After getting more information from Christi, Coreen got the address off of a website.
"This is funny," Coreen said as she handed Vicki the address.
"You're kidding right?" Vicki asked her.
Shaking her head she said, "Nope."
Henry looked at it, "Well, how ironic, Vicki is looking for someone located at 30 Victoria St." If that wasn't a sign they should be on the case...
They set out immediately telling Coreen to stay at the office with Christi. On the way there, Vicki's cell phone rang, it was Gwen.
"Everything okay?" Vicki immediately asked.
"What? Really..hm..Okay, we'll swing by there and grab it. Okay, thanks so much Gwen, hey, are they up from their nap? Good, thanks.." she was smiling when she shut her phone. Henry glanced over at her, he loved that particular smile. The mother smile, the one that told him she was happy to be a mother, that she loved them more than life itself, even more than him. He wouldn't have it any other way.
"What is it?" Henry asked.
"Ward drew a picture that Gwen thinks we should see." Vicki answered, furrowing her brow.
"That's my boy." Henry was so proud.
"Well, this is no ordinary picture." She said still somewhat disturbed.
"Why, what is it?"
"I think it may be a picture of our missing boy." Vicki said looking more serious than ever.
When they pulled up in front of the address, it was as Vicki suspected-bogus. Dead end.
"Great. It's empty. Any ideas?" She was standing in front of the abadonded building which was just a few blocks from St. Michael's Hospital with her hands on her hips.
"Let's go get the drawing, maybe he's seeing something we don't know about yet." Ward sometimes just drew random pictures of things he had "seen" not knowing where they came from. They would later turn out to be real events, it was yet just another one of his gifts that was coming to the surface and one that today, may prove invaluable.
On the drive to the house, Vicki asked Henry something she had been wanting to ask him since Christi had told them about the other children.
"Henry, why wouldn't a parent want a child cured of autism? I know the obvious brutality of the tests, but I mean, wouldn't they want them to be normal?" She knew that her questions sounded crass, but Henry was the one person who accepted and understood her logical side.
"What's "normal" Vicki? If people knew about our children, do you think they would be considered normal?" Vicki saw his point.
"Victoria," he only called her that when he was deeply serious, "I have been around autistic children many times in my lifetime. I can tell you without a doubt, they are very smart children. It's getting beyond the sensory and social issues that makes it difficult, not for them, but for us. We are the ones that have to learn to adjust." Vicki knew Henry was right and she felt bad for asking, for judging.
Others would think her children were abnormal and she shouldn't be judgemental of anyone's children.
"Stop being so hard on yourself. You just want to fix everything but sometimes, there is no fix, only adjustments." Henry took her hand and kissed it. She loved it when he sensed her feelings and even moreso when he comforted her, although she would NEVER admit that out loud.
"That brings up something else, what happened in one of your many life experiences that you would refuse someone help? That is so not you."
He clenched his jaw...he knew he couldn't avoid it.
"About twenty-five years ago, a child in my building went missing. I could smell him, the blood. I could have tracked him, saved him."
Henry sighed, she knew this was difficult for him by the look on his face.
"I was afraid I would be discovered for the monster I was. But, my own selfishness it made me a worst kind of monster. By the time they found him, it was too late. It was brutal."
Henry never once looked at her.
"I'm so sorry Henry, but I understand." She squeezed his hand in hers.
"No, I don't think you do. I knew that Christi Edwards looked familiar. The boy that went missing was her younger brother.."