Chapter One
I sat at my cluttered desk and sighed as yet another minute of complete silence went by. Korsak, Frost and I had closed the case hours ago, so why was I still here? Maybe it was because the Chief Medical Examiner Maura Isles was still here only a few floors below in the morgue finishing up some loose ends. Or maybe it was because I just couldn't think of going home, going back to an empty place with no one around. Casey was gone, basically telling me it had been a mistake being together, causing my heart to nearly shatter into pieces. Being Jane Rizzoli I kept the mask up around everyone so they didn't know I was damaged and vulnerable, I hadn't become a cop to be vulnerable. But it still left the question, why was I still here? Resting my head against my hands and rubbing my eyes I listened as more seconds ticked by.
"Jane? Jane what are you still doing here it's nearly midnight," a familiar voice came from across the room, causing me to look up and see my friend standing there.
"I forgot to leave?" the question hung in the air.
"No kidding, let me take you home." Maura said crossing over to me. "You really need to get your sleep; we caught the killer, what's keeping you up? Is it Casey?"
"No Maura it's not Casey I'm just… How long can a person go without sleeping?"
"Four days before hallucinations start then speech becomes impaired, vision is also impaired then death." Maura said casually.
"Give me three more days k?" I joked.
Maura finally forced me to go after a few more jabs at my current clothing choices and throwing off random facts that still made me smile even though I was in severe pain. We walked out together but went our separate ways once we reached our cars; waving one last goodbye before we headed to our homes and to bed. Knowing full well we would be back tomorrow on another case another killer another long a droning day.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
The next day the office was in full swing with a double homicide downtown, two construction workers had brutally murdered for reasons, so far, unknown. As I arrived at the crime scene Maura was already there hunched down over the first dead body. She was in her usual dress of a completely inappropriate black dress for a crime scene along with a pair of black high heels. Korsak and Frost stood patiently over the doctor as she went over what she saw. I stepped up and got involved, nothing crossed in my mind but getting this case solved.
"Damn, Rizzoli whoever did this was pretty messed up." Korsak said nodding to the second DB.
"Yeah? How bad is it?" I asked.
"That guy over there has one gunshot to the head and twenty-six stab wounds to the torso, this guy-" he motioned to the DB Maura was examining, "we haven't finished counting the stab wounds but he's got the same gunshot to the head."
"It looks as if the stab wounds were inflicted post-mortem. The shot to the head is what killed them." Maura spoke to me. "It appears that the shooter stood directly in front of the man and pulled the trigger, with both of them."
"And one guy did this?" I asked Korsak and Frost.
"He could have used the first guy as leverage to get them both on the ground so he could shoot them both easily." Frost said.
"Or he had a partner who held one of the guys while he killed the other." Korsak said.
"With the position both of the victims are in, it suggests that both were standing when they were shot not kneeling." Maura said dismissing Frosts idea.
I thought for a moment, what kind of killer would be able to keep two men at bay and shot both in the head without either of them moving, and then taking the time to stab them so many times? I was stumped on what could have happened here. These two men were huge, muscular builders, who had power to overtake them? I had no idea what to think; someone was extremely angry and had the power to take down any type of unsuspecting civilian.
"Hey Maura. Any idea on what caused those wounds on his torso?" I asked.
"I'd be guessing." She replied.
"And you don't guess, right. Well what does your gut say?" I asked.
"I don't listen to my intestines." She said giving me an odd look.
"Sometimes Dr. Isles is so hard to work with you." I sighed.
"Jane, look her around his neck." Maura said pointing to a small abrasion around the DB's neck.
"What do you think it is?" I asked, forgetting Maura wouldn't guess.
"I can't say, I'll have to do some testing once we get them back to the morgue. Check to see if the other victim has the same abrasions on his neck."
"Hey Korsak do we have an ID on these guys?" I asked, walking to the other DB.
"Trying to get a hold of the boss now, no ID on them." Korsak told me.
I sighed and bent down over the second DB and looked at his neck, the same abrasions were there just a bit higher then on the other man. It was bruised so whatever it was happened before they were killed. This was weird even for Boston, what the hell could be going in around here. I continue my usual detective routine with Korsak and Frost as Maura prepared the bodies for transport back to the morgue. It took about three hours of the same asking questions, gathering evidence and getting back to the precinct Before I could finally get down to Maura in the morgue to see if there had been any advancement on the DB's other then the fact we now knew both of their names. The one with Twenty-six stab wounds was Gregory Fisher a construction worker from Lexington, Kentucky. The other was Joshua Banks a construction worker from LA, moved here for a sick family member. I walked into the morgue to see Maura standing over the body of Joshua looking at the abrasions on his neck with a magnifying lens.
