Wrecked (Josie Gray Mysteries #3)(12)

“You’re lead,” she said, looking at Otto.

Otto nodded once. “You’re doing the right thing.”

Josie felt the energy drain from her body. “I may be a pain in the ass to deal with.”

“I expect that’s true.”

“Okay, then,” she said.

“You have to trust me, Josie. I’m going to run this investigation like a cop. Not like a friend.”

“Understood,” she said. In her four years as chief of police she had never relinquished control of an investigation.

Roy’s eyes were focused on Josie. She knew where the conversation was about to head, and the thought of it made her want to walk out of the building.

Otto cleared his throat and smoothed his hair over his balding head. “Let’s get this established. Until we find additional information, Dillon Reese is a suspect. As far as we currently know, he was the last person to be seen with Christina, and he is missing. The knowledge that he is missing will be kept internal until further notice. No need to share that with the public just yet.”

Josie looked away from Otto. “It’s obviously a murder and a missing persons case.”

“We don’t know that. Dillon could have shot Christina and taken computers to hide any number of things,” Otto said. He raised a hand to acknowledge the look on her face. “Josie, you know the drill. Probable or not, it’s our job to investigate all possibilities.”

She could feel the anger building. “It makes no sense, Otto. It’s absurd and you know it.” She pointed to Christina’s body. “Dillon Reese is not capable of that, and you know it as well as I do!” She looked from Otto to Roy, who both stared back in silence. “This is a clear-cut kidnapping.”

“What makes you so certain?” Otto asked.

Josie gritted her teeth and breathed in through her nose. Otto was in cop mode. This is how it would be. She sat for a moment and collected her thoughts.

“Dillon deals with clients who are millionaires. He has access to more sensitive information than anyone else I know. Bank accounts, investments, overseas accounts. And if someone came wanting that information, and he wouldn’t give it to them?” She shrugged.

Roy said, “The argument’s a moot point. Dillon is top priority. He has to be found.” He looked behind him toward Christina. “Any guess on how long ago she was shot?”

Josie shook her head, trying to get her anger back in check. “Not too recently. Looking at the blood, I’d say late last night.”

Otto looked at Roy, then at Josie, weighing his words. “We need you to walk through the office with us. Tell us everything you can about the space. What was taken. What’s out of place. We’ll take a careful look at the files that appear to be missing. But I’d like your first impressions before we touch anything.”

She nodded and stood. The inner anger she felt toward Otto at that moment was clearly misplaced; he was doing his job. Still, she resented the underling role she had been placed in, as well as the way he was framing the case. She had agreed to the arrangement, and she knew it was right, but her fear for Dillon’s safety would cause her to second-guess every decision Otto made.

*

Josie took the next few minutes to relay exactly what she had seen when she drove up to the building: the locked doors, Christina’s still body, breaking the glass to enter. As she talked, Otto opened his evidence kit and took out his 35 mm camera to snap pictures.

Deputy Jones hollered through the shattered front door, “Sheriff, Junior Daggy wants to know what’s going on. Says he saw something last night.”

The sheriff turned toward the door. “I’m on my way. Sit him down in a patrol car and let’s get a statement.” Roy promised to keep Josie and Otto informed and followed the deputy outside.

Josie forced herself to look at Christina. She looked posed, as if she were on display, and Josie wanted to cover her body with a blanket out of respect. “Who would do this? She had no enemies. She was just a nice person. I can’t get my head wrapped around it.”

Otto laid his hand on Josie’s shoulder until she looked at him. “We’ll get whoever did this. You count on that.” He paused, understanding the unstated fear she had for Dillon’s whereabouts.

Otto’s cell phone rang. As he walked away to take the call, Josie took a long breath and concentrated her attention on the objects around Christina. She kneeled on the floor and studied the file folders without touching anything, trying to get a feel for the organization of the office. Dillon had never explained the daily operations; she now wished she had asked for details.

When Otto came back he said, “That was Lou. The coroner will be here in ten minutes. Two state troopers are on their way from Presidio. Be about thirty minutes.” He nodded toward the folders on the floor. “Can you make any sense of them?”

“They look like files that Christina would take care of,” Josie said. “Billing files. One of these is labeled ‘Warranty Papers.’ Another says ‘Office Maintenance.’” She pointed to the bottom drawer on the left side of Christina’s desk. “It’s open and the middle section of the drawer is empty. Notice the files all over the floor beneath the drawer. It appears someone took the files and scattered them. Hard to tell what’s missing.”

Josie made a list of the files on the floor as Otto read them off. When they finished the task, Otto pushed away from the desk and asked, “Any ideas on the location of the chair?”