Chapter 9
This time of year the bullpen was freezing due to the air conditioning running at full blast, but that didn't quell the rush of heat that made its way up Jane's body, flushing her skin a bright red. She sank back into her seat, her head flopping over the back of the chair as her brown eyes closed in defeat. Not now, I can't deal with this right now.
Luckily for Jane, Frost and Korsak were still staring slack-jawed at the medical examiner as she sashayed her way down the hall towards the elevator bank, giving her an instant of peace before the shit-storm her life had become turned into fodder for their teasing.
"Detective Rizzoli?" she heard from behind her, causing her to snap back into an upright position. "I have your witness in Interrogation Room 1 now if you'd like to ask him some questions. I saw you come in early and I figured you would want to question him now." Officer Duncan said with a timid smile.
Any other day of the week Jane loathed to see this man, but today she considered giving him an outright kiss on the lips for the perfectly timed diversion he just gave her.
"Thank-you, Officer Duncan," she said with a fake full dimpled smile as she bolted up out of her chair. "I'll be right there." Jane reached for the case file on Frost's desk and snatched it up into her arms. She avoided eye contact as she hastily made her way towards the interrogation room.
"Duty calls." Jane yelled over her shoulder as she left.
"Yeah, okay. But if you think this gets you off the hook, you're wrong Rizzoli!" Frost shouted after her as he grabbed his notepad off his desk.
Jane paused for a moment outside the door to the waiting witness. She flipped through the file and skimmed the contents, flustered that she didn't have more time to review the file thoroughly. She hated going into question a witness or a suspect blind. She'd have to do this one on pure emotion, which was probably fine considering she was amped up enough at the moment. She slapped the folder closed and cracked open the door as she heard Korsak and Frost coming down the hall.
"Mr. Keller, I hear you're not being very cooperative," the detective stated crisply, slamming the folder down on the table in front of the witness with a thud. She eyed the middle-aged man up and down considering the best way to break him. It appeared that a few hours in the holding cell had already started to take their toll.
"Listen, I've not had the best day so far, and it's not even 8 am. I'm not about to waste more time fucking around with you here, so don't piss me off anymore." She stabbed the folder with her finger and glared at the man. "This cocaine charge is going to land you a hefty prison sentence. I can probably make that look like a walk in the park when I charge you with accessory to murder," the detective seethed at the man.
"Wait a minute! I didn't kill anybody!" Jason pleaded with her.
"You witnessed the murder and didn't do anything to stop it, did you?" Jane glared at him. "I can get the jury to buy that."
"No, I swear to god. That isn't what happened. My dealer can tell you. He was there, too."
"So he witnessed the murder, too?"
Keller nodded his head repeatedly. "Yeah. And I know where you can find him. He and I are supposed to meet at Dock 15 in an hour."
Frost moved over towards the two-way mirror, watching as his partner towered over the witness, his teeth digging into his lower lip as he looked on in awe. Jason Keller was writing out a statement and handing over another witness, all in less than 10 minutes with Jane Rizzoli breathing down his neck.
"How does she do that? I prepared for 30 minutes and I couldn't get the guy to budge." Frost said to Korsak as the older detective joined him at the window.
"Jesus…poor bastard. He didn't realize he was about to be hit by Hurricane Rizzoli," Korsak chuckled.
Jane exited the room and pushed the folder into Frost's chest.
"That's how you do an interrogation," she smirked.
"I bet you were a bully when you were a kid," he called out to her as she made her way down the hall. Damn her long legs. Frost and Korsak had to speed walk to catch up with her. "You can't run away from us forever."
"I'm not running," she called out over her shoulder. "We've got another witness to catch and we're going to have to hustle our asses off to get there in time to get him."
Frost and Korsak followed Jane to the squad car and they spent the next several minutes making sure Kevlar vests were on and that the guns were loaded and operational. Once everything checked out and a couple of calls were made, Jane got behind the wheel and Frost and Korsak joined her in the car.
Jane drove in silence, continually checking her mirrors and focusing on the road. Her hands gripped the wheel more firmly than normal. Korsak alternated between gazing out the window and looking back to Frost, who appeared about to be ready to burst from the excitement of finally having Jane trapped where she couldn't run from them.
