An hour later, as the body of Bert Seibert was wheeled out, Rose Evergreen left the living room and headed to the dining room where she found Jacob Brown and the officer who had first arrived on the scene. "No one touched anything?"
"The doctor says no.� the officer said, �He says he smelled something on Mr. Seibert's breath and right away suspected poison. He made the others leave the room. Mrs. Seibert didn't want to, of course."
"Of course." Rose inspected the victim's portion of the freshly soiled tablecloth. She noticed the half-eaten portion of ribs, the potatoes and gravy. The salt and pepper shakers. The gravy boat. The dirty fork and knife to the left of the plate and the clean napkin to the right. The still-lit candles. The butter knife on the butter plate, along with a half-eaten roll. "Did you smell his breath?"
"Yes, thank you," Rose said impatiently. "I'm sure forensics will tell us the exact poison, though I doubt they'll be able to pinpoint the source."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, Jacob, if you'd been a little more observant, you'd realize that the thing that poisoned Mr. Seibert has been removed from the room. And that gives me a good idea who our killer is."
