Steamed

like. It doesn’t sound like this set of parents was connected in any meaningful way to their only son. To them, his money may have represented a symbolic way to tie themselves to an emotionally unavailable and distant son. If they couldn’t have him in any appreciable sense, they may have taken what they could from him. His money.”
    By now, the group members were on the edges of their seats. “Hm... that’s possible, I suppose,” I said. “And by grabbing onto me, they could at least pretend that they’d had enough of a relationship with their son that they could grieve with his fiancée? In other words, me. One united and loving family mourning a common loss. So they could be completely nuts, huh? Delusional enough to think that murdering him would bring them closer to him?” Scary thought. “Or they’re just peculiar people, of which there are many in this world, and they were overwhelmed by a real loss.”
    Doug stepped in again. “And what about the owner? Mr. T?” (That’s what I’d called Timothy.) “Was his divorce friendly? It sounds like it, in fact, was. But what else?”
    “What about this?” began a student who introduced herself as Barbara. “I used to work in marketing, and we all know the saying that bad press is better than no press. Mr. T could have murdered Mr. Dough to publicize his restaurant. Although it might seem like having a murder at your restaurant would be bad for business, the opposite may very well be true. Think about how much press coverage you get. The restaurant’s name is all over the news and the papers. And we all know what advertisers do. They bombard you with a product’s name until it’s so ingrained in your head that when you go shopping you’re more likely to buy their product. Same thing here. The more the public hears about the restaurant and the owner, the more likely people are to check it out. Out of curiosity if nothing else.”
    People looked to me for a response, but I kept quiet. Giving up on me, Barbara elaborated on what she’d been saying. “And it depends on what happens now. If Mr. T seems appropriately upset but continues to do interviews and press about this story and acts like he was the victim here, too, it might work for him. Now everyone knows about his restaurant, and if he’s smart, he can turn the focus < onto promoting the food, the staff, the location, et cetera.”
    “That’s not a bad theory,” I said excitedly. Tim had been all over the news last week, tearfully talking about how wonderful Eric had been. Tim had lied: anyone who’d ever met Eric had known he was obnoxious and arrogant. “Except for the fact that Mr. T honestly just seems like a guy devoted to his restaurant and his food and his customers. He doesn’t seem like a murderer.”
    “Of course he doesn’t,” Barbara said. “He has to come off like that. Murderers don’t usually walk around flailing guns and knives about. But your chef, he admitted to not being perfect. He acknowledged that he tried to hinder the competition by giving its chef partial recipes and leaving out ingredients. He was honest. He admitted that he’d done something unfriendly, let’s say, or competitive, but not murderous. Same thing with Mr. T’s ex-wife, Mrs. M. She sounds tough, but she’s so outwardly tough and true to herself that she has nothing to hide. She’s got control of her life, while Mr. T is having to start fresh after the divorce and is probably more desperate for success. He left a great situation business-wise and has everything riding on this new place. Considering the circumstances, I think Mr. T is acting a little too perfect.”
    “I hadn’t thought of that,” I said slowly. “I hadn’t thought of that at all. Mr. T did rush in and come off like a hero when he tried to ‘save’ Mr. Dough. And he got his fingerprints all over everything.”
    Professor Buckley finally spoke up. “I’d like to hear how the class feels about the fact that Chloe has dominated this conversation today. What does that say about her and the kind of participant she is in a group setting? Are we, as a whole, resentful?” We all ignored him and continued with our theorizing.
    I turned back to Barbara. “But why kill off a potential investor? If he’s so driven to make his restaurant succeed, why get rid of a source of income?” I asked. “Is that less important than publicity?”
    “Good question. But you don’t know everything about their relationship. It does