Midnight Crossing (Josie Gray Mysteries #5)(71)

Josie smiled and nodded. He was referring to Sheila. Trained? “She’s a tough one.”

He stroked his goatee and eyed Josie. “Tough, huh? She won’t be tough for too long. I guarantee you that, my friend.” He laughed and stood from his desk. “Let’s go.”

He brushed past Josie and into the hallway. She followed him outside, where he peered into the parking lot and spotted her van. “Pull it around behind the building.”

He started to walk away and she said, “Hey! What about my check?”

“Don’t be rude, mama. Meet me in back.”

*

Josie climbed into the van and was peppered with questions. The undercover officers were wired, but they had no audio of Josie’s communication, nor could they communicate with each other once they entered the building. Josie’s transmission was only connected to Townie.

“I spoke with one man who identified himself as Big Ben. Tall, middle-aged with a goatee and a cheesy three-piece suit.” Josie turned in her seat to look at Sheila before driving the van around back. “He singled your driver’s license out and asked about you. I said you had an attitude. I think he’s looking forward to messing with you.”

One of the others, a Hispanic woman with big hair and a loud laugh, gave her grief. “Oh, girlfriend. He picked the wrong UC to mess with. Sheila will rip his ass good.”

*

The mood in the van would have seemed lighthearted to someone outside of law enforcement. But Josie knew it was nervous energy. Any situation with criminals involving innocent people, money, guns, and drugs could end in disaster in seconds flat. Everyone in the van knew that one wrong move could put their lives in jeopardy.

The back of the apartment building was down a sloped drive that ended in what looked like a loading dock and the building’s basement. Josie stopped the van where Big Ben was standing beside the basement door stroking his goatee. She opened the van’s side door and four women stared out at her, eyes wide, looking terrified, playing their parts well.

“Ladies. Welcome to the beautiful United States of America. My name is Big Ben and I’ll be your tour guide. We’ll get you set up in your lovely room and then I’ll introduce you to your trainer. For now, let’s see which one of you lovely ladies will rise to the top.” He held up one of the driver’s licenses. “Contestant number one. Juanita! Come out here and let me see you.”

The woman with the loud laugh climbed out of the van looking timid and scared. Big Ben pointed to the wall next to the entrance door and had her stand there. “Arms to your side,” he said. They all stared at the woman, who looked away, possibly searching the parking lot for the backup undercover minivan, but more likely humiliated at being treated like a piece of property.

“Not bad. Drop a few pounds, fix that mess of hair,” he said. “Now turn around, slowly.”

She did as instructed. Josie knew the women would thoroughly enjoy watching the handcuffs click tight around the man’s wrists.

This went on for at least fifteen minutes as Big Ben took each girl out of the van and assessed her physical qualities in front of the others, making it clear that he was in charge.

“Okay, ladies. You’re all mine now. Let’s set you up in your room, where you can pick out some clothes. Then you get your first lesson on cleaning toilets and keeping your mouths shut.” He turned to Josie and pulled an envelope out of the inner pocket of his suit coat and handed it to her.

Josie held the envelope in the air. “I bet I can make you a better deal,” she said.

He raised his eyebrows. “I don’t make deals with the drivers.”

“I’m not your typical driver.”

He considered her for a moment. She was off-script. They hadn’t planned for her to talk business with him, and she hoped she wouldn’t blow what was so far moving along as planned.

“I can see you aren’t a typical driver, Miss Deirdre. What’s your cost?”

“I’ll do you ten percent better than what she was charging you.”

He frowned as if contemplating the offer, but didn’t seem surprised that she’d referred to the person arranging the current deal as female. He took out his wallet and handed Josie one of his business cards. “Be in touch,” he said, and turned away from her.

Josie got into the van and took one quick look back as he led the women into the basement.





EIGHTEEN

Four hours after leaving a cocky Big Ben lording his power over four seemingly frightened women in the Maid’s Quarters, Josie walked into an interrogation room to find Benjamin Dominguez sitting in a chair, bent over at the waist.

He braced his hands on the side of the chair and leaned up slightly to speak. “I have anxiety attacks. It’s a medically diagnosed condition. I need to get to the hospital immediately. I will pass out without medical care.”

“We’re not taking you anywhere,” Townie said. He rolled his eyes at the theatrics and pointed to an empty chair for Josie.

The interrogation room was in the basement of one of the police department substations. She was certain more accommodating rooms were available, but the setting fit the occasion. The room was barely large enough to hold Big Ben, Townie, and two other officers that she’d not seen before sitting in chairs, and another officer who was running a video camera behind a tripod in one corner of the room.