‘Let’s hope Ms. O’Hearn survives,’ said Blade.
44
‘I want you to know, detectives, that my daughter wasn’t using drugs,’ said Jenny’s father before anyone spoke in the hospital waiting room. He, like her boyfriend Danny and her mother, was exhausted and looked pale. ‘Something about this whole thing is all wrong.’
‘I’m very sorry for what happened to your daughter,’ said McQ. ‘By all accounts, Jenny was well liked, highly regarded by her peers and…’
‘I’m telling you, Jenny wasn’t using drugs,’ interrupted Danny. ‘She was a vegan. She was totally into unprocessed food, yoga and meditation. She didn’t even drink much.’
McQ felt his ears warm up and start to itch—his internal alert system was starting to ring. ‘According to hospital files,’ said McQ, ‘Jenny had a drug problem several years ago. The hospital even put her in a rehab program.’
‘Detective, I’ll admit my daughter did occasionally use light drugs recreationally when she was in high school and college and while she was seeing that loser, Brian Finn,’ said Jenny’s father. ‘She mainly smoked pot and drank too much. A few years back, after she started working at Oceanside Manor, she went out to a club with some friends. One of them gave her something, a pill. It was stupid and she should have said no, but she took it. The reason the hospital put her into rehab was because the morning after she took the pill the drugs hadn’t worn off completely and Jenny was supposed to be at work at 7am. Still feeling the effects of the drug, she went to work anyway because she feared she might get fired if she called in sick. Apparently, she had been warned about taking sick days already. It was a terrible idea for her to show up at the hospital in that condition. From what I understood at the time, she was so out of it that day at work that the only way she was able to keep her job was to agree to go into a drug rehab program. So, she did. But really, Jenny did not have a persistent drug problem. In fact, she never touched anything after that night.’
‘Did your daughter have any enemies?’ asked McQ.
‘She didn’t get along with her ex,’ Danny said.
‘Oh yeah, who’s that?’ asked McQ, poised to write down a name.
‘Brian Finn, a real asshole,’ said Danny as if he tasted something terrible in his mouth.
‘How do you know that?’ asked Blade.
‘Once, Jenny and I ran into him in the lobby of a movie theater,’ said Danny. ‘He asked me what it felt like to be the “transitional boyfriend.” You know, like she was only dating me to get over him. Like I said—a real asshole.’
‘When did Brian and Jenny break up?’ asked Blade.
‘About six months ago, shortly before I started going out with her,’ said Danny. ‘She told me Brian blamed me for their break-up. She said she had tried to end it with him long before I came along but he wouldn’t accept it. I think she dated other guys towards the tail end of her relationship with him but I never asked. When we met, that was it for both of us. I really love her.’
‘Do you know if Brian ever went to the hospital to see Jenny or picked her up from work?’ asked McQ.
‘I didn’t know her when she was seeing him,’ said Danny. ‘Wait a minute, Jenny told me that last year when she got a promotion, the staff on her floor threw a little party in her honor. They gave her a teddy bear dressed in a nurses’ uniform. She still keeps it on the dresser next to her bed. I think she told me her ex-boyfriend came to that party.’
When the detectives went back over to Oceanside Manor they were swarmed by several dozen reporters and their associated camera crews. The news crews kept coming. The Eliza Stern case and the subsequent overdose of Jenny O’Hearn had driven the reporters into a conspiracy frenzy. McQ and Blade deflected questions while trying to get from their car into the building. Once safely inside, Blade let out a deep breath.
‘One of those reporters was from Peru. Peru!’ said Blade in astonishment. ‘Can you believe that?’
‘This story has taken on a life of its own,’ said McQ. ‘You think Jenny O’Hearn’s overdose is connected to Eliza Stern? It seems like too much of a coincidence.’
‘I wouldn’t rule it out,’ said Blade. ‘On this case, anything is possible.’
