"Jane Clementine Rizzoli, why do you have to be so stubborn?" She heard her mother's voice in her head.
It was not the fact that she was stubborn, because she wasn't. Who am I kidding? I am stubborn. It was the fact that her partner was just so slow and dumb, that if it depended on him, the killer could have easily ran away.
"Come on Crowe, what the hell are you waiting for?" she screamed at him when they saw the killer head away from them, gun in hand and firing it randomly. Jane instantly went to cover behind a big trash can, but Crowe was so slow that one of the bullets grazed him in the league. When she heard that the shots stopped, she quickly went and took a look at him.
"How bad is it?" she asked him fiercely. "And don't be a pussy about it."
Crowe looked at her shyly. "Not so bad, but I can't walk." he said quietly.
"Call dispatch and tell them our situation. I'm gonna try to find him." Jane told him while running at the direction where their shooter headed.
She was instantly in a dark alley with no exit, but still no sign of him. Probably went in another direction, Jane thought to herself. She lowered her gun and started to put it back in the holster, and as soon as she did she felt a body collision with hers. Dizzy from the hit, she stood up and saw the man looking at her with crazy eyes and the gun pointing directly at her. This is so not good, Jane decided. She knew that she had to distract him.
"You don't need that." Jane said while pointing his gun. "Wouldn't it be better if you lower it and we talk?"
He started to laugh, making Jane hold her breath. "You think I'm really that dumb?" he said with amusement. "That a little chitchat will make me forget about the gun in my hand?" he added while pointing it at her.
"'I never thought that because I know you are really smart. Smart enough to have fooled the Boston PD, myself included." Jane said, hating to admit this to him.
"That I did." he said more to himself than to her. "And it wasn't that difficult. You see, the only thing I had to do was give you what you wanted to have."
"And what was that?" Jane answered while taking a look at the gun in her holster. It wasn't completely in, perhaps giving her a chance to draw it faster.
"An easy and agreeing suspect." he added while laughing. "When you have the "advantages" that I do, you can get away with anything."
"Advantages?" Jane added while looking at him again, seeing if he was completely distracted.
"Yes, the advantages to control a man and make him do and say what you want him to."
So now he is a hypnotist, Jane almost scoffed at him, but decided not to based on the situation. She pretended to be surprised. "Can you really do that? I thought it was a trick made by magicians."
He looked offended enough at her last remark. "What magicians do IS a trick. But what I do, trust me, it's real enough." he said while a smile showed in his face. "Would you like me to try it on you?"
Jane was surprised by this remark, and maybe this was the opportunity that she so desperately needed. It was a gamble, but she had no other choice. She nodded.
"Splendid." he said while clapping his hands. He lowered his gun just enough to open his palm. Closing his eyes, Jane started to quietly take out the gun. He just stayed with his eyes closed and murmured some things that Jane couldn't make out. Out of nowhere, Jane felt her hands feel dumb, and the gun that was in her hand slowly slipping away. Perplexed by this action she tried to run towards him, but her legs were also feeling slow. By some strange reason, Jane's body started to move like a wax candle, slowly burning and melting. She looked up to see the man looking at her amusement in his eyes and a hint of yellowish in them. That's it, she thought. If I keep looking at the eyes then he will have control over me. She tried to close her own, but felt them too heavy to do so. Completely under his control, Jane's breath started to come slowly, as if it was becoming harder and harder for air to come in. She understood right away what he was doing to her, and if he succeeded, then another body would be on the morgue of the Boston PD with Dr. Pike examining it. Quite disgusted by the thought of that atrocious man doing her autopsy, Jane had the enough strength to look away, instantly regaining the control of her arms. When this happened, she quickly took the gun and fired a shot to the arm of the man. She heard his hollowing scream, followed by his body dropping to the floor.
"How did you do that?" he asked bewildered.
Instead of answering Jane took a piece of her shirt and tore it, making sure to cover his eyes. "I just thought of Dr. Pike making my autopsy." she answered him while looking away when she heard the sirens.
Expecting to find the usual team meet her, she saw black cars with black plates stop and park near the alley. Not liking this at all she grabbed her gun and carefully pointed it to one of the cars.
"Drop your weapon Detective Rizzoli, we are not the enemy." she heard a man speak through a megaphone.
"But you are also not a friend." she answered back, keeping her gun up.
"Not yet." he said. "Perhaps if you trust us then maybe we could be."
