The next morning, the married couple arrives at the precinct after having a good breakfast.
Jane spots Susie in the lobby first and frowns, because the woman seems to be a little edgy this morning.
Maura is following her wife's eyes and furls her eyebrows as she sees her employee who seems to be waiting for her. She looks confused at the Italian before she heads for Susie. It wouldn't be the first time that something went terribly wrong downstairs and that Susie is waiting for her to prepare her for the mess. "Susie, is everything all right?"
Susie's troubled eyes are shifting from Jane to her superior and she frowns a little. "Um, I am not quite sure how to tell you this, Dr. Isles."
"Just spit it," the detective suggests and shrugs as the doctor shoots her a glare. "What?"
Susie clears her throat and swallows hard. "Well, we took inventory before the change of shift, as usual. And we -"
"You what," Jane asks as the younger woman trails off.
Susie shakes her head and starts to walk towards the staircase. "I better show you, because you won't believe me if I tell you. Even I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it myself."
Jane and Maura exchanging questioningly looks and follow Susie hot on her heels. The detective is wondering what has made Susie doubting herself. There aren't so many things on this planet that could give all of them a shock. She shrugs and places an hand on the small of Maura's back. She furls her eyebrows as Susie opens the heavy metal door that leads to the storage room where the body fridge has its place. "Why are we in here?"
"That is a very good question." The doctor says with a nod.
Susie looks at the two women and opens an drawer and pulls out a female body on the gurney.
Jane shrugs again and looks unimpressed at the scientists. "Nothing shocking in there."
"The drawer is supposed to be empty." Susie says after a moment of silence.
Maura's eyebrows shoot up high. "Excuse me?"
"You have to be kidding me," Jane says out loud and a deep frown is crawling up on her forehead.
Susie glances uncertain at both of them and sighs heavily. "We checked the register over and over again and always came to the same conclusion. This body isn't supposed to be in here."
Jane closes her eyes for a moment because this doesn't make any sense to her and then she points at the dead woman. "Are you telling me that someone broke in here again and dropped off a dead woman instead of stealing another pair of shoes or drugs?"
"Yes." Susie agrees and nods.
Jane looks in disbelief at the younger woman and then at her wife. She already has seen a lot of things but something like that is new, even for her. She never has seen someone who has so much temerity to do something like that. Breaking into a forensic department is already forward, but doing so twice and dumping a body in it is inconceivable and it is worrying her immensely.
She grabs her phone from its holder and starts to type a text message to Frost. Something deep inside of her tells her that the first burglary was just test run and that whoever did this is giving them the runaround. And she doesn't like it at all. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me, she thinks and growls low and dangerously.
Maura has an shocked expression and can feel panic coming up now. She is asking herself how she is supposed to feel safe if someone broke in twice into a place with the best surveillance and that is brim-full with cops.
She licks nervously her lips and her hand finds automatically its way to her belly. She hopes that the little gesture makes Susie think that this all just gives her a queasy feeling and nothing else.
It doesn't take Frost and Korsak very long to be downstairs in the morgue and the younger detective is using the ME's computer to look through the video footage.
Jane and Korsak had helped Susie to put the dead woman onto the autopsy table and are waiting for Maura who changes into her black scrubs.
"I don't like where this is going, Jane." The older man says with a stern look. "Breaking in one time can make us think that a junkie who needs his fix, but twice … That's a challenge."
Jane is wearing a deep frown on her forehead and she is wringing her hands. She sighs heavily and nods while she is staring at the new body.
The woman is in the age of thirty. She has a fair complexion and wavy blond hair, worn long. She is a little tall, somewhat thin. And there isn't a Y-incision yet. To be honest, she can't see a injury at all.
"I don't like it either, Vince." She whispers and glances at him. "Maura doesn't need that kind of stress right now. I mean, not with her -" She caught herself as she is about to talk about Maura's miscarriage and as she realizes that Maura didn't tell anybody about it but her. She is grateful that he isn't a person who presses for more information when it comes to her.
