Chapter Four

Maura bagged and tagged everything she found, including Anne's shoes. Now she was combing through Anne's tangled and filthy hair. Jane was admiring her partner's technique. Each comb full was gathered carefully, and placed in an evidence envelope. Maura worked quickly. She was already looking at Anne's clothing. Maura picked up the shears usually used for cutting off clothing. She looked at them, and at her patient's blood covered hands. Maura put the shears away. She unbuttoned Anne's blouse carefully.

"Doug, please help me turn the body?"

Doug's face showed his puzzlement. Jane heard him whisper, "Liveliest body I've ever seen."

Maura gave him her, "Shut up now," look.

"Sorry Maura."

Together they rolled Anne's over to remove the blouse from her torso. This too, went into an evidence bag. The next item removed was her skirt. Finally, Anne was lying there in her underwear, shivering.

"I'll need a camera.", said Maura.

Doug pulled one out of a drawer. Maura took pictures, both front and back, then went into her office, and returned with her own blanket she used to nap with when she did an all-niter. She covered Anne, did a slow blink, then turned to Jane.

"You can take everything to crime lab. "I'll make the calls."

Jane gathered the evidence, smiling gratefully at her partner.

Nearly up the stairs, Jane opened her cell phone to check the time. She was shocked to discover it was nearly 8 AM. The same crew was still working on the previous evidence she had brought them. When she appeared with the new evidence bag, Kendall's eyes widened.

"More? Wow, we don't usually get so much. What is it?"

"Splinters. Do you have a wood guy?". Jane handed the bag to him.

"The best. He can tell the age, species, anything you want."

"Oh. You're the wood guy."

Kendall grimaced at getting caught. "Guilty."

"I'll be up in Homicide." Jane left for her own desk. Her feet hurt, and she felt the beginning of a headache behind her right eye.. She knew she had some naproxen in her desk drawer.

She drooped into her desk chair, opened the drawer and dug around. With the pills in her hand, she checked her bottom drawer for a bottle of water. Once the pills were taken, Jane was finally in a mood to speak to anyone..

Korsak wandered in, took one look at Jane, and asked, "Body last night."

"Kinda. We know there is one, but not where yet. I'm waiting for crime lab. If I put my head down, I'll be out like a light."

"Yeah, well, go ahead. I'll cover for you." Korsak grinned at Jane.

"I think I love you." Jane put her head down and was asleep in less than a minute.

It seemed like a second later when Korsak shook Jane awake. "Hey, Cavenaugh wants you in his office."

Jane rubbed her eyes, pushed back her hair, and went into her bosses office.

Cavenaugh was looking through a file. He glanced up as Jane entered, and motioned for her to sit.

"Who is this Anne Fortier?"

"A friend of mine and Maura's. We know to recuse ourselves. "

"You had enough sense to stick with handling sealed evidence bags. Dr. Isles seems to have gotten in somewhat deeper."

"She had that Doug guy there the whole time she was getting evidence."

"I understand that. It was proper procedure. But she did a lot of translating. "

"No one else speaks French on the night crew. What were we supposed to do? We couldn't wait for morning. And. no I did not read her her rights. She wouldn't have understood. The lady is insane."

"Well, you're both are off the case. The coroner will inform Dr. Isles.."

"It's what we figured. Please, make sure they do a top notch work up on this. She's...she was a friend."

"I get it. But, Rizzoli, let your head rule this time. Stay away from this–both of you. It's a tar pit.

You could screw up everything."

"What about...?"

"I will tell you as it develops. Don't involve your kid brother or mother either. I'm well aware of the Rizzoli network. Go back home and get some sleep. You look like hell."

"Thanks." Jane took off. She called Maura on her way out. Maura had more work to do and wasn't willing to take off early, so Jane went home to sleep.

Jo Friday was thrilled to see her. They played a bit, and Jane took her dog for a walk. Then she went home and got into bed. She ached for sleep, but the voice in her head would not shut up. Jane tried a technique she had read...shutting off any head noise and blanking her mind. It worked for about three minutes. Jane recalled a professor she had who possessed a singular talent for putting his class to sleep. She remembered his voice. The next thing Jane knew, Maura was leaning over her, grinning.

"Did you get some sleep?"

"Yeah. Hey my headache is gone." Jane sat up. "Any news?"

"Kendall called for you. He said the splinters were American Elm. It's all we've got. Anne's in jail. I worry about her in there."

Jane patted the bed, and Maura sat next to her. "This is such a mess. One good thing. Makes me feel real sane."

"I am not in any mood to cook. Do you want to order something? Or explore the back of the refrigerator?"

"You took all the fun out of it, labeling the containers."

"That, my dear, was your mother."

"Oh."