CHAPTER FOUR

Korsak is busy watching the television mounted on the wall behind the bar as Jane works on the old pipes of the Filthy Skipper.

Occasional bangs and squeaks and the firing up of a welding torch can be heard over the sounds from the television and each time she grunts in exasperation he puts down his bag of peanuts, pushes up from his stool, and peers over the bar to check her progress.

For the most part he leaves her to it - he knows she'll ask for help if she really needs it - but one particularly strenuous groan grabs his attention. "Having any trouble there, Jane?"

"You could say that," she replies, her voice muffled by the sinks and beer pumps that separate them. "These pipes are shot. Gotta replace 'em rather than patch 'em. It's no wonder they were leaking."

"Do whatever you need to," he says easily, his eyes back on the screen. "Just make sure you bill me for everything, okay?"

She doesn't reply, just keeps tinkering below, but he hears a big sigh that indicates he might have trouble getting her to take his money. Sure, Angela might give her grief for not giving him the usual friends and family discount, but he knows he can take care of it, and that Jane needs the money more than she needs to be giving away free materials and labor.

A commercial break gives way to an unscheduled news report as Korsak returns to chewing his salty bar snacks.

"Another bright good morning to you! This is Wilbur Budd here at WCVB. We interrupt your movie for some excitement in Mattapan. It seems a mystery woman was picked up by the Hingham Bay garbage scow shortly after midnight. They fished her out of the water and transferred her to Carney Hospital. She's apparently conscious but seems to be suffering from amnesia. She has absolutely no recollection of who she is. Our correspondent, Kitty, is with the captain of the garbage scow that picked up the mystery lady. Kitty?"

The standard studio shot of a suited man behind a desk switches to that of a beautiful blonde on location. She is very well dressed and looks decidedly out of place surrounded by dirty seamen.

"Mr. Tunatti. Can you tell us what the woman was like when you brought her aboard?"

With the woman's oversized microphone shoved in his face he does a double take at the camera before starting to speak. "Yes. We saw something float in water like this." He lifts his arms up by his ears and drops his head back, mouth open and eyes rolling dramatically, making the most of his five seconds of fame. "Just like that. We didn't know it... We bring... on board. No clothes," he gasps, eyes wide before a scandalous chuckle and a huge smile fill the screen. "Just a little thing," he adds, forming an hourglass shaped body with his hands and slipping the reporter a salacious wink. "Mulher bonita!"

The blonde swallows hard, clearly uncomfortable, before looking back into camera. "There you have it. Thank you, Mr. Tunatti."

He leans across her, his mouth chasing the microphone even though she's clearly intended for that to be the end of his contribution to this news piece. "Thank you. Garbage I do for money. For love, I sing." He wails down her ear and she visibly winces before catching herself and forcing a smile to camera. "E-eee O-oooooh amor..."

She takes a step to the side, moving away from the singing sailor as the camera zooms in, cutting him and his colleagues out of the frame. "Isn't that interesting?" she says unconvincingly as she presses a finger to her earpiece to block out the din. "We have a Renaissance garbageman. Back to you, Wilbur."

The screen is filled by the man in the studio once more. "Thank you, Kitty. Now, folks, here's an interview that was taped earlier at the hospital. We hope by broadcasting it we might help in identifying the woman."

A caption at the bottom of the screen pops up as they show a man in a white medical coat. It reads 'Dr. Pike M.D.' and the man is addressing a small blonde woman who is resting in a hospital bed. "Miss, miss ... do you know your name?"

She seems harassed, as if they've gone over this routine many times before. "Of course I know my name! It's..." She shakes her head, as if trying to dislodge a memory and then throws up her hands." Oh! This is absurd! I know it! It's..." Frustration quickly turns to anger and her eyes lock onto the cameraman. "You wanna end up in a body bag?!" she cries.

The final shot is of a palm covering the camera lens. "Get that thing out of my face!"

oOo

She's aghast. Nothing they say makes any sense to her. How is this possible? She sits bolt upright in the bed, rigid and fuming. "You mean to tell me that I have no medical recourse?"

The white-coated doctor is flanked by two male nurses in blue scrubs. He looks around at each of them, which she finds preposterous because surely he would know more than they do about... well, everything. He says nothing but shakes his head, no.

"Well, what do you know?" she drawls. Clearly even the doctor is an idiot. "Extend your brain a teensy little bit, if possible!"

