"Shit," Skeeter said under his breath, gazing at the sprawled out child in the box. "Shit."

"I can't imagine," Pete trailed off, joining him, as Carter and his team took the photographs. "It's just too sick."

Skeeter tried not to grimace, as Josh was zipped into the black body bag. "I know . . . I don't know what Linda or I would do if it happened to one of our kids. Shit. I don't know what to say to them."

"We did all we could," Pete offered, knowing it was true although it didn't seem to matter anymore, as Carter came over to join them.

"We're taking him to the morgue," Carter said in way of greeting. "Where is Jimmy? I need to know if he wants an autopsy on this one."

"Living room," Skeeter answered. "I'm not sure that it is the best time to be going in there though."

"How are they?" Carter asked. "I mean I know they can't be doing that well, but still . . . How are they?"

Pete shrugged. "Not good."

"What do you expect?" Skeeter continued. "Max looks like she is about to collapse, and I think the only reason that Kenny is holding it together is for her."

Carter nodded sadly. "Sick bastards. Any idea where this package came from? Or where they disappeared too?"

"We'll find out," Skeeter confirmed. "No way that anyone is getting away with this."

Carter nodded in agreement. "Good."

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"Hmm, this is beautiful," Jen sighed, leaning back in her chair. "It's been so long since I have gotten a tan."

Danny glanced at her from the porch of their new villa, before returning his gaze to the sea. "It's nice enough. Better then Cornerstones."

"It's finished Danny," Jen added, lowering her sunglasses. "We're never going back, so it would be in your best interest to stop thinking about her."

"I can't. Max will never forgive me for killing her son. Never . . . I just sliced open his stomach like it was nothing. How could I do that to her?"

"It was the only way. Did you really want to go back to prison? Or the psych ward? Plus she deserved it, after all she cheated on you and locked you up. She doesn't deserve you, let's enjoy the happiness we've earned."

Danny nodded, still not totally convinced as he watched the waves crash onto the rocks.

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"I know that this is difficult," Jimmy was saying softly, as Carter joined him in the living room. "But I need to know exactly what happened this morning."

Max heard him, but could barely think much less respond to his request. She was vaguely aware of Kenny holding her in his arms, and the commotion going on around her. I want them all to go, I can't do this, her mind screamed. Josh, my baby, my poor, poor, boy. Trying to block his massacred body from her thoughts, she buried her head deeper into her husband's chest.

Jimmy watched them both before continuing. "Please. Anything at all."

Kenny ran his fingers through her hair, and tried to bury the image of Josh from his thoughts. Why, he thought, why? Why us, why now? Struggling to respond to Jimmy's question. "Uh, what do you want?"

"To know what happened this morning," Jimmy repeated, glad to have some sort of response from one of them.

Kenny nodded, as Max lifted her head slightly. "Okay."

"Just lead me through it," Jimmy prodded, as Carter joined him silently on the couch.

"I went to change Emily," Kenny began. "And Max came down to make some coffee."

He took a deep breath, as he choked out the events of the morning that led them to discover the murdered child. "And then we called you."

Jimmy nodded slowly, watching his friend's tortured expressions. "Okay, okay. Kenny, Max, I can't even begin to express how sorry I am. We're not going to stop until we have Danny and Jen in custody or dead."

Kenny nodded, most of his attention focused on his shattered wife. "Yeah."

Jimmy and Carter exchanged a look, as Carter tentatively asked. "I don't want to interrupt, but we're about to move out. Did you want an autopsy?"

Jimmy shot a look back over at his two mourning deputies, who were too wrapped up in their own pain to really pay attention to what was going on around them. "Yeah, do it."

Carter nodded, before turning to Kenny and Max, "I'm so sorry, and that doesn't even begin to cover it. If I can do anything, just call."

"Yeah, thanks," Kenny replied distracted.

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"You did everything that you could," Jill told her husband later that night. "Anything anyone could have asked of you."

"You didn't see them Jill," Jimmy sighed. "I don't think Max could have strung five words together if you paid her too, and the only reason that Kenny could was because he didn't want her to have too."

