The Black Market Baby Scandal
(Chapter Four: Poisoned Lies)
Olivia rolled over and opened her eyes. She hadn't been sleeping well lately. She had so much on her mind and Elliot had insisted on her staying at his place until the media swarm had died down a little bit. It was nice of him to offer, but she always had trouble sleeping in new places.
She exhaled and sat up to look at the clock. It was just after three o'clock in the morning. She laid in bed staring up at the ceiling for a little while thinking about her daughter. What did Emily think of her? Did she even know that the people who were raising her were not her parents? And if Olivia did find her, what was so going to do? She couldn't very well jerk a child away from the only parents she has ever known. None of this was in any way Emily's fault, yet she seemed to be the biggest victim here.
Olivia rolled over to stare at the moonlight through the window. Did she even want custody of Emily if she did find her? Her life was not exactly fit for a child. The crazy hours at work and dangerous cases. Not to mention the fact that she was pulling Emily from a home with a mother and a father and bringing her here, to a single parent home. Of course she wanted her. Emily was her child, her flesh and blood and they deserved the chance to be together. She wanted her daughter home more than anything in the world. She would do anything to bring her home, even if it meant changing everything else in her life. This was her child.
But these people who had raised the girl all of this time were not going to give her up without a fight. Being the biological mother may give her a pretty good chance at winning a custody battle in court. She never gave the baby up, she was stolen from her mother hours after birth. Surely any judge and jury could understand Olivia's want to bring her home. But is it in Emily's best interest? And what if they don't like the fact that she is single? Emily would be moving from a loving stable environment to Olivia's world, which is anything but stable.
Assuming, that is that she is in a loving and stable home now. God Olivia hoped she was. That she has been happy and safe and healthy all of these years. That she was with parents, two parents, who loved her and protected her and provided for her.
Olivia began to cry as she held tight to her pillow. Maybe she was better leaving things the way they were. Any way she went about this, Emily was going to get hurt. The last thing in the world she ever wanted was to cause her child pain.
Maybe it would be best if they just found her and made sure she was safe and loved. Then Olivia could just walk away. Knowing that her child was well taken care of. And was better off than she would have been if Olivia had raised her. She felt her heavy eyes shut and she soon was asleep once more.
The next day at work was a crazy one. A woman claiming to be one of the nurses involved had turned herself in. Elliot and Olivia were assigned to sit in on the interrogation. Olivia had a million questions, but sat quietly unable to speak. Elliot took the lead in the interview as Olivia took down notes of the woman's testimony. About half way through the woman looked up at Olivia and said something strange. Something that caught Olivia's attention.
"She had your eyes," the woman said staring at Olivia waiting for her to respond.
Olivia swallowed hard and stared at her notebook. This woman was probably just trying to get a reaction from her. They weren't even sure that any of the information she had given in her statement was true. And she sounded a bit crazy.
"Who might that be?" Olivia asked with a straight face not willing to fall into the woman's trap.
"Your daughter. Your baby girl."
"I don't have any children," Olivia said calling the woman's bluff. She stacked her files and turned to walk toward the door as the woman began to speak once more.
"January 23, 1997. You had a little girl. She was premature. Four pounds, two ounces."
"You crazy bitch," Olivia said turning to look at the woman.
Elliot grabbed Olivia and pulled her away as she moved toward the woman.
"Get control of yourself Liv. You are giving her exactly what she wants."
Olivia took a deep breath and nodded. Elliot released her arm and turned to look at the woman.
"Where did you get that information?"
"It's true. Ask her," the woman said pointing at Olivia. "The poor little thing barely even cried."
Olivia covered her ears and closed her eyes. She didn't want to hear any more of this woman's poisoned lies.
"You could have gotten that information anywhere. What did you do? Somehow get a copy of her file."
"I know because I was there. I wan in that room when the baby was born."
"And of all of the babies you say you helped steal….of all of the babies you sold, you remember this one? Why should I believe you?"
"I don't care if you believe me or not. I am telling you the truth. This one haunted me. Emily, she just sort of stuck with me. What we did to you was wrong," she said looking at Olivia.
