DISCLAIMER: I do not own this show, the books, or these characters. I only borrow them.
Chapter 28
The ringing of a cell phone woke her up, "Rizzoli...Rizzoli," she answered. However the phone continued to ring. Jane glanced over to Maura for two reasons: one – hoping she wasn't watching Jane make an ass of herself trying to answer a non-ringing phone, and two – wondering why Maura's phone was still ringing as she almost always picked up in under two rings...three at most. She saw Maura laying on her stomach, hugging the pillow she lay on...and not even twitching trying to wake up to answer her phone. So Jane reached over the ironically dead-to-the-world medical examiner and grabbed the cell phone. Noting the caller, she once again answered, "Rizzoli."
"Jane?..." The voice of Barry Frost came over Dr. Isles' cell. "I know it's early, but even I know which speed dial number belongs to whom."
"I'm assuming it's important enough to wake up the Doc. So what's up...other than us?"
"Well, let's see, Jane. I'm a homicide detective calling the chief medical examiner...that usually means there's a dead body."
Jane could hear the humor in the voice and knew her partner was smirking, "Smart ass."
"Yes, I am smart, and my ass is cute according to most women..." he said.
"Well, according to this women, your ass needs a swift kick. So, I repeat. What's up?"
"Not the Doc apparently." Hearing his partner now nearly growling over the phone, he knew he needed to get to the point. "Db, African-American male, late 40s, early 50s, gsw to the back of the head, and missing his left middle finger. I wouldn't be bugging her after the long week as she's not on-call if it wasn't for the case."
"Yea, she told me a little bit about what's been going on at work."
"So why do you have her phone?"
"Maura got me from my parents so I could get Jo and return home this weekend," she didn't bother to tell him that the plans changed slightly or that she was already home. "So I'm assuming you want Dr. Isles there as soon as possible, so it probably would be better not to detour so she could drop me and my bags off at my place..." Her bags were still in Maura's trunk. "I promise I'll stay in the car. It's no big deal...took my Ma to a scene once for similar reasons..." .
"True, and then you complained for the rest of the week how she didn't stay in the car like you told her to. And you are worse than she is when you want to do something."
"Oh, come on, Frost. Would I disobey and go into a crime scene when I'm hoping to get back to work next week? I don't want to be reprimanded and benched any longer. Anyway, I can't help it that the plan was to stay with Maura and get Jo so she could drop me off at my apartment Sunday...well, it's Sunday."
"No one in their right mind would be driving a friend home at this hour if they could be comfortably in bed."
"...From a bar?" It was half statement, half question.
"They are all closed at four in the morning, Jane, and you aren't allowed to drink with your meds anyway." There was a long pause as his partner waited for an answer, "Okay...but only because we need the Doc ASAP, and it's already a long drive from her place."
"That it is." She swallowed a snicker at that fact as it was the very reason why they were already at Jane's place.
"Can you put the Doc on the phone so I can give her the basics and the location?"
Rather than saying sure, Jane just went over the other side of the bed. "Maura, the phone is for you." There were a few non-verbal grunts, and Jane could swear she heard a muffled "five more minutes" and a two-syllable mumble that Jane could only assume was a name...and definitely not her own. She knew that Maura had a boyfriend from the few times she tried to get together with her friend but was told she was going on a date but no additional information was passed between the two. They never talked about him, but then Jane didn't mention her on-again off-again, but mainly off-again, relationship with Special Agent Gabriel Dean of the FBI. Her thoughts were brought back to the present as a slight hand blindly reached out for the phone. She couldn't help but throwing out the barb, "Good morning to you too, Sleeping Beauty."
"Isles." Hearing only a quiet reply from Frost, she quickly turned the phone right side up before saying again, "Isles." Maura just glared at Jane as she walked away laughing hysterically to get something to change into. Maura sat up. Her sleep tousled honey brown hair falling in her face prevented her from aiming well as she threw the pillow she had before been hugging at Jane's retreating back.
"Still a bad throw," Jane said before blocking anymore shots with the closing bathroom door.
Frost told Maura what she needed to know about where the crime scene was and the same brief description of the victim that he gave moments ago to Jane. Maura soon knew she needed to head to South Boston warehouse district, near the northern intersection of Foodmart Road and Widett Circle. "I'll keep an eye out for all the lights. See you soon," and with that Dr. Isles hung up her phone and hurried to get ready.
When Maura grabbed up her purse and car keys, Jane joined her, dressed and with her own apartment keys. "Frost said I could go with as long as I promise to stay out of the way."
The 'you-can-trust-me' smile on Jane's face should have clued Maura in to the fact that something was off with the situation, but she still needed to learn that while she would pass out with an outright lie, most had lying down to an art form...especially Jane. But, at the time, between the early hour, and hearing the brief facts from Frost, so thinking about the current case and the two similar ones in the last few days, Maura just thought Frost said okay...so, okay.
Maura pulled her car close to the yellow tape that was blowing slightly in the breeze and that cordoned off this newest crime scene. She saw many nearby semi trucks being loaded, and so hoped that with the populated area, the body was a recent death rather than just another recent dump site for another body killed around the same time as the other two. The metal and concrete buildings seemed so stark in the dark, and she felt sorry for the man who now rested within their bleak walls.
