Alexander took a step toward her, stopped cold, fury pumping off him. “You bitch! How dare you accuse me of trying to murder Grandmother. Listen to me, all of you. I did not try to murder my own grandmother!”

Veronica’s hands were fists. “All your meanness toward Rob, your spite, your pathetic efforts to discredit him in her eyes. You shoved him out once before, and you weren’t about to let him back in to threaten your place in the company. Well, you failed, Dillon stopped you. You killed Willig, too, to keep him quiet before he could tell Venus it was you who hired him.”

“That is a damned lie!” Alexander took another step toward her, but again, he stopped. He shook his head, looked around at his family. “Do any of you believe I put arsenic in my bathroom for the forensics team to find? Do any of you actually believe I called that criminal Willig, paid him to murder Grandmother?” He looked around, saw his words met with stone faces. “So all of you stand against me.”

He met Savich’s eyes from across the living room. “I will say this once again, then I am done. I never tried to kill Grandmother. I love her, even though I have occasionally wanted to strangle her, as I’m sure all of you have, for meddling in my life.

“If Grandmother dies, I will not allow the board of Rasmussen Industries to put you in charge, Rob. I will not watch Rasmussen Industries spiral downward with you and Father at the helm. I will fight you with everything in my power.”

Veronica shouted, “If there is justice, you will be in prison for the rest of your miserable life!”

It was time to step in. Savich said, “Rob, everyone knows that Venus is a meddler, but always a well-meaning one. I’m willing to wager she will meddle in your life again.”

“What do you mean? How could she meddle in my life?”

“When she is well again, I will tell her what I saw happen between you and Delsey Freestone. I will tell her about how Delsey got off the elevator at the Hoover Building on Tuesday and the two of you looked at each other and no one else existed. I recognized what passed between you because when I first met Sherlock, I had the same experience. As you probably already realize, Delsey’s a live-wire in addition to being the sister of one of my FBI agents, and an immensely talented musician.

“When Venus meets Delsey, I think she’ll fall in love with her, too. Of course none of you have yet met Delsey, but you will. I find it curious that you and Delsey met on Tuesday, you were together on Wednesday, and someone tried to murder her on Thursday.”

59

* * *

Marsia slowly rose, looked around at the family, and laughed. “Agent Savich—Dillon—I’m sorry we didn’t have more time to get to know each other. I’m hoping Mrs. Rasmussen will come to appreciate and love me as one of her own. I do not understand why you are touting this Delsey woman to Rob. He told me about meeting her on Tuesday at the Hoover Building. When he came over for dinner Wednesday night he said he’d seen her again, but there was nothing more to it, really. If he hadn’t had to leave for an emergency at a job site, we would have spoken more about her. I wish we had. I told you on Wednesday when you and Agent Sherlock visited me at my studio that Rob and I haven’t made any certain commitments to each other yet.” She drew a deep breath, smiled at him, her voice softening. “But Rob knows I love him, and I have for months and months. And I hope that Rob, despite this woman’s sudden entrance into our lives, won’t change what we have together.

“Rob and I have had no secrets from each other, for a long time now. If he’d fallen head over heels in love with this woman, he would have told me. Wouldn’t you, Rob?”

“Yes,” Rob said, “I would tell you.”

She shook her head. “Look at us. This is hardly the time or the place to discuss our feelings about each other. I would wish that you, Dillon—Agent Savich—would appreciate how deep our feelings for each other are.”

Savich said, “I brought up Delsey so the family would understand what happened between her and Rob on Tuesday and to point out that someone tried to murder her on Thursday by shoving her in front of oncoming traffic on K Street. It was Rob who saved her life.”

Alexander said, “You’re telling us this girl none of us have even met is somehow tied to the attempts on Venus’s life?” He turned toward Rob and smirked. “If so, brother, you’re right back in the thick of things, aren’t you?”

“He’s at the very center of things, Alexander, though he doesn’t know it yet,” Savich said.

Veronica said, “This is ridiculous. It’s Alexander who’s at the center of things, always has been.” She was panting now, beside herself, her eyes on Alexander. “Even though you failed to kill Venus, Alexander, it wasn’t for lack of trying. Thank heaven Venus finally realized that. Look at you, repaying her for all she’s done for you by wanting her dead. Your own grandmother?”

Alexander didn’t move. He looked at the faces of his family, none of them saying a word to defend him. A great weight seemed to settle on him, cover him, like a shroud. He said, “Listening to you, Veronica, I would have no doubt I tried to kill Venus. So what are you waiting for, Savich? Arrest me.”

Savich clapped his hands, once, twice. Everyone in the room turned to stare at him. “What is this, Alexander? You, throwing in the towel? Hurling yourself into the sacrificial fire? This leap from lord of the manor to brave, stoic martyr ready for the auto-da-fé—can’t you find a middle ground? It’s not you at all.”

Alexander shoved away from the fireplace mantel. “Shut up, you bastard! How dare you make fun of me! You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Savich nodded. “That’s better. Sit down, Alexander, and be quiet.” He waved a hand around the living room. “No more theatrics from any of you.” He turned to Rob. “I imagine you’ve spent every waking moment wondering who the person was who shoved Delsey Freestone into the path of that oncoming limo. If you hadn’t been there to pull her back, she could have been killed.”

Rob said simply, “My heart stopped.” He did not look at Marsia.

Savich nodded. “And of course you quickly realized there was no one else in the world who could want Delsey Freestone dead and gone more than Marsia.”

Rob looked miserably toward Marsia. “No, you’ve got it wrong, Savich. I’m sorry, Marsia, I was going to tell you all about Delsey this weekend when I’d have enough time to make you understand.” He said to Savich, “What I said to her on Wednesday night—it wasn’t anything, really. Marsia couldn’t have believed it was serious. Believe me, there was no reason for her to want to kill Delsey.”