Note: The drug mentioned in this chapter is real, and, unfortunately, so are the statistics mentioned.

Outside the hospital, Connie looked at Lilly and Scotty as they told her what they'd learned.

"My mother?" Connie asked, confused. "I haven't even spoken to her since before my father was killed."

"Your parents were separated?" Scotty asked.

"Sort of." Connie said. "My mom was wonderful most of the time, but she had a problem with drinking, and it was getting worse. One night, about three weeks before he died, my dad finally had enough, decided he had to do something about it." She sighed. "I'll never forget what I heard that night as long as I live..."

("What Becomes of the Brokenhearted?" - Jimmy Ruffin)

Jim looked down at his TV dinner and sighed before looking up at his daughter. Whatever happened with his wife, he had to make sure his daughter knew he was still there for her.

"So how was kindergarten? You make any new friends yet?" He asked.

Connie smiled. "There's a girl named Maura there. She has an invisible friend named Vivian."

"Really? Well maybe you'd like to have Maura and Vivian over sometime."

Before Connie could answer, there was a faint knock at the door. Jim swallowed hard as he looked towards the door, then looked back down to his daughter.

"Connie, sweetie, I need you to go in your room and stay there for a few minutes."

"Why?" Connie asked innocently.

Jim sighed. "Please, just do as I say. I'll come back there in a few minutes to get you, okay?"

"Okay." Connie said, getting up from the chair and walking towards her room.

Jim walked towards the door and unlocked it. Opening the door a crack, he found himself looking at the face of his wife.

Sylvia Madsen was a slim, attractive woman about Jim's age, with red hair and bright eyes. Her attractive appearance, however, was diminished by the unkempt condition of her hair and a slightly glazed look in her eyes. Lately, it seemed she was like this more often than not.

"My key's not working." She giggled, holding it up.

Jim didn't smile. "That's because I changed the locks." He said, quietly.

"What? Why?"

Jim gave his wife a sad look. "I can't do this anymore, Sylvia. You have a problem and we need to do something about it."

Sylvia rolled her eyes. "God, not this again. I had few drinks today. So what?"

Jim's eyes widened. "So what!? You were supposed to pick up Connie from school today. It was an hour before a teacher finally called me to come get her. When I got there, she was crying because she thought something had happened to you. This isn"t the first time something like this has happened either."

Sylvia looked at Jim. "Look, Jim, I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"You're right." Jim said. "It won't." With that, he reached over and picked up a pair of suitcases beside the door and handed them to her, then pulled out a key from his pocket and some money and a note from his wallet and gave her those as well. "That's cab fare and a key to a room at the Clayton Hotel. You're paid up for the next few weeks. There's a list of AA meetings in the area. You spend that time going to meetings and getting sober, and then we'll talk about when you can come home."

Sylvia stared at Jim in disbelief. "You're throwing me out!?"

Jim gave her a hard but solemn nod. "That's right. I'm not gonna have you around her when you're like this anymore."

Sylvia look of shock turned to anger. "You can't do this!"

Jim closed his eyes. "Sylvia, please don't make a scene." He whispered. "I don't want her to hear us fighting."

Sylvia glared at Jim. "You think you're better than me, Jim, is that it? You think you're a better parent?"

"Sylvia, please!" Jim whispered.

"Why don't you tell her about Toronto, Jim!" Sylvia spat. "Why don't you tell her why we had to move!?"

"Get out." Jim hissed.

"Tell her what you did there, Jim! See if she still loves her daddy then!"

"Get out!" Jim screamed, shoving her out the door and slamming it shut.

Jim just stood staring at the closed door, trembling, not noticing Connie looking out at him from around the doorway...

"I'd never seen him so angry." Connie said, shaking her head. "After my father died, DHS found me a home. I never saw my mother again. I'm not sure if she ever got sober, but sometimes I wonder if he was a little hard on her."

Lilly shook her head and smiled wistfully. "You don't want to be raised by a drunk. Trust me."

"Your mom talked about something happening in Toronto, you having to move cause of something he did?" Scotty asked.

Connie nodded solemnly. "I've been wondering about that for forty years. I think I've never really tried to hard to find out because I was afraid of what I'd find. I grew up remembering my father as a good man. I'm not sure I want to have something ruin that now after all this time."

