The Greeks of Beaubien Street

by Jenkins, Suzanne

  Soon, he would have to make a decision. Would he simply allow fate to dictate the course of his life? Or would he take the bull by the horns and move forward? Andy would ask Dana for a divorce. He might even tell her he knew she was being unfaithful and show her the proof. Use it as leverage. He only wanted her gone. He wanted to share custody of his kids. His job was in the city, not in Stockbridge. The children couldn’t be moved that far away from him unless he agreed and the courts concurred. He would allow her to move if and only if she let him have the boys every weekend, from Friday to Sunday night, every holiday and all summer long. Or vice versa. Allow them to go to school in the city and live at the grocery with he and Uncle Gus. There was a highly regarded private school not far away, so saying he would be subjecting them to the city life couldn’t be substantiated.

  By the time he pulled into his driveway, his plans were made. He would ask her tonight. As he retrieved from the backseat the box of pastries he bought home for his family, he looked up and saw his mother-in-law standing in the window, pulling the curtains back looking for him. She had a tissue to her face and was sobbing while his children, crying too, were waiting for the only parent they had left.

  Chapter 19

  Jill was feeling drained. In one day she and Albert had made a lot of headway on the Parker homicide. Most of the evidence they uncovered was the kind of stuff that usually took longer to find. She didn’t know what it meant. Either they were spinning their wheels, accumulating a lot of facts that had no importance, or just the opposite. She felt in her gut that it was the kind of case that may have catastrophic consequences if she wasn’t careful. There were so many unconnected parts to it. She would have to look at the facts and see if she could find any correlation between them.

  She had an inner conflict about the father and the mother of the victim. On one hand, Jacob Parker was just creepy. It was human nature to focus on him as a suspect because of his repugnant mannerisms and demeanor. When Jill was in the presence of the couple, after the initial wave of disgust directed at the father, she noted something about Marianne Parker. She was a woman who’d been pushed to the limit of her tolerance. Jill wasn’t sure if it was her husband who had done it for her as she originally thought, or her daughter. It was a stubborn thought that she would have to deal with and investigate further.

  But not tonight. She knew what she was going to do. Her father had a delicious dinner waiting for her. She would eat with him, take food home to Alex if he wanted it, and after they ate, she and Alex were going out. It was a request she rarely made, but she needed to be distracted tonight. She wanted to dance. Bleu had the best DJ in town and she wanted to go there and forget what she did for a living, forget who she was. Unfortunately, Alex was well known at Bleu. She hoped no females would approach him while he was with her, but she understood in that environment, finesse was underrated.

  Alex wanted to eat at Gus’s after all. The food was great as usual. They helped her dad lock up and after she kissed him goodbye, told him she’d see him in the morning. Alex took her hand and they walked to her apartment.

  “Are you sure you don’t mind going with me as a date?” Jill said, pulling his leg. “I mean I don’t want to cramp your style or anything.”

  “I guess I’ll be alright, this time. Don’t get angry if all my babes come around to be with me.” Alex looked down at Jill and smiled. “It’s all in their imagination, you realize that, right?”

  “Whatever Alex,” she replied exasperated. “Let’s not get carried away, okay? I know what a hot item you are at the clubs.” He started laughing and she joined in. Alex was about as self-deprecating as a man could get while still having a little self-respect.

  They talked about the case. Alex knew she was on edge about it so he changed the subject; he told her about a new painting he had started, a large landscape of the city. It was unlike anything he had done so far, having limited his work to abstracts. This would the first time his painting spoke out loud. He loved Detroit and finally had the confidence to paint something that he hoped people would recognize. It would be reminiscent of the big murals Diego Rivera painted for Ford Motor Company in the nineteen thirties, without being derivative. Jill was excited for him, and grateful that he had succeeded in getting her mind off that case.

  “I’m really doing the piece for you,” he said. “A gift of thanks, for putting up with me.” He squeezed her hand.

