Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Rizzoli & Isles. The characters belong to Tess Gerritsen, Jan Nash, Janet Tamaro, and TNT. I am in no way profiting from this. It's just for fun.
This is fastest I've updated in a long time. Hope you all enjoy the crime part. Thanks for reading! :D
When Dreams Become Reality Ch. 21
June 2nd, 1987
Young Jane and Frankie Rizzoli are playing hockey in the street outside their home with their best friend Matthew.
Jane and Matt crash into each other and fall to the ground, both scraping their knees. It doesn't faze either, for the two get right back up and laugh it off. The game continues as they run after the little black puck.
They all stop when they hear a booming voice coming from the direction of the house.
"Jane Clementine Rizzoli! What did I say about rough housing with your brother?" Angela yells, and Jane fears the whole neighborhood will hear.
Jane's cheeks flush a deep red as she stomps her foot in protest, and yells back. "Ma! C'mon, I'm playing a game!"
Her mother gasps in horror when she notices her cut up leg. "See that? That's what happens when you don't listen to me. Oh, my poor baby!"
Frankie and Matthew drop their hockey sticks and laugh at how hard Jane was blushing.
"Get your butt in the house this instant to clean that up before it gets infected. Do you wanna give your poor mother a heart attack?"
"My poor mother who speaks in the third person?" Jane mutters under her breath.
"What was that?"
"Nothing." Jane smiles innocently. Her preteen voice cracks mid-word, having recently hit the beginning stages of puberty.
She goes inside the house, making sure to stomp the entire time, to the bathroom where the medicine cabinet is.
Back outside, Frankie and Matt were still laughing and joking about Jane.
"Hey, how about a one on one?" Frankie proposes, tossing the puck to the ground and scraping the hockey stick around it.
The young dark haired boy shakes his head and apologizes. "Sorry, gotta go. It's dinner time and my mom will be looking for me soon. It's taco night, you know those are my favorite."
"Yep... Save some for me! See ya later, Matt."
The two bump fists, and make an explosion sound when they touch, shaking their hands rapidly as if the action had hurt.
Frankie gathers his and Jane's hockey sticks, along with their puck, and puts them all back into the garage. He goes back inside where Angela was still fussing about the blood on his sister's leg, which he knew didn't bother Jane any since she kept on playing the game like nothing ever happened.
The sun was beginning to set as 12 year old Matthew walked along the deserted street. As he kept up his leisurely pace, the young boy heard footsteps behind him and turns around.
"Hey, quit following me! I thought he told you to leave us alone?" Matt asks, but instead of receiving an answer, he is pushed to the ground. "What the heck is wrong with you?"
The attacker grabs the hockey stick Matt dropped and whacks him in the head with it repeatedly. Each strike more vicious than the last.
Matt's cries go unheard in the empty area. Seconds later, the cries stop altogether.
Present Day
Jane and Frankie sit in Maura's office on her couch together. The brunette explaining to her wife about Matthew and his disappearance.
"He was our best friend... We did everything together."
Maura rubs Jane's back as she begins to tear up.
"I can't believe after all this time he's been in that park. I've gone there so many times..." Frankie whispers, his tone conveying a mixture of expected emotions. Anger, hurt, guilt...
Maura gently explains "He was buried... You shouldn't feel badly about not finding him."
"Yeah, I guess... So what do we know about this so far?"
Jane gives him the brief rundown of what she found out 45 minutes ago. "It was anonymously reported and we had to dig him up, that's all I read. Came and got you before I read more."
"Based on the crime scene photos, if it wasn't reported... It's highly unlikely his body would've ever been found." Maura adds, then says "I haven't done the autopsy yet, since I was called out to where Evan Parker was. The only thing I did so far was have Susie identify him through dental records. I didn't get as far as a cause of death yet, but I can right now."
Jane and her brother follow the blonde doctor into the autopsy room to watch. After she gets the blue latex gloves on, Maura begins looking for obvious signs of trauma.
She traces the contour of his jaw and says "Mandibular fracture, caused by a blunt object."
"We were playing hockey that day. You think it's possible his stick could've been the murder weapon?"
"Well... The average hockey stick has a handle of about 46 to 48 millimeters, which is consistent with his injuries. So yes, it's entirely possible the murder weapon may have been one. I'll have to run comparison tests."
