Midnight Crossing (Josie Gray Mysteries #5)(67)

“Easy money,” he said.

Josie explained the case she’d been working. She gave Townie the address and the name, Big Ben, and he laughed and yelled at someone in the background.

“Chief Gray, you just made my day. New Mexico thanks you and the great state of Texas.”

They spent the next several hours planning Josie’s venture into the Maid’s Quarters in downtown Albuquerque.

*

When Dell picked Josie up the next morning at five, she’d only had two hours of sleep. She dressed for her role that day, wearing ripped jeans and a faded red IU sweatshirt. She ate a granola bar once they were on the road, then told Dell roughly what they’d be doing that day. Outside of El Paso, she finally gave in and fell asleep for the next four hours until they reached the outskirts of Albuquerque. She felt a tap on her arm and pulled herself up from the corner of the window where she’d been sound asleep, struggling past the bizarre dreams that had pursued her during the long drive north.

She tried to focus on Dell’s voice. “Wake up. Let’s get you some caffeine.”

She shook her head, trying to clear the fog. Dell pulled off the interstate and filled his gas tank, buying them both a Coke and a bag of pretzels, while she walked around the truck and mentally woke herself up.

Back in the truck, she gave him directions to downtown Albuquerque, and they spent the next twenty minutes navigating through narrower and narrower streets, down one-ways and around construction barrels, until they found the address that Townie had provided. Josie and Dell took the steps to a brownstone apartment building and knocked on apartment number nine.

A man with red hair, freckles, and bright green eyes answered the door. He motioned them inside and smiled at Josie as if he already knew her. Without asking her name he said, “You have any trouble getting here?”

“Nope. Directions were good.”

“Okay. I got four women ready to ride with you. Let’s get you set up.”

“You’re Townie?” she said.

“Yeah, yeah. Sorry. I’ve already seen pictures of you. Googled you. Saw the press about you and the Medrano Cartel. It’s a wonder you’re still breathing.”

Josie smiled but didn’t respond, hoping to keep the conversation focused on the current drama. She introduced Dell as a department consultant and driver.

“Dell will be in the parking lot, waiting in his truck, until we’re done today.”

“Works for me. You said Big Ben doesn’t expect a certain person?”

“According to my source, all we do is send the text that says, ready? Then we send the time we’ll be there.”

“Let’s do it. You’ve got the number, right?”

Josie nodded and pulled the piece of paper out of her jeans pocket. She texted the number and a few minutes later her phone buzzed.

The message read, Date and time.

She gave Townie a thumbs-up and asked what time.

He glanced at his watch. “Tell him today at three.”

Josie texted back and less than a minute later she received the okay response that Josh had told her to expect.

Townie laughed and gave her a high-five. “That gives us about an hour and a half. Let’s get you set up.”

She looked around the apartment and was surprised by how normal it appeared.

“I’d expected a flophouse,” she said.

He laughed, a short choppy sound that made her smile back. “A friend of mine lives here. She’s also a cop. I didn’t want to chance taking you into the station. And we had to get you wired up somewhere.”

They had agreed on the phone that, since Josie was more familiar with the trip from Guatemala and the arrangements that had been made by locals from Texas, it would make more sense for her to actually deliver the undercover females to the drop-off point. Given the distance between Artemis and Albuquerque, there was no worry about small-town news coverage of the human trafficking case reaching Albuquerque and blowing her cover. However, she hadn’t gone into the mayor’s backstory with Townie, nor the fact that she’d been stripped of her gun and badge. She’d deemed that information irrelevant, and hoped like hell she hadn’t made a terrible decision.

A female walked out of a doorway wiping her hands on a towel and smiled at Josie. “I’m Officer Tammy White. I work homicide for the city.” She put a hand up to her mouth like she was shielding the words from Townie. “And I date him on the side.”

“Ah,” Josie said, not sure yet what to make of them.

“I’m here to help you get the wire on. Townie’s an old-fashioned guy. He figured you’d prefer having a female help you get your wire set up. Come on in the kitchen. I have it laid out.”

Josie followed her into the kitchen, where a black device that looked similar to a pen cap lid with a clip on it sat on the counter.

“Obviously there’s no wire anymore. We still call it setting up a wire because it’s easier than telling you we’re connecting a digital voice recorder.” Tammy smiled and turned to look at Josie. “You ever work undercover before?”

“No. Not like this.”

“Nothing to worry about. This is just a voice recorder. It works best if you slip it right inside your bra and clip it. It’s flat enough you can’t see it through your clothes. And it’s less obvious than some of the sunglasses or jewelry recorders people wear.”