A/N – Thank you to everyone who has either reviewed, sent a PM, or simply made put this on story alert. I appreciate even the silent readers and quite honestly was amazed at how many story alerts occurred – you all make my enjoyment of writing even greater. I hope you continue to enjoy chapter two. Honorcpt – again thanks for the help. Really appreciate it.
Disclaimer: As Chapter one.
Chapter two
Maura walked out in to the morgue, where Sue's body had been brought in a short time ago, and laid out by one of her assistants. She was already in her customary black scrubs, and it took very little time to put a gown on, and ready the face mask, before pulling the clip board with the paperwork she would fill in as she went along towards her. Once she had filled in the initial personal information that had been supplied by the hospital, Maura pulled the large clear face mask in place, and began her dictation and examination. While it had been difficult, Maura had pushed her own emotion to the side, and for once, her nickname, Queen of the Dead was as accurate as it had ever been. Jane would have questions, and while Maura knew she couldn't give answers regarding the accident as a whole, she could at least provide her friend with some answers she would undoubtedly have regarding Sue.
Jane had fallen back to sleep again, having been woken up by her Mother literally barging in to the room, flustered, and understandably upset. It had taken Tommy and Frankie ages to get her to stop fussing, and with apologetic looks towards their sister, they had also eventually pulled her out of the room, saying Jane needed her rest. Jane though couldn't rest, at least not well. As soon as she closed her eyes and drifted to sleep, the nightmare of the accident returned full force, as she realized her last memory of Sue had been inside the car. Each time, she jolted awake, tears running down her face, partly from the pain her body movement caused, partly from knowing she'd lost the one person she thought she'd unexpectedly, but finally found love with. It was a long slow night for her, as she watched through the room window as dawn began to break over the city. It would have have been beautiful any other time Jane thought to herself as she once again closed her eyes to try and at least rest.
Frost stretched out, watching Korsak out of the corner of his eye. He'd heard about Jane's accident this morning when he'd first come in, and was now going through some traffic cam footage to see if they could work out what had happened. Traffic had been more than happy to hand it across to them since the SUV hadn't stopped at the scene. They had no idea if the driver of the other vehicle had simply panicked, but knowing an off duty police detective had been involved was enough cause for them to treat it as suspicious. Korsak meanwhile was trying desperately to track down Sue's next of kin, mumbling her parents or siblings weren't noted on the forms, only someone she was in a relationship with was and they were currently unavailable. Nor were they suspects. Frost didn't know why it was so important they were working this so hard, other than Korsak saying Jane was good friends with her... and he knew, there was more to this story than he was currently privy to.
Maura sat back, her own voice in her ears as she typed up her dictated notes from the night before. She couldn't help but be struck at how beautiful Sue must have been. She had been a little over five feet six inches in height, with wonderfully natural blond hair, blue eyes, on the verge of being gray. She had a slim build, but was noticeably athletic. There was no doubt in Maura's mind, Sue worked out, and often. Maura couldn't help but wonder if she was also a runner, or if she just used a gym. Sighing, Maura turned her attention back to her words, and pressed play, her fingers hovering over the computer keyboard. While most notes would be typed up by her secretary, and Maura would only read and sign them off, on special occasions, like this, Maura did all the paperwork. She internally flinched at her own dictation as it came to a certain point.
"... signs of previous body injury. This includes healed fractures on both arms, on the right Radius, Ulna and Humerus, and on the left, the Ulna and Humerus show signs of repaired fractures. There is also evidence of healed fractures on both Scapulas. Unless a profession or hobby accounts for these injuries, they are also consistent with some kind of abuse, over a period of time of several years. Scarring covering the back and shoulders is consistent with untreated wounds most likely caused by a sharp implement such as a knife, and it looks like cigarette burns. Her legs..."
Maura paused again, as she thought back to Jane telling her Sue had been in a previous abusive relationship. She shivered as the evidence showed, the abuse seemed to be horrific and painful. Maura then smiled in the knowledge that, for a short time at least, Jane would have offered protection and safety, something that she had no doubt Sue hadn't been given for a long time previously. Maura knew first hand how safe Jane could make you feel. She was glad another person was given the chance to experience it, instead of hurt.