Jane quickly looked around and saw men and women in suits quickly make their way towards her, no guns in their hands. This made her lower her own and quickly put it away. The man that had the megaphone came out of the car and quickly made his way towards her. Jane saw that he was probably in his 50's, a little too old to still be in the force, she thought to herself. He just smiled.
"You are probably right." he told her. Jane looked at him, expecting further explanation to the previous statement. "I am a little bit too old to still be in the force."
Jane just looked at him with complete shock. She knew that she didn't say the sentence outloud. Perhaps she was imagining things and she did say it, wouldn't be the first time I did something like that.
"My name is Sergeant Detective Vince Korsak. And you are Detective Jane Rizzoli." he finished while taking her hand. "Your reputation precedes you."
This conversation was only making her be more and more confused. She had never seen this man in the Boston PD, and a thing that made her feel proud was that she knew every police officer in there. Also, she never told him her name, and the fact that he knew about her scared her a bit. Especially after that encounter with that strange man.
"Not a man." he said quietly.
Jane looked up to him in complete shock again. "How can you tell me that he is not a man? I mean look at him."
"Yes, he looks like a man, but he is not. Or are you forgetting what he did to you a few moments ago?" he told her somberly.
Jane remembered the feeling of weakness, of loss and fear of not being in control of her own body.
"You were really lucky, not many people are able to escape the stare of medusa."
She laughed at this remark besides the tense moment. "Medusa as in Medusa the mythological creature that turned people to stone?" Jane said sarcastically.
"Yes, although he doesn't turn them to stone, he can basically tell a human to do what he wants, and the human will do it."
Jane just looked at him, shock in her face again. "When he told me at first I refused to believe him, and the only reason why I indulged him was so I..."
"Could have a chance to escape." Korsak finished for her. "Yes, I know."
"You seem to know everything." Jane muttered quietly.
"Well, those are the usual advantages of being able to read minds." he said while smiling softly.
"Ok, you gotta be shitti..." she started to say but then stopped, remembering how Korsak seemed to be a step ahead of her all the time, even answering the questions that she didn't say outloud. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Because you survived something that most humans do not." he said sadly. "And this makes you special. Special enough to be considered for a promotion." he said while telling her to follow him to the car. Jane thought about it and decided to do so.
"We are a special part of the Boston PD, one that specializes in what you could say are strange and unnatural killings." he said while giving her a file, the file that they made on the killer that she just captured. "We tend to travel around the world and help the police to solve these cases. All lieutenants of the homicide departments are aware of our existence, and if deemed necessary, contact us when they see irregularities. This is why we are here in Boston, strangely not doing our job for the first time because you did it for us." he said while smiling and looking at her. "I don't do this often, but one of our lead detectives decided to retire, and that means that a spot has opened. Would you be interested in joining our ranks?"
Jane just stood there speechless, not believing what she was hearing. This man appeared out of nowhere, told her about this weird organization and at the same time offered her a place in it. It seemed like out of a science fiction movie. "How do I know that you are telling me the truth?"
"You don't. But if you accept the job, I will call Lieutenant Cavanaugh right away and switch you to our unit."
"What would I tell my family and friends when they realize that I no longer work on the homicide department?" Jane said quietly. "I waited my whole life to be able to do so, to tell people that women are capable of doing so."
Korsak looked at her sweetly, liking the woman more and more. "You will tell them that you got promoted and that you will be working in the special homicides department of the Boston PD. Which ironically is in Boston." he added while smiling warmly.
Jane also smiled at him, liking the man and trusting him. She drew a long breath and shaked his hand. "When do I begin?"
When Jane told her family about her promotion they were completely static. At first they burned her with questions such as 'why didn't you tell us sooner?' or 'how is it that you didn't know about this promotion before?' and to each one of them Jane gave them the answer that Korsak told her to memorize. After accepting his offer, Jane got in touch with Cavanaugh and got his approval of her switch, not being shy about telling her that she would be missed. Nevertheless, she was excited about working with Korsak and the rest of people that were part of the unit. When asked, Korsak told her that they had their own headquarters, equipment, guns and personnel. Still, he said that he couldn't talk about any of them until she met them personally. She didn't understand the reason, but Korsak just told her that some were more prude about their job and physicality than others, and after having a bit of struggles when defining them, the unit decided to just let them introduce themselves to the new people that came, which ironically didn't turn out to be a lot. Wondering if she would ever be called, especially because the cases that they took were seen as unique and strange, Jane was surprised when the next day she heard her phone and saw that Korsak was calling her. That day she had been playing basketball with her brother Frankie, and in one strange moment of distraction she felt his shoulder hitting her nose and impacting her right in the bone, which they became a shout-out match between her mother and her that ended making Jane be so angry that she just abandoned the house. Now that she saw Korsak's call, she knew that her day was going to become way better. Smiling she answered.
