There was a tightness in Jane's chest that she couldn't shake as she and Frost crossed the street to their parked car. Teams had already arrived to secure the scene. It was hard, but Jane shook the image of Seamus from her mind. She had to. She wasn't about to let him die in vain.
Frost insisted on driving. Jane didn't mind, but her brain fought valiantly against her thoughts. She wasn't sure where exactly they were driving to. The thought of scouring the city crossed her mind, but she didn't even know where to begin. All Jane could really be sure about was that wherever Maura was, she was with Hope.
That didn't exactly settle the nerves.
It took her only a few breathless minutes to fill Frost in on her conversation with Paddy. She had been meaning to do it anyway, but the excitement of possibly securing something against Seamus or coming up with concrete evidence of whoever started the fire was too overwhelming. He listened to her carefully until she finished and even when her voice fell silent, he remained still and quiet. Jane couldn't tell if Barry was angry with her for not immediately sharing the information or if he was simply swallowing it all. His key turned in the ignition and he pulled away from the scene and down the road until again he stopped and pulled over.
"What are you doing?"
"I just needed to get away from there. It's hard to think with all the commotion."
"We need to find Maura." Jane said desperately. Frost caught her eye and she pulled away from his gaze, staring out the window and trying to calm the screaming voices in her head.
"I saw the pictures." he muttered quietly. "In the room. This isn't the time to talk about it, but I'm here for you, Jane. We're gonna find Maura, and when it's all over-"
Jane's mouth went dry. "Will it be in time?" Frost sad nothing. "I don't know where to begin. Paddy didn't have any clu-" she froze. "Paddy. Paddy, the burn phone." She groped her pockets in search of the phone but came up short. It was back at the office with all her things. Jane had never even considered using it, mostly because she didn't believe there would ever be a time that she would need to get Paddy's help on something. "We need to get in touch with him."
"Would he know?"
She felt her hope slip away. He didn't know only a few hours ago when they talked. What made an hour or two any different?
"You're right." her voice was hallow. "He wouldn't."
"Jane-"
"Everything we know about Frank. We need to think." She closed her eyes tight. "The god damn grandmother has been in on this the whole time. I think Paddy was wrong. Redman isn't involved. It's Frank and Nessa pullin' the strings on this. I think Redman co-signing the lease for Frank was is here. He started the fire."
"Who shot the weapon?"
"I don't think Frank was here yet when that happened." Jane frowned. "So the grandma? It wasn't Seamus. I don't think Seamus had it in him. I think he was telling the truth."
"How does an old woman like that hobble away from the scene unnoticed?"
"Exactly what you just said. She's old. We didn't even suspect her. I just thought she was cranky. She seemed to hate her son and husband enough. Where would they go?" Just then, Jane's phone rang. She looked down at the caller id and for a split second, she thought not to answer it. It was Frankie. Her gut got the better of her though and she pulled the phone up to her ear. She barely got out a greeting before Frankie began talking.
"I got a trace on her phone before it went dead." he said excitedly. Jane's stomach jolted. "Down by the old docks, I think. We got it just in time, Janie. He must of smashed her phone."
"I know where they're going. Frost, drive."
"Drive where?"
"Go straight. Go to the docks."
"Jane?"
"Thanks, Frankie."
"Jane, you need backu-"
Jane let the line go dead. "Go to the docks. That old warehouse that Paddy and I met up in. It makes sense. That place was used for years by the mob. Frank's been out of here for a long time. If he did meet up with Redman, Redman probably told his grandson all his old places. It makes sense." She exhaled. "It makes sense. Go."
The car came to a screeching halt. Jane glared at Frost. Part of her plan – in fact, the only part of her plan that she really had, if anyone could really call what she had in mind a plan at all – was being as silent as possible, and his dramatic entrance did not get them off on the right footing. She banked on the old walls being properly insulated and the heavy traffic and rolling waves to dull down the sound of their arrival. They made their way on foot and Jane showed him the entrance she had used the day she met Paddy.