She reflected that Jane was sure she and Sue would have got on, and somehow, Maura felt had they been given the chance, she would have admired this young woman. It took strength of character to move on from such a tragic period of her life, to not allow it to beat her down and become a typical victim. Although Maura was always amazed at the resilience of the human spirit. Jane herself had fought her own demons, most notably with Hoyt and survived. Not only had Jane survived, but she, like it appeared Sue had done, thrived, even if there were scars, mental and physical that were carried.
Barry sat down alongside Korsak's desk. Korsak just looked up over his glasses at the younger detective.
"You wanted something? Have something to tell me?" Korsak queried, sounding impatient.
"What aren't you telling me about this accident." Frost asked, keeping his voice low, not wanting to be overheard.
"Nothing." Korsak moved to carry on reading the information he had in front of him. Frost shook his head.
"I don't buy it." Frost refused to let it drop. "There is something you're not telling me. Listen, I get that Sue was a friend of Jane's. By all accounts, an old family friend. Means they would have been close. I get all that. I get that there are suspicious circumstances around the accident. I get that the Doc would want to do the autopsy. I do get all of this..." Frost paused for a second to make his point, before pointing a finger at Korsak's chest for emphasis. "What I don't get is the feeling that you are keeping something from me."
"You know, you're a better detective than I sometimes give you credit for..."
Korsak was disrupted by Frost's "I knew it." Korsak glared at the interruption.
"Shut up and listen." Korsak's sharp words were enough for Frost to shut up, and straighten up. "You are a good detective. Hell, you put up with Jane's crap, and if you repeat this I will kill you, but you work well together. But there are some times when you see something that isn't there. Ignoring the fact our friend and colleague was involved, this is personal and important to Jane, which makes it personal and important for us. That's all there is to it."
Frost shook his head. "Nope, I'm still not buying it, but I guess you'll tell me when you're ready. I just hoped you would trust me enough with it, ya know."
Korsak sat back in his chair with a sigh. "Listen kid, this isn't about trust. This is about there are some things only a certain person should tell people. If there is more to this..." Korsak put a hand up to stop Frost saying anything. "If there is more to this, then it's not my story to tell. You get me."
Finally understanding the message Korsak was conveying, Frost nodded. "Yeah. I guess Jane will tell me when she can."
Korsak smiled at the young detective. "If there is something to tell, I'm sure Jane will when she feels she can. In the meantime, we've got to find out what the hell happened, and who was behind all this. I've got a gut feeling this was no random accident."
Maura walked in to Jane's room, and was pleased to find she was sitting up, and despite the bruising looking worse, overall she was far more alert than she had been the evening before. Maura had just been told Jane was free to leave as soon as the paperwork was ready although she'd been warned that could take a little while yet to complete, and Maura was pleased she'd had the forethought to stop at Jane's apartment to pick up some fresh clothes. Jane spied the duffel bag seconds after Maura arrived, and her eye's lit up.
"Please tell me you have fresh clothes in there." Jane began to slowly swing her legs off the bed, winching as she moved. "I'm getting out of here as soon as possible and I need clothes."
"Indeed there are fresh clothes in the bag." Maura moved forward with a smile, and Jane didn't argue when she offered a hand to help Jane shimmy down off the bed.
As Jane's feet hit the ground and she steadied herself, she looked in to Maura's eyes, her expression suddenly serious. "Did you..." Her words faltered.
"I have finished with Sue, yes." Maura didn't need to say more, knowing it was what Jane was trying to ask.
"Did she suffer?" Jane always thought that question seemed strange to her when she'd dealt with relatives who'd lost someone close to them. Why would you want to know such details? Now it seemed the most natural question in the world for her to ask. At least Jane knew Maura couldn't lie to her, that she would give her the facts, not wrap in around some sort of bullshit.
"No." Maura sighed, ensuring she gave out the information without too much science, that Jane would just want a brief and basic outline of her findings. "She suffered a massive head injury, and would have been unconscious almost immediately. She undoubtedly died long before they got her free of the wreckage despite trying to revive her at the scene."
"I don't know if I feel better for knowing that or not." Jane admitted, fighting back fresh tears. .
