Sail With Me (4 page)

Delaney always liked Mike.
 
He was a good person, and the only person who warned her about Kevin and she had ignored him.
 
She was angry with him when he approached her two years ago and told her Kevin was having an affair with a nurse living in town.
 
She had accused Mike of being jealous and miserable with his own life as a one-armed Marine who was now stuck selling ice cream.
 
She only now recalled the look of sadness on his face when she said those words.
 
Delaney could feel the burning in her cheeks and was embarrassed for her past behavior.
 
She placed her hand on Mike’s prosthetic arm and was surprised at how cold it felt when it was so hot outside.
 
Their eyes met and she held his gaze as she apologized for her cruel words.
 
Mike smiled and planted a warm kiss on her forehead before driving away.
 
His license plate read “SNIPER.”

As Delaney threw the tennis ball in the water for Fetch to chase, her mind drifted to Mike.
 
He was a good looking rough and tough type who took care of his body.
 
They would often see each other on their morning runs, nodding as they passed in opposite directions.
 
He seemed perpetually tan, even in the dead of winter.
 
She never would have noticed the Eagle Globe and Anchor tattoo across his right upper back if she didn’t turn to check out his ass one morning as he ran by her.
 
She happened to look up just long enough to see his toned body come running right at her.
 
He quickly moved to the side and avoided a potential collision of sweaty bodies.
 
As he passed her, Delaney had turned to check him out.
 
It just happened to be at the same time he was checking her out.
 
They both laughed and went on their separate ways.

Mike was the kind of man who helped old ladies cross the street and rescued kittens from tree tops. But why should that surprise her; he gave his left arm for his country and never complained or whined about it.
 
She had read in the lifestyle section of the local paper that Mike was recently engaged to Cecily Bongiovanni, a local artist and sixth grade teacher.
 
She didn’t know the woman but felt a twinge of jealousy for their new love.
 
Delaney made a mental note to congratulate Mike the next time she bumped into him.

Chapter Seven

At eleven p.m. Delaney logged off her Apple and went to bed.
 
Two hours later she was still awake, tossing and turning thinking about the words Dolores Green had said to her that day.
 
I don’t know why she goes there; everybody knows it’s just an empty coffin.
 
Delaney climbed out of bed and grabbed a pair of shorts from the top of her hamper and pulled her hair into a ponytail.
 
Fetch was sleeping in her usual spot at the foot of her bed and didn’t even look up as Delaney straddled the dog to get to the doorway.
 
Once in her Mini Cooper she powered on the radio and listened to the weatherman talk about the full moon and the potential for rain in the coming week.
 
She wasn’t certain what made her decide to check out the cemetery alone in the middle of the night but something told her Caroline would be there.
 
As she approached the church, she turned her radio and headlights off and used her power button to roll down the windows. The car came to a slow roll as Delaney entered the narrow black top drive leading through the graves.
 
They seemed to go on forever, and she wasn’t sure where the empty coffin was buried.
 
Slowly she navigated through the winding path, scanning from right to left for any signs of Caroline.
 
Thirty minutes had gone by and Delaney was about to give up when she saw her.
 
Illuminated only by the moonlight, was a mourning mother, rocking back and forth as she sat at her only child’s headstone.
 
Caroline stopped for a few seconds and looked up at the car.
 
Delaney felt as if she were interrupting a very private moment and thought about what she should do, but as far as she knew cemeteries didn’t have visiting hours.
 
She sat in her car for another minute before turning around.
 
In the rearview mirror she noticed Caroline had resumed her rocking.
 

The next day was quiet at the police department.
 
The skies were filled with swiftly moving dark clouds and everyone was hoping for rain.
 
Delaney sat at her desk staring out one of the numerous windows in her office.
 
This was about the only benefit of having a half-wall cubicle that she could think of.
 
The chief was out sick today and the office was running much more smoothly in his absence.
 
She really wasn’t watching anything in particular but was thinking about Caroline.
 

She hadn’t personally worked the case but knew some of the officers that were involved in the search for her baby.
 
Chris Richardson came to mind and she picked up her phone to call just as he walked by.
 
Delaney returned the phone to its cradle and asked Chris to sit down.
 
He was about the same age as her, married with twin preschoolers.
 
His wife stayed home with the kids and money was tight.
 
He would often walk to work and leave their only car for his wife to use in an attempt to keep her from going crazy.
 
Chris was short and stocky with green eyes that seemed to sit just a little too close.
 
He had a habit of biting his nails and didn’t think anybody noticed.
 
When he felt like he was caught he would wipe his hands on the front of his pants and start fidgeting with a pen he always kept behind his right ear.
 
He was a strange bird but about the closest person Delaney could consider a work friend.
 
  

“What’s up?” Chris asked as he sat down and placed his hands on his knees. Delaney instantly noted that his nails were chewed down to the nubs.
 
They looked raw and painful and she was instantly grateful for not having such a gross habit.
 
Delaney caught herself staring and started shuffling the papers in her hands as a distraction.
 
“I’ve been getting complaints about Caroline O’Sullivan.
 
I know you worked on the original case.
 
What can you tell me that wasn’t reported by the media outlets?”
 
The search for Andrew was broadcast on every major news outlet across the country and headlined every paper for months.
 
Chris let out a huge sigh and slumped over.
 
The topic was obviously upsetting for him.