"Got anything Doc?" I asked.
"It looks as if the killer ripped something of both of their necks." She said, not looking up.
"Like what, a necklace?" I asked.
"Possibly." She replied.
"God, Maura, really? What else could it be?"
She looked up at me before saying, "I don't know." I wanted to strangle her, but I knew this was how she worked and she always got me the answers, even if it wasn't in the timeliest manner. I watched as she continued to examine the body she had already cut him open and gone through his intestines as she always did. I had no idea how she could stand it, and the smell? Good god it was disgusting. I was waiting for Maura to say something more but she was absorbed in working with the dead.
"So… Do we know what made those stab wounds?" I asked.
"I took a molding, it looks like a knife with a blade around 4 ½ inches." She replied.
"Great, so we're looking for a knife that anyone in Boston can own." I muttered.
"Not exactly, there seems to be a hook towards the tip of the blade." Maura added.
"You mean like, a gutting knife? The one's fisherman use to gut fish once they get back to the docks?" I asked.
"Quite possibly." Maura replied.
"Can you ever give me a straight answer?" I asked.
"Of course, however I have to be able to confirm the answer is correct, I don't like guessing." Maura told me.
I left with more than I came with but I wasn't very happy with how Maura was treating this case. She was being completely… well weird; she had been acting strange since that thing with Casey and me. I just wasn't the emotional type but it felt like she was pushing me to feel sorry for myself. To feel like what happened was a terrible and unfair thing. I shook my head and started thinking about the case; two dead men, both construction workers both in their thirties both big men. Who the hell did this? Who could do this? Korsak greeted me in the brick with a video from the crime scene; it was a terrible view, only Gregory was visible as a shot lit up the dark corner. Damnit, this guy was careful it's like he knew where the cameras were. Frost was still watching trying to find anything that would help us find this guy.
"Maura said the stab wounds came from a gutting knife." I said.
"What so we're looking for a fisherman?" Frost asked.
"Maybe he thought these two would make a good tuna sandwich?" Korsak joked.
"Really Korsak? Really, that's just wrong." I said, laughing. "Maura thinks the bruises could be from a necklace."
"Hey Jane could it be a chain from dog tags?" Frost asked.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Korsak bring up the photos from autopsy." I looked at the images as he brought them up. "Zoom in on his neck."
"You know both of them served in Desert Storm back in the 90s both for the Army." Korsak said over his shoulder.
"Yeah? Same unit?" I asked.
"No, Fisher was in the 25th, Banks was in a recovery team I don't know what for." Korsak replied.
"I'm going home for awhile, catch some sleep, you guys want me to bring you anything when I get back?" I asked.
"Hamburger." Both replied back.
I headed to the elevator and was greeted by Maura; she was just as surprised to see me as I was her. She was also getting ready for sign out for the day. I asked, nicely, if she just wanted to come over for awhile and go over the case with me. She reluctantly agreed and we both headed for my car. For once the car ride was silent neither of us spoke on the fifteen minute drive to my less than a home, home. Maura entered and immediately started whining at how messy the rooms were.
"Do you ever clean?" she asked.
"Yes, Maura I do, whenever my mother is over." I said sarcastically.
"Is that way she's not allowed over?" she asked.
I ignored her and went to the fridge to grab a couple of beers; Maura was clearing of the couch which was yanking me off. When she sat down I handed her an open bottle and took a seat beside her. She sat staring at the bottle and me, giving me weird looks.
"What?" I asked.
"Do you have a glass?" she asked.
"No, Maura c'mon just drink from the bottle." I groaned.
"You don't have any clean dishes do you?" she asked.
"None what-so-ever." I replied, "And I swear to God if you start cleaning my dishes I'm kicking you out."
"You invited me over." She recalled.
We stayed up late talking about the case, working on things, and lastly Casey. I ended up and tears, something only the doctor could do. It was true I was extremely upset, but for some reason I didn't feel completely heartbroken. Maura held me tightly as I sobbed into her neck. "It's okay Jane." She whispered. I kept close to her and finally just let my defenses down. How did someone as annoying as Maura Isles get me to do this? For a fraction of a second I felt a pang in my chest that I had only felt with Casey. I quickly put the feeling aside and just stayed there with Maura. We sat there for hours before we both fell asleep on the couch. I woke up for a brief moment at 3:00 in the morning; I looked up to see Maura still with her arms around me and realized I was extremely close to her. It was comforting and immediately I feel back asleep, without waking up until the morning.
