Goodnight, Irene

“Had she ever mentioned this kid to her parents?” I asked.

“No, but it was pretty clear she hadn’t been abducted, and she was over eighteen, so there wasn’t much we could do about it. Her folks never made much out of it once we told them about the bus ticket.

“Now along comes your friend Mr. O’Co

“Well, I’ll be goddamned,” said Pete.

Except for small differences in her looks, a little something about her nose and lips, there was no mistaking the resemblance to MacPherson’s computer composites.

“It’s Ha

“Who?” asked Ramos.

I handed the computer drawing over to Ramos. “Ha

“Assuming this is the same woman-and I agree, it looks a lot like her-her real name was Je

“Je

Ramos was looking at me. “You okay, Miss Kelly?”

“Yes, I’m sorry. Just thinking of how pleased O’Co

“He told me about his sister,” Ramos said.

I was surprised, and didn’t hide it. Ramos met my look with an understanding smile. “I think he was afraid I wouldn’t take this seriously.”

Pete was looking between us, but neither of us offered him an explanation. “So,” he asked Ramos, “are her parents still around?”

“Yeah, her mother is still living,” Ramos said. “Old man’s been dead some years now. But her mother lives out in a trailer off Highway 85. You probably passed it on the way here. She doesn’t have a phone. I’ll take you out there if you want to go.”

Pete stood up. “Yeah, if you don’t mind.” He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “If I live to be a hundred, I’ll never get used to this part of the job.”

We climbed into the front seat of a large green-and-white Jeep Cherokee that had the sheriff’s logo on its doors. About five miles back on Highway 85, we turned off onto a dirt road that ran through some fenced acreage with cattle here and there. It was easy to see why a four-wheel-drive vehicle was necessary. We jolted our way down a road that had so many potholes, NASA could have tested lunar-landing vehicles on it. Finally we came to a stop outside an opening in the barbed-wire fence; from the opening, a gravel drive led back to a trailer. Ramos honked and waited awhile. Soon the trailer door swung open and a thin gray-haired lady stared out and then waved to us. Ramos slowly pulled into the drive, trying not to raise dust.

“Hello, Enrique!” she barked out in a raspy voice. “Who you brought with you?”

“A couple of folks from California, Mrs. Owens.”

“California! Well, come on in out of the sun. It’s hotter than hell out. A couple of old devils like Enrique and I can take it, but you folks are probably just about baked.”

The trailer was an old silver one, with light wood paneling. By the time the four of us had squeezed in, it felt as if we had quite a crowd in there.

After introductions, she motioned us to sit down on a couch behind a Formica table. On a shelf below a window were several framed photos of Je

Mrs. Owens went over to the refrigerator and came back with a big pitcher of lemonade. She brought out four ornate glasses on a tray covered with an old lace doily.

I felt like shit. I glanced at Pete, and knew he felt the same.

“So what brings a police officer all the way out from California to see a seventy-year-old desert rat?” she asked.

“Why don’t you sit down for a minute here, Mrs. Owens?” Ramos suggested.

She gave him an inquisitive look with her china blue eyes and slowly sat down. “What’s this all about, Enrique?”

“It’s about Je

“Je

He nodded.

“My God, she’s dead. She’s dead, isn’t she?”

“I’m sorry, we believe so, yes.”

She began to cry. She got up from the table and stumbled back into a bedroom and shut the door, which didn’t muffle the rising wail of grief. We sat immobilized, none of us looking at the other. After a while we heard water ru

“I’m sorry,” she said to us. “You’d think after thirty-five years I wouldn’t care if I ever saw her again. But I’ve always hoped-” She broke off.

“Of course, ma’am,” Pete said, “that’s only natural. And we are very sorry to have to be the ones to end those hopes.”

“What about my grandchild?” she asked suddenly.

We were all startled.

“Grandchild?” repeated Ramos.

“Je

If I had doubts that Ha

We all exchanged looks. I went over to her and put an arm around her. “This is a very difficult story to tell, Mrs. Owens. Please sit down.”

For a moment it seemed she would resist this idea, but then she meekly allowed me to lead her back to the chair.

I sat back down, across from her.

“Tell me,” she said quietly.

“On June 17, 1955,” I began, “a woman’s body was found on the beach in Las Piernas. We now believe that woman was Je

“1955! Dead since 1955!” she exclaimed, but then fell silent.

“The woman was guessed to be about twenty years old. She was two months pregnant when she died. She was murdered.”

“Murdered! Why? Why would anyone want to kill Je

“That’s one of the reasons we’re here, Mrs. Owens. We don’t know. Whoever killed her-” I tried to find the right words. “Whoever killed her took steps to make it hard to identify Je

“Not long ago, a new coroner came to work in our city; he found new evidence about Je

“Yes, poor dear,” she said, glancing up at the photographs. “She was always so self-conscious about them. From the water here, you know. Too much fluoride.”

“More than anything, those stains led us to Gila Bend. Unfortunately, my friend died before he could learn your daughter’s identity. He knew that this would be very sad news to you, but I know he hoped it would be better than always wondering what became of her.”

She was quiet for a while, then said, “It’s true. At least now I know. Thirty-five years of hell. I’ve sat here and wondered why she hated us so much that she could never write so much as a postcard. I wondered if she was married, if the baby was a boy or a girl. I wondered why she wouldn’t at least let the child see his grandmother. I wondered if she was dead. I wondered if she was being tortured. I wondered if she had amnesia. You wouldn’t even believe some of the things I’ve wondered. At least that’s over.”