Chapter 6
I gasp for breath. Harsh light is blinding me. I hear movement, but cannot discern its origin. Like a test lab rat, I panic searching for a way out; for any sort of direction. A muffled voice grunts and groans. The fluctuation in vocal pattern tells me the noises are being made by someone in grave distress. The low, raspy voice pleads for someone to hear her, to acknowledge her.
I know this voice. It is hard for me to focus though, and blood pounds against my eardrums giving me a headache. I listen intently for a moment and suddenly, I know. Jane! If only I could see her…
The tender skin of my pallet is chemically burned. A sweet, pungent taste left in my mouth. Definitely Chloroform. Actually, it seems my entire body is in pain. I take notice to the fact that my arms are tethered together behind my back. The blinding light flickers a few times and then the overwhelming beam steadies, boring through me.
"Jane? Where are you?" I mumble off into the distance. Her guttural response breaks my heart. Something is over her mouth. I hear her struggle for a moment and then the piercing cries of an infant stab the air. Suddenly, I remember everything. Time catches up with me and the memories start flooding back, threatening to hold me captive. Andre, the infant, the unfortunate building, Jane.
"Did you think you could run forever...Doctor?" A thickly accented, disembodied voice spits out aggressively. I narrow my eyes, begging the light to dim. "It is only too bad that your life has to end with death, Madame Isles, as you have spent a vast majority of it living for the dead." The voice chuckles lightly. Andre.
I'm at my breaking point. This entire situation is my fault. Jane wouldn't be here if not for me and now Andre is toying with his prey. This is all a sick psychological game to him. If he hurt Jane, I swear to all that is pure, I will end his existence and I won't even try to cover my tracks. I would behead him… and I would enjoy it. Anger floods me.
The harsh beam of light clicks off and, again, we are submerged in total darkness. Within moments, a standard ceiling lamp is turned on. I am thankful for its subtle glow. It takes my eyes about 10 seconds to fully adjust. I feel disoriented.
My head flicks about the room, searching for Jane. I finally catch sight of her. She has been restrained in what appear to be bungee cords and her lovely mouth has been masked with a layer of duct tape. Her eyes are wet with tears. My heart sinks. If Andre managed to do this to Jane, I don't stand a fighting chance. Jane and I lock eyes. Her eyebrows pinch together with apologetic fear. Jane...
Andre places the naked infant on a stainless steel table in the middle of the room. I hadn't noticed the deathly pale of the infant's skin until now. All of my attention was focused on Jane in that moment. The baby lets out a small, panicked cry. My heart breaks.
Andre spins around, now facing me, garnishing a kitchen knife. The infant writhes in hunger on the cold metal table. "Before I kill you, my sweet Maura Isles, I am going to make you kill your confidant. I think she goes by 'Detective Jane Rizzoli', correct?" His eyes pierce through me darkly.
I feel the blood drain from my face as my stomach lurches threateningly. Be strong, Maura. Outsmart him. I shake my head and tears stream from my eyes. What do I do? How do I get out of this?
"Get up!" Andre shouts down at me striking my cheek with the back of his right hand. The smarting pain startles me and I fumble myself into a standing position. Jane rocks forward and back in the chair she's bound to, trying desperately to escape. The strain defines the muscles in her arms and a vain pulsates under the skin of her forehead.
Andre turns to Jane in an angry, manic fit barring his teeth. "No!" I shout breathlessly. My throat, raw from the Chloroform inhalation, burns. Andre stops his arm in mid-swing and turns to face me again, a small smile playing on his lips.
"Good. Now I know she means something to you." He makes his way across the room and forces me against the wall. "I know you missed me, Sea Star. You don't have to pretend anymore."
He runs a cold, calloused finger along my arm.
"After you killed...oh, what was the name again? Carolina, was it? Yes, that's the one. After you killed her, I realized that I shouldn't have let you live. I could have saved myself a trip to America, you know? I could have just killed both of you that night. But like a fool, I waited for the most opportune moment to murder you in France." He shrugs his shoulders, waving the knife around.
"No chance came my way though. You never left your prissy private school. My hunger for your blood escalated until it consumed my every thought. My sweet love, I have envisioned killing you in every possible way; shooting, stabbing, strangling, even drowning. Sadly, none of those fed my hunger." Andre licks his lips hungrily. Please…stop. Please!
"I dreamt up a thousand different scenarios. Do you know what? Do you know how I planned your death? 3 months ago, I sat alone at Cafe Le Paon in my beautiful Paris, thinking about you- Your sweet scent, your lovely pink cheeks, the smell of death radiating from your corpse- It sent chills down my spine. I knew then, how I had to kill you. The most agonizing death I could concoct. I had to save it for you, love." He runs his finger along the end of the blade, making me anticipate his plans.
"So I came here, to God-forsaken America. You were too easy to find! Your perfect name has been published into 16 different news articles in Boston alone. I knew where to find you, baby. You can't hide from me. I know you tried to forget, to block out my memory, but you failed." Andre grimaces menacingly. My lip quivers. Hold it together.
"I watched you drive to work, back to your house; I saw your friends, your family, the detective. I watched you live your life every single day for 3 months. I know everything about you." He smiles triumphantly. My hands tremble and I feel ill.
