Page 80 of Close Her Eyes

“Yes,” Josie said. “Anya, you studied this in school, right?”

“I didn’t study it for practice, but I definitely took a big interest in it since Vance’s eyes were so unusual.”

“Is heterochromia genetic?” Josie asked.

She took a few beats to think it over. “I don’t remember. I think only in cases of a rare disorder. A syndrome. I can’t think of the name of it.”

Mettner tapped at his phone again. “Waardenburg Syndrome.”

“That’s it,” Anya said. “But I don’t think Vance had it. Although I guess maybe he didn’t have severe symptoms? If I recall, with Waardenburg, the most common issue is hearing loss.”

“And a white forelock,” said Mettner, reading from his phone. “Loss of pigmentation in hair and skin. Other symptoms range from constipation to abnormal facial features, joint problems to deficits in intellectual function.”

“But it’s possible not to have all of those,” Josie said.

“Waardenburg is a group of genetic conditions, so yeah, I’m sure it would present differently across a wide spectrum of patients,” Anya said.

Josie said, “Do you remember ever seeing photos of your mother-in-law?”

“No. Not really. I’m sure that Vance showed me, but it was such a taboo topic in the household that no one ever spoke of it. They all felt betrayed and abandoned. You couldn’t even say her name.”

“When we did the search at the farmhouse, there were photos of her in Vance’s room. She had a white forelock and it looked like she was wearing a hearing aid.”

Anya’s eyes widened. “You think that Susanna Hadlee had Waardenburg Syndrome and passed it down to Vance?”

“And Mathias,” Josie said.

“My God,” Cyrus mumbled.

Mettner looked up from his phone. “You think Susanna Hadlee is Mathias Tobin’s mother?”

“Her and Garrick?” Anya said.

“Think about it,” Josie said. “Garrick practiced family medicine before he got into pathology. Cyrus, didn’t you say that he delivered the Hadlee children?”

“Yeah, but Mathias Tobin is a year younger than Vance. Three years younger than Lark. That means Susanna would have carried the baby to term while married to Dermot and raising the kids. I mean, I don’t remember folks talking about her being pregnant a third time, but if she had kept to the farm during that time, and then Garrick delivered the baby himself, it’s possible she could have kept it hidden. Still, she would have to get through the entire pregnancy while living with her husband. How would that work?”

“It was an affair,” Mettner pointed out. “I’m sure Susanna Hadlee didn’t announce it to Dermot that she thought the baby might not be his. But maybe Dermot suspected or found out and then it became a problem. Maybe he forced her to put Mathias up for adoption.”

“Garrick couldn’t have taken him,” Anya agreed. “Even if he wanted to—even though he wanted to. It would have ended his marriage with Marie, and while he could stay upright to tend to patients and later perform autopsies Monday through Friday, he would not have been fit to raise a child.”

Mettner said, “So Mathias comes along, Susanna is coerced into giving him up, she tries to stay in the marriage for a few years, for the sake of the kids she still has, but she can’t hack it so she leaves. Or Dermot finally kicks her out. Mathias grows up in foster care.”

A tingle started at the base of Josie’s neck. “I don’t think she left.”

“What are you saying?” said Cyrus.

Josie met Anya’s eyes. “The box that the state police evidence response team found at Garrick’s house, it had—”

Anya’s face fell. She finished Josie’s sentence. “A hearing aid in it. Oh my God.” She wobbled a little and Cyrus took her elbow. “I think I need to sit down,” she murmured.

Cyrus guided her over to a nearby table. Josie and Mettner followed. Once they were seated, Mettner said, “What box are we talking about?”

Cyrus tore his eyes from Anya’s face. “In Garrick Wolfe’s garage, the evidence response team found a metal box with a human bone fragment—likely a skull plate—an old piece of clothing, a necklace and what they believe was a hearing aid. It’s been sent for processing.”

Mettner said, “Garrick Wolfe killed Susanna Hadlee?”

“He couldn’t have,” Anya murmured. “I’m telling you. There is no way he could have killed someone.”

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