Wrecked (Josie Gray Mysteries #3)(83)

Otto pointed toward the kitchen. “Mind if we sit down to talk? This might take a few minutes.”

“For crying out loud.” Bea turned and shuffled into the kitchen, ranting about the police not having anything better to do but harass people who were doing nothing wrong.

In the kitchen, Otto introduced Josie to Bea’s husband, Leroy Conroy. He nodded his head at Josie but said nothing.

“Let’s talk some more about your business with Wally Follet, and your connection with the Medrano cartel,” said Josie.

“No law against doing business with either one of them.”

“Why have you been calling Hector so often? We examined Follet’s phone records and saw that you placed fifteen phone calls in a three-day period.”

Bea laughed, loud and abrupt. “You really got to ask that?”

“So, you think Wally will come back?” Josie asked.

“Not anymore. He’s long gone.”

“But you call every day asking Hec where he is?”

“Well, hell yes! He destroyed our business.”

“How do you know he’s long gone? Did you see him leave town?” Josie asked.

Bea hesitated, sensing a trap. “Nobody’s seen him. That’s all.”

“Did you see him the day he showed up at Dillon Reese’s office? To meet Christina Handley?” Josie asked.

The look of panic on Bea’s face as she realized the police were on to her family was all Josie needed to confirm her suspicions. Now, they needed proof. Josie glanced across the table at Leroy, who was staring, unblinking, at his wife. Bea suddenly got up and walked to the kitchen sink, turned on the water, and washed her hands.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.

“You do,” Josie said. “You and Hector both received phone calls from the kidnappers. You admitted yourself that the Medranos said they were going to take your boys, one by one, if you didn’t find Wally and the money. You went to the office because you were hoping Wally would come back to town to clean out the files. Not only had Wally ruined your business connection to the Medranos, but you were probably going to get pulled into his federal indictment.”

“You don’t know that!” She turned from the sink, her hands dripping water.

“We have a witness who saw you at the office. The game’s up.”

Josie avoided eye contact with Otto. He knew there was no witness.

Bea turned slowly to the stove and pulled a dish towel off the oven handle. She dried her hands, staring at them. Josie couldn’t tell if she was buying time, caught up in her own thoughts, or too stunned to respond. Whatever the case, this was not the same fiery woman Josie had just met at the door.

“You went to the office to catch Wally. Christina Handley was caught in the cross fire,” Josie said.

The kitchen door opened and alarmed all of them. Daryl walked inside followed by a woman neither Josie nor Otto had seen before. The couple stopped almost instantly when they saw the expressions of the people gathered around the kitchen table.

“Get outside, Daryl. We’re talking,” Bea said.

“What’s going on here?” He shoved his elbows out like a middle school kid getting ready to pick a fight, but his mother wouldn’t stand for it.

“I said get out,” she yelled. Her eyes were bright and filled with a sorrow that surprised Josie.

Otto caught Josie’s attention and put his hand up as if placing a phone to his ear. She nodded.

As soon as the door closed Bea turned to Josie. “I was there, but it was Wally that killed that girl. I watched that bastard do it.” Bea watched Otto leave the kitchen and walk back through the living room. “Where’s he going?”

“He’s going to call the prosecutor. Then he’s going to call the Arroyo County judge to get a search warrant for your house. We’ll be looking for the missing computers and the gun that killed Christina Handley,” Josie stated plainly. She watched Bea’s expression turn to fear. Her husband put his head in his hands. The only sound in the kitchen was the kisk of the oxygen tank.

*

When Otto walked back into the kitchen with the judge’s verbal approval for a search warrant, he found Josie, Bea, and Leroy sitting at the table staring at each other intently. Josie looked up, but Otto couldn’t read her expression.

“Was it granted?” she asked.

Otto nodded. “We have verbal approval. A deputy is on the way with a signed copy.”

Josie turned back to Bea. “So, here’s the deal. We can spend the next two or three hours turning every drawer and closet and cubbyhole in your house and barn upside down and inside out, or you can come clean. Give us the gun. Give up the computers. Tell us what happened before you have a house full of police officers digging through your possessions.”

Bea stared at Leroy for a long moment, the tortured look of a woman realizing her future had just dissolved.

Bea stood slowly from her chair and Josie got up as well. Bea swatted at the air, as if irritated by Josie’s hovering.

“Come on. I’ll show you.”

They heard an engine that sounded like a pickup truck minus the mufflers spin gravel outside of the house.

Bea sighed heavily. “I don’t have the strength for them boys right now.”

Josie walked toward the door and by the time she reached it, Rich was opening the door, his eyes wild.