Jane becomes lost in thought as she stares at the remains of what once was a really sweet kid. She is startled slightly when she hears her brother announce "I can't look at him like this... I'm gonna go upstairs to help the guys."
Jane hugs him, rubbing circles on his back then gives him a sympathetic pat. "I'll be up in a few minutes."
Frankie leaves as Maura begins examining the leg bones.
"Broken tibia, healed about a year before death."
Jane smiles sadly and says "I remember that day. I was there when it happened. We were all roller blading and Matt tripped on the sidewalk and fell. Frankie ran to get help while I stayed with him..."
"That was sweet of you."
"Yeah... I used to have this cute little crush on him, too. I know he liked me back. It wasn't anything serious, just kid stuff. Matt was actually my first kiss." Jane admits, and chuckles at the memory of it.
"There seems to be a story behind it... Would you share?"
"We were alone in his treehouse in his backyard, and dared each other to do it.."
"Kiss me."
"Why don't you kiss me, first?"
"You too scared to do it?" Matt teases.
"No! Maybe you're the chicken!"
"... Then we both leant in at the same time. We were so young and kinda grossed out by it. We wiped our lips and were like, that's it?" Jane laughs. "We never spoke of it again, too embarrassed."
Maura smiles at the adorable story. Her heart is breaking for Jane, but her spirits lift a little when she sees her favorite smile in the world appear while retelling the story.
"Then a year later he went missing. I cried myself to sleep every night for months."
"I'm sorry, Jane. I hope you can at least take comfort in knowing we found him. I know you'll do what you do best and find who did this."
"Thanks, Maur. I'm going back upstairs now, I'll be back later. Unless either of us find something."
Her long legs bring her to the clear doors within a second, but instead of opening it and leaving, she stops and turns around.
"Love you."
"I love you more."
Back in the squad room, Frankie and Frost are going over the anonymous tip that led to the discovery of Matt's body.
"Why now? After all these years, why would someone report it now?" Korsak wonders aloud.
"I wish I knew... Maybe someone grew a conscience or just found out?" Jane shrugs and looks over at Frankie and Frost. "What are you two doing?"
"Going over the anonymous call."
"Find anything?"
Frost shook his head no. "The call came in 4 days ago on a pay phone in West Roxbury at a quarter to 10 pm. Voice was male. He only said where we would find Matt's body. He didn't specify the exact spot, so we had to use ground penetrating radar. Sounded really nervous too, here... Listen."
He plays the recording on his computer for them.
'911' The operator says.
'You will...' A pause, the sound of a nervous swallow is heard. 'Find the body of Matthew Alvarez buried in Dorchester Park."
'Sir, can you tell me your name or where you are?'
Click.
"That's not much to go on..." Jane sighs in frustration and groans, throwing her head back.
She starts to leave the room and Korsak asks "Where you heading?"
"Archives. Gonna look through Matt's case file."
"I'll go with you." He offers, then rises from his chair and pushes it back under desk.
The two go in the elevator together and ride it down all the way to the dimly lit basement.
"We should bring this up with someone. I'm tired of going through flashlight batteries." Jane complains while fiddling with her tiny flashlight.
Korsak laughs in agreement. "Yeah, me too."
They walk past many aisles, all filled with closed and cold cases, until they get to the missing person section.
"Haven't looked at this in years..." Jane begins sadly. "This was one of the first things I did when I joined the force. His case was always on the back of my mind, just gnawing away at me. There wasn't much to go on, but now that we have a body finally and fresh sets of eyes we might get somewhere."
Jane uses her light to look at the dozens upon dozens of boxes before finally finding the correct name and date. She stares at it for a few moments, blinking away tears she refuses to let fall.
Korsak won't ask the obvious, if she is ok, and instead just places a hand on her shoulder and squeezes. The affectionate action was enough to make Jane smile, and she pulls the dusty box off the shelf.
"You wanna bring that upstairs or stay here?"
"Stay here."
Korsak nods. Jane takes out a large stack of folders and hands him half to go through. Together, they go over the old case notes and statements collected from friends and family.
"Most of these are saying how good a kid he was..." Korsak reads similar statements from many different people in Matt's life. From teachers, classmates, to family. All of them especially loved his charming smile.
"Yeah he was."
"I don't see anything about problems with other kids at school, do you remember him ever complaining about that?"
