Wrong
"I'm home!" Maura called into the house.
"Welcome home, Mrs. Isles."
Maura smiled and gazed at the beautiful woman holding her child. "Now, Richelle, how many times have I told you? Just call me Maura, OK?" she scolded playfully.
"Sorry. Habit, I guess." Richelle blushed a little and returned the intimate gaze. The kitchen grew silent and Maura could feel Richelle's eyes graze over her skin with electricity. She set her laptop bag on the kitchen island then the little boy on Richelle's hip broke the silence.
"Momma," the two year old yawned and held out his arms while leaning away from Richelle. "Sweepy. Tired."
"Awe, Jimmy, you're tired?" Maura settled him on her hip as he nodded then headed up stairs to the nursery. "I suppose it's not too late for you to take a nap. It's only three." She laid him in his crib, tucked him in, and kissed his forehead. "Goodnight."
She left the room and gently closed the door behind her. At the bottom of the stairs Richelle was leaning against the wall, her arms crossed in front of her. She had long, wavy, black hair, sleek as ravens' wings that stopped just short of her tail bone. And even as casually dressed as she was, her curves stood out, impossible to miss. Maura admired how flawless she seemed and secretly longed for such beauty at only age twenty-six. Where Richelle's icy-blue eyes were framed by long, dark lashes, Maura's muddy-brown irises and light brown lashes were strikingly plain in comparison. Her brown hair was straight and barely reached past her shoulders. What ever curves she even had were slight and concealed beneath her white blouse and black slacks. Maura had never thought of herself as unattractive, but standing next to Richelle she knew that she was lacking in the gorgeous department.
Maura reluctantly dragged her eyes down to the stairs and gently stepped down each one to prevent them from creaking. She stopped at the bottom step and stood only a foot away from Richelle.
"I suppose I should get going since you're home early to day." Richelle rubbed her arms to chase away her goose bumps.
"Nonsense. You should stay for dinner. It's the least we can do for all your help recently. Doug is getting off work early today too; he should be home around five."
"No, it's fine. I wouldn't want to intrude on family dinner. Besides I would feel like it's too much since I already eat lunch here too."
"Relax. I insist. If it makes you feel any better you can help me cook it." Maura put her hand on Richelle's shoulder and smiled warmly. She knew Richelle lived in an apartment alone while trying to balance online law school and a part-time job as their babysitter. Maura had learned to make better judgments of people since becoming a detective and Richelle definitely seemed like a hard worker.
Richelle looked up to meet Maura's eyes and there was a moment of tense silence. They held each others' gaze for quite a few minutes before Maura finally broke away and walked back to the kitchen. What was that? Maura thought vaguely while she busied herself with getting out wine glasses and setting the table. She couldn't help but notice how she was slightly shaken and had to focus pour the wine without spilling it.
"Would you like a glass?"
Richelle nodded.
"OK, so, something that takes more than ten minutes but less than two hours to cook." Maura rifled through her cook book absently, not really looking at anything in particular. "Any suggestions? We've got 2 pounds of beef and some chicken breasts in the freezer that should be able to defrost with still plenty of time to cook." She was rambling with pointless small talk to distract herself. Richelle grabbed her wrist to stop her trembling and frenzied fumbling then looked at her with burning eyes.
"We've got at least two hours before your husband gets home. So don't worry about cooking right now or his food will be cold when he gets here. There's plenty of time." Richelle didn't release Maura's wrist and instead, started to lead her back toward the stairs. Maura wanted to resist but she crumbled under Richelle's intense gaze and gave in, following her helplessly toward the master bedroom. Maura had never been attracted to a woman in her entire life. But Richelle… She was different.
When Doug got home, Maura was a little flustered and rosy cheeked while Richelle was completely relaxed laughing and chatting. They both were on their second glass of wine. Jimmy had woken up only an hour after he had gone to sleep and was in the living room tinkering with Lego's. Doug smiled and kissed his wife's cheek.
"Yum, smells good. What's cooking?" He hung his suit coat of the back of his seat and noticed the table was set nicely with an extra plate and chair. "You staying for dinner, Richelle?"
"It's Chicken Parmesan and yes. I invited her. I figured it was the least we could do since this week has been a little hectic on her schedule." said Maura.
Doug had some wine with his dinner as well and the evening carried out normally even though Maura seemed a little off. It was late by the time their conversation died down. Doug helped clear the dishes while Maura put Jimmy to bed for the night. He cried for a little bit but by the time the dishes were clean, the house was peaceful and quiet.
"Well, I really should be heading home now. Tomorrow will be another busy day, I'm sure you guys will be busy since it will be Friday and then this weekend I have a paper to write for Everest Online. Don't forget that Monday is a holiday." Richelle stood up and grabbed her coat.
Maura's pager beeped. "Shit, I have to go back to the station. Ritter just got some more reports for me. Richelle? I can give you a ride while I'm on my way. It's no trouble."
"Oh, no that's OK. It's not so hot out tonight. I think I'll walk and enjoy the stars."
Maura kissed her husband's cheek. "OK, suit yourself. I gotta go. Love ya, Hun. Bye." She rushed out the door, got in her car, and left for the police station.
