Authors Note: So a lot of people seemed upset with Chapter 1 xD. I would be too. Jane really doesn't seem like the type to commit suicide, does she? Thus, read on...

The only person I could trust now was Barry Frost. He, too, wasn't allowed to work this case because of his close relationship with Jane. He was with me when Korsak confirmed the bloody boat, and he was with me when I got a phone call saying they had searched all night, and had not found Jane's body. I found his presence dependable in this apocalyptic situation, and I felt languid enough to invite him to Jane's. Since I found what I believed was evidence of a life continued, I couldn't exhale what I considered foolish thoughts from my head, and wanted to at least discuss them with another person before I banished them.

"Barry," I sat with him in my dining room, both of us sipping warm cups of tea. I had never called him by his first name, and before tonight, I was never alone with him. Then again, this was a night of many firsts for me. "This may sound like I'm crazy. Like I'm in denial. But I just don't get it. I don't see Jane... killing herself."

Frost looked at me with those amber eyes and I immediately relaxed. I could tell from his regio facialis that he agreed with me, and had been waiting to release a similar statement to anyone willing to listen. He, too, had been plagued by the venom of doubt. "I can't see it either. She never quit anything. I don't see a reason for her to kill herself. I hate to say it, though, but that is her handwriting. We even analyzed it in the lab, it's hers. It's her blood, too. There's even a receipt on her dresser for razors. Only razors."

"I know," I admitted, looking to the chamomile and squeezing my eyes shut. "I never knew how to be a proper friend. I just thought Jane knew that. I love her, but I never said it. I know she said it wasn't a factor in her suicide, but... I feel responsible."

"Maura," Barry shook his head, leaning in toward me with a determination I had never seen in him. "You're Jane's best friend. Come on, you two are the perfect social misfits. You don't have to use words to let her know you care. I can see it from my desk, everyday. Believe me, it was a distraction. You two are the worst flirts." he grinned. His use of the present tense had not gone unnoticed.

I wondered if it would be a waste of my breath to deny ever having romantic feelings toward Jane. When I saw Frost smiling at me, I knew it was. I suppose my desire is not as invisible as I hoped it would be. Then, if Frost could see it, why couldn't Jane? I sighed, but it was hard not to smile when Frost was looking so eagerly at me.

"I'm not good at flirting. In any case... do you think it's at all possible that this... isn't a suicide?" I was afraid to hear my voice say it. I thought it sounded ridiculous, and as a doctor, I should know better. Facts were facts, and handwriting and blood were reliable.

Yet, they could also be manipulated.

My instincts sensed a lack of Jane, and were beginning to kick in.

"Very possible," Frost admitted.

I removed the copied letter from my breast, placing it between us. We both stared it at the crumpled looseleaf with a loss of words before Frost's hand grabbed my wrist with reflexes like a spider.

"Hi, Everybody, Love, Please, My, Eventually."

I stared at Frost as if he were speaking one of the few foreign languages I do not understand. "Swahili?" I propose.

Frost near smiles, shaking his head. "Dr. Isles, look at the letter. Look at only the first letter of every sentence. H-E-L-P-M-E. Help me."

I gasped and our eyes met. I felt his fingers on my wrist, electricity burning through his cells. This was it. This was my proof. I knew something was wrong with the letter. Although it was in Jane's near unreadable handwriting, the sentence structure did not appear to be concise with other things Jane had written. That's why I couldn't hear her voice flowing through it. That's why when I read it, I only heard my chocked sobs. I now saw that it was because she was trying to send me a secret message.

"Just because the blood is type O, doesn't mean it's Jane's." It was a thought lingering through my head as soon as Frost said it. It was only now that I felt brave enough to conquer my fear of the uncertain, of the big "what if". What if the blood wasn't Jane's? Very well, it could have been hers, but that didn't mean she was dead.

Yet...

I tried to fight the thought as Frost made another point. "Unless you can tell me otherwise, I don't see the connection to Jane and the Fairfield family, aside from you. Why would she take their boat? If she was going to take a boat, I feel like she'd just steal one. Aside from that... Can Jane even drive a boat to go out twenty miles? That's pretty far. We both saw her that day, when we were actually on the Fairfield boat. She was no mermaid, I'll tell ya that."

I smiled at Frost's light joke. He was right. Jane looked wobbly and shaky in the water. I saw no reason for her to want to end her life in a place where she felt no control. Jane and I had never spoke of suicide, but I was aware that she held no strong connections to the sea. "Do you think the Fairfields are behind this? Or someone trying to frame them?"

"No harm in finding out."

Authors Note: Gotcha? xD