Sadie(49)
WEST McCRAY:
So you guys talked.
CAT MATHER:
Well, yeah. It’s awkward enough getting in a car with a stranger. You have to fill the silence somehow. She said she was on a road trip and she was picking up her little sister to go with her.
WEST McCRAY:
Her sister, Mattie, who had been murdered eight months earlier.
CAT MATHER:
And if I’d known that, maybe I wouldn’t have gotten in the car because that does sound kinda psycho to me. Not that I stuck around with her that long in the end, anyway.
WEST McCRAY:
What did she say about Mattie?
CAT MATHER:
Just … she told me they were sisters and that she was the oldest, and Mattie was a pain in that ass, and that was about it. I could tell talking about it upset her, though. It made me think they were estranged and trying to make up. I never once guessed the kid was dead, though.
MAY BETH FOSTER [PHONE]: She was talking like Mattie was alive?
WEST McCRAY [PHONE]: That’s what Cat told me.
MAY BETH FOSTER [PHONE]: Are you sure? That’s what this girl said? That Sadie was talking about Mattie like she was alive? Did she mean it? Did Sadie actually believe that?
WEST McCRAY [PHONE]: Maybe, maybe not. It could’ve been something she was telling everyone. Not everyone shares their life’s story with strangers, May Beth.
MAY BETH FOSTER [PHONE]: But what if that’s what she believes?
CAT MATHER:
We were driving, and the weather kept getting worse and then we spun out— WEST McCRAY:
You spun out?
CAT MATHER:
We hit some rain and the car ended up in the middle of the road. We were fine, but the weather wasn’t getting better, so we decided to pull over until it cleared up and uh, she couldn’t keep her eyes open after that. Like—it was almost instantaneous. Wham, hit her. I thought maybe she was on drugs or something.
WEST McCRAY:
Okay, so you said she looked like she got punched in the face, she loses control of the car, then she couldn’t keep her eyes open—it didn’t cross your mind she might’ve been injured? Concussed?
CAT MATHER:
No, it didn’t. I just … I thought she was on drugs. Soon as she passed out, I started looking around the car to be sure, you know— WEST McCRAY:
For drugs?
CAT MATHER:
Yeah, I was looking for drugs. I wanted to know what I was maybe getting myself into. Don’t look at me like that.
WEST McCRAY:
I’m not looking at you like anything, Cat.
CAT MATHER:
I wasn’t going to steal from her, okay? I’ve hitched a lot. You have to be prepared for anything. You just have to.
Once I ended up with this guy, I got these vibes. He made a stop, and I looked through his car and I found a rope and a screwdriver under his seat and I shit you not, that screwdriver looked like it had dried blood on it. I can’t tell what a person’s about when I get in their car, but if I have a chance to find out, I’ll take it.
WEST McCRAY:
What did you find?
CAT MATHER:
She had a shirt and it was fucking covered in blood. It was stuffed in the backseat. There was also a switchblade on the floor, must’ve been forced out from under the front seat when we spun out.
WEST McCRAY:
Are you sure what you saw on that shirt was blood?
CAT MATHER:
I know what blood looks like! It was just—it might’ve been hers, it might’ve been someone else’s. But the knife too? She had it stashed, like she was hiding it, was the thing. So I started thinking I was in trouble.
WEST McCRAY:
You didn’t ask her about it?
CAT MATHER:
That’s a really stupid question.
It was … she seemed really nice, you know? I didn’t get vibes from her like I did that guy—but that shirt … if you’d seen it, you’d get it. It was completely covered in blood.
I stayed in the car, thinking I should leave the whole time, like I just went back and forth over and over, until she finally woke up. That was about an hour from when she fell asleep. Then I drove with her until we hit a gas station. I was headed for this town called Markette, still a ways off, but I couldn’t—even if she was nice, I couldn’t risk not knowing for sure. So I ditched her at the gas station. I felt a little bad about it, but you gotta do what you gotta do to stay alive.
WEST McCRAY:
Is it too much to hope you know where she was headed?
CAT MATHER:
Actually, yeah, I do. She needed me to look up directions on my phone. I wrote ’em down for her and I never got it out of my head.
WEST McCRAY [PHONE]: She’s looking for her father.
DANNY GILCHRIST [PHONE]: Right.
WEST McCRAY [PHONE]: And I have two separate witness accounts who say she had a switchblade. Caddy said Sadie threatened him with it. Cat found it in her car.
DANNY GILCHRIST [PHONE]: You mentioned she was hurt.
WEST McCRAY [PHONE]: Yeah, she got hurt in Montgomery. So what happened there? What is it about her father that’s taking her to these places, and why is she arming herself? And how’d she end up with what sounds like a broken nose and a black eye? [PAUSE]