It takes me almost half an hour, but finally, Cavanaugh gives in and agrees to bring Rendell back so she can do whatever she does and maybe find out who's been accessing the files of the two victims before they were killed; and now that Frost knows about Maura and me, we doesn't even try to make up some reason about her coming along, she simply tells him that she wants to and he just shrugs, obviously not caring. I guess we can be glad he handles this so easily, I never would have thought of him as homophobic, but people often tend to have nasty surprises in store when they are confronted with such a… thing in their immediate vicinity.
To my amusement, this time, there's no squabble between Maura and him about who sits where in the car; he just gets into the backseat without comment, and I briefly wonder if he expects us to cuddle and kiss in front of him now, then I shrug it off while I start the engine and drive out of the garage, hoping that Rendell went right back home after we told her she can go.
Since I'm focusing on the road, I'm not starting any small talk, and neither are Frost or Maura; so, we drive there silently, until we arrive at the apartment building and I just have to mutter a curse because there's no parking lot in sight, we really chose a bad time to come here now – all the people living there apparently just came home from work and took all the spaces that were free when he came here for the first time.
It seems to take forever until I finally find a parking lot, but a quick glance shows me it was just fifteen minutes; since the car now is parked around the corner, at the end of the dead alley there, it takes us another five to walk back to the apartment building, and that makes me break the silence because I just have to grumble about that.
"That was to be expected", Maura tells me, ever the logical and reasonable one, "after all, we arrived here just as rush hour ended."
"I know that", I say, rolling my eyes, "but that doesn't mean it doesn't annoy me."
"Better not let that annoyance show towards Miss Rendell, or she might get scared", Maura advises with a slight smirk, "from her facial expression during the interrogation, I could tell that she was quite intimidated by you."
"She better be, that'll make her agree faster", I grumble, and Frost lets out a snort that sounds like an agreement, that takes some of my annoyance away and I smirk at him before we all enter the building and climb the stairs to the second floor.
This time, it's me who rings the bell, but to my dismay, the apartment behind the door is silent now, no sounds of shouting or shooting coming from it; that means that Rendell isn't playing her weird game, but she could be at home anyway, so I ring the bell again, and longer this time, frowning when no answer comes.
"Seems like she's not home", Frost comments behind me, "maybe she wanted to get a drink after that traumatic, intimidating experience she had with you."
I let out some non-committal noise to that, I know that what he said sounds reasonable, but something tells me that this isn't the reason for the silence behind that wooden door.
"Miss Rendell?" I try another approach, leaning closer to the door, "it's Detective Jane Rizzoli again, there's something we need to talk about. Are you there? If you—" Maura grabbing my arm makes me fall silent, and I look at her in surprise; she puts a finger to her lips, then leans closer to the door as well, much closer than me though, so close that her ear is pressed against the wood.
"Miss Rendell?" she calls out, and I have a second to wonder what is going through her mind – and then I hear what she must have heard, the weak, barely audible groan coming from inside the apartment.
"Shit!" I curse, at no one in particular, and step back from the door, pulling Maura with me, then giving Frost a look that hopefully makes it quite clear what I want from him; luckily, he catches on quickly and kicks the door, the wood giving in after the second try and the door flying open as it splinters to bits around the lock.
The moment the door is open, I'm pushing past Frost, with Maura right behind me; and thanks to the lack of size of the apartment, I can spot Rendell immediately, she's on the living room floor, next to her overthrown chair, and, oh God, there's so much blood, I can't even tell where it's coming from.
Even though that is quite the shocking sight, I don't let it make me hesitate, not even for a second; and neither does Maura as she rushes forward with me, Frost behind us, and kneels down next to the fallen woman, her eyes flickering back and forth for a few moments until she locates the source of the blood and looks up at me again.
The look in her eyes is enough to tell me that it's bad, but we both know it would be bad to say that as long as Rendell is actually still conscious and can hear us; and so, I lower myself on one knee close to her head and grasp Rendell's hand, giving my best to sound confident and soothing as I speak up while, with my body blocking the poor woman's sight on her, Maura takes off her jacket and tears off a piece, then another, making me realize that there's more than one wound.
"It's okay, you'll be okay", I try to give Rendell some reassurance, "Maura here, she's a doctor, she'll make sure you stay here with us until the ambulance arrives." Luckily, I can hear Frost on the phone behind me, requesting the ambulance I'm talking about; then, the woman's fingers tighten on mine with surprising strength, and she looks at me, her eyes wide and full of pain, but stunningly clear.
Her lips begin to move, and blood trickles from the corners of her mouth and runs down her cheeks; it takes me a second to figure out what is going on, but then I realize she wants to tell me something and lean down, bringing my ear as close as possible to her lips.