"So…I bet the doctor's a good kisser. What do you think, Korsak?" Frost said with a grin on his face. Jane glared at him in the rearview mirror and gripped the wheel a little tighter.
"I'm not sure. Maybe you should ask someone who would know." Korsak offered.
Jane looked to her right at Korsak for a moment and then put her eyes back on the road. She shook her head slightly in disappointment. "I thought you always had my back, Korsak. Nice to see you think this is funny, as well."
"Sorry, Jane," he answered her. "This is just too good to pass up. I need the juicy details." Jane's right arm flew out and landed a not-so-playful jab into Korsak's arm.
"Ow!" Korsak yelped and rubbed his arm.
"See, that's why I wanted to sit in the back seat," Frost laughed from the back.
"Come on guys, it's not what you think. Just drop it."
"Yeah…not going to happen, Rizzoli." Frost leaned up onto the two front seats. "Spill it."
Jane let out a huge sigh, resigned to the fact that they weren't going to let her off the hook. She readjusted her grip on the wheel and stared out the window, avoiding eye contact.
"It's not that big of a deal. I only kissed her to stop her from giving me a lecture on my incorrect usage of grammar. She started off on that whole "who vs. whom" rant, which you both now really pisses me off."
"Why didn't you just put your hand over her mouth?" Frost inquired.
"Because my hands were pinning her against the door," Jane answered quickly, not thinking about how that sounded. She winced as soon as the words left her lips. Oh shit, how could I have possibly made this worse?
"Oh. My. Gawd." Frost choked out from the back seat.
Jane glared at him in the rearview mirror. "What are you, a 15 year old girl?" She shook her head and continued to focus on the road. She pulled over to the side of the street, thankful that they were at the docks.
"Get your shit together and focus on finding this guy," she warned the two detectives who were grinning at her like a couple of adolescent school boys. "I'm going right; you two bozos take the left. Narcotics just pulled up over there," she motioned with her hand. "I'll let them know the plan. Don't fuck this up."
Jane made her way around a storage container, her back hugging it as she held the gun up by her cheek. There was a chance the witness was armed according to Keller, so she was prepared for the worse. She heard the yelling from Frost a moment before she saw the red-headed man run by a container 100 feet away from her. She quickly holstered her weapon on took off on a sprint after him.
Lack of sleep hadn't affected the burst of energy Jane felt as she rounded the corner closing in on the witness. She could see that Frost wasn't far behind her and he was closing fast, as well. She had already felt defeated enough for one day, she sure as hell wasn't going to let Frost pass her and get this man. The man was quick, and he didn't look like he was getting tired. Jane decided to make a bold move. Apparently she was full of those lately. She took one last step and launched herself at the man, extending her entire body to reach out and make a diving ankle tackle.
The instantaneous satisfaction of stopping the man was replaced by the jolt of pain she felt as her body landed on the asphalt, her left elbow and knee taking the brunt of the fall. She felt skin tearing away from her body as she skidded to a halt. Frost already had the man's hands pulled behind his back and was in the process of cuffing him before Jane pulled herself up to her feet.
"Nice tackle, Jane." Frost quipped as he tightened the cuffs. "Looks like it cost you a pair of pants, though," he said as he motioned to the rip on her knee and the blood stain that had started to make its way through the fabric.
"Well, I'll just add that to the pile of great things that have happened to me today." Jane rubbed her hands over her face and took a step over to the adjacent building so she could lean against it, still trying to catch her breath.
Frost handed their witness over to the narcotics officers who had finally caught up with them. They would let them charge the dealer with whatever offenses they could muster before he and Jane would question him about the murder he witnessed.
Jane watched as they took him away and loaded him into a waiting squad car. Frost made his way over to Jane and leaned against the building next to her. She closed her eyes gently as she felt Frost looking at her.
Frost grinned at his partner. It was rare that he saw Jane so vulnerable. He leaned into her and bumped his shoulder against hers. "Hey, you know I tease because I care."
She opened her eyes and tentatively glanced over to her partner. She really couldn't have gotten a nicer partner. Frost was a great detective, and a better friend. She smiled weakly at him. "Thanks, partner."
