The first thing Frost does is to check the ID the woman gave us, to make sure it's real and her real data, and while he's busy with that, I join her in the interrogation room where the uniform brigade put her, with photos of Sullivan and Thorne, and let them drop on the table in front of her before I sit down opposite of her and gesture at them. "Ever seen those guys before?"

To her credit, she takes some time to look at the pictures, and not just gives them a quick glance, like people often do; after almost a full minute, she looks up at me again and shakes her head, sounding mildly curious when she replies. "Nope, who're they? If they're from my group, I wouldn't know, I never met any of those guys face to face."

"Your group?" I ask in reply, and that makes her give me a funny look, but I ignore it for the sake of getting answers from her, one of them provided from her a moment later. "The hacker group, you know? Isn't this about me hacking your database?"

"Tell me more about that group", I demand in reply, mostly to buy some time until Frost confirmed her ID, but also because I wanna keep up the pretence for a bit longer.

"They're just a bunch of like-minded people", she shrugs, looking at the photos again, "and I wanted to be part of them, so they asked me to hack your database. It was some sort of test, you know? They said all I have to do would be to make a screenshot that I really got in and that'd be it, I swear I didn't read anything or tampered with the files or something…"

She falls silent and shifts on the seat, and then, the door opens and Frost pokes his head in, nodding at me to signal that the ID has been confirmed and that she really is who she said she is; I fold my hands on the table and look at her again while Frost closes the door again, and make sure to hold her gaze while I answer, addressing her with her surname now that it has been confirmed as her real one.

"Well, Miss Rendell, the hacking of our database is just one of the reasons why you are here today. Those two men were murdered not all too long ago", I tell her, and for a moment she looks confused, the same emotion showing through her voice when she speaks up. "And what does that have to… oh my God. Oh God. You think I did it? I swear I didn't! Why would I? Oh God." And suddenly, she bends down sideways and actually pukes. Wow, now that's a reaction we don't get often, I hope the camera we put up behind the one-way-mirror caught that on tape.

"Right now, we don't think you did it", I try to calm her down while I briefly look at the glass behind me so they'll get her some water, "but I have a few more questions for you. Are you up to answering them?"

"I think so", she mumbles, wiping her mouth and looking a bit ashamed, "just don't give me any gory details, okay?"

"Quite the reaction for someone who's so interested in serial killers", I point out, and she actually blushes, sounding a bit defensive when she answers that. "Reading about that stuff is different from sitting here and being told about it, okay? And anyway, being interested in that is not a crime."

"No, it's not", I confirm, "but hacking into the database of the Boston PD is. Before we get back to that, let me ask you something else – do you know who I am?"

"Of course", Rendell gives back, now looking at me funnily again, "you're that cop who shot herself to kill that other, dirty cop, I forgot his name. Also, I'm not sure anymore about yours, but I read about you in the paper."

"Detective Jane Rizzoli", I refresh her memory, and she nods, now actually looking a bit admiring.

"Man, you have guts", she tells me, "I never could have done that. I nearly faint when I cut my finger and it bleeds." Okay, yet another reason why it probably wasn't her, even though I can't know if she just told the truth; Maura will know though, thanks to the camera recording this conversation and hopefully focusing on Rendell's face the whole time.

I just shrug as an answer to her statement, and then Frost comes with the glass of water; this time, he doesn't leave again, but sits down next to me, watching with me how Rendell gulps half the glass down, then burps, giving us an apologetic look afterwards.

Now that Frost is here, I let him take over, since he knows more about that hacker stuff than I do anyway; I just watch how he asks her several questions about how she did it and why she did it and what she did once she had gotten in, and she sounds much more confident now that she can talk about a topic she knows much about, and to someone who clearly at least has a bit of an idea about it, as well.

"We're not planning any repercussions for the hacking", Frost tells her after they got done with their little techie babble, "and for now, you're free to go. We have to ask you to stay in town though, just in case any more questions come up."

"Sure", Rendell replies at once, now obviously relieved that we'll let her go; Frost gives her a smile, then gets up and tells her he'll take her outside, and I rise from my seat as well, but not to accompany them; instead, I go and join the guys who've been recording the conversation and ask them if the tape's okay, and as soon as they confirmed it, I text Maura and ask her to come up here so she can look at the tape with us and tell us her opinion, even though my gut already tells me what she will say – namely that Rendell was telling the truth and that, unfortunately, she's not the one we're looking for.


The room is silent except for the sounds coming from the videotape, the talk I was having with Rendell before Frost joined us playing to the small group in front of the TV, consisting of Frost, me and Maura, her eyes fixed on the screen as she watches how Rendell talks about not knowing my name and about how she reacts to the sight of blood.

"She's telling the truth", she finally says, grabbing the remote to pause the video so she can look at Frost and me, "she did have an idea who you are, Jane, but she told the truth about not being sure and about fainting at the sight of blood, at least her own. Look at her facial muscles here, here and here." With those words, she points said muscles out to me, but all I see is a tiny bit of movement under the skin, so I just nod, figuring that Maura knows what she's talking about.

