84 pages 2 hours read

Alicia Gaspar de Alba

Desert Blood: The Juárez Murders

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2005

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapter 43-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 43 Summary

At the hospital, an intern pulls glass and debris from Ivon’s arm. Brigit arrives, and Ivon cries into her chest before passing out. Later, as Ivon is surrounded by family in the waiting room, an officer tells her there are discrepancies between her story and the story told by those at the scene. Irene, meanwhile, is in the intensive care unit, and Judge Ramírez arrives with Father Francis; the latter donates blood to Pete, who almost bled to death. 

The officer says a caretaker told him the dogs that attacked Ivon were coyotes, but Ivon insists they were trained dogs. The officer also says there were no dead animals found at the scene, even though Ivon shot the dogs. Another officer tells Ivon that Pete corroborates her story and that “he disobeyed orders in all kinds of ways” (307). Ivon says he helped save Irene’s life, and the judge says he was “[j]ust doing his job” (307).

Ivon complains about the officers’ disbelief, and one of the officers reminds her it is “a high profile case involving Border Patrol agents and police officers” (307). She describes the German Shepherds and how Captain J. Wilcox said he was going to melt Irene “down to bacon” (308); she insists J.