Author's note: thank you for all the reviews; little secrets popping up everywhere should lead to a big mess.

Chapter Seven: How To Overhear Conversations

"Oh God... Composure, Maura. You are smiling so much that your jaw is that close to get blocked and us that close to drive you to the ER to de-block it."

Amy's remark made Apolline giggle. Maura – the first one concerned by it – shook her head quietly at her cousin before plunging her hands in the pockets of her woolen coat. Her cheeks burned. Was she blushing? As discreetly as possible, she cast a glance at her reflection in a window store but the pale light of the day didn't answer her wonder. It was too dark, too damp to see the slightest thing.

"Are you in love?"

A bit ahead on the road, Jane was enjoying the guys' company; her laugh rising in the air loudly as they passed a rugby ball to each other while walking back towards the mansion.

After breakfast, a part of the guests – the oldest ones – had left for the nearest town to check the last details for the wedding. The young ones had remained at home before deciding to go for a walk and a beer at the pub of the village.

In the afternoon, the future bride and groom would have a last dance rehearsal in a town nearby while Tuppence had decided to take Jane to a distillery.

Anything to make sure that she would go back to Boston being half-Scottish.

Apolline's question stirred up a smile on Maura's lips. She shrugged. Third day in Plockton and her shameful – yet involuntary – plan was perfectly working out. Nobody had confronted Jane to who she was supposed to be for the medical examiner. Against all expectations, it went alright.

"Oh come on! Who do you think you are kidding, Yankee? You should see the dumb smile you have when she appears in the room or you talk about her. As a matter of fact, I guess it is the first time we see you like that. The real question is: when are you two getting married?"

This time, Maura shook her head vehemently and took a deep breath. The cold air burnt her lungs; a bit like in Boston. She missed Massachusetts, her home. Her job. The peaceful life she was leading there, deprived of half-lies.

"It isn't on our agenda for the moment."

Apolline pouted and waved at James as the guy winked at her; rugby ball under the arm. "Too bad... It would have been a nice occasion to make the announcement to the family. After my ceremony, of course. Don't take it bad but Saturday is my day. I don't know... Make things clear on Sunday."

"We are not getting married, get over it." Maura shook her head at Apolline and smiled timidly as Jane stopped on the road to wait for her.

"Why do you never kiss? You do look in love but you are quite distant for a couple, darling. Should not you be dry humping on each other all the time? This is what love is about. Looking like fucking rabbits." Amy lit a cigarette – nonchalantly – and raised a suggestive eyebrow at her cousin.

Maura chuckled "Because we aren't a bunch of adolescents anymore... Now move on." She shook her head. "You are obsessed, girls."

Yet the moment she reached Jane, Maura passed an arm under her friend's to bring her closer. Poor attempt – if not just desperate – to contradict what Amy had just said.

A bit surprised by the gesture, Jane looked down at Maura and frowned. "Are you cold?" Scotland was definitely not the warmest destination she had ever been to but winters in Boston weren't really any warmer and Maura never complained about them.

On the contrary, she kept on saying how she loved them.

"A bit..."

Before the honey blonde's confession, Jane passed an arm around Maura's petite frame to drag her even closer to her own body and resumed her walking. Seeing that James had imitated the gesture with Apolline, Amy growled.

"Not a single soul to warm me up. How nice, really. And don't even try, Will. You are my brother... Bug off." She stuck her tongue to the man in question but stole his pint of beer from his hands. The one they had more or less involuntarily took away from the pub.

...

"Are you sure that you don't want me to come with you?" Maura made a face for the thousandth – if not more – time and bit her lower lip in hesitation. She didn't mind leaving Jane with Tuppence, she knew that it was safe. But then the Italian might have preferred to do something else than spend the whole afternoon with the old man.

"Maura... You're off for a shopping session with your aunt... Whatever, the one who never smiles... Don't take it bad but I definitely prefer to drink away the hours with a good glass of whiskey."

Jane smiled and adjusted her sweater before looking at her reflection in the mirror of their bedroom. The clothes were new but she still was able to recognize herself. As a matter of fact, she even appreciated the touch of cashemere wool on her skin. Not that she would openly say it but she did like them. Too classy for the BPD, though. Unless she wanted to face a couple of jokes from her colleagues.