When I woke up again it was 6:00 in the morning, Maura was actually snoring in my ear. I pushed myself up off of her and went to the kitchen looking for something to eat. Damnit, where does my food go? I grunted in frustration and looked over to see Maura stretching on the couch. She got up and went to my room where she did have a few extra things to wear, and then came a cry of frustration.
"God Jane it's a mess in here!" she cried.
"Just get dressed, I promised the guys a burger." I said.
"At 6am?" she asked.
"Yes Maura, some people eat at 6am." I replied.
It took her almost an hour to get ready, I had to drag her out to the car a force her into the front seat. We swung by a burger joint and then headed straight to the precinct. Maura followed me up to brick, I threw the burgers in front of Korsak and Frost, and they both took them thankfully. With only us there the entire room was quiet and unmoving. Korsak handed me a case file, I took it and sat down, not knowing what to do. Frost had to answer his phone as it rang; he looked up after a minute before he hung up.
"We got another call, looks like our killer has struck again." He said.
"Tell Maura to get her gear, Korsak and I will head over now," I said. "Looks like we've got a serial killer on our hands."
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
The new victim was twenty-four year old Mark Smith, a banker in upper Boston. It was the same MO as before, multiple stab wounds to the torso and a gunshot to the head. He didn't have the same abrasions on his neck as the other two victims. Maura went straight to work examining the body. I watched her slender hands in the blue latex gloves check lividity of the body. Maura looked up at me something that told me something was off, at least to her it was off. I kneeled down across from her and waited for her to say something.
"Rigor hasn't set in yet, I'd say he hasn't been dead more than a few hours." Maura said.
"And this is strange how?" I asked.
"It's not, but he has defensive wounds on his arms, not consistent with the other two victims." She replied.
"So our victim fought back, he's a big man it's not that unusual." Korsak said.
"Yeah, but the last time our guy kept two ex-soldiers at bay, what changed?" I asked.
"Maybe he got distracted. It happens sometimes." Frost said.
"Something big got his attention though, this guy does things fast." I said.
"Jane take a look at the stab wounds, there aren't as many or as clean as before." Maura spoke up.
"So our guy was interrupted." I mused.
I looked at the gathering crowd for anyone who stood out. I'm sure this guy was someone who stood around to watch the aftermath of his work. Hell maybe he stayed back to see if there was a chance to fix his mistake. The thought made me shiver in my boats, to think that man who had so much power could be out there. I settled on one man, a well built man in a jacket, hat and sunglasses. I called over Korsak and Frost casually mentioned the guy. Both of them nodded and started towards the man, I took a step towards Maura who was now standing and looking at me. That's when I saw the flash of the butt of a gun in the man's belt. I shouted a warning to Korsak and Frost as he pulled the gun and started firing. Out of fear and instinct I tackled Maura to the ground and covered her with my body. She grabbed my hand and held it tightly over the next few seconds after the whole thing unfolded. Korsak and Frost returned fire, ducking behind a police cruiser but after a minute it seemed as if the man had gotten away. Frost to pursuit on foot as Korsak ran over to me and Maura.
"Janie, Dr. Isles are you alright?" he shouted, kneeling down next to us.
Maura let go of my hand and helped me roll off of her. I felt a stabbing pain in my side where I had been shot awhile ago, it felt wet too. Maura was over me in an instant putting pressure on the wound. Korsak was shouting for someone to call a medic, I was sure it was nothing, just blood from the DB I was lying next too. I tried to sit up but was immediately forced back down by Maura. She kept a hand on my wound and another on my shoulder as I fought her to get up. I grabbed her wrist and glared at her, I needed to get up and get back to work.
"Maura let me up I'm fine." I growled.
"No Jane, you're not you opened your scar tissue, I don't know how it was perfectly healed." Maura told me, putting more pressure on my shoulder.
"Maur please I have to work I'm fine." I told her.
"Jane listen to me for once, you're hurt and you're going to the hospital now." She was close to yelling.
` By the time I was about to argue the ambulance was there and the stretcher was next to me. Maura stepped back to let the paramedics do their job, which I detested and she ended up back at my side and riding to the hospital with me. I was finally starting to feel light headed and nauseated I was guessing because of blood loss. Maura was shouting (at least I thought she was shouting) orders and going on about some medical mumbo-jumbo I couldn't fully hear or understand. I couldn't understand how I could be slipping because of a tear in my torso, of course it was fully possible I had been shot again ironically enough in the same exact spot; ft that where the case I'd be out for another three months. No… I thought urgently, I can't be out again, they need me, it was just a flesh wound, nothing more than that. That was the last thing that crossed my mind before I blacked out, with Maura's worried face looking down at me.