The Greeks of Beaubien Street (18 page)

“Jacob has a storage locker in Allen Park. That’s where you’ll find your crime scene. Gretchen was killed there. We picked her up from the casino late Sunday night. She’d left her clothes and purse back at that hotel. We went to the hotel to get her things. I had the bat to fend off anyone who might try to keep her from coming with us. But when I saw her, saw that she was dressed up like a whore, I decided to check her out. I made her go into the bathroom and take off the gown. She was twenty-six years old and still a virgin. I took care of that with the bat. I guess I was angry enough that I got a little carried away. There was so much blood! I felt awful afterward, embarrassed and ashamed.

“I kept thinking,
so Jacob hadn’t had sex with her
. But it was too late. Mike was a nice guy. None of this is his fault, is it? Have you found out how he was involved yet?” Marianne took a deep breath. She was finished talking for now. She put her head down in her hands and started to cry. Not sobbing like Jacob had done, just regretful crying. She had been caught. Albert nodded at Jill, who stood up and walked behind Marianne’s chair and began to speak.

“You have the right to remain silent…”

Chapter 24

Andy Zannos lay on his youngest son’s bed in the second floor bedroom of his Uncle Gus’s apartment in Greektown. The older boy, Greg was down in the store with Andy’s mother who was cooking for the army of relatives that were expected for lunch. Anna Zannos wasn’t Greek; she was born and raised in Dearborn of Syrian parents. You would never know it by her Greek food. Even her sister-in-law Maria said Anna’s food was as good if not better than hers. She divided her time between the Muslim community and the Greek Orthodox Church, doing good works. But her greatest joy was her son and her grandsons. Although she was sad beyond belief over the murder of her daughter-in-law, secretly she was looking forward to have a larger part in the children’s lives. Dana wouldn’t have allowed it otherwise.

“How is this possible that you think you can have a foot in each world?” her mother asked when Anna started to go to the Greek Church with Andy, which was a requirement in order for them to get married there. Her parents never forgave for her for not getting married in the mosque and they brought it up every opportunity they had.

“It’s the same God, Momma! I’m a sixty year old woman! He hasn’t struck me down yet for going to the mosque and the church,” Anna replied. Now, she wasn’t so sure. Was Dana’s murder the beginning of something bad for her family? She fought superstitions, yet Big Andy’s family was immersed in it.

They’d had a rough night, the first with Dana gone. The youngest, Danny, was having the hardest time. He had cried himself to sleep. Exhausted the next day, Andy was reading him a storybook, hoping he would take a nap. But he was too excited about being above the grocery. All Andy could think of when he woke up that morning was getting his kids out of the house in Novi as quickly as he could. The apartment above the store would be a good home for his family.

“Why are we here, Dad?” he asked. “Why are Gigi and Pop Pop here?” Big Andy left after lunch to golf but was due back before dinner. “Where’s Aunt Jill?” Andy went through his son’s questions and answered them one by one. He never wanted to go back to the house in Novi if he could help it, but decided the best thing to do was to simply take it day by day. He was numbed by Dana’s murder. Her death was so senseless, and now his children didn’t have a mother. But the silver lining was that she was gone and he didn’t have to put the family through the hell of a divorce, and it wasn’t due to anything he had done. This thought at least gave him some peace.

Her parents wouldn’t be seeing it exactly the same way, blaming Andy for her death indirectly. They badgered him into allowing them to plan the funeral; he wanted what was best for everyone involved, but the Pentecostal church they went to filled to overflowing with tears and mourners crying out to God would be the last thing he wanted to expose his boys to. How would they manage in that atmosphere?

Much of what was happening was out of Andy’s control so he made the decision to just go with the flow. He wouldn’t do or say anything that would hurt his in-laws, but he made a stand; after the funeral, he would be in charge of the lives of his children and anything that affected them. He might even keep the boys home from the funeral. Eternally grateful that his job was in Greektown, he had the perfect excuse to move the boys to the store. He would have them around the clock and not have to hire childcare. If his in-laws wanted to see the boys, they would have to come into Detroit.

