Cobb by Maryann Jordan
6
While Josie excused herself to her bedroom to change, Cobb stood in the living room. His hearing was exceptional, and even though he was sure Josie had not meant for him to hear her speaking to her cat, he’d heard her words. I know he’s a big guy, but he’s here to help. He wondered if she was already resigned to allowing him to do his job.
Melon had finished eating and then walked out of the kitchen into the open living room, moving silently from the tile floor to the pale wooden planks. Stopping in the middle of the floor, she looked up at Cobb before lifting her paw and began to wash her whiskers.
When he’d first moved through Josie’s house, he appreciated the clean, simple lines. Now, he took a moment to look around. He’d already discovered that she was renting and could understand the house’s appeal. Pale walls, cream-colored cabinets and granite countertop, pale floors, and tall ceilings all gave a sense of space, even though the house was not large. Three bedrooms, one requisite bathroom in the hall, and a well-appointed main bathroom connected to the largest bedroom.
The lot was large and surrounded by a stone fence, completing the desert-style home. From researching before he came, he knew there was a small, covered deck area on the roof that afforded spectacular views of the mountains in the distance.
He walked over to the fireplace mantle to get a closer look at the framed photographs. Family pictures graced most of the frames. Josie, her father and mother, and a young man that Cobb knew was her cousin, Bert Rector. In Cobb’s investigation, he’d discovered Bert’s parents died in a plane crash when he was in college. He’d spent a great deal of time at Josie’s house with her parents over the years, and after his parents’ deaths became even closer. There was also a photograph of Josie, Bert with his arm around a dark-haired woman, and Laurie wrapped up in another man’s arms. It didn’t miss his attention that Josie sat slightly back from the others who appeared to be camera hogging.
He had just stepped away from the mantle as Josie walked down the hall, now dressed in black leggings and a turquoise-colored tunic cinched at the waist. She still wore the black ballet slippers on her feet. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, making her look even more youthful. She might’ve been thirty but could easily pass for twenty.
Before he had a chance to speak, the doorbell rang. He stalked over, looked out her security peephole, fought the desire to roll his eyes at the poor lighting on her front porch, and threw the door open, startling the delivery boy. Taking the bags, paying and tipping well, he closed the door and bolted the locks. Glancing down at the bags in his hand, he grinned. “It looks like you ordered a lot of food.”
“I like to eat. And, well… you look like you can eat a lot, as well.” As soon as the words left her mouth, her eyes widened and she slapped her hand over her face. “I’m sorry, Jorge. That came out terribly rude.”
He shook his head and laughed. “Not at all. It’s true, you don’t get to be my size without eating a lot.”
She waved her hand toward the wide granite kitchen island, and he placed the bags on top. Together, they unpacked the food and he discovered she had not only ordered two pizzas but mozzarella sticks, a small dish of baked ziti, extra garlic bread, and two large servings of tiramisu.
Eyes wide, he shook his head. “Damn, Josie. This looks amazing.”
She smiled and walked over to a cabinet, pulling out two plates. Placing them on the island, she turned and retrieved spoons and forks. Silently, they loaded their plates with food. She grabbed two beers from the refrigerator and handed one to him. He followed her to the dining room table and waited until she chose her seat first. When she was settled, he took the seat that was directly across from her, wanting to be close but not crowding.
The meal was as delicious as she’d indicated. She didn’t pick at her food but ate heartily. He never cared how much another person ate but found that some women seemed to be terrified of a man thinking that they enjoyed their food. For him, food and family celebrations had always gone hand in hand, so to see Josie eat with obvious enjoyment was nice.
After finishing, she pushed her plate away and leaned back in her chair. Sucking in her lips, she glanced around the room, her gaze never landing on him.
“We need to talk, Josie,” he said, and her attention snapped to his face. He gave her a moment, not surprised when she finally nodded, although her lips were tight. Her father was right… she was smart and knew she needed help.
“Let’s go to the roof,” she said. “I can breathe… think… up there when it’s cool in the evenings.”
