A/N As you may have noticed my updates have become slightly infrequent and I apologize for that. I am suffering from tendinitis which makes it hard for me to write at some points.
Also life has a tendency of getting in the way of writing.
I hope you will enjoy this chapter.
Thank you for sticking with me and this story.
Guess Who...
Another week of draining observations had gone by.
A week since Maura´s new neighbor had turned out to be a stalker and a week since she had filed a restraining order against him, Jane had been satisfied to know that Mr Sinclair would not get away with stalking her girlfriend.
It had also been another week filled with long work hours and too little time spent with her beautiful blonde.
Maura was still staying in Jane´s apartment and much to her dismay, she had to spend most nights alone. She was craving Jane´s touches by now. She was craving them more than she would ever admit. The medical examiner had wanted to tell Jane her cravings but seeing how tired her detective was caused her to keep quiet. The medical examiner kept reminding herself that this case would not go on forever and that she would get her girlfriend back as soon as it was over. But even though she knew all of this, Maura was growing more and more restless as her sexual frustration rose.
Nine days after they had crossed paths with the stalker, Maura woke up in the middle of the night. The sheets next to her were empty and cold and a frown crossed her soft features as she saw the numbers on Jane´s alarm glow through the dark. 2 am.
Where was Jane? Was she working again? Didn´t she have a nightshift last night?
Maura slowly got up to get herself a glass of water as she felt how dry her lips were. She was absentmindedly pulling Jane´s jersey down, which she had been wearing for the past few nights, as she was walking into the kitchen.
The blonde could hear uneven breathing coming from the couch and stepped close, finding her detective splayed out on the cushions. A small smile creased angelic features before the guilt set in with a pang.
Jane was sacrificing all her free time for her job and she was thinking about her own pleasure?
Maura shook her smooth curls as she silently cursed at herself.
Knowing Jane, the blonde was sure that her detective would sleep peacefully through the night despite of her uncomfortable looking position. Before she left for bed again she spread a blanket over the lean body splayed out on the couch and pressed a loving kiss into unruly hair.
The next morning Maura woke her girlfriend with coffee and a breakfast that she would have discarded as unhealthy junk food but she knew that Jane could never resist a good egg and bacon sandwich.
Time was passing and by now the team was on edge.
Every single one of them wanted to close the case and they all were anxious as to when they might finally have a breakthrough.
Jane was tethering in between anger and hopelessness.
After all this had been her idea.
Even Maura had a hard time cheering Jane up when she felt like this.
The detective was afraid that she had wasted their time and money with their 24/7 observation of Maura´s house. Not only she herself but also her friends, family and the woman she loved were suffering due to all the extra hours everyone was doing.
Another sleepless night was laying ahead of Jane and Korsak. The lanky detective had sent her brother home after he had had the day shift and Korsak was replacing another young colleague of theirs. Strong hands were cradling a travel mug filled with coffee as Jane was silently beating herself up.
Could I have been wrong from the start? Why did my gut even tell me that this might work? How could I mess up like this?
She was lost in her thoughts as Korsak suddenly grabbed her arm.
"Jane! Jane, have you heard that? We have to go! Stop dreaming, now!"
Jane snapped out of her thoughts while Korsak was already running to the back of Maura´s house. Now she had heard what he had been hearing way before her. There were footsteps and then she could clearly hear glass shattering.
As Jane was reaching the backdoor she found Korsak already sitting on a compact looking figure, all dressed in black and cursing violently. Jane could see that the window of Maura´s backdoor was broken and that the person on the ground was lying in them. While Korsak was getting up and pulling the suspect up with him, Jane removed the hood that was covering his face. A surprise gasp left the detectives lips, raven curls flew through the air as she was shaking her head in disbelief.
The person trying to break into Maura´s was a woman.
It took Jane the whole way back to the precinct to gain back her composure. They all, including Maura, had been sure that they were looking for a man but now they were bringing back this butch looking and built woman.
"Why don´t you tell me who you are?" Jane sat down at the interrogation table. She had been hoping that the woman in front of her would talk but she was only staring into her cup of coffee. "What were you doing at Dr Isles´ house?"
"Dr. Isles? Who´s that?" the sandy haired woman looked truly baffled and for the first time she was looking Jane right in the eye. "I wasn´t at her house.."
"Who´s house were you at then?" a sly smile had spread on detective Rizzoli´s face. She was sure she had collared the woman.
