A/N This chapter is a little light on the Rizziles fluff and heavy on plot. But hang in there the next chapter will be the opposite. ;)

Jane, Frost and Korsak had been on the road for about 30 min. they were almost to Rockport. Jane had spend most of the ride thinking about Maura, something she had found herself doing a lot lately. Boston homicide's Chief medical examiner was a rare breed thats for sure and Jane was completely enthralled by her. She had only recently been able to admit that to herself. But it was a true and there was no point in denying it. Jane had surrendered to the fact that she had feelings for her best friend.

Jane's thoughts were interrupted by Frost who had been the designated navigator. "This is the exit coming up in a half mile."

They arrived to Halibut Point State Park and followed the signs to visitor parking. They all took a second to stretch out as they got out of the car.

"So where do we start?" Frost asked.

Korsak pointed to the left "Sign says visitors center this way. Bet there's somebody there we could talk to."

The three detectives started down a pathway covered with wood chips. The ground felt spongy under their feet. It had lightly rained that morning causing the wood chips to swell a bit and put a spring in every step. The pathway was lined with trees and the air was damp making them feel like they were truly in the jungle. After about 150 yards the trees opened up to reveal a tall but skinny building about 5 stories high. Beyond the building approximately 100 yards in each direction lay the coast line. Enormous Granite rocks lined the water.

It put a smile on Jane's face to see the very giant rocks, that along with Maura's giant brain, had lead them here. It was a beautiful view and even on a cloudy day Jane found this place to be enchanting. There was a sign by the door that read Visitors Center. All three detectives walked through the door. It was small inside only about a 30 ft square room. Immediately to their left was a reception window. The window was open and behind the half wall sat a sweet looking woman who must have been about 70. Jane noticed her name tag read Nancy. Nancy greeted her three visitors with a warm welcome.

"How are you folks doing this beautiful day?"

Jane had taken a liking to Nancy already she was very sweet and reminded Jane of her own grandmother.

"We're hangin in there Nancy, and how are you doing?"

"Oh I'm doin fine. Is this your first time visiting Halibut Point?"

"Yes, I believe this is the first time that any of us have been here." Jane replied with a smile.

"Well feel free to have a look around. We've got some brochures. Oh, and I can put on a short video for you that tells about the history of the old rock quarry that used to be here up to 1929." Nancy exclaimed excitedly.

Jane got the feeling not many people actually came into the visitors center and Nancy seemed happy to have some company.

"Thank you we appreciate the offer Nancy. But actually we are here from the Boston Police Department. We were hoping we could ask you a few questions if thats alright with you?"

"Oh dear has something happened?"

"Every thing's fine we are just here following up a lead." Jane exclaimed in a comforting voice. "By the way my name is Detective Rizzoli, and these are my partners Detective Frost and Detective Korsak."

Korsak gave a polite nod and Frost chimed in. "It's nice to meet you Nancy."

Not wasting any time Jane jumped right in with the questions. "Have you noticed any unusual activity here at Halibut in the last few days? Any unusual people coming or going."

Nancy thought for a moment before answering "I don't really think so, things have been pretty normal I'd say. People come and go throughout the day mostly tourists or families on a day out from the city. Seems like the only locals who ever come out here are the people in the painting classes."

"Painting classes?" Korsak repeated.

"Oh yes. Carol teaches a painting class in town. She always brings them out here on Thursdays to paint the landscape. It's a beautiful..."

Nancy stopped mid sentence they could tell by the look on her face that something had just dawned on her.

Nancy spoke up again. "Thomas, my grounds keeper, he hasn't shown up for work since Wednesday night. I didn't think anything of it until now. He only works part time and he had the day off on thursday and Saturday. When he hadn't shown up on Friday I just assumed he had been sick."

"Is this about Thomas? Has something happened to Thomas?"

Everyone was quiet for a moment. Jane, Frost and Korsak all had a feeling they were about to break some really bad news to Nancy.

Jane pulled a photograph from her pocket as she looked at the photo her expression turned to sadness. "Nancy I'm afraid we are here because over the weekend a body was found floating in the harbor. We estimate the body entered the water near here sometime between 9:00pm Wednesday night and 5:00am thursday morning. We haven't been able to identify him yet."

"I have a picture of him."

Jane hesitated and said "I apologize Nancy, this is a disturbing image, but it is very important that we identify this man."

Nancy's face went pale knowing what she needed to do. She hesitantly nodded her head in response. It was her way of giving Jane permission to show her the photo. Jane flipped the picture around pointing it towards Nancy. Nancy adjusted her glasses and leaned in to get a close look.

She squinted her eyes and whispered to herself. "Oh dear Lord. Thomas. Oh no, no, poor Thomas."

