Chapter 22 #2
She also hadn’t really heard about a party for Nan. She wasn’t sure what Richie may have been planning or what Nan may want done.
By the time Doreen left for Danny’s house, she was nervous, anxious, and excited. After a drive that seemed to take forever, she and the animals finally pulled into the driveway. As she got out, she was surprised to see Zev there.
He looked at her and shook his head. “Don’t go bothering Danny now too. He didn’t do anything. I don’t know why I’m surprised you are here. It didn’t take you long to show up on Danny’s doorstep.”
She smiled. “I’ve been dealing with him anyway on a portrait.”
“Interesting,” he muttered.
Doreen looked at the front of the house and found Danny’s wife inside, standing at a window, waving at Doreen with a big smile on her face. “That’s the first time I’ve ever seen a smile from her.”
Zev nodded. “She hasn’t had a very happy life.”
Doreen heard an odd note in his tone. “Is something between the two of you?”
“No, not anymore,” he admitted. “There was originally, but she ended up marrying Danny instead.”
“Ah, that’s not an easy thing either.”
“No, it sure isn’t.” He tried to smile, then looked at her and added, “It was a long time ago.”
“Doesn’t seem like it’s died away.”
“Doesn’t matter. It’s not as if I’ll take away the wife of somebody who’s in a wheelchair,” he declared, with a shrug. “She made that decision a long time ago.”
But even after that statement, Zev stood here and stared at the window for a shade too long.
Doreen sighed. “Still, if people are married and miserable, it’s better to be divorced and happy, than to go through life just wishing you had done something different.”
He stared at her, looked back at the window, and shrugged. “I don’t think she would have me now.”
“And why is that?”
“I don’t have a fortune for her.”
“She sure doesn’t have a fortune here,” Doreen pointed out.
He nodded. “But now they should get Alice’s restaurant.”
“What about Alice’s husband?”
“No, he doesn’t get the restaurant. I told you that, remember?”
“Right, just family. … So, if Danny doesn’t get the restaurant, or if he didn’t want the restaurant, would it go to you?”
He looked at her and then slowly nodded. “I guess it would. Or maybe to Jillian, if she still wanted it.”
“If you ran it, you could make a fortune off it, couldn’t you?”
“I would hire my niece to run it,” he said, followed by a laugh. “I think she could make a go of it. I doubt there’s a fortune to be made though. Times are tough for restaurants right now.”
“Is she that good?”
“Oh, you have absolutely no idea. She’s very good and quite talented in the kitchen.”
“What about her fiancé?”
“Much less so,” he replied, “and it was a bone of contention between them. She wanted to be a chef, but he wanted to be their chef.”
“Ah, do you think they would have made it?”
“No, I’m not so sure they would have in the long run,” he shared. “My niece is fairly dominant, and he was much less so. But he did want to be top dog in the kitchen, and I think that would have broken them up in the end.”
She nodded. “Do you think Jillian could have killed Barry?” Startled, Zev turned and glared at her. She went on. “You’ve had time to think about it,” she pointed out, “and I know it’s your niece, and you love her dearly, but it’s just a question.”
“What are you really asking me?”
“Do you think she could have done it?”
“Could she have? Yes. Would she have killed her own fiancé? No. She’s not killer material.”
“News flash,” Doreen replied. “Everybody is killer material.” When he looked at her, startled, Doreen explained, “There is always an instance where everybody will kill, so don’t let yourself think that isn’t true.”
“Let me just repeat that I don’t believe Jillian would do that.”
“And you’ve never had your doubts over it?”
“No, never,” he declared.
She nodded. “Good to know. Just in case, … watch your back.” Startled, he stopped to frown at her, and she added, “You could be the only one standing between her and the restaurant now.”
“Don’t say that,” he snapped. “Jillian would never do such a thing. Besides it’s not coming to me. It should go to Danny.”
“What about this one?” She pointed casually where the wife had been standing in the window. “Since her husband is also the only one standing between her and the restaurant, could she have done it?”
“She was not born a Burgon. So, she can’t get a Burgon family restaurant,” he stated once again, as he turned to look up at the window. Doreen twisted to look too. But the woman had disappeared. Zev shuddered. “I don’t like the way your mind works.”
“I’m sure you don’t. Neither do I at times,” she admitted. “Yet I can tell you that, more often than not, though everyone may not like what comes out of my mind, so often it proves to be correct,” she murmured. “Just think about the people around you.”
“Why do I have to do that?” he snapped. “Why should I?”
“Because somebody killed your sisters, both of them. The question is, who?”
“By that same reasoning,” he pointed out, “I should also be a suspect.”
She smiled brightly at him and replied, “Who said you aren’t?” And, with that, she walked up to the front door.