Jill nodded sadly. "Are you sure it was Josh? Could it have been someone's idea of a sick joke?"

"I could id the body myself," Jimmy verified. "But Carter is going to run some DNA tests after the autopsy. We lifted some prints off of the box, and Skeeter's trying to trace where it came from."

"What about Danny and Jen? Where did they go?"

"We got verification, from an airport video, of them in O'Hare. In the international terminal, but then they just vanished again."

"They couldn't have just vanished," Jill argued. "Someone had to have seen something. Please, their picture was splashed on every major network for weeks. People aren't that oblivious."

"We're looking into it," Jimmy replied, more hostilely then he intended too.

"I didn't mean it like that," Jill countered. "I meant that someone will see them, and then they'll be brought in. No one in their right mind is going to let baby murders go free. Have faith in that."

Jimmy nodded, and wondered if it was possible to have faith in anything anymore.

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Max heard Kenny talking in a low voice to his parents that same night, as he kept one arm wrapped securely around her. His fingers trailed through her long hair almost as an after thought, as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Yeah," she heard him say flatly. "That'll be fine."

She took his free hand in hers, and felt him squeeze back as he continued. "We're okay Dad. Yeah, she's holding her own."

Max watched him as he listened to his Dad, and he pulled her closer to him. "I gotta go, I'll see you when you get here. Uh, huh. Bye."

Kenny glanced down at her, and just wanted her to say something, anything, that would take that blank, despaired look off of her face. "Hey, my parents are going to fly up tomorrow."

"Okay," she said softly. "That'll be good. We haven't seen them . . . since when? Christmas?"

"Yeah," Kenny agreed, wishing it was under better circumstances. "What about yours?"

"My parents," Max sighed. "Yeah. I should probably call them."

Kenny reached for the phone again, knowing it was probably one of the last things that she wanted to do. "Don't worry about it, Honey. I got it."

"You don't have too," Max sighed. "You haven't even met my Dad."

"I want to," Kenny lied, at least partly. "For you."

Max nodded, not up to the task of dealing with her father on the same day she found her dead son. "Thanks."

Kenny said nothing, and kissed her on the temple as he dialed her parents in Boston. "Uh, hello? Is this Hannah?"

Max watched him, as her Mom and he exchanged pleasantries as Kenny continued. "Yeah, this is Kenny. Uh huh, Maxie's husband. We kinda got some bad news."

Max tried to make out what her mother was saying on the other end, but it was all jumbled up, as she tuned back in as she heard Kenny again. "Yeah, it's about Josh . . ."

Max heard a muffled scream on the other end, as it cut Kenny off. "She wants to talk to you honey."

"Okay, okay," she practically whispered, vowing not to fall apart, at least not yet. "Mom? Hi."

"Maxie," Hannah practically gasped. "What's going on?"

Max felt herself beginning to tremble, as she tried to speak. "Mom, oh god, I can't do this. Mom? It's Josh Mom . . . he's . . . we found him . . . mailed . . . oh god Mom, he's dead."

"Dead," Hannah whispered, thinking of the grandson that she had never gotten the chance to meet, as hysterics began to build. "Dead!"

Max couldn't think of anything to say, as she choked on her own emotions at the moment, and as she heard her Dad's voice in the background. "Mom?"

"Maxine? What have you said to upset your mother?" her father suddenly cut in. "What is going on?"

Max shook her head, too drained to continue as she pushed the phone back toward Kenny.

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"The package was sent from Chicago," Skeeter confirmed the next day. "The Post Office located on Church Street. I talked to a friend at the Chicago PD, and they questioned everyone working that day and showed pictures of them."

"Anything?" Jimmy asked.

"Yeah," Skeeter confirmed. "Danny was positively identified when he brought the box in. The teller remembered seeing a passport in his wallet when he was paying."

Jimmy nodded., "We lifted his and Jen's fingerprints from the wrapping, they matched the ones that we found on the diaper earlier."

"Anything else from O'Hare? The flight manifests haven't gotten here yet," Skeeter asked. "I'm sure that they won't have their real names, but it might give us something."

