Watching That Clock
Author's Note: the characters do not belong to me :)
Maura Isles woke to the turning of a vehicle that rolled her back and forth. She did a quick examination of her body, wiggling her fingers and toes to determine if anything was broken. So far, so good. She opened her eyes slowly because her head was pounding. Maura sighed with the pain that surged through her temples. Whomever had taken her had obviously struck her on the head. It didn't seem like more than a mild concussion, though. The last thing she remembered was the feeling of dragging backwards, screaming until her consciousness was snuffed out. Now this.
She felt for her phone but it wasn't in her pocket, as far as she could tell by the limited reach given by the tying of her hands. They must have been in a hurry, Maura surmised by the relative ease with which she could move her arms to the front and back of her body. She remembered her handbag being knocked away, too. The thought of having no way to contact Jane made her shiver with a fear more intense than waking up in a kidnapper's captivity.
At the guest house, Jane turned pale as she kept dialing Maura and hearing the voice mail prompt kick in each time. It wasn't like Maura to not answer her phone.
"Why didn't I think of this? Of course they'd go after Maura," she sobbed with anger and frustration. "It's the best way to get to me, just like targeting Ma."
Korsak laid a gentle hand on Jane's shoulder. "We'll get her back, Jane. You, me, Frankie, Nina, were an excellent team. And Maura is one of us."
Jane couldn't speak because of the cries that racked her body.
"You stay with me," Angela said. "You've been through too much in these past few days to think clearly. I'll make that tea I promised."
"I can't, Ma," Jane said. "I have to find Maura. She's depending on me."
"She knows that you need to take care of yourself before you can properly investigate," Frankie said. "Please, Janie, will you listen to us?"
"I'm sorry, Frankie, I can't. All I can think about is getting Maura back, safe and sound."
Maura was pulled into an upright position when the van stopped. Two men in black clothing with ski masks covering their faces hauled her out and shoved a gun in her back as she was forced to walk.
Think, Maura, she instructed herself. Notice all the details and memorize them. It can mean everything to your survival. She blinked warily in the darkness, trying to see despite the lack of light and ache in her head. It appeared that they were in a warehouse or some industrial building. She could hear water dripping in the distance, a neglected pipe in a place no one would bother to look. Don't be negative, she cautioned. Jane will know where to look. She sees what others don't. The mere thought of her best friend warmed her heart and gave her the strength to walk on with her captors even though every part of her body wanted to collapse in place.
Finally they reached the other side of the warehouse, where the sound of water grew louder and the footsteps echoed more than at first. Could they be in a hallway? Where would it lead?
"In here," one of the captors spoke for the first time. It was a flat male voice with no discernible traits that would identify him or give any clues at all.
He pushed her into a tiny room with only a window near the top of what sounded like a steel door from its closing. The first thing Maura noticed was that the dripping water was coming from this room. The floor sloped down as she landed in the back in a pool of water about three inches deep.
"The master will see you shortly," the same man said. "Welcome to the end of your life, Dr. Isles."
Maura was left in silence, the cold water feeling as if it was seeping into the marrow of her bones. The master? The person who had burned Jane's apartment and sought revenge? It had to be the same person. And what had been the significance of the watch? Maura was sure there had to be more than the time displayed on it. She unconsciously touched her left wrist and noted that her own watch was still there, although it, like all else, was useless in the dark.
Jane and Korsak left Maura's house, leaving Frankie to watch over Angela in case their first instinct hadn't been totally wrong. Whomever was terrorizing Jane was determined to take everything from her, so it was feasible that Angela could still be part of the sinister plan.
Jane pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed Nina. "Can you please track Maura's car?"
"Of course," Nina replied. "You sound awful, Jane. What's going on?"
"We thought they were after Ma, but we were wrong," Jane explained. "They took Maura instead. I've been calling her and there's no answer."
"I can trace the phone, too." Nina clicked a few keys and stared at the screen with grim determination. "I'm so sorry about this, Jane. We will get Maura back."
"That's what Korsak said, too. I hope you can all forgive me if it gives me little comfort right now. All I want is to have Maura safe at home." Jane stifled another cry. She hated being this emotional because it obscured her judgment. Yet she had to admit that everyone was right, the days of harassment had taken their toll and worn her down. It had to stop. Jane Rizzoli could not be worn down. Not when Maura needed her.
"I understand, Jane. I have an address in the warehouse district." Nina read the location and Korsak made an impromptu u turn and sped toward the neglected neighborhood.
