Hey, guys. So, I made some small changes in this chapter. I hope you'll still like it and if not, I can't change that. But I also wanna say a couple of things. First, thanks to all of those who like and follow this story, and who encouraged me to stay true to my story line. Thank you very much for your support. And those who doesn't like story, you don't have to read it, no one force you too. I accept all kind of criticism as long as they don't get personal. No one has to get mean. Again, you don't like my story, don't read it. It's as simple as that! And third, I told that the character Benjamin Payton will have a main roll in this story and I won't change that just because you don't like it. I also said that this story will be Rizzles eventually, and I stay true to my word.
I would like to say so much more. Anyway, again thanks to all of the supporters. I can't say thanks too many times.
So, I hope you will enjoy this chapter. Enjoy.
T73.
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Jane enters the conference room in which an older woman and an older man are sitting at the large wooden table.
Korsak is sitting across of them, waiting for the Italian.
She knows that the couple is only knowing that their missing daughter has been found. Under normal circumstances it would be clear to them that they are on the floor where the Homicide unit is settled and it would be clear to them that Jill Masterson has turned up dead. Under normal circumstances. But these two people in that room are loving parents who still have the hope to get their daughter back safe and sound.
Jane swallows hard and pushes the door to the conference room open. She smiles a little as she get greeted by two pair of hopeful eyes.
Korsak looks over the rim of his reading glasses and frowns. "Mr. and Mrs. Masterson, this is Detective Jane Rizzoli. She's leading the investigation."
Jane nods at the married couple and sits down next to Korsak. "Thank you for coming by."
Emily Masterson squeezes the hand of her husband tightly and looks long at the Italian. "We got a call that you have found our daughter Jill. Where is she? Can we see her? Is she in a hospital?"
Jane swallows hard again and licks her lips. "We actually have found your daughter, but ... I don't want you to get a false impression, Mrs. Masterson. Sergeant Korsak and I, we aren't working for the missing persons unit. We are working for Homicide and I am afraid that -"
"She's dead, isn't she?" Steve Masterson cuts her off and his wife starts sobbing. "Our Jill is dead."
Jane looks long at him and nods once with a sigh. "I'm afraid yes. I am really sorry for your loss."
Emily closes her eyes and tears are streaming down her cheeks.
"To be honest, Detective Rizzoli, we've expected an outcome like this." Steve whispers and he has tears in his eyes. "We were hoping that our daughter would come back home safe and sound, but as a parent you always know when something bad has happened to your child. But you also always still have that little bit of hope that your feeling was wrong."
Jane's eyes are soft and understanding and she nods. "I wish we would have better news for you, Mr. Masterson."
He blinks his tears back and clings to Emily's hand. "I guess we are here because you have some questions about our daughter?"
Korsak clears his throat and opens his notepad. "Yes, we have a couple of questions so we can track back the last couple of days before your daughter disappeared."
Emily blows her nose and takes a deep breath. "We'll try to help as good as we can, Sergeant."
Jane is frowning slightly. "How was the relationship between you and Jill?"
Steve is thinking for a moment and shrugs. "Sometimes we had our differences, but all in all our relationship was pretty normal."
"And when was the last time you have talked to Jill," Korsak asks and is eyeing the couple.
"The afternoon of the day when she got kidnapped," Emily answers and sniffles. "She actually wanted to visit us at the weekend and she called us to confirm that. Steve was at work at that time. We talked about what I could make for lunch at Saturday and that she'll finally introduce us to her new boyfriend."
Jane furl her eyebrows as she hears that new information. They knew that Jill had a boyfriend, but they didn't know that she had a ex-boyfriend. "New boyfriend?"
Steve nods and sips his water in front of him. "Yes, Jill and this Brian only dated for a couple of times and she was head over heels into him. We asked her a couple of times when we finally would meet Brian, but Jill always just said Soon, Daddy. At some point we both started to think that this Brian guy wouldn't exist for real."
"Did Jill often pretend to have a relationship," Jane asks and leans forward a little.
Emily's chin is trembling and she shakes her head. "No, she never did something like that. We always met Jill's boyfriends since she was in the age to date boys. I mean, I know that we probably didn't met all of her crushes, but I'm sure we met the most of them. I always explained Jill's behavior with that that Brian always refused to come with her. I don't know why, we are not that kind of parents who scared her boyfriends away, and Jill knew it. That's why I was even more ecstatic when Jill told me that Brian and she would come and visit us on that weekend. But as you know, it never happened."
Jane let all the new informations sink in and licks her lips with a slight frown. "Do you know the full name of Brian? It could help us a little."
Emily and Steve are looking at each other like their trying to figure out the full name of Brian together.
"Busken, I think." Steve says and his wife nods agreeing.