"But what you did to all of these other couples wasn't wrong? You stole their babies and ripped apart families."
"But it was different with her, with Emily. She didn't meet the criteria. Until that point we only took babies from mothers who already had children. From couples who already had a family. And we sold them to coupled who couldn't have one. Married women who already had children."
"Then why did you take my baby?" Olivia turned with tears streaming down her face. "Why didn't you just leave us alone?"
"I got in trouble with you. I handed you the baby. I felt so guilty about what we were doing. You looked so afraid and so worried. I wanted you to get to hold her, just once before you lost her. He beat the hell out of me for that."
"Why me? I was a single mother and she was my only child."
"He was desperate. We had already sold a baby to this wealthy couple. But the baby died. Some weird complication during delivery. I had to find a replacement immediately. I was working at your doctors office when you came in the day before. I saw your sonogram. You were having a healthy baby girl. But I couldn't wait for her, we needed her then."
"Oh my God," Olivia said softly. "How did you know that I would have her early?"
"Because I induced your labor. The shot I gave you was not B 12. It was a Pitocin, saline mixture. Pitocin is used to induce women all of the time, usually through an IV drip. I knew you would have the baby within twelve hours. You left and I called the doctor. He called the ambulance company for your district and told them that you were his patient. You were a single woman and due to go into labor at any time. He told them to call him when they got the call. You called the ambulance, they called him, he arrived at the hospital and told them he was your doctor. They let him right in. This was not the first time we had done this. There were dozens of babies before Emily and dozens after."
"Where is my daughter?"
"I don't know. She went to a couple in Long Island. He was a doctor of some kind. That is all I know."
Olivia took a deep breath and walked out of the room. She stumbled to the nearest wall and slid down it to cry in the floor.
"You don't have a name?" Elliot demanded.
"We didn't use their real names. Just a case number. Every couple was known as Smith or Jones. As long as he got the cash, he didn't care."
"So some junkie could have bought that baby?"
The woman laughed. "Not at his prices. That couple paid half a million dollars for that baby. That is why he was so desperate to find a replacement when their original baby died."
"Half a million dollars for one baby and that wasn't enough to retire? He kept it up?"
"He did. I got out a few weeks later."
"A few weeks?"
"I felt bad for what we were doing."
"So bad that you had to help him steal a few more babies before you could leave?"
"He wasn't exactly happy when I told him I wanted out."
"What you boyfriend had a hold on you?"
"He wasn't my boyfriend."
"That is the only reason most people follow someone into doing things like this."
"He was my brother."
"I need his files. I need you to help me get them. We need to find these children."
"I don't speak to him. Besides you already have him in custody."
"He won't give it up. We are spinning circles here. You help us out and I will make sure to mention that at your sentencing. Help us bring these babies home."
"There was an old warehouse he used to use. It was pretty much abandon. He just put new locks on it and took it over." She scribbled down the address. "That is pretty much all I know."
"Thank you."
Elliot went to find Olivia. He knew she was in one of two places. She was either in the locker room or on the roof, where she sometimes went to be alone.
"I thought I might find you up here," he said walking out onto the roof. He slipped her coat around her shoulders and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Liv, it's freezing up here. Why don't we go somewhere we can talk and I'll buy you a cup of coffee."
"I don't know if I can do this Elliot. And even if I do, whose to say she isn't better off where she is?"
"Let's just find her," he said brushing some tears from her eyes. "Then you can decide what you want to do. First, lets just make sure she is safe."
Olivia nodded as Elliot hugged her.
"She gave us an address for a warehouse they used to use. I have some uniforms checking it out now. What do you say we go get some coffee and get warmed up, then we can head over there and see what is going on? I'm hoping if we're lucky we'll find some old files that might help us track some of these kids down. It might help us find Emily."
Elliot cupped his hands on the sides of her face and stared into her eyes.
"Elliot," Olivia whispered softly placing her hand on top of his.
"I know, Liv. Let's get out of here," he said brushing her hair from her eyes.
She nodded and they walked down to the car.