Chapter 4

The sunlight filtered through the dirty curtains and she blinked a few times. She lay on her stomach and slowly her eyes opened and she began taking in her surroundings. As soon as she moved she became aware of the heavy pounding headache and a strange taste in her mouth. Her tongue darted out and she licked her lips in an attempt to recognise the taste, her eyes widening in a mixture of shock and fear. The dizziness came unexpectedly as she attempted to sit up and she lay back down, closing her eyes for a second. When she reopened them again the first thing she saw was the torn curtains and the grease covered windows through which the sunlight fell into the room. Only then did she become aware of what she was lying on. The mattress reeked of stale urine, a scent that penetrated her nose so unexpectedly that it made her feel sick even though she had smelled far worse things in her life. She suppressed her gagging reflex and tried again to move her libs. Her muscles protested and the pain was dull but profound.

Maura carefully reached up and brushed a strand of hair out of her face. Her fingers encountered a large lump on her forehead before brushing over the cut on her cheek. She could feel the dried blood and the beginnings of a crust starting to form and she swallowed hard. The aftertaste in her mouth was strong and burnt in the back of her throat. She took a deep breath and slowly began to move her body in an upright position. Once her feet touched the floor and her hands rested securely on the mattress she let her hazel eyes wander around the room. Apart from the window and the torn curtains there was no other form of light in the room. She glanced up to the ceiling. The light fitting did not have a bulb in it and electrical wires were sticking out. The room was scarcely decorated with what seemed to have once been a two-seater couch, a hand wash basin and a broken mirror. The wallpaper was peeling away, revealing the wooden panels underneath it. The wooden floorboards had seen better days and just underneath the window one plank was missing all together. A cold draft blew into the room through the partially open window. It tickled her face and she took a deep breath; her lungs eagerly expanded as she sucked in the fresh air.

Her hands and feet were not bound and she could move freely apart from the pain she experienced. The cold draft had numbed her joints and the mattress was uncomfortable; the springs had poked in her sides. She had no idea how long she had been here. Her gaze dropped down to her watch. The glass had shattered; it had stopped working. The sound of footsteps approaching made her look up and her eyes locked on the door. She watched the doorknob turn and her chest tightened as it opened.

"You…" she breathed when he walked into the room. His face immediately flashed before her eyes, appearing behind her as she stuck the key in the lock. His hand on her shoulder… He had spoken to her, startled her. She had turned around and then… She didn't remember anything else. She sank back down and crawled backwards on to the mattress, away from him. Fear crept into her heart and then her eyes and her voice. She clutched her chest, her eyes widening when he approached. The images in her head were blurred to say the least. She could not make sense of what was what. They were too scattered. She remembered the pain. It had been sharp and intense. "What did you do to me?"

"Have a guess, Dr Isles" he challenged her with a teasing smile. There was a twinkle in his eye but even know she could see beyond his amusement and recognised the menace. "Oh I forgot, you do not like to guess…" He cocked his head as he studied her face. She was so familiar to him. He could sense her fear. It excited him. His eyes raked over her body. She looked a mess, with a bloodied smudge across her face, messy strings of hair and a large bruise on her left cheek where her face had made contact with the frame of her front door when he attacked her. His eyes lingered on the deep cut just under her eye. "What do the facts tell you, doctor?"

She frowned for a moment. She could not remember what exactly happened but she remembered the scent. The odour had been pungent and instantly triggered a reaction. She reached up and touched her lips. The aftertaste reminded her of the sweetish burning she had experienced earlier. She felt disorientated, nauseated and experienced an intense headache. Her vision was slightly blurred as she stared up at him. The answer rolled from her lips with surprising clarity. "Trichloromethane"

"Very good, Dr Isles" he smiled as he took the small bottle from his pocket and showed it to her. It was about half full and the substance inside was colourless. "Chloroform." He paused. "Only a few inhalations is enough for you to feel woozy. Your hearing will go faint and distorted before your blood pressure drops and eventually you fall unconscious. Of course I do not have to remind you that it was once a preferred method of anaesthetic, Dr Isles." He smirked.

He walked towards the bed, coming to a halt beside her. "Now…" he began and extended a hand to let a strand of hair run through his fingers. She shivered as his fingertip made contact with her cheek. "Let's make this easy, Dr Isles…." His voice dropped, turning into a raw whisper. His index finger came to a rest on her pulse and he could feel her heart beat. "I need to send a message…" His other hand dipped into his pocket. "…to Jane…"

~()~

"Jane?"

Korsak's voice roused her from her slumber and her head snapped up. She hadn't even noticed she had fallen asleep at her desk, her head resting on her arms. The muscles in her back protested as she sat up. Her dark eyes found those of her partner and immediately saw the worry reflecting in his eyes. She forced herself to smile. "Yeah, I'm awake. I'm fine, honest" She ran her fingers through her hair. "What have we got?"

