She twirls the coffee stirrer, around, and around in her cup of coffee. She stares into the black pool of liquid. It swirls around. A hand covers her hand, and stops it from moving. She looks up, at the party on the other side of the table.
"What were you saying, Maura?"
"Jane are you ok?"
"I'm fine. Why do you ask?"
"You haven't heard a word that I have said."
"I'm sorry."
"Why do you keep stirring your coffee?"
"I don't know," she shrugs.
"You drink your coffee black."
Jane looks at the cup, "I know."
"Then why do you even have a stirrer?"
"I guess I'm just a little bit distracted."
"What is on your mind?"
"Nothing," she lies.
"Nothing? You've been distracted all day."
"I'm fine."
"That was half-hearted."
"Maura it's not any of your business, I don't want to talk about it."
"Here?" Maura glances towards the counter, at Jane's mother, who is paying very little attention to them, because she's waiting on customers.
"No. Location has nothing to do with it."
"You just don't want to talk about it with me?" Maura tries to understand.
"I don't want to talk about it period."
"Jane..."
"I've got to go," she insists.
"Go where?"
"I'm going home."
"Home? It's twelve fifteen in the afternoon," Maura reveals, checking her watch.
"It's slow. I'm not needed here. I'm headed home. Call me if you get a case."
"Fine," Maura agrees.
Jane leaves the cafe. She leaves the precinct, and heads home. She's can see her apartment, when her cell phone rings.
"Rizzoli," she answers, pulling over in front of her building.
"We've got a dead body."
"You're kidding, right, Maura?"
"Do I ever kid about dead bodies?"
"No, but maybe you should start."
"Text me the location, I'll meet you there."
"Ok," she agrees.
Jane arrives at the scene twenty minutes later. Frost has just arrived. She ducks under the crime scene tape, and heads up the steps of the brownstone. Korsak comes out the front door. He lets Frost walk past him. He blocks Jane's path.
"What's the deal Korsak?"
"We need to talk."
"Talk? What's going on?"
"I would just like to warn you."
"Warn me? Of what? I've been to a million crime scenes, how bad could it possibly be."
"It's not the what Jane, it's the who."
"The who? What do you mean?"
"Maybe you shouldn't work this one."
"Why not? Who is it?"
"It might look bad, given the history."
"History, what history?"
"It's Nicholas Bentley."
Jane stands frozen, she doesn't stand a chance.
"I know that something happened, with him, when you working with DCU. It's ok, if you don't want to go in there."
"When was he killed?"
"Maura says between three, and four hours ago."
"Good."
"Good?"
"I have an alibi."
"Jane you're not a suspect."
"I will be."
"Why would you a suspect? You haven't had contact with him in years."
"I haven't contacted him in years," she corrects him.
"He's contacted you?"
"Not in person."
"Jane, what happened, with him, exactly?"
"Not now, Korsak."
"Whatever happened, it's going to come out."
"I can't be here. I need to go," she turns to go.
He reaches for her. He gently grasps her arm. She spins around. She shoots him a look. "Let me go," she insists.
"Whatever happened in the past, is in the past."
"You don't have any idea."
"Jane talk to me."
"No. Not here, not now."
"When?"
"When I have to."
"No one will make you."
"Believe me, they will."
"Why do you say that?"
"The past doesn't always stay where it belongs. Sometimes the past haunts you like a recurring nightmare. It can stalk you like a relentless psychopath. The only difference is, it's only a memory, so you can never escape it."
"I know that whatever happened must have been bad."
"I'm leaving now," she replies assertively, and heads to her car.
Hours later back at the precinct Vince finds his way down to Maura's office. She motions for him to come in. She quietly stitches up the y-incision. He waits for her to finish. She covers the body, discards her gloves, and washes her hands.
"COD?"
"Multiple GSW."
"Do you know which one killed him?"
"His heart was still beating when he was shot in the head."
"But he was shot in the heart."
"The bullet nicked the bottom of the heart. It didn't actually pierce the heart."
"So death wouldn't have been instant."
"No."
"Any theories?"
"The killer hesitated," Maura guesses.
"So the shot wasn't by a professional," Vince throws out the idea.
"Or it was someone who knew him," Maura offers.
"Don't say that."