Midnight Crossing: A Mystery

by Tricia Fields

  “And, whatever you do, don’t get involved. No yelling at him to get off your land, or firing shots, or you’re likely to get shot yourself. Understood?”

  Agnes nodded, her expression grim, and slipped the card into her shirt pocket.

  * * *

  They got back in the jeep and Otto buckled his seat belt, clearly agitated. “Explain how a multimillion-dollar border fence is going to stop a guy like Slick Fish.”

  “No clue,” Josie said. She’d heard the same rant from Otto for years.

  “We spend a small fortune building a fence that they’ll go under, or over, or cut a hole in and drive straight through. Makes no sense.”

  “It’s a deterrent. It slows them down,” she said, which was the same response she always gave.

  “It’s like shoving your thumb into a hole in a dam and expecting to stop the water. The water always wins. It doesn’t work.”

  Josie changed the topic. “I’ll work with Marta to set up an observation post to track Slick’s movements. It’ll be tough to find her time to get over there in the evening, but we’ll give it a shot.”

  “We’ll never catch the bastard. He’s naked and he’s slick. Unless you’re right down there on the water and plan on jumping into the river and wrestling him back onto U.S. soil, he’s home free. What’s the point?”

  “What are you so grumpy for?” she finally asked.

  He ignored her question as she parked in front of the PD. They entered the building and found Lou behind the entryway counter, leaning against it with her hands folded in front of her, grinning as if she had a mouthful of gossip ready to spill.

  “Okay. Let’s hear it,” Otto said to her.

  Lou grinned wider. “Can’t. It’s a surprise. And, boy howdy, is it ever.”

  Josie refrained from rolling her eyes and walked through the swinging door at the end of the counter and back toward the stairs that led to their office. Pointless gossip annoyed her almost as much as meaningless small talk.

  She reached the top of the stairs and was surprised to see the office light on. Marta had another half hour before her shift began, and she wasn’t one to come in early. Then Josie smelled cigarette smoke. She knew it wasn’t from Lou sneaking one in the bathroom because she’d given up the habit several months ago and turned into an anti-smoking zealot.

  Josie pushed the office door open and the “surprise” stood and smiled, blowing smoke out in a stream and dropping her cigarette into a Coke can sitting on the conference table.

  Josie pushed past her shock and said, “Mom! It’s great to see you.”

  “You bet it is!” She gave Josie a quick hug and turned to Otto, who had been right behind her. She walked up to him and poked a finger into his chest. “And I remember you. Officer O. Right?”

  “Otto,” Josie said. “His name is Otto.”

  “It’s good to see you, Beverly,” Otto said, reaching his hand out but accepting her enthusiastic hug instead.

  “Of course I know this is Otto! That was my nickname for him!”

  Josie didn’t remember that at all. Her mom had made the trip from Indiana to Texas once a few years back, and it had been a disaster.

  “This is a big surprise,” Josie said. “What brings you here?”

  Her mom planted her hands on her hips and looked offended. “Seriously? You have to ask? I came to see you!”

  “Beverly, it’s a pleasure to see you again. I’m sorry to leave so soon, but I’ve got a meeting I need to get to.” Otto laid his notebook on the conference table and headed toward the door. He turned to Josie when he reached it, his eyebrows bunching up as he offered what she assumed was a sympathetic look. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

  She nodded. He didn’t have a meeting. Their shift was almost over and he had just mentioned going home to feed his goats. “See you in the morning.” Josie didn’t blame him. She didn’t want the drama either.

  “I figured, you won’t call me, so I’ll just come visit in person!” Beverly said. Her voice was loud and overly cheerful in the otherwise quiet room.

  “The phone lines run both ways,” Josie said.

  “You going to take me out to dinner tonight? Introduce me to your friends?” her mom asked.

  “A friend of mine is coming over for dinner tonight. His name is Nick. Why don’t you come by about six, and I’ll have dinner for us.”