"I'm still waiting, they're supposed to be here today," Jimmy confirmed, wanting to find something, anything, that might locate their two murderous kidnapers.

Skeeter nodded, not sure if he should say anything. "Sir? You did everything that you could. Everyone knows that."

Jimmy shook his head, and could see Kenny and Max's pain in his mind. "I'm not done yet."

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"Saturday? Yeah, that's fine," Kenny agreed, keeping a careful eye on Max and Emily, "Uh, yeah, the morning is good. Sure, thanks."

Hanging up, he watched his wife trying to occupy herself and keep Emily entertained. Dressed in baggy pajama pants and a tank top, Kenny was somewhat shocked about how thin she had gotten over the last few weeks, and vowed to stuff some food down her throat. Tossing the phone back onto the couch, he joined them on the floor.

Max looked up at him, and he could see the dark circles under her eyes. "Saturday?"

Kenny nodded. "Yeah, Novtney said morning was best."

"Okay," she agreed softly, trying not to cry over the thought of her son being buried under the earth in just a few days. "We should . . ."

"Hey," Kenny interjected as she trailed off. "Cry, scream, let it out. Don't lock it up like this."

Max shook her head, as her gaze drifted over to Emily, who was happily occupied with her stuffed animals. "If I start I won't be able to stop, Kenny . . . I didn't know I could hurt this much."

He clamped down on his own hurt and emotions, as he took her hand in his. Interlocking their fingers he squeezed her hand, "I know, I know."

"He wasn't even two," Max choked out, as her emotions over took her. "He didn't even have a chance to live Kenny! It isn't fair! Why Josh? Of every child in the world . . . why him?"

Almost afraid to touch her, Kenny pulled Max tightly against his chest, as she let the first tears fall for Josh. Kenny held her tightly, almost afraid to let go, as her tears saturated his shirt.

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"We may have something here Sir," Pete said a little hesitantly. "The flight manifests from O'Hare were just faxed over, and we found two names linked to the case."

"Who?" Jimmy asked, as Carter joined them.

"A Vera Densh and Jay Venndis," Pete confirmed. "Who happened to take a 7:45 p.m. flight to Paris the same day that the Robinsons were found murdered, and the day the uh, Josh, was mailed here."

"Vera Densh and Jay Venndis?" Carter asked thoughtfully. "Can I see that?"

Pete shrugged, and handed him the paperwork. Carter frowned as he studied the names for a minute. Snatching a pen from Jimmy's desk, he plopped himself down, and began to scribble in the margins.

"What are you doing," Jimmy asked, as he studied Carter's furrowed expression. "Carter?"

"Hold on," Carter replied. "Ah! Got it!"

"Got what?"

"It's an anagram! I can't believe we didn't see it earlier," Carter exclaimed. "I should be deputized on this! Vera Densh and Jay Venndis? Rearrange the letters and you get Danny Shreve and Jen Davis!"

Pete peered over Carter's shoulder and nodded. "Shit."

"And they're in Paris," Jimmy mused, reaching for the phone. "Check to see if they booked another flight out of there, rented a car or anything. I'm calling the FBI."

"Wait! There's more," Carter interrupted. "I was up all night doing the autopsy. Cause of death was the uh, stabbing, but he wasn't dead for long when they put him in the cooler. I'd say a couple of hours tops. I think that they planned on selling him to the Robinsons, but when they figured out who they were, Danny and Jen decided to get rid of Josh as well. He was well fed and taken care of."

"How much money were they paying for him?" Jimmy asked lowly.

"Quarter of a million," Skeeter said, joining them in Jimmy's office. "They couldn't have kids, so they were purchasing one."

"How though? They were mental patients in Green Bay, and the Robinsons lived in Michigan," Pete asked. "Some link is missing."

"We'll find it," Jimmy vowed, standing. "Let's look at Jen's patients again, and see where else these two could have disappeared too."

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"Max," Kenny whispered hoarsely, as he struggled to keep his own tears in until she was under control again. "Honey? Someone is here."

She lifted her head to look at him, and he wiped some stray tears off her flushed face. She didn't want to let go of him. His arms tightened around her briefly, and his hands felt warm on her skin. Max felt him trail his fingers through her hair, and pulled her to her feet as he stood.

