Desert Blood: The Juárez Murders

In the car, Ivon demands Ximena tell her about the Egyptian doctor. Ximena drives them to the Kentucky Club bar, where Ivon recognizes the bartender but cannot determine where she has seen him. Ivon shares how the article she read on the plane said the doctor was arrested “for preying on young women he picked up in the downtown clubs” (95) and that he is arranging the murders from prison. 

Ximena explains that Father Francis knew a factory nurse who confirmed that the Egyptian doctor, Dr. Amen Hakin Hasaan, was not even a doctor. Furthermore, all the women who worked at the factory had to take pregnancy tests, and the nurse had to keep records of their ovulation cycles. Dr. Amen performed other mysterious procedures on some of the workers and perhaps even raped them. Father Francis could not report this because he learned it in confession. 

Ximena knew Elsa was one of these girls, and Ivon is furious with her for not disclosing the history of the child she was supposed to adopt. Ivon goes to the bathroom to wash her hands and decides to give up on adoption and go home; she does not want to “stay another day in this hellhole” (98).