Korsak writes the name down and looks at the married couple. "What can you tell us about Jill's ex-boyfriend?"
"Todd Swardsan," Emily days and Korsak writes that name down as well. "Todd is a good man. He treated our daughter like a queen. That's why we couldn't understand why she broke up with him."
"I think it was because of this Brian person," Steve states and he looks at his wife.
Jane looks long at the older couple and her brain is working a million miles per hour. "Did Jill sounded stressed or worried the last time when you talked to her?"
Emily shakes her head again and sobs. "No, on the contrary. She sounded really happy that day. Like she was relieved that Brian finally had agreed to meet us. She told me that she would go to his birthday party later that day. I told her to be careful and not to go home alone in the case it would get late. I don't know why she hasn't listened to me. She normally was such a careful woman."
Steve takes a deep breath and looks long at the two detectives. "We ... we are wondering ... No, I am wondering if we could see ... see our daughter one last time. Unless ... unless you're telling us that it should be better not to."
Jane is knitting her eyebrows and looks at Korsak, seeing him nodding. She gets up from her chair and nods herself. "Of course. I just go and coordinate that with our Medical Examiner. Please excuse me for a minute." She hears a sob of relief that is coming from Emily's throat before she leaves the conference room. She's assuming that it's relief because the human remains of their daughter aren't disfigured. Jane takes a deep breath and gets her phone from its holder.
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Maura is sitting on a chair in front of her vanity table with mirror and put on some night moisturizer. The sobs of Emily Masterson are still echoing in her ears and Jane's painful expression is still haunting her. She could see that this case really got to her best friend already, but she hasn't got the chance to talk to Jane after Jill's parents finally saw their daughter after nine weeks. She has sent Jane a text message that she would like to have lunch with the Italian, but that never happened because two new bodies arrived at her morgue and then her husband has shown up to take her home. And somehow she's feeling bad now because she hasn't found the time to talk about the case with the Italian. Maura is flinching when she feels an hand on her shoulder and she smiles at the reflection of her husband.
Benjamin Payton is 6'5" tall, he has a olive complexion, dark brown hair cut short, and light blue eyes. All in all, Maura always describes him as handsome and as a promising young prosecutor. Jane entitled him since the first day more like pretty boy, but Maura always just laughs it off. Of course Maura isn't superficial, not only his appearance fascinated her. Also his way of thinking impressed her and his kind character when he's outside of the courthouse. Benjamin makes her laugh and gives her the feeling that she is the only woman on this planet. She still has to smile at the first time when he approached her almost shy as a school boy when he asked her out for a cup of coffee.
He squeeze Maura's shoulder and frowns a little. "Where have you gone right now, Maura," he asks with a deep voice.
Maura looks confused at his reflection. "Excuse me?"
"I was telling you about my day at the court, but you seemed to be far away," he replies and frowns worriedly. "Is everything okay? I mean, you're rubbing your hands like your freezing since five minutes."
Maura is looking down at her hands and stops rubbing them. "Yes, everything is fine. It's just ... The body of Jill Masterson turned up this morning and her parents came down to the morgue to see their daughter for one last time."
He walks over to his nightstand and frowns again. "Jill Masterson? The girl that ran away? What happened to her?"
Maura is turning on her chair and shakes her head, not caring that he pulls his tee over his head and exposes his well-toned torso. "She didn't ran away, Ben. Jane Masterson was kidnapped, held hostage and raped multiple times. And then she got strangled. She had diverse hypovitaminosis and bone fractures. I just ... I couldn't find any body fluids on her. Or any other evidence where she was held hostage."
"And Jane has no strong suspect." Ben states and smiles wryly as a smile is tugging on the corners of his wife's lips. "Of course I know that Jane is investigating the case."
She chuckles and shrugs. "Yes, she is."
He walks back to the blonde, takes her hand in his own and pulls her up to her feet. "Should I go to Homicide tomorrow and see if I can help somehow?"
Maura smiles and runs an hand over his bare chest. "I don't think that it would be such a good idea yet, honey. Jane would be mad when you'll show up without her letting you in on the case on her own. I mean, really mad."
"And we won't risk that," he hums and is lowering his head, loosing the belt of Maura's silky robe.
She's grinning and shakes her head, closing the last distance of their lips. She moans deeply as he deepens the kiss and steps closer. The kiss is slow and sweet, and yet something is feeling wrong but she's unable to pinpoint the feeling. That's why she's pushing the feeling aside and gives herself to his touches and kisses. She breaks the kiss and smiles mischievously. "Let's go to bed."
