Chapter 11

"Cedar Junction is pulling our requested items," Korsak said to Jane as he got off the phone. "They said they can email over scans of the correspondence they flagged as suspicious later this afternoon. The photos of his visitors, including Stills, won't be ready until tomorrow. They have to pull up video footage and take screen shots."

"I'll take whatever we can get," Jane said. While they had the photo from the parking garage they still didn't have an ID of the man that put Allyson in that car. It could be this Walter Stills but he could just as easily be someone they didn't even have an alias for yet. Frost hadn't had any more luck finding a Walter Stills in the system than Korsak had.

There was still way too much about this case that they didn't know. Besides the ID of the man from the parking garage, they couldn't tell if he was their killer. The footage wasn't enough to see if Allyson was killed before being moved to the Malibu or just incapacitated. They had a BOLO out on the Malibu but so far they hadn't found any Malibus abandoned and without accurate plates there wasn't much the BOLO could do for them.

Jane also had no idea about victimology. There was no evidence at all about why the killer targeted Allyson. She didn't know if Allyson had been chosen or id she was just a victim of opportunity. It was the victimology angle that Jane was actually hoping Jennings could help them with. Because of the guilty plea, Pelton was never forced to explain why he chose the two victims he chose. There was a chance Jennings would remember a reason or a theory that just never got written down into the files.

"Now let's just hope word doesn't get back to Pelton that we're asking," she said after a few minutes. They were still unclear about Pelton's involvement in everything and hoped to delay his learning that official inquiries had been made for as long as they could.

"We'll have a few days at best," Korsak warned. "You know how word travels in prison." Jane simply nodded. She glanced over at the clock it was approaching noon. Korsak noticed and spoke. "Go."

Jane looked over at him but didn't say anything.

"Seriously Jane," he said. "Go. I know you don't want to see him and he is supposed to be here at 1 pm. I'll handle talking with him. Why don't you go to lunch and then you can swing by that mailbox company with the photo from the parking garage. They told me if we had a picture they would at least tell us if they recognize the photo."

Jane considered this but still didn't say anything. She looked at Korsak and couldn't help but be thankful that she had him in her life. She loved Frost and she wouldn't give up working with him for anything but there was a bond between her and Korsak she was just extremely grateful wasn't severed after she requested a new partner. It had been hard for her to ask for someone else after Hoyt. But she had been convinced Korsak couldn't ever trust that she could have his back after seeing how she let Hoyt get the upper hand.

Time had helped to correct that misconception for her. Time and Vince's quiet brand of patience with her. She knew she caught a huge break when Korsak was promoted to Sergeant. That allowed her to continue to work and be partnered with him. The three had an excellent working relationship and Jane believed they were as successful with case closures because the three detectives all complimented each other.

But Vince was more than a partner. He was a dear friend. A friend who was quietly attempting to protect her from having to deal with Andrew Jennings. They had never talked about what happened. For years Jane didn't even think Vince knew she was involved in Jennings' sudden disappearance.

But one night at the Robber after they had closed a case in which a man killed his girlfriend in a drunken rage, Vince made a comment about how too many people were allowed to use alcohol as an excuse for their unacceptable behavior. He cited a few examples including Jennings. That was the first time Jane realized Vince might know what had happened. She didn't ask him and as he kept talking she was pretty sure he didn't even realize he used a situation involving her as an example.

She loved how he didn't pry into her life. He was there for her if she needed anything. Of that she was certain. But he didn't push when he shouldn't and he didn't pry when he wasn't wanted. And that was completely fine for him. He wasn't offended or bothered if she didn't share an issue. He just accepted Jane for who she was and let her decide when she would or wouldn't confide in him.

"Are you sure?" she finally asked. She really didn't want to even see Jennings but she still felt a little guilty leaving Vince to do what should have been her job.

"I'm sure. Go," he said. "I would imagine we should be finished by 3 but if for some reason we run longer than that I will text you." He knew Jane didn't want to even see the former detective so he would do everything he could to keep him from her.

Frost was working through the CSRU reports from Allyson's Nissan and had already said he had his own plans for lunch. Even though she was seeing Maura tonight she thought maybe Maura would like to go to lunch with her too. Turning to leave she paused and looked at Vince. "Thanks," she said in a soft voice that conveyed everything she couldn't say.

"Anytime," he said and returned to his stack of paperwork.

R&I

Sticking her head into Maura's office Jane greeted the ME with a question. "Lunch?"

Maura looked up and smiled at the detective. "I'd love to," she said and frowned. "But I can't. I am swamped right now and if you want me to be able to leave by 5 I need to work through lunch."

Jane was disappointed but understanding. She did need Maura to be free by 5 so she wasn't going to mess the evening up. "Do you want me to have Ma at least make you something to eat?" she asked worried Maura wasn't going to eat.

Maura smiled, "Would you mind?"

"Not at all," Jane said. "After all, I kept you up way past your bedtime last night. A food run is the least I can do for you today."