Eventually, Danny asked the dreaded question: “Daddy, why’d momma die?” Andy knew to keep the answer simple. He had to bite his tongue to do so, however. The child had seen his mother’s murderer, knew him personally as someone who he was told to respect. He watched as she was killed, and Andy was certain those memories were not going away soon

“God needed her to go to heaven right away. He must have something really important to for her to do there,” Andy said thinking
, what a crock of shit
. How could he explain something so lurid and senseless in a way that a six year old child would understand it and keep trusting Andy after he discovered the truth for himself? And the child saw right through the lie.

“Daddy, didn’t God know she had little boys to take care of?” he asked, starting to cry. Andy’s heart jumped. He suddenly realized he wasn’t the best person to answer his son’s questions about death. Maybe his anger toward Dana had affected his kids too much already. He would ask his mother to help him. She had faith that came from so many places that he got confused thinking about it. She came upstairs and sat next to her son and grandchild. Andy held Danny and patted his back while he cried.

“Mom loved you, honey,” Andy told him. “She didn’t know she was going to die.”

“Why’d my coach kill her?” Danny asked. Anna thought for a second and decided to be as truthful as he could while maintaining Dana’s dignity. Her faith taught her that as long as what she was doing brought honor to God, that it was the right thing. After all, the child had seen someone he liked put a gun to his mother’s head and kill her. Nothing she could say would be worse than that.

“The coach was sick, Danny,” Anna replied. “He didn’t realize that if he shot your mommy that it would be forever. We will never know why he did it, but I am sure that it wasn’t so you would be sad. He was only thinking about himself at that moment, do you understand me?” Anna knew that saying anything to a six year old about God giving man free will would sound ridiculous. She wondered the same thing;
What was God thinking?
She answered her own question aloud. “God knew you would be safe here with your daddy and me and Pop Pop and Uncle Gus.” She reached over and hugged them both in her arms.

~ ~ ~

By lunchtime, all but Jill and Alex had arrived. Big Andy was back from his golf game. Maria was sitting on a stool behind the counter, talking to her sister-in-law Anna as she cooked. They were having the standard family dishes for lunch, Avgolemono Soup: rich chicken stock, white rice, fresh lemon juice, and egg. Anna cooked it like her mother-in-law Eleni had. She had the meat of five stewing chickens picked off the bones, and several extra chicken breasts diced up which she returned to the stock pot in which the chickens had cooked. The broth had parsley, celery, carrots and onions in it, and a little garlic and ginger. She added one pound of washed, uncooked rice and cooked it directly in the broth. When the rice was tender, she added the juice of six or more fresh lemons; it was always made to taste.

Anna ladled out two cups of chicken stock and let it cool; she would temper the egg yolks in the cooled broth. Separating a dozen eggs sounded like fun until you had to do it. She added the tempered yolks to the broth and took the pan off the stove so it could rest from the heat, and then set about beating the whites until they formed stiff peaks. When that was accomplished, she folded the whites into the chicken and rice mixture. The hot broth would cook the whites. It was so thick and flavorful. She added salt and lots of black pepper.

Gus came in to help and took the pot of soup from the stove; they would eat lunch up in the apartment’s big dining room with a table and twelve chairs, almost enough seats for the entire family. Maria made a salad and there were fresh loaves of Greek bread and butter, as well as tea or coffee, and milk for the children. They had commercially made stuffed grape leaves that came from the Eastern Market in a large white plastic tub. Gus often said, “Why bother to make them when the store bought ones are so delicious?” There were two big bowls of Greek olives and a creamy looking spread made of fish roe called Taramosalata.

“Time to eat!” Aunt Maria yelled. Cousin Andy walked out of the bedroom with his two little boys. No other children were at this lunch table today. The adults would have to use restraint as they discussed the reason they were all together. Anna spoke quietly to Maria. “I’ll take them for a walk after they eat.” She busied herself getting her grandchildren settled in their seats and preparing their plates. Andy was relieved; as much as he loved his sons and providing their care, the horror of the previous night had taken its toll and he was feeling like a washed out rag.