"No, none of us had problems with anyone. All the kids in our class were shook up by it."
"There probably wasn't a motive then, just a random attack." Korsak
"That's what I was thinking. Unless Maura finds something, then we're screwed." Jane drops a file back I the box and runs a hand over her face, rubbing her eyes.
"His family still alive?"
"Just his older brother, Miguel. Their mom died a few years back, the dad was killed in Vietnam."
"We should go talk Miguel. Maybe he can help."
When Jane and Korsak go back upstairs, they see Cavanaugh talking to the others.
"I was just about to ask if any of you have something on the Evan Parker case."
"Not yet sir, sorry. We got a little sidetracked by the Alvarez one." Jane apologizes.
"I understand the importance of it, I just don't want the other case being forgotten."
"We won't. Korsak and I are going to talk to Matt's brother now."
"And Frankie and I will work the Parker case." Frost interjects, and the lieutenant is satisfied both cases are getting attention.
"Thanks, guys." Jane says, leaving with her partner.
On the way out, she texts Maura what's she's doing, and gets a simple response. A moment later, a new text comes in.
'Stay safe, my love. I know you won't be thinking about food while working, so I'll pick us up some lunch from the cafe.'
'Good idea, thanks. I love that u always remember to make sure I don't starve. See ya soon.'
Jane finishes the text, then puts the phone back in its place on her belt. Not in the mood to drive for once, she lets Korsak take the wheel.
As the pair get out of the car after they arrived at Miguel Alvarez's house a half hour later, Jane mentions "This is where Matt lived."
Miguel, Matt's older brother by 5 years, is seen mowing his front lawn. He wipes away sweat above his eyebrow with his plaid shirt, then notices Jane and Korsak approach the house. The middle-aged man recognizes her immediately.
Jane extends an arm out to shake his hand, but he brings her into a hug instead.
"Jane freaking Rizzoli, where the hell have you been? I haven't seen you in what? 5, maybe 6 years? Man, it's so good to see you!"
She laughs and says "It's good to see you too, Miguel. How've you been?"
He releases her and shrugs. "Things have been ok."
"Good..." She tilts her head to the side in Korsak's direction. "This is my partner, Sergeant Detective Vince Korsak."
The two men nod at one another in greeting and briefly shake hands.
"So what brings you back to the old neighborhood?" He cheerfully asks Jane.
"It's about your brother, Matt."
The second she said his name, the smile fell from his face.
"You found him?"
"Yes."
"You're a homicide detective... So that means he isn't alive." Jane shook her head no, and Miguel sighs and looks down at the fresh-cut grass for a moment. "I figured he was after a week went by but we always hoped he was alive somewhere... You guys wanna go inside? Have a cold drink maybe since it's hot?"
Jane and Korsak accept the invitation and go inside with him. They pass a hallway filled with family photos.
"My mother had a lot of these up and I added to it. When she died I didn't have the heart to sell the place so I moved in. It reminds me of Matt, but there was plenty of good memories with him so it doesn't bother me. Plus, I create new ones now with my family."
"How're they doing?"
"Doing pretty good, thanks." Miguel shows them both a picture of his wife and son. "That's them on Halloween last year. He loves Batman... They're out grocery shopping right now but they should be back soon, though."
He gestures for them to sit on the couch, while they do Miguel goes into the kitchen and returns with two ice-cold water bottles.
"Had them in a cooler with ice so they'd get cold. I know you guys can't have beer on the job or else I would've offered you both some." He hands the bottles over and is thanked for the nice gesture.
"I know it's been a long time, but can you tell me everything you remember on that day he disappeared?" Jane asks, while Korsak takes out his notepad to write everything down.
"I unfortunately remember everything... I'm pretty sure that was a Tuesday. I was in school until 5 that day because of a fight I got into with another student the day before. I walked with a friend to his house and hung out with him for a few hours. I got back home around 8, by then my mother was worried sick about Matt. I walked in the door and she had just got off the phone with the cops. She was in tears I knew instantly something wrong and that it could only be about Mattie. Cops came to our house and asked us questions like, if he wanted to run away or not. We of course said absolutely not."
"Me, my Ma, and brothers spoke with the police too. He left our house for dinner around 6. Frankie said he was eager to get home since his favorite dinner was being made."
