The Slaughter of the Innocent

Nassau County Homicide Squad South was summoned to a murder scene on Election Day morning, 2016, An infant girl was found inside a seedy men's room gas station bathroom shrouded with a blood-soaked cotton blanket. The baby's throat had been severed with a box cutter, found alongside the body. Visual examination of the body revealed a deformed right arm and a missing right foot. Crime scene further revealed the presence of a placenta with two umbilical cords. A search of the men's and women's bathrooms failed to yield a second body. Besides the murdered girl, the only visible clue was a cryptic message, printed in lipstick, posted on the back of the door - RETURN TO SENDER! Homicide South went into action using time tested investigation techniques: Interview of the gas station owner revealed he had given the key to a white male,; meticulous search of the grounds and nearby sewers; red-light cameras were reviewed; press releases were broadcast; hospital emergency rooms were visited. Temporarily stymied, pediatricians, gynecologists and In-vitro fertilization clinics were inspected with no results, just a bank of answered questions. Who was the man assisting the woman in the murder? Crimes of this unique nature are generally committed by the mother, for a number of reasons. What was the meaning of the strange message? Homicide Commander, Detective Lieutenant Patricia McAvoy, suffering from a loss of her unborn child, breaks the cardinal rule in police work - don't get personally involved in a case. Lt. McAvoy takes over the funeral arrangements for the infant and practically "adopts" the girl. She sets up a wake, formal funeral mass at a Catholic church, followed by burial in a Catholic cemetery. The child is given a name, Hope McAvoy. News of this is leaked to the news media, infuriating the mother, who begins a mail correspondence with the Lieutenant demanding the return of her baby. McAvoy can only respond via Newsday personal columns, goading the mother to come forward. It doesn't take long for bitterness to take over the case and consume both hunter and prey. Detective Taylor Morgan, one of McAvoy's picked detectives called to report the possibility of a break in the case. During a family dinner, the case was mentioned and a relative of Morgan, Nurse Aunt Jackie offered thought provoking information relative to the medical advances in In-Vitro fertilization. Morgan asked her boss to meet at a local restaurant. Aunt Jackie made a presentation, offering a fresh perspective on the case. Nurse Jackie updated the Commander on the explosion of medical techniques in the neo-natal world. Among them were transgender reassignments of female to male. On occasion, during the transition, some females decided to temporarily suspend the transition regimen to have a baby. After giving birth, the transition is reinstituted. Lieutenant McAvoy learns the transition process is complex beginning with honoring patient requests for embryo transfers. Medical Ethics boards have concluded that all persons view human life, no matter its quality or quantity, as an absolute good. Although examination of the embryos may reveal a life-threatening or debilitating condition medical detriment to the child, some transitioners decided to run the risk and go ahead. In the end medical ethics committees have concluded transgender persons have the same interests a other persons in having children and accessing services for fertility preservation and reproduction. After a spirited debated, nurse Jackie left the restaurant with a bombshell supposition. She said, "I think your man with the bathroom key and the woman who murdered the girl are one and the same person.”