"Also, I doubt she would be strong enough to saw off someone's head", Maura now goes on, making me look at her again, "and the fact that she reacted by emptying her stomach when she realized she was a suspect for murder, well…"

"That was the first time I saw someone puke at the thought", I let her know, now looking at the TV screen again, "but yeah, I agree, I don't think it was her, either."

"Most likely an unlucky coincidence that she hacked the database right when we're looking for a killer who did just that", Frost mumbles, sounding slightly peeved, but before I can ask him why, he goes on and explains the reason for his dismay. "And that means we're back to square one and still have no idea who did it."

"I still don't like the thought that the guy might be one of us", I say with a sigh, and in response, Maura grasps my hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze; I notice that Frost notices, but he doesn't make a comment, he just nods his agreement to what I said.

"Especially because he'll know about our progress", he then says, and makes us both look at him, "and once we get close to him, he'll know that, too. Who knows how he might react then… Or how he might react to certain, other developments."

I don't have to ask him what he means, but since Maura has no idea about the little talk I had with him, she looks quite puzzled, and when she asks him what he means, he obviously gets uncomfortable. Serves him right.

"Um, w-well, Dr. Isles", he stutters, not even able to look at me, man, so much about this being none of his business, "if he thinks that you and Jane, well… you know…"

He falls silent and gives me a pleading look, and even though he doesn't deserve it, I decide to help him out, even though I'll have to confirm his speculations, and that after I managed to avoid that so well in the car, dammit.

"He figured it out", I tell Maura, making her look at me with slight surprise on her face now, "don't ask me how, I have no idea either."

"Oh", she finally gets what he's talking about, "and now you worry that, if the perpetrator is one of us, he might notice too and that jealousy might make him attack Jane or me?"

"Yes, exactly", Frost sighs, clearly happy that Maura spelled it out for him so nicely; now that I heard that possibility out loud, I suddenly worry about as well, not about me, I can protect myself… well, most of the time… but about Maura.

"I like that thought even less than the idea that he really is one of us", I thus say, and clearly, Maura can hear the worry in my voice, because she gives me that cute concerned look she always gets when something upsets me.

"We already agree on the fact that he's not exactly mentally stable", I go on, making Frost nod, "so what if he notices, too, and decides that he has to get rid of you, Maura?"

"Well, that depends", Maura gives back, squeezing my hand reassuringly once more, "on if there is a realistic chance for him to notice. Yes, I know you did, Detective Frost, but don't forget how close you are to Jane and me, you work with us everyday. He doesn't need to be part of the homicide unit to look at the files to find his victims, and so, he's not necessarily as close to us as you or Vince are… So, the change in our relationship might go unnoticed by him."

"If only we had the tiniest idea who he is!" I grumble in frustration, running my free hand through my hair while I look at the paused image of Rendell again. "There are too many people who have access to that database", I go on, "all the officers, the people in homicide, the lab technicians… How are we supposed to narrow it down? Make them all saw off a head so we see who has the strength and who doesn't?"

"I don't think that would be a wise idea", Maura replies before Frost can say anything, once more oblivious to my sarcasm, man, we really need to work on that, "and also, there aren't enough corpses for all the people you just… Oh. That wasn't a serious question, was it?"

"No", I let her know, rolling my eyes, "of course not. I know we can't do that. But right now, I can't think of anything else, and I hate the thought of just sitting around, waiting for something to happen."

"This would be easier if we could see who accessed the files of our victims before they were killed", Frost sighs, "but for some idiotic reason, our logins don't leave a fingerprint if you just look at the files and don't change anything…"

He trails off and frowns to himself, then looks at the screen again, and from the expression on his face, I can tell that something's coming up in his mind, I know him well enough by now to figure that out simply by looking at him.

"What?" I wanna know, leaning forward a bit, noticing how Maura picked something up as well, since she now looks at him too; he shrugs, then gestures at the TV, at the frozen image of Rendell.

"Our system doesn't show those fingerprints", he then explains, "but maybe she can make it do that. She's good, you know, even though she messed up at hiding her IP."

"I don't think Lieutenant Cavanaugh will like the idea of letting some random hacker fool around with our database", I point out, "but it's worth a try, and maybe we can bribe her into doing it by promising her exemption from punishment for the hack if she does it."

"You already told her you wouldn't prosecute her for that", Maura reminds me, then raises an eyebrow when Frost and I smirk at each other.

"Yeah, we won't, but we're homicide, so it's not our case anyway", I then point the flaw of our little promise out to her, "but the correct department might. Unless she helps us."

"This sounds a bit like blackmail, which I'm not fond of", Maura lets us both know, "but, on the other hand, the thought of being targeted by our perpetrator is even less appealing, so I suggest you go for it."

"I'll go talk to Cavanaugh then", I decide, "he'll have to agree once he hears all the facts, and right now, that's our only shot at catching that guy."

"All the facts?" Frost tries to tease, and I give him a withering glare; he clears his throat and raises his hands in an apologetic gesture, and I'm glad he backs off, since he just coughs again, but doesn't say anything else, only nodding when I tell him to keep his mouth shut about what he just learned before I go to talk to Cavanaugh and Maura returns to the morgue, even though I don't like the thought of her being alone down there, not as long as that psycho is still free and might get the same clue about the change in our relationship Frost had.