Page 61 of Death on Riddle Road
“Not fair.Especially since Rose Gleiner probably told the sheriff’s department a lot.After all, she’s the one who started the ball rolling to get you guys involved and she’s connected to the assistant coroner who called you in, not to mention striking me as a real law and order type.”
“Dun-Dun,” he chanted in a representation of the familiar two-note bridge forLaw & Orderscenes.
I frowned at him to keep from grinning.“In other words, no, I’m not sharing what she said.Not—”
I held up my index finger in a wait-for-it command.
His eyebrows went up, inviting me to finish.
“—until Clara and I explain the whole solution to you.”
I will not detail what followed, except to say he dove for me, it involved tickling, Gracie barking, Murphy galumphing around wanting in on the action...which eventually led to activity that left both Teague and me feeling satisfyingly brainless.Also boneless.
DAY THREE
DECEMBER 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
I partially wokewhen Teague got out of bed.
Not wanting to let him know his obvious efforts to be quiet failed, I didn’t stir or say anything.
Drifting between sleep and wakefulness, I thought about the videos.
They’d included what must have been family photos of Derrick and Jaylynn, both burnished with youth and confidence.Then Derrick’s booking photo — Payloma was right about how he’d changed by then — followed by snippets of people arriving or leaving the courthouse.Dova, very attractive, had kept her head up and looked straight ahead.Derrick’s parents were more inclined to drop their gazes and hurry.Payloma and Olive talked to the cameras now and then, showing their anger, and appearing more unified than now.Emil and Evan barely rated cameos as their younger selves.
The one who’d changed the most since then, of course, was Robbie, from cute toddlerhood to heading toward manhood.There were only a couple snippets of him with Dova — not at the courthouse, but once arriving at the jail and another time walking into the Dorrios’ house.Dova turned toward the camera in the last frame and you could see her protectiveness in full force.
****
I groaned whenClara pulled into the Riddle Road entry to Kentucky Manor again.
The dogs might have, too.There certainly was increased restlessness in the back.These stops before the dog park were not popular.
“What do you hope to—?”I tried to ask.
“Maybe Rose Gleiner will be here again or—Oh.Look.Beverly Dorrio.”
She came out of the building backward, pushing the door open with her butt and carrying a box.
It’s probably a sign of a weak character to find that less-than-dignified exit satisfying, but I did.
Indulging my weak character and possibly chuckling a little bit slowed me enough that Clara was out of the van and reaching for the box before I’d cleared the passenger door.
“Let me take that for you, Beverly.”
Clara matched action to words.Beverly allowed it without expressing thanks, then smoothed down her coat.
“This must be so hard for you, collecting Derrick’s things...”
No response.
But she did graciously allow us to trail behind her.
Rude, but on the plus side, it gave me a chance to scope out what was in the box, aided by Clara slightly tipping it toward me.
There was a folded quilt that seemed to take up the bottom of the box and looked old, possibly from Derrick’s childhood.It was only visible in snatches beneath a box of tissues, an empty vase, a mug with — yeah — cabbage roses on it, a scattering of papers, plus corners of a few other things I couldn’t identify.Taking up most of the room on the top layer was a photo enlarged to an eight-by-ten of a young Robbie — the two-dimensional rendition of my half-awake memories of the videos from the time of the trial.
