Drawing Conclusions by Deirdre Verne

up, there wasn’t much motivation to finish.”
    â€œDid she sit for the portraits? Was she at Harbor House at any time?” DeRosa grilled.
    â€œShe didn’t need to sit. I knew her face and frankly I couldn’t stand her long enough to entertain the idea of a sitting. I painted her for my brother. He asked.”
    â€œWere you jealous of her?” DeRosa probed.
    â€œNo, we were just different people. She was all about the purchases that come with making money.”
    â€œWhen were you two going to tell me that your brother was at the tail end of a break-up? If we’re looking for suspects, the ex-fiancée would be a good place to start.”
    â€œCome on Frank. You’re grasping on this one,” Charlie said. “They dated, they got engaged, they broke up. Like CeCe said, Naomi was materialistic but not a killer.”
    â€œWho broke up with whom?” DeRosa asked.
    â€œTeddy dumped her,” Charlie said. “She fled to the NIH about six months ago. I think Teddy was relieved to have her off the campus.”
    â€œHe was? How have we not talked about this, Charlie?” I remember being so thrilled the engagement had ended that I didn’t even bother to pump my brother for details.
    â€œGuy stuff,” Charlie replied. “Anyway, something happened that made Teddy question her ethics and Teddy was all about doing the right thing. I think he started to see Naomi the way the rest of us saw her.”
    DeRosa turned to Charlie. “I need you to clear one thing up relative to ‘doing the right thing.’ You ate the eggs after midnight and no one saw you until the next day, and you were the only resident who didn’t get sick. I looked back at the report of the poisoning earlier. Trina said you weren’t at breakfast. You caught up with me at the hospital that afternoon. I gave you the benefit of the doubt and figured you needed some time after finding out your best friend was dead. Now I may think otherwise. So I’m asking you, where were you from two a.m. until the next afternoon? Is there any chance you drove to Bethesda, Maryland, and back?”
    Charlie fiddled with his bed sheet and readjusted his pillow to buy time.
    â€œCharlie, I’m kind of curious myself, and I won’t be hurt if you say you were with Becky,” I said.
    â€œI was Dumpster diving,” Charlie admitted.
    â€œThat was earlier in the evening,” DeRosa corrected.
    â€œYeh, and after the house quieted down and everyone went to sleep, I went to Teddy’s place and rooted through his garbage.”
    â€œWhy?” I asked.
    â€œI don’t know. I guess I thought I’d find something.”
    â€œDid you?”
    â€œNot really. I sat in the barn until the sun came up with two bags of garbage, but I couldn’t bring myself to go through them. The bags are still in the barn.” Charlie adjusted the gauze pad on his head and directed his confession to DeRosa. “I swear I didn’t know about Naomi, but I did go through Teddy’s mail and noticed her return address on an envelope. It looked like a Hallmark card.”
    In one fluid motion, DeRosa commandeered every electronic device in the room. Calls were being made, buzzers were being buzzed, and stuff was starting to go down.
    â€œIs there anything else you want to add?” DeRosa asked Charlie. He had a cell phone hanging off one ear and a hospital phone off the other. Charlie grabbed his torn jeans, which were hanging over a hospital chair, and tossed a set of keys over.
    â€œThese keys are for the large cupboard at the back of the barn. I threw Teddy’s garbage in there.” Charlie fished around his jeans once more and produced a thin wafer of metal no larger than a quarter. “And here’s the data card from Igor’s GPS.”

nine
    DeRosa had us all released from the hospital within the hour. We were escorted back to Harbor House, where the