“Yes,” she sighed. “That’s me and Glen. I was hoping you wouldn’t see it.”

I crossed over to the piano and saw dozens more pictures of Doris and her husband. Wedding photos. Holiday photos. Vacation photos. There was no mistaking the love in their eyes.

I shook my head, puzzled.

“I don’t understand. I thought you hated the guy.”

“I didn’t hate him. On the contrary, I was very much in love with him. He died nearly a year ago. It’s much too painful to talk about.” Her eyes misted over with tears. “So I lie and tell people I’m divorced. It’s easier that way.”

She picked up one of the photos from the piano. It was a small photo, one I hadn’t noticed, and handed it to me. In it, Doris sat by her husband’s side, but now her husband was in a wheelchair, looking pale and gaunt.

“Two years ago, Glen was in a terrible car crash. It crippled him and caused internal injuries that eventually killed him. It was a slow, lingering death. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.”

By now the tears were streaming down her cheeks.

“See?” she said, wiping them away with the back of her hand. “Now you know why I can’t talk about it.”

So that’s why she’d been acting so strange, why she’d been so flustered to see me. She didn’t want me to discover the truth about her husband.

I felt like such a jerk, making her cry like that.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“I’ll live,” she said, with a wry smile.

We said our good-byes and I headed out to my Corolla.

It’s funny how you never know what’s going on in people’s lives. I’d never have guessed Doris was living with such a painful secret.

In the meanwhile, though, she’d tossed a very important piece of information in my lap—the juicy tidbit about Colin being alone in the kitchen the night of the murder. That, together with the Cooking with Peanuts book I’d seen in his apartment, catapulted him to front runner in my Suspects Sweepstakes.

As I headed over to the Earth Café to meet him, I couldn’t help feeling a bit apprehensive.

For all I knew, I had a lunch date with a killer.

Chapter 16

The Earth Café is a reasonably priced health food bistro in Beverly Hills, popular for their low-cal salads and wrap sandwiches. The kind of place skinny people go to load up on bean sprouts.

Huh? you’re probably saying. What’s Jaine Austen, a gal who pops Quarter Pounders like Altoids, doing at a health food restaurant?