Miguel laughs. "Must've been taco night. I remember those were his favorites. Even after he was stuffed he would still ask for more!"
Jane chuckles and responds "I'm that way too with my Ma's gnocchi. Burgers, too..." She clears her throat, focusing back on questions related to the case. "So, what did the cops tell you?"
Jane and Korsak already read the reports, but she wanted to hear it from the source.
"All they told us was that they would keep an eye out for him and let us know if they found anything. Weeks went by, everyone was frantically searching for him but we never found a single sign of him. Dropped off the face of the earth."
"I can't imagine how difficult it must've been for you and your mother." Korsak sympathizes, and is given a grateful glance and sad smile.
"Mom became depressed and drank a lot, but I eventually got her off the stuff. She became a lot happier when I got married and my wife gave birth to our son. The cancer took us all by surprise. She passed away peacefully in her sleep, but I know she was still upset about dying without knowing what happened to her youngest son."
"I'm so sorry, Miguel." Jane rests one of her hands over his, and he gives it a little squeeze before letting go.
"Thanks, at least she can rest in peace now knowing you're on the hunt for his killer. She always liked you, Jane. Your mother too, they were always swapping recipes back in the day."
"I remember, I think Ma still has some..."
Korsak's phone rings, he apologizes and goes outside to take the call.
Miguel notices the wedding band on Jane's finger and takes the opportunity to change the subject to a much lighter one. "I read in the paper a couple of months back you got married."
"Yeah, in May." Jane confirms with a smile.
"Congratulations, I heard it was at Fenway? Now that's really cool."
"Thank you. Yes, it was. Childhood fantasy of mine my wife wanted to make happen for me. I'm lucky to have to her."
"She's lucky to have you, too."
Just then, Korsak comes back in. "Frost found something he wants us to look at. We need to get back."
Jane and Miguel stand up, and the two hug. He gives Korsak a handshake again.
"If there's anything you remember, no matter how insignificant you think it might be... Call one of us, ok?"
He nods, responding with "Of course. Find the guy that killed my baby brother."
"I promise we will."
Miguel walks them out just as a car pulls up in the driveway. A woman and a young boy step out. Jane stops, unable to break her stare from the child.
"Crazy, isn't it? He looks just like him." Miguel comments, noticing Jane looking at his son.
"What's his name?" Jane asks, not taking her eyes off the boy helping his mom with a few bags in the trunk.
"Matthew."
Jane smirks. "Good name... Alright, we'll be in touch."
Her and Korsak get into her blue sedan and watch the beautiful family for a moment.
"Poor guy... His father and brother were killed, and then his mom died of cancer. I'm glad he has them two."
"Yeah, look at that." Jane gestures to the man picking up his son and kissing his wife hello.
Korsak notices a certain gleam in Jane's eyes as she's admiring them and grins at her. "Are you and Maura thinking about starting a family?"
Jane starts up the car. "You know I'm not able to lie to you, Vince. So I might as well just say it... We are, yeah. In a few months. We wanted to wait until we got settled back into things first, and have some time to ourselves for a bit."
"Wow, that's great Janie. Congrats!"
"Thank you. Just, don't tell anyone yet. If Ma gets wind of us wanting to start a family, she's going to drag us to baby stores the second she hears of it."
Korsak laughs, knowing Angela well enough and wouldn't put that past her. He makes a zipping motion with his lips and throws away an invisible key. "I won't say a word."
The ride back to BPD was mostly in a comfortable silence, the only sound filling the vehicle was the radio. Both were enjoying the classic rock music.
"What's up? Korsak said you have something to show us." Jane asks Frost and Frankie when she walks into the bullpen.
"Well, Frankie and I were working the Parker case. We tracked him through his credit cards, he was out drinking at an Irish pub a few nights before his death. We called the bartender and he confirmed Parker was there and that he's a regular."
Jane nods, so her younger partner continues explaining what he and Frankie found.
"We wanted to see if we caught anything suspicious or of interest on the street cameras and found this..." Frost turns his computer screen for them to all see. "Facial recognition confirms it was him. See here? It's time stamped. At 9:43 pm he was the only one in the vicinity of the same pay phone used to report where Matthew Alvarez's body was."
What? So Evan was the one who anonymously reported where Matt's body was? I wonder how the two murders 17 years apart are connected.
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