"I saw you when you bought those baby clothes- the pink, lacey, floral ones. I saw you when you took them home and cried over them for hours. I saw you when you folded the clothes up and stored them in an old trunk in your bedroom." Andre pauses for a moment, letting the humiliation sink deep. I can no longer hold the tears inside. Make it stop.
"I saw you cry yourself to sleep every fucking night over Carolina...pathetic!" He lowers his voice to an almost inaudible whisper. I wish Jane couldn't hear this.
"I saw you sleep with 3 different men. I must say that's quite impressive for someone like you, Sea Star. I saw them fall asleep in your bed after you had made love to each one. I saw you lay there in the dark, wishing they'd leave. I saw you cowardly get out of your bed each time. And yes, I saw you lock yourself in the bathroom and cry until the sun came up every single time." Andre angrily throws the knife within inches of my head and it sticks into the plastered wall behind me. Jane shrieks and flails about in the wooden chair. God, if you're there…help me. Please.
"Maura, I know everything. You really thought you had a secret life... I know all your lies, your fucked up mind, everything. I know that this detective means more to you than anyone else in your pathetic life." He leans down to me and nuzzles his nose into my bruised cheek. I turn my head away from him reluctantly. His cold, rough fingers catch my chin and wrench my face toward his. Andre's sullen, sunken in face is mere inches from mine.
"This is why I lured you in to me, Sea Star. I knew the detective would try and protect you and I knew I had to make you kill the detective. It was perfect! I have to make you murder the one that means the most to you, my sweet love." Andre leans his forehead against mine and draws in a long, deep breath. I can feel his warm breath on my lips and before I can dodge his advance, he kisses me. Bile churns in the back of my raw throat. Stop! Please stop! I silently plead.
After a moment, Andre pulls his lips from mine. I cannot take much more of this. Tears trickle down my cheeks as I fight the urge to vomit in his disgusting face. Andre extracts the knife from the wall and breaks his domineering glare at me. I look to Jane, trying to tell her how sorry I am with only facial expressions. Her profile mirrors mine.
"This is where you come in, detective." He turns toward Jane, knife pointed toward her. Andre bends over and agonizingly tears the duct tape from Jane's mouth. Droplets of blood pool on the surface of her cracked lips. She lets out a faint wince, tears streaming down her face. She clenches her jaw defiantly.
"Please..." She whispers to Andre. He smiles, enjoying Jane's evident pain. I gape at her tangible vulnerability. I was unable to grasp the enormity of this situation until now. Jane is terrified.
"This is where your part comes into play, detective. You are the final piece of the puzzle. See, my Sea Star, Maura, loves you. In order for this to truly torture her, she must kill the one she loves most. In killing you, she's killing a large part of herself." Andre turns on his heel to affront me once again.
"This means that I'll successfully have taken everything from you, Maura Isles. I'll have taken your virginity, your only child, your happiness, your peace of mind, your trust, the person you love most and finally, your life." A sense of accomplishment plays across Andre's face.
My lips tremble. My whole body starts to shake. There is no way out of this. I'm going to die tonight. "Andre, let the detective go. She is not the person that means the most to me. I can assure you that my feelings for the detective are nothing more than work-related cooperation. We aren't friends. We work together, but that's as far as our relationship goes. She means little more than nothing to me."
The lie is hard to choke out of my throat. I try to make it sound as believable as I can. Maybe then Jane can get out of this alive. I chance a glance at Jane, her face is ashen and she looks so hurt. Surely, she knows this isn't the truth. However, if she believes it, maybe Andre will too.
"It's only me that you truly desire, Andre. To tell you the truth, you're all I've ever wanted and I've missed you dearly. If you let Jane and the infant go, I will be yours forever. I will do anything you want. You used the infant to lure me in and Jane is here only by orders from the Chief. Just let them go and we can be together forever." My eyes are wet with tears. The false statements rip my heart apart.
Andre ponders my request for some time, his eyes flitting back and forth between me and Jane. After a moment of deliberation, he spins me around and cuts the restraints from my wrists. I had yet to notice the chain enclosed around my ankles. Those remain intact. I'm not getting away.
"Stay right there." Andre commands wildly, jutting his finger in my face. He strides to Jane and cuts the bungee ropes that bind her to the chair. "Get up, you ugly bitch." He spits down at her through gritted teeth and pinches the bare skin over her upper arm. His comment stirs up a wave of wrath within me.
Andre places his knife at Jane's neck, just centimeters from her Jugular vein. "Maura, give the detective the infant." He shouts at me with an evil grin, clearly enjoying this control. I will do whatever it takes to free Jane.
I oblige, shuffling to the metal table in the center of the room. The wooden floorboards creak beneath the falling of my footsteps. My head spins and my heart beat pulses loudly in my ears. Please, Jane…find help.
I cradle the pale infant in my bruised and weak arms. Instantly, a surge of adrenaline floods my system. I feel a shockingly intense connection to this baby. Probably because I know this is the end of my life. I'm trying to hold on to anyone that will let me now. Live a long and beautiful life, little one.
The infant's genitalia tell me she is a female. Her skin is pale but tinted a sickeningly, ominous shade of blue. She is fading fast. I try to check her pulse, but run out of time as I cross the room. Her heartbeat is steady, but light. She will more than likely survive if Jane gets her medical attention within the hour.
I hand the beautiful baby girl over to Jane, our forearms brushing. This is the last time I will get to touch Jane. My heart is pounding in my chest. Please don't leave me.