The Devil's son - 9. Great despair: the George Russo story

Detective George Russo felt numb. He sat in the hallway outside the NICU for God knows how long. George didn't know, that's for sure. And he couldn't get himself to get up either. He knew his son was lying only 20 feet away, fighting for his life. As was his wife, 3 floors down, in the ICU. And he needed to get in touch with a mortician to arrange the funeral for his other son and his daughter. George sank his head in his hands and started to cry. How did everything go so wrong?

Vanessa and he met when he was fresh out of the academy. George knew Vanessa still kept the uniform he wore that first meeting, near the New York Public Library. Vanessa was an English Major at NYU at the moment and had just spent the entire day in the library searching material for her thesis while George was a rookie cop, full of himself and convinced he would change the world one crook at the time. Her idea of a night out was diner and either a ballet or recital while his was eating hotdogs at Yankee Stadium or eating steak downtown and drinking beer till he or his friends passed out. There probably wasn't a worse match thinkable and no way these two people would ever meet and hit it off. And if it hadn't been for that street punk looking for a couple of easy bucks they probably never would have.

But that punk did show up, hungry for a quick fix. He was no more than 19 years old and, from the looks of it, a drug addict living on the streets for a while now. As soon as he saw Vanessa walking down the famous steps of the Stephen A. Schwarzman building he ran towards her and grabbed her laptop bag. The loss of her laptop would be a financial disaster for Vanessa Munroe but the real disaster would be the raw draft of her thesis was on it and she didn't have a backup. Three months of work would be gone if the guy got away with her laptop so she started screaming on the top of her lungs. And, since he thought of himself as a knight in shining armor, George Russo reacted. He ran up the stairs, slugged the young man and tripped over the laptop bag the robber dropped. Vanessa certainly didn't react as a typical damsel in distress when she saw that big oaf trip over her precious laptop. She let out a few words that would make a sailor blush.

"You complete idiot! Do you know what it would have cost me had you trampled my laptop with those giant feet of yours?" she screamed to George, who was still on his face on the steps of the library. Not only was his pride wounded but his uniform, two days old, was torn. And, on top of it, some type of bookworm was shouting at him, one of New Yorks finest!

"Miss, it might be a good idea to pipe it down a little" George said, while he tried to get the laptop from her.

"What do you think you're doing?" Vanessa asked when she realized the young police officer tried to get her laptop from her.

"That bag is evidence, lady" George said. "Can't book this guy without taking along the thing he tried to steal".

"Like Hell you are!" and Vanessa started with her second tirade. "My thesis is on it! The only way you're getting my laptop is if you take it from my cold, lifeless hands!"

"Not the worst suggestion" George thought. This student was good-looking, he’d give her that, but she really needed to learn some respect for the strong arm of the law.

"Ma'am, there's nothing I can do for you. Hand over the bag with it's content. It's up to the ADA when you'll get it back".

Needless to say that wasn't acceptable to Vanessa. All the way to the police station she followed George and his suspect, making sure George never forgot she was there and she was not happy. It wasn't before long George regretted he reacted to her cry for help in the first place.

At the station things certainly didn't improve when the ADA told her she would not be getting her laptop back until at least the arraignment. No matter how much she pleaded, cursed, yelled and threatened, Vanessa didn't get her laptop back that afternoon and probably not for days or weeks. Vanessa also cursed at herself for not making a backup of her files. When she realized there was nothing she could do she broke down. She sank into a chair and started sobbing, not knowing what to do next. Her first draft was to be handed in in five days. Fortunately, her sadness had an effect on George, who went over to the ADA.

"Sir, is there nothing we can do for this young lady?" he asked.

"Afraid not, officer Russo. The laptop has to be documented as evidence" the ADA answered, getting ready to leave again.

"Sir, would it be a violation of the rules to boot up the laptop and copy some files?" George asked.

"Well, I don't think so. It would be unusual but I don't think the law states it is prohibited" the ADA said. "But the young lady can't be allowed to work the laptop. That would be a violation".

"And if a police officer would make a backup of the hard drive?"

"I think that would be alright" the ADA said. "But where would you find an officer willing to do that for such a harpy?"

"Oh, I think I know an officer or two who can be persuaded" George smiled before he walked over to his desk where the laptop was waiting to be processed as evidence.

Vanessa hadn't noticed any of the exchange between the ADA and the young police officer since she was busy thinking what to tell her counselor. She would probably fail the class without the first draft of the thesis. She was so preoccupied she didn't hear George calling her name.

