Drawing Conclusions Read online

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  Drawing Conclusions © 2015 by Deirdre Verne.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Midnight Ink, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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  Any unauthorized usage of the text without express written permission of the publisher is a violation of the author’s copyright and is illegal and punishable by law.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  First e-book edition © 2015

  E-book ISBN: 9780738743424

  Cover illustration by Bill Bruning/Deborah Wolfe Ltd

  Cover design by Kevin R. Brown

  Editing by Nicole Nugent

  Midnight Ink is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

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  Dedication

  For Peter and Mats. Whatever it is, stick with it.

  Acknowledgments

  After reading my umpteenth mystery novel, I was convinced I could write my own. Come to find out, I had a long way to go. Thankfully, my moment of inspiration led me to a wonderful group of supporters who educated and guided me through the process.

  To Gay Walley, my first literary friend: I never had more energy than climbing the stairs of your fourth floor walk-up. It was worth every step.

  To Terrie Farley Moran and my pals at the New York Chapter of Sisters in Crime: if not for the monthly meetings, my manuscript would still be in a drawer.

  To Victoria Skurnick and the team at Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency: thank you for taking a chance on a newcomer to the industry.

  To Terri Bischoff, Beth Hanson, Nicole Nugent, and my fellow writers at Midnight Ink Publishing: what a wonderful introduction to the world of publishing.

  To Sue and Bob, my first fans, and my patient family: thank you for giving me the time and support to write through to “The End.”

  one

  Charlie balanced the ladder at the base of the first Dumpster and yanked open the lid with a crowbar. He jammed a wooden wedge into the joint. Then he gave the metal lid a hardy slap to ensure it wouldn’t accidentally slip and decapitate us.

  “Okay, coast is clear,” I said. “Let’s suit up.” I pushed up the sleeves of my hoodie and handed Charlie a box of surgical gloves, snapping on a pair for myself.

  “You’re up for the first dive, CeCe,” he said. “Let me hear the Freegan motto.”

  “If it moves, stop, drop, and run,” I said, placing my foot on the first rung of the ladder.

  “That’s what she said.”

  “You’re a pig. Hand me the flashlight.”

  I steadied the ladder and swung one leg over the edge. Then I clipped the flashlight to the corner of the bin for a quick look-see.

  “Good stuff,” I said, passing a drippy egg carton to Charlie. “A few are broken but I can scramble and freeze them raw.” A surge of adrenalin pumped toward my heart as I reached down into a pile of nearly fresh vegetables. It amazed me that after all these years of foraging for discarded food, I still got a high out of the hunt. This was a quality I shared with others in the Freegan movement. Freegans aren’t necessarily poor or destitute; they simply dislike waste. I was willing to ignore the seeping smell of rot accelerated by the warming spring weather if the food could be put to good use.

  “There’s got to be ten pounds of bacon still in the wrapper. Prep the cooler.”

  “Trina and Jonathan asked for bagels and lox,” Charlie reminded me. “See what you can do.”

  “Easy pickings,” I replied. “There must have been at least three bar mitzvahs today.” I threw a bag of bagels over the edge and shoved an industrial-sized carton of cream cheese into my sack. I pointed my flashlight toward the back of the Dumpster. It was full to the brim.

  “Tomorrow I’ll call the catering manager and connect him with the food pantry. This is a shame.”

  “We have room in the Gremlin,” Charlie said. “Let’s do a drop at the pantry in the morning.”

  I looked at the Gremlin. The car was older than me. I’d rescued it from the town dump and was determined to drive it until it stopped. I wasn’t sure I would make a great impression chugging up to the food pantry with a hatchback full of discarded food.

  “They’ll never take it. It’s been sitting around too long, and we’re not the original source.”

  “Too bad,” Charlie said. “Keep digging.”

  I had my hand on a half-eaten aluminum tray of baked ziti when my ears perked up.

  “Shit,” I said as I popped my head over the rim of the Dumpster. “I hear something.”

  “Me too. Kill the light,” Charlie said. He scrambled up the ladder and jumped into the bin for cover.

  “Sounded like the bleep right before a siren,” I whispered, my feet sinking into the moist refuse. I reached for Charlie’s gloved hand.

  “Do you think someone reported us?” he said as he squeezed my palm. The hum of a car engine reverberated along the walls of the metal Dumpster. With the lid open only a few inches, the sour stench became oppressive. I ran my hand under my nose to diffuse the odors.

  “I think it stopped,” I said and then added, “The police probably aren’t interested in arresting two peace-loving Freegans repurposing day-old bread. What would they book us on?”

  “How about ‘willful consumption of post-dated food’?”

  “Funny. What about ‘premeditated attempt to lower the carbon footprint’?”

  “Nice, CeCe.”

  With our eyes peering over the edge of the Dumpster, we watched the tail end of a police car cruise by. “Wonder where he’s headed?” I said as I searched out Charlie’s face in the dark. “I’m a little freaked.”