'Rizzoli.'
'We have been called to consult on a case. Get ready so I pick you up on my way to the crime scene.'
'Are we going to Paris, Rome, Spain?' Jane started to blabber, too excited about the possibility of travelling.
'We are going to Beacon Hill.' he answered her while laughing. 'It will be good to see how you move around this new environment, and since it's in Boston I will let you lead the investigation, with my supervision and the presence of a partner.'
Jane was too excited to answer him and just nodded while hanging up and quickly looking in her closet for her best suit. She wanted to impress, and after brushing her hair and choosing a light red shirt to go along with her grey suit, she went outside her apartment as soon as she saw a black car stop right next to the sidewalk. As soon as she opened the door she saw Korsak smiling at her while making her a space. She sat down and was immediately handed a folder.
"This is the third murder during the space of two weeks." he said while somberly looking at the photos." The killer chooses couples and makes the husbands watch how he rapes their wives and then kills the men first and after that the women. He makes a clear incision in their neck, too perfect to be surgical, and drains them."
Jane looked at him surprised. "A vampire?" she asked curiously. "I thought they were a myth."
"Well, they are Jane. But there truly are some creatures that feed on blood in order to survive, but the fact that scares us is the ritual behind the killing, and how precise the killer seems to be. Boston PD decided to contact us when they found the third couple this morning. They lived in Beacon Hill."
Jane looked up to him. "But how are we going to explain to the team that is there our presence? I mean, I bet no one knows about your unit."
"Yes, and well you see, one member of our team has a very high position in the Boston PD, which makes things way easier for us. Bureaucracy is not as bad as it could be thanks to her."
Jane was going to ask him who this person was when she felt the car stop. The house were the couple lived was nothing but extravagant, and quickly they made their way to the front of the house. Outside was a man in his mid twenties waiting for them, a look of sickness in his eyes. Jane laughed internally, quickly understanding that this man had a light stomach.
"Detective Rizzoli, meet Detective Frost, your partner." Korsak said while pushing him forward so they could shake hands.
"Pleasure." he said quietly, embarrassment in his face.
"Pleasure is all mine." she said while looking at him. "Has the rest of the house been processed?"
"Not yet, would you like me to start on that?" he asked her, thankfulness in his eyes.
"If that wouldn't be a problem." she said while smiling at him softly. "I will find my way around the house." she added while going inside.
It wasn't so difficult to find the living room where the two bodies where. She had to just follow the bloody path that was probably left by the killer. Careful to not step on anything that could be evidence, she came face to face with the gruesome scene and took a deep breath. Now she felt bad for mocking Frost, especially because the scene was terrible to see. The walls were filled with blood that had probably splashed from the cut made by the killer. Her gaze turned to the carpet, that had a teacup on it, along with a plate. Nevertheless, her gaze stopped when she noticed the woman that was standing in front of the couch examining the body.
She had heard about Dr. Maura Isles before. Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was no small feat at all. Although she never had the opportunity of working with her, the couple of detectives that did said that was brilliant but strange, unattached and unemotional, giving her the nickname of Queen of the Dead. Still, looking at her carefully and delicately touch the body of the man that had died made her heart swell: She was treating them with respect and care, as if he was just in a slumber sleep waiting to wake up. When Pike went with her to scenes, he was too busy boasting about his expertise and careful analysis that when he did the autopsies they were all a mess. The man was not incompetent, and he did graduate from Harvard, which made him have the enough credentials to be a little more than average medical examiner. She quietly made her way towards her, almost as if being pulled by an invisible force. The woman in front of her was breathtaking, and most ironically, totally unaware of the effect that she had. She looked around and saw that the rest of the men in the room were just as perplexed as she was, mainly asking themselves the question: What is she even doing here?
She stopped her thoughts about the woman were she turned around and saw her, surprise in her expression that quickly changed to concern. She quickly stood up and came towards her, which made Jane freeze and hyperventilate with excitement. She was looking around her profile, nodding and moving to the other side before placing herself in front of Jane.
"Hairline fracture of the nasal bone above the lateral nasal cartilage." she said while looking again at Jane's nose and then focusing back on the body. "It's not disfiguring."
"Looks pretty disfiguring to me." Jane heard Korsak said while looking at the body.
Jane just laughed, knowing what Dr. Isles meant. She had seen the blow to the nose that she got from Frankie. "I knew there was something else going on there. Could you pop this out for me?"
