Maura finally calmed down by the time that the coroner's van arrived. She had her Queen of the Dead demeanour on and appeared to be unmoved by the body of her best friend. The sun was already rising as they got back to the morgue. They used the back entrance to get the body inside. Maura immediately changed into scrubs, adamant to prove her gut right for once. The whole scenario just doesn't make sense.
Cavanaugh entered the morgue just behind her.
"Dr. Isles, you can't perform the autopsy on Detective Rizzoli." He said firmly.
Maura raised her eyebrows at him and then continued to verify the tags on the body bag.
"Dr. Isles, please don't make this any harder. Phone Pike to do the autopsy." Cavanaugh tried to argue with the Medical Examiner.
Maura flung her clipboard on the table. Her eyes were raging with anger. "Pike will not touch this woman. Jane hated him." She yelled.
"Then get somebody else. Perhaps the Medical Examiner from the FBI, it is actually their case." Cavanaugh stayed calm. He knows his best chance of removing Maura from the lab is to be reasonable. She will not be moved with threats and anger.
"Jane did not like strangers to touch her body." Maura declared.
"I am afraid that she does not have much of a choice. You cannot do the autopsy." Cavanaugh insisted.
"Why not?" Maura asked offended.
"Because it will be inhumane!"
Maura felt a new wave of fury hit her body: "How dare you say that I will treat this woman with any less respect than she deserved? If this is Jane, I owe it to her to do the autopsy to maintain her dignity."
Cavanaugh sighed, wiping over his face. "That is not what I have meant, Dr. Isles. It will be cruel to allow you to do the autopsy of your best friend. There are books full of regulations to prevent that type of trauma for medical practitioners."
Maura did not have a lot of sympathy for his predicament: "I will be fine. The do not call me Queen of the Dead for nothing." She hissed.
"Dr. Isles, don't force me to carry you out of the morgue." Cavanaugh got upset as well.
"You can't do that!" Maura protested.
"I can. As an officer of the law I can take any measures necessary to protect civilians."
Maura breathed deeply, her mind scurrying to find a solution. "Please, Sean." She said with a broken voice. "I have to make sure."
"Maura, please step outside. I really don't want to restrain you."
Maura looked down at the bag in front of her. She pushed the trolley to a vacant tray and put the body in the freezer. She then left the morgue with a relieved Sean Cavanaugh. Outside she locked the morgue down, making it inaccessible for anybody else than her. Cavanaugh anticipated something like this and he called a patrol officer with lock down cables closer. After Cavanaugh secured the entrance, he turned to Maura.
"Go home, Dr. Isles. Hopefully you will be reasonable tomorrow and then we can unlock the morgue together."
That was not really what Maura had in mind, but she was left no choice. "Promise?"
Cavanaugh nodded. "We will discuss it tomorrow morning and hopefully reach a resolution. Think of alternatives in the mean time, Dr. Isles. I cannot let you do that autopsy."
"What if other bodies come in?" Maura asked as the implication of her action hit her.
"Cambridge can deal with it." Cavanaugh shrugged. "Officer Kennedy will take you home."
Maura conceded, she was really exhausted and she trusted Cavanaugh to keep his word. She did not bother to change out of the scrubs. She took all the morgue's keys, her cell phone and allowed the patrol officer to take her home.
Angela had resigned herself to Jane's death a couple of months ago. She experienced relief to know that she at least will have a body to bury. She was therefore surprisingly calm when Maura arrived.
"Are you okay?" she asked Maura.
Maura nodded absentmindedly. "Where is Angie?"
"She has just fallen asleep. Why don't you join her?"
Again Maura only nodded and went upstairs. Angie was lying in her crib, peacefully sucking her thumb. Maura kissed her temple, gently removed her thumb from her mouth and then fell onto the bed in Angie's room.
It was already in the afternoon when Maura jerked awake. She went to her room to have a shower and changed. She then went looking for Angie. Angie was with Angela and the priest who have baptised her in the lounge.
"Good Afternoon, Fr. O'Reilly." Maura greeted the elderly man politely.
"Good afternoon, Dr. Isles. I am really sorry for your loss. We are discussing the funeral arrangement for Jane. We will value your input."
Fr. O'Reilly was kind, but that did not stop Maura from getting upset. "Funeral arrangements are premature, as the body has not yet been identified. Come Angie."
The little girl scurried from Angela's lap and hurried to her mother.
"Maura!" Angela called, but Maura only picked up Angie and left through the front door. Maura went to the park close by. She sat on the bench and placed Angie on her lap facing her. That way they could have eye contact. Angie stared at her with her wide green eyes.
"Hi!" Maura said with a smile.
"Hi, Mommy." The girl answered back.
"Things are very crazy at the moment, Angie Blossom. I think that you must be so confused. Heaven knows what Nona have told you."
Angie tilted her head, listening to Maura.
"Let me tell you what have happened and then you can be the judge." Maura leaned forward, kissing Angie's brow.
