Insidious

by Catherine Coulter

  Savich said, “Why would I do that?”

  “Because you believe I tried to kill her, you tried to convince her—”

  “Do be quiet, Alexander,” Hildi said. “Please, just be quiet. Mother may be dying, and here you are yelling at Dillon, who, I might add, saved her life.”

  “Haven’t you noticed she’s changing her will?” Alexander said, ignoring her. “Sullivan’s up there with her right now.”

  Guthrie looked beaten down, his hands dangling at his sides. “That would be appropriate,” he said, “since Rob has returned home. Of course Mother would need to make adjustments.”

  Looking at him, Savich felt a stab of alarm.

  “Adjustments?” Alexander said. “You can’t be that dense, Father, and neither is Rob. What, little brother? Are you hoping Savich convinced her to put you in charge? Will you get her shares so you can run Rasmussen Industries yourself?”

  Rob held to his temper. “Stop worrying about yourself, Alexander. Grandmother wouldn’t think of naming me her successor. She knows I don’t have experience running a company the size of Rasmussen Industries. She knows I wouldn’t have any idea what to do.”

  Marsia rose to stand beside him, took his hand between hers. “You can learn if you have to, Rob. Your brother has to know you would learn quickly.” Marsia shot Alexander a look of cold dislike.

  Alexander ignored her, said to Savich, “You know what she’s doing, don’t you? Admit it, you know.”

  He shrugged. “All I know is that her lawyer Mr. Sullivan is with her. I’m sure you will find out everything in due course.”

  While Savich spoke, he studied Rob’s face. He was pale, and he was suffering, Marsia still clutching his hand tight, leaning into him, as if keeping him upright.

  Alexander said to Rob, “I see it all now. You came back into her life to ingratiate yourself. You know that’s what you want, the big office, all that power.”

  Rob looked incredulous. “You really believe that, Alexander? You really think I wanted this? Even if that’s what Grandmother wants, it shouldn’t be happening like this, so fast, too fast. There hasn’t been enough time.” He shook his head. “I wish none of this was happening.”

  Alexander flicked a nod toward Marsia. “It’s obvious she certainly wants it for you.”

  Marsia said, “You should look to yourself, Mr. Rasmussen, not blame your brother. He hasn’t done anything except reconnect with his grandmother.” Rob pulled away from her, stood alone, not looking at his brother now, but staring down at his shoes, misery radiating off him.

  Savich studied the faces of the others, wondering if they, like Alexander, were concerned about possible changes Venus would make to her will and how it would affect them. Veronica was seated in a chair away from the family, not making a sound, her hands twisting in her lap, her eyes sheened with tears. Glynis was holding her mother’s hand, looking from Rob to Alexander. For as long as Savich had known Glynis, he’d never been able to read her thoughts from her expression or her eyes, and she still remained opaque to him.

  Rob whispered, “I don’t want her to die. There hasn’t been enough time to get to know her again.”

  “She won’t, Rob, she won’t.” Guthrie walked over to his son and laid his hand on his shoulder. “I haven’t been much of a father to you. But I would like to try now, if you’ll allow me. I know the business, Rob, inside and out, even if I haven’t been involved in decision making these past years. I could be at your side, if it comes to that. You should be there with us, Rob, it’s your proper right, your proper place.”

  Alexander looked from his brother’s face to his father’s. His voice was curiously flat. “So you stand against me, Father? The son who never left, who’s spent his entire life working for the good of the family? The son who—”

  Veronica interrupted him, her voice gravelly with tears. “None of that matters. Don’t you understand? I was supposed to keep her safe, watch over her, and I failed. This is my fault. She couldn’t deal with all the stress, and how could she? She’s an old lady.

  “She didn’t even talk to me about her will. Was she afraid I’d break confidence with her? I never have, not in fifteen years, surely she knows that. She’s been like a mother to me, she’s been my mentor, my biggest supporter.” She turned whiplash fast on Alexander. “But you, Alexander, why couldn’t you let her spend the rest of her life as she pleased? But no, you somehow found out about Rob, you saw the end coming, and you acted. Damn you, I hope she cuts you out of her will entirely for what you tried to do.”

  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.”

  Savich said, “Whatever you said to Marsia, no matter how light your hand, no matter how dismissive you were, no matter how you skated around the truth about Delsey, it was crystal clear to her she was going to lose you, her golden goose.

  “Rob, you’re not much of a poker player. Despite your intentions, I imagine you couldn’t help yourself, you overflowed with Delsey, and it slammed Marsia in the face even though you thought you were being dismissive about her. All of us at the Hoover Building on Tuesday saw both of you light up like Christmas trees when she waltzed off the elevator. Then you spent Wednesday together. Believe me, Marsia understood everything perfectly.

  “When Agent Sherlock and I met with you Wednesday afternoon, Marsia, both of us realized you are focused, intelligent, and very talented. We both liked you, admired your work. Until Delsey’s near death, I didn’t believe you capable of a jealous rage.”

  Marsia fanned her hands in front of her. “Agent Savich—Dillon—let me assure you, assure Rob, assure all of you, that when Rob happened to tell me about meeting this musician, I didn’t consider it of any importance. I ate my spaghetti and took him at his word. I didn’t give her another thought.

