Acquired Motives (Dr. Sylvia Strange Book 2) (42 page)

     
"Did you read his book?"

     
Sylvia nodded. Fielding Palmer had died of brain cancer in the early 1990s, at the height of his fame and just after the publication of his classic,
A Life of Small Reflections
. The book was a series of essays exploring the ethical complexities, the moral dilemmas of scientific research at the close of the 20th century. He'd been a prescient writer, anticipating the ever deepening moral and ethical quicksand of a world that embraced the science of gene therapy, cloning, and the bio-engineering of new organisms.

     
Sylvia frowned. It jarred and disturbed—this idea that his only daughter might be a serial poisoner. The thought had an obscene quality.

     
She saw that Sweetheart had his eyes on her again—he was reading her, gleaning information like some biochemically sensitive scanner. Well, let him wait; she signaled time out as she left the couch, heading for the dark oak cabinet that accommodated the room's mini-bar. She squatted down in front of the cabinet, rifling the refrigerator for a miniature of Stolichnaya and a can of tonic. From the selection of exorbitantly priced junk food she selected a bag of Cheetos.

     
"Join me?" she asked, as she poured vodka into a tumbler.

     
"Maybe later."

     
Sylvia swirled the liquid in the glass, and the tiny bubbles of tonic seemed to bounce off the oily vodka. She turned, holding the glass in front of her face, staring at Sweetheart, her left eye magnified through a watery lens. She said, "That's the beauty of poison—invisibility."

SARAH LOVETT
worked as a researcher at the New Mexico State Penitentiary. She is the author of
Dangerous Attachments, Acquired Motives
, and
Dantes' Inferno
, and her newest,
Dark Alchemy
, coming soon from Simon and Schuster. Raised in California, she now makes her home in Santa Fe. Visit her Web site at
www.sarahlovett.com
.