Luisa Sanchez lived in a doublewide trailer hung with lace curtains way up Pine Springs Road from Maggie’s small rental. It was a part of the county called The Pines that was even thicker with woods, houses every two miles down long hidden driveways.
Luisa Sanchez looked confused when she opened the screen door and saw Maggie in her blue flannel shirt and jeans, hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. One benefit to desk duty was Maggie worked nine to five and had been able to go home and change out of her uniform before coming to visit Mrs. Sanchez.
“Ed doesn’t live here anymore.” The woman was about to close the door.
“Mrs. Sanchez? I’d like a few minutes of your time if you don’t mind.”
The woman’s eyes narrowed. She was petite with neat gray hair in a bun and crinkling eyes. She had on a faded apron and had probably been in the middle of making dinner.
“Who are you?” she said, squinting up at Maggie.
“Maggie Bychowski. I’m a cop in Sanctuary City. I’m new to the department. Checking on some stuff that happened before I got here. I’m here to talk to you about Johnny.”
Luisa Sanchez opened the door wider. A flicker of something both sad and triumphant passed across her face. “It’s about time,” she said and held the door for Maggie.
After she settled Maggie into a seat with a fresh cup of coffee, Luisa Sanchez undid her apron and dumped a basket of clean laundry onto her couch. She folded clothes and towels as she spoke.
“Me and Ed was with the boy the entire day. We were all out doing our annual fixer up on my Ma’s place. That was before she passed. Every year, me and my brother’s families, about September, we all would go to my Ma’s house on a Saturday and winterize her home. I’d usually be in charge of the inside stuff with my sisters-in-law. We’d do all her laundry, trade her cotton linens for the flannel ones, and get out all the old quilts from storage. Those sorts of things.”
Luisa Sanchez shook out and snapped worn white towels, folding them into compact rectangles before stacking them on the back of the couch. The house began to fill with the smell of something good. She excused herself once or twice and checked on something in the kitchen before she continued her story.
“My brother, Paco, he’d be in charge of the yard, you know, getting the bushes cut back and her yard raked. Ed was around then and he’d put all the storm windows back on that we’d taken off for the summer. We’d all do things like clean the gutters and mow the lawn and all those sorts of things. Every year. At the end of the day, we’d all have some of the chili my Ma made and then usually sit around a bonfire, joking and telling stories, burning the wood that the boys had gathered in cleaning up the yard.” A distant smile spread across Luisa Sanchez’s face as she got caught up in the memory.
“Sounds like you come from good people. Take care of those who need it.”
Luisa Sanchez met Maggie’s eyes. “Yes, ma’am. That’s why I try not to hold any hate in my heart for what they did to my son. But the truth needs to be known. You going to be the one to tell it?”
“I’d like to, ma’am.”
The woman disappeared into a back room for a second and came back with a big brown box.
“Here’s the information I sent to all the news shows. The ones in Apple Valley. The ones in Sacramento. Even the ones in New York. But nobody was interested in his story.”
She handed Maggie a sheaf of papers.
“Those are witness statements. Alibis from everyone in my family that day. Everyone who saw Johnny was with us when that girl was raped. Not just family, either. Some neighbors too who came over that day.”
Maggie took the stack of papers, bound with a large black clip.
“One more thing,” Maggie said. “I met this couple, they were actually being escorted out of the county and I think they might have been related to you.”
Maggie described the couple’s appearance. Luisa Sanchez scrunched her face. “That might have been my cousin and his wife, Maria and Jose Gonzalez. I heard they were back down in Mexico. They were visiting another cousin who owns a ranchero. I haven’t seen them for a while.”
“Were they some of the witnesses who saw Johnny that day?” Maggie held her breath waiting for an answer.
Luisa Sanchez’ eyes lit up. “Yes. I think they were there that day at my Ma’s. Is that a problem? If they are in Mexico now?”
“No, ma’am. Not right now. Could you please give me a list of all the witness who saw Johnny that day? The list you tried to give the police department before?”
Luisa Sanchez fumbled through the paperwork and handed Maggie a sheet of paper with ten names scrawled on it.
Maggie bit her lip. She had to warn her. “Mrs. Sanchez? Could you do me a favor and notify everyone on this list and tell them that there is a chance they are in danger and to lay low? I’ll try to get this in the right hands, but until then, will you please tell everybody to be extra safe?”
Luisa Sanchez threw her hand over her mouth. “Dios mio. Yes. Yes, I will warn them.”
Maggie reached for her bag, but Luisa Sanchez placed a hand on her arm.
“There’s one more thing.”
Maggie turned her headlights on as she made her way down Luisa Sanchez’s driveway, lined thickly with trees. The gloaming had fallen in the Pines, the tall namesake trees blocking out any remaining light to the west, making it darker than it should be at six at night.
When she got to the road, two Sanctuary police cars waited, parked on each side of the entrance to the driveway. A chill ran across her scalp.
This was county. Sanctuary City cops had no jurisdiction here.
They were waiting for her. She peered into the driver’s seats of both vehicles but could not make out any faces in the dark. For a second, she debated driving over and rolling down her window, asking what was going on. But something stopped her.
A primal fear instead forced her to swing the steering wheel to the right and back down the road that would lead to her house. A quarter mile later, when she got to the main road, she finally took her eyes off her rearview mirror. They hadn’t followed her. The vehicles hadn’t moved for as long as she could see them, until a slight hill blocked her view. Why had they stayed? Maybe she should go back and make sure they didn’t go harass Luisa Sanchez. As much as she wanted to get home and lock herself in her small rental with her guns at her side, Maggie did a U-turn. She would never forgive herself if they harassed that woman and she could’ve prevented it.
By the time she did her U-turn, having to wait for some other cars on the larger highway to pass, the squads were gone, which sent adrenaline rushing through her. They’d either gone the opposite way, a road that led nowhere as far as Maggie knew. Or they had driven down the driveway to the Sanchez house. Maggie stepped on the gas, making the back of her car fishtail as she raced down the driveway. At the end, she saw the small gravel parking area in front of the trailer was empty. She sat for a minute, tapping her fingernails on the steering wheel, before she turned around and headed back home.
She felt the weight of the sheaf of papers in her lap. Luisa Sanchez had said they would prove her son’s innocence. Maggie hoped so. She needed all the ammunition against Earl she could get.