"Gabby fetched me very early this morning. They have found your Mama's car. We, uncle Vinnie and uncle Frankie went to investigate the car. We then found a body in the car, with Mama's badge, phone and jewellery. They then just all assume that it must be your Mama."
Maura sweetly tapped Angie's nose, the baby still listening intently. She should feel the gravity of the situation as Angie would normally not sit so still.
"Officers of the law love jumping to conclusions. That is why they need their scientific colleagues; otherwise they will act on unsubstantiated claims. Remember that if you want to be a detective one day, always let the confirmed evidence lead you."
"Evence!" Angie said solemnly, almost as promise.
"Good girl, sweetie pie." Maura praised with a smile. "I will need to do a DNA analysis to confirm the body's identity. It just does not make sense. Your Mama was kidnapped in a dark SUV. The sperm donor has shot her and she was severely injured. We don't even know how her Jeep was removed from your old house. It just seemed very unlikely that she could be found in a different car than from what she was removed from the scene. The body shows evidence of severe head trauma. That would have been instantly fatal. It is impossible to drive to a river to die there. There just have to be more to it."
Angie leaned into Maura, resting her head just about her mother's heart. Maura stoked her curly hair.
"We will find the truth, Honey. I promise you. Just don't believe what everybody is telling you."
Maura did not get much sleep that evening. She knew Cavanaugh is right, regulations prevented her from doing autopsies on loved ones. She was still the Chief Medical Examiner and she could dictate what tests should be done on the Jane Doe's autopsy. Maura cringed at the common term for an unidentified body. Why can't it be a Jill or Sarah Doe?
She went to the precinct early the next day. In part she was trying to avoid Angela before the older woman could give Maura another one of her acceptance speeches.
"Lieutenant Cavanaugh asked that you should please come to his office when you arrive." Officer Jackson from the front desk informed her. Maura frowned slightly at this request – she was 34 minutes early for work. They reached an agreement regarding the morgue yesterday. Although, the morgue can't stay closed indefinitely and Cavanaugh was probably eager to reopen it.
Maura knocked firmly on Cavanaugh's door. To her surprise there were two other people in his office. "Good morning, Dr. Isles." Cavanaugh greeted. "This is agents Dafoe and Anderson from the CIA." Cavanaugh hinted to the man and woman in his office. "Please take a seat."
Neither agent attempted to shake Maura's hand or even greet her. Maura decided not to be bothered about it and sat down next to the male agent. The female agent had the seat at the far end.
"CIA, Lieutenant?" Maura questioned Cavanaugh. He only shrugged.
"Dr. Isles," the male agent said, "We will explain shortly, but first we need you to sign a title 18."
Maura immediately got upset. The last time she had to sign a title 18 she and Jane had a huge fight. Jane even said that she hated Maura during the fight. No-one could blame her for being wary of those wicked documents.
"I refuse to sign a Title 18!" Maura stated firmly.
"I am afraid that you don't have a choice in the matter." The female agent said.
Maura raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms.
"Dr. Isles, we cannot divulge top secret information unless a Title 18 is signed." The male agent tried again.
Cavanaugh knew his medical examiner: "Agents, can I please have a word with Dr. Isles in private?"
The agents looked at each other and then walked out of the room. They left the Title 18 on the desk. Cavanaugh sighed and came to sit next to Maura. He took her hand: "Dr. Isles, I do not like it one bit. I have been a cop for more than 30 years and this is the first time I ever crossed paths with the CIA."
"What do they want from me?" Maura huffed.
"I don't know." Cavanaugh admitted. "I only know that they don't want you to do the autopsy of the body downstairs."
"Why?"
"I don't know. I had to sign a title 18 as well for only introducing them to you. They want to remove you from the premises and then I have to break to morgue open and let Pike do the autopsy. I don't have a lot of experience with the CIA, but I know they never explain anything to mere mortals. For one or another reason they are willing to explain to you. There are other methods at their disposal to get what they want. And I ask myself why?"
Maura frown and Cavanaugh continued. "Since they have showed up last night, I have to agree with you. I don't believe for one second that is Jane in the morgue. I know that the DNA test will show that it is Jane, but that you will not be fooled. And they cannot afford to have you unconvinced."
"Why?" Maura is really confused.
Cavanaugh smirked: "The only way you are going to find out, is to sign that Title 18. I can only guess, but you will be told. It is actually a big achievement to be allowed insight to top secret CIA projects.
Maura thought about this a moment. This made more sense than a fatally injured woman driving to a secluded spot to die.
"We won't be able to discuss this ever again, but if I were you I will insist on full disclosure." Cavanaugh smiled. "Can I have the key to the morgue? I will really appreciate if we don't have to break the morgue down."
Maura smiled and handed him the key. He opened the door and the agents walked back inside.
"I want full disclosure." Maura said.
"You cannot set the terms." The woman objected.
'Bitch!' Maura thought as she stood. "In that case, I have an autopsy I need to perform on a Jane Doe downstairs.
"Full disclosure!" the man agreed. Maura smiled sweetly as she picked the pen up to sign the document.