"Miss Munroe, are you hearing me?" George asked, not getting any response from Vanessa. It took a couple of more calls and George sinking to his knees before she noticed he was trying to get her attention.

"I have something for you" and George handed her three CD-ROMs. "A backup of all the data files from your hard drive. I know it doesn't get you computer back any sooner but at least you can continue your work." George said. Or better, he tried to say it but Vanessa gave him such a bear hug she almost chocked him. Still, it would be three more weeks, at the arraignment, before Vanessa and George saw each other again.

George was interrupted from his trip down memory lane by one of the nurses from the NICU.

"Excuse me, detective Russo, but we need to know what to call your son. We can't keep referring to him as "baby boy Russo" now, can we?" the nurse said with the best intentions. However, George wasn't susceptible for it. He was hurting but more, he was angry. Angry with Vanessa, angry with the gynaecologist, angry with the world but most of all angry with himself. If he had only put his foot down ....

"Woman, you can call him King Kong for all I care right now. Just leave me the FUCK alone!" George yelled.

The nurse was somewhat startled and started a response when a colleague led her away.

"Just let it slide, Rose" the other nurse said. "It's not personal. This man lost two of his three babies today and both his third child and his wife are likely not to survive either". Luckily, George didn't hear that last part.

The female judge at the arraignment had been a royal bitch! She and the ADA had some unfinished business and Vanessa was about to be a victim of that.

"Miss Munroe, I really don't care." the judge had responded to Vanessa's objections not getting back her laptop. "The ADA should not have made that promise you would get your computer back today. He should have known it was up to me to decide that. Just count your blessings I'm not ordering you to hand in the copies of the files the police officer made you. I could forbid you to publish anything even remotely connected to the files that were on that computer, missy, since the copies were made AFTER the computer was taken into evidence".

George Russo was steaming. No matter what his personal feelings towards Vanessa Munroe had been at that moment, the judge had sworn to uphold the same high standards of conduct as he had. Their first, last and only responsibility were to the people of the City and State of New York. Not petty bickering between the DA's office and the court. And he was close to telling the judge that when his Captain put his hand on his shoulder and forced him outside.

"George, trust me. If I thought whatever you would say would make a difference I would've let you and I would've backed you up" the Captain said. "But with this judge you and I both don't stand a chance".

"How come, sir?" George asked. "How can a judge, someone who swore to serve the people, act like this when a victim made a simple request?"

"Oh, it has nothing to do with miss Munroe" the Captain said. "You see, the judge is a lesbian and the ADA her nephew. When she came out her entire family disowned her and the ADA played dirty in several cases, using her sexuality and the situation in her family against her. It's all politics".

George was disgusted but now understood there was little he could do. So when the judge adjourned and Vanessa came out George walked up to her and offered her a tissue. Vanessa was amazed and smiled at George the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. And right there and then George was caught. Vanessa had him: hook, line and sinker and George's life would never be the same again.

It took George three more days to work up the courage to ask Vanessa on a date and, when looking back, he didn't know what surprised him more: the fact that he managed to call her without passing out or the fact that she said yes. But their first date didn't exactly go as planned.

When George had invited her he never thought she might like different things than he did so when he told her it would be informal so she should dress casually, she thought he would take her to a nice restaurant and maybe a movie of a jazz club afterwards. So imagine her surprise when she was waiting for George at Times Square in a nice dress and he came walking up to her in his Yankees outfit. George had planned on taking her to the Yankees game. Imagine his surprise when she agreed to go with him even though she was more dressed for a night at Broadway than spending it at The House that Ruth Built. And truth be told, Vanessa thought of giving him a piece of her mind and take the subway home just as much as George debated running in the nearest store, buying a somewhat formal attire and taking Vanessa to a nice Italian restaurant he knew near Times Square. And imagine both their surprises when they had a great time together, first at Yankee Stadium and later at a bar having a few beers.

"Do you know this was the first time I drank beer?" Vanessa asked George when he walked her home.

"Yeah, I thought as much when I saw the face you made when tasting it" George laughed while avoiding Vanessa hitting his shoulder. "I chose that particular bar because I knew they serve cocktails as well. You didn't strike me as a beer drinking girl" which cost him a second fist at his shoulder while Vanessa was mockingly angry with him.

When they were back at the apartment Vanessa rented with two other college girls she debated whether she should ask him in or not but George handled that by being a perfect gentleman. He gave her a kiss and thanking her for a wonderful night.

