Wrecked (Josie Gray Mysteries #3)(33)

“I’ll tell you why! You saw this as your chance to screw me over. You tried to convince her that she needs to file charges on me!”

“That’s not true,” Josie said, her voice calm and rational. “All she wants is for you to leave her alone. Don’t go to her apartment anymore. Don’t visit her. Don’t go to the bar. She doesn’t want to file charges, she wants you to leave her alone.”

He set his elbow on the top of his desk and pointed his finger directly at her. “You’d sure as hell better hope she doesn’t press charges. It’ll be your job if she does.”

“I didn’t come here today to talk about your issues. I received a message from the kidnappers last night,” she said. She felt the muscles in her neck and shoulders tense as she brought up the kidnapping. “They didn’t identify themselves. They demanded fifty thousand dollars today by five o’clock as earnest money. And nine million in ransom for Dillon’s return.”

The mayor looked stunned.

“Otto and I called the FBI last night once we received the ransom notice,” she said.

The mayor said nothing for a moment, obviously shocked by the news. “What do you mean ‘earnest money’?”

“It’s like a down payment. Tells the kidnappers I’m working on getting the full amount.”

“Why wasn’t I called?”

“It was too late. The FBI didn’t arrive at my house until after eleven.”

“I don’t care what time it was! When a member of my community is a confirmed kidnapped victim I expect to be called. Common sense has to kick in somewhere, Chief. Understood?”

“Absolutely.”

Josie struggled to keep her tone calm and professional as she finished filling him in on the rest of the details, then she left with no further mention of Roxanne Spar. Josie was curious what his conversation had actually been with Roxanne, but she would not call the woman. Roxanne would have to make the next move.

*

Josie was in a horrible mood by the time she reached the police department. She decided to talk with Otto first thing, to get the conversation over with. She had lain awake on Dell’s couch for most of the night, weighing her options. Should she pay the earnest money, wrangling up every cent she could get from the bank and begging friends for loans? Or should she wait, and hope that the kidnappers already knew that she didn’t have that kind of money? She hadn’t found a direct solution, but she had come up with a plan that might help her arrive at one, a plan she knew Otto wouldn’t like.

She asked him to sit down at the conference table with her. They reviewed the conversation they’d had with the FBI agents the night before.

Josie finally asked, “What can the FBI do for us?”

“They have resources we don’t have. They match up key characteristics of the kidnapping in their database. They’ll narrow down a list of possibilities. Give us a place to start looking.”

Josie felt herself growing impatient, and her words were becoming clipped. “Kidnapping is an industry in Mexico. There are rules and expectations that we don’t understand.” Josie paused, looking at Otto across the table from her. “I want to work with a negotiator. Someone from Mexico.”

Otto frowned. “That’s just not done. You don’t sneak around behind the feds’ backs.”

“We don’t negotiate with kidnappers or terrorists in this country. In Mexico it’s a given,” she said. “If we approach this from an American perspective we may lose Dillon.”

“Josie, you’re getting in way over your head. We don’t know anything about negotiating with kidnappers,” Otto said.

“That’s my point! They said Dillon would lose his arm if I don’t deliver fifty thousand dollars by this evening. How the hell am I supposed to respond to that? Trust those two agents to have the answers? Did you listen to them? They don’t know any more than we do.”

“How do you know they don’t have answers? You think they don’t have access to Medrano? Don’t be so na?ve,” he said.

She sighed, frustrated by his response even though she had anticipated it. Otto was straight as an arrow, by the book. In another profession he would have been called a company man.

“Remember the senator in Arizona several years ago who was kidnapped, held for several months, and then finally released?” she asked.

He nodded.

“Sergio gave me the contact information for the negotiator. Nobody thought that senator would come back alive. Nick Santos saved that man’s life. I have his contact information.”

Leaning back in his seat now, Otto rubbed his eyes. “It’s not professional,” he said.

“I don’t really give a damn whether it’s professional or not. I want Dillon home, safe, before his life is destroyed. If that means tugging on someone’s ego, then I’ll do it.”

“He’s not an investigator, he’s a kidnapping negotiator. What he does could very well be in complete conflict with the FBI’s investigation.” He pointed at her, suddenly angry. “Don’t pretend like you don’t know that, Josie.”

“So what if it’s in complete conflict? If this Santos can get him back any sooner, then I say go for it.”

“He could compromise the investigation that the agents have put together. It goes both ways. As a cop, you’ve been on the losing end of another agency meddling in your business,” he said.