Page 60 of Death on Riddle Road
But first...
I looked up Flehmen lip curl.
Kit was right.Of course.
Then I messaged Clara, to be sure she’d seen the videos of the news reports Kit sent and to tell her to look up Flehmen lip curl.
I heated soup for my dinner — for some reason, I wasn’t very hungry — then started through the transcript again.
Clara messaged backThat’s it!D’s mouth, exactly.And that she was watching the videos.
Me, too.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Teague didn’t makeit to my place until long after dinner.But not too late for other matters.
His shoulder provided a pillow for my head, his chest a resting spot for my hand, with his hand covering it.Not only my hand, but all through me, I experienced the rhythm of his heartbeat, the normalcy of his breathing.
“Do you know why Derrick’s family opted for him to receive hospice care at Kentucky Manor, rather than at home?”
He spurted a chuckle that fizzed through my nerves.“And here I was thinking you were enjoying this quiet moment of romance.”
“Iamenjoying this quiet moment of romance.A lot.Doesn’t mean my brain turns off completely.”
“Oh?Is that a challenge to find a way to turn your brain off completely...again?”
With exaggerated prissiness, I said, “Not at this time, though you can certainly try later.”
“That’s a date.”
I dropped the prissiness.“It’s also not an out I’ll accept instead of an answer.”
“What I know about Derrick Dorrio going to Kentucky Manor hospice, rather than receiving hospice care at home — his family’s home, sincehishome was the penitentiary.”He said all that with the air of a grade-schooler introducing a class report.“They had the option, including two other facilities in the area.They chose that one.The end.”
“Bythey, do you mean his parents and son and wife together?Or do you mean Dova made the decision?”
Nothing so dramatic as his heart skipping a beat under my hand or a catch in his breath, but I was getting to know him quite well and I picked up that he was interested.What I didn’t know was if that was because of the answer or solely because the question intrigued him.
“Not something I’m at liberty to say.”
Which didn’t get me any closer to resolving what I didn’t know about the cause of his subtle reaction, much less the answer to my question.
“That could be interesting to know.”
“Yes, it could.As could why you asked,” he said.
“Oh, something that occurred to me after conversations today.”
“With Rose Gleiner?”
“Maybe,” I said while absorbing that he knew we’d talked to her, but not what she’d said — more accurately what she hadn’t said.
“Are you going to share?”
I sat up and glowered at him, only half meaning it.“Oh, c’mon, Teague, you expect me to spill after you just put up a solid brick wall?”
“That was the deal.Alternatively, I could make it much more difficult to talk to anybody.”He only half meant that threat.
