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Josie said, “We can, but Chief, these murders have connections to the Jana Melburn case. Mathias Tobin walked away from that with little more than accusations from the people in his town. Why would he now, ten years later, after having been set free for a completely different crime, draw so much attention to the Melburn case? All that does is bring unwelcome scrutiny back onto him. Again.”
Noah said, “Josie’s right. It makes no sense for him to be involved in this. He just got out of prison.”
“But everywhere you look, his name comes up,” said the Chief. “We need to find out why.”
TWENTY-FOUR
Josie purred with pleasure as Noah kneaded her feet. She was stretched across her couch with her feet in his lap while Trout snored contentedly, pressed against her side. After sleeping most of the day, Josie and Noah had gotten up, showered, and taken Trout for a long walk. They weren’t due to work until the next day so they were taking advantage of the downtime, although Keri Cryer and Sharon Eddy were never far from Josie’s mind. She had texted Gretchen and then Mettner, who had come on shift to get updates, but so far there were few. They’d managed to get the Hadlees’ white sedan impounded. Hummel was at work processing it. It was an older model and its GPS system had been disabled. There was no way to track where it had been for the last forty-eight hours. Lark and Dermot insisted that Vance had been on the farm with them even though, when pressed by Gretchen, Lark admitted she had not physically seen him since he returned from being locked up by Cyrus sometime Saturday evening. Neither had noticed whether the sedan had been missing or not for any length of time.
There had been no sightings of Mathias Tobin. Where had he gone? He’d practically been living with Keri Cryer, and now that she was dead, he had not been back to her apartment. It still seemed like he had the most to lose by the new scrutiny that Sharon Eddy and Keri Cryer’s murders had brought to the Jana Melburn case—not to mention that there was still no proof that he knew about Anya’s brand—and yet, something about his disappearing act wasn’t sitting right with Josie. She couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that the women in his life—Jana, Piper, and now Keri—all turned up dead.
Josie wished she could talk with Trinity about the entire thing, but she’d just have to settle for accompanying her sister to Bly the next day to speak with Hallie Kent. Hallie had grown up with both Jana and Mathias. She’d been an excellent source of information for Trinity. Josie knew that Gretchen had contacted Hallie to see if she’d heard from Mathias but she had not. Still, if the team hadn’t found him by tomorrow, Josie could dig a little deeper when she spoke with Hallie. Josie hoped she could shed light on a lot of things.
From the kitchen came the sounds of cooking—silverware clinking, pots clanging, something sizzling. Trinity and Drake had decided they would cook dinner. Neither Josie nor Noah had argued. The smells wafting from down the hall made Josie’s stomach growl.
“This is what we should do from now on,” she said. “Just have a constant influx of guests who know how to cook. We’ll never cause a fire in the kitchen again.”
Noah laughed. “We’d also get no alone time.”
“Hmm,” Josie said. “If we’re choosing between alone time and food, I’d rather starve.”
Before he could respond, the doorbell rang. Trout jumped up, ran to the door and began barking furiously. With a groan, Josie extricated herself from the couch and went to answer. Anya Feist stood on the front stoop, wrapped in a coat and knit hat, looking pale and distressed.
“Come in,” Josie said.
Trout, recognizing her smell, immediately dissolved into a blur of butt-wagging and whimpers, jumping to lick at her gloved hands. Anya took a moment to squat down and greet him. Trinity appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, hands covered with potholders. When she saw Anya, her eyes widened. Josie shot her a look of warning. Although Josie had gotten a copy of Jana Melburn’s autopsy report from Trinity earlier that day, and dropped it off at the morgue so that Anya could review it whenever she was ready, Josie hadn’t told Anya about the possible television show focused on the Melburn case. She was relieved when Trinity disappeared back into the kitchen.
Standing, Anya looked around Josie’s foyer. She sniffed the air. “This is a bad time. I’ll come back.”
“No,” said Noah, walking in from the living room. “Stay. Trinity and Drake are here. We’re just having dinner. I’m sure there’s plenty. We’d love for you to join us.”
Anya gave him a weak smile. “I’m not that hungry.” She looked at Josie, as if seeking rescue.
Glancing at Trout, Josie said, “I was just about to take the dog for a walk. Why don’t you join me?”
Looking relieved, Anya nodded. She waited while Josie bundled up and put on Trout’s harness. It was dark outside, night falling early in the winter, but the streetlights gave off plenty of light. Once they were a half block away, Anya said, “I talked with my colleague in Lenore County. The autopsy on Keri Cryer is just what you’d expect. I’m sure you and Noah will be briefed the next time you’re at work. Cause of death was manual strangulation. Manner, homicide. Time of death between midnight and twoa.m. on Sunday. She had abrasions on her arms. Defensive bruising, most likely. There was a skull fracture as well that he thinks took place just before her death. No sign of a patterned injury, so we don’t know what she was struck with. It didn’t break the skin.”
“The killer is subduing them by hitting them over the head,” Josie said.
“Looks that way. Keri Cryer had recently had sexual intercourse.”
“The last time she saw her boyfriend was Thursday morning,” Josie said. “Could it have been from someone else?”
“I can’t say for sure, but it could definitely have been from the boyfriend. She could have had intercourse three to five days prior to her death, and it would still show up on exam. That’s how long sperm can live inside a female body after sex. There was no evidence that intercourse was not consensual. My colleague took a sample and sent it off for DNA analysis. DNA was also removed from her coat. That’s been sent out as well.”
“Speaking of her boyfriend,” Josie said, “we believe it was Mathias Tobin.”
“Oh my God.” Anya stopped in her tracks. She looked up at the darkened sky, taking deep breaths until she was composed. Trout pulled against his leash, not realizing they’d paused.
After a moment, Josie said, “Anya?”
She lowered her gaze but didn’t meet Josie’s eyes. Slowly, she started walking again. “That’s why Gretchen asked me if I remembered Mathias Tobin and if he knew about the brand Vance gave me. We didn’t get a chance to talk for long. I was busy with an accidental drowning case. I actually came to your place tonight to discuss the Jana Melburn case, which I’ll get to in a minute. As far as Keri Cryer is concerned, it’s quite possible that the two DNA samples we found on her body came from different people. That’s why we send them out to be analyzed. Or maybe they didn’t. God, this is just insane. I thought all of this was ancient history. I’m having a really hard time with all of this coming back up. Seeing Vance yesterday was like—” She floundered for words.
Josie rubbed her shoulder. “I’m sorry you’re going through this.”
Anya swiped at a tear that had leaked onto her face. “And everyone here has been so wonderful. If I had had all of you when I was young…if I’d had such a good support system then…I don’t know. Maybe things would have been different. Maybe they’d be the same. Listen, I’m sorry I didn’t come in for dinner. As great as everyone on the team has been to me, I’m just not up to…people tonight.”
“I get it,” Josie said. “It’s probably for the best. Full disclosure? My sister is researching the Jana Melburn case with a view toward potentially doing an episode on it.”
