Wrecked (Josie Gray Mysteries #3)(81)

He pushed her gently back and spoke quietly, but his voice was full of emotion. “I’d take heroin addiction over hate, Josie. It’s easier to kick the habit.”

“I don’t have any control over it. It’s like a poison that’s become a part of me.”

“When things get bad. When you feel like all the good is gone out of the world? That’s when you take all that emotion inside of you, and focus it on destroying those sons of bitches.” He squeezed her shoulders and shook her once and she looked up in surprise. “I’ll be right there beside you.”

She stared back and felt his words tighten something inside her.

Dell’s expression was fierce. “Our government’s run into the ground with laws that don’t make sense. We’re a country full of paralytics. If those laws are keeping you from doing what makes sense? What’s obvious and right? Then dammit, you cross the river and you do what needs to be done.”

She smiled slightly.

He pointed a finger at her chest. “We ignore the laws and we go take care of business.”

Her expression grew serious. It was her impotence that was tearing up her insides. Some imaginary line drawn through the Rio Grande preventing her from doing what had to be done to get Dillon home.

He squeezed her shoulders and stepped back to look at her. “You with me?”

She nodded and felt a sense of confidence for the first time since the day she discovered Dillon had been kidnapped.

Dell patted her on the back and headed toward his truck. “Come on. I’ll give you a ride home.” He turned back and glanced at her. “You save those bullets.”





TWENTY-FOUR


Josie pounded on the door of room 6 of Manny’s Motel. Manny stuck his head out of his apartment next door and started to speak, but Josie motioned him back inside. He closed the door quietly and pulled his drapes shut.

Josie banged on the door harder and heard Hec yelling for her to wait a minute. He opened the door wearing a pair of jeans, his chest bare, and squinted into the bright morning sunlight. He had obviously just awoken. “What’s wrong?”

Josie pushed her way past him and he followed her in, finding a place to stand by the bed. “This is what’s wrong. I’m sick of playing games, Hec. I’m tired of treating you like a kid. Playing nice when you’ve been jacking us around for a week. Why the hell didn’t you tell me about the Conroys? They know you well. Said they’ve talked with you several times since your dad left.” Josie shoved Hec and he fell backward onto the bed behind him, a stunned expression on his face.

“Why wouldn’t you just tell me about them? You’re hiding something. Something you don’t want the police to know that has to do with your dad.”

“I’m not sure what else you want to know.”

“Bullshit. Let’s see if this piece of news helps you open up. Not only is your dad wanted by half of Texas for stealing nine million dollars, but now he’s also wanted by the Artemis Police Department, for the murder of Christina Handley.”

Hec’s mouth dropped open. “No! That’s not true!”

“We subpoenaed your dad’s phone records, Hec. He called Christina Handley at eight forty-five. We have witnesses that say she was at the office shortly after that. Your dad stole the files, then shot Christina to keep her from talking.”

“No! I swear! That’s not what happened!”

Josie stared him down, her expression hard.

“He went there. To meet Christina. He just wanted to get the files, but he never shot her!”

“Then who did?”

“My dad said the Conroys are crazy. That I needed to keep my mouth shut. He says they’re watching me. If they know I’m talking to you they’ll kill me just like the other lady.”

“You’re saying the Conroys killed Christina?”

Hec began crying, his body shaking. He stood from the bed and punched the wall with his fist. He angrily wiped tears away from his face, blood staining his knuckles.

“Why, Hec? Why would the Conroys kill her?”

Hec sniffed and took several deep breaths to calm down. “I don’t know. I swear it this time. My dad just says they’re crazy and to stay away from them. He told me the lady got shot, but it wasn’t him. He thought the Conroys would kill me before the cartel would. That’s why he made me swear I wouldn’t talk about the shipping. I wanted to tell you, I just couldn’t.”

Josie considered the situation. The cartel wanted her to learn about the illegal shipping so she could find their missing money; the Conroys wanted to keep it a secret to save their business with the Medranos; Hec was once again caught in the middle.

Hec looked exhausted but his face had changed. His eyes had lost the anxiety, the guilt he had been dragging around with him like a death sentence. Confession is good for the soul, thought Josie. She’d seen it in countless people. In the end, most people needed the punishment as a road to catharsis. Confess, take your knocks, and move on with your life.

He finally took a long breath and blew it out slowly, meeting Josie’s stare head-on. “That’s it. You know everything now. I swear it.”

*

Josie left Hec and knocked on Manny’s door. When he answered, she handed him a wad of bills from her pocket. “Go get him junk food, a sandwich and milk. Stuff for his room. If you’ve got anything he can read, that too. He’s got to keep his head on straight, Manny. See what you can do. We just don’t want him to take off on us.”