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Savich said, "Whatever you said to Marsia, no ht 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 ine you couldn’t help yourself, you overfloith Delsey, and it sla dis on Tuesday saw both of you light up like Christmas trees when she waltzed off the elevator Then you spent Wednesday together Believe ent 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 tellthis musician, I didn’t consider it of any ihetti and took hiht

"Even if I rong about Rob and this Delsey, I am not a criminal I am not a ton 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 atteer 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 crient, Nicholas Drurarainy 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 oncoy clothes, all in all, an excellent disguise On one traffic caot a portion of his jaw We assuh 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 prograram 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 orried Rob would break it off with her and she would lose everything

"But then I iot hold of herself She had reason to be confident She’s an attractive wo hih to think she ht persuade him to put this Delsey behind hiet pregnant, to force his hand You knew she didn’t care if he slept with Delsey as long as he caive 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 as that Marsia would marry Rob Rasmussen and old ring, Veronica, you wanted it all To you, Delsey Freestone was an obvious threat, and you acted You followed Delsey froave 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 youyour hair and your head You heard the screaht you’d killed her

"The sunglasses were a good touch, ra 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 so It could have been anyone"

"You were gone from the house most of yesterday afternoon You drive a late-ed for a search warrant I have no doubt the GPS will put your near K Street"

Rob was staring froht love enough to make a commitment--until he’d met Delsey And because of hiet 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 hient Savich isthis all up?"

Marsia said, her voice cool, unruffled, "Agent Savich--this new facial-recognition progra? 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, e to be any hiding that, Marsia I a 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 soo and discovered we liked each other I found her stories about Mrs Ras She told end And, in time, she told htly 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 naht, why not? And that’s how Rob and I ly secrets here, only two adults finding each other and getting together" She s to hide and neither does Veronica I think your facial-recognition progra, and you will have to deal with that"