Page 28 of The Girl from Devil's Lake
“This was on a weekday,” Deb said. “Why wasn’t Xavier in school?”
He’s only four. He’s too young.
“On days when you have company,” Deb asked, “do you have any idea what Xavier does when he’s out of the house?”
Sometimes he hangs out with kids from the migrant camp. It’s right at the end of our street. They’re older than he is, but they don’t go to school, either.
“Do you recall him ever mentioning any of them by name?”
Elena shook her head.
“As you’ve no doubt been told,” Deb continued after a moment, “we’ve recently located the body of a young boy who may or may not be your son. I have some photos here. Would you let me know if you recognize anything?”
With that Deb opened the file folder that had been lying in front of her and pulled out two photos, presumably from the ones she had taken during the autopsy.
Elena picked up the first one and examined it closely before dropping it onto the tabletop and bursting into an agonizing howl of anguish. A whole minute passed before Elena was once again capable of speech.
“Is that your son’s shirt?” Deb asked.
Elena nodded. “The top button is missing. I noticed it was gone that morning, but I didn’t have time to sew it back on.”
“What about these?”
As Deb shoved the second photo across the tabletop, Joanna recognized it as a still of the two high-topped sneakers sitting side by side.
Elena looked at those and shook her head. “Those shoes are not my son’s!” she declared.
Joanna had thought that the shoes would be the final tipping point in the identification process, but they weren’t—not at all.Clearly Elena Delgado spoke far more English than she had previously let on.
“Do you have a recent photo of your son?” Deb asked.
Elena reached into her pocket and produced a cell phone. After scrolling through it for a moment, she located what she was looking for and passed the phone to the detective.
“I took that last month on his birthday,” Elena said.
Deb studied the screen for a moment before asking, “Would you mind sending it to me?”
At that point, Elena looked somewhat mystified. Thankfully, Arturo stepped in.
“I happen to have Sheriff Brady’s cell phone number right here,” he said, pulling out his own phone. “Why don’t I text it to her?”
Moments later Joanna’s phone dinged with an arriving message announcement. When she opened it, she saw the image of a little boy smiling impishly up at her from behind what appeared to be a half-eaten snow cone. He was wearing the same blue plaid shirt, only in the photo the top button was still intact. It made Joanna’s heart ache to think that the light behind that impish grin had been forever extinguished.
The interview ended shortly thereafter with Deb producing a kit and collecting the necessary cheek swab. After that, Jaime escorted Arturo Peña and Elena Delgado from the room. Of course it would take time for the DNA results to come in, but the people who had observed the interview already knew what the final result would be. Xavier Francisco Delgado, a Mexican national, age four, was definitely their previously unidentified homicide victim.
Chapter 12
Bisbee, Arizona
Tuesday, November 28, 2023
Shortly after the interview ended, Joanna assembledher team in the conference room. By then she’d had Kristin make copies of the photo from Elena’s phone. After distributing paper copies of Xavier’s photo to everyone in attendance, she looked questioningly at the people seated around the table.
“Okay, folks,” she said. “What’s our next move?”
“I’ll get a copy of the photo to Dr. Baldwin,” Deb said, “but I want this cheek swab in the hands of the Department of Public Safety’s DNA lab in Tucson sooner than later.”
Garth raised his hand. “The fastest way to make that happen is to hand deliver it. I’ll be glad to drive it up there.”
