Everything and Nothing 14
A/N- Hey folks, sorry for the delay, I've been partying like it's 1999! Had to get some tedious plot details in this chapter so sorry if it's a little
"So what's our story?" Maura asked rubbing her hands together gleefully.
"I don't know, we don't really like exploitation of the regular joe by big business?" Jane shrugged, then looked to where her camera was sitting in the back seat and reached over to pick it up. I told them I am a photographer."
"Ooooh, what am I?" Maura asked, wriggling in her seat.
"You're a friend." Jane said simply. "My friend...my girlfriend." She corrected with only a little effort. "You're you."
A tiny triumph then Maura deflated. "Do we at least have assumed names?" She tried hopefully.
"What name would you choose?" Jane asked, amused.
"Claudette?" Maura grinned. "Or Francesca..."
"No. You Maura, Me Jane." Jane said in a deep tone, punctuating with her thumb.
Maura was too disappointed to even recognise she had missed yet another pop culture reference.
The second Jane stepped out of the car a young man with large rimmed glasses and a clipboard was at her side and introducing himself.
"I'm Sammy." He said extending his hand expectantly.
Jane looked at him and frowned but briefly clapped his hand into hers. "Jane." She stated. "This here's Maura." Jane tossed her head to where Maura was straightening up on the other side of the car.
Maura smiled enthusiastically and offered a little wave.
Sammy waved back and looked to his clipboard. "Okay, I just need to get a few details from you, if I may?" Sammy asked.
"It was Ben that invited you along, right?" Sammy said. "He scribbled your names on to my print out." Sammy told them. "This your first demo?"
"Yeah, for me. Maura's a pro." Jane said stabbing a thumb in the Doctors direction and prompting a slightly disconcerted smile.
Sammy gestured for Jane and Maura to follow him and made his way over to a young man and woman who were talking animatedly by some kind of temporary, hot drink station.
"This is Ben and Holly, they are the main organizers for today, they can give you the low down on what we are expecting to happen, what times the staff will be getting here, the management. They are the selected spokespeople, so if you have any questions you can quiz them now." Sammy turned with a smile. "Jane and Maura." He introduced before taking his leave.
Ben tucked a curtain of sandy brown, long hair behind his ear and stuck a hand out in Jane's general direction, which she accepted.
"Glad you could make it Jane." He beamed. Jane guessed he was around 25 years old, same as his girlfriend. Jane's first thought was that if he was going to have hair down past his chin he should commit to brushing it and her next thought was that he had a deep golden tan that made the white of his teeth almost blinding.
As Holly exchanged pleasantries with Maura, Jane noticed that their clothing was bright and made of more than the usual synthetic fabrics, Holly's floor length floral skirt was printed silk and her jacket had the look of being hand woven. Jane didn't posses Maura's fashion knowledge but even she could see that nothing these two were wearing matched anything else.
"We are expecting the local press to turn up around lunch time and Sammy will be filming later for his blog if you want to get involved in that. Anything you can do on social media, Twitter, Facebook...all helps get the message out there, but I see you brought you're camera with you, that's great!" Holly was saying to them both now.
"Yeah, Jane's a photographer." Ben told Holly, sounding impressed.
"Fantastic, it must be so interesting. And what do you do Maura?" Holly asked politely.
"She is a Yoga teacher." Jane jumped in helpfully as she saw Maura's mouth open, wide and empty.
Holly grinned. "Oh amazing! I just love Kriya Yoga, I am really into it since I got back home, do you know much about the discipline?"
Jane worried she may have just dropped Maura firmly in it as she watched the thoughtful expression on Maura's face, but really she should have known that her Doctor would be unfazed as she launched into her response.
"Well, most of my classes are drawn from Hatha Yoga, that being the most popular and accessible to people, however I have read extensively about Kriya and find it fascinating, the suggestion that we are all miniature versions of the whole cosmos, a microcosm if you will and that Yoga is the means of conjoining the microcosm with the macrocosm."
"Oooh we should do some visualizations and some Chakra work later!" Holly gushed enthusiastically.
"But first..." Ben cut in. "You ladies want a cup of Chamomile tea? Or Earl Grey?"
"You got any coffee?" Jane said automatically before remembering who this groups natural enemy was. There was an awkward silence.
"I think Jane would prefer the Honeysuckle and Mulberry tea you have." Maura smiled as she eyed the boxes of tea bags and stepped forward to help Holly prepare the drinks.
"Nice tan Ben." Jane commented.
"Yeah, we just got back from Cambodia, building a community center. It was such an amazing opportunity. The people were so welcoming and without pretense, it was humbling. I'd love to get back out there some day." He said wistfully.
"Sounds a little more attractive than a cold morning in industrial Maine." Jane said dryly.
Maura turned to offer Jane a steaming cup and Jane nodded and flashed her a smile that fell completely as she looked down into her drink.
"You think you'll get any trouble out here today?" Jane asked conversationally.
"Probably not. There is a lot of local support for what we are doing and I think the owners are just going to pretend it's not happening. Anything does look like trouble we have our friend Marcus over there." Ben nodded to a tall broad man in a black leather jacket, who raised a hand in salute to Ben when he caught him looking over, even from here Jane could see the self assured way he moved.
