Her Mother’s Grave

Chapter Two

The calls had started just after Lloyd Todd’s arrest a month earlier. They were always the result of a craigslist ad that gave her name and cell phone number, some so disgusting and graphic she could barely get through reading them. She’d changed her number three times already. Whoever was writing the ads managed to get hold of her new number each time. She’d tried to figure out how—in fact her entire staff had come under suspicion—but she still couldn’t track it. She’d gone to the cell phone store, even gone so far as to bring in the store associates for interrogation, but that lead had fallen flat pretty quickly. Even if someone at the cell phone store was giving out her new number each time she changed it, she had no way of proving it. She’d switched cell carriers after the last ad, but it was now obvious that hadn’t worked.

Josie weaved through the streets of downtown Denton. Her city was roughly twenty-five square miles, many of those miles spanning the untamed mountains of central Pennsylvania, with their one-lane winding roads, dense woods, and rural residences spread out far and wide. The population was edging over thirty thousand, and it increased when the college was in session, providing plenty of conflict and crime to keep Josie’s team of fifty-five pretty busy. She arrived at the police station in only ten minutes, parked in the chief’s spot in the municipal parking lot, and went in the front door. Her desk sergeant nodded to her. “Is Lieutenant Fraley here?” she asked him.

He pointed to the ceiling. “Upstairs finishing the paperwork on the Todd case.”

“Great,” Josie said.

She took the steps two at a time and found Noah at his desk, staring at his computer screen, a gnawed pen hanging from his mouth and his thick brown hair in disarray. Without moving his head, his eyes tracked her. “I hate paperwork,” he mumbled, pulling the pen from his mouth. “Did I mention that?”

Josie perched on the edge of his desk. “You might have,” she said.

He tossed the pen onto his desk, used his mouse to close out the programs on his computer, and turned his attention to her. Brow furrowed, he said, “What’s going on?”

She held up her cell phone. “I got another one.”

He glanced at the phone, then stood up, nodding toward her office where they could speak in private. Noah closed the door behind him and already had his notepad out by the time Josie rounded her desk. She plopped into her chair, pulled up the ad on her phone, and read it aloud to him as his pen flew across the page and his face grew increasingly stern. She told him about the call from Roger and rattled off the phone number.

“I’ll flag this as prohibited and fax another warrant over to the craigslist offices,” Noah said.

Josie sighed. “And that will get us nowhere, just like the last three times.”

“But we need to build a case. When we find out who’s doing this, we need to have everything in order to be able to put them away.”

“We know who’s doing it. Lloyd Todd and his legion of assholes.”

“Fine, then we need to be prepared to put those assholes away.”

“Like we did when they slashed the tires of all the cars in the police lot? Or when they egged the downstairs windows? They’re angry because we arrested their boss and took away their drugs, and now they’re all unemployed and in withdrawal. They’re blowing off steam.”

“Directed specifically at you,” Noah pointed out.

“Because I’m the one who gets the job of going on TV every time something big or bad happens in this town.”

“Yeah,” Noah said, smiling. “I know that’s your favorite.”

She glared at him.

“You should hire a press liaison,” he suggested.

Josie rolled her eyes. “We can’t afford a press liaison. Just get today’s ad taken down, would you?”

“Fine, but I’m faxing over a warrant as well.”

“So you can get dummy email addresses and IP addresses that don’t help us find the person who’s doing this? Knowing the person posted the ads from an IP address somewhere in the city of Denton doesn’t exactly narrow it down. Who knew these idiots were so tech-savvy?”

“Last time we narrowed it down to the Starbucks near the college,” Noah pointed out.

“Yes,” Josie said. “Someone piggybacking on their wifi. We have no idea if that person was even in the store, or if they were in a car or across the street. There was no way to tell from the video footage inside the cafe whether it was one of the patrons. Everyone in that place is on a damn computer or a phone.”

“It’s still worth looking into,” Noah said. “We might catch a break. This is getting serious. I think these craigslist ads rise to a higher level than pranks, Boss.”

“Noah.”

He stared at her, and she knew what was coming. “Don’t even say it,” she said.

“Boss, let me put a detail on you. Just until we catch these punks.”

“I don’t need a detail,” Josie said. “Not for this. This is dumb high school shit.”

“You’ve got men calling you for sex.”

“Men who think I’m someone I’m not. Believe me, I’m not worried about the Rogers of the world. That guy couldn’t even handle a phone call with me. I doubt he’s going to try to track me down.”

“I’m not worried about Roger,” Noah said. His eyes bored into her. “I’m worried about the jerk placing the ads. Are you certain this is coming from Lloyd Todd’s camp?”

“Well, I’ve put a lot of people away as Chief of Police. It could be anyone, but it started after we arrested Todd, after I’d given at least three press conferences. If his lackeys are looking for someone to direct their rage toward, I would be that person. But listen, this is just a nuisance. It hasn’t risen to the level of putting a detail on me.”

He opened his mouth to speak again, but Josie stopped him with a raised palm. “I’m not ruling out the possibility of a detail—although I can certainly take care of myself—but not now, okay? Right now, I have to go back to the phone store and get my number changed. Again.”

He knew her well enough by now not to push her. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll get to work on this. Text me with your new number.”