Scratchgravel Road (Josie Gray Mysteries #2)(56)
Cowan rubbed his forehead. He was feeling completely overwhelmed.
“You need dose rate readings for everyone who’s been in contact with the body. You need a pancake probe to check your equipment and lab. Survey the remains tub, the body bag, everything. Are you wearing a Tyvek suit when you’re in contact? Checking your feet when you leave the lab? Those kinds of precautions?”
“Somewhat.” Cowan wrote down notes as Preston talked, but he knew he was missing details. Worse yet, he had no idea how to get the necessary equipment Preston was referring to. Cowan finally broke in. “I’ll be completely honest. Radiation is not my area of specialty. I’m not sure where to even begin. I don’t have any equipment, or any money to purchase the equipment. We’re on a nonexistent budget.”
“Ah. Understood. Let me put you on hold a minute.” Preston was gone for almost five minutes before returning and apologizing for the delay. “I have good news though. I’m going to send you a certified hazardous materials technician. Her name is Diane Patel. She’ll be able to help you put together a plan and get things moving quickly. This is exactly what she’s trained for.”
“That would be much appreciated.” Cowan sighed, the relief immense. “I can work with Beacon to see what kind of equipment we have available.”
“Diane will bring the necessary equipment. Without knowing Beacon professionally I’m hesitant to trust their monitors. Diane will get a flight out first thing in the morning.”
“Here is my worry,” Cowan said. “I don’t think there is a public health menace. The body was discovered several days ago, and I haven’t seen any indication that anyone else was involved. My bigger worry right now is for the officers who came into contact with the body.”
“Absolutely. Those officers must be checked immediately. As well as yourself.”
FIFTEEN
At six thirty Thursday morning Josie called Teresa’s name, and woke her from a deep sleep in the backseat. Through the night Josie had finished two cups of cold McDonald’s coffee that she had stocked up on in El Paso, and drunk on the long ride home. She had spent an hour on the phone with Dillon, who had forgiven her for taking the trip, and then told her stories from his childhood to keep her from falling asleep at the wheel. Now, her eyes felt as if someone had sprinkled sand in them, and although she was exhausted from driving and the stress of the night, she was also thoroughly satisfied.
Josie pulled into Marta’s driveway, turned the rental car off, and stretched her back after the long ride. It was a bleak morning. They’d had a one-day reprieve from the rain. Now, it was back and forecast to stay for several days, dumping another several inches. Josie sat for a moment, watching the rain streak down the car window.
Marta opened the front door to her home. She was wearing jeans and a loose-fitting striped T-shirt, her face filled with worry. She looked confused when she saw Josie exit the rental car. From the front door of her home she couldn’t see Teresa in the backseat, and Josie could see panic fill Marta’s face.
“It’s good news, Marta. I’ve brought her home. She’s getting her stuff together in the backseat.”
Marta’s eyes widened and she ran through the rain to the car as if she wouldn’t believe the news until she could see her daughter herself. She peered through the back passenger window and covered her face with her hands. After a moment she walked around to the other side of the car and approached Josie.
“You, my friend, I will never be able to repay.”
Josie hugged Marta, who pulled away suddenly and said, “I just checked the Internet an hour ago. They don’t expect to open the International Bridge today. The flooding is too bad. How did you?” She motioned to the car.
“It’s a long story. Let’s get out of the rain. Teresa can fill you in. I’m headed home for a shower and few hours’ sleep.”
*
After a tearful reunion and apologies and promises from Teresa, Josie pulled back out of the driveway. She drove the ten minutes to her home, glad to let her thoughts wander over not much of anything. She planned to collect Chester from Dell’s house, go home and eat a fried egg, take a shower, and sleep until eleven when she would get up for second shift. It would be good to put the past twenty-four hours behind her.
Josie pulled down her lane, drove past her own home, and down the long drive to Dell’s place. She found him inside the horse barn, with the sliding doors pulled all the way back, standing over a raised fire pit. Dell had mounted a tire rim from an old semi horizontally onto a metal tripod. He’d welded a grate in the bottom of the tire rim to hold the fire and coals. The tripod lifted the rim off the ground, and with a metal bottom inside the rim, it made a sturdy fire pit. Dell was sliding a swinging grate over the red coals when she ran inside the barn and out of the rain.
“How do?” he called, and set a metal coffeepot on the grate.
“You having smoke withdrawal?”
“I need some blue sky. Can’t stand all this rain. We’ll have us some cowboy coffee and that’ll cheer us up.”
Chester came loping around from the back of Dell’s house. He knew the sound of Josie’s car engine and made a beeline to greet her. He came into the barn and shook water all over both of them. Dell threw Josie an old towel and she dried the dog off and scratched his chest and ears until he wandered away to check one of the horses making a racket in the back of the barn.