Chapter Two – Angels And The Demons That Follow
Emmanuel's body looked ridiculously small on one of Doc's hard metal tables and there was an extreme air of sadness in the room, almost as if everybody was mourning the loss of such a young life. Doc was eating at his desk when Catherine and Warrick walked in.
"Hey Doc"
Doc offered them a small smile.
"The wife found out I was autopsying a baby today. Her solution was baking me my favorite pie"
"And that would be?"
"Chocolate-coconut with extra cream"
Catherine nodded as she moved closer to Emmanuel.
"You have a good wife Doc. Did it work?"
"To a degree, yes. I would rather not have him here in the first place though."
"You and the rest of us. What do we know?"
Doc made his way back over to Emmanuel, his face solemn.
"That he was murdered"
"How?"
"Tylenol"
"I thought baby Tylenol was harmless?"
This time Catherine provided the answer to Warrick's question.
"Normally it is. But if you mix adult Tylenol with the child brand, as well as giving them more then the recommended dose, then it's deadly."
"Are you sure that it wasn't accidental?"
"I thought it was as well. Then I saw these."
It wasn't unusual for bruises to become more vivid after death, but Catherine still felt angry that she had missed then in the first place. It was her job to pay attention and yet she still overlooked one of the most basic parts of her job. A dark blue bruise spanned from his lower neck to his chin, settling the murder or accident argument once and for all.
"Someone held him still while they poured Tylenol down his throat. It was at least 60mls in all. Did you find any vomit on the scene?"
"No. Why?"
"Because it would have been an automatic reaction for him to vomit. There may have been more but the most likely thing was that he managed to expel it."
"Anything else?"
Doc removed the while sheet completely and Catherine was finally able to see the whole picture.
"As you can see, baby Emmanuel had been through a lot. The needle marks indicate repetitive withdrawing of blood or admission of medication. So much so that his body could hardly keep up."
"Where's the freshest mark?"
"Left inner thigh"
Catherine moved closer, ignoring the smell of death that clung to the table. It was so small that if Doc's sharp eyes hadn't caught it, it would have gone unnoticed.
"Did you try and get a scraping?"
"Of course, it's with Greg"
"Anything else Doc?"
"Nope, that's it"
Catherine watched as Doc covered Emmanuel again with the sheet before pushing him back into his compartment in the cooler.
Sophia's husband had been right. Sophia had been an incredibly loved woman. They had gone from club to club that she had been involved in and every single person sung her praises but despite their positive affirmations, they all seemed to be hiding something. There was elbow nudging and serious, heavy looks every time someone went to indulge in anything but the running commentary that they had been hearing all day. Sara sat back and watched the older woman carefully as they chatted to Grissom. There were about ten of them in all varying from in size and age but there was just the one that held her attention. Her name was Elizabeth Bryant and if she was forced to guess, she could not have been more then eighteen. She was by far the quietest on in the group, her red hair hiding most of her face. She didn't want to be there, that much was obvious by her body language and her hard silence and the way she kept her mouth full with the crepes that someone had provided. The women continued to chatter noisily to Grissom, who was looking more and more uncomfortable by the second. He kept trying to keep their focus on the topic at hand but they kept slipping away, jumping from topic to topic. Sara waited for her opportunity, sighing with relief when it finally came in the form of Elizabeth going into the kitchen, alone, to refill the plate of crepes. Sara exchanged a look with Grissom before following the girl into the kitchen. Sara sidled up to her, standing close enough to see her face but not close enough to intimidate her.
"Aren't you a little young to be hanging out with the rest of the ladies in there?"
If Elizabeth was surprised by Sara's presence, she didn't let on, her eyes still completely focused on her task.
"My mom makes me come. She thinks it makes me more sociable."
"Parents, huh? My mom used to do that too."
Elizabeth smiled slightly and Sara was struck by just how much that smile changed the girl's sharp face, softening the unrelenting edges.
"So Elizabeth, do you know what they are hiding?"
Elizabeth's smile disappeared, her eyes falling again.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes you do."
Elizabeth shook her head, her hair swaying.
"No I don't. I have to get back now."
