hook. As he buckled it around his waist, he glanced out the back window in the office and stopped. “We may have bigger issues to deal with. I talked to Smokey. He said if this rain keeps up today, we’ll probably have to start evacuations by tomorrow.”
Josie rubbed at the muscles in her neck and felt her energy drain. “Have you thought about how this flooding may affect the Feed Plant?”
Otto gave her a look that said he had not.
“I keep thinking about those metal barrels at the back of the plant. If the foothills north of the plant start washing we could have a mess,” she said.
Josie pulled her cell phone out of her shirt pocket and dialed the sheriff.
“Martínez.”
“It’s Josie. You doing okay?”
“Been better. Figure out how to keep people from driving down flooded roads I’d be a hell of a lot better,” he said.
“What’s the flooding status?”
“We’ve shut down four county roads. Pulled out three cars from flooded roadways. All three drivers were people who should’ve known better.”
“Anybody hurt?” she asked.
“No injuries. South Branch Road is the worst. We’ve got two houses we’ll need to evacuate by tomorrow.”
“What do you know about the Feed Plant?” she asked.
“What about it?”
“I need to catch you up on the body that was found off Scratchgravel. The deceased worked at the Feed Plant so we’ve spent some time out there. I’m just wondering if they have any kind of evacuation or emergency plan.”
“They have an emergency plan. I’ve got a copy in the office. I don’t imagine there’s a big contingency for flooding. That area has a decent slope to it.”
“As long as it doesn’t wash out.”
“Why do you ask?”
“Have you seen the number of old rusty barrels they have stacked behind the plant?”
He made a noise but didn’t respond.
“I’m wondering about runoff from the mountains surrounding the plant.”
“I can’t take any more men off the road right now.”
“I’ll check it out and keep you posted,” she said.
Josie hung up and faced Otto, who stood ready to walk out the door.
Josie pulled her chair back over to her desk. “Let me call Paiva’s office and make sure he’s in.” She checked her phone list on her computer and found his number. She reached Sylvia Moore first.
“Mr. Paiva has a full schedule today. The first I can squeeze you in is Monday morning at nine thirty.”
“Please tell him this is urgent. We need to speak with him this morning.”
“One moment.”
Josie covered the receiver with the palm of her hand. “I don’t imagine he’ll be very happy to have to see me today.”
After several minutes she came back on the line. “He’ll see you in thirty minutes.”
“We’ll be there.”
* * *
Otto drove and Josie sat in the passenger seat making a list of questions they wanted to address. The sky was overcast, but the rain had stopped for the moment. The streets in downtown Artemis were passable, but once Otto and Josie hit the county, mud and streams of water crossed the roads making it almost impossible in some places to determine where the road began and ended. Some of the arroyos were overflowing, and the sheriff’s department had already prohibited travel to certain areas of the county. The maintenance crews had been putting in mandatory twelve-hour days and were still barely keeping up with the workload.
Otto pulled onto Plant Road and they saw a large dump truck blocking the road a half mile ahead. As they drove forward, the truck advanced slowly, dumping a layer of gravel behind it. They could see that sections of the road had washed out completely and were now being built up again. It looked like a losing battle, but at least they were fighting.
As was the case with their first visit, by the time they stepped out of Otto’s jeep, Sylvia was walking briskly across the lot toward them. After a sour “good morning,” they walked into the building and were taken to Diego Paiva’s office where he met them at the door and showed them to the conference table.
“We appreciate you changing your schedule for us today,” Josie said.
“Absolutely. I hope you’ve come with news about Juan.”
Josie noticed his demeanor was a bit cooler than their first meeting, but it appeared he did not intend to bring up the previous night.
“We’ve come for two different reasons. We have follow-up questions regarding the Santiago case.”
He nodded once.
“I also talked with Sheriff Martínez this morning. He asked that I check to see if you need support in