Page 37 of Death on Riddle Road
If anyone wanted to bet me, I’d put my stake on that meaning there’d been conflicts, though perhaps not horrific ones.It would be interesting to know if they had lessened over time or escalated.Beverly wouldn’t tell us and Jaylynn couldn’t.Perhaps her family would have insight.
“And surely Robbie’s arrival brought you closer together,” Clara offered.
“She did seem to be maturing after giving birth to Robbie,” Yale said judiciously.
A micro-expression from Beverly didn’t entirely agree, but she didn’t give voice to it.
“What about Derrick?How did he handle having a baby?”
“Beautifully,” Beverly said with repressive emphasis.“He was a marvelous father.Even after the horror of his being accused and wrongfully convicted and all the years in prison, his first thought, his primary priority was always for Robbie’s welfare.”
“Were they close?”Clara asked with her winning forthrightness.“I mean, I know, of course it must have been difficult with Derrick in prison, but with visits...”
They exchanged a quick look.
Yale spoke, possibly designated as the more diplomatic of the pair, though I couldn’t imagine Beverly conceding that point.Still, she allowed him the floor.
“Derrick was Robbie’s entire world in the years before he was wrested away by that travesty of a trial,” Yale said.“And Robbie was Derrick’s primary concern after.”
The first part didn’t mesh with Mamie saying Dova was Robbie’s primary caretaker from the time of his mother’s death.
“When he was in prison,” Yale continued, “he made the hard decision that what was best for his son was to curtail contact.”
On this, there was agreement.Dova had said something similar about Derrick’s choice to protect his son.
“He thought only of his son’s well-being, as he did of ours, our standing in the community, and to make our final years as peaceful as possible.”
Neither struck me as doddering, but Yale Dorrio played the into-the-sunset card well.
He added, “There is no truer measure of a man’s character than that he places the welfare of those he loves above his own.Derrick did that by limiting contact.”
A voice in my head that sounded a lot like my great-aunt snapped that not murdering people, especially a wife you’d pledged to protect and love, was an even better measure of character.
Unaware of that voice, Yale said, “And his sacrifice has been worthwhile.Robbie is a fine young man.”
Interesting.Mamie gave the impression Robbie’s only true family was Dova.Yet the senior Dorrios made it sound as if they were active in their grandson’s life.
Despite her lips being pressed together, words shot out from Beverly as if from a hose under too much pressure.“Why Dova doesn’t curtail this current relationship with that florist girl—”
“They’re young.He’ll go off to college and it will be over.”
Yale’s interjection didn’t diminish the pressure left in Beverly’s word hose.“So you say.Dova should be firm with him.He didn’t visit his father at hospice, either.And that’s not something that he cangrow out of.All that talk from Dova about letting the boy set the tenor when it’s a parent’s duty to guide the child.And her going on and on about his needing time to come to terms with his father’s death.When there wasn’t time.And now there never will be.Disgraceful, I call it.You do your duty.You don’t pule about coming to terms.”
Clearly Beverly didn’t see Dova as the perfect mom.Even more interesting, she indicated Robbie was behind the lack of contact, contrary to what Dova and Yale said about Derrick’s decision.
“What about you?”Clara spread the question between them.“Did you go to hospice?”
“Of course.Every day,” Beverly said.
“Did he seem worried or tell you something he hadn’t shared before or—”
Yale interrupted.“No.”
Not put off by that abruptness, Clara asked, “Had you visited him a lot in prison, so you’d notice a change in his attitude or—?”
“As I said, he hadn’t wanted to expose his mother and me to the degradation of visiting him in prison, especially as we grew older, which does him credit.There were letters, of course, and electronic communication, telephone calls at times.We also kept up with him through his cousin, who did visit from time to time.It was through him that we learned Dova was using her connections with important people to find top lawyers, truly top lawyers, for another appeal.”
Another micro-expression from Beverly objected to something in that speech, though it was unclear exactly what.