Sara caught Elizabeth by her bony elbow, making her spin back to face her.
"This is not a game Elizabeth. Sophia was murdered and there is a dangerous killer on the loose. You could get into more trouble keeping your mouth shut then you could by speaking."
Elizabeth's eyes filled with tears as she pulled her arm from Sara's grip.
"You have no idea what you are talking about. I don't know anything. Just leave me alone."
Sara watched as Elizabeth left the kitchen. Her patience, which she wasn't known for in the first place, was beginning to wane. Whatever Elizabeth was hiding, it was the key to the case. The question was who was she so scared of?
Greg was running out of options. Grissom had sent him home for the rest of the day after an almost seventy-four hour shift but all the things that usually made him relax, had failed. The laundry was done, as were the dishes and the vacuuming. Something was bugging him, and irritation in his brain that he could not get rid of. He popped his new CD's into his player before stretching out on the sofa trying to relax. Unfortunately, the blasting sounds of Alkaline Trio and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus didn't do the trick and after twenty minutes he found himself off the sofa, bouncing on the balls of his feet. He wasn't used to being unable to relax; he could always switch himself off. Maybe it was because of the murder of baby Emmanuel. He hadn't encountered too many deaths that involved infants and to say it was unnerving was an understatement. He had learnt very quickly that every CSI had something that set them off, made their blood boil. He was still rookie enough not to have found that very thing yet but Emmanuel's death had gotten under his skin in the most awful way. There was hard knock on his front door and for once he was happy for the intrusion on his thought process. He wasn't quite prepared for what he faced when he opened the front door.
"Hey Cath"
Catherine gave him a wide smile, one hand one her hip the other holding a tray of coffee's.
"Hey Greggo. Are you going to let me in or not?"
Greg moved aside and let Catherine pass him.
"Cath?"
"Yeah?"
"Why are you here?"
Catherine offered him another smile as well as a coffee.
"I need to pick your brains"
"Ok, want something to eat?"
"What you got?"
Greg went into the kitchen, rifling around the cupboards before locating the pack of corn chips that he had brought the week before.
"Corn chips and guacamole ok?"
"Great"
Greg settled himself next to Catherine and they munched quietly before Greg's curiosity got the better of him.
"What do you need to pick my brains for?"
Catherine wiped her hand on a napkin before extracting a file from her handbag. Greg sighed as he glanced at the label that was stuck to the front.
"Ah, the Roberts Case, I was just thinking about that."
"You and the rest of us"
Catherine spread the file out on the table in front of them and Greg instantly lost his desire to eat. Emmanuel's tiny body looked lost on the coroner's table. He hadn't seen the body and up until that point, he was happy not to have seen it.
"He's so small"
"It's such a waste. Doc said he died of a Tylenol overdose"
"Yeah, he told me that. Did you get the results I sent you?"
"No. What were they?"
"The substance around the injection sites was insulin. But here's the catch; Emmanuel wasn't diabetic."
"So why was he being given the shots?"
Greg shrugged.
"I have no idea. But I do know that it leaves only two suspects."
"The mom and the dad."
"Exactly. Unless there was someone who had almost constant access to Emmanuel."
Catherine gave Greg a small smile.
"And this is why I need to pick your brains. I'm overworked and I needed clarity"
"And you're a mom, that can't help."
"You're right there."
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure"
"Do you ever regret having Lindsey?"
Catherine fought the maternal instinct to say 'no' allowing herself a chance to really think about the question. While Lindsey was the best thing that had come out of her marriage to Eddie, she was also one of the most difficult aspects of Catherine's life.
"As much as I hate to say it, in my more selfish moments, yes I do. But on other days, I'm glad I do have her. She keeps me grounded. Do you ever want kids?"
"One day. Yes. At the moment, I like my freedom a little too much to consider it."
"You'll be a great dad Greggo, you're good with kids."
"Thanks, it means a lot coming from you."
A small silence fell before Catherine spoke again.
"How could a mother do this? Kill her own child?"
"Post-natal depression is one. It's one of the leading causes of death in infants."