"You'll work through it and I'm here if ever you need help." Maura answered in her usual pragmatic manner. Jane simply nodded, and grabbed the bag before heading to the small bathroom attached to her room with faltering steps. Maura appraised her movements, and could tell Jane would find it difficult to be alone for a few days at least. She waited, listening out in case Jane called for help, although Maura knew Jane would have to practically be on the floor before she would admit she wasn't coping with something. Maura was surprised to hear Jane calling for her.
"Can I come in." Maura asked hesitating at the door. She heard Jane snort.
"I wouldn't have called you if I didn't want you to come in." Jane replied, and she watched with an amused expression as Maura pushed the door open and squeezed in to the small room. "I just need..." Jane indicated she was struggling to untie her gown, and turned her back so Maura could reach the middle ties that were ones causing her the problem.
Maura deftly began to undo the gown, noting Jane was thinking of a shower by the way she had placed some wash items and a towel to use. "I don't think a shower is a good idea, because of your sutures. If you get them wet, they can disintegrate." Maura spoke up.
"God, not you as well." Jane whined. "I've got crap all over me, especially in my hair and I've tried brushing and it isn't working." She gestured with a hand to her currently untamed hair. Maura gave it some thought for a minute as she looked at the shower set up the room had and was pleased to see it wasn't a fixed shower head.
"How about, you sit on one of the chairs from by your bed as close to the shower as you can get, and I use the shower head to wash your head. If you can tip you're body forward that is. The sutures for your head injury are far enough forward to be out of your hairline and with care, I think I can wash it without getting them too wet."
Jane gave it some thought, her eyes looking at the shower, and she bent forward slightly, testing how far she could go without her ribs screaming in protest. "Yeah, that'll work." Jane decided, flashing Maura a smile.
Maura reappeared a few seconds later, plastic chair in hand, which she put down so Jane could lean across the entrance of the shower. Maura then reached in and grabbed the shower head, before turning the shower on, and waited for it to reach the right temperature. Jane was already holding a small bottle of shampoo Maura had packed in a wash bag she'd also picked up from Jane's that morning.
"Ready?" Maura asked.
"As I'll ever be." Jane said, sucking in as the pain from her ribs hit as she lent forward, but determination won and she couldn't stop the sigh as the first cascade of water hit her hair watching in rapt fascination as the water went from clear to a nasty shade of gray as dirt began to wash out, even before the shampoo had been applied, and then spinning down the plughole in the shower tray.
As Jane sat on her bed resting, waiting for the discharge papers to be finalised, she ran her fingers through her now damp, but clean hair, a wide smile of appreciation aimed in Maura's direction. "Thanks for doing this. It really means a lot to me."
"It was the least I can do." Maura was sitting back on the one dry chair alongside the bed. "I was thinking, why not come and stay with me for a few days." Maura decided now was the time to broach the subject.
Jane looked nervous. "I..." She faltered, not wanting to impose.
"Jo is already being looked after by Vince. You need some help still." Maura had her argument already planned in her head, "and I can't imagine what you're going through right now, but I would have thought going back to your apartment, to the memories you have of the time you and Sue shared there, would be emotionally difficult." Maura didn't say anything more as she watched the pain ripping across Jane's face as the realization of Maura's words began to hit home. Feeling guilty for making Jane face the thoughts, Maura got up, and grasped one of Jane's hands. Her other hand came up, and the thumb brushed the tears that had fallen across both Jane's cheeks.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry." Maura admitted, her own voice hitching in her throat.
"No," Jane swallowed hard. "You're right. I hadn't even thought about it, but I don't know if I can go back home. At least not yet. Sue and I, we left clothes and other personal items over at each others, for when either one of us stayed over, you know."
"Of course." Maura shifted position, and pulled Jane in to a light hug. "So, do I have a house guest for a few days, or as long as you need?"
Maura felt Jane nod, and she finally relaxed, pleased Jane had accepted the help without a fight.
Korsak put the phone down, and looked across at Frost who was still looking at the camera footage around the accident site.
"Anything?" Korsak asked as he walked over, plopping himself down on a chair opposite where Frost was sitting, biting in to his meatball sub, managing to avoid sauce falling out all over his tie or shirt.
"Not a lot." Frost sounded frustrated. "The SUV had bars though, you know the grille bars? Anyway, it helped protect it when it hit Jane's car. The plates show it was stolen a week ago, and the owner swears he had no modifications on the vehicle so the bars have been added since it was stolen. Pictures taken at a recent family trip out support that. They're clean. So far, no sign of the SUV by patrol. How about you?"
