Page 17 of Death on Riddle Road
“When did you get to Robbie’s house?”
“Oh, it was early.We were going out for breakfast — we like to do that during school because of our schedules the rest of the day.With it being the holidays, we were going to hang out until I came here to make deliveries.”She glanced toward the doorway.“I probably got there about seven-thirty.”Her voice went up at the end, adding doubt to theprobably.
“Robbie was getting his jacket — I hadn’t taken mine off, because we were going right to the restaurant, you know that place that specializes in breakfast, over by Stringer.The phone rang—”
“Robbie’s phone?”
“No.”She was certain of that.“A landline.I didn’t know they had one.Robbie uses his phone and Dova uses hers.But then this phone rang and it wasn’t either of theirs.When Robbie answered, I could tell right away something was weird.I guess they asked if he was the son of — you know, his father — and he said yeah, but kind of slow and suspicious.But then they said something else and he said,Tell me now.And they wouldn’t.I couldn’t hear what they said, but he kept saying,Tell me, so obviously, they didn’t.And then he said,We’ll be right there.And,You’ve called her?Or maybe he said that earlier.He headed for the door and I followed, because I didn’t know what happened, but I knew he was upset.
“It wasn’t until we were in the car that he even told me it was the hospice that called and they said the family should get there right away.”
“They didn’t say his father was murdered or dead?”I asked.
“No, no.I’m sure they didn’t.Because after we got there, that’s when they were telling us — telling Robbie — that his father died and the authorities had been called.Then Dova got there and everything started.Besides, he would have told me on our way there.Or he would have told Dova for sure, on the phone when he called her from the car.”
“Tell me about that call.”
“Robbie said he had to talk to his mom.But he was really upset and driving and all, so I made it, through the car.And before he could even say much, Dova started saying,Go home.Go home and I’ll take care of everything.”
“She was upset?”
“Not at first.She was real calm.She is that way in general and she was then, too.Except Robbie said, no, he was going to the hospice place, he was going to see his father — only he calls him Derrick.The more he said that, the more upset Dova got.I’ve never heard them like that before, sharp and almost angry.They’re real close and usually get along.It’s one of the things I liked about him from the start.A lot of kids our age can be snarky about their parents, but when you don’t have any and your grandfather tries so hard to make—Anyway, I liked that Robbie wasn’t that way about his mom.And that was way, way before I knew about, you know, what happened with his parents.”
Interesting.Dova was Robbie’smom, while Derrick and Jaylynn were hisparentsto Mamie, likely based on Robbie’s view.
“So, it was unusual for Robbie not to do what Dova told him?”
She nodded emphatically, then seemed to think better of it, stopping mid-motion.“Not that she bosses him around a lot.It’s that he wants to do what she wants, because it’s always been the two of them together.And doing what Dova wants usually makes sense.It’s not just telling him to do thingsbecause.”
“But this time, Robbie didn’t do what she said?”
“No,” she said.“We were so close to Kentucky Manor by then and he said...he said he had to know.”
Addressing the concerned crease between the girl’s brows, Clara said, “That makes sense.It was his father and at some level, Robbie probably knew what the hospice calling meant.”
At least about Derrick being dead.Not about him being murdered.
Not unless—
That suspicious caveat, which I knew neither of the other two would accept, was cut off before my mind completed it because Clara spoke again.
“Even knowing his father was in hospice, it’s natural it would be difficult for Robbie to accept that he’d actually died.”
Clara’s words didn’t ease the crease between Mamie’s brows.Instead, it deepened.
“It wasn’t like that for Robbie.His father had been out of his life so long it was like he was already dead.He’d said that before this hospice stuff — that his father cut him out of his life and that’s how things were.But the way he said it this morning...It was different.When he’d talked about it other times, I thought...I really thought he was okay with his father not wanting to see him, with it being just him and Dova.But...”
Clara touched her shoulder.“He probably didn’t know how he felt.At a time like that, you’re feeling every which way.”
My response was more practical.“So, you got to the hospice and what happened?”
“Robbie rushed inside the building.I had a hard time keeping up with him and he didn’t stop even when this woman who said she was the administrator started yelling at him.But a nurse was there, at the room, pushing Robbie back and closing the door to keep him out.”
“What room was he in?”
“Room One-Twenty-Seven.I kept looking at the number when he was trying to get past her.Then she locked it and stood in front of it.
“The administrator was telling him to respect the other patients and keep his voice down.Robbie kept saying he needed to go in, to see his father.But he wasn’t shouting, just insisting, to the woman blocking the door, along with two or three others in the same kind of uniforms.