He nods slowly and furls his eyebrows. "I make sure that Maura won't be alone at any time of the day until we catch this bastard. I promise, Jane."
"What about my mother," the Italian asks and swallows hard.
"A officer is going to escort her to the guest house after her shift." He answers and looks long into her eyes and can see the soothing effects of his words in them.
Both of them are turning their heads when the door opens.
Maura slows her steps as she sees the three detectives. "Uh, are you going to watch me the whole time?"
"Yes," the three are saying in unison.
"That is absolutely not necessary." The doctor laughs and puts on a pair of gloves, walking to the autopsy table.
"Let us size up the situation, Maura." Jane replies and crosses her arms over her chest, frowning.
Maura glances long at her wife and takes a deep breath before she starts to examine the body.
"I can't see any wound." Jane states and smiles apologetically at the ME as she scowls at her. She is aware of the fact that Maura has just started with her work and Korsak rolls his eyes with a smile.
Frost doesn't say anything and keeps his eyes on the screen, watching the footage closely. He can feel that there is something going on between the two women and that makes him work harder.
Jane takes a step closer to the table and furls her eyebrows. "She looks like she is sleeping."
Maura looks up and frowns a little. She nods approvingly and sighs heavily. She has thought the same as soon as she has seen the latest victim. She takes a closer look and comes to the same conclusion, there isn't any wound that could have caused the woman's death, until she examines the woman's left hand closely. She tilts her head to the side and furls her eyebrows. "Hmm." She simply states.
Jane straightens up and frowns deeply. "What?"
Maura doesn't look at her wife and seems to be in her very own world now. "There is a deep cut in between the thumb and the index finger. The blade of the knife has to be straight, I can't see any frazzle. The cut is deep enough to cut the radialis indicis artery."
"Is it fatal," Korsak asks and stuffs his hand in the pockets of his trouser.
Finally, Maura looks up and turns to the detectives. "It can be fatal if this kind of injury isn't treated appropriately."
Jane is sensing that something is bugging her wife and she steps closer. "What is it, Maura?"
"This is a very unusual kind of wound." Maura answers and looks thoughtfully at the Italian. "Not many people do know about those arteries and that they could cause death if there not treated."
"With not many people you mean that only people with medical knowledge could know that."
Maura is standing there and only nods.
"Now we're getting somewhere." Jane says and looks at the poor woman. "So she bled out."
"Yes," the doctor replies and takes a deep breath. "Such a death can be painful and slow. And it is obvious that she didn't die here."
"So, we're looking for a isolated place," Jane says and looks at Korsak and Frost. "That doesn't help a lot."
"How about fingerprints," Korsak asks and looks at the blonde.
Maura raises her eyebrows and sighs heavily. "You can take them after I scrapped her nails." She says and the older man nods approvingly.
Frost glances at the Italian and frowns deeply. "Jane, I got something, but it is not going to help."
The two detectives and the doctor are going to him and look at the screen of the computer.
They watch how a hooded person enters the Forensics over the ramp and how he tries to avoid most of the surveillance cameras. It appears that he knows exactly where they are and that he only get caught by them if he wants to. But they never get a clear view of his face and it feels like that he laugh them to scorn.
"Damn it." Jane growls through gritted teeth and clenches her fists. She turns away and feels deep down the urge to hit something or someone. "It's like he shows us the middle finger and laughs us in the face."
Maura can feel and understand her wife's frustration and licks her lips. She pulls of her gloves off and starts to leave the autopsy room. "Please excuse me for a minute." She says and leaves the detectives to themselves.
"Maura -" Jane says with furrowed eyebrows and wants to follow the blonde, but she stops abruptly as she feels an hand on her forearm.
"Jane, give her a minute." Frost says with concerned eyes.
Jane looks long at him and her shoulders slump. She runs an hand through her hair with a heavy sigh and is wishing that they never would have caught that damn case. Killing Daniel Powers, Kelly Ellison, throwing a poison-pen letter into their mailbox and now dumping a body under their eyes is really getting to her now. She growls dangerously and closes her eyes, counting to ten.