"Finally got hold of Sue's parents. They are flying in this evening with her brother. They sounded devastated. They wanted to know if it was Sue's ex. Turns out this ex is a woman, and by all accounts a nasty piece of work and drove Sue away from the family and back to Boston." Korsak rolled his neck, trying to work the kinks out before chomping down on his rapidly disappearing sub. "Man I hate domestic abuse cases."
"So, it's looking more and more like this was no accident, and the suspect list not only now includes perps that Jane has put away, or their family wanting revenge, but a psycho ex of Jane's friend. Man, just when you think it couldn't get any worse." Frost looked angry. "Did Sue have any restraining orders on the ex?"
"A whole stack of them by all accounts, I've asked for copies." Korsak confirmed. "Not that it apparently stopped her. Trouble was, they could never prove for the police or courts it was the ex involved in several incidents, and that was when Sue fled, and came back here."
"So, nasty piece of work, and she knows the system."
"That just about sums it up." Korsak finished eating, balled his paper napkin up and threw it in to the trash can before standing up.
"Great!" Frost shook his head. Just at that moment, something pinged on Frost's computer, and he sat up suddenly. "Our luck might have just changed." He said quickly, hitting some keys.
"Yeah." Korsak who was just beginning to walk away turned back around, and looked expectantly across the desk.
"We've just got a hit on the SUV, patrol found it in a car park for an block of apartments. Apparently someone in the block realized it didn't belong to anyone living there and called it in. It's being towed in now." Frost's face split in to a wide grin, which matched Korsak's.
"Let's get down there, see if we can't find something." Korsak turned and went back to his own desk where he pulled on his jacket that he'd left on the back of his chair before following Frost out of the room.
Jane sunk down in to Maura's sofa, grateful to be finally out of the hospital. Maura moved in to the kitchen area, having placed her purse and house keys in their place she had for them in the small entrance hallway.
"Coffee?" Maura asked, knowing Jane wouldn't have been given any at the hospital.
"God, please." Jane asked, trying not to show her discomfort, knowing Maura would insist she go and rest in the guest bedroom. She'd had enough of lying down to last a lifetime.
Maura quickly made the coffee, having already set the machine up before she'd left that morning. She handed the mug over to Jane, before settling down on the other end of the sofa. Taking a sip of her own drink, Maura decided to try and find out more about Sue. "What did Sue do?" Maura already knew the answer, having been given the information from the hospital, but felt it was a safe topic to try and get Jane talking.
"A nurse." Jane sighed loudly. "Ironically, in the same ER I landed up in. They would have known her."
"I didn't know." Maura admitted, having only been given the information she was a nurse, not where she worked. Her heart went out to the brunette, who looked so sad and broken. "I'm assuming she enjoyed her work?"
"She loved it, and by accounts was good at it. She wanted to help others." Jane admitted. "She felt she could at least make a difference, even if she couldn't save everyone."
"Like you saved her." Maura replied softly, as Jane's head snapped around to look at Maura with piercing eyes.
"What do you mean?"
"There were signs of prolonged physical abuse that I saw while doing the autopsy Jane. It tallies with the reason you told me for her being back in Boston."
Jane shifted her gaze, and fixed it to a spot around the fireplace. "It took a long time for her to tell me what she'd been through and I'm sure there was more to tell had we been given the chance. I knew something had happened in her past, because she'd flinch if you reached out and touched her when she wasn't expecting it. Or when she'd stay over some nights before we got intimate, she would be plagued by nightmares. It didn't take long for me to put it together."
"Did they ever arrest and charge the man who did that to her?" Maura questioned.
"Her. Her abuser was a woman," Jane corrected, earning a look of shock from Maura. "and no, she got away with it despite various attempts to get her charged. I can't tell you how angry that made me feel. I don't know why it should, but somehow to know another woman could be so cruel, even though I've seen some heinous, abhorrent acts of violence committed by women, it got to me. Really badly. Sue though, she never allowed what she went through make her bitter about life or be angry about it. She would tell me it made her stronger; that she could be more grateful for the little good things that she might have happen. That if she hadn't moved because of it, we would have never met. She made it easy for me to lose the anger and hatred I had. Sue truly had a heart of gold."
