The Territory A Novel - By Tricia Fields Page 0,75
I trust him enough to follow through on the details. At this point, I don’t know if I trust him on anything.”
Otto’s expression was fierce. “Don’t you know the warden at the detention center?”
Josie nodded. “Remi Escobedo. I worked with him a few years ago on a federal indictment. He’s a good man.”
“Have you talked to him?”
“Chain of command? Moss would stroke out if I went around him to check details with the warden.”
“So, let him,” Otto said. “You’ve got good instincts. You need to start there. Clean up the politics later.”
After a few calls, Josie tracked down Escobedo at his home in Presidio. As soon as he discovered it was Josie on the phone, he said he was sorry for her troubles and asked about her safety.
“I’d like to ask you a question in confidence,” Josie said.
“Of course.”
“It’s about the prisoner transfer. You’ve talked to Mayor Moss about the four prisoners moving to the federal prison?” she asked.
“Yes, I spoke with him by phone this morning. You’ve got the shooter from the Trauma Center, and the three guys you stopped at the river with the explosives. Right?”
“That’s right. Did he also explain that two more gunmen came to my house yesterday, shot up my house, and threatened me? Said that if the prisoners weren’t released by tonight that I would be killed?”
Escobedo paused. “He did not.”
“Is there a reason why the prisoners can’t be moved today?”
“I specifically offered to set transfer up myself this morning, as soon as I heard from the mayor.” His voice was measured and steely. “He told me he was working in tandem with the sheriff. The mayor did not tell me anything about the threat to your life. He explained the shooting and said we needed the prisoners moved to a more secure location. But he set up the transfer for Monday at four P.M. He chose the time. He said local law enforcement had the jail secured tonight, and a National Guard contingent was scheduled this weekend. I offered to have a transport van there by two o’clock today.”
Josie rubbed the back of her neck and sat down on the couch. She stared at Otto as she spoke, trying to make some sense of what she had just heard. “It’s not just my own safety; it’s every officer at that jail. Medrano has a personal score to settle with his cousin, and he intends to take care of it on his own terms. This won’t end until Gutiérrez is dead.”
Josie heard Escobedo breathing heavily on the other end of the phone. “I don’t like this. What do you know about Moss?”
“He’s arrogant. He doesn’t like women in authority. He’s either loved or hated by everyone in Artemis, no in between. He’s a control freak with designs on a senator’s seat. This, though?”
“Think he’s in with Medrano?”
“I don’t know. There’s a deputy I have my doubts about. He’s scammed money from the department. Probably ten to twenty thousand from the county, and there is a fair chance it’s connected to La Bestia. Gun sales.”
Otto threw his hands up in the air and gave her a look that said, Why the hell didn’t I know any of this?
“You don’t suppose the mayor is playing La Bestia against Medrano, do you? There’s serious cash to be had there,” Escobedo said.
“La Bestia’s been silent through this. I think their concern is in Piedra. It’s the drug route they’re after. They couldn’t care less about losing Gutiérrez to a jail cell. He’s a throwaway pawn. They’ve already got any information from him they were going to get. Now he’s just leverage against Medrano and not much else.”
“Do you have any other law enforcement in the county that knows what’s going on? Prosecutor? Sheriff?” he asked.
“The sheriff knows some. I think he’s square, but with one of his deputies possibly involved, I haven’t confided much. I haven’t talked to the prosecutor yet, because I don’t have my facts in order. Right now, you know as much as anybody outside my own department.”
“Your top priority right now has to be getting those prisoners out of town safely and immediately.”
Josie sighed, frustrated, and rolled her eyes at Otto, who was staring at her intently from the couch. “I’ve been telling the mayor that, but I can’t get him to take me seriously. Can you make that call?”
Escobedo breathed out heavily. “I don’t think we want to do that just yet.”
* * *
At one o’clock that afternoon, Josie and Otto met Escobedo