"Yeah but that does not explain the injections."
"So maybe the answers in his medical records. There must be a paper trail for something like this."
"I guess we're going back to work then, huh?"
She gave him a wide smile before they both headed out the door.
"Natalie Cooper"
"Sorry?"
Greg pushed himself away from the computer he was working at, so that he came to rest beside Catherine, who was working on the opposite side of the room.
"Natalie Cooper, Savannah's sister. She's a nurse at St Mary's hospital."
"Access to needles, insulin and Tylenol"
"Motive?"
"How about we explore that after we talk to the sister?"
Natalie Cooper was a lot taller than her sister, with an incredibly curvy frame and dark brown hair. She came to the front reception almost as soon as she was buzzed, her face flushed slightly with exertion.
"Hello, how can I help you?"
"I'm Catherine Willows and this is Greg sanders. We're helping to investigate your nephews death."
Natalie's face fell slightly before she ushered them off to the side into an empty room. She locked the door before turning to face them again.
"Savannah and Jack are heartbroken. Do you have any leads yet?"
Greg stepped forward first, his face relaxed and friendly. If he wanted her to talk, he had to give her the impression that she could.
"How often did you see your nephew?"
"Everyday. My sister's house is close to the hospital and I would often go over at the end of my shift."
"Do you have access to needles, insulin and Tylenol?"
"Of course I do, I'm a nurse. What does this have to do with Emmanuel's death?"
"Miss Cooper – "
"Natalie."
"Natalie, we believe that Emmanuel was murdered."
"What!? Who would do that to a baby?"
"You"
Natalie glanced between them, her face shocked, her mouth wide.
"What?"
"You're a suspect along with your sister and brother-in-law."
"But I have no motive, no reason to want to see my nephew dead."
Catherine removed a file from under her arm, holding it lightly in her fingers.
"You fought with your sister when she first got pregnant. The police had to be called. Jealousy maybe?"
"No, it wasn't like that at all"
Greg cocked his eyebrows at her.
"Then what was it Natalie?"
Natalie shook her head, her hair bumping around her shoulders.
"I was engaged to Jack for two years and the whole time he was having an affair with Savannah. I called it off when I found out and two weeks later they were married."
"So why did you see them everyday?"
Natalie glanced at Catherine.
"Do you have siblings?"
"Yes, a sister."
"Then you know the love hate relationship that you have with them. It's the same with Savannah and I. The daily visits were our attempt to heal the past but that night she told me she was pregnant with Jack's baby, I lost it."
"You punched a pregnant woman in the face and stomach"
"I lost my temper, surely you can understand that."
Catherine shook her head, her eyes narrowed.
"When I get angry I take a walk, listen to loud music or have a long hot bath. I don't use my fists against anybody or anything."
Natalie ran her fingers over her face, pinching the skin on the bridge of her nose.
"I've never been very good at controlling my temper. But that does not mean that I would dream of hurting Emmanuel."
"We know you can't have children of your own."
"So thousands of people can't. My mother took a supplement when she was pregnant with me and I got the bad end of the genetic bargain. It means nothing, I can adopt if I wish to. It does not make me a killer."
"It does make you a suspect though."
Natalie stood, her hands coming together in front of her.
"So am I under arrest then?"
"Not yet. But there will be an officer coming to see you at some point. We'll need to know where you were at the time of Emmanuel's death."
"I was at my sisters."
"What time did you leave?"
"About 1:30pm, just after lunch. I had to start work at 2:30"
Greg nodded, his face holding no trace of the previous friendliness. They had yet another suspect to add to the slowly growing list. Worse still, the odds against Natalie were stacked far more against her then anyone else.
"Just make sure you stay where we can find you, ok?"
"Fine. Can I please go back to work now?"
Catherine nodded and she and Greg watched Natalie walk out of the room. She waited until the door was securely closed before she gave Greg a wide smile.
"Good find Greggo. We may just have caught Emmanuel's killer."
Greg took a slight bow.
"I live to serve"
Catherine punched him lightly in the arm.
"Come on Greg, I'll buy you dinner."
"Great. Saving the world makes me hungry."
