The carriage was two streets away from the crime scene when George spotted Frost waving him down from the side of the road. The detective spoke to George briefly and then hopped inside the carriage. He sat down across from Lady Isles and Jane.
"Good afternoon ladies. You got my note. Thank you for coming." Frost said very formally.
Jane rolled her eyes with impatience.
"Frost, what's wrong with you? What's going on?"
"I'm sorry Miss Rizzoli. I wasn't supposed to contact you. I might get into trouble for it, but I think you two are our best chance to catch the killer. They will not give you access to the crime scene, I'm sure of it. It would be highly inappropriate for a lady. From what I hear, the room is covered in blood and... " Frost paused to let the nausea pass. "... and entrails."
The detective pressed the back of his hand to his lips to supress a gag reflex and closed his eyes.
The two women looked at each other and smirked.
Jane whispered from the corner of her mouth to Maura: "And they don't let us look at the crime scene?"
The carriage stopped abruptly and jostled everybody inside. Frost looked out the window.
"They have closed off the court's entrance. Let's go. We might have to enter through an adjacent building." He opened the door before George could get to it and jumped out.
Maura frowned and stepped out after him. "Detective Frost, are we going to have to... sneak in?"
Frost shrugged at her and offered her an embarrassed grin. "Do you want to back out and go home?"
Maura turned around to face Jane, half in panic, half in excitement.
Jane chuckled and put a hand on Maura's lower back to usher her forward after Frost. Maura pinched her lips and practically clapped as she skipped along.
They turned into an alley and entered a building. The hallway was dark and narrow, muffled voices and cries came through the thin doors on either side. Instead of taking the stairs up, they went in the back, turned the corner and along another corridor. Small windows lined the wall just below the ceiling, and they could hear voices outside.
"I think this is the right courtyard. They're still waiting for the hounds to shop up, I think."
Frost slowly opened the door, just enough to take a peek. Jane put a hand on his head and pushed him down so she could press her face to the crack above him.
Four men were gathered around a door in the courtyard, right next to the adjacent window, probably looking into the same room. After a few seconds, Jane realized they were actually careful not to let their gaze wander to the window. They weren't talking to each other either. They seemed pale and shocked, like they'd just seen a ghost. Jane felt a wave of empathy at them, remembering the night she'd found Maura's dead body. She recognized one of the detectives from that night as well.
She whispered to Frost: "Why aren't they going in?"
"They've been waiting for the hounds. It's been a couple of hours now."
"I want Maura to look at the crime scene."
"I know."
"What about it not being fit for a Lady?"
"This lady is tougher than most men I know. Including me."
"What's going on?" Maura quietly enquired from behind them.
Jane turned to her.
"Maura, we need to get you into that room."
"But they're watching it!"
"We'll create a diversion." Jane turned to Frost. "Right?"
Frost took his face between his hands and slowly slid them down.
"Oh gosh, there goes my career..." He took a deep breath. "Yes, we'll create a diversion, Miss Rizzoli."
Jane smirked and patted his shoulder. "Call me Jane."
"Maura, listen. The window looks open. Do you think you can climb in? The scene sounds like it's atrocious. I know you can handle it, but it might be hard to stay clean and leave it undisturbed."
"I'll be careful." The noblewoman lifted up her dress, just to try it, and winced.
"Tell you what. Let's switch." Jane started taking off her belt. "Hurry, we need to get in and out of there before the bloodhounds show up!"
Frost quickly turned around and waited for the ladies to swap clothes in a noisy shuffle of fabric. A gentle tap on the shoulder announced the end of the exchange. He turned around to see Jane in a dress too short by five inches, and Maura wearing trousers cuffed up at the ankle. He stared at Maura for a second longer, shocked to see her in trousers.
"Go in as soon as you can. See if you can find anything that can lead us to him. Before they mess up the crime scene again..." Jane shot a glance at Frost, who just shrugged.
Maura nodded, her eyes bewildered. She grabbed the back of Jane's head and pulled her in for a fierce, yet brief kiss. Frost hastily turned around again.
Jane grabbed his arm. "Let's go."
Maura watched them go back through the hallway they came from, then stood by the outside door, peeking through the crack for her cue. She waited for about four minutes when she heard a deafening scream cut through the silence of the court. A commotion of broken glass and banging followed.
