Chapter Twenty Five

"So Detective Rizzoli, do you mind telling me about what happened this morning?". Jane lay on her bed, struggling against the restraints her wrists were now strapped in. She stared at the ceiling stubbornly, ignoring the question posed to her by the blonde woman sitting next to her.

"Is this really necessary?" Jane eventually asked the psychiatrist darkly, motioning to her arms.

"It is. You acted violently towards staff so this is our procedure. We will remove them as soon as I determine whether it is safe to do so." She replied factually. The detective sighed heavily and returned to staring at the ceiling, uninterested in discussing how crazy she was with this complete stranger. They sat in silence, the doctor seemingly willing to play along with Jane's stubbornness. After half an hour, the doctor stood and plonked her notebook on the chair and walked around the room. Jane's eyes followed her curiously as she looked out the glass window facing the busy hospital hallway.

"It was Doctor Isles wasn't it?" The doctor asked suddenly, still staring out the window.

"What?" Jane replied, unsure as to what the shrink was getting at.

"Who you went and saw last night." She clarified.

"What about it?" Jane said defensively.

The doctor said nothing for a moment before speaking once again. "I've met her before. Good woman and an incredible doctor. What's her condition?"

Incredible doctor and incredible woman I think you mean, Jane thought to herself. "She's…it's not looking good." Jane tried to keep her voice emotionless.

"I'm sorry to hear that. I hope she pulls through." The doctor sounded genuinely sorry, something that Jane hadn't witnessed in other shrinks. They'd always seemed to feign sympathy but never really gave a damn.

"Detective, I understand that you love your job. That talking might make you think I'm going to take it away from you because I'll sign you off as unfit for duty. Please understand that this is not what I am here for. All I'm here for is to make sure you're safe and have calmed down enough to remove these restraints." The woman returned to her chair and leant forward. Jane looked at her. She was a kind looking woman, perhaps a decade older than herself with an air of wisdom that Jane felt almost drawn to.

Jane sighed once more and spoke. "Her mother was there and ah…well, she said that everything that's happened to her was my fault. That it was my fault she got shot."

"And you believe her?"

"I…I don't know."

"You've been through a lot together though have you not?"

"Yeah." Jane replied blankly.

"That's the job, Detective. You can't predict what's going to happen, nor blame yourself for something when it does occur. Doctor Isles took this job knowing full well the dangers associated with it I'm sure." The doctor explained. Jane nodded and thought about what the doctor was saying to her. "So then what happened?"

"I got back and just lost it I guess. Seeing her like that and then being blamed for it. Something inside me just snapped. So I asked my brother where the guy who'd done this to Maura was 'cos he was supposed to be in this hospital under police watch."

"And you wanted to make him pay. Make him feel the pain he caused to Maura."

"I don't know. I don't know what I was going to do." Jane said softly. Ashamed of her actions, she went quiet. The doctor nodded slowly and scribbled something in her notebook before standing up and moving to Jane's bedside, unfastening the restraints from Jane's wrists gently. The blonde then placed Jane's file in her bag before turning and heading for the door, pausing as she held her hand above the door handle.

"I get the impression that's the most you've ever willingly said to a psychiatrist." The doctor said softly, a slight smile on her face. She took a card and placed it on the windowsill before opening the door.

"Get well soon, Detective." The door swung closed behind the woman, leaving Jane in silence to her thoughts. Which in turn were very loud.

xxx

A small puzzle lay in front of her. Despite being blackened and barely legible, a small string of numbers formed. Jane sat up in bed, a look of deep concentration on her face as she continued piecing together what she could from the charred evidence bag. She'd been at it for hours upon hours. The Bruins game in the background on television went unnoticed as she found yet another possible match, the piece of paper in her tweezers slightly larger than the others.

"Huh." Jane mused, the numbers formed what looked like a bank number. The detective pulled off her gloves slowly, her cast making the simple task a difficult one. She pulled out her phone and took a photo of her findings before dialling Franky's number. Her brother was still slightly icy with her after their last exchange but was just happy that Jane had found a way to piece something together as none of them had been able to.

"Yeah I think it's a bank number but I'm not entirely sure. Anyways, could you run it for me and see if anything pops?" Jane asked tiredly.

"No worries, it may take a while but I'll call you when we come up with something." Her brother replied clinically.

"Cheers Franky." The two remained on the line for a moment, silence hanging between them before Franky bid his sister farewell. Any apologies Jane was about to utter didn't seem to want to be heard. Jane sighed and moved her table carefully towards the wall before putting on a fresh pair of gloves and placing the numbers she'd found in a fresh evidence bag. She then preceded to lock all the evidence away in the bedside dresser before getting back into bed. Just as she was doing so a nurse entered briskly.

"Good afternoon, Detective." She said brightly.

"Hey." Jane replied.

"So the doctor is happy with your progress and is okay for you to head home tomorrow morning. He'll be in a little later just to do some final tests if that's okay?" The nurse explained politely.

"Of course. That'll be great." Jane said, incredibly keen to be leaving this place.

xxx

"Got everything, Janey?" Angela asked her daughter as she did a once over of the room.

"Yeah, should do." Jane replied, handing over the evidence bags to Franky and Korsak. The four of them headed towards the exit but Jane hung back momentarily as she picked up the card from the windowsill, slipping it into her track pant pocket before limping quickly to catch up to the others.