Likewise, Dorthea had grown up in the same small town as Bill Newfield and, at the time of his death, was the second largest property owner next to him, but that hadn’t gotten her any kind of access to the man or to the Castaneda Corporation, the Newfield empire that traced its wealth back to the Castaneda Spanish Land Grant of 1814. She moved in the wrong circles. Not even reliable second hand intelligence about the Newfields easily came her way. Abigail might’ve been a decent source of such information had it not been for an overdeveloped fear of committing the sin of gossip; she’d rarely talked about anything useful. And yet, despite this almost complete lack of affiliation, Dorthea Railer knew more about the Newfields, including Castaneda, than they knew themselves. It’s important to know the enemy. That’s why she knew them. And that’s why she knew that Veronica would call the phone number on the little purple card in the little purple gift bag, which she’d found in her car that day after school.
