Miracle Creek(82)

“No. Like you say, it’s not ideal, but it doesn’t rise to the level of abuse.”

Shannon smiled and slashed a line through the Emotional Abuse row. “Now, physical abuse. Did Kitt actually accuse Elizabeth of that?”

“No. She merely raised the question because of the scratches on Henry’s arm.”

Shannon wrote a question mark on the Physical Abuse/Kitt square. “When you interviewed Henry, he said he got scratched by a neighbor’s cat, right?”

“Yes.”

“In fact, you wrote in Henry’s interview notes that there is, quote, ‘no evidence supporting a physical-abuse claim,’ correct?”

“Correct.”

Shannon drew a line through the Physical Abuse row. “That leaves medical abuse. That claim centers on Elizabeth’s alternative therapies, specifically IV chelation and MMS, right?”

“Yes.”

Shannon wrote IV Chelation and MMS (“Bleach”) on the chart. “Now, forgive me. I’m not an expert on this, but it seems to me a prerequisite to medical abuse is that whatever the mother does must actually harm the child—that is, make the child sick or sicker, right?”

“That’s typically the case.”

“Here’s what confuses me. How can Henry’s treatments be abuse when he’d been getting better, healthwise?”

Heights blinked a few times. “I’m not sure that’s the case.”

“No?” Shannon said, and Matt caught an amused look on her face, a trace of a childlike watch-this! anticipation. “You’re aware that a neurologist at Georgetown’s autism clinic diagnosed Henry with autism when he was three?”

“Yes, that’s in his medical records.” Matt hadn’t known that. He’d always assumed, based on Kitt’s comments, that Henry’s “autism” was all in Elizabeth’s head.

“It was also in his medical records, was it not, that according to the same neurologist, Henry no longer had autism as of February last year?”

“Yes.”

“Well, going from autism to no autism is better, not worse, right?”

“Actually, the neurologist indicated he may have been misdiagnosed—”

“Because the improvement in Henry’s condition was so vast as to be unaccountable otherwise, because most kids don’t improve the way Henry did, right?”

“Well, in any case, he stated that large amounts of speech and social therapy were most likely responsible for the improvement.”

“The large amounts of therapy that Elizabeth insisted on, arranged for, and drove him to every day, you mean?” Shannon said, depicting Elizabeth once again as Mother of the Year. But instead of annoying Matt, it made him think: Had he been wrong? Had there been a reason for Elizabeth’s obsessiveness, and had that obsessiveness caused a boy to go from autism to not-autism?

Heights’s frown deepened. “I suppose so.”

“Autism aside, Henry improved in other ways, too, right? He went from second percentile for weight at three, with frequent diarrhea, to an eight-year-old in the fortieth percentile, with no intestinal issues. Do you recall that from his medical records, Detective?”

Heights’s face turned red. “But that’s not the issue. The issue is that these so-called treatments are dangerous and unnecessary, which does constitute medical abuse, regardless of the actual consequences. And let’s not forget: there was a harmful consequence for Henry, namely death from the well-known risk of fire from one such treatment, HBOT.”

“Really? I wasn’t aware that HBOT at a licensed facility constitutes medical abuse.” Shannon turned to the gallery. “There must be, what, twenty, thirty families here who were Miracle Submarine clients. So I take it you investigated all these families for child abuse for undertaking such a risky treatment for their children. Is that what you’re telling us, Detective?”

Out of the corners of his eyes, Matt saw many women in the gallery turn their heads nervously, looking at one another and Elizabeth as if it hadn’t occurred to them that they might be considered guilty of the same things she was being condemned for. Was that why they were so eager now to believe she was an evil murderer? Because if she didn’t set the fire on purpose, it might mean that their own kids were safe at home instead of in a coffin due to nothing more than chance?

Heights said, “No, of course not. You can’t look at one thing in isolation. It wasn’t just HBOT. She did extreme things like IV chelation and feeding Henry bleach.”

“Ah, yes. Let’s turn to that. IV chelation is an FDA-approved treatment, correct?”

“Yes, but for heavy-metal poisoning, which Henry did not have.”

“Are you aware, Detective, of a Brown University study in which mice injected with thimerosal, a mercury preservative that used to be in many vaccines prior to 2001, became socially atypical, akin to autism, and when treated with chelation became normal again?”

Matt hadn’t heard of that. Was that true?

“No, I haven’t heard of that study.”

“Really? The study was summarized in a Wall Street Journal article I found in your own files, right next to the sheet noting that Henry had seven thimerosal vaccines as a baby, back when thimerosal was still present in some vaccines.”