Hello, readers! Long time no see. Sorry for the terribly long delay between updates. Here's a short post until my finals are finished and I make some headway on my graduate school applications. Enjoy!
"Mr. Wasek?" Jane inquires as she knocks on the soldier's apartment door. She waits a moment before she raps again. "Greg, my name is Jane. Jane Rizzoli. I'm a friend of Casey's….I'm a detective for the Boston Police Department."
She knocks louder and raises her voice. "Mr. Wasek?"
Jane grasps the brass doorknob and turns in roughly, not expecting the door to give way. Hinges squeak as the door slides from its lock. The detective instinctively reaches for the gun on her buckle, but finds only empty space. She gently presses against the painted wood and pushes the door open, preparing for whatever she may find…
Jane finds herself staring at a tidy living room. She enters and quietly closes the front door. A built-in bookshelf with its perfectly placed contents separates the living area from the kitchen. Jane moves past the living room and into the bedroom. The bed and dressers feature the same military tidiness as the living room. She spots the alarm clock on the nightstand as her eyes scan the strict folds of the bed sheets. 14:23 PM. Military time. Wasek's cop watch won't be out for another few hours.
She leaves the bedroom and moves towards the kitchen. Old mail piles the counter and beer bottles sit in the sink. The soldier's neatness clearly didn't carry to the kitchen. Jane walks to the fridge and sees a photo of a group of soldiers dressed in their army garb. She pulls baby blue rubber gloves from her pocket, stretches them over her fingers, and carefully pulls the picture from the magnet. The imprint of a pen can be seen through the light desert background. She flips over the photo. "RECON 201" is scratched in black ink, followed by SGM Casey Jones, SPC Steven Parris, CPL Edmund Sampson, PVT Greg Wasek, and PVT Jim Kowalski. She turns the photo back over. Kowalski and Sampson must've been the two guys who died during the explosion. She sees Casey's smiling face amongst the men laughing and holding Budweisers in their hands. She couldn't help but smile herself.
Jane places the picture back in its place and scans the kitchen. "Where the hell are you, Wasek?" she says to herself.
She looks at the bottles in the sink. Budweiser, just like the photo, and Casey's favorite. She walks over and grabs one wet, cold, and half full.
"He really must've been in a hurry," she jokes.
Jane places the bottle back in the sink, gently tapping the one lying down beside it. Beer spills out as the bottle rolls and Jane furrows her brow. She grabs the tipped bottle by its lip, feeling its condensation and coolness through the latex. Jane grabs a napkin, lays it flat against the bottle's bottom, and watches drops streak down the amber glass. She looks at the ring left behind and places the bottle back in the sink.
Jane moves into the living room, napkin in hand and adjusts the blinds. She squats, level with the small wooden table, and finds two rings in opposite corners dark against the dry wood. She places the napkin next to each ring. Perfect match.
"Someone else was here," she whispers.
Her phone buzzes, catching her by surprise. She pulls it from her pocket and fumbles with the buttons in her rubber gloved hands. "Yeah Frost?" she answers.
He sighs. "Jane, we've got a problem."