45
Day 14
When the baby was two weeks old, a staff pediatrician at the hospital examined him and gave the little boy a clean bill of health. With the blessing of child services, Angela and David became temporary foster parents and the baby would be going home with them.
Since the Crawfords had made the decision to take in the baby, the atmosphere around their house had gotten decidedly cheerier. Angela hummed and David whistled as they readied their extra bedroom and turned it into a nursery. The walls were already painted a light blue so all they had to do was move some of the furniture out and install a crib, a changing table, a couple of baby paintings, some curtains, a mobile with tiny red and blue elephants and a small army of stuffed animals. Supplies of diapers, blankets and baby clothes were purchased. They were ready.
The morning the Crawfords were to bring the baby home, Angela grabbed the infant car seat she had waiting in her office and took it up to 3 West to collect him. The nurses and aides had tears in their eyes. They had all enjoyed having the baby on the floor and would miss him. Still, they were all relieved that he was going into a home and not into the cold, callous foster system where so many children slipped through the cracks. Over the past two weeks, the staff had observed Angela on her many frequent visits to see the baby and had all agreed, she would make an excellent mother.
David pulled their blue Mazda sedan around to the rear parking lot of Oceanside Manor and got out while he waited for his wife and new baby to appear. Filled with joyful anticipation while also being a little terrified, he contemplated what he had committed to. It was scary becoming a father for the first time in his fifties—but it was good scary.
Moments later, Angela emerged from the back door and David rushed over to help his wife. Together, they loaded the seat containing the infant into the car, clipped it in with the seat belt and took their new foster son home. David drove very carefully and slowly with his precious cargo on board, much more slowly than usual.
‘David,’ said Angela, ‘you’re going twenty miles an hour and the speed limit is forty. At this rate, we’re never going to get home.’
‘I don’t want anything to happen to this little guy,’ said David, looking at the baby in his rear-view mirror.
‘The line of cars behind you is going to start honking any minute.’
‘Let ’em,’ said David, smiling.
When they arrived at their house, he parked carefully on their gravel driveway and ran to unlock the front door. When the door was open, he went back to help Angela bring the baby into his new home. Once inside, Angela placed the sleeping child, still in his car seat, down on their kitchen table.
‘David, can you feel it?’
‘Feel what?’
‘The air in here. It’s different. There’s an electricity flowing all around us. We’re a family. At last, we’re a real live family. We have to savor this moment. This is our family’s very first day. It will never happen again.’
David smiled, put his arms around his wife and gave her a long hug. It was the most peace and unabashed joy he had felt in a long, long time.
‘It’s a new beginning for us. I feel like I’m going to be able to write again,’ said David. ‘I think this is what was missing.’
‘We need to pick a name for him,’ said Angela softly, looking over at her new son. ‘Everyone around Oceanside Manor has been calling him Eli, after Eliza. We should pick a name for our son.’
‘I’ve been thinking about that,’ said David. ‘I think Eli is a great name and honors Eliza, the woman who gave us this amazing gift. Let’s keep the name Eli.’
Angela looked at the sleeping baby for a minute and smiled. ‘I agree. Eli Crawford it will be.’
‘Sounds like the name of a famous w
riter,’ said David, grinning.
‘His father is a famous author, you know,’ said Angela as she kissed her husband. They spent the rest of the night looking at their new baby and feeling like the luckiest two people on the face of the earth.
46
Day 16
That first weekend, Angela had spent two whole days with Eli. While she would have preferred to take more time off to spend extra hours with him, given what was still going on at Oceanside Manor, time off was not possible. This first Monday morning, she thought about how lucky David was to be home with their son while she went reluctantly back to work.
When she walked into the kitchen that morning to grab a coffee and a piece of toast, David was already sitting at the table giving Eli a bottle. The gentle loving image of her husband with the baby nearly took her breath away.
It’s all been worth it. This baby is going to make us right again.
