glad you called.”
“That’s good,” he replied, with a chuckle, “but why is it a good thing I called? What are you up to now?”
“Did you talk to the husband of the murdered restaurant owner?”
“No, I haven’t. One of the uniforms did the notification,” he shared, “and it is on my list to do. However, it’s not a high priority because he doesn’t live here.”
“He does live here,” she corrected, “at least as far as I know. And Alice was paying him money every month, but I don’t know whether that was a court-ordered alimony or blackmail was going on.
Yet we met him downtown, and he went to the Rocking Horse and entered with his own key.
Plus, he’s the one who scared me and Nan when he threatened Mugs. ”
“That’s interesting,” Mack replied in a pensive tone. “So you say he has a key to the Rocking Horse?”
“Yes. He let himself into the restaurant, last I saw. And it was closed to the public.”
“Hmm. I’ll need to move up his interview a little bit on the priority list.”
“Yeah, you do that, but I need to talk to him too. Not so sure I want to talk to him alone.”
“I don’t want you talking to him at all, remember?”
“I know, and I know that you’ll say it’s a current case, but Randol also seems to be quite interesting in terms of all three of the Burgon-related murder cases.”
“Do not talk to him,” Mack snapped, his tone sharp, “not when Mugs already doesn’t like him.”
“Oh, well, there’s not liking, then there’s really hating,” she clarified. “You don’t understand how Mugs reacted. It was pretty bad and well past not liking.”
“Don’t talk to him, Doreen. I’ll reach out to him this afternoon and see if I can connect right away. I may end up going down to the restaurant, if he’s there. I was hoping to do another walk-through anyway.”
She immediately asked, “Any chance I could come?”
“What good would that do you?” he asked in exasperation.
She snorted. “Why is it you want to go?”
“I want to get … Fine, I’ll ask the captain for clearance,” he muttered, “but no promises.”
“No, of course not,” she said in delight. “I would absolutely love to go to the crime scene.”
“You know something is wrong with you, right?” he asked her in a half-joking manner.
“I know some people would think so,” she conceded, “but I also know that you love me. So, if anything is wrong with me, you’re okay with that too.”
“Absolutely,” he declared, his tone super gentle, and then he ended the call.