  “What are you talking about? If anyone puts up with anyone, you put up with me. I’m grateful to you, too.” They walked the rest of the way in silence, aware that they had just had a moment in their relationship. Neither Jill nor Alex were easy to be with.

  Getting dressed was simple because Jill had two standard outfits: white shirts with long sleeves that she rolled up with black pants, or black tights and a black long sleeved t-shirt. Tonight, she was mixing things up. She would wear a white shirt with black tights. She pulled her black hair into a severe ponytail like Albert’s, but she wore hers a little higher. It looked perky. Lots of eye make-up and bright ruby red lipstick, and she was ready. Alex whistled when she came out of the bedroom.

  “Wow! Look at you!” He shook his head and started laughing. “Maybe I better do something about my appearance.”

  “You look fine! You’re Alex!” He was tall and lanky, and had the same uniforms that Jill did; white shirts with black pants and black t-shirts with jeans. It was easy to buy several of the same things when he found clothes that fit. He didn’t care that he looked the same all the time. He also pulled his hair back into a ponytail, seemingly the hairstyle of choice downtown, but it was light brown, peppered with gray. They made a striking couple, and heads turned when they walked by. As they strolled down Beaubien Street toward Brush, a familiar car pulled up. Albert Wong was on his way home from work.

  “Boy, you are both gorgeous. Going to Bleu?” he said.

  “We are! You’re out late,” Jill said.

  “I had a few things to clean off my desk. Have fun you two.” He waved and took off toward his apartment on Jefferson.

  The couple continued down the street holding hands, at peace. As she had feared, women came up to Alex all night, and Jill went along with it, laughing with him and pretending to not mind, pretending that it didn’t bother her. She knew Alex wouldn’t be able to survive without her, that he needed her like he needed that weekend binge once in a while, or his paints and brushes. She occasionally allowed doubts about Alex and her relationship with him creep into her thoughts but tonight, she pushed them down into the recesses of her mind. They would dance until the club closed.

  Chapter 20

  After Andy’s in-laws left, and his mother and father got the boys to sleep and went into the guest room, after Uncle Pete went back to Northville, and Andy’s friends and neighbors went home, he was finally able to think. His mother had taken him aside and asked him if Dana could have been involved with the coach. She’d thought that already. So it wasn’t going to be a big secret. If his mother who thought the best of everyone would come right out and say it, everyone else would surely be thinking it too.

  When the police came to see him, he gave them copies of the PI report. But it wasn’t necessary. He had nothing to hide. He was in Detroit when the murder occurred. The boys were waiting in the car for their mother when the coach pulled a gun out of his bright blue gym bag right in front of them. They saw her scream, saw her put her hands up over her face, saw her look over to the car where she had left them unattended, and then saw him pull the trigger. The blast “splashed her face all over the place,” his youngest son told the police. Andy wondered if they would ever be able to sleep through the night again. He would soon know. The police said that Dana and the t-ball coach had been having sex in the public bathrooms and that other parents had complained to the recreation commissioner about it. They’d been warned. The coach, a Don Johnson lookalike-was crazy, obviously, and crazy about Dana. He was jealous and possessive, and according to Dana’s friend Brenda, had be
en begging her to file for a divorce. Brenda claimed that Dana didn’t want a divorce; she wanted to get out of Novi and away from Don. She said Dana was regretful that she had ever started the affair, but that she didn’t love Andy anymore. Andy was taken aback by this news. If she expected him to leave a job he loved to move to the unknown, wouldn’t it have been a little nicer to lie and pretend she loved him? Having given Andy more information than he needed, Brenda apologized, started crying, and left the house.

  Andy thought of the times that he disappointed Dana. He didn’t show her the love she needed, or didn’t make love to her the way she wanted, or didn’t give her the right Christmas gift, or make enough money, or impress her friends and family. He had failed her in every way. The final desecration was that he hadn’t read her mind to know that she wanted him to move her to another town so she wouldn’t get murdered.

  He went into the kitchen and pulled a bottle of vodka out of the freezer. He poured two fingers full and added a splash of something purple out of a juice box that was open on the counter. He went out on the deck, shutting the lights off first. He didn’t want his neighbors seeing him out there, just in case he smiled.

