“Personally, I think we did a hell of a job. I’m guessing Holder may take a day or two to sort this all out. He won’t hang his neck out there for a senator’s daughter-slash-mayor’s wife without knowing he’s got a good case to back him up.”
“You realize Moss is my supervisor,” she said.
“That’s crossed my mind many times over the past week.”
“If she isn’t arrested? Or if the charges are dismissed?”
“You’ll lose your job,” he said, finishing her train of thought.
Josie took a gulp of cold coffee and slumped back in her chair, worn out with discussing the case. “My mom is headed back to Indiana today.”
Otto winced. “She get tired of waiting around for you to visit?”
“No, it wasn’t like that. She said she wanted to give me some space to think about her moving here. She’s ready to make the move if I give her the okay.”
“Really?” Otto’s bushy eyebrows rose at the notion. “She’s waiting on an okay?”
Josie grinned. “I know. She’s so much mellower than her last visit. To tell you the truth, I’m a little freaked out by all of it.”
Otto leaned back in his chair as well and crossed his legs out in front him. “You aren’t going to get all philosophical on me, are you?”
“I don’t even know what you mean by that.”
“We don’t have to talk about people changing, or becoming a better person, or any of that, do we? Delores wears me out with that kind of thinking.”
Josie laughed. “I don’t guess I have much control over any of it anyway. Not much point in discussing it.”
“Exactly. Live your life and the rest will fall into place.”
“Or not.”
He grinned. “Or not.”
“Let’s go home and get some sleep.”
*
At five o’clock the next evening Holder reached Josie on her cell phone as she was driving back to the police department from a child welfare call. A mother had scalded her little girl’s hands as punishment for eating candy when she’d been told not to. Josie was angry and she had a headache.
“Yes, sir?” she answered when his number showed on her cell phone.
“I’ve got an update on Caroline Moss.”
“I hope it’s good news,” she said. “I could use some.”
“It depends on how you look at it.”
“Hmm. Go ahead,” Josie said, knowing already that it wouldn’t be good news.
“I’m turning the case over to the FBI.”
“Now?”
“Josie. Think about the case. This isn’t just a human trafficking case taking place in Artemis. Not only does it cross an international border, but it now crosses into New Mexico and Oklahoma. This is a federal crime. They can help us track down the phone connection between Caroline and Lilith. This isn’t something for local law enforcement to handle.”
She bristled at the comment but said nothing.
“Obviously it’s not that you haven’t done an excellent job with the investigation, but we’ve got three different states involved, as well as Mexico and Guatemala. I don’t need to tell you what kind of hell goes into working with two foreign countries during a criminal investigation. This goes beyond me. We need help. And I don’t want to screw this up. Agreed?”
Josie unclenched her jaw and forced a reply. “That’s fine. Just let me know what I need to do on my end.”
“Good enough. I appreciate it. I’ll be in touch.”
Josie hung up and banged the steering wheel. She called Otto.
“We lost the case,” she said.
“FBI?”
“Holder passed it off.”
“Damn, Josie. I know we saw this coming, but it doesn’t make it any easier to stomach.”
“Yeah, well. I didn’t think we’d lose it this fast. And I’m pissed off. I was suspended from duty over this case, and I don’t even have the satisfaction of bringing it to a close.”
“We’re not done. We have an unsolved murder.”
Josie blew out a rush of air. “I know that, Otto.”
“Okay. Well. It’s after five. I’m tired and you’re grumpy. So I’m going home before Delores threatens mandatory retirement again. Okay?”
“All right. See you in the morning.”
Josie hung up and continued her drive back to the department. Her anger fired her adrenaline, so she maintained her course to the PD. She pulled in front of the department and texted Nick. She’d lost track of his schedule and couldn’t remember if he was going to be at her house that night.
Working late. Where are you? She paused before she clicked send. It seemed like a pathetic question to ask someone you cared about, but one of the positives with Nick was that he took her for the mess that she was.
Ten seconds later he texted back. In Mexico. Surveillance tonight. Remember?
Now I do. Love you.
Love you too. Enjoy that warm bed. I’ll be sitting by a trash can in an alley.
She smiled, imagining him crouched down in an alleyway, wearing his black Kevlar and ski mask for disguise and warmth. He could be scary as hell when he wanted to be, and she had to admit, she liked that about him.
Josie waved hello to the night dispatcher, Brian Moore.