“Go away. Just go away.”
Loretta had limited use of her right arm. She was sore and had shuffled when she walked back to the couch, as if each step pained her. Her right eye had at one point been swollen shut and was now only partly open. The bruises were healing—the ones Lucy could see. But the way she shifted, Lucy wondered if she didn’t have a broken rib.
There was no way in her condition that Loretta could have performed an emergency C-section.
“You need a doctor,” Lucy said. “A real doctor.” She sat next to her and tried to check her vitals.
“Don’t touch me! I’ll be fine. Just leave me alone.”
Lucy dropped her hand. She couldn’t force Loretta to get medical help—but there was no way she was leaving without calling the paramedics. She got up and sent Nate a text message.
Siobhan squatted next to Loretta and showed her the photo of Marisol and Ana. “These girls—I know you were with them. Where are they?”
Loretta didn’t speak, but it was clear she recognized the girls.
“Cora talked. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted her. You don’t understand. They’re going to kill us.”
Siobhan said, “No one else is going to die. Eloise had preeclampsia. She delivered her baby after suffering a seizure. Her body was left in a Dumpster. You have to help us find these people before anyone else dies. For Eloise. For all of them.”
“They’re all gone.” Shaking, Loretta drank more water. It dribbled down her chin and she didn’t seem to notice.
“When did you last see Marisol and Ana?” Lucy asked.
She didn’t say anything.
“Please, Loretta,” Siobhan pleaded, “I’ve been looking for Mari and Ana for two years. Their family needs them. They have a younger brother and a grandmother who are worried about them. Their mother was my best friend, I have to find them!”
Siobhan was appealing to emotion, but Loretta wasn’t biting. She was too old, too jaded, too guilty to say anything.
Lucy cleared her throat. She motioned for Siobhan to move. Siobhan didn’t want to, but Loretta understood only one thing—survival—and Lucy was going to push.
Siobhan stood and walked several feet away. Lucy stood over the beaten woman and said, “Loretta, let me explain what is going to happen from this moment forward. You are at best a material witness to a felony and at worst a co-conspirator. We have a witness who places you in the same house as a woman we later found dead in a Dumpster, her infant ripped out of her womb. We have a witness who identified Eloise at a house on El Gato Street in Freer Sunday night; early Tuesday morning, Eloise was found murdered. Not in Freer, but here, in Laredo. A person with medical training—such as yourself—cut Eloise’s baby boy out of her womb, then shot Eloise in the back of the head. They left her body in a trash can.”
Lucy used the most blunt, clear language that she could. Every sentence caused Loretta to shrink back, as if slapped. Though recounting the facts sickened Lucy, she put enough venom in her voice to make sure that Loretta Martinez knew that she was deadly serious about this case and that Loretta was not getting a pass on her complicity to kidnapping and murder.
“Three days—they have three days on us. We will find them. We have already identified three of the key players—Jasmine, her bodyguard Lance Dobleman, and the man responsible for keeping these pregnant women locked up, Raoul. We have identified four of the women who were held against their will. We will identify the others. And you have two choices. You can either help us and beg the court for leniency, or hinder us and spend the rest of your life in prison. Those are your choices.”
Siobhan stared at Lucy. “Lucy, we agreed—”
“No, Siobhan, you thought, big difference. You care, I get it. But we’re beyond coddling accessories to murder. If we don’t find Mari and Ana soon, we won’t find them. These people know how to move their victims in and out of the county, the state, the country. The longer we play these games, the more time they have to disappear.”
The pain pill had kicked in; Loretta’s eyes were becoming glassy. Lucy frowned. This woman was seriously ill. She pulled down the afghan and Loretta hit her hand. Lucy ignored her and pulled up her nightgown. Her stomach was dark purple. Lucy was stunned that Loretta was still alive.
“Loretta—you have internal bleeding. You need immediate medical attention.”
“Go away,” Loretta said.
Siobhan was on the phone and Lucy shook her head.
“We have to call an ambulance!” Siobhan said.
“Agent Dunning already called,” Lucy said. “I knew she was gravely injured when she opened the door.”
Lucy put the blanket back on Loretta. “You’re dying, Loretta. Please, if you want to help those girls—if you want to punish the men who beat you—help us. Now.”