The AA meeting was being headed by Miles Chapman, an elderly man approaching eighty. Despite his age, Jeffries and Scotty both suspected he'd likely been a tough guy in his youth and possibly still had some of that fight left in him.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" He asked as the two flashed their shields.

"We were hoping we could talk to Sylvia Madsen. We heard she comes here." Scotty said.

The older man looked uncomfortable but retained his composure. "Well yes, but we were going to start in a few minutes. Would it be possible-"

"That's all right, Miles." An older woman said from the in front of the coffee table a few feet away. Despite showing some of the years since her husband's death, but Sylvia Madsen still had the same bright eyes and red hair. "What can I do for you?" She asked the detectives as she approached.

Her friendly demeanor quickly turned to one of surprise and slight sadness as they explained they were looking into Jim's murder. To her credit, however, she was unfazed when Scotty brought up the fact that Jim had kicked her out of their home or the harassing phone calls she initially made.

"I'm not proud of that." She said solemnly. "I'm not proud of a lot of the things I did back then. I hurt my husband and I hurt my little girl. And you're right; I didn't go willingly at first. But at some point I realized I had a problem, and I started trying to do something about it. Jim and I were even starting to reconcile..."

("Homeward Bound" - Simon & Garfunkel)

Sylvia sipped her coffee while Miles continued telling her about his wife. This had been a good meeting, she thought.

"You've told me much about her I feel like we're old friends already." Sylvia smiled. "When am I going to get to meet her?"

Miles laughed. "Well, I promise I'll try to bring her by sometime."

"What about kids do you have any?"

Miles shifted uncomfortably. "No, I don't."

Sylvia pulled a picture from her purse showing Connie smiling. "That's my little girl Connie." Tears started welling up in her eyes. "What kind of mother does what I did?"

Miles shrugged. "One who's human." Miles put a reassuring hand on her arm. "You're trying to straighten your life around. You're getting help so you can be there for your husband and daughter again. To me that says a lot more about you that what happened in the past."

Sylvia smiled at him for a moment before spotting a familiar face in the doorway.

"Jim?" She said rushing over to him, her face lighting up as her husband gave her a shy smile.

"Hi, honey." he said, leading them over to a pair of empty chair. "Can we just sit?"

"What's wrong? Is Connie okay?" she asked as they sat, her face showing concern.

"She's fine. She's with the sitter watching that new space show with the guy with the funny ears." Jim said, putting his hand on hers. "I just wanted to see how you were doing."

Sylvia gave a brave smile. "Better. The people here, they're really supportive. Jim, when I left I said some horrible things and I'm sorry." Tears started welling up in her eyes again. "You and Connie mean more to me than anything in the world."

Jim smiled back. "Connie's been asking about you. She really misses you."

Sylvia gave Jim an apprehensive look. "Just her?"

"Aw, honey, you know I miss you too. I'm trying my best to be there for her but it's just so hard without you; and now with what's going on at work, sometimes I don't know what I'm doing."

"What's happening at work?"

Jim lowered his head. "No, no. You've got enough to deal with. I shouldn't put my problems on you too."

Sylvia gripped his hand and gave him a serious look. "Yes, you should. That's what a marriage is, being there for one another. Jim, I know I haven't been at my best lately but I'm still your wife. You can talk to me."

Jim sighed, wondering how his wife could be right so often. "The clinic, it's... we're not pulling in as much money as we used to. You know how it is. People move away, and new people are all going to that new place up the street instead. It's getting pretty bad. Anyway, this guy just approached us about a business deal that'd put some money back in the clinic."

"Sounds too good to be true." Sylvia looked at Jim. "Is it?"

Jim lowered his head. "If you're asking if it sits well with me, the answer's no. But neither does the idea that I can't support my family anymore."

Sylvia gave his hand a squeeze until he looked back up at her. "I know you, Jim. The fact that doing this is bothering you so much should tell you whether or not it's right. Do you remember what you told me when you asked to move here from Toronto? You said you wanted to start over in a new place, so that Connie would be proud of you. Now's your chance to show things really will be different here."

