Gabriel Knight and the Changeling

Gabriel Knight and the Changeling, 5/?
By Scribe

St. Bridgette's Hospital

The faint wave of warm air caught the attention of the clerk at the information desk, and she looked up to see who had entered the lobby. The doors were just hushing shut behind two men--one tall and dark-haired, the other a bit shorter, with long, reddish hair. Both were handsome, each in his own way. The redhead noticed her attention, and flashed her a smile so charming that she found herself automatically smiling in return. When they arrived at the desk, the woman said, "Good morning, gentlemen. How may I help you?"

"Good mornin', Miss," said Gabriel. "We need t' talk to either Dr. Byers, or Dr. Nordstrom. I expect they're in either obstetrics or pediatrics."

"One moment, and I'll check the roster." She pulled a keyboard closer, and typed quickly. Peering at the monitor before her, she said, "Dr. Nordstrom sees patients at his office today, but he may be in later this afternoon. Dr. Byers... Ah. Dr. Byers is delivering a baby. He's in the maternity ward on the fourth floor. I'm afraid that you'll have to wait for the lady to deliver, unless the labor is really dragging out, and he has time between contractions."

"We'll take out chances. An' we also need a room number for Larrissa Lindstrom."

She typed a little more. "Would that be Mrs. Lukas Lindstrom?"

"That's the one."

"She checked out early this morning. These days new mothers do not stay more than a day or two, unless there are complications."

"Ah see. Thanks." As they walked to the elevator, Gabriel said, "Th' woman believes that her baby has been kidnapped. Ah'd consider that a complication, wouldn't you? You'd think they'd want her t' stay another day or so t' settle her nerves a little."

"Perhaps she's taking it calmly," suggest Freiderich, as the doors closed.

Gabriel sniffed. "If she is, she ain't like any mama AH'VE ever known. What do you think? Should we go visit Nordstrom at his office next, or go by the Lindstrom house?"

"Let's see what Byers has to tell us first."

As the doors slid open, they were greeted by a muffled shriek. They could see a nurse, carrying a hypodermic, hurrying into a room just down the hall. As she slipped inside, there was another scream, followed by two heated voices raised in Swedish--one male, and one female. Gabriel looked at Freiderich and said, "Ah don't speak th' language, but somehow Ah think that she's cussin', an' he's tryin' to get her to let go of whatever part of his body she's latched onto."

"I know a little Swedish, and I'd say you're not far off the mark. There's the nurse's station."

A matronly nurse, dressed in a traditional white uniform rather than the more common colored scrubs, was sitting behind the counter, studying something in a manila folder. She looked up as they approached, frowning slightly. "Gentlemen. Are either of you here for one of our delivering mothers?"

"No, ma'am," said Gabriel.

"Visiting hours are in the afternoon, and I'll have to ask you to leave the floor. We can't have unauthorized people on the maternity floor for security measures, you understand."

"We just..."

"I'm sorry, young man, but you have to understand how serious this is. We've just recently had an incident, and until it's cleared up, we'll need to be even more stringent..."

"That is why we are here," Freiderich interrupted. When the woman stiffened, he smiled charmingly, and said, "Gabriel, show the lady our letter of introduction."

Gabriel pulled out the letter that Mrs. Torvald-Johensen had written, and handed it over. As the nurse read, he also brought out his detective ID, and presented it as she looked up. The nurse examined it with a singular lack of awe, then said, "Very impressive, but the name of the family involved is Lindstrom."

"This lady is the great-great grandmother, on the father's side." The nurse looked skeptical. "She's paying for the investigation."

"The doctor may, or may not, speak to you, but there's no telling when he'll be available, and you can't just loiter here. I suggest that you come back some other time, and call first to be sure he'll have time to see you."

"Ma'am, we're talking about a kidnapped infant, here. Time is of the essence."

"Yes, of course, but the doctor can't just walk away from his delivery, so..."

The door that had emitted the shrieks before opened again, and a man in a white doctor's jacket came out. He walked up to the nurse's station, swabbing his face with a wet wipe. His expression was a little tired, but pleased, as he leaned on the counter. "Well, that was one of the quickest deliveries I've ever had, and what a racket she made! If that's how she's going to carry on when she only has contractions for three hours on her first baby, she'd better be satisfied with an only child." He looked curiously at the two men at the other end of the counter. "I apologize if you are relatives," he smiled. "After all, a man has no business commenting on the tolerance of a woman in labor."