They grabbed two more beers after putting the leftovers into the refrigerator, and he followed her up the steps near her bedroom to the rooftop deck. The indigo blue of the evening sky with the craggy mountains in the background was breathtaking. They settled onto the deep cushions of a comfortable settee, and he sipped his beer in silence for a moment, appreciating the view as well as the company.
“I like coming up here in the evenings,” she said, sucking in a deep breath before letting it out slowly. “Sitting on the patio downstairs just reminds me that this property has no grass.”
“Less mowing that way.”
She barked out a laugh and turned her head toward him. Her eyes lit when she smiled, and just like the first time he saw her, it was like a punch to the gut.
“You’re right about that,” she agreed. “That’s one way to think about it.” She looked out over the vista again. “It’s the one thing that made me decide this was the place to rent.”
“I’m curious why you didn’t purchase a home.”
He held his breath for a second, almost afraid she would be offended at the question. Instead, she shrugged and sighed, immediately answering.
“I don’t want to buy a house until I’ve found that one place that I can call home.” She took a sip of beer, waited another moment, and then continued. “I don’t just mean an actual house, but I mean a place.”
This was unexpected. He’d already learned everything he could about her from his early investigation, but her reason for renting surprised him. She shifted in her seat, twisting her body around, and tucked her legs up under her, looking at him. The movement surprised him, but it wasn’t unwanted. He mimicked her behavior, and they sat facing each other, their bodies now closer.
“Am I to assume that you’ve already studied up on me since you’re offering security and investigating this mess I’ve found myself in?”
Again, he was struck with her no-bullshit attitude. Nodding, he said, “Yes. I’ve learned as much about you as I can. Your finances… solvent and frugal. Your education… New Mexico and Boston. Your work… dedicated. Your social life—” He heard a slight gasp from her but kept going. “Your personal life from social media accounts… you’re very private.” Again, he steeled himself for her indignant response, but she simply looked away, her jaw tight for a moment.
Taking another sip of beer, she finally said, “Since you know all about me, then you know I was born and raised in Albuquerque. Even there, we had a house that had grass and trees. And I loved going to the east coast for college.” Her smile returned and she closed her eyes for a second. “I still remember the first, deep snow in Boston. The brisk breeze, the lush flower gardens in the spring, and the deep green trees in the summer. I was lucky enough during high school and then in college to be able to travel to several places with school groups. Canada. England. Switzerland.”
Her voice was melodious, soft, full of emotion, and he hoped she continued to speak freely. “I think I understand what you’re saying. I was born and raised in Albuquerque as well, but as a young boy, my father was assigned to several embassies. I was able to travel to Spain, Greece, Italy, just to mention a few. It definitely broadens your horizons.”
A slight smile curved her lips. “Exactly. While I love the southwest, I’ve never considered it to be the only place I can live. When I graduated, I wanted to be close to my family and there was a position to work with the elderly in Las Cruces. It was a job opportunity. I love it, and I’m happy here. But I’m not ready to say this is my forever home, so I don’t want to buy a house.” She tilted her head to the side and asked, “But what about you? Do you own a house?”
Nodding slowly, he smiled. “Yes, I do. My employer is based in Maine. And I admit that while very different from New Mexico, I discovered that the weather, lush forests, the ocean crashing against the rocks… it’s exactly where I want to be.”
“That’s nice that you found that.”
Her voice was wistful and yet sincere. So far, Josie was as much an enigma as ever.
Her smile slid from her face. “So, where do we go from here? What do you need to know?”
“Talk to me. I know what I’ve read in the reports. I know what your father told me. I’ve seen the initial bookkeeping. I know about the threats you received. But what’s missing is you. You’re the one thing that’s central to all of this, and I need to hear from you what you found, what you discovered, what you said to Caesar, what’s happened since.”
She nodded, nibbling on her lips again. “So, just talk?”
“Yep. I’ll ask questions as needed but just start from the beginning. You might even discover something that you hadn’t thought of before.”