“On July 21, 2005 at 5 a.m. Caroline checked herself into University Hospital in active labor.
 
She was immediately wheeled to the labor and delivery floor where she was transferred to a bed and a fetal heart monitor was strapped around her abdomen.
 
Around forty-five minutes later a midwife entered the room and did a quick pelvic exam.
 
She told Caroline it was time to push and the baby was born fifteen minutes later, at 6:04 a.m.
 
The cord was cut and he was given to her, a beautiful healthy baby boy.
 
Within minutes he stopped breathing and had a grand mal seizure.
 
Hospital policy has a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurse present for every delivery, specifically for unforeseen complications like this one.
 
She grabbed the baby and he was transferred to the NICU.
 
The doctors and nurses worked on him all day, but it didn’t matter.
 
Later that evening he was pronounced dead.”
 
Chris paused here and wiped a tear from the corner of his eye.
 
Delaney stood without excusing herself and walked to the break room.
 
She took two ice-cold Diet Cokes from the fridge and returned to her desk.
 
She handed one to Chris and he cracked it open.
 
In one long giant gulp he swallowed the entire can and slammed it on her desk.
 
He began rubbing his stomach and let out a huge long exaggerated belch.
 
In her attempt to fit in with the boys club, Delaney decided she wouldn’t even acknowledge the disgusting behavior.
 
The smell of his belch lingered between them and she felt nauseated.
 
She casually pushed her Diet Coke to the corner of her desk and determined she wasn’t that thirsty after all.

Chris picked up where he left off, as if nothing had happened between them.
 
“The doctor told Caroline her son had died but she refused to believe him.
 
He asked if she wanted to see his body and she said no.
 
By this time she was so hysterical the doctor ordered the nurse to give her medicine through her IV line.
 
Within minutes Caroline was sleeping and didn’t wake until the following morning.
 
By that time she had a change of heart and was requesting to see her baby for the last time.
 
An hour later the hospital realized the body wasn’t in the morgue.
 
Administration was notified and they ordered a complete lockdown of the labor and delivery unit.
 
For obvious reasons, the hospital didn’t want word of this to get out to the public.
 
A massive internal search had ensued, and every medical waste disposal receptacle and biohazard bag was searched.
 
When hospital staffers still couldn’t locate the body, administration finally notified the police.
 
By this time four hours had already passed.
 
Caroline was left in the dark, sitting alone in her room preparing herself for the viewing of her dead baby.”
 

Chris was quiet while Delaney tried to absorb all of this.
 
All of the officers in the force worked on this case except for her.
 
Chief O’Malley regulated her to driving his lazy butt back and forth from the station to the hospital so he could give updates and press conferences to the news stations.
 

“When the body couldn’t be found in the morgue, why did they search medical waste cans and bags?”
 
Chris let out another sigh.
 
“You’re going to have a hard time believing this but when a baby dies it goes to one of two places.
 
First would be the morgue, where the body is eventually released to a funeral home.
 
If the mother refuses the body, and doesn’t intend to have a funeral service, the body is placed in a red plastic biohazard bag and is considered medical waste.”
 
Delaney couldn’t believe what she just heard and had Chris repeat himself.
 
He then added in, “Think about it Delaney, if someone has a limb amputated, where do you think it goes?
 
All body parts, organs, and babies born before they are considered viable are transported to a centrally located incinerator.
 
For University Hospital that incinerator is located in Pittsburgh.
 
There they are burned and turned to ash.”

Delaney interrupted and asked Chris, “What do you mean by viable babies?”

Chris made a sound as if clearing his throat and started back up.
 
“The point of viability is legally considered the age in weeks in which a baby has a chance of survival outside of the mother’s womb with the appropriate medical intervention.
 
At the time Andrew was born the age of viability was considered twenty-four weeks.
 
A baby born prior to twenty-four weeks, even say twenty-three weeks and six days, is considered to be a miscarriage, and no life saving measures are even attempted.
 
Miscarriages are treated as medical waste.
 
If a miscarriage occurs in the hospital, mothers are given a choice to have the body released to a funeral parlor or to allow it to become property of the hospital.
 
If rights to the body are signed over to the hospital by the mother, it then becomes their legal responsibility to appropriately discard of the remains.”
 
Chris folded his arms across his chest and leaned back.
 

“Everything I read and heard stated that the baby was full term, no complications during pregnancy or delivery,” Delaney stated as she twisted her hair around her finger out of nervousness.

Chris quickly spoke up, “You’re right.
 
Andrew was born a full-term baby.
 
Caroline was nine months pregnant when he was born.
 
But you’re missing the point.
 
A staff member must have inadvertently placed Andrew in a biohazard bag and sent him to the incinerator.
 
When the hospital finally contacted us we sent officers to stop all trash shipments from here to Ohio.
 
Nothing was to enter the incinerator until cleared by us.
 
Because we were crossing state lines the FBI was called in to help.
 
And quite frankly, we needed it.
 
There’s no protocol or policy in place to deal with a situation like this.
 
Thousands of cops, FBI agents, and hazmat members searched relentlessly for weeks through landfills and trucks trying to find the bag that contained Andrew’s body.
 
We were looking for a needle in a hay stack.
 
You know how it ends Delaney, we never did find him.”
 
With that Chris leaned forward and covered his face with both of his hands.