Frost didn't make a peep about calling for backup. If there was one thing about Frost that Jane loved most, it was his inexplicable trust of her. Not that Korsak didn't trust her, but there was something about the way Frost seemed to follow Jane and play by her rules, not necessarily the rules they were meant to follow. He had her guts, even when he couldn't stand looking at others. Jane had always felt safe with any partner she had ever had, but there was a bond with Frost that she couldn't break and that she didn't want to break. He didn't question her. He didn't need to.
They made there way through the first floor with ease. The way they had to maneuver themselves through the rubble and dirt reminded her of a ballet performance, in a dirty, less elegant way. Their feet were carefully placed, their movements precise and well thought out. Nothing about it was free. They were restricted to their need of absolute silence.
"We're going to clear this place faster if we split up." he muttered, pulling open a cupboard door with his foot. Cockroaches scuttled out and dispersed in every direction. Neither of them hid their grimace.
"I don't hear anything."
"They might not be here."
"We're not leaving until we check."
"How many floors are there?"
"Five." Jane turned her head to look at one of the staircases up. "There might be a cellar or something, though. Basement."
"You loaded?"
"Yeah. You?"
"I'm good."
"No crashing into any rooms without backup. You find 'em, radio me." She blinked. "No casualties."
"No casualties." Frost repeated.
"Get over there.' Frank shoved Maura to her knees. Maura barely flinched. She wouldn't show fear. She wouldn't give in. She scrambled back though and let herself meet the wall behind her. The man barely paid attention to her after that. In the middle of the room sat Hope. Her arms and legs were bound to a chair – no, you couldn't quite call it a chair. Only half of the back was still attached and one of the legs was shorter than the other. Hope wobbled a bit, the uneven leg chair only exasperated more by the uneven floor. Hope didn't look at Maura, though Maura found herself craning her neck to get a look at Hope. The woman hardly looked scared. In fact, she looked only determined. Jane saw not her own face, but the face of her best friend. Determination. Strength. Courage.
Something she wasn't sure she had.
Frank toppled over a misplaced box and spat angrily at the ground. The man was tall and gangly. His hair had long gone grey and there were patches missing here and there. Though he wasn't very old, the wrinkles lining his gaunt face aged him mercilessly. He walked with a limp and his face was drenched in cold sweat. He was hardly a man to be admired. If anything, Frank Lynch looked like a worn out junkie who hadn't gotten his next fix. A cold metal gun was clutched in his fist but Maura found herself not believing that he would use it. He was an angry man but he didn't look violent. He looked sad.
She shook her head and swallowed. This time yesterday she wouldn't believe she would be in the predicament she was in now. Would Jane find her in time? Could Jane find her in time?
"She'll be here soon." Frank muttered, his voice shaky and distant. Maura watched as he paced the room. The jeans he wore were several sizes too big and Frankie found himself constantly pulling them up. His shirt fell loosely as well. It looked like a large piece of whale skin; grey and wrinkly, but an oddly shiny texture to it. He was swallowed whole in his clothes. "She'll be here. She'll be so happy."
"Who will be here?" asked Maura. Frank whipped around to look at her. Before Maura could blink, a sweaty palm was sliding across her face. It stung. She backed further away from him.
"I didn't say you could talk. Just shut up."
"Leave her alone." said Hope in a cool voice. "She had no part in this. She is innocent. You are angry at me."
"You're damn straight I'm angry at you." he shouted, moving his attention from Maura to Hope. Maura wanted to shout out, yell at him not to touch Hope, but her voice was paralyzed. She couldn't speak. Above all, Maura was interested in the conversation. "Innocent?" he continued, his fist shaking in the air. "Yeh think your precious daughter is innocent in all this? She is the damn reason we're here. If you weren't such a little whore-" he stepped to her and gripped her cheeks between his two fingers. "-my family lost it all. I lost my father. My mother lost a husband. You know what you did to my family? You destroyed us. We've been waiting for this moment. I've been waiting for this moment. I'll get my glory back. Paddy'll come and rescue his two girls and then I'll kill you." He brought the gun up to Hope's head. "I'll kill you and your bastard daughter. I'll make him watch." His voice dropped to a whisper. "He is going to suffer like my family suffered for years. He is going to feel the pain we felt when we lost the people we loved. He is going to regret the day that he brought you into his bed."