“Mom, do you mind if I don’t eat right now? I have a bit of a headache.” Anna said he should lie down and she’d take care of the boys. Anna looked at her son, concerned for him. The tension in his marriage started showing right after the last little boy was born. Big Andy said that it must have been there before but they didn’t notice it. Big Andy and Anna drove to Novi as soon as Andy called to say Dana had delivered, thrilled with the anticipation of seeing the new little grandson. Anna was in heaven imagining the little body in her arms. Having had just one child, she was thrilled that her son and his wife were planning on a big family. Anna loved her daughter-in-law in spite of not feeling like she had been fully accepted by her. She tread lightly around her, careful not to offer unwanted advice or help of any kind. She made herself available, but Dana never made use of her. When Dana was pregnant with Greg, Anna spoke without thinking.

“Oh! I can’t wait to buy baby furniture!” she said. Dana looked at her with a smirk on her face.

“You’ll have to beat my mother to it first,” she said. “She also said to tell you she’ll be first in line to babysit.” Andy went to his mom and hugged her. It was obvious there was a power struggle going on.

“Your mother has seven grandchildren, Dana. My mother just has us.” He turned to his mother and said, “Mom, you can babysit whenever you want, okay?” Anna smiled at him, sorry that she was the cause of her son taking sides against his wife. It was never anything she intended on doing. Dana glared at Andy. She’d let him have it later. At that moment she just wanted her in-laws out of her house.

When Danny was born, Dana could no longer hide her disdain of Andy’s parents. They fought about it but Andy finally gave in. He wouldn’t ask them to the children’s birthday parties or for holiday meals, but he would take his kids to their house every week. Big Andy and Anna may not have noticed right away that they were being excluded because Andy brought the kids with him to work every Saturday and asked his mom and dad join them. It was a fun time for the boys.

Anna struggled over and over again with guilt. What had she done to alienate her daughter-in-law? But the final straw came after Danny’s birth. They stopped at the florist and got a huge bouquet of flowers. Anna had shopped non-stop for weeks, buying post-partum robes and nightgowns, two piece pajamas, slippers, underwear, and nursing bras for Dana. There was a huge gift box of new baby clothes; she hadn’t been invited to the informal baby shower Dana’s neighbors had for her. They got to the hospital, loaded down with gifts and flowers, and seeing that the door to Dana’s room was wide open, they entered without knocking first. Dana’s mother and father sat in chairs at the end of her bed while her mother held a tiny bundle. Andy and Greg were in the cafeteria getting lunch. Dana was animated talking to her parents when they looked up and saw the Zannoses coming in. Big Andy smiled his handsome smile at Dana’s mother.

“Oh, there he is; the new prince,” he boasted. Anna was thrilled. They began walking toward the baby when Dana called out.

“Stop,” she hollered at them. “Stop right there! You can’t bring flowers into this room. Don’t you know that he may be allergic to them? Honest to God, Mother can you see what I am up against?” She rolled over on her side to prevent having to see her in-laws. Her parents were clearly embarrassed for their daughter.

“Dana!” her mother exclaimed. Her father stood up to shake hands with the Zannoses. But they weren’t going to move. They were afraid to put the gifts and packages down. Big Andy carefully turned around with the bouquet.

“I’ll just set this outside,” he said, putting a $100 bouquet of flowers on the floor outside Dana’s door. Anna backed up with her Macy’s bags and Babies-R-Us bags, afraid to set them down.

“Maybe we better go for now,” Anna said. It wasn’t clear whether Dana was crying or just pouting. Her mother looked apologetic.

“Don’t go,” she said. “Here, sit here and hold your new grandson.” She began to stand up with her husband’s assistance so that Anna could sit down and hold the baby. But Dana wasn’t having it.

“No. You have to wash your hands first. Your clothes are probably covered with pollen,” she sneered. Anna longed to hold the baby, but even the worst case of post-partum depression couldn’t account for the rudeness and disrespect she was getting. She hesitated and decided that they better leave. The visit was rapidly falling apart. She whispered to Dana’s mother,

“She’s probably exhausted. We’d better leave now.” She peeked over at the little face, so sweet and innocent. She’d hold him another time. For now, Anna wanted to get out of there before her son came back to the room. But they had waited too long. The tension in the room was so thick that he wouldn’t be able to miss it. He walked in with Greg who started yelling when he saw them.