"…something", she whispers, and even though I hardly know her, it pains me to hear how weak and full of pain her voice sounds, but I sense that what she has to say is important, maybe just to her, but she deserves to be heard, especially if this was done by who I think is responsible.
"Sweetie, you need to repeat that", I tell her, giving my best to sound soothing and not as if it's a reproach, "I couldn't understand you…"
"…tell you something", she tries again, it strains her to talk and I want to tell her to stop, but the look Maura gave me was clear enough – as much as it hurts to admit it, we might not get another chance to talk to her.
"What?" I thus try to cajole the words out of her, and finally, after taking in a few shuddery breaths, she talks on, and my heartbeat speeds up and I gasp, prompting Maura to look at me again, her hands still pressing the pieces of cloth on the wound, trying to stop the bleeding.
"He's watching", Rendell presses out, now sounding as if she's close to passing out, "you… don't try to…" Her eyes roll back into her head and she passes out, and I close my eyes for a moment, a mixture of rage and pain filling me as I figure out what she just told me.
"Jane?" Maura's voice distracts me from that, full of concern, "what did she tell you?"
"It was him", I say in reply, not even looking at her, but still focused on Rendell's dreadfully pale face, the brightly red blood on her cheeks and throat forming a sharp contrast to the white skin, "this is a message to me… He left it with her after he… He's watching, me, or us, or all of us, I don't know, and he wants us to stop trying to find him."
"How dreadful, that poor woman", Maura says, now looking at the unconscious woman as well, "and all because…" "…because we brought her in for questioning, even though we should have known right away it wasn't her", I finish for her, my hands clenching into fists at that crucial mistake. "I mean, just look at her! As if she could saw off a head! Really? And now he got her and…"
"It's not your fault", Maura interrupts me before I can say it, man, she really knows me well by now, immediately knowing that I'm convinced of the exact opposite. "Taking her along was the right thing to do according to our guidelines", she goes on when I finally do look at her, "and you couldn't know that this would happen."
"Dr. Isles is right", Frost adds his two cents, "how was any of us supposed to know he'd attack someone we just brought in for questioning? That guy's too insane, we could never figure something like that out."
"Yeah, whatever", I mumble, looking at the still body of Rendell again, "but if he thinks I'll listen to this, he doesn't know me well, crush on me or not. What he did to that poor woman only makes me more eager to find him, and I will, no matter if she'll be… able to help us or not." I look at Rendell again, I know she can't hear me, but that doesn't stop me from talking to her, ignoring both Maura and Frost for the moment, all my attention is focused on this poor woman who got dragged into something she had nothing to do with, just because of a stupid timing coincidence about her hack.
"You hear me?" I mumble, and I feel Maura move closer to me and put one hand on my back, I hope she made Frost push down the pieces of cloth, "we'll find the man who did this to you, and put him behind bars. I promise." I feel Maura's hand move from my back to my shoulder and give it a reassuring squeeze; and after a moment, I don't care about Frost being there anymore or about the ambulance men who now arrive and rush into the room, I reach up and place my hand on hers and look at her, and I can see it in her eyes that she'll work just as hard at catching this man as I'm going to, and it calms me down more than any words could have right now.
After Rendell has been loaded into the ambulance and taken to the hospital, I don't have the nerve anymore to go back to the precinct, so I tell Frost I'll head home; he just nods, reminding me of the fact that it's quite late by now anyway and letting me know that he'll just add this incident to the file and then will go home as well.
"I'll come with you", Maura lets me know while we walk to the car, just the two of us, Frost will take a cab back to the precinct, "you shouldn't be alone after this… If it's alright, of course, I don't want to obtrude…"
"You're not", I tell her, to anyone else, the answer would have been different – and much ruder – but it's Maura, and I want her with me, especially after that gruesome message I received through poor Rendell.
"And I want you around", I thus add, taking her hand and pulling her closer, I know we're on the sidewalk and anyone can see us, but I don't care, "I don't…" I trail off, even with her, it's so hard to admit weakness, it always has been for me and I'm not sure if this ever will change, not even when it's Maura, not even when she means so much to me.
"I know", she tells me, in a low, sincere voice, then pulls me down for a quick, but tender kiss; and then, we both get into the car and drive to my place, I'm in no mood to face Ma tonight, all I want is to sit down on the couch and cuddle with Maura until all the pain and the bad feelings and the guilt goes away, even though deep inside, I know that not even all the cuddling in the world with Maura will accomplish that, not as long as we don't know if our killer's latest victim will live or die.