Midnight Crossing (Josie Gray Mysteries #5)(61)

“It is now. Macey spread it all over town that the police were accusing her brother of rape. How he was getting ripped off.” She made a dismissive noise and rolled her eyes.

Otto sighed. “Okay. How is it you think you can help?”

“I’m from Venezuela. And I know they’re from Guatemala, but I know what these women have gone through to get here. I can talk to them as someone who made it. I can help them understand that you don’t want to send them to jail. You want to help.”

“We need to find out what happened the night Renata was shot. I need Isabella to talk about that night. What she heard, and what she saw.”

She nodded.

“The other three women too. They’re all at the trauma center under observation. You’ll be able to talk with them all?”

She nodded again.

“And we need to find out who’s behind this ring.”

“I’ll get my purse and lock up.”

*

Otto walked outside and raised his arms slightly to allow a breeze under his armpits. He wondered how it was that a man of his age could still be nervous around a well-put-together woman less than half his age. It was an embarrassment. He got in the jeep and blasted the AC, pointing the air vents toward his sweaty forehead. Even if a genie in a bottle granted him one guilt-free night with that woman, a night Delores would never know about, he’d turn the genie down. He had no interest in that young hairdresser woman, so why the fluster? He thought of Delores in her soft cotton dresses and house slippers, taking apple chunks out to the goats in the field for a snack, saving stray cats, and making homemade dumplings to die for, and he was overcome with love for his wife of forty years. He called Delores.

“Delores?”

“Yes, Otto. Who did you expect to answer the phone?”

He smiled. “I’ll be a bit late. I’ve got to run over to the trauma center.”

“Roast and potatoes are in the oven. They’ll wait till you get home.”

“I love you.”

The line was silent for a moment and he could imagine her looking shocked, and then smiling, her cheeks blushing. “Well, I love you too,” she said.

*

Selena climbed into the jeep and placed a hand on his forearm.

“Before we go. Can we just agree that you won’t talk about this to people?”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“I’ve had to fight to get people to take me seriously as a hairdresser. As someone who can successfully run her own business.” She scowled at Otto when he continued looking confused. “I’m more than just a skirt and a pair of legs. I don’t need the massage parlor rumors started up again.”

“Ah,” he said. “Understood.”

He pulled the jeep away from the curb and started across town. When she remained quiet he glanced her way, noticing her erect posture and the worry lines stretching across her forehead. “I appreciate you doing this. I’m sure it takes you to a place you’d just as soon forget.”

Selena shrugged. “I grew up knowing there were things I had to do for my family. Even as a kid I knew my looks were part of who I was. They would take me places other people couldn’t go. Some people have brains. Some people have looks. You use what you have.”

Otto pulled into the trauma center parking lot and thought about his own daughter, Mina, married with kids. He’d not raised her to value looks over brains. But he wondered if this young woman didn’t have a point. You took your gifts, whatever they were, and you used them. He turned off the engine, thinking about Josie and her take on this conversation. Had she been here, he was fairly certain she’d be lecturing him about some part of his thinking. He smiled at the mental image of her scowling face and realized how much he appreciated her perspective. He hoped like hell he could get her out of her current predicament.

They walked through the sliding glass doors of the trauma center and Otto turned to Selena, worrying suddenly that the plan was too off-the-cuff. “Would you like to go over questions? Talk about the information we’re looking for?”

“No. I don’t want to sound like a cop. I want them to know I’m here to help them.”

“Right,” he said, nodding, hoping it would work.

Otto asked the receptionist if Vie Blessings was available. Ten minutes later she bustled into the lobby wearing her bright purple scrubs and pink glasses. She extended her hand to Otto, and he introduced her to Selena.

Vie pointed to her own spiked hair and smiled. “I know Selena well. She keeps me looking good.”

“Nice to see you,” Selena said.

“We’re here to check on the young women from Guatemala,” he said.

“Physically, they’re okay. Dehydrated, mostly, but nothing serious. Mentally, I can’t begin to think how horrible this has been for them.”

“I’m trying to balance their need to recuperate with our need to catch the bastards who are behind this.”

Vie nodded. “Absolutely. I understand.”

“Selena has offered to talk with the women, to get a different perspective. Can you allow that at this point?”

“I think that would be fine. The doctor from Odessa can’t be here until tomorrow. It may do them all some good to talk about their situation.” Vie narrowed her eyes at Otto. “The women are two to a room. I’m not sure how you want to meet with them.”