Josie continued speaking in a soothing voice, and eventually knelt beside the woman and placed a hand on her back, rubbing slowly, trying to calm her. The woman finally raised her head again at the mention of water. As she closed her eyes and drank half the bottle, water dripping down her face, Josie was able to study her for signs of abuse.
Josie figured she was in her late teens to early twenties, with dark brown eyes, black hair, and full lips. Her clothes were not typical of someone crossing the desert. Noticing her reaction to Nick’s voice, she wondered if she was looking at a horrible domestic situation. Maybe the woman had come to Josie’s house knowing that a female police officer lived here.
Josie put a hand out and tried to get the woman to stand but she seemed too terrified to move. Josie pointed to the living room window.
“Let’s go inside. You’re safe now. I promise.” Josie reached down and slid her arm underneath the girl’s and slowly pulled her up. “No one is going to hurt you here. We just want to help you.”
Josie helped the girl inside the house and sat her at the end of the couch, where she once again pulled her legs up and hugged her arms around them. Josie took a blanket that lay over the top of a chair and wrapped it around the woman’s shoulders.
She sat next to her on the couch and said, “The car that drove in front of the house. Was it looking for you?”
She began crying and Josie was hopeful that she spoke at least some English.
“Are there other people with you?”
She whimpered like a child and finally looked out the front door and in the general direction of where the car had stopped on the road.
“Is there someone outside?”
She closed her eyes as if she wasn’t able to stand the image.
“Are the people who hurt you back there?”
Nothing.
“Is someone else back there? In the pasture?”
The woman sobbed at the question and Josie pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and called the night dispatcher. “Brian, this is Josie. Call Border Patrol. Call Otto too and tell him I need him out here. I don’t know what’s going on, but I want to be prepared.”
Brian told her Marta was on her way and should be there within five minutes. Phillips, from the sheriff’s department, was on a call but would be there within twenty minutes. “I talked to Sheriff Martinez. He’s on his way as well.”
Several minutes later Marta Cruz pulled up. Josie introduced her to the girl, who remained curled up on the couch and under the blanket. Marta sat beside the woman and placed an arm on her back, trying to reassure her while Josie briefed her on the situation and gave her instructions. “I’d like you to stay with her while I arrange a group of officers to search the pasture beside the house.”
*
Outside, Josie found Nick pulling a flak jacket from the back of his vehicle. “Let’s have a look around the house,” he said.
“Not until we have help. I just asked for support from Border Patrol but don’t have an ETA. Otto’s on his way. So are Deputy Dave Phillips and Sheriff Roy Martinez. We’ll partner up and head out when they arrive. We’ll each have an officer. I’ll leave one man posted at the house.”
Nick nodded. “How long?”
“We should have everyone here in twenty minutes.”
*
Josie called Dell to fill him in. It was three o’clock in the morning. He answered after the first ring.
“What’s the matter?”
“I need to make you aware of a situation. Nick is here. We heard a car drive by at about two this morning. This is the third night I’ve heard it. Nick and I went outside to check things out and watched it stop in front of your pasture.”
“They get out of the car?” he asked.
“No, it just sat idling along the road. After it pulled away we found a young woman hiding on my front porch. Physically she’s okay, but she’s terrified. She can’t speak. I’d guess whoever was in the car was hunting her.”
“I’ll be right down.”
“No. Don’t leave your house. Stay indoors with the lights out and gun ready until you hear otherwise. I don’t know who might be out here right now.”
“You have backup with you?”
“I do. We’ll fan out in groups. I’ll call you back as soon as I know something more.” She paused and he didn’t say anything. “Everything okay?”
“I ought to be out there helping you. At least checking my pasture.”
Josie sighed. “Dell, please. Promise me you’ll stay put. We can’t be worrying about running into you while we’re outside. You could accidentally get shot.”
“All right, then,” he said. Not one to sit idle, he was clearly frustrated. “You let me know what you find.”
*
Sheriff Roy Martinez was a burly retired Marine Corps sergeant. Roy spent most of his time running the jail and dealing with the dramas that come with supervising staff and criminals, but Josie trusted him as a solid officer.