Midnight Crossing (Josie Gray Mysteries #5)(25)

“So let’s take the information at face value. What does that tell us?” Marta said.

“Here’s the way I see it. The women were either traveling with a man or a group, probably held against their will. At least one of the women was raped multiple times. We can assume things got bad enough that the women planned an escape. Someone gave them my name and told them where I live. They crossed the border and came to my house for help. Whoever they were with crossed the border, hunted them down, and killed one of the women. The men came back to the place where they killed her, searching for the one who escaped. That’s when Nick and I heard the car and discovered the woman on my porch.”

Otto nodded and asked, “What about security at the trauma center?”

“I’m working with the sheriff to make sure we have someone posted there twenty-four/seven,” Josie said.

“Someone had to tell the two women who you are, and give them directions. Who would do that?” asked Marta. “If someone locally had found the women, they would have contacted you. They would have helped the women to safety.”

“Maybe somebody helped them from across the border. Someone in Piedra Labrada gave them my name.”

“Could be a human trafficking situation gone bad,” Otto said.

“I met with Jimmy Dixon from Border Patrol earlier today. He said there was a trafficking outfit that moved women from Guatemala through El Paso. It got busted last year. He’s checking into recent activity,” Josie said. “I also talked to Selena Rocha.”

Marta nodded. “The hairdresser from Venezuela. Did she have anything?”

“She said if the girls are truly part of a human trafficking scheme, that this wasn’t the destination. They would have been headed to San Antonio, Houston, Dallas.”

“Sure. Makes sense,” Marta said.

“Maybe the women heard about a female cop and came to you for help,” Otto said, pointing at Josie.

Josie nodded. “It makes sense. I’ll call Sergio and see if he has any ideas.”

Sergio Pando was a Mexican Federales officer who grew up with Marta in Mexico. His wife was killed ten years ago, an innocent bystander caught in the middle of cartel warfare. His life now revolved around his high school–aged daughter, keeping her safe in a world gone crazy.

Josie put her desk phone on speaker. “Sergio, this is Josie Gray.”

“Josie! It’s good to hear from you.”

“How are you? How’s your daughter?”

“I’m good.” He laughed. “And my daughter is a senior in high school now. She has turned into what you call a social butterfly.”

Josie smiled. “So you’re staying busy keeping up with her.”

“That I am. And tell me how Marta is. She never stops by anymore to visit.”

Josie glanced over at Marta, who looked away in embarrassment. Marta knew that Sergio had pined after her since childhood. When Marta married her husband, a man with alcoholic demons he’d never been able to tame, Sergio had married too, but he’d told Josie years ago that he’d never stopped loving her.

“Marta’s doing well. She’s sitting here with me. We’re actually calling to see if you can help us with some information.”

“Absolutely. What can I do?”

Sergio had heard about the two women and the fact that the surviving woman was found at Josie’s home. Josie explained her theory and asked, “Does it seem plausible that two women, traveling through Mexico, would connect with someone in your town who would lead them to me rather than to a safe spot in Piedra?”

“Of course it does. Right or wrong, the general feeling is that once you’ve made it this close to the border, your only hope for help is to make it across. People stake everything on their trip across the border. They flee Guatemala and Honduras, trying to escape the cartels that are destroying their cities. Many of them have sold everything, their homes and their belongings, to pay for the trip north. They believe, even if you get picked up by the U.S. authorities, that they’ll help you find shelter and food.”

“Does it seem reasonable that someone would have sent them to me, specifically?” she asked.

“You’ve had two bad run-ins with the Medrano Cartel. Both times, you lived. Not only that, but you humiliated them. Your name is known in Piedra Labrada. I’ve heard you called se?ora con muchas vidas.”

“Which means?”

“Lady with many lives.”

Josie sighed audibly.

“That’s it. You don’t get more than one life with the Medranos. People think you have the saints on your side.”

Josie winced. “It’s got nothing to do with saints, Sergio. I don’t want this to get weird.”

He laughed. “You don’t have a choice, Josie. The saints choose you, not the other way around.”

“I just need to know who helped these women get to me.”

He made a noise as if he was thinking. “Do you know of Se?ora Molina?”

“No.”

“She’s a hundred years old, with the heart of a lion. She’s the mother to the women and children who have none. If anyone could help you, I’d say it would be her.”

Sergio provided Josie with directions to the woman’s home. “The local story is that she took a vow of poverty over fifty years ago, not as a Catholic nun, but as a servant of God. The locals say she trusts no one and helps everyone. She’s an amazing woman, but she has no phone or anything beyond the basics. You’ll have to chance a visit and hope to find her home.”