Ryan pushed his thumbs into his eyes as if trying to keep from crying, but he eventually gave in, trying to hide behind his hands as he sobbed. Josie grabbed a tissue box off a corner table and shoved it over to him. He finally stopped, taking ragged breaths and blowing his nose into a handful of tissues.
Josie had interviewed enough people to know the breakdown was a very good sign. But she worried the whole process was taking too long. She needed Josh and Macey’s whereabouts, but she couldn’t afford to spook Ryan into silence.
Ryan took a long deep breath and shuddered as he exhaled.
“Isabella is gone, Ryan.”
He looked up at her, apparently caught off guard at the statement.
“Josh and Macey are gone,” she said.
Again, confusion in his eyes.
“I want to know where they are,” she said. “No games. No lies. You have too much on the line to screw with me right now.”
He nodded and his expression grew earnest as his breathing returned to normal. “I understand, but I don’t know where they are. I haven’t talked to either one of them since I got back to Artemis.”
“We’ll get your phone records. You know that, right?” she said.
He leaned his head back and groaned. “Okay. Seriously, Josh called a few times, but not about leaving with her. He just called freaking out because they were missing. He kept telling me that he had to get them delivered. That someone would come after him if he didn’t get the women before they went to the cops.”
“Who was coming after him?”
“He never said. I never asked. I didn’t want to know.”
“So what did you do about the missing women?” Josie could feel the acid burn in her stomach.
“Nothing. He called the first time and he was like, You have to come with me. You have to help me find these two women. I was like, Listen, I did what you asked. You still haven’t paid me the other half of the money you owe me. I’m done with this. I should have never gotten involved.”
“Did you go with him to search for the women?” she asked.
“One night. We drove out by the river.”
“By my house?” she asked.
He nodded.
“How did you know to look for them there?”
“Somebody told Josh that Isabella and Renata hitchhiked out to stay with some old lady in Mexico, and that she told them to go see you. That’s why he kept driving by your house. I swear. I drove out with him one time and that was it. I told him I was done.”
“Who gave Josh this information?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t tell me.”
“What day did you drive out looking for the women?” she asked.
“It was Saturday.” He wrinkled his forehead and said, “Actually it would have been Sunday morning, at like two. We never saw them, though.”
“Did Josh shoot Renata?”
He put his hands up. “I have no idea. I swear.”
“Do you know if Josh ever made contact with Isabella or Renata after they escaped in Piedra Labrada?”
“I have no idea. After I drove out to your house with him I told him I was done. He hasn’t called me since. Check my phone records.”
“What about the other women?” she asked. “Where are the other three?”
“I told you, I left them in Piedra Labrada, but what I said wasn’t totally true. I didn’t leave because of my documentation.”
He paused, and Josie glanced at Otto. She could feel the tension rising in the room as they approached the truth of what had happened on the trip.
“Could I get a drink of water?” Josh asked. Josie noticed his sticky voice and nodded. Marta left the room.
Ryan continued. “When we got to Piedra, we rented a cheap motel room to sleep a couple hours before we’d cross the border that night. We were all tired and hungry and pissed off. I just wanted it all to end. Josh lay down to sleep, and I took a shower. When I got done, I walked out of the bathroom and Isabella and Renata were gone. The other three women were huddled in a corner crying. I yelled at Josh, who’d slept through them leaving, and he jumped out of bed. Then all hell broke loose. He was yelling and screaming like a maniac. I was afraid the police were going to get called on us. He pulled one of the women up off the floor by her hair, and he started kicking her and kneeing her in the stomach. He said it was her fault for letting the other women go. I knocked Josh on his ass, and I left. I just walked out.”
Ryan bent over at the interrogation table and placed his head in his hands, and Josie saw tears fall onto the table under him. “I left because I couldn’t take one more night of Josh. I keep thinking about those other three women, though. I don’t know what’s happened to them.”
“When you drove out by my house with Josh, what did he say about them?” Josie asked.
Marta walked back in and placed a Dixie cup in front of Ryan, who gulped noisily until it was empty. “He said they were staying somewhere together. He kept saying it was cool. He was going to get them delivered.” He looked at Josie, and she thought he’d finally reached the point she was striving for. “Maybe that’s where Josh and Macey went. Maybe they took Isabella to finish the trip to Albuquerque.”
“New Mexico?” she asked.
“That’s where we were headed.”