desk, and planted her hands on her hips. “I will have his ass in jail by nightfall. I don’t care if I arrest him for loitering or jaywalking or peeing on a tire, he will break a law by sundown.” She was breathing heavily and her voice was low and measured.
“Hold on. Let’s think this through,” Josie said.
“How could Wetzel allow a sixteen-year-old girl to implicate herself with a sleazy bastard like Gomez? Why didn’t he call me first? No professional courtesy?”
Josie stood and shut the door to the office and pointed to the conference table. The three sat down and allowed Marta to rant against the bail bondsman for several minutes.
Josie finally cut her off. “Wetzel is scum. He has no concept of professionalism or courtesy. Don’t waste your time trying to figure someone like that out. You can’t do it.” She leaned forward in her seat, watching Marta closely. “You know we’re behind you on this, one hundred percent, but my advice is to slow down.”
“She had to sign a contract—a legally binding contract—to bail him out of jail. You can’t tell me a sixteen-year-old can legally do that!”
Otto cleared his throat. “The worst thing you can do is go after him and have it backfire. You need to make sure you can wrap him up tight before you do anything.”
Josie nodded agreement. “I’ll call the county attorney and ask his opinion first. We need to make sure the law backs you up. Then we’ll take care of Wetzel.”
Marta blew air out as if a balloon deflated in her chest. “That girl is going to kill me. She will literally be my death.”
“She’s just being a kid,” Josie said.
Marta closed her eyes. “Please. Do not make excuses for my daughter’s behavior. She’s gone too far this time.” She ran her hands back through her hair several times, blinking her eyes, trying to keep the tears from coming. “I appreciate you both, more than you can imagine.” She took a deep breath and looked away from Josie, her voice softer. “I hope this doesn’t cause problems for you.”
“You let me deal with that. Your conduct isn’t at issue,” Josie said. She imagined the notion had been weighing on Marta since the sheriff had called her with the news.
Marta’s expression lightened and she nodded slowly as if forcing herself to move on. “I’m okay then. Tell me where we are with the body.”
Josie smiled. “This’ll take your mind off Teresa. I think I know where our dead man worked.” She was pleased at their startled expressions. “The old Feed Plant.”
“The dead guy was on the cleanup crew?” Otto asked.
“It’s a good possibility.” She watched Otto’s expression turn to dread.
“Is that where the sores came from? He was exposed to radiation? And we were exposed. You better call Cowan ASAP.”
She tilted her head and held a hand up. “Don’t panic yet. The old cobbler—Jeremiah Joplin? He worked there for years during full production. He said he never saw anyone with sores like what we saw. If anyone in the community had seen wounds like that they would have exposed it when the big cancer scare took place.”
Otto shook his head. “This is bad.”
“Sauly worked at the plant when they first started cleanup. He worked there for years,” Marta said. “I’m sure he’d talk to you.”
“I’ll go visit him tomorrow.” Sauly Magson was one of Josie’s favorite local characters. He was an old hippy who lived by his own set of standards and was one of the most content and happy people she had ever met.
“Have you talked with the manager at the Feed Plant yet?” Otto asked.
“No. Can you call and schedule an appointment for us to meet with him tomorrow? We could meet in the morning if you can work an earlier schedule.”
“Will do.”
Lou buzzed the intercom and her voice came through the speaker on Josie’s desk phone.
“Chief?”
“Yes.”
“National Weather Service announced a severe thunderstorm warning for West Texas. Stretches from El Paso down to Presidio. Six inches tonight. They expect the Rio to flood Presidio before dawn. They’ve started evacuations down by the river. They’re moving families out into a temporary shelter they set up at the elementary school in Presidio.”
“All right. Thanks, Lou.”
“Mayor wants everyone sandbagging tomorrow in shifts. I signed you and Otto up for a two-hour shift. Seven to nine in the morning.”
“Thanks, Lou,” Josie said.
They looked out of the large windows in back of the PD. Fast-moving gray clouds stretched as far as they could see