  Charlie exhaled slowly. “Why does this always feel so wrong when all we’re taking is something no one else wants?”

  “Because we’ve been conditioned to purchase food from a shelf in a store.”

  “There’s something appealing about that scenario,” Charlie laughed.

  “I know,” I said looking down at my shoes. “I’ve ruined more sneakers this way.”

  “Let’s go barefoot next time.”

  “I’d rather convert to consumerism,” I said, climbing out of the Dumpster. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “My thoughts exactly,” Charlie agreed. “Grab the ziti. I’m starving.” We hurriedly packed the food and drove out of the catering hall’s parking lot with our lights off as
an extra precaution.

  “I’m sticking to main roads,” I said. “The street lights make me feel safe. Is that lame?”

  “Not to the guy who invented the night-light,” Charlie replied.

  “I never had a night-light.”

  “That’s because you had Teddy,” Charlie answered. “How many little girls have the convenience of a fraternal twin in the upper bunk?”

  It was true. My brother had a way of making people feel safe even as a kid. It was no surprise he became a doctor.

  “We did share a room for a frighteningly long time,” I said. “If I remember correctly, you spent a fair share of nights in your Elmo sleeping bag on our floor to be close to your best friend.”

  “I loved that fuzzy red dude.”

  “I’m talking about Teddy not Elmo,” I corrected Charlie.

  “I love that dude too.”

  Charlie and I drove slowly back to the hamlet of Cold Spring Harbor, only a few miles northwest of the catering hall we had just pillaged. The moon hung low in the sky, illuminating the fan of interconnecting inlets that littered the North Shore of Long Island. The narrow roads were crowded by early-blooming forsythia bushes, the gaps in foliage indicating the understated entrances to the old monied estates. With the windows rolled down, the clean scent cleared my nostrils and any hint of our Dumpster diving was contained in well-secured plastic bags. Like a beacon of safety, a light shone in the widow’s peak of the harbor master’s home. My home. Charlie, Trina, Jonathan, and Becky’s home, as well as a smattering of cats, dogs, goats, chickens, and the random hiker. As luck would have it, the first settler in my family’s long lineage was the original harbor master on the North Shore of Long Island. For well over a century, generations of my family skillfully guided schooners and barges toward the isle of Manhattan to exchange their goods.

  I inherited the defunct Harbor House with its oddball layout, rotting sills, and dirt-floor basement at the age of twenty-one. My family considered it the throwaway component of my much larger trust. I saw it as an opportunity to live an unconventional life off the grid with my equally committed green friends. It was an ideal existence for five twenty-somethings experimenting with organic farming and subsistence living.

  “Hey, all the lights are on,” I said. “Every damn one. That’s going to cost us some money.”

  “Maybe they were hungry enough to wait up for us,” Charlie said.

  We turned onto Shore Road and were welcomed by two cars in the driveway. Now I knew where the police were headed.

  “Crap.” Charlie was halfway out of the car before I put it into park. “CeCe, are all the farming permits in place?”

  “The permits are fine. It’s the alternative farming I’m concerned about.”

  Charlie came to a complete halt, turned 180 degrees, and made a beeline for the car. I grabbed his arm for an awkward do-si-do.

  “Chill,” I said. “I’m pretty sure you smoked the evidence last night.” I couldn’t actually say it wasn’t a drug bust. However, this seemed to be missing the element of surprise and the pack of hyped-up dogs that can sniff out an aspirin wedged under a car seat.

  “We should call Teddy,” Charlie said, his eyes darting desperately from side to side.

  “Come on,” I urged Charlie as we headed toward the house.

  Trina, Jonathan, and Becky were sitting at the kitchen farm table. In the various corners and cubbies of the room, cops filled in spaces like spare furniture. The room murmured with a sea of coughs and grumbles.

  “Constance Prentice?” A broad-shouldered man reached out to shake my hand. He had thick dark hair like my brother and the same commanding presence. “I need a moment in private.”

  Charlie was glued to my back, a second skin. I rotated my head and mouthed what he and I were both thinking. There was only one person we both knew with enough clout to upend the local police department in the middle of the night: my father.

  The venerable Dr. William Prentice was the founder and lead scientist of Sound View Laboratories, the central clearing house for all things DNA in the United States and around the globe. It was the home of the double helix, the national genome project, and a slew of other international scientific studies. In the world of hard-core science, it was hard to get bigger than Dr. William Prentice, a man who had devoted nearly fifty years to searching for the cure. Which cure? Who cares. Take your pick. From what little I understood (or wanted to) about DNA, once those elusive little genomes were trapped and mapped, the answer would tumble out and wrap itself around a prescription bottle with a child-safety lid fully intact.

