“Did Bill know?” asked Marge.
“Michele claims he didn’t,” said Odelia. “But I find that very unlikely. He must have had some involvement. It was his personal jet that was used to whisk Dean away, and Dean was able to set himself up as some kind of local real estate king in Belize, so he must have received a sizable sum of money—possibly from his dad.”
“But Michele denies everything, and so does Bill,” said Chase. “And we can’t prove it, so…” He shrugged, and munched some more on that chicken wing, juice dripping down his chin, with the Chief looking on, transfixed and licking his lips.
“Okay, so why would Michele wait seven years to kill her sister-in-law? And why kill her at all?” asked Charlene.
Tex, who was manning the grill, waved his tongs.“The book, right? It must have been the book.”
“It was the book,” Odelia confirmed. “You see, Isobel had taken the death of her husband hard, and had started drinking. And it was only after becoming sober again that she realized she would never be able to get over Gavin’s death unless the truth of what had actually happened was revealed. But when she told Michele what she planned to do, she was livid. Michael was gearing up to take over control of the group, and if it transpired that his dad was a murderer, not only would the insurance company kick up a fuss, and demand their money back, but Bill might be implicated, and Michele, and by extension Michael as well. And the last thing Michele wanted was for her son to get caught up in Dean’s terrible mistake.”
“And so to protect her son, Michele decided that Isobel had to die,” said Chase, offering Uncle Alec a piece of chicken, fresh from the bone. The Chief’s hand slowly stole out, but then he caught Charlene’s look of disapproval, and he quickly retracted the hand, and shook his head. Instead he picked up a pickle.
“So it was Michele who used her stiletto on her sister-in-law?” asked Marge.
“Yes, she did. First she knocked Isobel over the head with a baseball bat that used to belong to Dean, and then she expended her rage on the woman by stomping on her several times, making sure she was dead. It was a frenzied attack, and shows just how mad she was with Isobel for wanting to destroy Michael’s future by dragging up the past.”
“Michele never liked Isobel,” said Chase. “She told us as much. Said she was a weak and annoying whiny person, not fit to carry the proud Droba name. She was a disappointment to them all, and she was glad she was dead. Good riddance, were her exact words.”
“Who wants meatballs!” Tex cried as he carried up a plate of the delicious treats.
“Ooh, I love a tasty meatball!” said Dooley.
“I thought you were a vegetarian?” Brutus grunted.
“I am a vegetarian, which is why I eat meatballs,” said Dooley, showcasing his own unique brand of logic.
“So why did Michele attack Bereng?ria?” asked Charlene.
“Because we had told her that we were releasing Bereng?ria,” said Chase. “And we also told her that Bereng?ria was definitely in possession of Isobel’s full manuscript, but we hadn’t been able to find it so far. But we were hoping that Bereng?ria would decide to cooperate, and share the manuscript with us.”
“And of course Michele couldn’t have that,” said Odelia. “So she set out to kill Bereng?ria, and make sure the manuscript was buried forever.”
“You set her up,” said Charlene.
“We did,” Chase confirmed. “We told Michele and the others they were free to go, but we hadn’t expected her to move so fast. Lucky for us—and Bereng?ria—we got there just in time.”
“So… the man who died in Belize was Dean Droba, and not Gavin?” asked Scarlett. She had been darting looks of concern at her friend Vesta, who hadn’t said a word all afternoon, and just sat there with a sort of glazed look in her eyes.
“Yes, he was,” Odelia confirmed.
“Did Michele know that her husband had died?”
“Yes, she did. They had kept in touch. And Michele regularly sent him pictures of the kids, especially Michael of whom Dean was particularly proud. But she said their marriage had run its course long before he left for Belize. He wasn’t exactly known for his faithfulness, and she said he was having affairs all through their married life. So his death wasn’t a great loss for her.”
“It will come as a big shock to Michael and his sister,” said Marge. “All these years they thought their dad was dead. And now all of a sudden it turns out that he was alive until three years ago.”
“Same thing goes for Alison,” said Charlene. “The dad she thought had fled to Belize in fact died seven years ago and was buried under his brother’s headstone.”
They were all quiet for a moment, as they thought about the fateful ruse Dean had orchestrated, with or without his father’s assistance, and the wide-ranging ramifications, which reverberated until this day, and probably far beyond.
“Okay, so what’s going on with you?” asked Odelia finally, addressing her grandmother. “You haven’t said a word all afternoon, except to ask about Grace.”
“Where is Grace!” Gran cried, coming out of her stupor.