"Jane," Maura smiled, "you are surprising me with a…" and she almost let the word 'date' slip out, "where are we going again?" she asked more to cover her near slip of the tongue than in any belief Jane was going to tell her.

"Nice try," Jane pointed out and didn't seem to notice Maura's near slip. "But you do need to eat. I'll have Ma bring you down a salad or something equally healthy."

Maura nodded and looked at the clock. "When is he coming?" She was still bothered by what Jane had told her the night before and had been worried that Jane might somehow run into Jennings today.

"Vince said 1 pm," Jane answered. "I'll otherwise occupy myself until around 3 pm and he promised if they ran longer he would text me."

Maura was relieved to hear Jane was leaving the station. "Are you ok?" she asked.

"Yeah," Jane answered. "It really was a long time ago. I don't want to see him but I'm not afraid of him." This was true. She wasn't afraid that anything would happen between the two of them.

"Alright," Maura conceded. That had been years since the man had tried to hurt Jane.

"I'll have lunch sent down for you," Jane said as she turned to head back up to the cafe.

R&I

"Hey Ma," Jane said as she spotted Angela behind the counter. "Will you do something for me?"

"Depends," Angela replied. "Will you tell me what your plans are with Maura tonight?"

"Nope," Jane answered without even considering it.

"Then no," Angela replied. "You can get your own coffee." She tried to keep a straight face but couldn't and cracked a smile.

Jane laughed. "Nice Ma," she said. "Actually the favor is for Maura so you should just say yes."

That made Angela seem to want to be more helpful. "What does she need?"

"Lunch," Jane answered. "She can't join me if she is going to be free by 5 so I promised her you'd bring her down something so she doesn't starve."

Angela smiled. She would be happy to bring something down for Maura for lunch. She loved the way Jane looked out for Maura. It was obvious to everyone that Jane was protective of the ME but Angela always loved to see the smaller things Jane did for Maura that others didn't get a chance to witness. Making sure she got lunch when she was too busy to get away or taking her car in to be serviced when Maura forgot, or even how she would walk in front of Maura so she could point out safety issues especially in bad weather.

Angela actually noticed that one this last winter. They had all gone out for dinner and while walking back to the car Jane stayed in front of Maura and pointed out every patch of possible ice on the sidewalks along the way. Maura acted as if Jane did that all the time. Angela paid more attention over the weeks that followed and discovered that Jane did in fact do that all the time. She just added it to the growing list of evidence that had convinced her Jane loved Maura.

"Did she have a request?" Angela asked.

"Not really but I did promise her something healthy," Jane said.

"I think I can manage," the matriarch replied. "Do you need anything?"

"No," Jane answered. "I'm on my way out. I'll be back in a few hours. But thanks for taking something down for Maura." Jane handed Angela enough money to cover anything she would make for the ME and headed out.

"My pleasure," Angela replied and watched her daughter leave. Whatever it was they were doing tonight she hoped one of them would finally decide to call it a date.

R&I

"Are you sure about this Jake?" Jane asked. She was dropping off the items Jake promised to hold for her until later that night. Taking a longer lunch had actually worked out great for Jane. It allowed her the chance to leave them here instead was having to worry about Maura finding them in the car later.

"Jane," he said and sighed, "for the hundredth time I'm positive. You are all set. These will be fine here I promise. Just get here by 6. I've got everything else covered just like we talked about." He'd known Jane for most of her life but he couldn't remember ever seeing her this nervous about anything before.

Jane nodded. She trusted Jake but she was just nervous. "We'll be here."

"So," he asked, "who's the girl?" He just couldn't resist trying to find out.

"Jake," Jane warned.

"Hey," he said defensively. "I'm just asking. Clearly she means something to you. You're all twisted up and nervous not to mention that you are doing this for her. I just was wondering who the lucky lady was."

Jane had known Jake for years but there was no way she was going to talk to him about her private life. "I'm not all twisted up," she answered defensively. She was sick of people pointing that out to her.

"Right," he said and made no attempt to mask the sarcasm.

Since everything appeared to be under control she didn't need to stand there and take any of his crap. "See you tonight," she hollered at him as she walked away in a huff. She was not twisted up.

Jake shook his head and laughed. He couldn't wait to tell Roxie that someone had finally gotten Jane all twisted up. It was about time.

R&I

"I hope the salad is enough for you," Angela said as she delivered Maura her lunch. "Jane didn't ask for anything specific so I just made you what you had last week and seemed to really like."

"This is perfect," Maura said. "Thank you. I could have at least come up to get it. You didn't have to bring it down to me."

"Oh I don't mind running down here," Angela said. "Besides, it gets me away from Stanley for a few minutes."

Maura went to reach for her wallet in her purse and Angela stopped her. "Nope," she said. "Jane already took care of that."

"She didn't need to," Maura replied.

"She wanted to," Angela answered back. "You know how she is."

Maura just nodded. "So," she started. "Do you have any idea where she's taking me tonight?" If Angela knew Maura as pretty convinced she could get it out of her.

"No," she answered frustratedly. "Apparently Jane thinks I can't be trusted with a secret." That still had Angela a little hot under the collar.

