Midnight Crossing (Josie Gray Mysteries #5)(87)

“But the murder is local. The FBI is investigating a human trafficking case. We’re looking at a murder.”

Holder cursed and Josie heard him bang on something repeatedly. He finally relented. “What are you going to do if the mayor is there?”

“He should be at work. If he’s at home, I’ll ask to speak with her in private. I’ll just take it one step at a time.”

Holder was silent for a minute. “You take another officer with you. And you let me know the minute you’re done with her.”

*

Josie hung up and saw Otto staring at her intently. “I heard,” he said. He walked to the back of the office and looked out the window to the spot where the mayor parked his pickup truck every day and gave Josie a thumbs-up. “He’s here.”

“Let’s go.”

Otto drove and they said little on their way to the Mosses’ house. When they pulled into the driveway she said, “I think I should talk to her alone. You can stay here and watch for the mayor. If you see him headed this way, come on inside. I feel like she’d open up easier to me, so it doesn’t feel like an ambush.”

Otto nodded. “Agreed. I’ll post outside the front door where I’ve got a good view of the road.”

*

Caroline answered the door wearing an outfit similar to what she’d worn last time Josie visited, but her appearance was strikingly different. Her hair hung limp around her face, and her eyes flashed anger when she saw it was Josie.

“I have nothing to talk to you about,” she said, and started to shut the door.

Josie put her hand out to stop it. “Caroline, please. Give me five minutes.”

“I’m calling my attorney,” she said, but she stopped short of closing the door.

“Caroline, this is important. I’d like to hear your side of things. You may be able to clear things up before this gets out of hand,” Josie said, knowing that was a lie.

Caroline stared at Josie for a long moment, obviously weighing her options, and finally walked back into the house, leaving the door open for Josie to enter. Caroline didn’t take her outside onto the veranda, or offer drinks; they sat in the front room in club chairs facing each other.

“I need to explain new evidence that we’ve found. Things have turned very serious. For both you and the mayor. We have a clear picture about how your business runs. We understand how the transportation route works, the money, the people involved, and so on. Over the past twenty-four hours we’ve also put together a clear picture about how the murder took place. We have phone records that link the killer to the location of the murder.”

Caroline sat with her arms crossed over her chest, but when Josie mentioned the killer she squeezed her arms even closer to her body.

“The night of the water meeting in town, why did Mayor Moss tell Smokey that you and he had to leave town for El Paso?”

Caroline’s eyebrows drew up in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“The mayor said he couldn’t lead the meeting because you were leaving for El Paso that afternoon. For a family emergency.”

She opened her mouth as if to speak and then closed it again, staring at Josie as if she didn’t know what to say. “I don’t know. It’s been months since we’ve been to El Paso. Steve has a brother there, but he’s fine.”

“You or the mayor didn’t travel to El Paso any time over the past two weeks?”

“No.”

“Can you imagine why the mayor would have told Smokey that?”

“I have no idea. And I don’t understand what you’re saying about the meeting. He was there.”

“The mayor?” Josie asked.

“Yes. He told me he’d be late, but when he wasn’t home by ten o’clock I called to find out when he’d be home.”

“And did you talk to him?” Josie asked.

“No. I left a voice message. He called back a few minutes later and said that he’d be late. That he was getting together with a few ranchers after the meeting to finish the discussion.” She looked lost in thought, as if trying to replay the conversation. “I probably have the message on my phone still. I had left my phone on the bed and gone out to the kitchen to write myself a note, and I missed his call.”

“Why wouldn’t you use your home phone?”

She looked annoyed with the question. “I don’t know. We don’t even need it. We almost always use our cell phones. When I listened to the voice message, he said he was going back to the office after the meeting, and that I shouldn’t wait up for him. So he was definitely at the meeting.”

“He wasn’t at the meeting, Caroline. Mayor Moss called Smokey at one o’clock that afternoon and canceled. I attended. He wasn’t there.”

“I don’t understand what you’re getting at.”

“How much does the mayor know about the transportation of the women from Guatemala? Has he been involved all along, or did he just get involved when the two women disappeared and threatened to expose the trafficking ring?”

“I’m calling my lawyer,” she said. “You shouldn’t even be here.”

“You can either discuss it now with me, or later when this blows up into a nightmare for both of you.” Josie was banking on Caroline’s natural desire to know what the police understood about the case.