Frost lightly punched her in the arm. "Now let's get you back to the station. I bet you can find a doctor there to look at that," he smiled pointing to the growing blood stain on her knee.
"Yeah, right. That's how I got into this mess in the first place." Jane pushed herself up off the building and made her way back to her car and a waiting Korsak.
Jane typed out a message to the medical examiner as she walked. No sense putting this off. She needed to face this head on and get it over with. She'd never get any rest until she could clear her mind.
J: We need to talk. I'll be in the morgue in 15 minutes.
"You call kissing the doc a mess?" Frost said as he caught up with her at the car. "I would call that a great night. How could that possibly be a mess?"
"Oh, I don't know." Jane said as she twirled around, her mouth agape as she stared at Frost. "Maybe because she's my best friend, and neither of us is gay?"
"They say that some of the best relationships start out with people who were previously friends." Korsak said as he took the last few steps to the unmarked, trying to be helpful.
"Oh yeah, I'm going to take relationship advice from you," Jane pointed to Korsak, then scrunched up her face. "Again, neither of us is gay. There is no relationship." She ripped off her Kevlar vest and tossed it into the trunk, waiting for the two men to do the same. She crossed her arms and stared at the men, her foot tapping impatiently on the pavement.
"Whatever." Frost said as he ripped at the Velcro straps, clearly frustrated with Jane's bull-headedness. "Then let's get you back to the station so your girlfriend…I mean 'friend', can patch you up." Jane glared at him and got into the car.
They rode in silence for five minutes. Jane finally relaxed the death-grip she had been holding on the steering wheel a little.
Frost felt the need to lessen the tension in the car, so he decided to break the silence.
"So, at least tell me," he started from the backseat as Jane's eyes found his in the rearview mirror. "Does she taste like cherries? I always imagined that's what she would taste like." Jane glared at him and shook her head slowly.
"Just the fact that you've imagined what she tastes like is disturbing." Jane looked at him through the mirror as he smiled back at her.
"I always imagined she would taste like a mix of lavender and vanilla," Korsak said as he stared off into the sky out the window, seemingly in his own world.
"Really? You two sit around fantasizing about what Maura tastes like? No wonder it takes us forever to solve a case. Apparently I am the only one doing any work around here." She tastes like oak with a hint of cherry and honey undertones. Maybe that was just the wine. Crap. Now they had her fantasizing about how the doctor tasted.
"I'm not talking about this anymore," she stated to the two men.
"And her tongue…I always imagined-" Jane quickly looked back as her hand flew up towards the back with a finger placed in front of Frost's lips, ceasing his sentence.
"Knock it off! I don't want to hear anymore. You're going to make me crash the dammed car." Jane said as she looked back to the road and put both hands back on the wheel.
"Well, if you do, we know where to take you for your injuries." Frost grinned. Korsak covered his mouth to suppress the smile he couldn't quite seem to shake.
Jane pulled the Crown Victoria into the parking lot, not even tempted to park out front. The last thing she needed was Mo towing her car today.
"Why don't you two get started on the paper work. I'll be up in a minute." Jane took a moment to straighten up her jacket and brush the dirt off her pants that had accumulated from her dive at the dock.
Frost came up to her and pretended to pick a piece of lint off her shoulder. "You look beautiful. Go have a nice time. Don't hurry on our account," he smiled at his partner.
Jane didn't even bother to respond to Frost as she turned and headed towards the door. I am never going to live this down.
Korsak walked up to Frost. "I sure hope Dr. Isles is ready for Hurricane Rizzoli."
Frost grinned and looked at the older detective. "Well, if anyone can handle Jane when she's like this, it's the doc."
Maura finished washing her hands in the morgue sink and reached for a towel to dry them. She glanced over at her phone that was setting on the counter and noticed the message from Jane. Maura glimpsed up at the clock and noted the time. Jane would be here any minute. Maura smiled to herself.
Let the games begin.
Author's Note
Thank you all for the kind reviews for the last chapter! The reviews fuel my fire to keep this story going. If you have a moment, please drop me a review. They really make my day. I love to hear what you think. Thanks.