"CSU ran all the fingerprints they collected at Dr Isles' house through AVIS and after eliminating you, your mother, Frankie and Tommy and Dr Isles herself they didn't find any prints that didn't belong there. They did find some smudges on the door frame but they were unable to identify any of them as useable prints. One of the CSU guys found a small piece of latex consistent with a glove at the end of the drive…"

"Great, a kidnapper with a brain cell" Jane groaned. "When did criminals start to move up in the world of forensics?"

Her eyes drifted to the window. It had dark outside. She had been here for hours. Two empty coke cans and a half eaten pizza lay abandoned on her desk. Strangely enough now that she was awake the peperoni seemed even more appealing, even if it was cold. She reached for a slice and took a large bite before looking back Korsak. Some tomato sauce dripped down her chin and she caught it before it could stain her shirt. "We have got absolutely nothing…"

"It seems that whoever took Maura knew what they were doing" Korsak said and leant against Jane's desk. "The more I think about it the less it looks like a mob hit, Jane. Mod kidnaps tend to be messy and disorganised. They leave a trail of some kind because they want to send a message. They make demands, ask for ransom or leave the body to be found within hours. Prolonged kidnapping is not their style. To not send a message is unlike any mob kidnap I have ever dealt with."

"What are you saying? That this has got nothing to do with Doyle after all?" Jane looked slightly bewildered and dropped the cold pizza slice back in the box and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. As the scars made contact with her lips she briefly flinched. It was a natural response. She suddenly could beat herself up for contacting Doyle. Ha she just made things worse? "If not Doyle then who?"

"Jane…" Korsak said and she looked up at him. When their eyes met she realised there was something he wasn't telling her. She knew that look. It was the kind of look someone gave another person just before they were about to give them bad news. She had seen that expression on Korsak's face plenty of times before.

"What?" she demanded and her eyes searched his face. She couldn't cope with the pressure any longer. "WHAT?"

"CSU found traces of blood on the doorframe. It matched Dr Isles' DNA" Korsak said and the words came out so quickly that Jane needed a few second to process them.

"What? Blood? Like…" she began and her eyes nervously flashed all directions. She did not recall seeing blood that morning when she arrived at Maura's house. All that told her was that she had not been injured severely. Her throat became dry and she shook her head. Her heart was pounding in her chest, beating so fiercely against her ribcage that she thought it was going to burst out. "Maura's hurt?"

"CSU said it was found at eye level" Korsak explained and he could see how Jane was trying to fit the pieces together. "There was no blood anywhere else so…"

"Whoever took her most likely pushed her into the doorframe" Jane said and the anger laced her words. Someone had laid their hands on Maura; they had hurt her. They had taken her away from her. She clenched her fists and bit her lip. "They overpowered her, maybe smacked her face against the door to gain control… It may have knocked her out; the phone fell from her hand…" She paused and then looked up at Korsak. "Or she threw it into the house knowing that we'd find it…"

"Go home, Jane" Korsak said softly. "You look like hell"

She eyed him up. "No you look fantastic, sergeant detective Korsak"

"I mean it Jane. Don't make me turn it into an order. Go home, try and get some sleep…"

"Maura is out there somewhere, Korsak, and you expect me to go home and sleep?"

"You were sleeping at your desk, Jane. I have never known you to sleep at your desk. I know you want to stay here and try and find Maura but the only way you will be able to do that is if your mind is fresh. Go home, have a shower, try and get some sleep…" Korsak spoke to her like a parent would speak to a child. "I promise I'll call you if we find anything?"

"What, and you're staying here?" she asked. She seemed slightly insulted over the fact Korsak had even dared suggesting she'd go home. She rolled eyes and the expression on her face reminded Korsak of a teenager who was the only one not to recieve an invite to the party of the year. "You and Frost are staying here and you expect me to crawl into my bed and just sleep?"

"Jane, this is personal for all of us but for you it is more than that" Korsak said and put his hand on her shoulder. She looked at his hand for a moment. They had been partners for years. She knew him like very little people knew him. And he knew her well enough to read through the tough mask she wore on a daily basis. Never before had she looked at him as a father figure but maybe now, with her parents' divorce, she did. And she smiled weakly. Korsak's eyes found hers. "I know how you feel about her and I know what this is doing to you"

"The next person that says I am dating Maura will end up in Maura's morgue…On her table…" Jane grunted and rubbed her eyes. She was tired. Her body ached all over and she knew her brain wasn't as sharp as it was on any other day. She knew she couldn't stay here but going home felt like abandoning Maura. She was out there somewhere. It was night time now. It had been nearly twenty four hours and nobody had even the slightest idea who took her. They couldn't even figure out what the hell happened between Maura leaving her apartment and her coming home.

