Page 19 of Her Dying Secret

Todd shook his head. “No. Don’t know her other than to say hi, and that’s all I’ve ever gotten out of her. She’s real quiet. I know that what happened is probably none of my business, but is she under arrest or something?”

Gretchen shook her head. “No, the opposite, in fact. She was stabbed this morning. Her and another woman.”

Todd’s mouth dropped open. He pushed off the car and looked around, as if the person who’d attacked Mira and Jane Doe might still be lurking nearby. Then he pointed toward the ground at his feet. “Here?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Josie said. “Rebecca and Jon didn’t see or hear anything.”

“Damn.” He scanned the trees edging the parking lot. “That don’t make a damn bit of sense. I’ve been coming here five years. It’s peaceful, and the people here are great—even the quiet ones like Mira. Who in the hell would do such a thing? You sure it was here?”

“This is the last place that Mira was seen,” Gretchen said. “We know she left the stables to come here to the parking lot.”

“Did you see anything unusual while you were here today?” asked Josie. “Anyone hanging around that you didn’t recognize?”

He scratched the back of his neck. “No, but I was out on the trails.”

“How about the other times you’ve been here?” Gretchen said. “Ever see anything or anyone who seems out of place?”

“I’m not sure. A lot of people come and go from here.”

“Have you ever seen Mira Summers with any children?” asked Josie.

“No. Never saw her with any kids.”

“How about adults?” Gretchen asked. “Ever see her with any adults?”

His lips pressed together while he considered her question. “Maybe? I don’t know if it counts as ‘with her.’ I guess it does.”

“What’s that?” Josie said.

“I’m talking last year though,” Todd added.

Gretchen’s pen hovered above her notepad. “That’s okay.”

He pointed in the direction of Prout Road. “A few times I was leaving—I usually leave after Mira—and I saw her car parked at the produce stand. There was a guy there, too. He had a white box truck.”

A frisson of excitement streaked up Josie’s spine. “You saw them together more than once?”

He nodded. “Yeah, that’s why I remember it.”

“How many, precisely?” Gretchen asked.

Again, he scratched the back of his neck. “Don’t know. At least three, maybe. Spring and summer. In the warm weather.”

It was warm now. Just from walking around the property, a sheen of sweat covered Josie’s skin and dampened her hair. “Was there any writing or anything on the side of the truck? Anything identifying?”

“No. It was just white.”

Unlike most witnesses they spoke with, Todd Stapleton was not one to elaborate or bombard them with superfluous details. “What about the man you saw?” Josie asked. “Can you describe him?”

“Didn’t get a real good look at him. I was just driving past. The produce stand sits back from the driveway a bit. He was older than me, maybe Jon’s age? Maybe younger. Hard to say.”

They waited for him to say more. Instead, he turned to the bag resting on top of his car and rifled through it until he came up with a plastic water bottle. Josie waited as he took a long swig and then squirted some down the back of his neck. When he still didn’t speak, she said, “Did you see what he was wearing any of the times he was at the produce stand? His hair color? Anything like that?”

“Where’s my manners?” He held out the water bottle to Gretchen, who refused, and then to Josie. She felt like she could down an entire gallon of water at the moment, but she wasn’t comfortable drinking from Todd Stapleton’s bottle.

“No thanks,” she told him.

Gretchen said, “Mr. Stapleton. The man you saw?—”

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