Page 9 of Death on Riddle Road
I narrowed my eyes at him.Not because he didn’t mean the compliment.But there was more behind this.
“Why are you not telling us—” I waggled my hand from Clara to me.“—to meekly fold our hands, stop asking questions, and be good girls like you do all the other times?”
“I have never said anything like that.”He looked both surprised and faintly amused.I hoped the latter was at my turn of phrase.
Fairness made me say, “No, you haven’t.But you have wanted us to butt out.”
“I might have saidthatto you.”He bent to pet Gracie.
Oh-ho.The stinker thought that ended this discussion?Au contraire, mon ami.“What makes this time different?”
“Maybe he’s finally opened his eyes to how effective we are,” Clara said.
Still petting Gracie, he said, “Better question is who says this time is different?”
I wouldn’t allow myself to be distracted by whether his not addressing Clara’s hypothesis was an insult or an oversight.I answered promptly.“Your attitude.”
As he straightened, he lifted a shoulder, acknowledging my point with a tiny smile, which disappeared when Gracie poked him in the thigh with her nose, reminding him she had not signaled the end of petting duty.Such pokes are not love taps.He withstood the reminder and leaned back against the edge of the counter.“Let’s say the family members of the murdered man aren’t big fans of the sheriff’s department.”
“I told you that,” Clara said.“That’s why Mamie wants our help figuring out who killed Derrick.For her boyfriend — his son, Robbie — and Robbie’s mother, Dova.Well, his step-mother officially, but she’s raised him and he considers her his mother.Because he doesn’t remember anything of his birth mother...”She wound down.
I could practically see her retracing the path of her thoughts from her last words back to where she’d started.
She looked at Teague, her expression changed, and she added, “That’swhy you’re not trying to drive us away this time.You want us to do your questioning, to get answers where you can’t.”
She had blind spots about this situation, but she wasn’t wrong about that.
But I wasn’t letting where she was wrong slide by.“Which proves that the department and especially Teague are not going to do nothing.”
Still focused on him, she didn’t acknowledge my point.Instead, saying, “But we’re not going to just tell you what they say to us, will we, Sheila?”
Wrestling with that could wait.Who knew if we’d learn anything?
I also kept my focus on Teague.“What about the other family?”
“What other family?”Clara asked immediately.
But Teague gave me an approving look.
I said to that look, “The family of the person Derrick Dorrio was convicted of killing, the family of his first wife.”
“Ohhhh.Of course,” Clara said.“Jaylynn’s family.But the Carnells must be talking to the sheriff’s department already, aren’t they?Why wouldn’t they?”
Still looking at Teague, I said, “They might not be talking if...”I let it stretch long enough for a flicker in his eyes to confirm two of my thoughts, but I only spoke to one of them.“...they blame the sheriff’s department for Derrick Dorrio getting out of prison on compassionate release.”
He tipped his head sideways in subtle acknowledgment.The gesture also reflected light off the sprinkling of gray hair above his ears.
I loved running my fingers over that hair.He knew it, but surely, he couldn’t have planned the hair-glint to distract me, could he?
Instead of following up directly, I probed in another direction, “How was he killed?”
“I’m not sharing details of the case with you beyond what’s given to the public.”
“That doesn’t help us any and how can you expect us to report back to you with whatwefind out if you don’t share?That’s not fair,” Clara said indignantly.
“That’s exactly what I expect.Fairdoesn’t enter into it.This isn’t a game or a competition.It’s your civic duty.It’s also your duty to be careful,” He pushed away from the counter’s edge.“I have to go now, but listen to me, you two.I know nothing I say will stop you from talking to people, especially not with a weeping girl begging for your help—”
So the Clara-to-Ned-to-Teague game of telephone included that tidbit.