She knows that she can't fix everything around her and that there are times when her wife needs some time to herself and she is sure that this psychopath won't come here now and steal Maura away.
"Maybe you go and have a coffee, Jane." Korsak suggests with a shrug and he can tell that Frost does have the same opinion. "Go and get a clear head. Frost and I stay here."
Jane looks long at both of the men and nods slowly before she leaves without a word.
Korsak groans loudly and he looks down at the younger detective. His eyes are saying it all. All of them want this case to be over so their lives can be normal again.
Frost sighs heavily and leans back in his chair. "What is going on between Jane and Maura?"
"Just -" Korsak replies and is about to follow Jane. "Stay here until I fount a relay for you."
Frost takes a deep breath and jumps up from the chair as he sees Maura leaving her office." Doc, where are you going?" He asks as he pushes through the double door.
Maura rolls her eyes and licks her lips. "I am going and get some fresh air, if you don't mind."
He frowns and swallows hard. He never had been in the situation to refuse something from the ME and wife of his friend. "I, uh, I actually do mind."
Maura laughs humorlessly and raises her brows. "How do you gonna stop me from doing so, Detective Frost? Cuff me, locking me in my office?"
He straightens up so he seems to be taller. He is sure that Jane is going to kill him if something happens to the doctor under his watch. "Yeah, if I have to. Look, a homicidal maniac broke in here twice and the last time he dumped a body. I don't want to be responsible if anything happens to you."
Maura purses her lips defiantly. "You're only saying it because you don't wanna justify yourself in the case if really something happens."
Frost swallows his groan and he understands why Maura and Jane are perfect for each other. He raises his hands and frowns. "I am saying it because you are my friend, and I care about all of my friends."
Maura's defensive demeanor drops and she smiles weakly. "Do you wanna join me for a tea?"
"Yeah, why not," he asks and follows her. "Though I prefer a coffee."
" Of course you do." Maura counter with a smile and a roll of her eyes.
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Jane enters BRIC and looks at her brother who is sitting at desk. "Are these the fingerprints of you latest victim?"
Frankie doesn't look at her but nods. "Yap."
"Anything so far?"
"I wouldn't sit here if I would have anything."
Jane smiles and punches his shoulder. "Thanks for doing this."
"No need to thank me, sis." He replies and sips his coffee. "Maura is family and no one is threatening my family."
She nods and sits down on a free chair. She knows that he means it because they are forged in the same furnace. "Still."
He is about to reply something as his computer is beeping and both of them are looking at the big screen on the wall. He frowns and clicks the mouse. "All right, here we got something. Her name is Cheryl Brown, thirty-one. She has been charged for alcohol-impaired driving."
Jane props her elbows on her knees and furrows her eyebrows. "Run her name once more. Let's see if it pops up in any other relations."
He nods and types the name of the victim in again. It doesn't take long, though, and the computer beeps again.
Jane looks at the big screen and all color drains from her face as she gets up from her feet, her whole body is feeling numb all of a sudden. "You have to be kidding me!"
"What the hell?" Frankie says and gets up too, a deep frown on his forehead.
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"This is our Jane Doe." Jane says and slides the picture of the driver's license over the table. "Her real name is Cheryl Brown. You sure that you never have seen her before?"
Maura is looking annoyed at her wife and licks her lips. "I have never seen her before until today, Jane. Why are you asking me that?"
Jane purses her lips and looks briefly at Frost and Korsak. "Cheryl Brown was a key witness in one of Ben's trails. She had to watch how her friend Beth got raped and killed by three sophomore. They called it a fraternity pledging of the Sigma Chapter. It was the trail when you testified in one of Ben's cases for the first time."
Cognizance washes over Maura's face and she releases a long sigh. "Oh. Kathy McCartney." She breathes and Jane nods. "The defense made mincemeat of my arguments by their own experts."