"I hope we can do this again some time" George said. "I had a really good time".

"I'll give you a call" Vanessa said, leading George to the idea she had fun but didn't feel like going on a second date. But as soon as George was near the subway station he had to take to go home to Queens his cell phone rang.

"So, what are you doing tomorrow night?" Vanessa asked.

Her entire body hurt and Vanessa was somewhat disturbed she couldn't move. She felt something stick in her throat and somehow her lungs were blown full of air every couple of seconds. She heard the beeps, humms and bells everyone associated with severe illness at the ICU and every now and then she heard a nurse talk out loud, calling out numbers and other stuff that meant nothing to her.

"How are my children?" Vanessa thought. "How are my babies?"

All of a sudden she heard a male voice, yelling at the nurse.

"Nurse, why did you change the settings of her anesthetics?" the male voice thundered. "She's in a far too worse shape to wake up at this moment! She needs to be sedated completely, understood?"

"Yes, doctor" the nurse said and Vanessa heard a different kind of beeps. Almost immediately after those beeps ceased she felt her consciousness slip away.

"No, I need to know how my babies are doing!" she tried to scream. "And where is my husband?"

Since that night at Yankee Stadium George and Vanessa kept dating for over a year and as soon as Vanessa had completed her Phd George proposed to her. Only four weeks later the two lovebirds stood in front of the altar, vowing to love and cherish each other till death would do them part.

Vanessa's parents were not happy about their daughter dating a policeman at first. Being from the Upper Eastside they searched for other qualities in their future son-in-law, like a big trust fund or the prospect of owning a large company one day. A policeman with a small pension after 40 years of hard work wasn't something they had planned. Also the idea their daughter would have to work as well to make sure all bills could be paid was something they were opposed of, just as the fact their daughter would always have to worry about her husband coming home after a shift. After a while they warmed up a little for George, pretty much for Vanessa’s sake. But if the earth was warming up the same way Vanessa’s parents were to George humanity has nothing to fear. Still, in the end they gave their blessing and Vanessa’s father walked her down the isle, only four weeks after George popped the question. Vanessa’s parents were convinced George knocked her up and that was why they needed to get married that quickly. But it would take years before George and Vanessa told her parents she was pregnant.

Being a rookie cop George didn’t make a lot of money and Vanessa was about to start her first job as a university teacher at NYU in the fall so when Georges parents asked them if they wanted to live in the one-bedroom apartment above the garage they accepted. But it didn’t last for long. Vanessa underestimated what it meant to live with an Italian family. Georges family was really close and they never understood the principles of privacy or even knocking before entering. As a result Georges father or one of his brothers had seen more of the newly weds than would be considered appropriate. Vanessa also had trouble with the meddling by her in-laws, although George said this was nothing compared with when his mother was still alive. When Vanessa came home one day and found Georges aunt sorting through their clothes in order to wash them because the way Vanessa did them just wasn’t good enough, Vanessa went berserk.

“George, baby, I know you love you family and so do I. But today I found out I can only deal with them in small doses” Vanessa said and she explained. George had already seen this coming and had talked to his father earlier that day.

“Dad, I know you and the others mean well but Vanessa isn’t Italian. She’s not used to dealing with family on a 24 hour basis” George said.

“Well, I don’t know how to change, George” his father said. “I know you young people don’t do things the way we old people used to do them but I do know things would be better in the world if people would still live as a family”. George immediately knew his father indeed wouldn’t be able to change because he didn’t understand what was wrong in the first place. So George had spoken to his Captain and the police department had ways for young officers to be able to get a mortgage to pay for their first house. So a few months after they got married George and Vanessa moved to their three-bedroom apartment in The Village, since this was affordable and near both NYU and Georges precinct.

Over the next five years their lives were pretty normal. George passed his exam to be a detective and was accepted in the team of homicide detectives in his own precinct. Although he had to go through all the rookie jokes once more his colleagues were ok and they thought George was ok as well. Most of them had dealt with George while he was still in uniform and they thought he had a good eye for the job, a good set of hands he didn’t mind to get dirty and a good head on his shoulders. They were all sure he would be captain before he was forty. But the best thing they liked about George was his wife. She was there for every picnic, every barbecue and every other fundraiser. When one of guys was in trouble she would always listen to them and, on more than one occasion, get them in touch with the right person to help them out, whether that was a psychologist of a lawyer. It wasn’t before long until everyone, including the Captain, saw dr. Vanessa Russo as the precinct’s guardian angel. But, as George’s former partner Angelo once said: “Don’t ever ask her to participate in the annual bake sale again!” So, naturally, everyone in the precinct couldn’t be happier when they heard that, after almost two years of trying, Vanessa was pregnant with triplets.

