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Josie stood up and advanced toward his desk even though her head felt as heavy as a bowling ball. She put both palms on the desktop and leaned toward him. “I mean no disrespect to Piper.” At the mention of her name, his hands twitched. Josie forged ahead. “What happened to her was horrible and tragic, but as an officer of the law, you have to see what I see. Were you on the staff when Mathias Tobin was accused by three cheerleaders of sexual assault?”
Cyrus bristled. “Just. I had just started in this department.”
Josie continued, “You were definitely on the staff when Jana Melburn died. You knew that Mathias was the last person to see her alive—Carolina Eddy notwithstanding—and you knew that the two of them lived together, that there was a prior relationship there. You knew that the majority of the people here in Bly believed that he killed her. It’s not out of the question to think that maybe he went free because Anya Feist did not rule Jana’s death a homicide. Then he married your much younger daughter.”
A vein in Cyrus’s temple pulsed. The twitching in his hands became so noticeable that he folded his arms across his chest, burying his fingers in his armpits.
Josie continued, “Your daughter married a man who had multiple allegations of violence made against him—both in and out of the confines of the justice system—and what happens next? He shoots her in the head.”
She waited to see if he would protest, say that this could not be true given the fact that Mathias had been exonerated. He said nothing.
“You have spent years caring for your daughter because of the catastrophic injuries Mathias gave her, and then he walks free. Not only that, but he immediately moves on to another woman. He and Piper never got a divorce, did they?”
His silence was all the answer she needed.
“He never even came to see Piper once he was released, did he? Just moved on with Keri Cryer like his wife meant nothing to him. Then Piper dies. Now your daughter is gone, and her murderer is walking free—exactly the way he’s walked free for the last fifteen years. I can’t imagine what that must be like.”
In a voice taut with barely concealed rage, Cyrus said, “If I was going to kill someone, I would kill that son of a bitch. Not innocent women. But I didn’t. I don’t even know where he is—not that I’m looking for him. There is nothing I can do about any of that now.”
Noah drew up beside Josie. “Do you think that Mathias shot your daughter?”
Cyrus glared at him but gave no answer.
Josie pushed off the desk, fighting a wave of dizziness, and drew her spine up straight. “You don’t believe Vance Hadlee? That Mathias was with him at the time of Piper’s shooting? That Mathias had come to the farm to talk about a job?”
“You’ve met Vance Hadlee,” Cyrus said. “Would you believe anything that came out of his mouth? The truth is, I don’t know what to think anymore. Mathias lived with Piper. He found her. His prints were on the gun. There was no other evidence to suggest that anyone else had been there. Trust me, I looked. But you’re right. There were allegations and rumors for years before what happened to Piper. After all these years, I figure that if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a damn duck.”
“Fair enough,” said Josie. “Why would Vance Hadlee lie?”
“Because he’s a piece of garbage. You really haven’t figured that out yet?”
From behind her, the Chief said, “You never tried to find out? Never talked to him about why he suddenly came forward to exonerate Mathias?”
Cyrus gave one of his signature sighs. “Of course I did. I went at him so hard, I got reprimanded by my Chief. I was told to leave him alone. Leave all the Hadlees alone or I’d be out on the street looking for a new job. My, uh, Piper was still alive then. She still needed around-the-clock care, which meant that I had to keep this job.”
Josie said, “What did Vance say when you asked him about it?”
“He came forward because Mathias was at the farm that afternoon. Claimed he hadn’t said anything before because Dermot told him to stay out of it.”
“Stay out of making sure an innocent man doesn’t go to prison?” blurted the Chief.
Cyrus shrugged. “Vance said Dermot didn’t want them to get involved in a murder case. Didn’t want the farm name dragged into it. Dermot had dealt with the fallout from the rape allegations when he was coaching football. He told Vance to mind his business and he did. That is all I could get out of him.”
Josie said, “Vance came forward after Dermot’s stroke, then?”
“Yes, and like I told you before, I don’t know what to believe anymore. Maybe Vance grew a conscience in the last few years and so when he saw an opportunity to do the right thing and get Mathias out, he went for it. Or maybe he’s the same piece of shit he’s always been and he just lied.”
Noah asked, “Was Vance friends with Mathias? Or with Piper?”
“No. Not that I know of. The boys had been on the football team together in high school, but Piper never said anything to me about them being friends. I tried to turn something up once Mathias got off but I couldn’t find a damn thing.”
The Chief said, “Do you have a theory about why Vance Hadlee would lie to exonerate someone he wasn’t even friends with?”
Cyrus gave a short laugh. “Knowing Vance? There was something in it for him. I don’t know what, and now that my daughter’s gone, I don’t care.”
“Really?” Josie said. “If a guy had helped my daughter’s killer go free, I would care. I’d care enough to want to kill him. Or maybe frame him for murder.”
THIRTY-TWO
