28: Getting to the Bottom

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We wait outside Keisha's room for word from the doctor. It's been over an hour since we got her here and still haven't gotten anything on her mother, "that poor kid." Sonny hums out as we stare at her through the glass, "still no sign of the mother?"

"Fin's working the dealer." Olivia returns, pushing some hair out of her face.

The doctor comes out of the room and I quickly ask, "Dr. Wilder, how's she doing?"

"Not well." She tells us honestly, "starvation, infections. She's so dehydrated her organs are shutting down."

"But she's gonna make it though, right, Doc?" Sonny questions, with hope.

She sighs a just a bit and says, "I wish you'd have found her sooner."

Sonny's head drops but his hand finds mine. I turn my head to hide the tear drop that falls from my eye and turn back to Keisha, finding myself saying a prayer for her. We stay in the hospital with Keisha and Sonny goes to talk to Keith, to get some further information about what is going on. An hour later, Doctor Wilder gives us the news that Keisha passed away. I lose control of my emotions and the tears just start to fall down my face, heartbroken at what happened, "Fin and Amanda are going to start their interview soon, we should be there." Olivia says, lifting her dropped head.

"Yea, yea. We should." I nod, wiping at the tears, willing them to stop falling from my eyes.

We get back to the precinct and go straight to the window to watch them interrogate Manuela. As we get there, we see them showing a picture of Bruno to her. She mumbles out, "Bruno. That's my good boy. I want him back."

"That's not happening." Finn spits back to her, closing the folder.

"Keith Musio's putting him in foster care." Amanda tells her.

"Keith?" She spits out, "I don't know no damn Keith."

"Your DCS caseworker?" Amanda reminds her.

"Oh! Him." She sits up in her chair, barely able to keep her head up, "last time I seen him he was up my ass about feeding my kids chips for dinner."

"Chips?" Amanda fires back, "we found your daughter in a cage. Starving."

She says back, "well, that's Keisha's fault. If she'd shut up, stop crying, maybe she'd earn herself some food." She's so casual about it that it takes everything in me to keep from going in there and slapping her.

"Oh, so you starved her to teach her a lesson?" Amanda pushes her.

She argues, "my mother used to whip me with an electrical cord till I bled. You want I should do that?" Olivia knocks on the window to end the interview there.

"The mother is a piece of work." Amanda says once Fin shuts the door, clearly as agitated with her as I am.

"She's also a murderer." I spit, adding fuel to the fire.

"Keisha didn't make it." Sonny elaborates, as if they couldn't catch on.

"Damn." Fin mutters back, all of us allowing the silence to fill the room.

The weekend goes by slowly. I don't sleep much Friday or Saturday night, and I find myself crawling out of bed at 5 in the morning just to stop from seeing Keisha in a cage when my eyes are closed. I make a quick breakfast, craving pickles and eggs and sit on the couch to binge watch bad television. Sonny comes over around 9 and opens the door in his usual cheerful self, "honey, I'm home!" He mimics the famous lines.

He comes over to the couch and hands me a small box, "what's this?" I ask him, looking at it strangely.

"Just open it!" He urges, sitting down next to me.

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