Midnight Crossing (Josie Gray Mysteries #5)(78)

“So the murderer came back to finish the job, but couldn’t find Isabella,” Marta said.

Josie nodded. “Exactly. I’m assuming Josh was one of the two, but we have nothing to tie the murder to him,” Josie said. “We have a bullet and bullet case that don’t match the gun I found at the murder scene. The gun that Isabella threw into the pasture was Josh’s. She stole it when she and Renata took off. But the prints belong to Isabella, not Josh.”

“What a mess,” Marta said. She shook her head and looked at Otto. “Remind me where we are with the search warrant for Josh’s apartment?”

“I expect we’ll have that today. The judge was out of the county yesterday, but should be back this morning.”

“Okay. Marta, why don’t you start working the case against Caroline. Otto, you want Josh or Macey?”

“I’ll take Josh in jail. At least I don’t have to go back to that apartment.”

“Tell him we’re about to serve a search warrant on his apartment and see if you shake anything out of him. I’ll get a jump on the warrant and go talk to Macey Mooney.”

Marta rolled her eyes. “Better take your BS detector. That woman wouldn’t know the truth if she lived it.”

*

It was eleven-thirty when Otto left the office for the jail, so he slid home first for a quick lunch with Delores. He found her behind the house in a lawn chair, petting the cat she was now calling Fergie. The cat’s purr was so loud he couldn’t hear the words Delores was speaking to the animal. As much as Otto hated cats, Delores seemed to love them to an equal measure.

He startled her when he walked up the stairs to the back porch.

“What on earth are you doing home?” she asked.

He laughed at her response. “You don’t sound very excited to see me.”

“Well, you always call. Why didn’t you tell me you were coming? I’d have had lunch ready for you.”

“It’s fine. I’ll just grab a bologna sandwich and some tea.”

Delores shooed the cat off her lap and followed him inside, chatting about her day and the trip to Odessa she was planning to visit their daughter.

Once their sandwiches were fixed they sat and ate while Otto filled Delores in on the growing case against the mayor’s wife.

“I just can’t picture Caroline in a jail uniform. Do you suppose she’ll spend time in jail for this?” she asked.

“It could happen. Look at Martha Stewart.”

“True,” she said, but her look was skeptical. “Do you think she’s a bad person?”

Otto looked up from his plate, surprised at the question. “That’s not really what police work is about. We don’t necessarily arrest bad people, we arrest people who break the law.”

“Makes it easier, though, doesn’t it? When you’re arresting someone who’s a bad person over someone who just made bad decisions?”

Otto took a long drink of his iced tea. He scooted away from the table and carried his dishes to the sink. “I’m afraid I can’t answer that question because I’m headed to the jail for an interview.” He kissed her on the head and walked toward the front door.

“You can’t answer that question because you don’t want to,” she said, following after him.

“True enough.”

“Well, I don’t think she’s a bad person.”

“And what would you like for me to do with that tidbit of information?” he asked, noticing the worry lines around her eyes.

“I don’t know. Just take it into account when you arrest her. Be nice about it. And for heaven’s sake, don’t use handcuffs.”

*

Otto drove back into town to the Arroyo County Jail, where Josh’s attorney had agreed to meet at one o’clock. Josh had finally wised up and decided representation would be a good idea.

Otto’s mind wandered as the flat sandy desert rolled by, and he thought about Delores’s take on the world. She was a good woman who saw the world in shades of gray. But she didn’t have conversations with the likes of Josh Mooney. She had the luxury of continuing to see the best in people. Otto thought those years were long gone for him.

Otto waved at Oliver Greene as he parked his Mercedes beside Otto’s old jeep. The men walked into the jail together, chatting good-naturedly, and sat together in the conference room, where ten minutes later the jailer delivered Josh. He sat down next to Oliver, who winced at the smell that wafted over them.

Otto was fairly certain that daily showers were required at the jail, but Josh looked greasier and smelled nastier than the last visit. His hands shook and a sheen of sweat covered his forehead. Otto assumed he was suffering from withdrawal symptoms, but their understaffed jail had little in terms of medical help. Tough it out was about as good as they got in terms of detoxing an inmate.

Josh crossed his arms over his chest, shivering underneath a layer of sweat, as Otto set up the meeting and got the preliminaries on tape.

“I just discovered that the judge has granted a search warrant for your apartment. What do you think about that?” Otto asked.

Josh shrugged.

“The police will be headed over there this afternoon to pull all that junk off your shelves, searching through all your treasures for the murder weapon.”