Jane felt some of her strength returning as the lead on Maura gave her hope.
It left her as soon as she saw Maura's phone and bag on the ground next to her car and an object that would send her into revulsion for the rest of her life. A flare burned brightly on the concrete next to the phone.
"It can't be, you're dead!" Jane screamed into the night's emptiness. "No!"
"What? How could this be? I shot that worthless piece of -..." Korsak began.
"It's usually a copycat," Jane said. "But what would a copycat want with Maura? It doesn't make any sense. Hoyt is dead." She couldn't help but shiver as she said his name. Charles Hoyt had still not completely disappeared from Jane's nightmares, for he had taken up so much time and energy in Jane's life before that day at the prison.
"I don't know," Korsak admitted, "but we will get to the bottom of this."
In her cell, the water was rising higher as Maura waited, lost in thought. She jumped when the window in the door slid open. It was impossible to see the face that peered through, but she could not believe her ears once the person began to speak.
"Dr. Isles, how nice of you to join us." The voice was gravelly and all too familiar. It sounded exactly like Charles Hoyt.
"You're dead," Maura blurted. "This is some kind of trick."
"Wouldn't you like to think so," the voice answered. "I'm real, Maura. As real as you."
"No. I don't believe you." She instinctively backed further into the room, thoroughly soaked as she sat in the pool of icy water.
"Shall I come in and reacquaint you with my scalpel?"
Maura gave no response. Where was Jane? She ought to know that she was in danger from whomever this was on the other side of the steel door!
"I didn't feel you'd accept my invitation," the voice said. "Just as well. We'll wait for Jane because I do love an audience. She has taken everything from me and I'm going to return the favor."
"What did Jane take from you? You can't be Hoyt. I refuse to believe it."
"It's for me to know and you to find out." The stranger slammed the window shut and walked away, his footsteps muted by the dripping of the water and the barrier between them.
"I don't want to touch it," Jane looked at the flare as if it were a poisonous snake waiting to strike.
"No one would expect you to. I've got this," Korsak reassured Jane as he produced an evidence bag and put the now extinguished flare inside. "We need to get this fingerprinted right away. Whoever is doing this is going to be sorry."
Fifteen minutes later they were back at headquarters, awaiting the results. Kent studied the flare.
"Well, I can tell you there are fingerprints, but they look odd. As if they've been made by a textured glove."
"Hoyt always used gloves but never something like this," Jane said. "What gives?"
Kent pressed the button on the computer and watched the fingerprints fly through the possible matches. It stopped suddenly and all three of them were staring into the face of Charles Hoyt.
"Okay, so someone made an impression of Hoyt's fingerprints. Where do we go from here?" Jane's eyes began to prickle with tears of hopelessness. This information brought them nowhere nearer to Maura than they were an hour ago.
"Let me look again," Kent said. He examined the flare near the tip. "I doubt he'd want to risk his gloves on lighting it, so maybe there's a separate fingerprint with enough DNA to make an identification."
Jane and Korsak waited in silence for several minutes as Kent worked. Jane's eyes drifted upward to the clock on the wall and watched the second hand make its way around the perimeter. One less minute for Maura, she thought.
"That's exactly what I've found," Kent smiled grimly. "I hope this will work." He first ran the fingerprint through the system. "No match," he said. "The DNA will take a little longer but it should be more conclusive."
"What do we do till then?" Jane's patience was wearing thin.
"We'll go back to where we found the flare," Korsak supplied. "You have our numbers."
Maura's head was spinning. This can't be Hoyt. He was dead. The voice could be either synthesized or learned by someone gifted in the art of imitation. Sadly Hoyt had drawn enough notoriety that there were plenty of interviews and other resources for someone to take for a synthesized recording or an example of his speech. After all, she never saw the face through the window. She never saw his lips moving. The fraud could be perpetrated in so many ways. No, she was not going to give into the horrific idea that Charles Hoyt was actually behind any of this.
She leaned her head against the wall. The coolness of the concrete and water actually soothed her pain like an ice compress. But why would an impostor care so much about exacting revenge on Jane? What would the average criminal have to gain? Sure, Jane had cracked a lot of cases, but this ran far deeper than a typical case. Something was very wrong.
Upon returning to Maura's car, Jane and Korsak searched for clues.
"See those tire tracks?" Korsak pointed to the street that ran parallel to the place where Maura's car sat. "Looks like someone was going somewhere in a hurry."
"Let's follow them," Jane said.
"Isn't this near the warehouse where Marino was trafficking drugs five years ago?" Jane looked at the buildings and remembered another day when she thought she'd lost everything. "Yes, it has to be."