Nancy got very emotional and with watery eyes she explained. "He is hardly recognizable. But thats definitely him. You see that emblem on his Jacket? MDHA? That stands for Massachusetts Duck Hunters Association. He was a member. He wore that Jacket just about every day."

Jane placed a comforting hand over Nancy's. " Nancy we're so sorry to have brought you this news. We promise we are doing everything we can to figure out how this happened to Thomas. What was his last name?"

"Richards. His name was Thomas Richards."

Korsak gently asked another question. "We noticed Thomas was waring a wedding ring. Does his wife live near by?"

"Oh dear I'm afraid not. Pour Sarah passed away in a car accident two years ago. Thomas didn't really have any family other then her. He has been a pretty lonely man ever since loosing Sarah. He worked part time here and spent just about all of his free time out hunting or fishing."

Nancy had a glazed over look in her eyes she was obviously very socked by this news.

"Do you think he fell of his fishing boat or something?"

"We can't be sure of anything at this point. Do you mind if we have a look around for a minute?" Frost asked.

"Of course." Nancy said.

Frost, Korsak and Jane perused the visitors center. It turns out this building had been used as a watch tower during world war two. There were military uniforms and other artifacts on display accompanied by a plaque telling the history of each piece. At the back of the building there was a tiny nearly vertical stair case. At the top was a narrow trapdoor like opening that lead into the next level. They climbed up all five stories. With Korsak grumbling the entire way. "I'm too old for this shit." He exclamed.

Each level was smaller then the previous and by the time they reached the top level it was a tiny room. No bigger then 10ft by 10ft. It was an empty room with solid concrete walls except for thin horizontal windows at eye level lined each wall.

"They must have used this tower for snipers during the war." Claimed Korsak.

They could see out across all of Halibut Point. It was the perfect birds nest view of everything that was going on around the Park.

"Jane look at this" said Frost.

Jane looked down to where Frost had been pointing and saw what Maura would describe as a redish brown stain. Jane however didn't need any lab tests or proof to know that it was blood.

"Frost our cause of death was brain hemorrhage as the result of a sharp object, presumably a screwdriver, stabbed through the eye. Do you think this could have been the original place of death?"

"It's certainly possible Jane. Thats about the right amount of blood splater for that type of injury." Answered Frost.

"Kosak bent down and pulled out a pocket knife. He scraped at the stain and put the blood covered dust into a plastic bag. "We'll take this to Dr. Isles. See if she can pull some DNA and match it to Thomas Richards."

They climbed back down the five flights of stairs. Jane made sure to thank Nancy for her help.

"Nancy Thank you for everything. Your information has been extremely helpful. Will you please give us a call if you think of anything you think might be useful? I mean anything at all you just call this number." Jane stated as she handed over her business card.

They had finally caught a break. They now had some cold hard facts. They had a name for their victim, and a very likely place of still didn't have a suspect or motive. But they were however hopeful and pleased at their findings as they headed back to the station finally landing a small victory in the case.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

True to her word Jane called Maura on her way back to the station.

"Hey Maur, its me. We're on our way back now."

"Oh good. Did you find anything?"

"We got a name believe it or not. Turns out he was a part time grounds keeper at the Halibut Point visitors center. His name was Thomas Richards."

"Well that is wonderful progress. Good work Jane."

"Yeah I got a feeling we are going to start making some headway now."

Suddenly Maura heard rustling on the other end of the phone fallowed by Jane's frustrated voice. "Korsak slow down you're going to miss the turn."

"Sorry Maur I gotta go Korsak is going to get us lost. We'll talk when I get back."

When they arrived back at the station Jane headed down to deliver the blood sample to Maura.

"Hey Maura I'm back in one piece." Said Jane as she entered Maura's office.

"And I am relieved, if not happy to see you Jane." Maura smiled.

"Well I'm happy to see you to Maura. Cause I've got some evidence I need you to run some test on."

"Oh, and is that all I am to you Jane, just some lab geek to run all of your tests for you?" Maura teased.

"Yeah you're a lab geek, but you're my favorite lab geek." Jane countered.

"I better be your favorite." Maura's playful tone gave Jane butterflies in her stomach.

"So what's the evidence you brought me?"

"At the risk of you getting mad at me for guessing... I think its blood. I'm hoping you can extract DNA and see if it's a match to Thomas."

"Alright hand it over. Lets find out if science agrees with your gut."

Maura was able to quickly confirm it was indeed blood. The DNA extraction however would take much longer.

Maura submitted the sample to the lab and explained to Jane they had several hours to kill while they waited for the results.

Jane saw this as an opportunity to get out of the office for a while.

"While we wait, why don't we head over to the Robber and you can let me buy you dinner."

"Okay I would love to. Let me grab my jacket." Maura turned to gather her things then whipped back around and walked back towards Jane. Upon reaching Jane's side she looped her arm through Jane's and with adorable smiles on both girls faces they walked out arm in arm.