  Chapter 21

  No one was murdered in Detroit during the night, so Tuesday morning, Jill took her time getting up, letting Alex sleep and making her way to the grocery store for her morning coffee. She was troubled by an early morning dream that woke her out of a sound sleep, both scaring her and thrilling her. In the vision, she saw a ravishing Gretchen in her gorgeous gown, shocked, saying the word, “Daddy?” In the periphery, a bug-eyed Jacob Parker stood in a brightly colored rainbow of flashing lights. Jill sat up in bed with a start.

  Gus was waiting for his daughter, sadness and concern on his face. He told her the shocking news about Dana and that Andy wanted to talk to Jill about the murder. He obviously wasn’t coming to work, correct? “Wrong,” Gus said. He was coming that day with his kids in tow and his mother and father. They needed to be with the family. Uncle Pete was coming without Aunt Joan, who still worked as a nurse. Uncle Nick and Aunt Paula would be there later. Aunt Sophia and Aunt Maria were coming from the west. The entire family would be together, impromptu. Jill was glad she had the excuse of pressing work at the precinct.

  “This just doesn’t make any sense, Papa. There is more here than meets the eye.” She suspected that it was a romantic tryst gone awry, but didn’t burden her father with it. It didn’t make any difference why Dana was murdered. “Poor Andy.” She couldn’t imagine what he was going through, being left with two little boys.

  Gus made Jill her favorite breakfast: stuffed fried bread. He took day old bread, cutting a thick slice and slitting a pocket in it, filled the pocket with pastry cream, soaked it in egg wash with vanilla and sugar, and then deep fried the entire thing. When it was crispy and brown, he sprinkled it with ground walnuts and powdered sugar. The final decoration was a drizzle of honey. She wondered why he made her this dish today when it was usually saved for Sundays. It scared her. She looked at the plate and then at her father.

  “Okay, what’s going on?” she asked. Gus smoothed his hand over where his hair used to be. He had to let his daughter know what the talk was about before anyone got there. Jill was known for her foot-in-mouth disease as he called it, and a little preparation might help avoid family drama.

  “Andy wants to move into the city with the children, and Big Andy and Anne are talking about joining him occasionally. There is more than enough room for all of us. Big Andy will be close enough to his golf buddies, and Anne can help out here and also watch the boys when they aren’t in school.” He paused, searching the face of his daughter for clues to her reaction. She was working at keeping her poker face on. Why wouldn’t her cousin move into his parent’s house?

  “And what will my good cousin and uncle do with their respective homes? If I may ask,” Jill added. She was feeling a little possessive of the building this old store was in; she knew her father paid the mortgage off himself long after his parents died. The building was his and she didn’t want anyone to think differently.

  “They will keep their homes, at least Andy and Anne will. Andy needs to take his time deciding what to do.” Gus was lonely and he looked forward to having a house full of people again. “It won’t change anything for us,” he said, looking at her. “You and I will still have our date every morning and every night.” He didn’t add that having the extra help would make it possible for him to expand the store a little bit. Gus’s Greek Grocery was the only grocery store nearby. It could use a little expansion. Jill’s immediate response was to feel possessive, but she reserved judgment until she had time to mull over what it would mean to have other people living there. Big Andy and his wife were among her favorite relatives, and she loved Andy. The children made her nervous, but she would get used to them, she hoped.

  “How does all this make you feel, Papa?” she asked. “Dana just died yesterday, correct? Isn’t it a little early to be planning a big move already?”

  Jill thought about what it must have been like for her father when her mother died. He had a small child to raise alone, but it was made easier by the presence of his family around them. Jill never noticed a big difference in her life after the car accident and she thought it was because of their intervention.