"Okay," she sighed, hearing the bell ring again, "Okay."

Kenny kissed her on the forehead, and nodded toward Emily. "You want to go wash your face?"

"Yeah," she nodded, as he scooped Emily up.

Max watched him as he moved toward the door, as she shut herself in the bathroom to pull her emotions together. Catching sight of her tear streak face, Max sunk down onto the toilet, and tried to control her shaking body. I can't do this, she thought, oh, I just can't. Closing her eyes, she tried to regain her composure. Standing slowly, she splashed some water on her face, as she listened to the muffled voices in the hallway. Jumping slightly at the tapping on the door, she counted to five before opening it.

"Hi," Jill said quietly looking at her young friend. "I don't even know what to say . . . Max, I'm so sorry."

"I know," she answered. "I know."

Catching sight of Laurie and Linda, Max wasn't sure that she was up to visitors just yet. Vowing not to fall apart in front of her friends, she joined Jill out in the hall somewhat reluctantly.

"How are you doing? We didn't want to intrude," Jill trailed off, not knowing what to say to make this better for them. "We just . . . How are you doing?"

Max shook her head. "Been better."

"Are you up for some company?"

"Sure," Max said flatly, as Kenny joined them and slipped one arm around her waist.

"Linda brought a casserole," Jill offered, as the three of them made their way into the living room.

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"Vera and Jay rented a car in the Paris Airport," Skeeter informed Jimmy later that day. "Then they crossed the border into Spain, where they boarded another plane to Rome, Italy that is, and finally flew into Palermo, Sicily, where they apparently stopped. Another car was rented, but no more flight info."

"Sicily? They get around," Jimmy answered dryly. "The FBI has put some agents on this in Europe. I talked to Morell, and he's going to keep an eye on it as a personal favor to us."

"What else can we do?"

Jimmy shrugged, hating this part. "Not much. It's out of our jurisdiction now. It has been for awhile. When they're caught, and they will be, I want them tried and convicted here."

Skeeter nodded, not wanting to relinquish the hold on this case any more then Jimmy did. "Are you going to tell Kenny and Max it's out of our hands now?"

Jimmy paused before nodding. "I don't want too . . . they've got a lot to handle now, but they deserve to know. Jill's over there now."

"So is Linda. Oh, Laurie too," Skeeter added. "That is a lot of estrogen."

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Kenny shot Max a look from across the room, which as the day progressed had filled up with friends and family. She looks like she's about to scream, he observed, as she met his eyes.

"Dad," Kenny asked. "Do you mind watching Em for awhile?"

Fred regarded his son silently for a moment before glancing over at Max. "Sure. Your wife looks like she needs a hug, or some space, or something."

"Fresh air," Kenny confirmed. "Thanks."

"That's what I'm here for."

Kenny cut through the crowd quickly, and saw her talking softly with Jill. "Honey?"

"Hi," Max said softly, glad to have him by her side.

Jill smiled sadly at them before saying. "I'm going to go and get something to drink. Do either of you want anything?"

Both shook their heads as Kenny leaned in close to her ear. "Dad's gonna watch Em, you want to go for a walk or something?"

Max nodded gratefully. "I can't breathe in here . . . lets go."

"You cold?" Kenny asked later, as they made their way down to the beach. "It's windy down here."

"I'm good, really," Max sighed, wrapping her hoodie tightly around herself as she took a deep breath. "This feels good."

Kenny wrapped his arms around her waist, as they settled onto the sand. "All of those people . . . I know that they care, but . . ."

Max shook her head. "I know, they've done so much for us . . . Kenny, I can't. How are we supposed to just put him in the ground like that?"

"Ssh," he whispered in her ear. "Just lean back."

"I can't," Max replied softly, turning to look at him. "It hurts too much."

"Max," he said, and she caught the hitch in his voice. "I know. It isn't easy for me either . . . seeing Josh like that . . . it was the worst thing I've ever seen."

Max nodded, and pulled him closer to her as she felt the first splash of tears on her neck.