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He nodded. “Yeah, once I got out of prison. Apparently, after Dermot’s stroke, while Lark was handling the medical side of things, Vance went through his personal papers looking for a power of attorney. I guess the two kids wanted to be able to take over the farm if it turned out Dermot was completely incapacitated. Anyway, he found this map of the farm. Dermot had marked an area on the north side, ‘Susanna.’ Vance said they’d talked about building another barn for years. The north side had lots of room, but Dermot refused to allow anything to be built there. When he saw her name on the map, it clicked, I guess.”
“That’s when Vance started digging, looking for her remains,” Josie said.
From the kitchen came the scent of freshly brewed coffee. Josie’s mouth watered, the pain in her ribs momentarily forgotten. She wondered if Hallie had half-and-half. “It’ll just be a minute,” Hallie called.
Mathias ignored her. Josie wanted to call back and say thanks, but she wasn’t sure she could physically do it. “What was Garrick’s plan with regards to Susanna’s remains? Did he have one? Why not go right to the police?”
“He didn’t think there was enough for them to charge Dermot. Even with the stroke, Dermot still had a lot of influence. Garrick wanted to hold onto what Vance had found. Vance was going to try to find the rest of Susanna’s remains. Beyond that, I don’t think there was a plan. Garrick meant well, but I think the alcohol clouded his judgment. I’m not sure he was thinking straight most of the time. Keri wanted me to get a DNA test, though. To confront the Hadlees. Not for money or anything like that, but just so that people in town would know the truth. I think she thought it would somehow make them treat me better? I don’t know. She didn’t grow up here, so she really didn’t understand how things work in this place.”
A loud pop from the last of the wood in the fireplace startled Josie. Her body jerked slightly, sending a white-hot stab of pain through her left side. She tried to stay focused on the conversation. “Did Keri know about Susanna’s remains?”
“Are you kidding me?” said Mathias. “No. No way. She would have gone right to the police. I didn’t tell her. All I said was that Garrick was my father and that he had told me my mother’s identity. He said that when I was born, Susanna was too afraid that Dermot would somehow know I wasn’t his and kill me. No one knew it, but apparently Dermot was pretty abusive toward her.”
“I’m not surprised,” Josie said, thinking of Anya’s marriage to Vance.
“Garrick and Susanna agreed that Garrick would tell Dermot I’d been stillborn, and then make sure I got into foster care. The thing was that I really didn’t want to get into any of that. I wanted to move forward. Keri didn’t understand. Even if no one ever knew that Vance had found Susanna’s remains, me going public with the fact that I was related to him and to Lark? No way would Dermot have let that stand.”
In spite of the warmth still radiating from the fireplace, Mathias shivered.
“I believe you,” Josie said.
“Besides,” he added wistfully. “By that time, I at least had Garrick.” His eyes drifted toward the kitchen door. Under his breath, he murmured, “Now I’ve got no one.”
Josie wasn’t sure if he’d meant for her to hear that last bit or not, so she moved on. “Mathias, what happened the night that Garrick was stabbed?”
“I was out in the garage, staring at that stupid box for the hundredth time, wondering what the hell I was going to do about…my past.”
“Your prints weren’t on the box,” said Josie.
He nodded. “There was no way in hell I was ever going to touch that box. I didn’t need my prints anywhere near that.”
Josie didn’t point out to him that even if his prints had been on the box, he’d been a small boy when Susanna Hadlee was killed. She was going to ask him what possible trouble he could have gotten into by leaving his prints, but then decided that was a stupid question to ask someone who had been put through as much as Mathias Tobin had. Instead, she asked, “Did you hear anything? A car?”
“No. Not until you guys pulled up. I peeked out. Saw the SUV. Waited and waited. I didn’t know what to do. I’d gotten so used to running and hiding from everyone and everything that my first instinct was to stay in the garage and wait. Then I realized that I hadn’t done anything wrong. Garrick was my father. He was fully prepared to tell people that I was his son. He’d offered me his home, his money, anything I needed. I thought I was being ridiculous. No need to hide anymore. So I walked right up to the front door and that’s when I saw—” He broke off as a sob rose in his throat.
“Take your time,” Josie whispered. Sweat gathered at the back of her neck, now more from the pain in her side than the dying fire.
After a long moment, Mathias said, “Sorry. I don’t know who stabbed Garrick. I never saw or heard anyone. I don’t know who would want to besides Dermot, but Cyrus doesn’t think that Dermot could have physically done it.”
“He might be right,” Josie said. Dermot Hadlee had threatened her with a gun and driven her off the road with his truck. She was willing to believe he’d try to stab someone, but at the same time she didn’t believe he was physically capable of making it all the way up the north road on foot, stabbing Garrick, and escaping without anyone seeing him. Dermot might have had motive to kill Garrick, but not the means.
Another sob shook Mathias’s frame. He wiped at the tears streaming down his face. “Sorry,” he said. “Flashbacks to when I found Piper. It’s still really hard for me.”
“I’m sorry,” Josie said. “I’m sure you know that Piper’s case has been reopened.”
“Yeah. Cyrus told me. That’s good. Really good. All this time, all I wanted was for someone to be looking for her killer. Not just because I wanted out of prison but because my wife’s killer is still out there! Once I was freed, I hoped if I could get the whole Hadlee mess behind me, maybe I could help in some way.”
“Do you have any ideas as to who might have killed her?” asked Josie.
“I really don’t. Believe me, if I had any idea, I would have been hollering it from the rooftops.”
Josie thought of everything Cyrus had told them. “Were you and Piper fighting before she died? Cyrus said her wedding ring was missing. Had you agreed to divorce? Separate?”
“No. Not at all. Everything was fine between us. I knew about the ring. It came up during trial prep but I didn’t have it. When I found her—” He stopped, his face going ashen. Swallowing, he went on. “When I found her, I was so hysterical, I didn’t even notice that she wasn’t wearing it. There was so much blood—”
He broke off as more tears rolled down his face. Josie wanted to lean across the space between them and take his hand, but doing so would mean a lot of pain. Instead, she said, “I’m so sorry, Mathias. For everything you’ve had to go through.”
There was athwapfrom the kitchen and a vigorous jangle of Flynn’s bell. Hallie sounded far less amused this time. “Dammit, Flynn.”