Leaning forward, she placed her beer bottle on the floor next to her feet before resettling back against the cushions. Her hands rested in her lap but her fingers were linked together tightly. Sucking in a deep breath as though to cleanse her mind, she began. “The doctor who began the clinic years ago finally retired and moved away. While it’s part of the Las Cruces medical commission for the elderly, we get most of our funding from grants and private sources. Since my father became a state senator, I’ve been thrust into the world of private donations more than I’m comfortable with. But money talks, and we need money to help our clients.”
“That’s why you were at the gala that night. You were one of the charities obtaining donations.”
Nodding slowly, she scrunched her nose. “Yes. I hate those events.”
“Is that why you were standing off by yourself?” Her gaze shot to his, vulnerability exposed in her pale eyes. Knowing more about her, it was no longer strange that such a beautiful woman desired to stay out of the spotlight.
“When I was growing up, my father was an attorney in Albuquerque. He and Mom belonged to one of the country clubs, but I rarely went. I was the shy, awkward child who grew into a shy, awkward teen. I didn’t need a lot of friends, but the few I had were very good and loyal. But I’ve never been comfortable at a see-and-be-seen event. Bert loves going. He’s my cousin and stayed with us a lot when he was younger. He’s the crowd-pleaser. Easy to converse with, joke with. Easy to make friends. My parents always respected my choices, but I knew it would help the clinic if I showed up in person that night at your father’s event, although Bert would have been a much better choice.”
But then I wouldn’t have met you. He was thankful the words had not slipped out. He’d wanted to avoid talk of their previous meeting until he had a better sense of who Josie Rector was.
She took another sip and continued. “I relied on Caesar to do the basic bookkeeping for the clinic, and we have an accountant that takes care of the clinic’s final accounting to maintain its tax-free status. Actually, it’s my father’s accountant. Henry Begay. He’s from the Acoma Reservation. He and Dad became friends in university. I don’t normally study the accounts and records, but Caesar had mentioned that we’d gotten donations from your father’s event, and I simply decided that I should take a look and see who had donated. If it were people that I or my family knew, then it would be smart to make a personal thank you instead of just one from the clinic.”
“Was Caesar surprised when you looked at the records?”
“I have access to the program, so he didn’t even know I was going to do that. I stayed late a few evenings, and it didn’t take long to realize that something wasn’t right. Please understand, Cobb, accounting and finances are not my strong suit, so I can’t give you dollar amounts and tell you exactly what would go where, but I knew things didn’t look the same. Several donations came in from corporations that I’ve never heard of. People who’ve never given to us before. Okay, in and of itself, that could be seen as good. But when I glanced at deposits that were being made into our accounts, none of it made any sense.”
“When did you talk to Caesar?”
She scrunched her nose again and chewed on her lip, her eyes sliding to the side. “Um… well, it was about two-and-a-half weeks ago. I called him into my office and showed him what I was looking at. He was always so easygoing, but his body language was off. It was hard for him to keep his eyes on me. His fingers were twitching. And he was perspiring even though the room was not warm. He kept trying to convince me that everything was fine, and I told him that I was going to dig deeper to see who some of the donations were from. I knew he didn’t like that, but I chalked it up to him being offended that I was essentially checking up on him.”
The more she talked to him, the more at ease she seemed to be. Her fingers were no longer clenched together, and she occasionally waved her hands when she spoke. Her words were clear and articulate, and her memory of the details excellent. Nodding, he encouraged her to continue her recitation.
“The next day was Thursday, a day that he wasn’t supposed to be with us. I started looking up the new companies that had made donations and found that I was running into difficulty figuring out who they were and where they were. I finally got hold of one of them. ILT International. I spoke to several people, being transferred from one person to another until I felt sure I was right back to talking to the first person who answered the phone. I identified myself and why I was calling. Essentially, I was told that there was no one person at the company that handled donations and that I should simply accept the charity and be satisfied with that.”
She leaned forward, placing her hand on the cushion next to his leg, her eyes boring into his. “But this is where it got interesting.”
His breath caught in his throat, and as much as he wanted to hear what she had to say, it was the closest she’d ever gotten to him on her own. At the gala, it had been because he took her hand. At the front door, it had been because he wanted her to step to the side while he performed a security sweep on her house. But now, caught up in her tale, she was leaning near. Without makeup, he could see a few freckles that scattered across her cheeks, each one capturing his attention. Her pale blue eyes held him mesmerized, and her tongue darted out to moisten her lips. Always focused on a mission, he couldn’t believe how distracted he was. “What was interesting?” He realized his words were almost a grunt but was surprised he was even able to make a sentence.
