Diagnosis Murder

"But my favorite thing was the parasailing," Nicole told Jess about her honeymoon. "I always wanted to try that. I couldn't get Antonio to try it though."

"Sounds like you two had a great time."

"So anything interesting happen to you?"

"…Nope. Just boring. Boring, boring, boring."

"I'll just pretend I don't know you're lying."

"Thank you."

"How's the baby?"

"Kicking me to death."

"Good morning, everyone," Kemyss said to Nicole and Jess.

"Good morning," Devin said.

"Good morning," they said.

"What's new?" Nicole said.

"A baby was taken from Clearview Park in Maryland."

"You're kidding. My nanny takes Joe there all the time."

"Six months old. Elijah Cohen." He gave her the folder. "The child's mother is still at the park. You're supposed to meet her there."

xxxxx

"Where is Samuel? I called him thirty minutes ago," Maureen cried.

"I'm sure he will be here soon," Nicole said. "While we wait for him, let's go over what happened again."

"He was right here in the stroller. We were getting ready to leave. I turned around to get his diaper bag in order and when I turned around he was gone." She began sobbing.

"We will find him," Jess told her. "How long was your back turned."

"Like five minutes."

"Did you notice anyone following you or watching you?"

"No. There was no one," she said still crying.

xxxxx

Samuel arrived and brought his wife home.

"What do you think?" Nicole said as they watched the couple drive off.

"I saw the baby in a vision. He was crying. I think he was getting blood drawn."

"By a doctor I hope."

"Yes. At least there was that. He was in a doctor's office. I saw the doctor talking to the parents. He said he was sorry and they were crying."

"Samuel and Maureen."

"Yeah."

"I hope that's metaphoric and not a vision of how this is all going to end."

xxxxx

Nicole told Jess about her and Antonio's plans for their family. "We meet with an agent from the adoption agency this afternoon." They got to Devin's desk.

"I have to check something. I'll be right back," Jess said.

"Did you get anything out of Jess's vision?" Nicole asked Devin.

"Nothing specific or that stands out. You'd be surprised how many hits you can get off blood, doctor, and infant…Forensics didn't find anything on the stroller or near the bench. No finger prints, no footprints other than Maureen's."

"It doesn't sound right. You can't kidnap an infant when his mother is three inches away," Nicole said. "On top of that there was no one else in the park to verify Elijah was really there at all. And who goes to the park at nine in the morning?"

"Jackpot," Jess said as she was coming to them. "Teresa takes Joe there at ten every morning. I called her and sent her Elijah and Maureen's pictures she knows them. They were there yesterday, but they left early. Elijah had a doctor's appointment."

"Jackpot is right," Devin said.

xxxxx

Jess stayed behind when Nicole went to talk to Samuel and Maureen at their home because Kemyss ordered her to stay out of the field when an arrest might occur.

They wanted to get a warrant to search the home, but didn't have just cause.

Samuel opened the door. "Have you found him?"

"No, Sir, I need to speak to you and your wife."

Maureen came down to talk with the agent.

"Did Elijah have blood drawn lately?" Nicole went straight to the point of her visit.

Maureen gasped and started crying again.

Samuel got nervous and brought Nicole to another room. "You'll have to excuse my wife. She's understandably distraught."

"What does Elijah's blood test have to do with his disappearance, Mr. Cohen?"

"Nothing. She's not in her right mind. Listen, we told you what we know. If you'll excuse me, I have to take care of my wife."

He opened the door to let her out.

xxxxx

"Your six-month-old patient is missing. As his physician I would think you would want to help us," Nicole tried to get Elijah's pediatrician to talk about his visit the day before.

"You know that by law I am not allowed to disclose a patient's medical information. Get Samuel or Maureen's permission or a warrant and I will talk to you."

"So you do have something to say. Something that might shed light on this."

"This conversation is over."

xxxxx

"You're not going to get a warrant based on a vision," Kemyss said. "Do you have anything else?"

"No."

"Then get another theory. We don't know the parents and doctor had anything to do with this. It could have been a stranger abduction."

"Do you honestly believe somebody was able to grab a baby while his mother was five inches away?"

"It doesn't matter what I believe. You can't get a warrant and you have to do something, so either sit around and wait or get another strategy."

"I want to talk to the mother alone," Jess said. "I know she has something to say."

"Samuel will never let that happen."

"It's worth a try," she started to walk away and stopped when she had her second vision.

Devin and Nicole waited to hear what she saw.

