Scratchgravel Road (Josie Gray Mysteries #2)(25)

Satisfied the smirk Enrico wore had at least temporarily been replaced with a degree of anger, if not fear, she said, “One more thing to think about. I better not catch you messing around with little underage girls. I’d love an excuse to throw your ass in jail.”

Enrico gave her a doper’s heavy-lidded smile again. “She is anything but little. That girl could teach you a trick or two, Chief Josie.”

*

Josie got back in her car in a foul mood, and decided to use it on Cassidy’s boyfriend. Leo Monaco lived with Cassidy on River Road, which ran parallel to the Rio Grande. West of town, the road climbed in elevation and the water pushed through five miles of canyon below. Several switchback roads were located along the canyon and held a few houses that clutched the sides of the red rock. Their home sat atop the road, fifty feet from the canyon, next to a row of a dozen other shabby houses. The homes were one-story shacks, built when a small army post had been located nearby, before the camp had left and turned the first Artemis into a ghost town in 1969. The original town had arisen around the outpost, which was constructed to guard a now defunct weapons plant located five miles north. When Macon Drench purchased the land to resettle the town, he’d bought it for an unbelievably cheap price. When cleanup of the plant started a few years later, he feared his experiment might come to a quick end.

Josie turned into a short driveway beside a mailbox with the number 110 hand-painted in red. A patch of brown grass out front managed to look dry even under two inches of water. No wonder Cassidy went searching the desert for a place to walk.

Josie parked her jeep, picked up her notebook off the passenger seat, holstered her gun, and locked the door. She slid her keys in her front pocket and walked along a narrow gravel path, sidestepping puddles along the way. Two wood steps sagged as she walked up them onto a four-foot-deep front porch that shaded the front of the house from the normally blistering sun.

She heard a TV blaring. Behind a screen door, the front door was open. The inside of the front room was dimly lit. Blackout curtains were pulled shut against the front window, effectively keeping what little sun there was outdoors. When Josie knocked on the wooden screen door it banged against the door frame, frightening the person lying on the couch into a sitting position. When he sat up, Josie recognized Leo in the dim light of the room.

“Cassidy’s at work,” he said, his voice groggy and irritated.

Josie held her badge up to the door. “Mr. Monaco, my name is Josie Gray. I’m chief of police with Artemis Police Department.”

He raised a hand and waved her off, indicating he’d heard enough.

“I’m here to speak with you. Mind if I come in a minute?”

He tilted his head back, obviously put out, then stood and approached the door where he unlatched a lock and pushed it open. His chest was bare and he wore baggy, faded jeans that hung low on his hips. His body was pale and hairless except for a patch of black hair below his navel. The long beard Josie had last seen him with had been shaved, but stubble grew on his chin and cheeks.

She entered a living room with a couch pushed up against the wall, and a TV on a low stand under the front window. A small brown recliner was located on the other side of the TV and Josie pointed to it. “May I?”

He gestured a hand toward it and picked up a T-shirt off the arm of the couch. As he pulled it over his head Josie did a cursory look over the house. The living room was picked up. No clutter. Green, threadbare carpet led to the left, down a short hallway, and to the right into a small combined kitchen and dining room. From what she could see, the kitchen was clean, no dishes on the counter or table. All of the rooms had lined curtains drawn against the gray rainy weather outside.

“How’s Cassidy feeling today?” Josie asked.

“Fine. She’s fine. No problems.” He sat on the couch and pushed his hands through messy dark hair very much in need of a shampoo. The house may have been clean but Josie detected sour body odor.

“I tried to understand why Cassidy had gone into the desert on such a hot day but couldn’t get a straight answer from her yesterday. Can you help me with that one?” she asked.

He rolled his eyes. “She worked for you. You know she talks in circles.”

“Talking in circles wasn’t the issue. She just didn’t have an answer.”

“If Cassidy can’t explain it, I don’t know how I could do any better.”

“I want to know how she stumbled onto a dead body, almost a quarter mile from the road, on a day that hit 104 degrees.”

Leo interrupted her with laughter. “Don’t you get it? If anyone could stumble over a dead body, it’s her. Nobody has luck like her. Or lack of it.” He smiled and leaned back into the couch, relaxing into the conversation. He had a rich, baritone voice and Josie figured he liked to hear himself talk. “She calls me her good-luck charm. If I’d been with her she’d have never been out in that heat.”

“Where were you yesterday when she found the body?”

“Out of town.”

“Where?”

“I was at the library.”

“What library?”

He tilted his head to the side as if considering his answer. He finally stood, walked into the kitchen where four books were stacked on top of a microwave on a rolling cart. He pulled a piece of paper out of the first book on the pile. He walked back into the living room and handed it to Josie.