‘You look like you were born to be a father,’ said Angela with a wink.
David looked up and smiled back at his wife. ‘I can’t believe how much I love this little guy after only three days. It’s an incredible feeling. Already, I can’t remember what it was like before we had him.’
‘It’s a whole new chapter for us,’ said Angela, drinking in the image of her husband and new baby. ‘Are you sure you’re going to be all right by yourself today?’
‘He’s just a tiny baby. He’ll sleep most of the time. All I have to do is feed him and change him. Piece of cake.’
‘Okay, but tiny babies can make a lot of noise and need a lot of attention,’ said Angela as she leaned over and kissed her husband on the cheek. She touched the baby’s forehead and looked into the infant’s eyes. ‘His eyes are still blue. You think they’ll stay that way?’
‘Blue or brown. I don’t care.’
‘I’ll try to be home by 6:30. I’ll pick up dinner on my way. Call me if you run into any trouble. Wish me luck, I’m off to the snake pit.’
‘Hey, Angie, I was thinking, I might even take a crack again at my writing today, when Eli is sleeping, of course. I got a new story idea last night.’
Angela smiled and gave her husband a thumbs up as she walked out the front door. When all this crazy stuff at the hospital goes away, my life is going to be perfect.
Consumed with new baby thoughts during her entire fifteen-minute drive to work, Angela was brought back to harsh reality when she saw the Oceanside Manor entrance sign and the parking lot already filled to capacity with news vans. Hordes of photographers with cameras gathered under the palm trees and across the blacktop making it difficult to navigate to her spot.
She turned off the engine, took a deep breath, grabbed her brown leather tote bag loaded with files and headed into the building. She had a lot going on today, most of it to do with Eliza Stern. Beyond Eliza, Angela still had a facility to run, and for the last two weeks almost everything else had been put on hold. Today, she had committed to complete the annual budgets and take care of a few other critical contracts that had been laid fallow since the day Eliza gave birth.
When she got to her office, Vera dropped a mini hand grenade on to her schedule. Detectives McQuillan and Blalock had called, they were on their way over. Angela groaned, rolled her eyes and went into her office. Her master plan for getting back to hospital business had just been hijacked. Fifteen minutes later, McQ and Blade were shown into Angela’s office.
‘Dr. Crawford,’ said McQ. ‘We’ve gotten the DNA results back from over 200 people. Most were conclusive, but some we’ve had to send back for a retest. Every single person was interviewed, which was no easy feat given our time restraints. The governor of Florida, and the mayor and chief of police all want this thing put to bed ASAP.’
‘No arguments from me. I couldn’t agree more,’ said Angela. ‘We can’t live with this chaos much longer. Not good for the staff and not good for our patients. And don’t get me started on the outside vendors. We can’t get anyone to make deliveries here anymore. They’re all afraid someone’s going to ask them for their DNA. I’ve had to send aides out to pick up supplies. Then there is that awful tragedy with Jenny.’
‘I’m not going to sugarcoat this,’ said McQ. ‘We’ve eliminated a lot of people as the father of Ms. Stern’s baby but we’re no closer to identifying who it is. We only know who it isn’t. After reviewing documents, security tapes and statements from employees, vendors and relatives, there are only a handful of possible suspects left.’
‘Who?’ said Angela.
‘We can’t reveal that at this time,’ said Blade, ‘but we could use your help on something else. One of your hospital employees did not submit to a DNA test.’
‘What? I told everyone, nurses and aides included, that it was mandatory.’
‘It wasn’t a nurse or an aide,’ said Blade.
‘Who was it?’
‘Dr. Steve Horowitz,’ said McQ.
‘You’re kidding me,’ said Angela, picking up her phone.
Ten minutes later, Steve Horowitz was shown into Angela’s office. It was evident to McQ from the guilty look on the doctor’s face that he had surmised why he had been called in.
‘Before you say anything, I have my reasons,’ said Horowitz.