Dr. Pike takes a deep breath, fortifying himself. "You seem to be suffering from a temporary amnesia, either from the bump to your head or the shock of the cold water."

The prickly patient closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose. "How temporary?"

Too intimidated to look her in the eye, he scratches an index finger at his temple while his gaze searches the floor. "Well, we can't be sure." There's barely a pause before he claps and moves on, "Otherwise, you seem to be in excellent physical shape."

A male nurse blatantly ogles her, despite the oversized and unflattering hospital gown she wears and the birds nest hair on her head, as he echoes, "Mm, excellent."

Past her absolute limit, she violently thumps her fists into the mattress. "Listen to me, medical people. As of now, I have a life history of a dirty garbage scow and a breakfast of extremely runny eggs over easy! Now I refuse... refuse... to be incarcerated in this semi-private room!" The look she throws at the old woman across the way would incinerate most people but her fellow patient is too busy picking her nose and breaking wind to notice. The blonde wishes she hadn't looked, "Ugh."

Throwing a nod at one of the nurses, instructing without saying a word, the doctor tries to placate the feisty woman. "Now, Miss, uh... Doe, we have a comfortable private room for you where you'll be safer, we'll all be safer, and you'll be a lot more comfortable."

"Well," she huffs. "I'm glad you've finally come to your senses! I was seriously considering litigation." She lifts an index finger into the air, "I don't know who I am, but I'm sure I have a lawyer."

"Efforts are underway to locate anyone who might know..."

Unable to suffer these incompetent fools much longer she growls, her entire body popping and jumping, threatening to bounce right off the bed. "I demand you try harder! Do you hear me?!"

oOo

Behind the window of the nurse's office, hidden by the darkness of the room and the harshness of the tiny ward's fluorescent lights outside, Garrett Fairfield stands watch.

A mountainous man in all black peers over his shoulder and whispers, "Can she see us?"

He's suffered through enough episodes of his wife's favorite show to know how this works; they can see out but she can't see in, like they're observing a suspect undergoing interrogation. "Not unless she's Superwoman," he replies.

A nurse enters the room and they turn to face him. He smiles hopefully. "Is that her?"

With a quick look back towards the blonde, Garrett shakes his head emphatically, forcing the sly grin from his lips. When he looks back it is with a straight face. "No. I never saw her before in my life."

oOo

When Jane rises from behind the bar, wiping her dirty hands on a rag, Korsak is nowhere to be found but Angela enters from the kitchen and throws her a bright smile.

"Hey, you about done?"

"Yeah," she breathes with a sigh, relief painting her face. "I think I got it fixed."

"Your lunch is on the counter," Angela says, pointing at the plate of sandwiches that sits at the end of the bar.

"Thanks, Ma."

Jane grabs her handful of old tools - scavenged from underneath the back seat of her truck and any place else she could find them - and vacates to where the customers usually sit, dragging her plate with her and taking up a stool.

The television is still on, has been all day, playing reruns of classic eighties movies that never get old. Jane lifts her eyes to the screen when the voice of the newscaster interrupts scheduled viewing again.

"This is Wilbur Budd for WCVB. We got some more on that amnesia lady story down there in Mattapan."

Without looking away, she shouts, "Hey, Ma! Can I take some potato chips, too?"

"One bag!" Angela yells from where she's disappeared out back.

Jane does a tiny fist pump before using her long legs to lift her torso onto the bar. She reaches an arm under, searching for the little bags. Finding one she snatches it up, sits back down and tucks into her sandwich.

When the brunette next looks up, the screen is split in two, the newscaster on the left, 'Dr. Pike. M.D.' on the right. "The mystery woman is still suffering from complete amnesia," the doctor notes. He does sound comically desperate. "If you know her identity, please contact Carney Hospital. I'll put up the reward myself. She's drivin' us crazy."

"Thank you, Dr Pike..."

They switch to showing a badly taken photograph of the blonde in her hospital gown next to a silent video clip. The woman is going berserk and is being circled by two wary nurses, their defensive stance not unlike that of lion tamers.

"Yo, Jane!" Korsak calls her name, not for the first time, but she doesn't respond.

She's fixated on the screen as the newscaster laughs, "She certainly seems like a strong character..."

Korsak comes to stand by her side as she points, "Look at this!"

"In any event, there she is and this is what she looks like."

