Alien in the House

Brewer—his expression didn’t say, “So glad I have a friend.” It said, “I hate your guts.” He wiped the look off his face quickly, but I’d seen enough to recognize it—it was reminiscent of the looks Jeff used to give Chuckie, gave Buchanan these days, and was currently shooting at Raj, presumably just to keep in practice.
    Pushed aside worry about Buchanan’s whereabouts for the moment—there were bigger fish to hook, gut, and toss to Pierre to have fried.
    My brain nudged. Eugene was in the Cabal of Evil only because of two reasons—his wife had managed to get into the Cool Kids Crowd and had no intention of leaving any time soon, and he was sleeping with one of the other members. With Brewer’s wife, to be exact.
    Maybe Eugene hadn’t changed as much as I’d thought. Or, rather, maybe he’d changed in a different way.
    Stepped away from the group just a bit and examined our table. Not too much had been moved, Mom’s doing no doubt. Reviewed what had happened from the point Raj and I had reached this part of the room. Then I looked at Brewer’s place setting and the light dawned.
    Rejoined Mom as Kevin came to take the Middle Eastern Contingent off to give their statements. Waited until Mom and I were alone. “I have a strong theory. Should I share it now, or do you want me to wait?”
    “Wait one moment. Charles!” The way Mom said his name, there was no way Chuckie wasn’t going to come right over. She’d definitely put the “you will obey me without question, young man” tone into one syllable.
    He indeed disengaged immediately. “Yes, Angela?”
    “Kitty has a theory. I’d like you to hear it.”
    Jeff had great hearing, yet another A-C trait enhanced by Surcenthumain. He joined us, too. “It’s okay, baby, we’ll get everything taken care of.” He took my hand and squeezed it. I squeezed back.
    “Good. And, thanks, Mom. I actually think Eugene’s telling the truth. In a way.”
    “Really?” Chuckie didn’t sound impressed or pleased that he’d been called over here.
    “Really. I do think he’s the one who put arsenic in the water glass, only Santiago Reyes wasn’t his target.”
    “Shut up, Kitty,” Eugene said desperately.
    “No way in hell, you jerk. And, just in case you weren’t sure, I’m never forgiving you for both murdering Santiago in such a horrible way
and
doing it on American Centaurion soil, regardless of whatever diplomatic thing is being facilitated by Andrei.” Maybe I could insist that Eugene be executed in the public square, so to speak, as appeasement for American Centaurion’s outrage. Unlikely, but still something to daydream about.
    “Kitty, can you get to the point?” Chuckie asked in a pained tone.
    “Sure, since we’re on a schedule and all. Eugene wasn’t trying to kill Santiago—he was trying to kill Edmund Brewer.”



CHAPTER 23
    M Y ANNOUNCEMENT engendered lots of gasps of shock from everyone other than Eugene, Mom, and Chuckie. Even Jeff gasped. Enjoyed my Big Reveal moment. Knew everyone’s being impressed with me wouldn’t last long.
    “Why do you feel that Representative Brewer was the actual target?” Chuckie asked, speaking quite slowly and distinctly. Reader, Cliff, Andrei, and the others from their table gathered ’round.
    “Because Edmund Brewer didn’t drink his water. He gave it to Santiago instead.”
    Everyone gave me polite looks that said I was either crazy or making no sense.
    “See?” Eugene said, sounding slightly hysterical. “He’s the one who did it! His fingerprints will probably be on the glass.”
    “Of course his fingerprints will be on the glass—it was his originally. But you’re the one with the evidence on you, Eugene . . . and the motive.” Was glad Jeff had a firm hold on my hand, because I really wanted to tackle Eugene and throttle him.
    “Give us the full explanation, girlfriend, because we need the clarity,” Reader said. Nice to see I was back on his friend, versus formal, speaking mode.
    Shot a glance in Nathalie’s direction. She caught my eye and nodded. Hoped that meant she was okay with my spilling the beans.
    “Okay, Eugene is jealous of Edmund.”
    “Why so?” Cliff asked.
    “Because Eugene has been having an affair with Edmund’s wife, Nathalie.”
    “It’s in the past,” she said quickly. Really? As always, I was the last to know.
    Brewer nodded. “Nathalie told me about the affair months ago, and broke it off. We made some . . . adjustments in