Maura just smiled, delighted by the response that she got from the detective. "Can't you do something safe, like yoga?" she answered her back while taking her gloves out and facing the woman.
Jane just smiled warmly at the remark, suddenly becoming nervous by the closeness that she was sharing with Dr. Isles, who was putting her fingers in her face so she could look at her nose more clearly.
"Might hurt a little." she heard her say.
"That's ok." Jane answered, already accustomed to feeling pain. What she didn't expect was the loud pop that came after that, which made her yelp a little. It wasn't so painful, but it surprised her.
"Ouch, a little?" she asked her sarcastically.
Maura just smiled. "Put some ice on it for the next 24 hours so you don't look like Mike Tyson." she told her while grabbing her nose again and moving it a little, making sure that everything was fixed."
"Well, now that everything is fixed." Korsak said suddenly, making the both of them remember that he was there and present during the whole exchange between them. "I thought I should introduce you two to each other, but from what I see it seems that you got things handled."
"I'm Detective Jane Rizzoli." she said while shaking her hand.
"So you must be the famous Detective that I have heard so much about." Maura smiled at her warmly. And she wasn't lying.
Maura Isles had heard quite a lot about Detective Rizzoli and how she was one the best detectives that Boston PD had. Becoming the youngest cadet to ever become detective, she excelled at all of her exams at the academy, not intimidated by the fact that she was working in an environment full of men. Even Dr. Pike talked about her and how smart, although sometimes impatient, the young woman could be. From all the stories that fellow workers and police officers told her, she was expecting a big and scary woman be the owner of the image and reputation that preceded her. Still, she was happily surprised to see that Detective Rizzoli was very beautiful and easy on the eyes. She had tried to stay quiet about her nose, thinking that it would be rude and weird to make that remark to the new detective, but the fact was driving her crazy and at one moment she just couldn't take it anymore. Still, what she loved the most was that the woman responded lightly to the comment and even asked her for help, which was way better than what she expected could come out of her remark.
Jane just smiled embarrassedly at her, not expecting a compliment from the woman, who seemed indifferent to the effect that her words had on Jane. "I'm Dr. Maura Isles..."
"Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts." Jane finished for her, which made Maura smile in recognition. "I have also heard quite a lot about you."
Jane then moved to face the body and look at it, getting some gloves from one of the technicians that were around the house. She felt Maura bend down right next to her, ready to explain to her what she saw in the body.
"Cause of death was cut through the throat. The object that did this cut is not made of any material known to humans, especially by the preciseness and deepness with which it cut." Maura said while making her way then to the sofa, where she lighted it with a blue light.
Jane didn't have to let Maura explain what that was. "So he again raped the woman and made the man watch." she said.
Maura nodded. "Both have tazzer marks behind their ears, which would explain how the killer tied the man and made him lie there helpless."
Jane just looked straight. "And the woman?"
Maura just looked at Korsak, who nodded. "We can't find her body."
Jane was perplexed. "What do you mean find her body? I read this folder and the killer never took the any of the victims before."
Korsak answered her instead of Maura. "That's why the Boston PD finally called us. Because they have a body missing and not any single lead."
"There is something else you are not telling me." Jane said while looking at both of them.
Maura smiled at Korsak. "You shouldn't have brought someone as smart as Detective Rizzoli unless you were willing to share with her the whole truth."
Jane looked at Dr. Isles and smiled with gratitude at her, a gesture that was returned.
"That is true Dr. Isles. Jane is too smart for her own good." he said while quickly making his way out of the house.
Maura followed them until the front door. "I will get ready to transport this body to the morgue and I'll wait for you until you come to do the autopsy."
Korsak nodded and noted for Jane to follow her. She gave Maura one last look and shrugged her shoulders, already upset about leaving the woman. Not expecting Maura to be there, she was surprised when she saw her come back.
"It's really nice to finally have another woman here." she said while smiling warmly. "I have to admit that I have been feeling rather lonely and misunderstood around here."
"You, misunderstood? I wonder why?" Jane answered her sarcastically. But noticing that maybe it was a little bit too rude, she smiled warmly. "And I am glad that I'm getting the chance to work with you, Dr. Isles, or can I call you Maura?"
"As long as I can call you Jane, you may call me Maura." Maura answered her while smiling fully. "Now I don't want you to be scolded by Sergeant Korsak on your first day, so go with him and I will see you soon."
"See you soon Maura." she said quietly, already embarrassed by using her name.
Maura just smiled at her. "See you soon Jane."