  Beverly’s face fell and her shoulders slumped. “I thought I’d be staying with you. I drove all the way out here. Gas cost a fortune. And buying all my meals along the way. I just figured you’d put me up.”

  Josie felt blood rush to her face and she struggled to contain a smart remark about the visit that she’d had no time to prepare for. “I have a small place. I think it—”

  “You have two bedrooms!”

  “—would be better for us if we got you a room at Manny’s. You stayed there last time you were here. I’m sure he’ll have a nice room for you. And his rooms are very reasonable.”

  Beverly huffed and Josie motioned to the conference table, where they both sat down. Her mom was wearing a short denim skirt and a T-shirt that fit her like a second skin. Josie acknowledged in her mind that it had been several years since she’d seen her mom, but she was fairly certain that her mom’s chest was a size or two larger now than she remembered.

  “Surprised?” her mom said. “I could tell I got you when you walked in the room.”

  Josie smiled, trying to warm up, to be gracious and show some appreciation for her mom. As happened with almost every visit, she felt nauseating guilt for the irritation she felt over her mom’s presence.

  “You surprised me. That’s for sure,” she said. “How’s everyone back in Indiana?”

  “Did I tell you Aunt Sugar got married?” Beverly asked.

  Josie shook her head. She hadn’t talked to her mom in almost a year. Her mom knew that she’d not told Josie about her aunt. She’d never understood her mom’s insistence on pretending they had a close relationship when it so obviously was not the case.

  “She got married a month ago and moved to Oklahoma last week. She’s my last family. Everybody else either died or deserted me. I figure, maybe it’s time to move west. Be closer to Sugar. Closer to you and my grandkids.”

  Josie raised her eyebrows. She was an only child, mid-thirties, never married, no kids.

  “You’re old enough. I figured I’d show up and find out you were married, with a kid on the way. You and the accountant. What’s his name? Drake?”

  “His name was Dillon. And he no longer lives here. He moved back to St. Louis about a year ago. And no. I have no plans for marriage or kids in the near future.”

  The intercom buzzed on Josie’s desk phone. Josie took a deep breath and walked over to her desk and pressed the button, telling Lou, “I’ll be with you in a minute.”

  As she sat back down at the table, trying to avoid the feeling that her mom was baiting her, she heard the steady clomp of cowboy boots, the precursor to a visit from Mayor Moss. She briefly closed her eyes and wondered if her day could get much worse.

  Thirty seconds later the mayor walked into the office, glanced from Josie to her mom, and stopped as if he’d suddenly forgotten why he was here. He played like he’d just walked into the middle of a pleasant surprise.

  “Afternoon, Mayor. What can I do for you?” Josie asked.

  He looked from Josie to her mom and back again. “Sisters? I definitely see a resemblance here.”

  “Mayor Moss, this is my mom. Beverly Gray.”

  He gave Beverly a big skeptical grin as if he couldn’t believe it. “Mother? No way. You have to be sisters.”

  Beverly stood and walked around the table, stretching her hand out to shake his. Josie was relieved she didn’t go straight for the hug, or, worse yet, the kiss on both cheeks.

  “I am so glad to finally meet you!” Her voice was a flirty singsong. “You happen to be the first mayor I have ever actually talked to in person. It is a real honor.”
/>   Moss lit up like a Christmas tree.

  “Josie told me all about you. I know she feels very lucky to work with you.”

  Josie stared at her mom like she had lost her mind, and then felt the mayor’s eyes on her. She turned to the back of the room. “Anyone want coffee?”

  “No, I’m fine, honey,” her mother called.

  Honey? And why on earth had her mom told the mayor that Josie had talked about him? Her mom had no idea who she talked to or about, or the fact that Josie and the mayor had a contentious working relationship.

  After another five minutes of interminable flirting between the two, Josie repeated, “What can I do for you, Mayor?”

  He glanced back at Josie and cleared his throat. “I have intelligence that we need to discuss.”

  Josie gritted her teeth. Her tolerance had evaporated.

  “I got an anonymous phone call. There’s some bad customers taking up in town.”

