unsuccessful but costly attempts at other fertility clinics, the Rosens ended up here.”
“These sorts of treatments, they’re quite expensive?”
“They can be. In Vitro Fertilization. Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection. Therapeutic Donor Insemination. Controlled Ovarian Hyperstimulation. Frozen Embryo Transfer.”
Man. Making babies never sounded so un-sexy.
“Each of these procedures can cost several thousand dollars.”
“And Judith’s father-in-law paid for it all?”
Revae Dunn finally cracks a smile. “What can I say? The man wanted a grandbaby.”
“And Michael gave you a Jaguar, found your sister a job and gave her a Z-car, just to say thanks for helping his sister-in-law give birth to his only nephew?”
“Michael Rosen is an extremely generous individual.”
“Then why didn’t he pay for the treatments?”
“Excuse me?”
“If Michael Rosen wanted a nephew so badly, why didn’t he pay for all the procedures? Surely he could’ve afforded the costs much more easily than either his father or older brother.”
Revae Dunn’s left eye twitches. Twice. She glances at her watch again.
“I don’t know,” she says. “You’ll have to ask him. Now if you gentlemen will excuse me.”
And she shows us the door.
“She’s lying,” I say the second we’re back in the parking lot.
“Actually,” says Ceepak, “I don’t believe she told us any lies. However, that does not mean she has told us the entire truth.”
“So now what?”
“I want to check in with Bill Botzong. See how we’re doing on the cyanide search.”
“And then?”
“Let’s head back to Williamsville. Spend a little more time with Revae’s sister.”
“You think Monae knows the whole story of what went on here?”
“Doubtful. But I am certain she will be able to shed some more light on the Rosen family dynamics.”
Yeah. Like why Michael was so excited about having a nephew he gave everybody involved in the process of bringing Little Arnie into the world a flashy new car-except, of course, the baby’s parents.
45
Ceepak lets me drive the Batmobile so he can make a quick call to Bill Botzong.
There’s nothing new to report on the cyanide front, but “they’re making progress” and have initiated contact with all the major suppliers.
“They’re focusing on those merchants with Internet sales sites,” Ceepak tells me. “Most likely that is where our killer made his or her purchase, hoping for a measure of anonymity.”
He’s right. People think they can erase their on-line tracks by clearing their computer’s web browser memory.
They can’t.
There’s always a nice trail of cookies for us to follow.
Monae offers us a cold Coke and a whole tube of Oreos.
“I’m rich,” she says. “Don’t have to drink that cheap Sam’s Cola from Wal-Mart anymore-or their Great Value ‘Twist And Shout’ sandwich cookies. Can you believe Arnie left me fifty thousand dollars? From now on, boys, it’s Coca-Cola and Double Stuff Oreos for Monae Dunn.”
“That pretty awesome,” I say. “But some people might think Dr. Rosen’s generous bequest gave you a motive to murder him.”
“Well, those people might also be stupid. You add up everything Michael has given me and my sister over the past year, fifty thousand dollars is what Dr. Rosen used to call bupkis. Chump change.”
“Indeed,” says Ceepak since I just set him up with a lob shot. “Why
Monae gives us a sassy smile. “Because we’re good people.”
“Seriously,” I say. “Why did he give you and your sister such cool cars?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because we were nice to his father. See, Michael’s all the way out there in L.A. It made him feel good to know that somebody with half a heart was looking after his dad.”
Ceepak leans in. “What do you mean?”
“His daughter-in-law. Judy. She was all kinds of mean and nasty to that old man, even after he gave her and her husband everything. Liposuction. Tummy tucks.”
“For David?” I say.
“Nuh-unh. David got guitar lessons. Can you believe that? He’s fifty-six years old and still thinks he’s going to be a rock star. Dr. Rosen kept giving him hundreds and hundreds of dollars so David could learn how to play ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ out of tune.”
“You say Judith was ‘mean and nasty’ to him?” says Ceepak.
“Not in front of people like you or, you know, rich people. When she’s with folks like that, Judy acts all nicey-nicey. But when there’s nobody around for her to impress? Well, I heard all the horrible things she said to Dr. Rosen, especially when she’d been drinking.”
“How do you mean?”
“I worked nights, Detective Ceepak. Evil people like Judith Rosen, night is when their darkest demons come out-especially if they’ve had a couple glasses of that Pinot Grigio.”
“She said these ‘horrible’ things, even though you were there to witness the conversations?”
“Uhm-hmm. You ever see that movie
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Well, Judy and her big tuckus would fit right in down there in Mississippi; playing bridge and nibbling egg salad sandwiches with all those rich white ladies. A person like Judy, she sees a black woman in a uniform, she thinks we’re invisible.”
“So what exactly did you hear?”
“Things no civilized person should ever say, especially not to a ninety-four-year-old man lying in his sick bed. She’d come by the beach house nine or ten o’clock at night, before her husband came home from his office …”
Ceepak looks surprised. “David Rosen typically worked past ten o’clock at night? At Sinclair Enterprises?”
Monae shoots Ceepak a knowing look. “Um-hmm. Would you hurry home to a nasty piece of work like that?”
“What’d she say?” I ask, so Ceepak doesn’t have to field the “nasty piece of work” question.
“‘Why don’t you do us all a favor and die?’”
“Judith said that?” says Ceepak. “To Dr. Rosen?”
“Several times. Then, after you people helped Christine beat that restraining order, embarrassed her sister in court? Man, oh, man. Judith tore into poor old Arnie that night something fierce. Wish I’d recorded it. Maybe you two could’ve arrested her for elder abuse.”
“What happened?”
“She came over to Dr. Rosen’s house, her breath stinking like she’d been gargling with her Pinot Grigio. I’m right there. Kind of hanging back in the shadows. I was so afraid of what that crazy woman might do, I started wondering what I could grab-a vase or a statue or a fireplace tool. Something to knock her silly if she tried to strangle Dr. Rosen right there in his hospital bed.”
“And what did Judith say?” asks Ceepak.
“‘How dare you let that little tramp treat my sister like that,’ she says. ‘You embarrassed her. You embarrassed me! I’m done, I’m done, I’m done with you.’ She kept saying she was done but, believe you me, she
