Maura waits patiently as her espresso machine heats up the water to make her morning coffee. She's still in her purple silk pajamas and her white fuzzy slippers and has her hair thrown up in a messy ponytail. With no noise in her large home but the bubbling of the machine, her mind floated back to the dream she had last night; she and Jane had been friends. No, more than friends, they were best friends, laughing and telling each other about their lives. Jane would come down to autopsy and eat lunch, sitting on an empty table and crossing her legs Indian style in front of her, the burger sitting next to her on its wrapper. Jane was laughing about something, but Maura couldn't remember what.
Bass bumping into a table pulled her out of her thoughts and she pulled the lever on the chrome espresso machine allowing the hot liquid to flow into her cup. She picked up the insulated cup and snapped the lid on as she walked towards her bedroom to get dressed. Placing the cup carefully on a coaster that sat on her vanity she walked over to her closet and opened the French style doors. After scanning the row of clothing she pulled out a red satin long sleeved top and a tan skirt, pairing it with a nude heal she carefully got dressed. After putting on a small amount of makeup she grabbed her coffee and headed towards the door when she heard her cell phone ringing from her purse. She pulled it out of her purse and answered it.
"Dr. Isles."
"Hey Maura, it's Jane. We've got another body so it looks like you'll have to postpone the autopsy of the other vic. I'll text you the address and meet you there."
Jane hung up before she could get a word in. She shook her head and walked out the door as her screen lit up with the address. Programming it into her GPS she started her car and backed out of her garage and turned south on her street.
Pulling up to the crime scene she saw Jane striding towards her in a grey pantsuit that hung loose on her skinny frame. She put the car in park and stepped out, dropping her keys in the medical examiner's bag she always carried.
"Good morning Detective. How are you today?" Jane lifted the sunglasses from her eyes and rested them at the top of her head.
"I'm fine I guess. Thank you Doctor. I came out here to warn you. There's an awful lot of blood in there. Like, more than the usual. I just didn't want you to freak out when you sa-"
"Jane, I'm the Queen of the Dead remember?" she smiled at the detective and followed as Jane rolled her eyes and walked toward the house.
When they entered the house Jane turned down a blood streaked hallway that had crime scene techs working all over, forcing her and Maura to weave between them. Jane stepped over a shoe and turned around to tell Maura to watch her step just as she tripped over it, falling into Jane's arms.
"I-I- I'm so sorry Jane." she turned a crimson red and smoothed out her skirt, her eyes never leaving the floor. Jane looked at her and placed a light hand on her shoulder, patting softly.
"Don't worry about it Maura. It's alright." her voice was low as she looked around to make sure no one had seen Maura's mishap and if they had her look told them not to say anything about it. Maura's blush was still deepening, but Jane's hand on her shoulder made her feel less embarrassed about it.
"O-okay." her voice was a little shaky, still a bit nervous. Jane smiled at her and turned swiftly on her heel, continuing down the hallway and in to a bright sunroom. Maura brushed her hair out of her face and walked after Jane.
The inside of the room was painted a light beige color, making the dark red blood stains that much more vibrant. It took Maura less than a minute to locate the source o the blood: a female laying on beige carpet surrounded by blood, and a man posed on the couch with his throat slit, wrists and ankles wrapped with duct tape.
"It's Hoyt." Jane's gruff voice startled the doctor and she jumped a bit.
"Who's Hoyt?" Maura was puzzled by the tone of Jane's voice.
Jane looked at Maura sharply, her dark brown eyes clouded with fear and anger. Frost entered the room and saw Jane's face and pulled the doctor out of the room. Maura shuffled behind Frost, her heels making it hard to keep up with him. He didn't let go of her forearm until they were well outside of the house.
"Frost what is wrong with you?!" Maura smoothed her shirt and rubbed her arm.
"I'm sorry Dr. Isles, but Hoyt is a touchy subject for Jane."
"But who is Hoyt?"
"Charles Hoyt. He is a serial killer who has had Jane in his crosshairs since she put him in prison 6 years ago. He had her trapped in a basement where he tortured her for hours, his coupe de grace was going to be killing her, but Korsak busted in before he could. Hoyt had her pinned to the floor with scalpels, that's where the scars on her hands came from. She says they don't hurt anymore but I still see her rubbing them when it gets cold." his voice was low, and she strained to make out the last sentence.
Her mind started to calculate all of the muscles and ligaments in the hands and wondered how long it had taken Jane to get her hands to function again. She looked over at Frost and stared into his eyes.
"Should she be alone? I mean sh-"
"She insists on being alone, but anything you can do to help would be great. If you could get her to stay at your house or something I can get a couple of uni's on it and say they're covering you. She won't let me put any on her house. Maybe tell her you need help with the case, she likes to feel useful, not like she's a burden."
"Okay, I'll try that." She turned and walked back to the house, her heels clicking on the paved walkway that led to the house.
She rejoined Jane in the sunroom and did a quick overview of the victims. After the crime scene techs were finished she looked and found Jane by the window, staring at descending sun and rubbing her scars.
"Jane, can I have a word with you?" Jane jumped at the sudden noise and turned, wiping at her eyes.
"Yeah, of course." Maura stepped up next to Jane and clasped her hands behind her back.
"I was looking through the case file on the other victim and I was having trouble putting the final ties together. Is there any way you could come over and help me?" Maura looked over at a smiling Jane.
"Did Frost put you up to this?" Maura blushed, "He does this every time a case even resembles Hoyt's MO. But yeah, I'll come over even though you probably don't need my help. See you at 8?"
Maura smiled.
"See you at 8."
