Page 85 of Death on Riddle Road

“Uh-huh.”Wasn’t going to give up Aunt Kit or her sources.“Surprised the prosecution didn’t call you to testify.They had the lead detective cover your share.”

“Uh-huh.”He had stuff he wasn’t giving up, too.

“Why?”

“He was experienced at testifying.I wasn’t.Almost brand new, in fact.”

“I’d love to hear what you saw.”

“A car was pulled over by the side of the road.Neatly, not like she swerved off or was bumped.Lights and engine were off.”

“Which fits with the idea she was meeting someone.”

“Along with her being shot from close-up, with no sign of struggle or instinctive effort to defend herself,” he added.

“A strong element in the argument that it was Derrick.Along with his affair with Dova, of course.”The wordaffairbrought up another question.“Why didn’t it come out that she was having an affair?”

“Was she?No proof we ever found that she was.”

I tipped my head to consider him from a new angle.“You never heard that she was involved with another man?”

“Oh, yeah, we heard that.Gossip mill and an anonymous tip.What we didn’t find was any evidence.Nothing in her papers, nothing in her electronic devices, nothing that anybody said they saw.She and this guy often ate lunch together at the school.Before she had the baby, they had dinner together sometimes, too — in public, with no PDA.Some minds apparently turned that into an affair.”

His expression settled into his version of cop face.Not unfriendly, but implacable.I wasn’t getting more from him.

Just to make that official...

“Do you remember anything else about the investigation?”

Amusement crept into his cop face.“The question that matters to you is whether there’s anything else I’llsharewith you.That answer is no.”

I grimaced, but didn’t give up.“What about Derrick Dorrio’s death?”

“Not on the case,” he said.

“Really?I thought it was all-hands-on-deck.”

His eyes narrowed with a hint of humor.“Teague never told you that.Besides, need to have someone dealing with the usual crime.See you.”

His non-answers strengthened my impressions of heightened activity at the sheriff’s department.

I was less sure what my presence might have told him.If he knew Teague asked Clara and me to share what we learned, he might conclude I’d come to bring Teague more than dinner.

Teague didn’t leave me in reception long.

He escorted me to a conference room I’d been in a couple times.The first time with Gracie because we’d been brought here straight from a crime scene, along with Clara and LuLu and Teague and Murphy.

I’d bet a forensic check of the room would still find dog fur.

I looked around as we walked in.“Feeling sentimental, O’Donnell?”

He snort-laughed.“Had no idea what I was getting myself into, getting tangled up with you...and Clara, for that matter.”

“Don’t kick yourself over it.The dogs didn’t give us any choice.”

“Right,” he drawled.“The dogs.”

It was partly true.Gracie, LuLu, and Murphy bonded fast and, in many ways, dragged their owners along.Well, except Clara.She was enthusiastic from the beginning.