Chapter 1
Author's preface: Long story short, this story is Rizzles set in an alternate universe, where the United States broke apart in the 1930s and Canada in the late 1970s. North America at present is split into several countries, including the United Commonwealth of New England (where the Catherverse version of the TV show is set in), and a Confederate States in the former Southeast (the Big Bad of the Catherverse world and the greatest enemy of the UCNE's and the rest of Free North America). That - and the survival of Barry Frost, plus Jane and Maura in a marital relationship - are the main differences between this story and continuity of the real-life TV show. Otherwise, the characters are the same as canon. Any questions, message me – if I can't answer them, I'll point you in the right direction. - BD
Boston Police Department
Division One
Homicide Department
It was Monday, and Barry Frost was supposed to be working on a cold case.
To observers, it appeared he was playing with a Japanese robot action figure he bought off eBay, ignoring the open folder next to his phone. His right leg was in a cast up to his knee, and a pair of crutches laid against the side of his desk.
Frost's mind, however, was fully on a wreck he was involved in a few weeks before. One blown tire made the difference between a fractured fibula and the grave. He tried not to think about the accident too often, any more than he thought about his suspicion that it wasn't an accident.
"Agent Rizzoli?"
Frost looked up at the delivery man holding a box. "I'm Detective Frost. Agent Rizzoli isn't here yet. Something I can help you with?"
"I have a package for Agent Rizzoli," the man replied, putting the box on Rizzoli's desk, then pulling out a tablet. "Sign here."
After a phone call to Security, verifying the delivery man - and the box - had gone through the metal detectors downstairs, Frost signed for the package, sat down after the man left, and licked his lips.
He didn't have long to wait. He could hear Jane from the moment she walked off the elevator.
"Ma...no, Ma! Don't call the cops! He's not a threat...Ma, he's harmless...and dense. He's dense but harmless...Ma, no, Frankie's at a crime scene, don't call...Ma...no. Don't go, don't go please stay home and don't go...Ma…Ma…MA!"
Frost heard the dial tone from Jane's cell as she reached her desk.
"Arrrrrgggghhhh!" she grunted, tossing herself in her chair, directly across from Frost.
"Everything alright, Jane?" Frost asked.
"No," Jane said. "Ma wants Giovanni put in jail."
"Giovanni? Why?"
"All those stupid presents he's been sending me. Ma thinks it's harassment and wants him put in jail."
"Really."
"Yeah. Last week it was the Alex Ovechkin bobblehead. I like the Bruins but I'm not that into hockey. Then he sent me an Englebert Humperdinck CD. He thinks I like Englebert Humperdinck."
"Who doesn't?" Frost quipped.
"Me," Jane said with a bit of aggravation. "Ma thinks the guy's some sort of stalker—"
"Isn't he, Jane?"
"Excuse me?"
"I'm saying, maybe she has a point."
"'She has a point'? You too, Frost? C'mon. This is Giovanni we're talking about. Not some dirtbag."
Frost pointed to the box on Jane's desk.
"What now?" Jane muttered as she saw the sticker on top. "'From: Giovan-Arrrrrggggghhhh!"
Frost leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head. "It's okay to open. Security ran it; the package wouldn't have gotten this far otherwise."
"Then we know it's not a bomb, anyway," Jane said, as she pulled an Exacto utility knife out of her desk drawer. A few moments later, she found out what was in the box:
Bacon chocolate.
She saw a note with the boxed food and opened it.
Dear Jane,
I hope you like the bacon chocolate. It's international, too. A special snack for a special girl. Giovanni.
"International?" Frost said, as Jane examined the box.
"Made in Utah," she said with a roll of her eyes. Then she noticed Frost licking his lips. "What are you doing, Frost?"
"Drooling…I overslept this morning, enough to make me cut out breakfast, just so I wouldn't run late," he replied, holding the inside of his empty coffee cup out to her. "Haven't had anything yet. So, if you have a problem with eating Giovanni's gift, I don't."