"It's was the same as the last one. The baby was crying. I saw the blood being drawn. This time I saw it closer."

"Like that is the main part of the vision?" Devin asked.

"Yeah. Then I heard the doctor say there is no cure."

"What does that mean?" Nicole said.

"Maybe it's not metaphoric. Maybe that's what happened when they went to the doctor yesterday. I'm going to go find out."

xxxxx

"Absolutely not," Samuel said when Jess asked him if she could see his wife alone.

"Sir, I am a mother. I know how your wife must feel. I promise to be gentle."

"…Okay."

Jess went up to Elijah's nursery. Maureen was sitting in a rocking chair sobbing.

"Mrs. Cohen."

"Do you have any new information on my son?"

"We don't know where he is yet, but we do have more information. I understand you know my nanny Teresa."

"Yes. Is Joseph your baby?"

"He is."

"He's a beautiful child. He used to play with my Elijah on the quilt I always brought."

"Teresa told me Elijah had a pediatrician appointment yesterday morning."

Maureen put the handkerchief to her face and cried more.

"Was your son diagnosed with a terminal illness yesterday, Maureen?"

"Tay-Sachs Disease."

xxxxx

Nicole called Antonio.

"Are we still meeting with the adoption agent?" he asked.

"I'm on my way there now. I only have time for her to go over the basics. Jess is out talking to someone and we're on hold with this case until she gets back."

"All right. I'm leaving now. I'll see you there."

xxxx

"Patricia Gadsby. Nice to meet you. Please sit," the adoption agent said. "So tell me what made you want to look into adoption?"

"I was raised by the state, and I want to give a family to a child who is in the same circumstances I was in fifteen years ago."

"What about you?" Patricia asked Antonio.

"I just want a child. It doesn't matter to me where she comes from."

"Antonio's wanted to be a daddy for a long time."

After a short while more of getting to know them Patricia explained the process. "Do you want an infant or an older child?"

"We want a girl, about three years old."

"I think the best option for you two is the foster/adopt program. In plain adoption we register you and put you on a waiting list and if and when a child becomes available when you're next on the list you get her. It could be months, it could be years, it could be never. In the foster/adopt program you become registered foster parents and you usually get a child right away. Then as soon as the child becomes legally available for adoption you get the first choice to make her legally yours."

"Why doesn't everyone do that then?"

"Because when you first get the child you are only the foster mother. We can take the child back at any time. If we gave you a girl that we took from her parents because of abuse. You would have her through the investigation and if the parent pleads or is found guilty while they comply with the judge's orders for rehabilitation. The counseling and parenting classes usually take about six months. Then if the parent wants the child back she will be removed from your home. A lot of people have trouble with that. But if the parent relinquishes his or her rights to the child you may adopt her."

"The parent can also lose their rights if the crime is severe too, right?" Antonio asked.

"Yes. But it usually doesn't not happen that way. A majority of children taken from their homes are returned. I'm not going to lie to you. The first rule of our system is to remedy and decrease the risk of abuse or neglect by assisting parents in properly raising their kids. The second rule is do everything we can to reunite children with their parents..when it is safe to do so. And when the crime is something that the parent who is responsible for it has no chance of getting a second opportunity to raise the child—like life threatening battery or sexual abuse of any kind—the child is usually only put in foster care until arrangements are made for a blood relative to take in the child."

Antonio was shocked. "So what you're telling us is the only way we could get a kid is if her parents relinquish her to the state, she was molested and there are no blood relatives, or she was battered to within an inch of her life?"

"I'm sorry to say that is completely true. That is why most people choose to just wait—possibly for years—for a child who already is available for adoption."

Nicole's pager went off. "I have to get back to work. Antonio and I will discuss this later, and call you in a couple of days."

"Actually I'm gonna hang back here for a few more minutes."

"Okay." She kissed him goodbye. "See you later."

"That's the third time I've seen that this month," Patricia said to Antonio.

"What?"

"You came in here with a smile that could light up a room. Now you look like you lost your best friend. I see that expression a lot when I tell people how difficult this can be."

"I didn't think we would have to choose between waiting years or taking in a child we might lose."

"If it were just your decision what would you want to do?"

"I want to help this system any way I can, but I don't know if I can raise a child for six months, a year, and then just have them leave. On the other hand, Nicole and I aren't getting any younger. We can't just wait around for years. It's not like we're twenty-five and will be as active and able to handle having a young child in five years. It's not just my decision to make though, and I think I already know what Nicole is going to want to do."

xxxxx

"Tay-Sachs," Nicole said.

