Midnight Crossing (Josie Gray Mysteries #5)(49)



“Here’s the way I see it,” Josie said. “You wanted to capture both women and deliver them both, but you couldn’t. You tried several different days and couldn’t catch them. So you panicked. You were afraid these women were going to get to me and tell me what happened to them. Which of course is exactly what happened, and look at the trouble you’re in now. So you decided, if you couldn’t catch them, you’d kill them.”

Greene broke in, “That’s enough.”

Josh cut him off. “That’s not what happened! I wasn’t worried about that at all! They don’t have any documentation. No ID. They’re too afraid of getting deported to go to the authorities. I just wanted to get them in the van so I could make the delivery and keep my job. I did not shoot that woman!”

“When did you tell your boss that the two women had escaped?” Josie asked.

“I sent her a text message the day after it happened.”

Josie jotted a note on the pad in front of her to get a subpoena for the phone records. “Did the police take your phone as evidence last night?”

“You don’t see it on me, do you?” he said, looking down at his orange jumpsuit.

Josie ignored his sarcasm. “I need to know who your boss is. I’m finding it hard to believe you don’t at least have an idea who she is.”

“Go talk to Ryan. He seems to know who she is.”

Josie gave Josh a skeptical look. “Ryan told us you set him up for this trip. He said he met you at a party at Cici’s place.”

“That’s where we met. That’s where I told him the details. The drive, how many days it would take, what he’d be doing. But it was the boss lady who told me I’d be working with him. I’d never met the guy before.”

“How did she tell you about him?”

“She sent me a text. Told me Ryan’s name and told me to contact him. She said he’d be expecting my call. So I called and told him to meet me at Cici’s.”

*

After the interview, Josie completed the proper paperwork to keep the chain of evidence clear and retrieved Josh Mooney’s cell phone. She and Otto walked out to the parking lot, clear on their next move without needing to discuss it.

“I’ll drive,” Otto said.

As he started his jeep, Josie called Turf and Annuals and asked for Lisa.

“This is Lisa. Can I help you?”

“Hi, Lisa. It’s Josie Gray.”

“Hey, how’s it going?”

“Can you tell me if Ryan’s working today?”

“He is. You want to talk to him?”

“I do. But I want to talk in person. Will he be leaving for lunch soon?”

“No. He always eats here. Brings his lunch.”

“Okay. Please don’t mention our visit to him. We’ll be there in a few.”

*

On the drive to Turf and Annuals, Josie opened Josh’s phone and discovered he’d wiped it clean before the police had gotten to it.

“How’d that bastard get his phone clean as he was driving down the interstate with a van full of Guatemalan women?” Otto said.

“I hear there’s an app that’ll wipe everything on your phone clean with one click.”

“Bastard.”

“I talked to the prosecutor this morning about the subpoena. We’ll get his records.”

Otto parked in front of the office, and Ryan walked out with his head hung low. Lisa stood in the office doorway, arms crossed over her chest, obviously irritated. Josie couldn’t blame her. The cops showing up twice in one week didn’t look good for business.

Standing in the shade of the office building, but out of earshot from Lisa, Josie said, “I thought you were being straight with us last night. That was the deal we made. It’s why we cut you loose. Remember that?”

His eyebrows shot up. “I was! I told you the truth!”

“I don’t think so. I think you left out a big piece of the puzzle for us.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You told us Josh set you up for the transporting job.”

“He did. I met him at Cici’s party. Lots of people saw us there together.”

“But he didn’t tell you about the job. Someone else did.”

Ryan became very still. Josie thought how similar people were to animals in the way they reacted to fear, as if remaining motionless might somehow hide their guilt.

“Who told you about the job?” she said.

His gaze shifted across the parking lot to the greenhouses, but he said nothing.

“This is a bad idea,” Otto said. “You cooperated last night and you saved yourself a lot of trouble. You don’t want to hold back now.”

The corner of Ryan’s mouth lifted in a humorless smile and he shook his head slowly. “This all started by somebody offering to help me out. Somebody I thought I could trust.”

“How’d that work out for you?” Josie said.

“Not good.”

“Then you’d better come clean with us before this person takes you down with her.”

He looked at Josie then, and she knew she had him. He’d caught the reference to the female.

“She said she’d destroy me if any of this ever got out. That was the exact word she used. Destroy.”

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