"Fuck," Dalton has stopped making coffee and stands there.
"If you get stuck on motive, though, you stop seeing the facts. The fact is that Mathias fits for Roger's death. He even fits for Nicole's second capture. He made a point of being kind to her, which is unusual for him. He has access to the benzo and a reason to be in her house to dose her tea. Forget revenge. If we're looking at a council spy who got rid of Nicole and Roger, Mathias fits."
I lean back. "With a stretch, he fits for all of it. We decided he couldn't have taken Robyn because he arrived after she disappeared. But it was only a few months later. What if she left to live in the forest, and he found her there? The timeline isn't impossible, and that timeline was the only thing that kept him from being a suspect. He's thinner than Nicole reported, but size is easy to fake with extra clothing. He could also have faked the dark hair Sutherland saw. Mathias spent his life studying criminals. He would know how to do this and get away with it. Part of it could be him."
"Or all of it."
FIFTY-SEVEN
Dalton joins the search party after breakfast. As much as I want to, I have something else to do.
I'm at Val's. We haven't spoken of my theory about the council. When Dalton asked her to contact them about medical care for Roger, she didn't flinch or give him a hard time. She just took his request and reported back afterward.
Now she brings me in without a word. We sit in that damned living room, and it's like some kind of recurring nightmare where I keep looping back to the same place, with the same goal, making no progress. Like Dalton and that cat analogy. I keep trying to pet the cat, be the one person who treats it well in hopes I'll break through.
"I need to know if Mathias is one of the council's spies," I begin.
She tenses.
"I'm not asking you to give me a list," I say. "This is very specific and tied to the case."
"Until our discussion the other night, Casey, I wasn't aware that anyone acted in that capacity. Which sounds naive of me."
I point at the radio. "That is the one method of communication with the council. Which means those messages go through you."
"Yes, there are people who make reports, for various reasons. But I hear those, and I can honestly say that they aren't spying on anyone."
Like Anders, reporting on Dalton, which would seem like a backup account of police activity. The real purpose, of course, was to see where Dalton lied or hid acts of rebellion.
To Val, those reports would seem like simple checks on Dalton's power. If we do have true spies, whatever secrets they impart must be in encoded in their message. And yes, even thinking that makes me wonder if I should join Brent in his cave, swapping conspiracy theories.
But I still ask, "Does Mathias submit a report?"
"Yes. He provides psychological evaluations. General reports give his opinion of the overall mental health of the community. Specific ones deal primarily with an individual's propensity toward violence. That is his area of expertise, though, so it seemed proof that the council was indeed safeguarding citizens."
"Seemed proof? You're not so sure now?"
A pause. Then a quiet, "I'm not so sure of anything anymore."
And that is, I suppose, the best I can hope for. That Val is questioning. But questioning isn't the same as questing, trying to get answers, to take action. I'm not sure I can ever expect that from her.
"You said the specific ones deal primarily with violent tendencies. What else?"
"Various things. If Sheriff Dalton is having a problem with a citizen--one who seems particularly rebellious or difficult--council requests Mathias assess whether that person is a danger here or elsewhere."
"Elsewhere?"
"Once they leave. Or, if the council decided to cut a difficult resident's stay short, would that prove problematic."
"And by problematic, you mean whether they're an exposure risk."
"Yes."
"Let's say they are. In that case, as with Diana, they might not let them leave early. But what if they were at the end of their term? What if Mathias decides they'd be an exposure risk?"
"All residents are monitored after they leave Rockton. If Dr. Atelier found them to be a threat, I would presume they are more strictly monitored."
"Do you play any role in that monitoring? Receive feedback on how a resident is readjusting to life down south?"