Josie stood, intending to walk out. Talking the situation through was obviously not an option at this point.
“Give me your badge and your gun,” he said. He spoke so quietly that she barely heard his words.
It was Josie’s turn to look shocked. “Excuse me?”
He tapped his desk with his fingertip. “Right here. I want your badge, and I want your gun. You are officially on administrative leave until further notice.”
“You’re making a mistake,” she said.
He threw his arm out and pointed toward the door. “I will have your job over this. Now get the hell out of my office!”
Josie glanced down, unclasped the badge that was pinned above the pocket of her uniform, and pitched it onto his desk. She pulled the gun from her holster, checked the safety, and placed it on his desk, averting her eyes from him. Without another word, she walked out of his office and past Helen, who was standing in the hallway with a hand over her mouth.
THIRTEEN
Lou started to speak and then stopped after seeing Josie’s clenched jaw as she stepped into the PD. She walked into the office and found Otto typing on his computer. He turned when he heard her enter and sighed when he saw her expression.
“Damn it, Josie. You went to talk to him, didn’t you?” He noticed the bare spot above her breast pocket and his eyebrows rose in shock. “Did he strip you of your badge?”
“I’ve been suspended until further notice.”
“Damn it. I told you not to talk to him!”
“That’s not helpful right now.”
He stood and pointed to the conference table. “I’m sorry. Sit down.”
Josie sat and Otto went to the back of the office and poured them both a mug of coffee.
“I’ll go talk to him,” he said, sliding the mug across the table to her.
“Why? So we can all be suspended together?” She sipped the coffee and considered him for a long time. “He’s wrong, Otto. I know it. Caroline is guilty. I was trying to give him a heads-up so that he wasn’t blindsided when this breaks open.”
“Guilty people walk free every day. If we can’t tie her to the crime that took place? You’re screwed. I’m sorry, but it’s a fact you need to face.”
“She’s the one who paid for the Web site! She founded the group that transported those five women to Artemis,” she said. “One of the transporters not only fingered her, but is a close family friend.”
“Big deal! Just because she paid a bill for a Web site doesn’t mean that she knew it was to be used for human trafficking. Any defense attorney could prove that. And it doesn’t mean Caroline killed that woman. It doesn’t mean she had any knowledge of the rapes. Even if she paid Ryan to go pick those women up, unless there’s physical proof, a check or paperwork, it’s his word against hers. And once she gets ahold of him, you think he’ll stick with the story he told us?” Otto made a face. “Not a chance. We got nothing, Josie.”
Lou appeared in the door of the office. She rarely left the front office unattended; instead she would push the conference button and call upstairs if she needed someone. But here she was, standing at the door, obviously shaken.
“What happened over in the mayor’s office?” Lou said.
“What do you mean?” Otto asked.
“I just got a news release emailed to me saying that Chief Gray has been suspended without pay until further notice for breach of contract. What’s going on?”
Blood rushed to Josie’s face.
“This just happened ten minutes ago!” Otto said.
Josie rose and moved to the back of the office. It would be all over Artemis in a matter of hours. Suspended. She heard Otto’s words replay in her head. We got nothing.
Josie heard Otto sigh and a chair scoot across the floor behind her. “Have a seat,” he told Lou.
Josie’s chest tightened as she listened to Otto recount their conversation with Ryan Needleman, and Josie’s decision to tell the mayor about his wife before going to the prosecutor.
Josie liked to think of herself as someone whose core values propelled all of the major decisions in her life. If people in the community wanted to believe whatever trash the mayor wanted to sling, then screw them all. But now, faced with the public humiliation of getting stripped of her badge, she realized she cared a great deal about what people thought. Without a doubt, even if she was completely exonerated, there would be those who would use the suspension to question her ability to lead. Her reputation would be forever tarnished over someone else’s crime.
The blood inside her body seemed to be pooling in her legs, leaving her light-headed. Perspiration covered her forehead and she felt as if the room were closing in around her. She turned from the window and grabbed her car keys from her desk as she walked to the door.