"I..I..Ugh. Fine. It´s the Jones´ house you caught me at.."
"Wrong. The Jones' don´t exist. We got you."
"They exist! They booked a trip at the company I work for..I saw their itinerary!"
As the last word left her lips the woman realized she had just blown it. She had trapped herself. Her hand flew to her own forehead and landed with a slap as she chastised herself.
Jane returned home in the early morning hours and after taking a quick shower she flopped down on her bed and cuddled up to a sleeping Maura. She was determined to tell Maura about the case and how it turned out tomorrow, over breakfast, but for now she needed at least a few hours of sleep.
Over a short stack of pancakes and a steaming coffee a still tired Jane began to recap the events of the past evening for Maura.
"Ok..so first of all, I´m sorry that your backdoor window got broken..." the raven haired beauty was quickly pressing her finger to soft lips as they were about to move. "...and second of all, please ask your questions when I´m done?" Hazel eyes found chocolate ones and the blonde who was sitting in front of her gave her a small nod.
"Korsak and I heard something in your backyard and well the old man was faster than I was. Truth be told I was day dreaming. So he was at the suspect before me and he took them down, sadly after they had destroyed your window. You won´t ever believe that but when I took the hood of our suspect´s face we found out that it´s a woman. We were looking for a man all along and then we find out we have all been wrong? Like we never thought a woman was capable of doing such damage to the victims but you should have seen her. She looks like a bodybuilder. Her arms are like...like..." Jane was looking around to find anything she could compare the perpetrators arm to. Her eyes fell onto her muscular thigh and she decided to settle for that, "...like my thigh. Uh well I don´t think that´s of too much importance so I guess I should go back to the essentials. Our perpetrators name is Susan Maier and well first she did not want to talk but then I got her. She really bought our story and she had no idea that it was your house she was trying to break into. After I got that first piece of information out of her she literally began to sing. The next two victims would have been dead by now. I mean she really ordered them to come to your house, bribing them with booze."
Jane was noticing how Maura´s brows began to furrow. Even though the blonde was not interrupting her, Jane knew that her girlfriend wanted to ask a question. "Oh I know, Miss Isles wants to know why. Right?" A firm nod reassured Jane and she resumed her story. "Mrs Maier grew up with abusive parents. Both of them were heavy drinkers and her mother was a heroin addict, which she blames her father for. Well she´s been married and her husband disappeared under suspicious circumstances. That´s at least what the paperwork was stating. Turns out he was her first victim and to be honest I don´t think he saw it coming. She said he deserved it but looking him up I simply can´t find a reason why. And no I don´t think he mistreated her. At least the doctors who checked up on her couldn't find any recent broken bones or fractures. All of her injuries occurred during her childhood. We know that she didn´t only kill her husband or the two victims we found. She had been on a rampage throughout the East Coast. We found 4 more similar cases, in addition to the ones we found earlier in this investigation. I´m afraid there might be more. Mrs Maier justified her crimes by stating that her victims simply did not deserve to live since they were…and now I am quoting her – bad excuses for human beings with addictions and no home to call their own. Which is in no way an excuse to kill, well to me and to every clear thinking human being."
Jane´s face had grown red with anger as she recalled her interrogation from the night before. Maura who saw the expressions on her girlfriend´s face change, reached over the table and took strong hands into her soft ones.
"I´m sorry. I didn´t mean to get angry at this again." The brunette continued with a softer voice. "I just can´t understand how someone could ever excuse harming another person. That´s all."
Squeezing Maura´s hands before she finished her pancakes. Jane noticed that Maura hadn´t said anything even though she herself had stopped talking and she quickly added,
"Uh..I´m done now."
"I suspected so, Jane", she was softly smiling at her girlfriend as she resumed her sentence. "I just don´t know what to say to all of this. I understand your anger. Having seen the victims and knowing why they had to die such a horrible death makes me angry too. Sometimes I really despise our work."
Maura was shaking her head in disgust as she emptied the table.
Sometimes her job made her lose hope in humanity and if she didn´t love her work this much she would have already quit. But who if not her would speak for the dead? Who would even try to give them some of their dignity back?
Lost in their thoughts the women slowly cleaned the dishes and then made their way to work, hoping that Mrs Maier would not plead to be mentally ill and that she would actually serve a fair punishment for the several murders she had committed.
