"MAURA! WHERE ARE YOU? MAURA…MAURA! ANSWER ME!"

Jane ran faster down the hall of the hotel; her eyes frantically darting back and forth. She looked down the corresponding halls as she past them, looking for any sign that Maura might have gone…been taken in that direction. She did not see anything after the second hall and she called out again.

"MAURA! WHERE ARE YOU!"

-Please answer me…-Jane thought…-please- The lights flickered over head and Jane cursed silently to herself as the darkness that shadowed every corner made it difficult to see anything clearly. Her heart pounded in her chest. -I should not have left her alone…-

Maura slid against the wall to the floor and held her left shoulder tight. Blood seeped through slightly parted fingers and she rocked her head back and forth against the hardness of the wall behind her. Her heart pounded in her chest. She heard her name as if it were said in a dream. The drugs had taken affect and her throat was beginning to close up. Sweet rolled down the side of her face and against her cheek. Her vision was blurry, but she knew…felt that she was not alone.

"…Jane…"

A massive dark and fuzzy image shadowed over her and she attempted to clear her vision to see it. Maura blinked rapidly to no avail.

"…what do you want…" she said with hardly any sound at all coming from her lips. The massive figure raised a blurry arm and something metallic glittered in the dim flashes of light.

She could not move…

…"Jane…"

Maura screamed…

Three days before…

Maura leaned over the most recent victim and stared into it's frozen face of death. She tilted her head to the side and sighed.

"If only you could tell me who killed you…"

"Talking to the dead again, Maura?"

"I would know that sarcastic tone and voice anywhere…" Maura said with a smile as she turned around to face Det. Jane Rizzoli. Instantly she dropped her scalpel and wrapped her arms around the detective in a warm embrace. She felt Jane tense slightly. As soon as she had done it, she stopped herself and pulled back. She provided an innocent grin. "Sorry…"

"Don't be. After all, when you only have the dead to talk to…" Jane let her words trail off into the silence of the room and then she too smiled back. She adverted her eyes and sighed still smiling.

"You have a point…" Maura said and arched her eyebrows, taking a casual look back at the dead body on her examination table. She nodded.

"I have a point," Jane repeated and chuckled. It had been two months now since she had been gone on a very delicate case. She had not been able to tell anyone where she was or even see familiar faces during that time. It had not been that hard really, but upon seeing the doctor again, she realized she had missed her friend. "So, what are you working on?" She asked and took a step up to the table where the dead lay in its eternal slumber.

"Oh, that," Maura said as she cleared her throat. "He was found down town…last night. Cause of death is…well, not clear. No ID on him, no weapons…no defensive wounds… Just this…" Maura placed her hands on the victim's shoulders and gently rolled him to his side to show Jane just how strange the case was proving to be. What Jane saw before her made her stomach knot slightly. On the man's back were two square cuts all the way to the bone about as wide as an adult foot's width. However, that was not what was the sickening part. The center of each square hole was black as if the bone had been burned or made that color. Maura saw the questioned look over Jane's face. "It is black paint…black metallic car paint. Specifically from a 1980's style model Toyota. I am not sure yet as to why it is there."

"…and you said he was found down town?"

"Yes, by two women who were heading home from one of the local bars…around 4:30 am."

"Man, I should have stayed where I was," Jane said sarcastically.

Maura continued. "I am working on cause of death now. These wounds did not cause this man's death. I already sent blood work, hair samples, and particulars to the lab. I have not received them back yet…."

"Well, let me know when you get them…I have to go check in with the boss." Jane paused, sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yeeeahhhh…" Then she waved at Maura as she headed out.

"Dinner later?" Maura called out.

"Definitely…"Jane yelled back.

A woman climbed out of her car, shut the door, and locked it. The air was cooler than normal for an early fall night. She did not hear the footsteps behind her nor did she see the figure that came upon her fast. A hand went around her face to stop the scream and another arm went around her body to halt a further struggle. The figure was strong…inhumanly so. It slowly dragged the barely struggling body from the light and from the car. There was not a soul on the street. Hours later her body lay face down in a ditch, with two identical square holes dug into the back. The body was stripped from all clothing from the waist up. Her face was frozen in horror. Blood was dried at the corners of her mouth.

"So you really cannot say where you were for the past two months?"

"If I killed you afterward," Jane gave Maura a serious face and then snickered when Maura looked shocked.

"Right…the fake out…" Maura said with a soft laugh and then took a slow, tasting sip of her wine. Jane slugged down her second beer. "Thanks for that."

"You are most welcome!"

"Aside from anything else…are you done?"

"Not entirely…"

"Not entirely?"

"I have to go back, but I need some help this time…I need your help…your expertise…"

Maura cleared her throat and blinked once. "Okay…" she paused a beat, "but what about my current case?"

"Maura…you don't have a current case. You just have victims," Jane said. Maura looked slightly hurt, but it was hard to tell with her seriousness.

"Ok, my current victims…" she said with a shake of her head and a roll of her eyes.

"Right," Jane said and tapped the edge of the table for the bar tender to bring another round. "So all I can tell you is that your current 'case' as you put it…has more to do with why I need your help. When we get there…to the safe location, I will be able to tell you more." Jane saw Maura's face light up as if she was a young girl finally given the pony for Christmas. She knew she had her friend's help even before the verbal agreement.

"Count me in then…" Maura said with a huge grin of child like excitement. Jane shook her head with a sigh and smiled back.

"You could have told me this was a resort?" Maura said as she stepped out of the taxi in front of one very big hotel. Although she had seen bigger, she kept her mouth shut.

"This is just where we are staying Maura and besides, you packed enough to go anywhere around the world…" Jane said as the taxi attendee helped with their luggage and they were given keys to their rooms by the front desk staff.

"Fair enough…"Maura replied.

A figure watched from across the street as the two women headed into the building.

A few hours later, Maura sat next to Jane in her hotel room while they looked over photos and files of the case. Maura saw the same square wounds on the more than a dozen victims in the photos. "This is beginning to look more like a serial murderer Jane."

"Exactly… which is why I needed you. You medical eyes will help a long way in this case."

"Why was I brought in now…?"

"Because of how many victims are being found. I got word of the recent victim…the one you were looking at when I came in a few days ago and I knew that it had come full circle. I knew that I needed to get this thing solved and with you…I can do it…"

A figure walked down the hall outside of the rooms, quiet, almost motionless in it's steps. The hunt had begun…