Loretta was close to talking. Lucy sat on the floor and took her shaking hand. “We know Marisol disappeared with her baby. Did she come back? Where is she? Where is Ana?”
“I didn’t know she left it … we didn’t know. She never came back. I didn’t think she’d leave her sister.”
She didn’t leave her by choice. She must have had a plan … it was the only thing that Lucy could think of. But maybe she didn’t expect their captors to move the girls so quickly. Maybe she was getting help … just not from the authorities.
Or maybe they found her and killed her.
“Why would she leave Ana?” Siobhan asked.
“Ana … they were all safe while they were pregnant,” Loretta said.
Marisol must have thought she had time, at least enough time to save Ana.
“Raoul was so angry.”
“Where would Marisol go?” Lucy asked.
“I don’t know.”
“You must have an idea.”
“She talked about an Angelo. Always, Angelo. I don’t know who he is, I don’t know anything about him, but she thought he would save her.”
Siobhan gasped. “Angelo? Angelo Zapelli?”
“I don’t know,” Loretta said, her voice weak.
Lucy looked at the pills that Loretta had been taking. Oxycodone, prescribed to someone else. She had no idea how many the woman had taken, but she was loopy and fading rapidly. She heard the ambulance in the distance. She texted Nate to bring them in immediately.
“Who’s Angelo Zapelli?” Lucy asked Siobhan.
“Marisol’s employer in Monterrey was Antonio Zapelli—his son is Angelo. RCK ran a background on both of them, said the family had no ties to any drug cartels or human trafficking.”
“We need to talk to both of them.”
“I have his information. I’ll call him.”
“Not without me,” Lucy said. “Siobhan, this has always been serious, but it’s gotten much more dangerous. If Loretta is to be believed, Marisol gave birth and left the baby at the church, sought help, and is now looking to get her sister back. She must have an idea of where they are. We have to find her, find these people. They will kill her. They killed Eloise, they’ve been selling babies, we have no idea how many—”
“Seventy-two,” Loretta whispered.
Lucy and Siobhan both looked at the woman. “What?” Lucy said.
“I’ve delivered seventy-two babies in the last two years. You’ll never find them all. Too many women, they’re foolish, believe anything because they want to believe.”
“Eloise was chained to a bed!” Siobhan said.
“Only after Marisol ran away. Raoul chained them all. But I haven’t seen them … I came home. Came home to die.” Loretta’s voice trailed off.
Nate opened the door and escorted the two paramedics inside. Lucy talked to them, showed them the pills that Loretta had been taking, and informed them that the beating happened six to seven days ago, probably on Thursday.
The day Marisol ran away.
While Siobhan was making calls trying to locate Angelo Zapelli in Monterrey, Lucy pulled Nate aside. “I want to place her in custody. Anything to keep her safe and to keep her from running, if she survives. She knows more than what she’s said.”
“I called the assistant sheriff,” Nate said. “Villines.”
“Good.” She glanced over as the paramedics lifted Loretta onto the gurney. “Seventy-two babies, Nate. She said she delivered seventy-two babies in two years. She wasn’t threatened or imprisoned or exploited, she did it for money. Maybe she didn’t start out being a criminal, but she figured out what was going on and she remained silent and continued to participate in criminal behavior.”
“Did she admit that they were selling babies?” Noah asked.
“No, she didn’t. If she survives—and honestly, I don’t know that she will, she’s in bad shape made worse by the fact that she’s been popping pills all week—she needs to confess to everything and face consequences for her actions. Let the powers that be decide what to do with her.”
Noah asked the paramedics what hospital they were going to, then returned to Lucy. “We don’t have a warrant to search her house. Possibly probable cause, but depends on what judge we get. Still, if something is in plain sight—we need to search and clear the house anyway.”
Lucy concurred. “If Loretta is telling the truth—and I’m inclined to believe her, considering she was on so many painkillers I don’t think she could have consciously lied—then Marisol went to her old boss for help. Jasmine and her people probably didn’t know what Marisol was going to do, so they shut down the house and moved the girls as soon as they could.”
“Except Eloise.”
“She was sick. Maybe she’d already had a seizure. Maybe they planned on going back for her after Macey and her baby were gone. We don’t know, but they might have been short on space if the girls had to be moved quickly.”