"Have you ever met Cheryl Brown during the hearings?"
"I sure did, but I didn't know that she was a witness of prosecution. Ben and I … we kept avoiding to talk about work when we started to date, and we kept that rule for most of the times. I mean, we talked sketchy about work, but not in that way that I could be biased."
"You? Biased?" Jane replies and the men smile knowingly. "That could never happen. Anyway, you one hundred percent sure Cheryl never come to your house?"
Maura rolls her eyes and taps on the picture. "Ben and I barely knew each other when he caught that case, Jane. Why would he meet his witnesses at my house?"
Jane doesn't say anything but shrugs with furrowed eyebrows.
Maura's eyes went huge as realization washes through her body. "Are you suspecting me?"
"No!" Jane says with an high-pitched voice and frowns. "You do have the best alibi you can think of, me."
"Are you suspecting Ben again?"
Frost shakes his head. "No, Ben is at the west coast as far as we know. And I don't see a reason why we should suspect him at all."
Jane shakes her head and shrugs. "Me neither. The last time he became the focus of an investigation, his brother set him up because of Geoffrey's daddy issues. And I don't think that Geoffrey is behind all of this again, he got Tim's attention."
"But who would do all of this?" Maura asks and looks almost helplessly at the two and fear is written all over her face.
The Italian keeps the blonde's gaze and sighs heavily. She is asking herself the same and the thought of setting up Maura once more is crushing her mind. Well, there are hundreds of people in Boston whose family members or friends are in jail because of forensic evidence and her wife's testimony, and that each of them are brooding on revenge. And she is sure in her case it isn't any better. But all she wanna do right now is to engulf the doctor in a hug and to tell her that it'll be all right again, and that nothing is gonna happen to any of them. She starts to shake her head again. "I don't know, Maura, but we're gonna find out."
"I can't stay all the time up here," Maura states and looks at Frost and Jane. "I have work to do and so do you."
"We don't think that the killer is breaking in in the middle of the day." Frost says and his face is beyond concern. He takes a deep breath and raises his eyebrows. "A d when you leave your office for the night one of us is driving you home."
Maura's shoulders slump and she licks annoyed her lips. She didn't think that she would have limited freedom of action after all she already went through and she knows that it would be more than unreasonable to blame her wife for that, but right now no one else volunteer for being the scapegoat.
Jane can see the disapproval in hazel eyes and she takes Maura's hand in her own, squeezing it. If she has to be reason for her wife's anger now, so it be, she can handle it. "It's for your own safety, Maura. And don't bite Frost's head off, it was my idea."
The younger man is about to protest because each of them decided that this would be the best way, but he stops himself as he catches her eyes who tell him that he better shut up because she can survive Maura's tantrum when she comes home. He points with his thumb over his shoulder and frowns. "I, um, I give you girls a minute."
"Thanks," the Italian sighs.
Maura is waiting until they are alone in the conference room and closes her eyes for a brief second. "I know that it wasn't only your decision, Jane. And that your trying to keep me safe."
"That's my job, Maura." Jane replies and looks with raised eyebrows at the ME. "It is my job to keep you and our baby safe."
"And what about you," Maura asks and she notices the confused look in her very own detective. "Who is gonna keeping you safe, Jane?"
Jane whole body language is changing and her eyes soften. "Maura -"
The blonde blinks the tears in her eyes back and gets up from the chair. "I have to go back downstairs. I am waiting for Cheryl Brown's tox screen."
Jane is up to her feet in no time and wants to follow her wife. "Maura, wait." She begs but the other woman simply ignores her and leaves the conference room without looking back.
She is standing dumbfounded there and her eyes are as big as saucers as she watches Maura leave. She clenches her fists and growls through gritted teeth. Whoever is turning their lives currently upside down, she's gonna rip him a new one after they catch him. She runs her hands over her face and releases an angry sigh.
