Page 66 of Death on Riddle Road

Death, not murder.

Mama Beverly held a tight grip on denial.

“Dova had — has — enough determination and discipline for both of them,” she finished.

My brain rewound her words.“Wait, wait, wait.Go back to thateventually.Hewasn’thaving an affair with Dova from when Jaylynn was pregnant?”

“I wasn’t sitting on their shoulders.How could I know?”

“Because you always do,” Clara said simply.

Donna’s protest died, accepting the truth of that.“Well, I do believe he didn’t start carrying on with Dova until after Robbie was born.”

“He was faithful while Jaylynn was pregnant?”

“No.”

Two affairs?With Dova the second one?

“Who was he carrying on with before?”I asked.

Without moving her head, Donna shifted her eyes to us for a moment, then back to the trotting dog.

“Oh, my God,” Clara whispered.

“What?”I demanded.

“Really?”Clara asked Donna.

“What?”

“It wasn’t widely known—” Donna started.

“I’ll say,” Clara agreed fervently.

“What?”

“—but they were seen together.”

I switched my question.“Who?”

“Howcouldhe?”Clara said more to herself than Donna.“How couldshe?”

“Who?”

Clara said, “Her sister.”

“Her sister?Jaylynn’s sister?Payloma?”I gawked at Clara.“No.”Pivoted the gawk to Donna.“No.”Then back to Clara.

“Olive Carnell knows,” Clara mused, not heeding my struggle to absorb this.“She definitely knows.The way she said Payloma was always jealous of Jaylynn.”

Donna nodded once.

They were right, I realized.

Though there was something niggling at the back of my head, as my shock fog started to clear.

“But Jaylynn didn’t know?”Clara asked Donna.