Mouth agape and arm still raised, she shrieks, "That's her!"

"Who?"

"The bitch!"

"Earlier today, one man arrived on the scene to make an identification,but..."

An almighty gasp is the best she can do given what she's seeing. Garrett Fairfield and his lackey are leaving the hospital. He's wearing dark sunglasses and keeps trying to cover the news camera with his outstretched hand, as if that makes him unidentifiable. "I can't believe it. Her husband's skippin' out on her."

Korsak laughs. The scene makes more sense now that he has been clued in. "Course he is! It's his shot at freedom." He claps Jane on the arm before making his way around the back of the bar. "You could go see if you can get your money back."

"Nah, it's pointless," she mumbles, forcing the words out through a bite of her sandwich. She chews quickly and swallows, lest her mother catch her speaking with her mouth full. "If they can't ID her it means she washed up without her purse..." No cash or credit cards, she thinks, but doesn't say it, just waves her hand in a circular motion, trying to connect the dots for him via vague sign language.

"Ah." Korsak nods slowly, following easily without further explanation. "I guess she wouldn't remember who you were anyway."

"No. She..." Dark eyebrows rise as she contemplates an outrageous idea. It couldn't work, could it?

"What?" Vince frowns, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

The instant she decides it has potential she stands and slaps her palms on the bar top. "Oh, there is a God and he loves me."

Korsak's eyebrows meet in the middle as his frown deepens, watching her mind work, seeing the spark form and grow, "Jane? No."

What does she have to lose? "I gotta go talk to my kids. Then I gotta get Barry to take 'em shopping at the Salvation Army."

He is quick to jump in, pointing a finger first at her and then shucking a thumb over his shoulder at the screen. "What you're thinking of doing is illegal! You're crazy! She's bad news."

Jane is already almost to the door.

"Think about it," he pleads. Angela will skin him alive for allowing her eldest child to do something stupid. "Even her husband doesn't want her."

Jane grins, unable to stand still with excitement. She's made up her mind. "No, I know... But her wife does!"

oOo

The doctor leads Jane into the nurse's office just off the hospital ward. "We were starting to wonder if a woman like that even had a partner," he snarks.

"Oh yeah, she does," Jane chuckles.

"There's not much in the way of personal effects." The doctor hands Jane a ridiculously large, ridiculously empty plastic box.

"Oh." Jane drops the box onto the nearest clear surface. Given what she has planned, she's not totally sure if a lack of personal effects is a help or a hindrance.

The doctor reaches in, retrieving the only item contained inside. "Panties."

"Nice!" The male nurse that hovers, buzzing around them, is far too cheerful for Jane's liking and she throws him a frown to say so.

"Some initials here, MF, she didn't know what they meant." Dr. Pike hands the purple thong to Jane.

Smoothing out the fabric to locate the embroidered monogram, she passes the pads of her fingers reverently over the letters. She's gotta keep up the act and make it good right from the beginning. This'll be a twenty-four seven, Oscar-worthy performance. Dreamily, she sighs, as if remembering the day with fondness, "She wouldn't because I bought these for her at a garage sale."

"I bought my wife a garter at a yard sale once," says the hovering nurse.

Deciding she needs every member of staff here on side in order to get what she wants, Jane doesn't sneer at him like she wants to, but cocks an amused eyebrow and flashes a sultry smile instead. "I bet you did, Romeo."

The doctor motions to the office window, the suggestion forcing Jane to turn around as the nurse slips out into the ward. With the flick of a light switch and a swish of a bedside privacy curtain, Jane lays eyes on her target. "Yeah!" she cheers, "That's her. Oh, yeah. That's my little cookie-cutter."

"Quite a beauty!" says Dr. Pike. It's not as convincing as if the horny little nurse had said it, but he's not wrong. He just sounds a little... weary. As if he knows, like Jane knows only too well, that the pretty on the outside doesn't count if the inside is ugly.

Jane has to remind herself to smile. She's supposed to love this woman and be happy about it. "She's somethin', isn't she?"

The nurse renters the office and Dr. Pike grins like his lottery numbers just came up, "We have a winner!"

It's not a total surprise when the two men high five each other.

oOo

Jane tries to sound as affectionate as possible while still controlling the situation, "Honey! Stop!"

The blonde paces the floor beside her hospital bed before addressing the doctor, "I do not recognize this woman."