  Josie turned to her mom and said, “I’ll have to connect with you later.”

  Beverly seemed shocked, like she couldn’t believe she was being dismissed. “So, I should just take my bags to your house? Is that what we decided?”

  Josie glanced at the mayor and said, “I’ll be right back. Let me walk her out.”

  The mayor extended his hand again and said what a pleasure it had been to meet such an outstanding woman. He turned to Josie. “You make sure and show your mama a good time while she’s here in Artemis. Bring her by my office one afternoon, and I’ll give her the big tour around town. You hear?”

  “I sure will,” Josie said.

  * * *

  Moments later, standing in front of the police station, Josie pointed down the block. “You remember Manny’s Motel? Just remind him that you’re my mom. I’m sure he’ll give you a good rate. Do you need directions to my house for dinner?”

  “Nope. I got you in my GPS.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you at six, then.” Josie reached out and they hugged awkwardly. “It’s good to see you again.”

  * * *

  Back in the office, Moss had regained the stoic expression he usually wore when talking with her, one of a stern, disapproving superior. Josie wondered if he’d been so friendly with her mother just to irritate her, and she realized if that had been his intention it had worked.

  Moss sat at the conference table texting on his cell phone. When Josie sat down he laid the phone on the table.

  “I got an anonymous tip that something’s going down in Artemis.”

  “What kind of tip? A phone call?”

  “Somebody left it on the office voicemail. Helen heard it this morning when she got to work.”

  “What exactly did it say?”

  “There’s the problem. Helen isn’t too techno-literate. She erased the message. But she says a male, not too old, not too young, said there’s some bad business taking place in town and the police had better get a grip before it gets out of hand.”

  “That’s all she remembers?”

  “You want more?”

  Josie laughed, incredulous. “More would be helpful. An anonymous man leaves a vague message about trouble in town. That’s not much to go on.”

  “It’s not like we get anonymous tips left on the office answering machine on a daily basis. Obviously something’s up. Be vigilant. Inform the officers that there’s possible trouble. Do I need to do your job for you?”

  “No, sir.”

  They both stood and she watched him pick up his phone and slip it into his back pants pocket. Josie was five-foot-seven, and Moss was slightly shorter than her, although he made up for it in cowboy boots with a custom high heel. His body was shaped like an inverted triangle, with large muscular shoulders and biceps and a narrow waist. His build, coupled with a significant underbite, had gained him the nickname Bulldog with the local law enforcement.

  Before he left, the mayor admonished her once again to be vigilant. Josie texted Otto, Look out. Bulldog’s got a bone.

  TWO

  Josie arrived home in time to change clothes and make it back into the kitchen before Nick pulled up in the driveway. She’d told her mom six because Nick was arriving at five-thirty, and she wanted time to warn him about their dinner guest before she arrived. Dinner was already made—vegetable soup in the Crock-Pot that she’d turned on when she woke up that morning. It was about as homemade as Josie could muster: frozen vegetables, chunked up potatoes and carrots, beef broth, and roast beef from a can. Nick claimed it was his favorite soup, either because he was a nice guy or because he had simple tastes. Either way, Josie was fine with it.

  Josie met him at the front door, where he carried a loaf of French bread and a six-pack of Killian’s Red. She smiled at the sight of him. It had been two weeks since he’d been able to visit, and she’d missed him more than she had realized. He wore a pale yellow summer-weight button-down shirt and jeans with well-worn cowboy boots. His hair was black, military-cut, and he carried himself with the same confidence and purpose as a street cop. When he noticed her standing at the door he smiled back at her, and the floor tilted beneath her. She’d never felt such an intense physical attraction to anyone else, not even Dillon, whom she’d dated for so many years.

  She pushed the door open and he walked inside, laid the bread and beer on the floor, and wrapped both arms around her in a tight hug. He put his mouth beside her ear and whispered her name. “I lay in bed every night for two weeks and imagined you lying beside me. I thought about you on stakeouts. I thought about you instead of my job.” He pulled his head back and looked into her eyes. “You are one dangerous lady.”