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Jane is always saying that old habits die hard and that's why she let's herself into Maura's house the next morning. She knows that she shouldn't do this anymore since the blonde started a relationship with her now husband Ben, but she can't help herself. She enters the kitchen and spots Maura sitting at the kitchen island. "Hey, Maura."
Maura turns her head and points at her coffee maker. "Good morning. Coffee is waiting for you."
Jane groans and rolls her eyes. "Thank God, I am absolutely not in the mood to stand again in a endless line for single coffee. Sorry that I couldn't make it to the Dirty Robber last night."
Maura shakes her head and closes her newspaper. "It's okay, Jane. We didn't stay that long anyway."
"I bet you didn't ," Jane grumbles under her breath as she pours herself a cup of coffee. "Ben's already at his office?" She straightens up when she's hearing footsteps coming closer and she knows it's her mother or her antagonist.
"Morning, Jane." Ben greets her and gets himself a mug.
Jane clenches her teeth and put on her best faked smile. "Morning, Ben." She looks up and is knitting her eyebrows. "Did you have another growth spurt?"
Maura rolls her eyes and kisses her husband ostentatiously in front of her best friend, she can't see the Italian gagging.
Ben smiles at Jane and sips his coffee. "Either that or you've been shrinking."
Jane laughs sarcastically. "Funny. Seriously, every time I see you, you seen to be bigger."
Maura chokes on her own coffee and he starts chuckling.
Jane blushes a little. "Taller ... I meant taller. I'm sorry, my brain isn't fully awake yet."
He's still chuckling and waves her statement off. "Don't worry, I got what you meant."
Maura smiles but scrutinizes the brunette long. "Did you get any sleep, Jane," she asks as she spots the dark circles under her friend's eyes.
Jane sips her coffee and furrow her eyebrows. "Not really. I was stewing over the -" she trails off as she looks at Ben.
He opens the glass door of the refrigerator to get the cream cheese out of it. "Just pretend that I'm not here."
Jane frowns deeply because she knows she can't do that. If she would pretend that he isn't here or that he doesn't exist at all, then she would go over to the blonde and press her lips to Maura's. And she is more than sure that Ben wouldn't approve that at all. She clears her throat and takes a deep breath. "You should inform your boss that Jill Masterson's body turned up. I think the interest of the media will be pretty high."
He's pulling the corners of his mouth downward. "The runaway?"
Maura closes her eyes and is wishing that she would be somewhere else in this moment. She really appreciates Ben's ability to feign ignorance sometimes, but not in that way, not with Jane.
Jane raises her eyebrows high and glares at the DA. "The runaw -" She lowers her brows again and growls. "Are you fucking kidding me?"
Maura is flinching and she squeezes the Italian's hand as she reach out. "Jane -"
Jane's blazing eyes are finding Maura's soft hazel ones. "Tell me that he's kidding me, Maura."
Maura is torn between Jane and her husband. She hates to be in such situations like right now, and it's not the first time that this happened. And every time that happens she handles the situation like Switzerland. Neutral. But this time it feels like Jane and Ben are expecting that she's taking one of their sides or that this is a tug-of-war right now, and she's the rope. She takes a deep breath and gets up from her chair. "I get ready for work."
Jane growls and is abandoning her coffee. "I'll wait in the car."
Maura rolls her eyes but says nothing as the Italian hurries out of the front door.
"Maura -" Ben says and his shoulders are slumping.
The ME raises an hand and climbs up the stairs. She doesn't really need to get ready for work because she is already dressed, but she needs a little break from these two squabblers. She always knew that would be some kind of competition between her husband and her best friend, but she was really hoping that they would get used to each other, instead the whole situation is just getting worse.
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Jane is focused on the road, but she's holding the steering wheel so tight that her knuckles turn white. "I really don't know what you are seeing in this lower-rung stickler for the rules."
Maura doesn't smile or chuckle, she's looking seriously out of the window. "Ben is still my husband, Jane."
Jane looks briefly at her friend. "Still? Are you planning to leave him?"
Maura is shooting her a glare. "It means that I am on his side, Jane. And I am not some kind of -" She pauses and sighs heavily. "I thought that you would like Ben."
"Since when do I like any kind of advocate," Jane asks and scoffs. She looks back at the blonde and can see Maura's serious face. "Okay, look. I know that Ben isn't a bad guy. But he isn't the brightest candle in the cake either. He has his moments, yes. But -"
"Is that what you are thinking?" Maura is spitting and the venom is dripping from her words. "That the man who I love is an idiot and that he isn't enough for me?"
"All right," the Italian replies and turns her car on the next parking lot. She kills the engine and is turning in her seat. "You really wanna hear what I am thinking?"
"Yes," Maura replies and holds the Italian's gaze.