"Your family brought that upon themselves. Your grandfather killed a man-"
"-it was none of your business." He shoved her so hardly that the chair toppled over and Hope was stuck on her side. Frank didn't make any move to fix her. Maura gave a little whimper but remained in her place. "None of your damn business. None of it. None of it." His eyes were wild. "My dad told me the story. How you decided to take matters into your own hands. It was none of your business!" he screeched. "What were yeh doin' under that window, eh? You and Paddy were in it together. You destroyed us. Destroyed us!" He slammed his fist against the wall. It cracked. "No money," he seethed, sucking in air between his teeth. "No home. Your damn father stripped away any honor my father had."
"I would think the brutal murders would have stripped away any honor your father and your family could have had." Hope replied cooly. Maura's mouth dropped a little. She was sure that attitude wasn't going to get them out of their situation, if they were to get out at all. Frank yanked Hope back up into a sitting position and slammed his hand into her shoulder.
"Our life is our business."
"And when you steal the life of others?"
"You're just as much of a bitch as my father used to tell me."
"At least I live up to my name." That sent Hope cascading backwards, stuck on her back, still tied to the chair. Maura could see a thin trickle of blood pooling on the ground.
"Bet your kid here got a real nice life." He turned to Maura. "Got some bed time stories. Had a nice cosy room to go to sleep in. Clothes." Uneasiness trickled down Maura's throat. The way he was looking at her sent prickling, unpleasant tingles down her spine. "She got everything. I read up on you, on your family. Your life. The great Dr. Maura Isles. Everyone loves you." He licked his lips. "Want to know what I was doin' while you were growin' up? Tryin' to survive. Didn't have no good clothes. Barely went to school. Did you ever go to bed with an empty stomach, doctor?" He crouched down and crawled so he was only inches away from Maura's face. His breath smelled heavily of whisky and cheap beer, the kind that not even Jane would touch. "I did. Nearly every night. Dad drank us into debt and we had to watch him die a little more every night. Your mother was famous in my household. If you could call it a house, that is. But she was the villain in my bedtime stories. Without fail," his breath was ragged and heavy. "-every night my dad would come into my room and tell me stories about your mother. I was always the hero. I was always the one to save my family." Frank brought a hand up and shoved Maura roughly against the wall. "He'd beat me afterwards – said I needed to toughen up. To get strong. Every night."
"I-"
He spat in her face. "Don't saddle me with your meaningless apologies."
"Leave her alone." croaked Hope.
"Don't think I will." he said, grinning. Frank stood and propped Hope back up. "You couldn't leave things alone, could you Hope? And that's why you're here. That is why your daughter is going to die, and then you, and then Paddy. She'll be here soon." Again, he grinned. "She'll be here and she'll finally be proud of me. I've finally done it. I've finally avenged my father."
A fleeting flicker of realization shot through Maura's veins. "Your mother. Seamus's grandmother."
He turned slowly to Maura. "I see you've met them."
"Why do this to your son?" asked Maura. "You can kill us, sure. But why take away the person who has raised him? Why take away your child's innocence? Don't you think Seamus deserves better than the foster system? You'll be caught. Kill us or not, you'll be caught and you will go to prison." Her voice was steadier than she could have hoped for.
Frank rolled his eyes and his lip curled, his voice thick and snarling. "And who's going to catch me, doctor? Your detective? Your lover?" Maura flinched. "I've been watchin' you. I see the way you look at her. See the way she don't look at you back. She reject you, doctor?" he leaned back down to her. "I know how that feels. To be rejected." Frank let one of his fingers stroke down Maura's cheek. She slapped it away and he slammed her back against the wall. "My mother has rejected me my whole life, but not anymore. Not after today." He licked his lips. "Not after this. Can you say the same for your detective? Will she accept you has her lover once she finds herself suspended over your dead body? Well," he chuckled. "Yeh won't know tha', will yeh? You're weak, doctor." he hissed. "That's why she don't love you. You don't live up to her expectations. You're nothin' to her. There are hundreds of medical examiners. You ain't nothin' special. A new chief medical examiner will easily fill your shoes. That's all you are. A medical examiner, while she's your detective. Pity. But who can be surprised? Your own mother didn't want you. We have that in common."
