Page 3 of Death on Riddle Road

Other people might have responded to the wordmurdered, but we’d seen a few of those lately.

I said, “Her boyfriend—?”

“Yes, yes, Robbie.The boy we met when we were looking into that murder outside the studio.Remember?”

Nope.

I did remember the murder.But the girl?Not really.Didn’t remember the boyfriend, either.However, I’m not devoid of stock phrases to fill in such gaps.“That’s terrible, but—”

“We have to help her.”

Perhaps self-centered, but my first thought was that my upcoming talk with Teague would not benefit from Clara and me being involved in investigating a murder.As a recent hire as an investigatory consultant for the North Bend County Sheriff’s Department, he had...reservationsabout my involvement in such matters and some of his colleagues had more than reservations.Not to mention Clara and I had very recently concluded such an inquiry.

“We hardly know the girl.I doubt she’d recognize us in the street or vice versa.We—”

“She stopped me in Shep’s Market in tears and begged —begged— us to help.”

So much for not recognizing us — at least the Clara half of us.

“If her boyfriend’s father was murdered, the sheriff’s department will investigate and—” Ah!But only if the crime was in Teague’s jurisdiction.If it wasn’t, no conflict existed.“Where did this happen?I haven’t heard anything about a murder in town.”

Not that I had Clara’s connections in our town of Haines Tavern, Kentucky, but the wordmurderdid catch my attention in local reporting or overheard conversations.And I’d heard none.

On the other hand, I had been preoccupied with getting Kit to the airport at the end of her holiday visit, then my we-have-to-talk conversation with Teague.

“He was murdered here.But the rest of it’s complicated.Derrick Dorrio — that’s who was murdered — was...Well, neither his son — that’s Mamie’s boyfriend, Robbie — nor Robbie’s mother trusts the sheriff’s department.There’s history there.The boy is devastated, and so, of course, is she — his mother.And Mamie, too.A whole family.Devastated.”

If Clara did charity appeals, all wallets and purses would be emptied within the sound of her voice.But I dare anyone to diagram some of her sentences.

More prosaically, she added, “Besides, I promised we would help.”

Memories started to surface and I grabbed onto one that benefited my cause of avoiding conflict with Teague at this delicate moment in our relationship.

“But the grandfather — Mamie’s grandfather, who owns the flower shop — is really protective.That’s why she didn’t tell us—”

“His name’s Alan.But that’s all in the past.”

“Still, he won’t like her getting us involved, all the questions we’d have to ask her, ask everybody.”

“He’d probably prefer she wasn’t affected by another murder, but she says she followed our advice and now her grandfather approves of Robbie, so surely he wouldn’t stand in the way of her helping us help her help Robbie.”

After a pause to untangle thehelps, I protested, “Clara, I still think—”

“Did you know she volunteers at the animal shelter?She’s one of the people who exercises the dogs.”

That was playing dirty.

Clara and I take our respective dogs — LuLu and Gracie — to the park most days.We both have soft spots for the four-legged.Especially rescues.

“But—”

My momentary weakness was all she needed.

“I knew you’d agree.I’ll be right over to your house — oh, did Kit get off okay?”

“Yes.But—”

“Great.I need to put away my groceries from Shep’s, then I’ll be right there.”