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It is already late when Jane pulls up in the driveway and kills the engine. She is taking a moment and stares at the illuminated house, she has spotted Frost's car at curb and is sure that he is sitting on the couch and watches TV while he waits for her to get home. Frankie and Korsak came back to the station and told her that Cheryl Brown is another dead end, her husband couldn't see any reason why she had been killed because Ben and Cheryl broke the contact shortly after the sentence.
She takes a deep breath and grabs her jacket and black leather briefcase from the passenger's seat and gets out of her car. She isn't quite sure why exactly she needs a briefcase, but her wife insisted that this would be more 'elegant' than a simple plastic bag. And one day she found a brand new briefcase that was waiting for on the kitchen island. She has learned early that it would be useless to argue with Dr. Maura Isles about what is superfluously even though it is more 'elegant'. It is a waste of time because it is a lost battle.
She groans and unlocks the front door of the house, throwing her keys in a bowl. "Where is she?" She asks and drops the briefcase on the small desk behind the couch.
Frost gets up to his feet and is holding a bottle of beer in his hand. "Upstairs, she said she's gonna take a bath. I thought that it would be inappropriate to follow her and wait in front of the bathroom door." He smirks as he sees his partner's small smile. "What did Korsak and Frankie find out?"
"That it was a total waste of time to drive all the way to Roslindale." Jane says with a sigh and walks to the fridge, taking two cans of soda out of it. "Her husband told them that Cheryl and Ben didn't stay in touch after the sentence and that he didn't report her as missing because she stayed with a friend for a couple of days."
Frost gets the hint and gathers his belongings. "So, another dead end." He states and walks towards the front door.
"Yep," she agrees and follows him.
"Shit."
She looks long at him as he steps into the night and frowns. "Thanks for bringing her home, Frost."
He nods and shrugs. "Any time. See you tomorrow at work."
She smiles and nods. "Yeah, be safe." She says before she closes the door and locks it. She closes her eyes and glances at the ceiling before she is heading upstairs. She knows that her wife is flabbergasted because of the whole situation and that she is focusing her anger on her.
Jane doesn't bother to knock on the bathroom door and enters the room, frowning. She sees Maura sitting in the tub and suspects that the blonde has her eyes closed because she is not turning her head to look at her. She takes a deep breath and walks to her, placing the cool metal of can in the crook of Maura's neck.
The doctor jumps a little and drags her eyes open, looking into Jane's amused face. "Hi."
Jane smirks wryly and sits down on the edge. "Hi."
The doctor opens the can and takes a swig out of it. "Do you wanna join me?"
Jane is only rolling the item between her hands and shakes her head. She isn't quite sure how to tell her wife that they still got nothing. "Nah, you enjoy the bath and I watch you." She pauses as the words leaves her mouth and looks at a smiling Maura. "And that just sounded wrong."
Maura laughs amused and slips her hand into Jane's to prevent her from rolling the can all over again. "You know, you can drink alcohol, Jane."
Jane is looking at their linked hands and purses her lips. "That seems to me wrong. Why should I drink beer if you can't have your wine?"
Maura smiles sweetly and tugs on her wife's hand. "It's okay to have a beer or two when you come home, Jane."
"Thank you, but I am not in the mood tonight." The detective replies and her eyes are finding Maura's.
The doctor recognizes the gaze and releases a heavy sigh. "Another dead end."
Jane swallows the lump in her throat down and nods. She can feel the atmosphere shifting and frowns. "Maura, I am doing everything I can."
Maura doesn't look at her anymore and licks her lips with a nod. "I know."
Jane suppress a low growl and gets up from the tub. She pulls her shirt over her head and tosses it into the hamper. "I am going to take a shower and then I am going to bed." She says and unbuckle a angrily her belt. She can feel the stare of Maura on her back and steps out of her pants. She clenches her teeth as she gets out of the rest of her clothes and steps into the shower stall. She isn't really sure why she suddenly feels angry, or because of whom, but she slams her left fist into the wall after she turned on the water and leans with her forehead against the cool tile. What she couldn't see is that Maura is jumping in the tub with an aghast face.