"I am nothing like you."
"You sure about that?" He grabbed her arm and squeezed. "We both come from the same line, doctor. This blood that runs through your veins. We come from killers. You ain't no better than me because you've got a prissy mother that wasn't one of us. That just makes it worse. You're dirty, doctor. You've got no identity. You ain't one of us but you ain't one of them."
"You take away identities. I give the dead their identities back. I have a purpose. I am nothing like you, but I am something. I am something more than you." Her voice quivered. "I am better than you, and if you're going to kill me, fine, but I will not let you kill me and strip my identity. I know who I am."
"Just as pretentious as your worthless mother." He pulled her up by her shirt and shoved her gruffly on top of a few low crates. Maura's head spun with how quickly she was moved. Frank was much stronger than he appeared. "Bet you ain't a virgin, pretty thing like you." His fingers danced down Maura's stomach and played with the button of her black slacks which were now covered in the dirt and dust of the old warehouse. Maura shuddered and tried pulling away from him but he only gripped her arm harder. "Tell me, doctor. Did your detective ever touch you like this?"
The fifth floor was Jane's domain. It wasn't very big. She could see straight down onto the fourth floor from a giant, gaping hole that must have been caused years ago. It was clear that this floor was used for office space years ago. Only one door was opened at the far end of the hallway.
Jane saw it as she entered the room. Frank's fingers were slipping into the hem of Maura's shirt. She lay beneath him, immobilized, whether from fear or attack Jane couldn't be sure. Her eyes were shut tight and Jane heard the muffled sob from the back of Maura's throat shatter into a million tears. Jane's gun was raised in less time than she had to think about where she was shooting or about calling Frost up for backup. Her heart sank as the bullet only grazed his shoulder. It was enough to send him backwards and off of Maura who, the second his greasy body propelled backwards from hers, scuttled away and began efforts to untie Hope from the chair she was bound to. Jane tore her eyes from her friend to look back at the wounded Frank.
He bore no sign of pain, only new found determination. Swatting at the blood from his shoulder carelessly, he advanced on Jane quicker than even she could have expected. She felt his fist before even realizing he had gotten close enough to hit her. Maura released a strangled cry and Jane swung back, more out of desperation than aiming for accuracy. The gun in her hand flew wayward and soon she and Frank were struggling against one another, fighting for the prize to win the war.
To Jane's luck, and to her horror, she found the gun not on the floor where it had fallen but strongly gripped in Maura's petite hands. Frank's eyes traveled from Maura's feet up to her fixed gaze. In the struggle they had both fallen belly down on the ground. Jane looked up at Maura in awe; she hardly recognized her. Her hair was matted in sweat and blood. A sheen of sweat glistened against her forehead and just above her lip. Though Maura's arms shook, Jane saw no sign of wavering in her eyes. Maura was looking directly at Frank and Jane looked over to him and for the first time saw an unfathomable fear. He was afraid of Maura.
Even Jane felt a new surge of adrenaline as she looked at Muara holding the gun so securely, so dangerously, in such a way that not Jane nor anyone else could teach her. Her unbreakable stance screamed revenge. Frank saw no weakness in Maura's eyes because, unlike Jane who had come bursting in the room and let her emotions get the better of her, Maura had turned into an unreadable stone.
Frank gathered himself up from the floor slowly, his eyes never leaving the piece of cold metal. Maura had it first pointed at his head and then let it travel to his heart. His eyes flicked and he kicked his lips, his dry tongue nervously flitting back and forth.
"Do it, then." he hissed, his eyes glowering. He was taunting her. "C'mon, do me in. You know you want to. You want my blood on your hands. You want me to die." He licked his lips again. It sicked Jane. Maura propels herself forward, exhibiting strength that Jane didn't think was possible in the otherwise calm and orderly woman. Frank was slammed between Maura and crates and her gun was pressed against the stark skin at his throat.