  She grinned, feeling her body temperature spike as blood rushed to her cheeks. “I missed you too.”

  He laughed at her simple response and kissed her hard. He ran his hands up under her shirt and pulled her tight against his body. She finally pulled away slightly and said, “I have something to tell you.”

  He closed his eyes and rested his forehead on her hers. “That phrase never brings me good news.”

  “It’s not necessarily good,” she said, “but it could be a lot worse.”

  “Does this mean we’re not skipping supper and heading to bed?”

  “You’re very intuitive.”

  He dropped his arms and grabbed the beer and bread off the floor, heading into the kitchen. “Give it to me straight.”

  “My mom’s here. In Artemis.”

  He dropped the items on the kitchen counter and turned back to her, appearing as shocked at the news as she imagined she had.

  “Is she here? In your house?”

  “Not yet.”

  He looked like he wasn’t sure what to think. “That’s good, right? You haven’t seen her in a long time.”

  She smiled and turned on the oven to heat the bread. “It’s been a long time. Yes.”

  “Did you know she was coming?”

  “I got back from a call this afternoon and found her in the office at the PD, smoking a cigarette.”

  He laughed and Josie finally smiled at the absurdity of it.

  “Are you going to see her tonight?”

  Josie glimpsed the clock on the stove. “She’ll be here in about twenty minutes.”

  At that moment they heard a car pull into the driveway and someone honked several times. Nick grinned. “That’s her, huh?”

  “No doubt.”

  “Do you want me to go so you can spend some time with her?”

  “No. Stay. I need all the support I can get.”

  Josie walked outside to greet her mom. She had on a different outfit but it was the same combo she’d worn earlier—a short skirt and tight T-shirt. She had pulled her hair up into a messy bun behind her head. She looked a decade younger than she was until you saw the wrinkles and dark age spots on her hands and face. Josie tried to imagine her own self in twenty years, and wondered if she might be facing the same upheaval as her mom. She mentally vowed to be patient and kind.

  “It’s good to see you,” Jos
ie said.

  “You too, darlin’!” she cried. She held up a bottle of wine in each hand, and then noticed Nick walk outside. “And who’s this handsome man behind you?”

  “This is Nick Santos. A good friend of mine,” Josie said.

  “Well, Nick. If you’re a friend of Josie’s, you’re a friend of mine,” she said.

  * * *

  Nick put his beer in the fridge and poured them each a glass of Beverly’s wine while Josie served the soup and bread. Nick was not a wine drinker and Josie found the gesture sweet. As they sipped their wine Beverly sat at the table telling Nick about her solo drive cross-country, and about the various truck stops she’d slept in along the way.

  “I came across every sort of trucker and lot lizard you can imagine,” she said. “Some fella even said he’d marry me if I’d keep him company on his haul up north to Canada. Told me when we were done I could divorce him and have half of everything he owns.”

  “Were you tempted?” Nick asked.

  “Not even. He was nice enough to look at, but I figured half a nothing won’t get me too far.”

  By the time they finished dinner and moved onto the back porch to take in the sunset, it was clear Beverly had won Nick over. This wasn’t the same mother Josie had grown up with, nor the one she fought with during every visit and phone call she’d had since leaving home. Had she changed, or was she the same manipulative woman Josie had expected? And more importantly, would Josie have time to tell the difference before her mom won over her friends and staked her claim in the midst of Josie’s life?

  * * *

  It was after one in the morning before Beverly left. Josie closed the front door after her mom drove off and sat down on the couch next to Nick, worn out from the night.

  Nick said, “I have to tell you. I don’t get your irritation toward your mom. She seems like a sweet lady. She’s just looking for family and friendship.”

  Josie groaned. “Seriously, Nick. You spent one evening with her. She’s a manipulator. She shows you what she wants you to see.”

  “I get that. She’s no angel. My dad was a son of a bitch while I was growing up. But he’s my dad, you know? Sometimes you forgive, just because it’s family, not because it’s right.”