Page 104 of Death on Riddle Road

Clara moved toward the door.

Rose shifted in that direction, subtly herding Sally in front of her.

I made eye contact with Alan.He gave a slight nod, put a hand on Robbie’s shoulder and steered him toward Clara and the door.

“Robbie,” Dova said.

He balked a moment, but Alan didn’t release his shoulder.Rose and Sally blocked coming back into the room.Evan slid out next.Alan used that to steer the boy farther away.

Clara held the door, looking significantly at the Dorrios and Carnells.

Beverly pushed at Yale’s arm.“Let’s go.We can talk to Robbie.”

Payloma and Olive beat them out of the room, with Emil bringing up the rear.

Clara closed the door behind them.

Mamie had said that not having answers was tearing Robbie apart.

We could only hope now that having answers — even the horrible ones he’d gotten so far — would bring some kind of acceptance for him.Eventually.

For now, though, we weren’t done trying to get a few more answers from Dova.

CHAPTER FORTY

“If you thinkI’m going to stand here and confess—”

“Not at all.We’re going to explain it to each other.”I turned toward Clara, keeping Dova in my peripheral vision.

Clara obligingly murmured, “Hattie.”

“Exactly.”

The maternal instinct gone wrong.Slightly in the case of Donna’s dog Hattie, so she clacked her teeth at Murphy in misguided protectiveness.

Over the top in the case of Dova Dorrio, who killed to have the child she coveted.

A frown tucked her brows now, directed at Clara, trying to make sense of the wordHattie.

Dova didn’t like not knowing what it meant.

As if she weren’t in the room, I said to Clara, “She knew she’d never have him as long as Jaylynn was alive.”

“Derrick?”Clara asked.

“She already hadhim.It was Robbie she wanted.”

“But she and Derrick could have had shared custody—”

“Shared,” Dova broke in viciously.She didn’t have as much self-control as I’d expected, now that the façade had cracked.“Scraps of time, always with her right there, waiting to snatch him back.It was intolerable.

“From the moment Payloma introduced me to Jaylynn and I saw her pregnant belly, I knew.But I waited for the birth to be sure.”She smiled.“He was perfect.”

I fought a shudder.“Then you made your move on Derrick.”

She snorted.“Barely had to blink at him.Completely wrapped up in me.Except I couldn’t get him to take Robbie from Jaylynn, even though she turned him over to that mother and sister of hers, letting those fools raise him in order to go back to her job, hercareer.”That reservoir of venom must have built up from her childhood, then spilled over to Jaylynn.“When she finally started suspecting Derrick of fooling around, I could see she’d always interfere, always be a problem.So I solved it.”

“You called her and said...”