Chapter 3
Maura didn't have to go all the way upstairs to Homicide to give Jane her test results, but she often did anyway. Anyone else she would e-mail, but somehow no one seemed to question her commitment to giving Jane results in person. When she arrived this time, she found Jane, Korsak, Frost, and Frankie crowded around a screen. None of them looked happy.
"What's going on?" Maura asked.
"Another woman's gone missing," explained Frankie. "We think it's the tally marks guy again."
"She is his type," agreed Jane, motioning to the picture on the screen of a blonde woman in her mid-thirties. "This one lives alone, but her parents reported her missing. They found her keys and purse next to her car, in her building's parking garage. No witnesses."
"We could really use the DNA results," said Korsak.
"Well, I have them, but it isn't going to help much," said Maura. "There was no match in CODIS. Whoever he is, he's not in the system yet."
"Shit," mumbled Korsak. "Did you get the tox screen too?"
"Yes. He was injecting her with ketamine, in doses high enough to potentially put her in a catatonic state."
"Well, that explains why she didn't fight much," said Jane.
"Exactly," agreed Maura. "She may not have even known where she was while under the effects of the ketamine. On high enough doses, people have been known to enter a hallucinatory state where they lose all sense of time and even self. The only good news is that she may have had no concept of how long she'd been there, and she likely had little memory of the things he did to her."
"Great," said Jane. "At least our new vic can look forward to seeing rainbows and unicorns while she's actually being raped and carved up."
Maura smiled grimly. "I wish I could have been of more help."
"It's not your fault the killer's DNA isn't in CODIS," said Jane. "Listen, we gotta go interview this new lady's family, but when I get back, I was thinking maybe we could grab some Chinese food and go back to my place?"
Maura smiled again, for real this time. "I would like that. Let me know when you're back."
Before she got on the elevator, Maura looked back and watched for a minute as Jane discussed the case with the other cops. She knew they didn't have much to go on yet, but she had complete faith in Jane. Jane would not rest until they got to the bottom of this. She's never been with anyone who appreciates her as much as I do, Maura thought impulsively. She deserves to be appreciated. I could give her that.
Instead of going straight back to the morgue, she stopped at the Division One Café to buy a snack from Angela. Tommy was there eating a sandwich, so Maura sat down with him to work on her muffin.
"Have you ever wondered if Jane has any secret lesbian tendencies?" she blurted out after exchanging pleasantries.
"Well, yeah," said Tommy. "She's kind of butch."
Maura frowned. "I wouldn't really call her butch."
"You didn't grow up with her."
"Has she ever actually shown an interest in another woman?"
"What, you mean other than you?"
Maura's pulse quickened. "She's interested in me?"
"I'm not saying she is; I'm just saying it wouldn't surprise me. I mean, if she was going to go after a woman, it would have to be you. You're the one she spends all her free time with, and she never wants me to touch you. Have you ever noticed that?"
"Well, she doesn't want anything going on between her best friend and a family member because it could get awkward."
"Maybe, but if she wanted to date one of my friends, I wouldn't care. She doesn't even like it if I hug you."
"Interesting." Maura turned his words over in her mind.
"Why are you asking, anyway? Did she make some kind of pass at you?"
Maura giggled. "No, not at all. I'm just…curious, is all. Don't tell her I asked though. You know how she gets."
"Yeah, I know."
Maura wrapped up the remainder of her muffin and headed back downstairs. She wanted to see if she'd gotten an e-mail back from her mother, whom she'd been trying to get to visit, and she needed a moment to contemplate what Tommy had said.