co-written by RatedrKjErIcHo

Amanda Rollins sat in the medical examiner's office and sighed as she signed off on her last report of the day. She was tired and she just wanted to go home to her dog champ. She picked up her purse when her cell phone rang.

"Amanda Rollins." She said when she answered.

"Amanda, its Leah."

"Hey, Leah what's up?"

"I was wondering if you had time to help a friend of mine. Right now, he's looking into some things but I think you can help him."

"I will do what I can. Do you want to tell me about it?" She said as she locked the door to her office.

"Well, it's about a murder from 1983. Well I think it's a murder"

"1983? That's a long time."

"I know but it's important."

She sighed as she locked the door to the morgue. "Well as soon as this guy is ready for whatever, let me know. Are you even sure it's a murder?"

"I didn't go to medical school but I remember enough from Anatomy to know that peritonitis isn't caused from a simple fall."

"The person died of peritonitis from a fall?" Amanda asked.

"Yes. And I know that's unusual."

"Peritonitis is inflammation of the perineum. Usually caused by the rupture of a hollow organ. It would take a forceful fall to cause that."

"So, it's unusual?"

"Yes but it has been known to happen. What's the name of the deceased?"

"His name was Joseph Laurinatis. He was four years old when he died."

"I will pull the file and take it home to review. Just have your friend contact me when he's ready."

"Alright." Leah said hanging up.

Amanda sighed and headed back in her office. She knew the office kept files for years. She walked over to the file cabinet and pulled the file. She placed in her briefcase and headed home.

John sat in the library looking for the article. He finally came to the newspaper that had it. He read it and then printed it out. The reporter wrote that Joey died of peritonitis after taking a fall. Apparently the fall caused a ruptured bowel which lead to the peritonitis. Joey had bruises and the hospital thought he had been abused. The police did an investigation but considered it an accident and dropped the investigation into the incident. There were the name of the doctor and the nurse who had attended to Joey. He wrote them down. He'd see if he could track them down and talk to them about the case. His cell phone rang and he smiled and shook his head when he saw it was Leah.

"Hey, Leah." He said answering.

"Hey, I talked to my friend. She said once you're ready you can call and talk to her. But it's up to you."

"Thanks Leah. I have some investigating to do before I decide." He hung up and got up. He wanted to talk to the doctor and nurse as well as the police officers who investigated it. He decided he'd see if he could look them up in the morning. It was starting to get pretty late. He sighed to himself. He couldn't believe that all this was happening. When he'd made the promise to his mom, he'd expected to find his long lost brother and be able to share the rest of their lives getting to know each other. Now John was looking into the circumstances behind his death.

"I think this is nice what you're helping him do." Adam said as he kissed his wife after she had gotten off the phone.

"I just feel bad that it had to come to finding out whether or not the poor little guy was murdered. Who could do that to a baby?"

"I don't know. But when we have kids, I promise you I will do anything to protect them."

"Good. Because we won't have long to wait." She smiled.

"What?" He asked.

"We're expecting."

"This is amazing." He hugged her. "I can't believe we're having a baby."

She smiled. "I know it's amazing." She was happy that they were expecting. She couldn't wait to be a mom.

"I love you so much." He said as he kissed her again. She smiled.

"I love you too. Let's get some rest. John's going to need us in the next few months." He nodded because he knew that was true.

Amanda arrived home and took out the file on Joey Lauranitits. She read through it and came across the doctor's report on his death. She saw where the doctor said he died of peritonitis from a ruptured bowel. His adoptive parents said he fell down the stairs to the basement. She picked up some of the photos that were in the file. She started to look through them. The bruises she saw were more than what would be caused by a fall. He had bruises on his arms, chest, and face and neck. The poor child looked like he had been dragged down the stairs.

She put the photos aside and looked through the file. She came across his death certificate. She looked at the cause of death and it said undetermined. Usually that was placed on a death certificate temporarily until an actual cause of death could be found. With this being a death certificate from 1983, there should have been a more permanent cause of death. It was very unusual to her.

She placed the death certificate down and sighed. She had so many questions about this one. She didn't understand how the medical examiner who did the autopsy would have left the cause of death blank. The reports said he died of peritonitis caused by the fall. Then the cause of death should have been accidental death. Maybe she was reading too much into it. She put the file away and got ready for bed. If the person who wanted to know the truth didn't call her, then she would let this go. She only hoped her overly inquisitive mind would let her. But as she looked at the face of the helpless little boy, she knew she wasn't going to be able to. Even if the guy didn't call her, she'd do some digging and find out what happened to him. She just had too.

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