  “Even if I were wrong about Rob and this Delsey, I am not a criminal. I am not a murderer. Allow me to point out that I was not even in Washington yesterday afternoon. I was delivering my sculpture representation of fecundity to the fertility center in Baltimore at the time of Ms. Freestone’s accident.”

  Savich said, “I know exactly where you were.” He turned to the group. “You are wondering what the attempted murder of a stranger has to do with Venus. Be patient and you will understand. Sherlock?”

  Sherlock walked to stand beside Savich. “The FBI has a sophisticated facial-recognition program. It helps us identify unknown persons involved in a crime. Another agent, Nicholas Drummond, and Dillon, have further refined the program to allow it to identify criminals even from partial or grainy views of their faces. The program analyzes bone structure, relative distances between facial features, the shape of the jaw, you get the idea.

  “The person who shoved Delsey Freestone in the back in front of an oncoming limo yesterday was wearing a hoodie, sunglasses, and baggy clothes, all in all, an excellent disguise. On one traffic cam we got a portion of his jaw. We assumed it was a he. From another, we saw the nose. Not enough for us to be certain of who it was, though we had a suspicion. We inputted pictures of everyone connected to this case into the program for comparison.

  “The program verified our suspicions. It wasn’t you, Marsia. It was you, Veronica.”

  Veronica reared back, opened her mouth, but Savich overrode her. “Marsia called you, told you Rob had fallen for a woman and he had it bad, he was beyond smitten. He was so transparent, like all men, and of course she could tell. She was worried Rob would break it off with her and she would lose everything.

  “But then I imagine Marsia got hold of herself. She had reason to be confident. She’s an attractive woman, and she’d been with Rob for months, winning him over, seeing to his every whim. She knew Rob well enough to think she might persuade him to put this Delsey behind him. She’d redouble her efforts to please him, maybe even get pregnant, to force his hand. You knew she didn’t care if he slept with Delsey as long as he came back to her. Of course she would forgive him. Marsia probably realized the two of you had no choice but to wait it out. And if talking with you calmed her down, it had the opposite effect on you, Veronica. You saw everything you’d planned falling apart around you, all because of an outsider, and you panicked. You weren’t about to let your plan fall apart because of Delsey Freestone.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Veronica shouted, contempt thick in her voice. “What plan? There is no bloody plan! Rob, a golden goose? That’s lunacy—Rob and Marsia love each other. So what?”

  Savich looked from Veronica back to Marsia. “The plan the two of you came up with was that Marsia would marry Rob Rasmussen and make both of you wealthy beyond belief. You wanted the gold ring, Veronica, you wanted it all. To you, Delsey Freestone was an obvious threat, and you acted. You followed Delsey from her brother’s apartment, saw your chance. She never even gave you a look, another stranger wearing glasses, a hoodie, and she was singing, I’ll bet.

  “It was easy for you to slip in behind her. One hard shove, and you melted away, your hoodie up, covering your hair and your head. You heard the screams, the screeching cars, the crashes, you must have thought you’d killed her.

  “The sunglasses were a good touch, made it more difficult, but the cameras and our program nailed you, Veronica.”

  Veronica was shaking her head. “Why are you doing this, Dillon? You know me, know my loyalty is to Venus and always has been. Even if I do look something like this person, that’s no proof of anything. It could have been anyone.”

  “You were gone from the house most of yesterday afternoon. Yo
u drive a late-model Audi, with a GPS. I’ve already arranged for a search warrant. I have no doubt the GPS will put your near K Street.”

  Rob was staring from Veronica to Marsia, a woman he’d believed he might love enough to make a commitment—until he’d met Delsey. And because of him, Delsey could have died. He couldn’t get his brain around it. He said slowly, the words painful, “Marsia and Veronica—you wanted to kill Delsey because you were afraid I’d fallen in love with her?”

  Veronica looked at him, disdain clear on her face. “Can’t you see Agent Savich is making this all up?”

  Marsia said, her voice cool, unruffled, “Agent Savich—this new facial-recognition program you described, couldn’t it be wrong? It wouldn’t be accepted in court, would it?”

  “Maybe not, but now that I’m sure who it was—and it was Veronica—we’ll be able to prove it, you can count on that. We’ll be able to prove you and Veronica hooked up well before you met Rob. Credit card receipts, cell phone records, emails, your neighbors at your studio—there’s not going to be any hiding that, Marsia. I am wondering how long it took the two of you to plan all this.”

  Marsia waved it away. “There is no plan, there has never been. That’s absurd. As for Veronica, yes, I know her. We met quite by accident at a coffee shop in Chevy Chase some time ago and discovered we liked each other. I found her stories about Mrs. Rasmussen interesting. She told me what it was like to work for her. She is, after all, a legend. And, in time, she told me about Rob.” She smiled at Rob, reached out her hand and lightly laid it on his leg. “When I needed to have my kitchen remodeled, I checked around, heard Rob could be trusted to do a good job. I recognized his name, of course, and thought, why not? And that’s how Rob and I met. There are no deep, ugly secrets here, only two adults finding each other and getting together.” She smiled up at him. “I have nothing to hide and neither does Veronica. I think your facial-recognition program is simply wrong, and you will have to deal with that.”