In her dark office dr. Sommerwest, OB/GYN at Bellevue, squeezed the bridge of her nose. She was on her feet for over 72 hours now. She was tired, hot and dirty. Her feet, normally a size 5, felt like size eleven at the moment and she had a headache that was meant for elephants only.

“Was there something else I could have done?” dr. Sommerwest asked herself as she went through the charts of Vanessa Russo-Munroe once more. She didn’t know why she even bothered reading the file since she knew the case from heart by now. It all started with one phone call ….

“So, let me get this straight, doctor” George Russo had said when he had rushed himself to the hospital. “Either we deliver the triplets now or we don’t, but either way they are a t risk”.

“Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Russo. Mr. Russo, your wife had a hemorrhage behind the placenta. Fortunately the bleeding was minor and at the edge of the placenta but it still caused your wife a lot of pain” dr. Sommerwest had answered. “From the ultrasound we did we think over 80% of the placenta is still viable but we’re not entirely sure. But that’s not the main concern here”.

“It’s not?” George asked. “I’m a police officer so I’m not even going to pretend I know more about this than you do but isn’t the placenta essential for the growth, development and survival of our children in the womb?”

“Be quiet, George, and let the doctor finish her talk” Vanessa told her husband.

Dr. Sommerwest had liked Vanessa Russo immediately when she was brought in that morning. And even more so when she heard that woman had been talking to one of the paramedics about his wife and the trouble he had with his wife while she was bleeding behind her placenta. Dr. Sommerwest never experienced it herself but from what she had heard and seen in other patients Vanessa Russo should have been screaming on the top of her lungs with pain instead of giving the paramedic relationship advice. When she heard later that day the paramedic had followed up in Vanessa’s advice and had taken his girlfriend to a fancy restaurant for a surprise lunch which had cleared the air between the two of them, she respected Vanessa Russo even more. When she had told Vanessa that, Vanessa had responded:

“You know. Dr. Sommerwest, most men should talk less to their friends about their women and more to their friends wives” and both women had laughed about that.

“You are right, Mr. Russo, but even with triplets the placenta can take a lot of damage before the babies are in trouble. That’s not what worries me” Dr. Sommerwest said. “In cases where we see a hemorrhage behind the placenta there’s a 25% chance the placenta tears from the uterine wall, causing the babies to be cut off from oxygen almost immediately. When that happens we have less than 2 minutes for the babies to be born or they will die”.

“But a 25% chance it will happen means a 75% chance it won’t, right?” Vanessa had asked.

“That is true but still I don’t like these numbers” dr. Sommerwest answered.

“What will the babies chances be if they are born now?”

“Well, it would have been better for them to stay in as long as possible” dr. Sommerwest answered. “But they are almost viable. If we can postpone delivery for a couple of more days and gives you certain drugs I’m confident we can deliver the babies safely by the end of the week”.

Later a colleague of dr. Sommerwest asked her how things went with Vanessa Russo.

“This was the best I could do” dr. Sommerwest said. “I think I could’ve convinced her husband but not her. She just doesn’t want to hear it”

“You do know giving her corticosteroids increases the risk of another bleeding, right?”

“Three days, that’s all I need” dr. Sommerwest said. “Three days and the babies lungs have matured enough for them to be able to survive in an incubator. Just three more days” dr. Sommerwest pleaded.

Three days proved to be one day too many.

After two days there were no signs of either increased risk of bleeding or high blood pressure in Vanessa Russo so dr. Sommerwest thought they were going to make it. But before noon things started falling apart. And the worst part was that dr. Sommerwest didn't even notice.

"Dr. Sommerwest, mrs. Russo complains of headache" one of the nurses said.

"Hmm, did you take her blood pressure?" dr. Sommerwest asked.

"Yes, doctor. It's normal" the nurse said.

"Maybe it's the stress" Dr. Sommerwest said. "Give her an aspirin and tell her she needs to drink enough. I'll come by later to check on her".

Over the next couple of hours it was pandemonium at Bellevue and dr. Sommerwest kept running back and forth. Just before heading for lunch she remembered promising to see Vanessa Russo.

As soon as dr. Sommerwest entered the room she knew things were wrong. Vanessa was lying in bed, soaked in her own urine and probably feces. Dr. Sommerwest ran to the headboard of the bed and hit the alarm button. In seconds two nurses came running in.