"Janie?" It was Angela.

Jane's eyes widened and she stared at Korsak. "You called my mother?" she said accusingly. "I thought you said you wanted me to relax?"

"The last thing I need is for Traffic Control to pull you over for dangerous driving" Korsak answered and Jane arched an eyebrow.

"You've never got in a car with Ma have you?" she said before patting him on his arm. She stood up, stretched out with a loud moan and then watched her mother walk up to Frost, clearly looking for information on Maura. She picked up her jacket, swung it over her arm and walked up to Angela before being stopped in her tracks by an unknown uniformed officer who walked into the department carrying a small, manila envelope. He looked around, eyeing up the people standing in the homicide department. Jane had a vague recollection of having seen him around.

"Detective Rizzoli?" he asked and Jane spun around when she heard her name. Behind her Frost, Korsak and Angela all looked up.

"That's me" she said slowly and extended her hand. The young police officer handed her the envelope and Jane briefly let her eyes dance over the man's face. He was about Frankie's age, she guessed, with dirty blonde hair and grey eyes. And instantly she remembered where she had seen him. He and Frankie had finished the Academy together. She looked back down at the envelope. "What's this?"

"It was left for you at the front desk couple of minutes ago. Nobody saw who left it there. Desk sergeant cleared it and asked me to bring it up to ya" he answered with a strong Massachusetts accent and gave her a polite nod.

"Thanks" Jane said apprehensively and turned the envelope over in her hand. Of course there was no return address. There was no post mark either so it must have been hand delivered. Her name was written in large capital letters across the front in a neat, tidy handwriting that she didn't recognise. The paper felt smooth against her skin and it didn't weigh anything at all.

"Here" Korsak said and handed her a set of purple latex gloves and a pair of scissors he had grabbed from his desk.

Jane struggled to get her now clam hands into the pair of gloves before picking up the scissors; her hands shook ever so slightly as she slowly cut along the edge of the envelope. She could heart the intense pounding of her heart and a sense of anticipation filled the room. The narrow strip of paper she cut off she put down on the desk and then slowly pushed the envelope open and peered inside. She couldn't quite see what was in it so she held out her left hand and shook the context out into her outstretched palm.

She gasped in shock.

"What is it, Jane?" Angela asked. She stood behind Jane and could not see what had just fallen into her daughter's palm.

Jane brought one gloved hand to her mouth and her dark eyes snapped up to meet Korsak's. He stared back at her, horrified. Neither of them spoke. Jane's gaze dropped back the item in her hand and right at that second her heart skipped a beat. Suddenly she felt numb. Her legs went weak and the nausea just came out of nowhere. There, in Jane's outstretched open palm, lay a silver scalpel, its blade stained with blood.

"Is that… a scalpel?" Frost eventually broke the silence. He too was wearing a set of gloves and he carefully picked the blade up from out of Jane's hand and held it up to eye level. The blood around the edges was dried and the silver metal glistened in the precinct room lights.

"Yes…" Jane breathed. She was now positively shaking. Fear was a horrible emotion. The one she hated the most. Fear reminded her that she had a weakness. The scalpel only symbolised one thing in her life. A never ending nightmare. She removed her gloves and automatically began rubbing her scars. The pain was suddenly as intense as it had been when the blades had first pierced through her skin. Tears burnt behind her eyes and she stared down at the floor, unable to look anybody in the eye as the fear overwhelmed her. "Yes, it's a scalpel. And it's a message…"

"What does it mean?" Angela asked carefully and Jane looked up. The tears glistened in her eyes.

"It means that none of this has got anything to do with Paddy Doyle" she answered softly and her gaze drifted to the dark window. It had started to rain outside and the raindrops trickled down the dark glass. The words hurt as they left her lips. "This is about Hoyt…"

"Hoyt is dead" Frost said firmly, his eyes fixed on Jane. The pain was clearly visible on her face. He had watched from the side lines over the last two years how Jane suffered under Hoyt's torment. She had never talked to him about him. He had been frustrated at first, they were partners after all, but after he witnessed what had happened in the hospital wing two days ago, he understood. She couldn't talk about it. And Frost had vowed to himself that he would never ask. For Jane's sake.

Jane shook her head. "Well, someone clearly wants me to think he isn't even though I felt his heart stop under my own hands…" She began pacing, still rubbing her hands together. "It just never freaking ends! This… Maura being kidnapped… is about Hoyt!" She shook her head and came to a halt by the window. She watched her own reflection in the darkened glass. The images of what had happened in that basement as well as the hospital wing flashed through her mind, blurring together before eventually forming the face of Charles Hoyt. Her voice dropped to a dangerous low and her eyes darkened.

"Hoyt may be dead but clearly he got another apprentice…"