"I suppose you want me to get you a cup of coffee, too?"
"Please." He gave her his mug and nodded towards the coffee machine at the back of the room. "They got pretty good coffee, too, for a change."
"I know. It was mine," Jane said, picking up her mug off her desk.
"I know. Dr. Isles told us to tell you thanks for it," Frost said with a chuckle.
"Don't push it," Jane said, jokingly. As she walked towards the coffee maker, her thoughts went back to his accident. The official investigation by Boston P.D.'s Intelligence and Analysis department, along with her own unofficial investigation, found the two-car accident to be just that. Her gut was still suggesting that something was off about the couple in the other car, but without anything substantial to follow up on, her NEI bosses told her that she had more important things to work on.
They hadn't told her to stop worrying about her friend.
She returned with her and Frost's mugs full of Sainsbury's Rich Blend hot, black coffee. Frost was munching on a piece of bacon chocolate. "Want a bite?" he said, holding out the box towards her.
"Why not?" she said, taking a piece, and a bite. "Not bad…but you can keep the chocolate," she said. "Did I tell you what he sent to the house this morning?"
"Not a word," Frost said. "Let me guess…a giant can of chowder."
Jane chuckled. "Worse than that. A big, pink teddy bear bigger than the Green Monster."
"No way."
"Yep. They squeezed it through the door and now it's taking up half the living room. I think I need to have a talk with Giovanni and put a stop to this—"
"You should've had a talk with him already, and the more I think about it, the more I agree with your mom."
"You too, Frost? He's harmless."
"Compared to other guys, yeah. But not saying anything's kind of encouraging him, don't you think?"
"Which is why I'm going to talk to him."
"When?"
"Soon."
"Soon. Isn't that what you said when he sent the singing telegram guy here?" Frost then sang, 'Jaaaay-aaanee, I loooovvvee you. You're the one, the one for me-'" He stopped when the wadded-up post-it note hit him on the nose. "Seriously. I know your mom's probably blowing this out of proportion, but you might want to pay attention to her when she tells you to get him to back off."
"Frost. Ma goes overboard in the best of times. Around the time he first called me back? She read a story in the Dispatch. Some guy who said he was a Confederate refugee came off the Railroad, met a coed at BCU, kept sending her gifts, wouldn't take no for an answer."
"I remember that. I heard NEI-5 put him in a dark hole after the assault."
"You know I can't comment, right?" she said with a wink. "But Giovanni's not like that. He's just…"
"Stupid?"
"Dense, Frost," she said, looking over towards a pair of empty desks. "You have any idea where Korsak and Frankie are?"
"They caught a case an hour ago," Frost said. "Dead girl found near the Navy Yard."
"That must be the scene Maura went to. You itching to get back in the field, Frost?"
"Yeah," he said flatly.
His tone immediately got Jane's attention, though she chose not to follow up on it then. "You'll be out there before you know it, Frost, don't worry." She nodded towards the open folder next to his mug. "What're you working on?"
"Cold case. The one from 12 years ago with the blacksmith, that the family alleged Paddy Doyle was behind, before refusing to press charges."
"That one?"
"That one. The mother showed up at the crime scene, then clammed up when asked to testify."
Jane's Rocket smartphone began buzzing, and she answered it. This time, Frost heard only her side of the conversation.
"Hello? Ma? What? ... No, Ma! Stay away, don't you dare—Ma!"
Jane abruptly stood up, jammed her phone into her pants pocket, and hurriedly threw on her suit jacket. "Frost, I gotta go. Frankie and Korsak's case made the news and she saw it on TV. She's on her way to the crime scene to talk to Frankie. Can you text me the address!"
"North End Stadium. Where the Redcoats play."
"Oh yeah, I know where that is," she said, turning around before running out the door, leaving Frost behind. He sipped his coffee and made sure he knew where his CometPhone was, intending to text Jane if any pertinent information came into Homicide. Then, he sat back, looked at his monitor and at the cold case folder, and wondered how much longer he could do this.