"Head of security." Ben grinned. "No need to worry."
A moment later Ben left to assist two women in taking some boxes of flyers from the back of their car.
"They seem nice." Maura commented as she joined Jane. "This might be fun!"
"Hmmmmm, Do gooder hippy types, they travel around at daddy's expense making themselves feel better about the fact that in a couple of years they'll be on the board of directors of some company that fills the world with plastic water bottles or something."
Maura looked offended.
"You don't know any of that Jane. And even if it is true that they have never experienced anything like the poverty they have encountered in their work, it doesn't mean that their contribution is any less valuable."
"Hmmmmm." Jane mused, sensing it was better not to get into this.
"Oh my goodness!" Maura remarked as she watched the man that Ben had recently pointed out to Jane.
"What, oh my goodness?" Jane asked.
"I have seen that man before." Maura said, thinking back hard.
"Maybe he just looks like someone you know?" Jane suggested casually.
Maura shook her head, certain now. "No, it's him. The man from the photographs."
"Okay, I'll bite...what photographs?" Jane asked.
"The photographs taken by Sophie Whitmore's stalker. There were a few unidentified people whom she was photographed meeting with in the weeks leading up to her death. This man was one of them. I am sure of it." Maura said shaking her head in wonder.
"Well, there is one way to check." Jane told her, slipping her phone out of her pocket and swiping a digit across the screen. "I'll call Frost and get him to send us the pictures." Jane paused as she finished her sentence and sighed. "Or perhaps...you'd better do that."
Maura nodded quietly offering a conciliatory smile and took out her own phone, typing quickly as Jane watched her closely.
"But I don't understand." Maura said after a moment, looking at the screen and then up at Jane. "What has this man got to do with the Whitmore case? And why are we here Jane, have you been working the case? I thought you'd let it go."
"Hey, I don't know anything about this guy and I am not here because of Sophie." Jane put her hands up as if to show they were clean, she was innocent.
"Then, what is this?" Maura asked herself as much as Jane.
"Look Maur, I came down here to check out this group of activists because they were giving Paul Adler a hard time before his death. Jennifer, his girlfriend, she was upset and I found stacks of these threatening letters at their place, questioning the ethics of Coffco. She didn't think it was a bid deal, said Adler never took them seriously but I did a little bit of digging anyway, just to put her mind at ease, she's looking for answers."
Maura took this in."So this is another link between Paul Adler and Sophie Whitmore."
"And this bunch of hippies!" Jane pointed out, looking around with a new, more suspicious, eye.
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"No reply from Frost?" Jane asked again.
Maura's shoulders tensed. "Not in the last 37 seconds." She responded flatly. "Do you want me to try him again?"
Jane shook her head and chewed at her thumbnail. "Why the hell isn't he answering his phones?"
"Why don't I just call Detective Allen? She has access to the evidence, she is working the case too, she should be informed of any developments." Maura reasoned.
Jane scowled. "Lets wait for Frost...it might not be a development, this guy may not be who you think he is and then we'd have wasted her time."
Maura narrowed her eyes at Jane. "I will have you know that I, as is common amongst women, have a very good memory for facial recall, much better than a man would. Eye tracking technology shows, patterns of facial scanning by women are much more comprehensive than that of men."
Jane rolled her eyes and sighed in defeat. "Fine, call Red!"
Maura's own eyes rolled. "Detective Allen. And I am sure she will be only too happy to help." Maura said as she scrolled through her contacts.
Jane stomped away petulantly and left Maura to her phone conversation, walking close enough to perhaps get herself an introduction to the man Maura said she recognised and having a closer look around the camp.
"So?" She asked minutes later when she allowed herself to return, having walked off some of her admittedly childish jealousy.
"It's him." Maura said smugly as she flashed the screen of her phone at Jane, revealing an image of the man Jane had just walked past, however in different clothes and coming out of a Boston Coffee shop.
"It is." Jane agreed. "So what did Red say?"
"She is going to drive over with Frost and speak to him." Maura informed. "She said for us to simply carry on as if we don't know anything but keep a casual eye on him. We shouldn't approach him, we don't want to raise any suspicions." Maura said importantly.
Jane put her hands on her hips, prickling at being instructed on how to behave. "What did you tell her about what we are doing here?"
Maura shrugged. "I told her the truth, that you were here on other business and that I happened to spot the man from the photographs."
"That's it? She didn't ask more?" Jane checked.
"That's the truth. She knows I can't lie. She may ask more questions when she arrives." Maura supposed. "You still don't trust her?"
Jane shrugged, hands still planted on hips, shoulders high. "I don't not trust her..."
"She and I are trying to be friends." Maura offered weakly.
Jane couldn't stop the frown. "Okay...So? You are telling me to play nice?"
"I am asking." Maura said with an imploring look that could melt Jane even in the coldest weather Maine had to offer.
Maura wrapped her arms around Jane's middle and moved in close, then quickly snuck her cold hands beneath Jane's shirt making her jump at the icy touch on her warm skin.
"Arrghh! Okay, okay." She surrendered closing her arms around Maura and dropping a kiss on her head. "I am sorry."
Maura looked up at gentle brown eyes. "For what exactly?"
"I promised to keep you warm." Jane reminded as she held Maura close.
Xxxx
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