Maura snickered. Leave it to Jane to withhold it from Angela. She was sure Jane did that because she knew Maura would try to ask. "You can keep secrets Angela," Maura acknowledged as she knew first hand.

"Did she tell you anything about your date?" Angela asked.

"It's not a date," Maura tried to point out.

"It would be if you'd tell her you wanted it to be one," Angela fired back.

"I just can't," Maura answered.

"You need to," Angela replied. "You and I both know you are going to have to make the first move. God knows she won't do it."

"Angela," Maura sighed. "I know you think Jane feels the same about me. I know you believe that she would be completely open to our friendship evolving into something more but you've also admitted that Jane's never said to you that she feels something more for me and she has never told you she wants something more than friendship from me. So as much as you believe that things would be just fine if I told her that I'm in love with her, I'm just not as sure about that as you seem to be."

"Maura," Angela started but Maura continued.

"No. If you are wrong. If I am wrong and I tell Jane something she doesn't want to hear. I could lose her. And she means too much to me for me to let that happen. She's all I have Angela. Jane, you, the boys. You are my family and I won't risk that."

"Maura," Angela tried again to get the ME to listen to her. "Jane may not have said to me with words how she feels about you but that's only because Jane doesn't use those words in the first place. She does, however, show me, and you if you would simply open your eyes and see it, how she feels about you in the things she does for you. Her heart, young lady, is in her actions not her words."

Maua went to say something but found that she had no response.

"Now," Angela said as she made her way out of Maura's office, "you just think about that and if you do you may very well come to see that being honest with Jane may not be the risk you seem to believe it to be."

With that Angela walked out and headed back to the cafe. Any person riding in the elevator with the Rizzoli matriarch was treated to her mumbled utterances about how she had two of the most stubborn and generally clueless daughters on the planet and something about how much easier it was to raise boys.

R&I

Jane didn't have any luck at the mailbox place with the photo from the parking garage. The lady working did say that the shift manager might remember better than she would but he was off until Tuesday. It was a shot anyway. Jane knew the photos from Cedar Junction would be coming soon and Frost was running the photo through facial recognition as well. She was confident at some point they would get an ID on their prime suspect.

Not getting a warning text from Korsak that she needed to stay away longer Jane started to head back towards the station. She had stopped by her place to change her clothes and take Jo for a quick walk. She would have about two hours in which she could help Frost review the CSRU reports from the Nissan and that should also be plenty of time to get the recap from Vince about his conversation with Jennings. She had no idea if he would remember anything about the closed cases but it was worth a try.

She got to her desk and looked around for Vince but couldn't find him. She saw Frost was in the BRIC so she went to speak with him.

"What are you doing?" Jane asked as she took a seat next to her partner.

"We are at a standstill with the CSRU reports from the Nissan. They are still running the fibers and prints they found in the car but no matches yet. So I thought I'd go through the rest of the parking garage video and see if I can find anything more."

Jane sometimes hated the endless waiting that came with the job. They were always waiting for lab results, cell phone records or calls to be returned. "Finding anything with the video?"

"The Malibu was already parked on the fifth level when this video footage starts so it was there prior to 9 pm. I called the garage and they are going to do a playback to see when the car entered the garage. I'd like to see if it was driven there by the same guy who drove it and Allyson away."

"Good thinking," Jane said and smiled. She hadn't even thought about that. Let me know when you hear back from the garage." She looked around again before asking. "Have you seen Vince?"

"He went to lunch," Frost answered. Jane nodded and wondered how the conversation with Jennings had gone. Before she could ask Frost anything he was answering, "Jennings called and postponed until Monday."

"Did he say why?" Jane asked. She wasn't real happy to hear that the meeting was postponed. As much as she hadn't liked the idea of Jennings being pulled into one of her cases, she was hoping he might have some information that would help their case.

Jennings wouldn't be able to help with most of their unanswered questions but Jane had been hopeful that he might remember something about the 2002 cases that could help them develop a lead or two. A name or a gut instinct he may have had he never wrote down in a report. Something or someone who they could tie to Pelton.

At the very least she thought he could help with victimology. So for him to put off his interview with Vince was frustrating. The clock on this case was ticking and they didn't have time for postponements or rescheduled interviews. Not when there was the possibility of another victim that could happen in just over a week.

Frost shook his head. "He didn't say. Korsak wasn't real happy about it. If he was given an excuse I didn't get the impression he found it a very good one."

"Alright," Jane said trying not to get too annoyed. At this point there wasn't anything she could really do. "I'm going to see if the email has come from Cedar Junction yet."

Jane made her way back to her desk and checked her email. There were several emails from Cedar Junction. No photos yet but they had sent over Pelton's visitor logs for the last 18 months as well as correspondence they kept copies of that had been flagged as 'suspicious'.

Jane groaned slightly when she saw the size of the files that were sent over. She no longer needed to worry about what she was going to do until 5 pm rolled around. She was going to be lucky to make it through the first email before she needed to head out for the night.

A/N 'Date' night will be tomorrow's chapter- promise