"Doctor Byers, these gentlemen wish to speak to you about the Lindstrom case." She handed him the letter.

Byers scanned the letter, while Gabriel introduced himself and his companion. "I've been expecting someone in your line, gentlemen. There's a break room this way." They followed the doctor down into a small lounge. It was like a thousand other break rooms, all over the world, except that besides the table, chairs, and small appliances there was a sofa provided for quick naps. Doctor Byers poured himself a cup of coffee, holding up the carafe questioningly. When they shook their heads, he said, "Wise men. You never know how long this has been sitting here." He sniffed his cup as they sat down at the table. "Though this doesn't seem too bad. I've had some that could be used to apply wallpaper. What can I do for you gentlemen?"

"Well, first things first," said Gabriel. "IS this a kidnapping?"

Byers nodded. "There's no doubt about it now. We have no idea who the child in our nursery is, but he definitely isn't Daniel Lindstrom. Not only do his prints not match those taken immediately after birth, but... Well, if it WAS Daniel, I'd want to write him up for a medical journal. Have you ever heard of anyone who was able to regenerate his amputated foreskin overnight?"

Gabriel winced. "Th' poor little nipper got nipped, eh?"

"Oh, yes. I did it myself. It's a common practice these days for baby boys. Of course, we offer the parents a choice, but most go ahead and have it done. Daniel's parents opted for the operation, and it went smoothly. The infant I examined still had a full foreskin."

"That would seem to be decisive," Freiderich agreed. "Still, in this day and age of science, I would think that the authorities would demand even greater proof."

"They have." He made a face. "As if the word of the delivering physician and the child's mother wasn't enough. In any case, we have other means at our disposal these days. I was at first afraid that the baby we have here was ill, and we drew blood for tests. I've sent some away to see if it's a DNA match with the parents."

"So he ISN'T sick?" asked Gabriel.

The doctor made a dissatisfied expression. "I've seldom seen a child who had more of an appearance of bad health, but no. All vital signs are normal. It eats and eliminates easily. But his appearance... The child looks malnourished. He's a full term baby; his mother gained a normal amount of weight. He should be as plump as butter, but his legs are like breadsticks, and you can count his ribs. Mrs. Linstrom refused to breastfeed, and I can't very well blame her, but I put it on an enriched formula. He eats twice as much as our other newborns, but he never seems satisfied."

"The child is..." Freiderich paused, and frowned, obviously searching for the right words. "Disruptive?"

"You know," said the doctor, "I would never have used that term about a new baby--they're too young to form intentions, they merely express needs. But in this case it almost seems as if..." He made a sound of irritation. "Our neo-natal nurses are wonderful women, very conscientious, and this is the first time I've ever known them to try to avoid working with one of the babies. I've heard them trying to persuade each other to attend to the baby's needs. One of them pulled rank on another who was slightly junior to avoid having to feed the baby. And we have volunteers who come in to rock and cuddle infants who are in a situation where they have little or no contact with their parents. Our lady who was scheduled yesterday refused to hold the little boy. That's unheard of. The baby just seems to inspire discomfort. I hate to admit it, but the little thing makes me nervous, and I can't say why."

"You're quite sure that no one could have slipped in and made a substitution?" asked Freiderich.

"That seems to be the only thing that could explain this, but I honestly don't see how it could have happened. There is always--ALWAYS--someone at the nurse's station. Protocol is that it is never left unattended for even a second. If the nurse on duty there must leave even to visit the toilet, she has to wait till she's relieved, and since there are always other staff available, that isn't a problem. It would be impossible for anyone to get to the nursery without passing the station. Besides that, in recent years they have become very security conscious on maternity floors." He shrugged. "There were infant kidnapping incidents that brought huge civil suit judgments, and our administrators are determined that we'll never be held negligent in that area. There's one camera for the main maternity hallway, one on the entrance to the nursery, and one inside it. We've reviewed the tapes for the time in which any switch would have to have been made, and there doesn't seem to be anything out of order."

"Could we see these tapes?" asked Gabriel.

"I can't give you the actual tapes, for obvious legal reasons. But since you're officially representing the family, I see no reason why I can't provide copies." He grimaced. "It's beginning to look as if we'll have to provide copies for the parents' attorneys, anyway. Anything else?"

