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Through gritted teeth, in a voice low enough for only Josie to hear, Trinity said, “I can’t believe you kept this from me.”
Josie said, “Hallie, is there any place that Mathias would go if he was in trouble?”
Slowly she shook her head. Lowering her hands to stroke Flynn’s back, she said, “Here. He would come here. But I haven’t seen him.”
“All right,” Josie said. “What I need you to do is to contact me immediately if Mathias comes here or contacts you somehow. Can you do that?”
Hallie leaned forward to take the business card that Josie offered her. “Of course,” she said. Then, looking at Trinity, she added, “Will you still do an episode of your show on Jana’s case? It’s really important to me. I need your help to clear Mathias’s name so he can come home once and for all.”
Trinity’s smile was sympathetic. “Yes. I’m still interested in doing the show. Just remember, Hallie, I can’t make promises, but I’ll do my best to present a clear and compelling episode about Jana’s case that will hopefully generate some leads.”
Josie said, “Hallie, who was the witness that came forward in Piper’s case?”
“It was Dermot’s son, Vance Hadlee.”
TWENTY-EIGHT
Josie pulled away from Hallie’s home, acid burning in her stomach. In the passenger’s seat, Trinity scribbled like mad on her legal pad. A brief glance told Josie she was jotting down more questions. Endless questions. She’d interrogated Hallie about Vance Hadlee but all she’d managed to find out was what they already knew: his family owned a farm nearby and that he and Mathias had played football together at Bly Hollow High School with Dermot as their coach. If there had been talk of what Vance had done to Anya or anything at all about his marriage, it hadn’t reached Hallie or she hadn’t deemed it important enough to discuss.
While Trinity finished the interview, Josie texted the team. She wasn’t sure what any of it meant but it seemed important—and strange—that Vance Hadlee had come forward to exonerate Mathias Tobin in his wife’s shooting. Had Vance told the truth? Had Mathias really been at the farm to ask Dermot for a job the day that Piper was killed? Had Vance seen him? If he had, why not come forward immediately? Even as the question entered her mind, Josie knew the answer: Dermot wouldn’t allow it. Dermot controlled everything, and for whatever reason, he didn’t want Mathias to be exonerated. Josie worked through the timing in her mind. Vance had only come forward months ago. Lark had told them that Dermot had had his stroke last year. Mathias had been freed seven months earlier—also last year. Was it possible that Vance felt emboldened to go against his father’s wishes after the stroke and set Mathias free? Josie wondered if Lark knew anything about this or could shed light on it. Finding out would require getting her alone—no easy feat.
Regardless, Mathias had gone free.
Was it a coincidence that the recent murders in Denton started after Mathias was released from prison? No, it didn’t make sense. To Josie’s knowledge, Mathias would have had no way of knowing about Anya’s brand.
Josie stopped at a red light, drawn out of her thoughts by the silence in the vehicle. She glanced over at Trinity. “Are you going to be speaking to me?”
Without looking up, she said, “I’m not going to lie. It upsets me that you’ve got information that I don’t that could be relevant to what I’m working on. However, I do understand that you’ve got a job to do, the same as me. I’ve been in this business long enough to know that law enforcement can’t tell journalists everything. I respect that. I can’t promise not to look into this Keri Cryer thing in connection with Mathias, but in terms of my episode on Jana Melburn? It’s got nothing to do with it. Whatever he did or didn’t do after Jana’s death isn’t going to help me figure out what really happened to her—whether it was an accident or not. I want to keep the focus on Jana for now.”
“Thank you,” said Josie. The light changed and she began driving once more.
Trinity tapped her pen against her window. “That’s the gas station where Mathias and Jana had their last conversation.”
Josie made a noise of acknowledgment and glanced over. A familiar black pickup truck sat next to one of the pumps. Josie slowed and craned her neck to try to get a glimpse of the owner at the pump. Dermot Hadlee. They locked eyes for a brief moment. He glowered, head turning slowly as she drove past. If there was any doubt as to whether he recognized her from the search of his farm, his menacing expression put it to rest. Josie looked over to see if Trinity had noticed him, but her head was bent to her pad again.
Josie sped away from the gas station. She tried to put Dermot out of her mind, focusing instead on Vance Hadlee coming forward as a witness to exonerate Mathias. Even if she was right and Vance had only come forward after Dermot had been weakened by a stroke, why? He did not strike Josie as the altruistic type. Also, although Vance and Mathias had been on the same football team for a year, no one they’d spoken with yet had ever suggested that the two were friends. Hallie had not indicated that they were ever close. According to Anya, they hadn’t been. So why would Vance come forward after Mathias had spent years in prison and swear that Mathias had been with him when Piper was shot?
Trinity looked up briefly and pointed her pen. “Turn left here. The place where they found Jana is about a mile from here.”
On autopilot, Josie made the turn. Had Vance really seen Mathias at the farm at the time that Piper was shot? Or had he lied to get Mathias out of prison? And if he had lied, why?
“Make a right here,” Trinity said, waving her pen at the windshield again. “This is the road.”
There was simply no way that Vance had helped Mathias get out of prison out of the goodness of his heart. Either Vance had gotten something out of it, or he owed Mathias for something. They couldn’t find Mathias to ask him about it. Keri Cryer might have known something—maybe Mathias had confided in her—but now she was dead.
“Slow down,” Trinity said. “It’s coming up in a half mile. Hallie said there used to be a marker. A cross. The township keeps taking it down, but she puts it back up every time.”
Josie tried to shake off her questions so she could concentrate on the road ahead. It was narrow, only one lane in each direction. To Josie’s left was a rock face where the township had cut into the side of a mountain to make the road. On the other side, trees flashed past. In February their branches were barren, allowing glimpses of Lake Latchwood at the bottom of a steep drop-off. Josie wondered if Jana had attempted to walk this road in the dark on her way to meet the mystery person Mathias claimed existed, or if her killer had simply dumped her here after the fact. It seemed a treacherous road in broad daylight.
“Up there,” Trinity said. “I think I see it.”
Ahead Josie spotted a pink plastic cross affixed to a tree on the shoulder of the road. Her foot pumped the brakes as she searched for a place to pull over. The roar of an engine drew her attention.
“What is that?” Trinity asked.
In the rearview mirror, a big black pickup truck barreled toward them, going at least twice the speed limit. “Shit,” said Josie.
There was a small spot to pull over, but it was on the opposite side of the road, against the cliff face. The roar got louder. Josie swerved into the oncoming lane and the truck followed.
