Page 49 of Death on Riddle Road
“But you’re not with the media.”
She snorted.“I said that, too.Facts didn’t sway him.He also said I was a liar or a plant by his political opponents or a provocateur — at least I think that’s what he meant.He pronounced it so strangely I couldn’t be sure.”
“He called you aliar?In a public meeting?What is the matter with this guy?”
“Yup.Yup.And a lot on the surface.The ultimate cause?No idea,” she said with considerably more cheer than I would have in her shoes.“And then he ordered someone to turn off my microphone and when that didn’t happen fast enough, he unplugged it himself.”
“Good heavens.Why did I never hear about this?”
She tipped her head.“It must have happened before you and Gracie started coming to the dog park.Or just after, but we didn’t know each other well enough that I’d tell you about it.To be honest, it shook me a little at the start, I didn’t know how other people would react.It wasn’t that long after Ned’s mom died and I was...vulnerable.And, yeah, some people did steer clear of me and even made a few remarks.But I ran into Donna at Shep’s Market—”
I mentally boggled for an instant over Donna existing outside the dog park.
“—and she didn’t tell me to buck up or anything, but she asked right out if the people who were saying things — not giving me a chance to pretend no one was — were people whose opinion mattered to me.And she was right.They weren’t.Certainly Emil’s opinion doesn’t matter.”
“What happened?”
“After that meeting, they did follow the rules and decided not to expand the way they’d planned.”She frowned.“Come to think of it, though, they’re starting to do the same things.Anyway, that’s the short answer, believe it or not.The long answer — well, that’s way, way too long for here and now.Especially since we have other matters to attend to.”
Which brought up another point I’d wondered about.“He’s a friend of the Dorrios?”
“He’s one of them.Derrick’s cousin.”
Emil Dorrio.
That was the memory tickle — Berrie had screeched the name over the fence.One of Dova’s big-shot connections.
“Cousin?The one Dova said gave Derrick an alibi?”
“Uh-huh.”
After this encounter, I better understood the disgust I’d caught from Jaylynn’s family when they mentioned him.
But at the moment I was struck by Clara’s reaction.She tilted her head slightly in contemplation.“I wouldn’t say he was anyone’s friend.He...cultivatesthem.Apparently thinking that’ll reflect well on him.”Her head tilt went the other direction in a visual rendition ofOn the other hand.“Though he slips frequently enough that most people say he resents the heck out of that branch’s generational wealth and position.”
“Could that connect somehow with Derrick’s death?”
With her head back on straight, her eyes popped open wide.“You think so?I don’t see how—”
“No, no.I’m not saying itdoesconnect.I’m only asking if it could.He reacted so strongly to seeing you.If he’d seen any of your interviews about solving crimes and he had a guilty conscience...”
“Oh.”She deflated with disappointment.“I don’t think he has a conscience.He was friends with that politician Henderson Nickell until we found out that stuff about him, then Emil tried to pretend they’d never met.So it was probably only his self-preservation and self-aggrandizement in overdrive.He’s not a nice man.”
“No kidding.Would he have anything useful to contribute to what we’re looking into?”
Wistfully, she shook her head.“Probably not.I’d like to say he was the real murderer, but I’m afraid there’s no evidence.”
I suppressed a grin at discovering someone Clara really, truly disliked.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The door withthe sign asking for consideration opened quickly, revealing Mamie, heading toward us, head down, and walking fast.
“Mamie.”Clara stepped directly in her path.
Not sure I would have taken the risk.But Mamie stopped and her head came up.
“Oh.You,” she said with an entirely different intonation from Emil’s.