"That's all she would tell me, but I think we can fill in the blanks."

"You think they killed him?"

"I'm sure of it. I was doing some reading on this disease while I was waiting for you. It's a terminal, agonizing disease. Parents watch their kids suffer and die for months, sometimes years. They didn't want him to suffer. They probably gave him an overdoes of cold medicine or aspirin, something to kill him peacefully. I called in for a warrant and the house is being searched right now. They didn't have time to get rid of whatever they used to kill him."

"And you're sure about this?" Kemyss said.

"My visions have stopped. That usually means I figured it out."

"You sure did," Devin said. "We found Elijah's body. He was buried in the backyard of his home. They confessed to giving him half a bottle of Nyquil this morning."

"You did it again," Thomas said to his team. "Good work."

Jess walked off sullen and Nicole followed her.

"What is it?" Nicole said. "We got them."

"Yeah. Their son is dead and they're going to prison. Real great outcome, Nicole."

"You sound like you don't think they belong in jail."

"I don't."

"They murdered their baby."

"It wasn't that simple, Nicole."

"I know it wasn't their first choice, but would you do it, if it were Joe?"

"I would not let my child suffer for months. I would have done the exact same thing."

"No, you wouldn't."

"I was faced with this two weeks ago. When I came home from the wedding Joe was unconscious. He suffocated himself on his mattress. When I was waiting for the ambulance I was thinking about what if he never wakes up? What if he ends up being a vegetable and I have to decide whether or not to pull the plug? Before we even got to the hospital I knew I would let him go." After that long-time-coming minor outburst Jess pushed the elevator button and hoped the doors would open quickly.

"…I'm sorry, Jess. I didn't know. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was just so glad he was all right. Nathan and I decided to never speak of it again."

"This case must have been a nightmare for you."

"This was the first missing child assignment we've had since Bailey Hughes. I was hoping for a better ending this time."

"We still might find her alive."

"I'm going home to my son…And I think I am going to take time off. For the rest of the pregnancy. All this stress can't be good for the baby."

"That's a good idea. I'll call you later."

xxxxx

"How was your day?" Nathan asked her when she got home that evening.

"Hell. And yours?"

"I learned how to repair a broken femur. What happened to you? You look tired…more than usual."

"Where is the baby?"

"In the nursery."

xxxxx

"Hey, Joe. How are you?" she said picking him up. She brought him to the rocking chair and sat with him facing her. "I was thinking about you today. I think about you everyday, but today more than usual. I was thinking about your brother too-"

"Honey," Nathan came in the nursery. "What happened today?"

"He is only eight months old and already he has a friend who's died."

"Who died?"

"This baby that he sees everyday when Teresa takes him to the park. His name was Elijah. His parents killed him to protect him from dying a long and painful death. Tay-Sachs."

"That's awful. I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

"It made me think about this child that's growing inside me. I never believed in abortion before today. If I found out this baby was sick I would do it in a heartbeat."

"You sound really bad." He picked up Joe. "I'll take care of him for the rest of the night. You just rest."

"Yeah. I need it."

xxxxx

Nicole got home anticipating whether or not they would agree on which program was best for them.

"Did you find who you were looking for?" Antonio asked Nicole.

"Yeah. He wasn't alive, but we found him."

"I'm sorry."

"So am I…Listen, what do think about this foster/adopt program?"

"I did a lot of thinking on that versus the regular adoption and I decided…that I can't decide. What ever you want is okay with me."

"You don't have any preference?"

"No." That was a lie. In the end he did prefer the regular adoption program. But he wanted Nicole to have what she wanted. She wanted to help someone. And he knew the foster/adopt program was how she would want to do it."

"I want to try the foster/adopt program."

"I thought so. I have all the information right here."

"How did you know I would pick this?"

"I didn't. I have all the information on the adoption program too." There was no truth in that either.

xxxxx

Over the next three months Nicole and Antonio attended classes two evenings a week to become licensed foster parents. They decided to start with two children—girls, preschool-aged—and hoped sooner or later they would find one they could adopt.

Teresa enjoyed a long vacation (which she would need since she could soon be a nanny to four children) while Jess was a stay-at-home mom. She loved being there when Joe woke up in the mornings and being the one who rocked him to sleep every night. She wasn't bored at all being home all day the way she thought she would be. She especially liked that she was the first person he crawled to. She was still a consultant for the bureau and still was involved in some of the cases that came through.