"What the hell happened?" Dr. Sommerwest yelled while checking Vanessa's vital signs. Her blood pressure was still acceptable but she had a high pulse. Her skin felt clammy and she wouldn't wake up. When dr. Sommerwest examined Vanessa's abdomen her fear was confirmed. The abdomen was hard. Vanessa was in shock, probably because the placenta came off the uterine wall. There was blood in the abdomen, which was why the abdomen was hard.

"A couple of minutes she was fine. doctor" a young woman said.

"And you are?" dr. Sommerwest asked.

"My name is Bella, doctor" the young girl said. "Today is my first day as a nurse".

Dr. Sommerwest looked at the other nurse and if looks could kill the nurse would be in need of CPR by now.

"You let a woman who had a bleeding placenta only days ago in the care of a nurse with no experience?" dr. Sommerwest screamed while directing her attention to the young nurse. "Did someone tell you to take the patients pulse as well as her blood pressure?"

"No, doctor. Only to take her blood pressure" Bella said.

"Well, congratulations. I don't think anyone here at Bellevue ever succeeded in killing four people during their first shift. Now go and make yourself useful. Call her husband and tell him to come here immediately! And you," pointing at the intern who just walked in, "call the OR and let them know we're coming up for an emergency C-section. Maybe we can at least save Vanessa's life".

George broke down in the hallway in front of the NICU when the conversation he had with dr. Sommerwest played back in his mind.

"I'm very sorry, Mr. Russo" dr. Sommerwest said. "When we opened the uterus we saw the placenta was still attached to the uterine wall but a large hematoma was formed behind the placenta. We rushed to get the triplets out but even with all the efforts from our pediatrician we were too late for your son and daughter".

George had been staring at dr. Sommerwest with unseeing eyes. How could this have happened?

"There's more, George" dr. Sommerwest continued. "Your other son has been transferred to the NICU. All things considered he's doing not bad but he is prematurely born and we don't know if or how long he has been oxygen deprived. Things will be touch and go for a while with him but if he makes it through the next 48 hours without signs of brain damage I think he will pull through."

"And Vanessa?" George asked.

"If Vanessa survives she will never be able to have children again" dr. Sommerwest said. "The damage to her uterus was too extensive so we had to remove it. Also, there was a lot of blood in her abdomen, causing a peritonitis and during the C-section she could no longer compensate her blood pressure for her blood loss, causing her to become hypotensive. We don't know how bad the hypotension got or if her brain has suffered from it. I think Vanessa has a 50 percent chance to survive, George. I'm sorry".

"How could this happen?" George asked. "You said it was safe to wait a couple of days to deliver the babies!"

"No, George. I said there was a risk either way" dr. Sommerwest said, knowing this had to be dealt with right now. Otherwise Georges pain, in combination with his distorted memories, could cause this story to take a life of it's own. At moments like this dr. Sommerwest hated her job. "This was the worst case scenario and I never saw it happen in all my years as a gynecologist. You can't imagine how sorry I am, George. I wanted so much for you and Vanessa to be happy with your triplets".

But the thing that hurt the most was the presence of the hospital lawyer all the time. George already suspected someone in the hospital screwed up and in time he would need to decide what that meant and what he would do with that information. He just hoped dr. Sommerwest wasn't the one who screwed up. He'd hate to ruin her career.

All of this went by unnoticed by the interns. Samuel had called in sick today and Arthur planned on paying his friend a visit. He was still worried Belial had been successful in turning Samuel gay. As soon as Arthur went outside he met one of the nurses.

"Hi Rose. How are things in the NICU?" Arthur asked.

"We had a tragedy earlier" Rose said. "A young couple lost two of their three triplets. The third is still with us but it will be touch and go for a while longer".

"That's terrible" Arthur said. "How are the parents dealing with it?"

"Well, just the father. The mother is in ICU herself. she suffered major blood loss. They're afraid she might have brain damage".

"Why do tragedies always happen to good people?"

"Well, lately it seems it's happening to a lot of people" Rose said. "According to my sister, who is a nurse at St. Vincent's, Bellevue has the highest number of stillborns and deaths among pediatric patients in the entire city. This started several weeks ago and so far no one figured out why".

"I didn't know we lost so many children lately. But than again, I mostly work with adult patients" Arthur said.

"Yeah, we're over 600 deaths in pediatrics in the last three weeks already."