"We'd like to see the baby," said Freiderich.

The doctor frowned. "I don't think I can allow direct contact without official permission. If you want to come along to the nursery, I can hold it up before the window."

"That will do for now." They made their way down a small side corridor next to the nurse's station. Gabriel and Freiderich stood in front of a large plate glass window while Dr. Byers went through a door a little farther down.

Gabe gazed into the room. There were a little more than two dozen padded crib bins ranged in neat rows, most of them containing a tiny figure under a blue or pink blanket. Some were still, some stirred faintly. The thin cry of an infant could be heard faintly, and as they watched, a nurse entered, carrying a baby bottle. She went to one of the most active infants and gently scooped it up, then sat in a rocking chair and began to feed it. The cries stilled.

Gabe glanced at Freiderich. "You think that's the one?"

Freiderich shook his head. "No, I don't think so. Byers said that the nurses avoid contact with the mystery infant, and she showed no hesitation in taking that one up."

Byers entered the nursery. He nodded to the nurse, but didn't stop. He walked across the room to a door on the far wall. There was a sign over it, reading ISOLATION. He opened the door, and Gabriel winced as an angry sounding wail burst forth. He noticed that the nurse flinched, and seemed to hold the baby she was tending more closely. As the grating cries filled the nursery, the other babies began to stir. Soon there was a chorus of distressed wails. Another nurse came in and began to go from cot to cot, trying unsuccessfully to soothe the babies.

Byers came out of the room carrying a squirming blue bundle. He held it with practiced competence, but his posture was stiff. He came to the window, flipped the blanket open, and held the baby up for their inspection.

Gabriel stared in disbelief. He'd never been much of a baby person. He didn't feel the warm and fuzzy sentimentality that seemed to affect so many people, even in relation to babies they'd never seen before, and would never see again. He didn't DISLIKE them, though, and there was something distinctly unpleasant about this one.

As the doctor had said, it was scrawny. In fact, it looked somehow unfinished, as if the final details that indicated personality hadn't been stamped on it before it entered the world. "Freiderich, shouldn't he be red, bawlin' the way he is?"

"Yes," Freiderich replied, studying the wiggling baby. "He should be flushed from his exertions, but he's very pale. I would suspect anemia, if the doctor hadn't assured us that all the tests have indicated his health. Gabriel, have you noticed his eyes?"

"Yeah. There's somethin' off about them."

"At this age the muscles are still too undeveloped for him to focus properly. He should see nothing but blurs, but he seems to be actually LOOKING."

Gabriel examined the baby's eyes more closely. Freiderich was right. Instead of the usual vague stare, this baby's gaze was sharp--disturbingly so. In fact, Gabriel had an uneasy sense that there was an acute awareness behind that gaze--an awareness that was not harmless. He found that he was glad that the baby was still too tiny to do more than writhe, and scream his displeasure. "Freiderich? Ah don't like to think about what that kid might do when he gets big enough to actually do somethin'."

The doctor rewrapped the baby, and carried it back to the isolation room. Both of the men before the display window relaxed as the shrill wailing was cut off. The baby's absence had an immediate effect, as the other babies began to settle down. "I have to agree, Gabriel. We need to see that the child is returned to whoever left him here. I'm sure that only those who spawned him would be able to raise him effectively. I have a feeling that anyone else would be sadly out of their depth."

The doctor came back out. "It's lucky that we don't have any babies needing to be quarantined right now. Well, you saw how it is--we need to keep him away from the others. Even when he's asleep, his mere presence seems to agitate them. If you'll come along to my office, I'll make a call to security and have them run off copies of those tapes for you." As they walked, the doctor said, "This is all very puzzling. Had there been an internal switch, something having to do with identification bands being exchanged, you would think that someone else would have complained about receiving the wrong baby. Then again, if the baby had been born here at all, I'm sure the delivering doctor would have noticed the smooth feet, and reported it immediately. The only explanation is that someone brought a baby in, then took the Lindstrom baby out, and given the security tapes, that seems impossible." He gave a rueful smile as he picked up the telephone receiver and punched a button. "It's almost enough to make one believe in, oh, telekinesis."

"Perhaps something not quite so modern," Freiderich murmured.

"And in that case," drawled Gabriel, "the right people are on th' job."