Jane takes a deep breath and nods to herself to encourage herself. She doesn't know where she should start. She knows that she probably deal a deathblow to the friendship with Maura, but she could never refuse the truth. "All right, I think that your engagement and marriage was overhasty. I think that the one person who is meant for you is still somewhere outside in Boston, and is waiting for you, Maura. I do think that Ben only married you so he can pride himself with you as his squeeze, because you are freaking Maura Isles. You are smart, you are beautiful, and amazing and ... He's just ... handsome. And when you're honest with yourself, you know that I am right because ... Because you know better than that."
Maura is looking long at her friend and narrows her eyes. "You can't be happy for me just the tiniest bit, can you?"
Jane's hear is contacting painfully and she starts the engine of the car again. She could be happy for Maura if she would choose the right person. It doesn't mean that it has to be her at the end, but it should be someone who is making Maura really happy and who isn't adorn himself with borrowed plumes. "I would to be happy for you, Maura. When you really have chosen the right person."
Maura is huffing and shakes her head.
Jane furl her eyebrows and has to resist the urge slamming her hands against the steering e. "Hey, you wanted me to be honest."
"You could have told me that before I married him," Maura replies.
Jane realizes that she has hit a nerve. "I didn't thought that you'd see the whole thing through to the finish."
Maura wipes a single tear off of her cheek. "Ben and I dated for over a year and you didn't say a single word. And we are for so long friends. I thought I could trust you."
"You can trust me, Maura," Jane replies and turns right. "I just ... I just didn't want to sound like the jealous idiot who's disapproving everyone who hits on you."
Maura stares out of her window and swallows her sobs as the tears stream down her cheeks.
Jane is hating herself right now and wishes that she could turn back time and that she would have the courage to tell Maura who she's really feeling. She tries to squeeze Maura's hand, but the ME pulls it away.
"Don't, Jane," the blonde whispers.
Jane looks at her and frowns deeply. "Maura -"
Maura holds her hand up and shakes her head. "Don't."
Jane nods to herself and focus back on the traffic, sighing heavily.
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Jane enters the bullpen and nearly throws her jacket at her chair after she put it off.
Korsak and Frost are looking at each other and the two men know that they better not ask.
Jane swallows back her tears and wipes her nose with the back of her hand. "What do we have about Brian Busken and Todd Swarsdan?"
Frost looks long at her. "Nothing." He says and raises briefly his eyebrows. "They are both clean. Brian Busken works for an private health insurance management and Todd Swarsdan is a chef in a four-star restaurant. They are both waiting to be interviewed."
Jane nods slowly and sighs heavily. "Can the two of you take this? I haven't had ... I need to -"
"I go and interview Busken," Korsak states and gets up from his chair as he sees that Jane isn't in her best state.
Frost nods agreeing and clears his throat. "Yeah, Frankie and I can interview Swarsdan. He can use practice. You okay with that?"
Jane takes a deep breath and nods. "I'm sorry, guys, but I wouldn't be the best decision right now. I rather would risk this case."
Korsak is following the Italian to the elevators. "What happened, Jane?"
Jane pushes the button and makes sure that no one else is within earshot. "I was at Maura's this morning and Ben was there too," she whispers.
The older man looks long at her and shrugs. "So? He's living there with Maura. What's the problem? Beside your feelings for her."
The brunette sighs heavily. "These are the problem, Vince. I am barely capable of keeping my feelings for her under control. I threw up in my mouth when Ben kissed Maura in front of me. And then he said that Jill was just a runaway and then I lost it, and Ben and I postulated from Maura that she has to take a side. And when she and I were on the way to work we started to fight because she got me psyched and she told me that she'd thought that I would like Ben. So I couldn't hold my tongue anymore and I told her that I can't really stand him."
Korsak stares blankly at her and blinks a couple of times. "Seriously? You really did that? Did you at least admit your feelings for Maura?"
Jane frowns deeply and lowers her head. "She was crying, Vince. I don't think that it would be the best timing for telling her that I'm in love with her. I ... Maybe it's best that I don't tell Maura at all. I mean, she seems to be happy with this real flashy dude. Why should I ruin that? I ... I should leave the two alone and let them live their lives together."
"Benjamin Payton is just a rebound guy, Jane." Korsak states and furl his eyebrows. "Everybody in the department knows that, even your mother. Ben was just there in the right time at the right place. Would you've told Maura about your feelings, she probably wouldn't be married to him now."
Jane's frown deepens and she enters the elevator cab. She knows that her former partner most likely is right. Would she have had the guts to finally admit that she is madly in love with Maura perhaps the ME wouldn't have dated or even married Ben. Or perhaps Maura would have broke off their friendship. Anyway, everything would be better than the current situation they are in now. She is aware of the fact that she has to get it straight what she wants to say to her best friend.