  She tried to imagine Andy and his children being in the apartment around the clock. Gus would always have someone with him, which would take a lot of her guilt away. Big Andy and Auntie Anna too? Something deep down in her heart stirred and warmth spread through her body. She tended to prefer isolation. An unrealistic dream was to own a cabin in the north Michigan woods she would call ‘The Hermitage’. It would be solar powered so they could live off the grid. She would get sheep and learn to spin their wool, use weeds to dye the yarn, and knit it into - something. She saw Alex wearing a wool plaid shirt and hunting wild game. When she described this life, he looked at her in disbelief.

  “I work in a morgue because I can’t stand to see living people suffer. How do you suppose I would be able to kill a defenseless animal? Besides, I don’t see you without cable TV,” Alex said. He didn’t say, And unless you brought your father with us, you’d have to learn to cook, too. I don’t see that happening either.

  “Well!” Jill exclaimed indignantly. “You don’t have to insult me!” But she was laughing. She did like her History and Discovery channels. Oh well, a person can dream, can’t they? But now it could be a possibility because there would be someone else to take over the grocery for Gus when he’d had enough. She gave a sigh of relief thinking, having more family here will be a good thing. I’m glad that loneliness may no longer be an issue for my father.

  Chapter 22

  Albert Wong asked for a search warrant for the Parker household as soon as he got back to the precinct. He had Marianne Parker’s consent to search Gretchen’s closet, and probable cause to seize the camera because of its evidentiary value. He hoped that it wouldn’t be missed. He was sure that Jacob Parker would destroy any tapes he had laying around if he discovered the camera was gone. But it would be okay, because the one tape in the camera was enough. He felt physically ill watching it. Jacob and Gretchen had what appeared to be a consensual incestuous relationship. The tape began with Gretchen walking out of the bathroom with a towel around her body. Jacob was sitting on her bed talking to her. Gretchen was smiling and laughing. She opened the towel and flashed her father twice. He got up and with his back to the camera shielding her from view, they embraced. Her arms reached up around her father’s neck and the towel fell to the ground. Albert couldn’t watch anymore. It was enough evidence. The warrant was granted and issued at midnight, so Albert asked the detective on call that night to go with him rather than call Jill out from her night on the town. She deserved a short holiday from the case.

  Albert and Detective Riley Franklin went into Dearborn and met up with Aaron Barry and another Dearborn uniformed officer. Jacob Parker was scared enough not to be belligeren
t.

  “I don’t know what you think you are going to find here,” Marianne said. Albert looked at Jacob.

  “Do you want to tell her about the video or should I?” Albert asked him, and Jacob went white. But he was going to play dummy.

  “I don’t know what you are talking about,” he said. Albert thought he looked sincere.

  “Okay, well just remember that the camera had a tape in it, Jacob,” Albert said. The officers neatly went through the house and anything that looked remotely like a video tape was taken. Marianne, playing it smart, wisely kept her mouth shut. She wanted one more night in her home.

  ~ ~ ~

  The previous Sunday evening, Jacob Parker had resumed his search for Gretchen with a vengeance. Marianne tried calling Gretchen’s cell phone repeatedly, but it continued going to voicemail. She left message after message.

  “Oh Gretchen! Please, please, please call home! Daddy is so worried about you. Please Gretchen, just call Mother, okay? You aren’t in any trouble. We just need to know you are okay.” She’d never seen her husband so angry. He was beyond irrational.

  “I will kill her if she’s with him! Kill her!” He grabbed a bat, a relic from his college days that she didn’t even know he had, and left the house in a rage with Marianne running after him. Jacob started the car, gunning the engine and laying rubber in the driveway and on the street. He went through Dearborn, speeding down Michigan Avenue, and as soon as he got into East Dearborn, he parked on the street and began going into bars, looking for her. He got into a fist fight in the bar on the corner of Schafer and Greenfield, and when the owner called the police, the officer who answered the call was someone Jacob knew well. Once he calmed Jacob down, he was able to talk some sense into him and gave him the idea that he should check the casinos; isn’t that where all young people went these days? Either to Windsor, or Greektown. It had to be fate. As soon as the cop left for another call, Jacob got back into his car and pointed it toward Detroit.