"But the money--"

"Don't worry about the money. We'll get by somehow. We always have. Trust me, nothing's worth not being able to look your daughter in the eye." Sylvia gave him a warm smile. "Jim, we're not perfect people, no one is. But I believe in you to do what's right, because that's the kind of man you are, the man I love."

Before either could say another word, they found themselves embracing each other, trying to draw any strength they could from the other.

"Come home to me." Jim finally said when they pulled back. "If you're going to get better, it should from home with your family."

"I'd like that." Sylvia smiled, blinking back tears. "I promised Miles I'd help clean up. I'll just get my things at the hotel. Could you meet me there?"

Jim nodded. "Okay. Nine o'clock?"

"Okay." She said, squeezing his hand and widening her smile.

Jim got up and gave Sylvia a loving look as he walked slowly out of the room.

Sylvia lowered her head. "I waited for him at the hotel all night. I called home, the sitter hadn't seen him. There was no answer at the clinic. None of our friends had seen or heard from him. The next morning, when I found out he'd been killed, I didn't even bother to check on Connie. I just went for the first drink I could find. I fell right off the wagon and didn't get back on for thirteen years. DHS decided I was in no shape to take care of Connie and they were right." She closed her eyes in pain. "Bad enough she lost her father. When she needed her mother the most, I was trying to drink enough to forget my loss, as if that's even possible."

Scotty nodded and leaned closer. "So Jim never told you what he was involved with at the clinic?"

"No. I'm sorry I didn't mention any of this before, but wasn't the most coherent person back then."

Jeffries nodded. "Don't worry about it."

Sylvia looked intently at the two men. "Have you seen Connie?"

Scotty nodded. "Part of the reason we're looking over the case again was on account some new info she gave us."

She smiled slightly. "How is she?"

Scotty returned the smile. "She's good. Actually, she's a doctor now."

Sylvia sighed. "Jim would be so proud of that."

Jeffries looked at her. "Sylvia, we have to ask, but what happened in Toronto? What did Jim do that made you have to move?"

Sylvia shook her head. "It was so terrible, especially for someone like Jim, who loved children. To see them like that, it broke his heart."

"What happened, Sylvia?" Scotty asked.

Sylvia sighed again and began to tell them.

Scotty looked at Connie awkwardly as he and Jeffries walked back into the squad room. Stillman had said she was there to drop off some of her father's old papers to see if there was anything useful. Scotty wasn't sure she should be here to hear what he'd learned.

"Detective, please." Connie said, after he'd voiced his concerns. "I've made up my mind. If there's anything you've found out about my father, good or bad, I'd really like to know."

Scotty looked at Lilly, then Jeffries before he started. "All right, we were talking with your mother to find out if she knew anything."

"My mother?" Connie's eyes widened.

Jeffries nodded. "We managed to track her down at an AA meeting. Apparently your father might have been involved in some shady business dealings at his clinic."

"But it sounds like he was having second thoughts." Scotty quickly added.

Jeffries looked at Scotty impatiently, then continued. "That's not all though. She also told us why you had to move from Toronto. We think it might've had something to do with why he was killed."

"What is it?" Connie asked.

Jeffries sighed. "Have you ever heard of thalidomide?"

A sad look passed over Connie's face and she placed her hand over her mouth. "Oh my God." She whispered.

"Thalidomide? What's that?" Vera asked from his desk, sifting through some of the papers Connie had brought.

Connie lowered her head. "In the late fifties and early sixties, there was a new drug introduced called thalidomide to treat morning sickness in pregnant women. They claimed it was so safe, you could take any amount without any danger. But thalidomide's major side effect eventually became clear. Children were being born with terrible birth defects after their mothers had taken it. Some were born without ears, arms, or legs, or deformed internal organs. Between eight and twelve thousand children were born with deformities because of it. Only about five thousand of them survived childhood. The FDA never approved thalidomide in the U.S. but most other developed countries did," Connie sighed, "including Canada."

"Jim was a family doctor." Kat said. "He almost certainly would've been treating pregnant women."

"If a few young couples had deformed babies because of this..." Vera continued.

Lilly looked at the box of Jim's papers. "Then we just got ourselves a long list of suspects."