"Do you think it could have anything to do with your stalker?" Korsak asked.
"It's worth a try," Jane shrugged. "We have to find Maura."
She was interrupted by the ringing of her phone. "It's Kent," she whispered. "Got anything?"
"Yes," the lab assistant began. "It's very odd."
"Go on," Jane declared. "Odd may lead us right to this creep."
"The DNA contains many similarities to Hoyt's, but it isn't his. It's a close relative, male. Did Hoyt have a son?"
"Not that I know of but anything is possible with him." Jane rubbed her temples. Suddenly she had a flashbulb memory of the day they discovered Marino was dirty. "Come to think of it, there was a guy in the warehouse who resembled Hoyt a little. He was terrorizing me so much that I thought I made it up, but what if I didn't? Thanks, Kent. Good work."
The praise from one of the least complimentary detectives stunned Kent and he didn't answer for a moment. "Thanks, Detective Rizzoli."
"If your tip can bring Maura home, I'll be happy for you to call me Jane."
Another stunned silence ensued on the other end of the phone.
Once the call was disconnected, Korsak pulled the car across the street from the warehouse. They both drew their weapons and prepared to enter the building by force, but to the surprise of both detectives, the door was slightly ajar.
They walked as silently as possible in the echoing room. Jane was more at ease than she'd been without any leads. If this was related to Hoyt, Marino or both, it would make more sense.
Korsak turned his head and whispered the word hallway.
A familiar voice speaking in the hall stopped them both in their tracks. "I'm coming in, Dr. Isles."
"Boston Police! Put your hands in the air!" Jane charged toward the voice as Korsak's flashlight beam revealed a man in his late twenties in a hoodie. It obviously wasn't Hoyt, but the resemblance was uncanny. A son. By one of the women he'd violated, no doubt.
In a breath of time, Jane had the man pinned down and handcuffed behind his back. "Give me the key!"
He looked up at her with eyes so resemblant of Hoyt's that it might have made her shudder if it weren't for Maura on her mind.
"Jane? Is that you?" Maura's voice called through the metal door.
"It's me, Maura, we're going to get you out of there soon!" She turned back to the young man. "Give me the keys!"
In one hand he held the keys and in the other he wielded a scalpel. Hoyt's favorite weapon.
"Not again," Korsak said, kicking the scalpel out of his hand. "I believe the lady asked you for the keys."
As soon as Jane had them in her hands, she was unlocking the door to free Maura. Both women burst into tears and embraced.
"I thought I'd never see you again," Jane cried as she unfastened Maura's restraints. "Are you hurt?"
"Not badly. I'm okay," Maura said, weeping.
"You're soaked and freezing. Let's get you somewhere warm," Jane led her out of the cell and used her phone to call for an ambulance. "Like it or not, we are getting you checked out. I'm not taking any chances."
For once, Maura didn't argue.
"Why have you been doing this to me?" Jane gazed at the young man with anger. "Who are you, you freak?"
"My name is Warren Charles Hoyt. His son. You took my father from me," he sneered. The voice must have been inherited because he was not playing a recording now. "My mother died last April and told me the truth about my origins then. My whole life has been a lie! I learned all I could about my father. Then I found out that you killed the only family I had left. So I wanted to do the same to you."
"And you were in with Marino, too, weren't you?" Jane thought more about the drug bust. "Only I thought you were just a random dealer then."
"I was just a random dealer. It was four years before my life changed forever and I found out who I really was. I wish you'd succeeded with that bullet!"
"Enough," Korsak said. "No one is going to care about where you're going."
Several hours later, as morning broke in Boston, Jane and Maura were with Frankie, Korsak, Nina, Kent and Angela in the safety of Maura's home. The paramedics had declared her fit to go home, given that someone would stay with her for the next twenty-four hours and bring her to the hospital if her headache worsened or she developed any other untoward signs. Jane had already volunteered before the paramedic could even finish speaking. He smiled at her and shook his head. All too often their calls didn't have happy endings, so he didn't mind being interrupted because this one was different.
Maura's concussion healed. Jane allowed Kent to call her by her first name. Warren Charles Hoyt went to prison for kidnapping and attempted murder, along with a hefty drug charge.
"Are you sure it's not just the euphoria talking?" Maura narrowed her eyes at Jane.
"No, I really mean it. You can help me decorate the condo."
"I'm glad you're serious because I just recorded that on my phone. I've got you dead to rights, detective."
The End