He leans into Jane a little more, brushing shoulders, keeping his voice low, "Your wife's had an almost total loss of memory."

"I-I can't believe she doesn't know me!" She says it softly, sadly, as if it's just between them, but it's not quiet enough for the blonde not to hear.

With the slap of a bare foot on linoleum, the woman growls, "This person is not my wife!"

Shoving her hands into her pockets, Jane's body language suggests utter disappointment, "Oh, sweetie, please!"

"What's my name?" the blonde demands, her face like thunder.

Jane isn't prepared for such a direct question and has to mentally kick herself for blurting, "Maura."

"Well, alright then," exclaims Dr. Pike, elated.

"That's not right," the blonde points, her eyebrows drawn, eyes tight with suspicion and accusation. "That's not my name! This is completely crazy!"

Jane finally approaches the woman and gently takes her by the shoulders. "Honey, sit down. Everything's gonna be okay. Now... I am your wife. My name is Jane Rizzoli. We've been married for years."

The woman doesn't want to sit, or lie down again for that matter, and she twists out of Jane's grasp. "Wait! I admit I have forgotten numerous things. But I truly, from the depths of my soul, do not remember you!" She turns to address the doctor, begging him to understand. "Don't you think there'd be some spark of recognition?"

There's a simultaneous shrug as his eyes meet those of the male nurse again. "We don't know."

Convincing Mrs. Fairfield is going to be nigh impossible, Jane realizes, and so she changes tactics and tries to convince the doctor who is responsible for her discharge. "Maybe you'll spark to this!" Grabbing the woman by the face, a palm on each cheek, she plants a firm kiss on her mouth.

"Ugh!" the woman groans, wiping the length of her forearm across her lips. "I don't believe this! She could be some stranger off the street!"

Dr. Pike shrugs again, "Well, she seems to like you and she's a nice lady."

"She's very good-lookin'," adds the male nurse.

Jane feels like she's getting nowhere as the blonde questions her again. "What's my full name?"

She throws her hands up. "Oh, come on!"

"What is it?"

The plumber is her usual sarcastic self as she proudly declares, "Mrs. Maura Rizzoli!"

"What's my maiden name?" The woman's arms are folded in challenge. She's smug, like she knows for sure the brunette was just checkmated.

Using the blonde's real first name is risky enough, she can't possibly use her real surname too. In her pocket, fingers had played with a piece of tattered, screwed up paper and she retrieves it for something to do. "Maura..." Think, idiot, think. Her eyes drop to what she'd assumed was trash but what turns out to be treasure. Auras Smile. "...Isles."

"Maura Isles?" the woman scoffs. "Where in God's name did I grow up?"

"Over in Belchertown," Jane replies. She's never been there but it's far enough away and yet still in Massachusetts to be believable. "But it's a nuclear waste dump now..."

The woman visibly crumbles, slumping backward against the side of the bed. "Where did I meet you?"

Sitting down on the bed, Jane rubs a hand up and down the blonde's thigh. "Hank's Donut World in Boston. You hung out there every night when you were in the Navy! You remember..."

Blonde eyebrows completely disappear under messy bangs and her voice jumps up in pitch, "I was in the armed forces?"

Jane nods, smiling sweetly, "I've still got your postcards from Okinawa..."

Putting a hand on Jane's forearm, Maura checks, "Wait... the Navy?!"

"Oh, come on, honey! You gotta know that! You were in the Navy!"

Maura shakes herself again, wild hair falling around her face, "No, I don't know! I don't know any of this and I don't know you!" Her head whips around to the doctor and nurse, "I need some proof!"

Dr. Pike takes a step towards the bed, "Look, if it were up to us, we'd be glad to give her to you, but she's right. I'm gonna need some verification."

Standing, Jane closes the distance between herself and the doctor. Her voice is low and she peeks back at the blonde over her shoulder, "Oh, listen... I understand. Well... I know she might not like me sharing this with you, but... she does have a small strawberry-shaped birthmark, uh..." She twists around and sticks out her ass, showing the location by pointing a finger at her butt. "It's kinda high up on her... left cheek and it's very unique."

The blonde swishes the privacy curtain closed suddenly, clearly wanting to check for herself. Only ten seconds later the curtain slowly slides open again. With disappointment and resignation painted across her face, she hides her head in her hands as Jane's face lights up in a massive grin.

Her arms are open wide. "Come to Mama!"