Jane found herself powerless. "Maura," she pleaded from behind. "Don't. Revenge isn't worth the price you pay for it. There is no such thing as a noble murderer." She couldn't do it. Jane wanted the piece of shit dead, but she couldn't let Maura do it. She couldn't let Maura live her life knowing she had taken another's. Jane had enough of a hard time living with that reality every single day. She would not allow Maura to live in her own personal hell.
The only sound was Frank's heavy panting and the thumping of Jane's own heart. Finally Maura lowered the gun and let it slip from her fingers and onto the floor. Jane leapt forward, her heart surging with relief, and kicked the gun away from Frank's reach. Maura stumbled backwards while Jane slammed Frank into the crates once more, her anger bubbling dangerously close to the age for what Frank almost just made Maura do. She slung the pair of handcuffs from her belt loop and slapped them around his wrists, pinning him roughly once more against the crates.
"Untie Hope," Jane growled to Maura.
"Jane." she squeaked.
It was all Jane could do but turn around to see the gun pointed at both her and Frank. Evidently at some point Hope had finished the task of untying herself. In Maura's place she stood with Jane's gun. The woman was hallow, a ghost of the person who Jane had met only once before. Before Jane could side step in front of Frank, three bangs rang out. Jane knew her gun was now empty. Hope's eyes stared forward, cold and unforgiving, as Frank pummeled backwards, his blood flinging haphazardly in the air around them as if it were a display of fireworks, coating Jane in a fine layer.
Jane's own blood spilled from her arm where one of Hope's bullets sliced through her jacket and skin. She grimaced and clutched at the wound, gaping slightly at what had just happened. She staggered forward, her cheek sore still from where Frank had sucker punched her, her mouth tasting faintly of metal and her arm throbbing, and looped her hand around Hope's wrist just firmly enough that the older woman wasn't startled by the touch.
Her hand went limp and Jane caught the falling gun with her free hand. Hope shook a bit and took a step back, a delicate pale hand covering her mouth in the horrific realization of what she had just done – taken a life, taken a son, taken a father. Her body seemed to crumble before Jane's eyes and she fell down onto the floor, a floor stained with a river of blood that had no single source, but a source of many. Jane's blood. Maura's blood. Hope's. Frank's. The blood of criminals, of victims, of protectors and of unrelenting, consuming love. Blood of the mother who gave up her child to protect her. Blood of the son who lived to avenge his father. Blood of the heart. Bloodshed of a battle.
Jane was fully aware of Maura standing behind her. She stood and faced her, her eyes for the first time focusing on the gash from the middle of Maura's forehead and down to her eyebrow. The bleeding had slowed. Jane pressed a finger to Maura's forehead and wiped some of the blood away. Surely there would be a scar. Maura flinched slightly but moved into Jane's touch, her hand finding Jane's forearm and squeezing.
"I'm fine." she whispered faintly. Her voice shook. Was it from the fear that had consumed her all day The blood loss? The shock of an aftermath? Surreal, Jane thought to herself. How surreal it was to be standing in front of Maura and be comforted by her when she was the one who had gone through the most, who had nearly suffered a fate worse than death twice now, first at the hands of Jane's own enemy and now at the hands of her biological mother's enemy. She shrunk back from the doctor and bit her lip, ashamed and embarrassed at her inability to keep the person she loved – and yes, Jane reasoned, she loved Maura. She would never be able to deny herself that thought again. - safe. Jane brought her attention back to Hope and helped her stand.
"Look who I found in the basement." came a gruff voice from the doorway. Frost stood, his eyes roaming over the scene with shock and guilt. Clutched tightly in his grasp was Seamus's grandmother. "Jane, what-" He looked at Frank's dead body and at Jane's gun on the ground. "Jane..."
"One dead." Jane rasped, nodding at Frank. "Two wounded." She pointed towards Maura and Hope.
"Jane-"
A wave of dizziness crashed over Jane. She braced herself against Maura, the nearest thing she could find, and squeezed her eyes tightly. The last thing she heard was the quivering voice of the old woman and the sound of spit slipping from her lips.
"Worthless son."
Black.
Let me know what you think?