"MURDER! MURDER! IT'S THE RIPPER! GOD HELP US! THE RIPPER! AAAAAH!"
Maura recognized Jane's fake English accent, even though it wasn't obvious. She watched the men in front of the door look up across the court, and Maura guessed Jane was on the third floor of the building they were looking at. Three of the men started running towards the cries, but the fourth heeded the signal to stay there and stand watch. Maura cursed under her breath. Then she saw Frost running in from the street and he shouted at the remaining detective to join the others. He stood in front of the window, and glanced over towards Maura's position.
Maura slipped through the half opened door and ran, holding her pants up like she would her dress, towards Frost. The detective repressed a chuckle at how uncomfortable Maura looked in her attire.
Up across the street, they could hear Jane screaming her head off and banging on the walls.
"Lady Isles, hurry, I'll help you."
Frost helped Maura climb up the window sill and pushed the curtain aside for her. His eyes darted away too late and just as Maura landed in the blood-covered room, he became limp and slowly fell to the ground, unconscious.
Maura's eyes widened in horror, despite the warnings. Her hand went to her thigh to fetch a handkerchief, but she had left it with Jane in her dress. She pressed her empty hand to her face to lessen the stench of blood and entrails.
The small room was splattered with blood, and viscera and organs were scattered around the body that lay on the bed. The body itself was butchered beyond recognition.
Maura closed her eyes briefly and calmed her beating heart.
When she opened them she was as calm and collected as she always was in the morgue.
She slowly scanned the room with her eyes, without moving from the window. A large amount of blood under the bed and near the wall seemed to indicate the body had been moved after the death to the left side of the bed. The right thigh had been carved out to the bare bone, and most of the mid section was missing, as well as the breasts.
The pieces were placed between her legs, at her feet and even on the side table.
Maura very carefully took two steps towards the middle of the room. From there, she saw that some of the organs had been placed under the head. She leaned down and recognized the uterus, kidneys and one breast. The face itself was slashed in all directions, parts of the flesh missing. As usual, the throat had been slashed and Maura gratefully concluded that the mutilation had taken place post mortem.
She turned around in place.
The woman's clothes were neatly folded and draped over the back of a chair, and her boots were in front of the fireplace. Maura noted the large amount of ashes, and the melted kettle spout. She couldn't spot anything in the fireplace that was not reduced to fine, white ash. Everything had been consumed. She looked around for any clues, traces, prints, blood outlines, marks, discarded tools, hair, twine, to no avail.
Nothing.
Nothing once again.
The noblewoman squatted, her hands grasping the fabric of her trousers by reflex, to look under the bed. Nothing.
Blood. Blood everywhere.
The killer must have been covered in it, yet he had once again escaped without a trace left behind.
Maura sighed and looked at the curtains covering the window. He had to get out through the window. The door was locked. How did he slip through without getting any stains on the curtains?
She looked at the fireplace again. "He burnt his clothes. At least his coat," she murmured to herself.
Maura suddenly heard footsteps and grumbles in the court outside, and her stomach jumped to her throat. Frost hadn't uttered a word of warning. Her heart started racing in her chest as she heard the men's voices approaching.
"Detective! Detective Frost! Oh Lord, the bugger must have looked inside."
They all chuckled uneasily. They all wished they hadn't looked either.
They were right by the window, with the door right by them. No way out.
Maura stepped back into the room, away from the detectives. She looked around, but the room was small, with no other doors or openings. She heard the men shake and slap Frost awake, and she heard him groan. Then abruptly stop. They all fell silent.
"Hey, Frost, are you alright?"
"Er..."
"Here comes the Superintendent. Straighten up, for Christ's sake!"
"What about the hounds, Sir?"
"We've waited long enough. Get that door open!"
Maura heard the bunch shuffle around outside, and suddenly a loud crack smashed against the door. She jumped and covered her mouth not to yelp.
Another crash and the door swung open.
Maura stood silently in the middle of the room, and she thought she might faint. She saw one of the men look in, his vision adjusting to the relative dim light of the room, and his eyes suddenly focused on Maura. His face fell and a strangled scream escaped his mouth. He stumbled back outside. Maura thought he'd sounded like a goat.
Another man stepped in and Maura recognized Superintendant Arnold.
"Lady Isles?"