Separation Anxiety

CHAPTER EIGHT

(Interior, Morgue.)

Dr Robbins stood over the body of the boy, now cleaned and washed and naked beneath a sheet. Finn and Morgan stood expectantly on the other side of the autopsy table.

Doc Robbins explained, "Fragile X is a genetic condition on the autism spectrum that can cause intellectual, behavioral and learning challenges, in addition to a variety of physical deformities. To be politically incorrect, Junior had mental retardation. It doesn't kill you. So that's not our COD."

"I can tell you his weight was phenomenally low, so malnutrition is involved. To be thorough, I need to study how the underlying medical condition might have interacted with malnutrition and contributed to the child's death. I'm not putting a rush on this report. We need to have a solid case for trial," Doc Robbins said firmly.

"First impression? He looks like a Third World famine victim." The good doctor pointed out his protruding ribs, sunken gaunt face and skeletal arms.

"The mother said he wasn't allowed downstairs or to eat dinner with them because he threw food, made himself gag and throw up, and constantly acted out. She sent a plate up every meal, usually mac and cheese," Finn told them.

"I guess if he didn't like mac and cheese he was out of luck," Morgan commented. Finn nodded.

"She also said he refused to wear a diaper and smeared feces all over his room. She was afraid contact between the dirty boy and the bedridden girl would get her sick, so he wasn't allowed to come out of his room."

"Poor kid. Not much of a life."

They all shook their heads, gazing somberly at the dead boy. They were quite possibly the only people to ever care about him, in his short sad life.

(End Scene)

(Cut To)

(Interior, CSI Computer Lab)

Sara sat at a computer monitor, tapping keys and moving the mouse. Nick walked along the hallway behind her. When he glanced into the room, he appeared to make a decision and joined her.

"Hey Sara."

"Hi." Sara gave him a small smile.

"Making any progress on the neglect case?"

"Some. Surprisingly neither parent has a record. Brass said the neighbors were afraid of Jamie Tucco Sr. and that he yelled at the other son, and looked 'scary', but no one ever made a formal complaint. They only ever saw him, the older boy, and the one daughter that was born healthy, outside. They had no idea there were other children in the house. The family scraped by on government assistance. Get this, there was a woman from Social Services visiting while the boy was dead upstairs."

"No way."

"Yeah, I know. She was downstairs with the mother for over an hour. She should face some consequences for negligence too."

"I agree. And if there is something so screwed up genetically between the parents, why did they keep having children that were born disabled?"

"Who knows why anyone has children, when they are so clearly unable to care for them."

The two experienced CSIs shared a contemplative moment, reminded of earlier child abuse and neglect cases.

"What are you and Greg working on?" Sara asked.

"A family driving on the highway had a rock crash through their windshield. Someone threw it from an overpass."

"Injuries?"

"Direct hit on the woman in the passenger seat, the mother of the driver. Severe facial injuries and fractured skull. The rock pretty much took her face off and exposed the brain. She's alive, but in critical condition."

Nick and Sara exchanged a pained look and Sara shook her head in disgust.

"Five pound rock dropped 40 feet onto a car travelling 65 miles per hour…"

"Would be like a bomb going off inside."

"Any leads?"

"Yes, surprisingly, there were witnesses who knew the culprits. Three teenage boys. Greg said Brass is getting a warrant for their arrest. The only evidence is the rock, and we have that."

As if summoned, Greg poked his head in. "Hey Nick. Hi Sara." They returned his greeting.

"Brass said he'll be making arrests soon. He'll let us know when they are in lockup."

"So we might as well head home then."

"Yup." Nick left and Greg lingered behind.

"You doing okay, Sara?"

"It's been a rough night but I'll be okay after a good sleep."

"Me too. I'm glad I could be there for you."

"You're a good friend, Greg."

"You too. You know, I don't think…I've ever heard you reveal so much about your personal life before."

Sara gave him a wan smile. "I'm trying to turn over a new leaf. My counselor is encouraging me to open up more, as keeping everything to myself isn't working. "

"That makes sense."

"And you felt the emotions in that room. It's not every day you watch a member of the family die. It brings up a lot of soul searching."

"Yeah."

"'If your actions don't bring results, don't repeat them, try another way,' my counselor tells me often. After all if I'd talked to you and Nick and Russell about how things with Gil were going sour, we might have been able to head off that tragedy with Wynard, and with our team looking out for trouble, maybe corralled Basderic sooner too."

"It's possible, but we can't know what might have happened."

"True."

"Anyway, I just wanted to say I like the new openness and if you ever need to talk some more…"

"I know. Thanks Greg. Have a good sleep."

"You too, Sara."

(End Scene)