"Amy's going with Apolline, right?" The brunette repressed a sigh. Her attempt to sound casual had miserably failed. Why should she be asking this in the first place? Maybe because you're scared she starts talking too much about your little secrets.

For some reason, Jane trusted Maura's cousin but still... She could easily let escape a word or two in the conversation. In front of everyone. If that ever happened, the detective would die at the scene. It was not something she wanted to share; certainly not with Maura.

Too complicated. Impossible.

No. What she had confessed to Amy in the early hours of the morning by the stables had to remain secret, untold. It was nobody's business whom she was sleeping with; whom she was attracted to.

Thankfully, Maura was too focused on reapplying makeup to notice the slightest thing. Bent over an old desk she had temporarily transformed in a L'Oréal lab, she carefully put on mascara.

"Yes... She lost a bet and thus has to go. Anyway, if you are back before everyone then you can just do whatever you want, here. Have a coffee... Pick up a novel in the library... Or go for a walk... Make sure to get ready on time for the formal dinner at 7pm sharp. Half of the village is invited. That's all I am asking you."

Jane nodded and grabbed her cell phone. Frost and Frankie had asked for pictures of the distillery as well as - of course - a few samples. The customs at the airport would have a blast with her suitcases.

"Okay. Last thing: are you sure I should let Tuppence drive? He seems rather lively but there's a lot of fog and all. I'm really not sure it's such a good idea."

Satisfied of her gloss touch, Maura straightened up and turned around to face her friend. For long – too long? - seconds, she pondered the suggestion; pouting.

"He is an excellent driver, as far as I know. Although if he is driving, make sure he doesn't drink too much. There is no need for us to pick him out of the waters of the lake again because he would have missed a curve due to an important dose of alcohol in his blood."

Silence. Jane widened her eyes in panic. Again?

"What?!" Strangled voice.

Maura grinned, satisfied of her effect. Patting her friend on the arm, she pushed her firmly towards the door and opened it.

"Enjoy!"

Light kiss on Jane's cheek. A stolen touch that would burn her lips – echoing the warmth spreading in her lower stomach – for the rest of the day. The Italian didn't protest. She never did.

Uncertain of the way she was supposed to take Maura's comment, Jane walked to the stairs and let her legs lead her to the lobby by the main door. The honey blonde wasn't particularly known for her jokes yet – obviously – it was exactly what the lake allusion had been.

Right?

The hell... You're gonna die in Scotland, killed by a whiskey-lover grandpa. Way to go, Rizzoli. Just fantastic. The mystery of Amy's odd – British – expressions will remain unsolved for the rest of your life. Wait, no. That'd be for the rest of your death. Ugh. Whatever.

But in spite of what they had planned, the lobby was desperately empty. Tuppence was nowhere to be seen while he had told her that he would be waiting for her there only thirty minutes earlier. Jane frowned, not knowing what to do. Yelling out his name was definitely out of the question. This was not a habit in this family.

The whole floor was very quiet except for a reedy voice that seemed to come from the library. Slowly – and if only to kill time – the brunette took its direction.

Quietly.

She stopped by the door left open ajar and smiled as she finally recognized Tuppence's voice. The old man was smoking a pipe, talking absentmindedly to Amadeus who had settled on top of an old table full of books.

"You too are glad to have Maura back here, aren't you? Our little Maura... She hasn't changed much. Still bright, and beautiful. Yet completely blind before the obvious. Has she talked to you? Not that she needs to. You understand her even when she remains quiet, don't you?"

The singular monologue amused Jane and – instead of interrupting it already – she decided to lean against the wall to listen a bit more of it.

"Let's hope her little game remains unnoticed and she avoids bigger problems, though. I don't want her to get into any kind of trouble. It has worked so far. Nobody seems to have realized that – unlike what she has said before coming here – Jane isn't her girlfriend. Have you? Of course, you have. You have spent enough nights in their bedroom to see that from your own eyes."

Still leaned against the wall on the other side of the door, Jane froze; and swallowed hard.