She jerked, then leaned back slightly, and he was both glad and hated it at the same time. He needed to focus on what she was telling him but hated that she’d moved farther away. Trying to soften his voice, he prodded, “Please, you were saying?”
“Oh… um… well, when I called two of the other companies on the list, the phone numbers were different, but I could’ve sworn the same person answered the phone. When I identified myself and told them what I was doing, they hung up. When I tried to call again, it went straight to voicemail.”
“You think it was the same person, don’t you?”
“Absolutely. The more I thought about it, the more I’m sure. And that’s when I knew I’d stumbled onto something that wasn’t right. I have no idea what they’re doing, but I’m sure somebody was using the clinic as a way to hide or move money around.”
He leaned back against the cushions, a long, slow exhalation leaving his lungs. He had no doubt she was right. Whatever those companies were doing, either Caesar was part of it, or he had stumbled upon it. “Okay, Josie, you’re doing really well. So, what happened next?”
She pulled her lips in and pressed down, her brow lowered. “I saw Caesar the following day. I told him what I’d done, and he looked like he was going to be sick. He left early and then didn’t show up last week at all. When he didn’t come in again this Monday, I tried calling his cell phone but there was no answer. When he didn’t come in on Wednesday, I tried calling again and got no answer. Then I drove to his apartment. He didn’t answer the door. One of his neighbors came out and said that she hadn’t seen Caesar since the previous weekend and that his car hadn’t been in the parking lot. That evening, I found a note on my car. It was a folded piece of paper that said,Just do your job.”
“I saw copies that had been provided by your father.”
“All left on my car. The first two came while I was at work, and then the next one when I was in the grocery store. That scared me because I realized someone was following me. I called Dad immediately. I didn’t know what else to do. Just do your job. Stay quiet and tell no one. Curiosity killed the cat.”
Tears pricked the back of her eyes, and her nose tingled over the last one.
“Fucking hell, Josie!”
Swallowing deeply, she continued, “I know you’re going to wonder why I didn't go to the police at first, but that note wasn’t threatening. I actually thought it was left on my car by mistake. Then, with the second one, I felt sure it was tied into what I was discovering with the books, but I had no evidence. It was just a note that the police wouldn’t have even looked at. And just because Caesar left, the police don’t consider him to be missing. By the time I got the last one, Dad said he’d contacted an investigation company, and someone was coming.” Her hands clasped tightly together. “You surely must understand. Being the child of a politician, you know that scandal, even the hint of it, is to be avoided. I wasn’t about to call the police for something that wasn’t an immediate emergency without giving my dad a chance to decide how to handle it.”
He nodded. “I don’t doubt what you’ve done at all, Josie, and you’re right, I do understand. I’m just glad I’m here now. My people are working with an FBI liaison and I’ll be in contact with them.”
Tilting her head slightly to the side, she held his gaze. “Thank you.”
“That’s not all, right?”
“No. I’ve had phone calls on my cell phone and at work where someone just hung up. Someone in a vehicle following too closely. I was afraid things were going to escalate.” She rolled her eyes and a little snort slipped out. “Dad wanted me to immediately come to Albuquerque to stay with him and Mom. Obviously, that wasn’t going to happen. Dad told me that Governor Cobb’s son did investigations, so I figured someone would get in contact with me before things got worse.”
“You just didn’t expect the investigator to walk through your front door. Or for it to be me.”
By now, the brilliantly painted sunset that had surrounded them while they talked had settled into the deep blue of the night sky. Stars twinkled overhead, but there was a slight chill from the desert around them.
She shivered and stood after snagging her empty beer bottle from the tiled deck. “We should go in.” Without waiting, she walked to the edge and began descending the stairs. He grabbed his empty bottle as well and followed. The thought hit him that as much as he wanted to stay with her for protection, he wanted to be near her just for himself.