  I turned to the officer and considered his face. Familiar, serious, concerned. For a second I thought maybe we had already met, and then I realized he wore a mask of compassion. A face practiced in delivering bad news. If he assessed my face, I’m sure he was confused. Indifference usually does not precede the announcement of a parent’s death. I was, however, the black sheep of the family. My father despised my bohemian lifestyle, hence our decade-long estrangement.

  “Officer, I’m assuming something has happened to my father.” My tone was flat.

  “No, but we need to speak to you and your housemates about your brother,” he said pulling a chair out for me.

  “Teddy?” I said, pushing the chair back in place.

  “I’m sorry but I have some unfortunate news,” he said, offering me a seat a second time.

  My ears rung like a warped tuning rod, the pitch escalating until I could barely decipher the officer’s words. “Your brother, Dr. Theodore Prentice, has passed away.”

  I looked helplessly at Trina and Jonathan, but I could tell by their grave expressions that I had heard the officer correctly.

  My beloved twin brother, Teddy, was dead.

  two

  The weight on my back was unbearable. I caught a glimpse of Charlie’s hand as it flopped lifelessly on my shoulder. As I pitched forward, floorboards rising to my face, the room came alive and a team of trained professionals scooped me up before impact. At the unexpected announcement, Charlie had passed out on top of me and promptly wet his pants. Within moments, Trina, Jonathan, and Becky swarmed over us like an enormous worn quilt. Charlie lay prone on the floor with a bit of spittle hanging pathetically off his lip. The only thing I could think was that Charlie should have taken the chair.

  Trina pulled my face toward hers and mumbled a stream of incoherent condolences. As she spoke, I ran my fingers over my ears in an attempt to fan away the resonating din. Unlike Charlie, I was conscious but barely functioning.

  “I’m fine guys,” I heard myself say as I inched my way to a standing position. “Really. Get Charlie some water and a change of clothes.” I felt like I had swallowed a handful of NoDoz and chased it with a Red Bull. I had the sensation that all the light bulbs had been swapped out and replaced with strobe lights. I studied my pulsating hands as I directed the police officer upstairs. The soles of my feet barely skimmed the stair treads; I was transported on an escalator of raw energy.

  I flung open the door to my attic art studio, hoping that the comfort of my personal refuge would take me down a notch. I spotted my painting stool and perched atop it. It was like balancing on the head of a pin.

  “Ms. Prentice,” said the officer who had followed me upstairs.

  “Just call me CeCe,” I replied waving my hand dismissively. “I don’t know your name.”

  “Detective Frank DeRosa,” he said hunching his back as he looked for a place to stand. The studio attic had a sharply peaked ceiling with slanted walls that effectively skimmed off two or three feet of headroom. Between my painting supplies and canvases, there was little room for Detective DeRosa to conduct his interview. He lifted one leg, placing it on a gallon paint can. I found his gesture offensive, like stepping on pile of books at a library.

  “So is this for real?” I asked ignoring his awkward stan
ce.

  “I’m afraid so.” Detective DeRosa fired up his iPad, resting it on his knee, and slid his index finger across the screen. “Dr. Theodore Prentice was found at eleven p.m. in his office at the Sound View labs on Friday. Cause undetermined; autopsy ordered.”

  “You mean Saturday,” I corrected.

  “No, I mean Friday,” he replied, calmly looking up from his notes.

  “This happened yesterday?” I said as if I had forgotten how many days there were in a week.

  “Technically, the day before yesterday. It’s now Sunday. The family asked us to keep the press out until some initial facts could be gathered. We promised twenty-four hours of silence.”

  “But I’m not the press. I’m his sister. His only sibling.”

  “You’ll have to take that up with your father,” Detective DeRosa answered without apology.

  I took the detective’s comment in stride. What could I expect? I hadn’t been on speaking terms with my father since I’d left for college. My rebellion started early, and by high school I was probably unbearable to even a liberal-minded parent. I remember packing my bags stuffed full of thrift shop finds and stomping defiantly past my father on my way to a new life at art school in the city.

  I walked over to the window, if only for the chance to turn my back on Detective DeRosa. I hated him for succumbing to my father’s omnipotence. I felt an unbridled compulsion to run at the detective headfirst and pummel him with my fists. Why I had stayed in Cold Spring Harbor at all was a mystery to me. I could have lived anywhere in the world, but I remained here, among a town of pod people entranced by a shaman. Dr. William Prentice and his bag of magic potions owned the town. The lab was a major employer in Cold Spring Harbor, a great resource for the school district, and a prominent national institution.

  I looked out across the bay at the laboratory complex covering almost the entire twelve-acre peninsula called Cove Neck. At low tide I could literally walk across the inlet and up the hill to my brother’s office. Every June on our birthday, I made a barefoot pilgrimage across the spongy bay where Teddy would meet me for a celebratory picnic. The campus, as it was called, was a collegial setting where top scientists shared ideas and innovations leading to groundbreaking discoveries. It was also a spectacular site for an outdoor picnic.