Midnight Crossing (Josie Gray Mysteries #5)(77)

“Smokey’s got your back,” Dell said.

And that was all that was said. The conversation turned away from the mess the town was now facing. The drama could wait until morning. They enjoyed the cool evening and the warmth of the fire and the easy conversation of friends and family. At midnight, Nick and Josie drove Beverly back to Manny’s Motel. Josie walked her mom to her room and asked if she’d thought any more about her plans.

“I won’t lie to you,” Beverly said. “I like it here. I like being near you. I like your friends and this little town. But there’s a part of me that knows this isn’t mine to like. It’s yours.” She leaned against the motel door and looked down the quiet street. “I know I’m pushy. But this time I want to do it right. So I’ve been thinking. I’m going to head on back to Indiana. I’ll give you and Nick some time to think about this. And if you want to invite me to your town to get an apartment and set up a new place here, then we can talk about it. But I’m going to wait to hear from you first.”

The lump in Josie’s throat kept her from speaking, but she smiled and reached out to her mom, and the two women hugged without hesitation for the first time in many years.

“I’m going to leave in the morning. First light. You give me a call when you’re ready.”

Josie’s throat was so tight she barely got the words out. “I love you.”

Beverly smiled. “I love you too, Josie. Always have, always will, no matter what.”

*

Marta had worked a swing shift the night before so that the three officers could meet together at ten to debrief and plan next steps. Once they were seated around the conference table, Josie began.

“We’ve got two focus areas,” she said. “Solving Renata’s murder, and breaking down the trafficking organization.” She went to the whiteboard hanging on the wall and drew a line down the middle, with Renata’s name on one side and Caroline’s name on the other.

“Let’s start with Caroline. That’s the easy target,” Otto said.

They listed a dozen calls to be made, including to Townie, to follow up on his investigation; to the prosecutor working the case in Albuquerque, checking the warrant for Caroline’s, Josh’s, and Macey’s phone records; to check on the warrant for the online site Jobs Without Borders; and to review information with the state’s cybercrimes unit. The three officers worked up a to-do list for the day and moved on to Renata.

“The search warrant for Josh and Macey Mooney’s apartment should come through this morning,” Josie said. “Josh Mooney is our number one suspect.”

“Even though Isabella didn’t think she heard Josh’s voice?” Otto said.

“Consider the situation,” Josie said. “They’re stumbling through the pasture at night with unknown men chasing them. At some point, there’s gunfire. Do we really trust her auditory memory?”

Otto tipped his head to acknowledge her point.

“Talk me through what you have,” Marta said.

“Isabella and Renata escaped from Josh and Ryan when they were in Piedra Labrada. They made it to a woman’s home along the Rio, named Se?ora Molina, who told them to cross into the U.S. and find me for help. The two women made it to my house and were hiding in the toolshed when a car appeared several nights in a row. The car stopped the second night and a passenger exited the car. The women assumed the person was searching for them. They took off for the pasture. We know that Renata was shot in the back while fleeing from at least two individuals at about ten o’clock in the evening.”

“How do you know it was two?” Marta asked.

“Isabella said that as they were being chased, the car continued to move down the road,” Josie said.

“Time of death was ten o’clock. It most likely happened while Josie and Dell were at the water meeting in town,” Otto said.

“And he’s admitted to driving by my house several times to look for Isabella and Renata. He just seems an unlikely suspect for the murder,” Josie said, holding her hands up like a shield against Otto’s incredulous look. “Drug fiend, yes. Rapist even, yes. But hunting down a woman to murder her seems a stretch to me.”

“But why are you only referring to Josh and not Ryan? Weren’t they a team? They were both driving the girls from Guatemala to the U.S., so why’s Ryan off the hook?” Marta said.

“Ryan claims he was home the entire night of the murder. I’ll check his alibi with his parents,” Otto said.

“According to Ryan, when Isabella and Renata ran from the hotel room, he left too. He claimed he couldn’t take one more day with Josh. And Josh confirmed that Ryan left. He said he got Ryan to look for the women around my house one night, but that they couldn’t find them, and Ryan refused to come back,” Josie said.

“So, Josh is saying that he was searching for the two women beside your house for several nights, except for the night that Renata was killed. And it just so happens that someone else showed up that night and killed her?” Marta said with a sneer. “He’s lying.”

“According to the timeline we’ve established, two people drove by my house at about ten o’clock and murdered Renata while I was at the water meeting. I think they got spooked about me arriving home from the meeting and finding them, so they left. But they came back to finish the job. That’s when I heard the car drive by, at approximately two in the morning.”