Otto pursed his lips and decided to avoid that part of the conversation as best he could. “Something like that. But here’s my question for you. We suspect Caroline’s involvement, but we have little to go on. I’m wondering if you’ve heard anything about her being involved in any kind of transporting of illegal immigrants.”
She stretched her legs out in front of her and slumped back into her chair. “No, just the opposite. I thought she helped people in trouble, especially women. Did you talk to the women who Josh was transporting?”
Otto explained that the police had spoken with Isabella and the other three women, but that they’d learned little new information.
Selena stood. “I’ll help you. Chief Gray stood by me when people were questioning my business. She didn’t allow a bunch of gossips to ruin me. So I’ll stand by her now.”
Otto stood too, having no idea where this woman thought they were headed. “How do you propose to help?”
“Who do you think those women want to talk to right now? The police?” She made a face. “They don’t trust you any more than they trust the men who brought them here. They want you to save them, but they don’t trust that you will.”
Otto started to speak and she stopped him with a hand in the air.
“Don’t get defensive. I know what these women are thinking. It’s exactly the way I felt.” She considered him for a moment. “It’s because there’s this mixed message we get. Sometimes the media loves the immigrants and wants to do everything they can to help people like those women. Other times the media says, ‘Send them all home. We don’t want them!’”
Otto crossed his arms and tried not to look skeptical.
“Go home tonight and turn on your TV. Watch one channel and you’ll hear about the illegals ruining the country. Taking all the jobs, committing crimes, running the country broke, turning to terrorism. Watch another channel and the immigrants are hardworking people wanting better for their families. Some towns help us settle and find work. Other towns throw us in jail the first chance they get. It’s no wonder we don’t trust anyone!”
He hadn’t considered this angle, but she had a point.
“Then this woman, Isabella, comes to the U.S. to find work and is raped and humiliated and the police say they’ll help her find safety. And then she’s kidnapped by the man who attacked her and maybe even murdered her friend. She doesn’t want to talk to you.”
Otto studied her for a moment. “You said she was raped. That’s not public knowledge.”
“It is now. Macey spread it all over town that the police were accusing her brother of rape. How he was getting ripped off.” She made a dismissive noise and rolled her eyes.
Otto sighed. “Okay. How is it you think you can help?”
“I’m from Venezuela. And I know they’re from Guatemala, but I know what these women have gone through to get here. I can talk to them as someone who made it. I can help them understand that you don’t want to send them to jail. You want to help.”
“We need to find out what happened the night Renata was shot. I need Isabella to talk about that night. What she heard, and what she saw.”
She nodded.
“The other three women too. They’re all at the trauma center under observation. You’ll be able to talk with them all?”
She nodded again.
“And we need to find out who’s behind this ring.”
“I’ll get my purse and lock up.”
*
Otto walked outside and raised his arms slightly to allow a breeze under his armpits. He wondered how it was that a man of his age could still be nervous around a well-put-together woman less than half his age. It was an embarrassment. He got in the jeep and blasted the AC, pointing the air vents toward his sweaty forehead. Even if a genie in a bottle granted him one guilt-free night with that woman, a night Delores would never know about, he’d turn the genie down. He had no interest in that young hairdresser woman, so why the fluster? He thought of Delores in her soft cotton dresses and house slippers, taking apple chunks out to the goats in the field for a snack, saving stray cats, and making homemade dumplings to die for, and he was overcome with love for his wife of forty years. He called Delores.
“Delores?”
“Yes, Otto. Who did you expect to answer the phone?”
He smiled. “I’ll be a bit late. I’ve got to run over to the trauma center.”
“Roast and potatoes are in the oven. They’ll wait till you get home.”
“I love you.”
The line was silent for a moment and he could imagine her looking shocked, and then smiling, her cheeks blushing. “Well, I love you too,” she said.
*
Selena climbed into the jeep and placed a hand on his forearm.
“Before we go. Can we just agree that you won’t talk about this to people?”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I’ve had to fight to get people to take me seriously as a hairdresser. As someone who can successfully run her own business.” She scowled at Otto when he continued looking confused. “I’m more than just a skirt and a pair of legs. I don’t need the massage parlor rumors started up again.”