‘Can’t wait to hear them,’ said Angela, lips pursed.
Horowitz looked over at the two detectives, sweat beading on his upper lip.
‘Well?’ said Angela.
‘It’s personal.’
‘In case you haven’t noticed,’ said Angela, ‘we’ve been the headline on CNN for the past two weeks.’
Horowitz remained silent.
‘Will you answer me?’ said Angela.
Horowitz took a deep breath. ‘I won’t get into what it is but suffice it to say, there is a genetic mutation that has run its course through several generations of my family,’ said Horowitz. ‘I don’t know if I have it but given all the issues in this country with health insurance, I don’t want my genetic data out there or I might not be able to get health insurance. And my children might not be able to get insured either.’
‘No one is going to see it besides the police,’ said McQ. ‘We’re not a genetics company.’
‘What planet do you live on?’ said an incredulous Horowitz. ‘Everyone is buying and selling personal data. If you don’t think that someday your genetics will be used against you, guess again.’
‘I’m afraid I’ll have to insist,’ said Angela.
‘You can ask to have your DNA removed from our databases once you’re cleared,’ volunteered Blade. After a more pointed discussion and some thinly veiled threats from Angela, Horowitz dug his heels in and flat out refused to co-operate.
‘This isn’t helping your case, Steve,’ said Angela. ‘How do you think it looks if you don’t give the police your DNA after everyone else did?’
‘Then everyone else is stupid and doesn’t know their rights,’ said Horowitz. ‘I know my rights and I don’t have to do it. Isn’t that correct, detectives?’
‘You’re correct. You’re totally within your rights, doctor,’ said Blade. ‘But it looks really bad.’
47
Day 17
On David’s first day alone with the baby, Eli had done little more than eat, burp and sleep. In the morning, David readied the formula, put a load of baby clothes in the washer and straightened up Eli’s room until he was satisfied that everything was in its proper place. Eli’s diaper had been changed twice and now the infant was sleeping quietly in the downstairs bassinet. David found himself staring at the tiny person in his charge, aware that he felt happier than he had in years. His whole body tingled with a sense of anticipation, similar to the way he felt when he was a grad student and had his whole life and career ahead of him.
With all the house chores completed by eleven, David sat down at his desk and opened his laptop. Before Eli, the mere act of sitting at the desk was only a reminder of his inability to write anything meaningful. Today, he felt different, a million ideas
and thoughts coursed through his brain as if five novels were trying to push their way out all at once. He turned on his computer and opened a blank Word document, something he had done a thousand times with little result. He waited for the inspiration to hit him. Within seconds his fingers were gliding over the keyboard and paragraphs appeared on the screen. After an hour, he had written nearly ten pages, something he hadn’t been able to accomplish in years. He sighed with relief.
Baby, I’m back.
48
Day 18
Back at Oceanside PD headquarters, the Eliza Stern police investigative team had been assembled. McQ and Blade stood in the front of the room by a whiteboard, reviewing all of the information collected thus far.
‘Where are we on the lab samples?’ McQ asked one of the uniformed officers.
‘We’ve ruled out more than 250 possible suspects and still have several more samples at different stages,’ said the young officer. ‘We’re still waiting on the specimen kit from that doctor in Ecuador, Farwell. We’ve been told that the U.S. consulate in Guayaquil took the sample and it’s being shipped as we speak.’
‘And how many other samples are still outstanding?’ asked McQ.
‘If we include Farwell, that leaves four men whose DNA we have not been able to acquire and process. There’s also Raymond Barbero, the father of an Oceanside Manor patient. He won’t give it up, but he’s pretty old,’ said the officer. ‘There’s Peter Parris, the brother of the patient who’s in the room next to Eliza Stern. He won’t budge. There’s also another man named Peluso who refused to give a sample. He replenishes vending machines and coffee stations around the facility.’
Without Her Consent Page 16