Two hours later, she left the station and stopped at a fast food place to get some food. By the time she got back home, it was a little past ten, she was tired, and all the lights in the house were off. She slipped in silently, headed upstairs, and crawled into bed with her husband. She felt so guilty that she contemplated confessing of the day's events, but he was already asleep and she did not want to disturb him. She eventually drifted off, but her sleep was fitful; her dreams were incoherent shards of guilt-wrapped insignificance; her thoughts were restless. She awoke with not much recollection of any of them, it felt as though she hadn't even slept. Her alarm was buzzing and her husband was already gone. She robotically went through her morning routine, taking an extra long shower, hoping the scalding water would help wash away her stress but it was to no avail. It only made her skin feel like fire and her head ache more with the memories. She made breakfast, woke Jimmy and fed him, then waited for Richelle to get there before she left.
She barely made it through the day's paperwork in a zombie-like trance, each hour dragging on longer than what seemed normal. The cases she was working on had nothing new and most of them were frozen, waiting for trial or for evidence. On her way home, she saw two women holding hands, walking down the street with contented smiles on their faces. She tore her eyes away and forced herself from the mental image of her and Richelle. She didn't know what to do with herself and it was driving her insane. She had to say something.
She finally pulled into the driveway, after what seemed like an agonizingly long drive. It was five-ish, Doug was already home, and Richelle was gone. He was watching TV in the living room. She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders from behind the couch. She longed to tell him the truth, but he seemed distracted.
"Honey?" said Doug. "Where's Jimmy?"
"He's not here?"
"No. I thought maybe he was with you. Richelle wasn't here when I got home."
Maura started to worry. "I had to work an hour later than normal. She never called? Maybe she just went to the park with him," but Maura didn't believe her own words. She checked her cell and her pager. No missed calls. No messages. Damn, she thought. Where could she be? What is going on? She swiftly jogged up the stairs and checked the nursery. Jimmy wasn't in his bed and when she looked out the second floor window, she knew they weren't in the back yard either. She called Richelle's cell. No answer. Maura made a split second decision. She called her partner, Ritter, who was still at the station and told him what was going on. There was a missing child, age two, and a missing woman, age twenty-four. No known relatives for the woman. There should be an amber alert put out for the child immediately. He got off the couch and searched the rest of the house while she was on the phone.
"Doug, check your phone. Do you have any messages?" Maura commanded.
"No, just a missed call from some weird number."
Maura looked at the number and compared it to the number she had for Richelle, but it was pointless. The area code wasn't even right. "Let's go," she said, then grabbed her car keys and was out the door.
Detective Ritter filed the missing person's report and called in for the tap on Richelle's number. Less than half an hour later he got a call back with a location. She's only a few miles from her address, Ritter realized. He grabbed a deputy on his way out saying, "You're coming with me. There's a hit on tfhe missing person's cell. We need to check it out. Let's go."
On the ride there, Ritter tried calling Maura, but there was no answer. Damnit, Isles, c'mon! Answer! But it was a wasted thought. He pulled up at the address he was given. The sun was setting and from what he could tell this was a public park. He searched the grounds with the deputy on his tail, but at this time of day everyone was gone. Then he spotted in the corner by the street there was a sectioned off playground with a sand foundation and woman speaking in a low voice on the phone. Only a few feet away from her was a little boy maybe two or three years old. She had long dark hair and in the darkness it appeared the toddler had light brown hair. That seemed to fit the descriptions of the report, but he couldn't be one hundred percent sure. She didn't notice him walking up behind her and he took note that she had a gun tucked in her belt. He put his hand on his holster.
"Ma'am?" He approached cautiously. She stopped speaking. "Ma'am, would you please turn around slowly and keep your hands where I can see them." He had reason to believe this was a kidnapping, even if she wasn't the missing person, she seemed awfully suspicious out here in the dark with a weapon on public property.
"I gotta go," she mumbled and snapped the cell phone shut. Ritter drew his weapon but kept it low to the ground. She slowly turned around and got wide eyed when she saw his gun. He took slow steps to get closer to her.
"Drop the phone, get on your knees and place your hands behind your head. Deputy, grab the kid." He was only a few steps from her now and the toddler was a few feet to her left. The deputy circled around to get the little boy.
Richelle panicked, seeing both guns moving in. "NO! You've got it all wrong!" She lurched for the toddler who was oblivious to the situation. The frightened deputy reacted, firing a lethal shot at her chest. She collapsed into the sand, her blood pooling and soaking into it.
Maura drove around the neighborhood a few times and even knocked on Richelle's door, but there was no sign of Richelle or Jimmy. She finally gave up when it became dark and decided to head to the police station to see what news they had so far. She thought of calling them, and upon realizing that she had left her phone at the house she frantically turned back around. Doug was calling the number on his phone back but there was no answer it just kept ringing. She took the stairs two at a time unlocked the front door. Her phone was sitting on the kitchen counter next to her pager, both beeping. Two missed calls. She called Ritter back and was headed out to the car when he answered.
"Hey, Maura. We got your little boy." She could hear the stress in his voice.f
"Oh thank heavens! I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am to hear you say that." She felt a little relieved now and relayed the news to Doug. But he frowned and looked at her with a confused face.
"I just got a voicemail saying we left our child at daycare." Doug mumbled and stared at his cell with an arched eyebrow, worry lines on his forehead. He was completely clueless. But Maura didn't even hear him.
When they reached the police station she leaped out of the car and rushed in leaving Doug behind. Ritter was in the lobby with a toddler bouncing on his knee crying.
Ritter stood up and held the little boy out to her. "Here's the little fella causing so much trouble."
Maura took in a sharp breath. "You're wrong. That's not my baby."