Frost was walking the perimeter checking for any clues about the murder scene inside when he saw Maura's black Lexus pull up. He walked over to the vehicle, and, still seeing the world through detective's eyes, he noted that Maura looked still slightly asleep on her feet. Her usually pristine appearance didn't seem as put together in the jeans and t-shirt that looked surprisingly like Jane's and with a hasty low ponytail gathering her hair near the nape of her neck. His eyes then moved over to his partner, who seemed to be relaxing in the passenger seat, taking in the breeze from the open window. He should have realized that image was not going to stay that way once he was out of view. "You got here quick," Frost commented, thinking about the distance from Maura's house to this crime scene.
"Actually, it was a little slow coming from Jane's apartment as there was an accident." She missed seeing the glare that Frost sent to Jane.
Jane just smiled back at her partner as she sat comfortably in the passenger seat until Frost left the area so that she could grill the rookie at the yellow barrier. When Maura started off in pursuit of the body, Jane said, "See...now she's going to have to take me back to my place. So technically what I told you was true."
Frost just shook his head and went to join the medical examiner.
Maura could tell right away that this location was finally the place of the actual murder rather than a dump site. The amount of blood around the man and splattered across the floor and nearest walls let her know that he was shot and killed here. She knelt down next to the body and also noted with her eyes and a quick feel of the stiffness or lack there of of the man, that he was already out of rigor, but was still in relatively good condition albeit the hole in his head. Without the actual lab tests, she could approximate that the time of death was going to be similar to the others. "Detective Frost, there is a good chance that this man was killed around the same time as the other two victims, so have your guys keep an eye out for any evidence that the others might have been killed here, too."
"Okay, Dr. Isles." He went over to talk to the other investigators while keeping his eyes open for any information that could be of use to this, or the other two cases, like additional bullet casings or blood spatter that would not correlate to where the current victim was positioned.
Frost was glad the location of the shooter could be approximated based on where the spent casing was on the floor. The height of the shooter could also be determined if it appeared from the location that he was standing and not in some other position. The bullet trajectory through the man's head was followed, and it appeared that the bullet finally came to rest nearby a now pierced bag of some type of grain. Someone was going to have fun sifting through the mess and checking the cement girders nearby.
Maura went back to eying the body where it lay. It looked more like torture and a hired kill. The body was again tied. Silver duct tape once again bound his ankles together; his hands were likewise bound behind his back. He was facedown now, but Maura could just imagine him kneeling as he begged the person behind him to have mercy as there was no gag or tape around this victim's mouth that she could see. The implement used to remove the finger looked to have been very painful as the bones around the pinched off digit were crushed and there was a lot of blood down the back of the man's clothes to let them all know the horror the man went through before the kill shot to the back of the skull was delivered. From his positioning, she was able to note something else. "Detective Korsak,this man was hit with a stun gun." She pointed to the place on the victim's neck. "It's a classic Lewis Triple Response, with the red spots where he was subjected to the voltage from the stun gun. You can see the reddish flare around that, and the fluid-filled wheal."
Korsak nodded that he understood. He'd see enough stun gun wounds to note the similarity, even if he only understood part of what the Doc said.
Maura turned her attention back to the body and readied to help her death investigator roll the body to the side. Once she did, she was able to see that the kinetic energy of the bullet as it passed through the occipital bone shattering it, and then the brain matter, caused the exit wound to be larger than the entrance wound, and so his face was nearly literally blown off. The shot might have put him out of his physical pain, but now it would cause pain to other individuals when they finally found out who the victim was, and who his family was. She knew she would need to ask the family for his dental records as asking a loved one to identify him through his damaged face would be an added cruelty that she could not bare to subject them to.
Frost wandered back over near the body and found the man's wallet open to the his picture ID on a nearby cardboard box. He would have to check to see if another police officer left it there, or. more probable, the perpetrator. If the latter was the case, he would need to quickly find out if the victim had any family as the driver's license could be leading the killer to his next victim or victims. With the picture ID, Frost knew who was laying on the floor nearby with Korsak standing near his feet and Dr. Isles taking the body temperature. "His name is Douglas Phur, he's 52."
Korsak wanted to joke that the man was probably a nature lover with a name like that, but he was standing too close to the Doc with sharp implements, who was not a fan of humor around the dead...even if it was funny. His thoughts were brought back to the case with an angry expletive from Frost.
"Shit," Frost was now gazing at a picture of the man, a nice looking women around the same age, and two children. "It looks like he had a wife and children." The only thing Frost hated more than telling a spouse that their loved one was dead was telling children that their mother or father wasc never coming home because of some bad man. The kids in the picture both looked to be in their teens and so would understand what was going on...he wasn't sure if that was worse, or the younger ones who would still ask when daddy or mommy was coming home to make everything happy again.
"Maybe it's his sister and her kids." Korsak wished he could cheer either of them up, but they knew all too often that loved ones were ripped away from their families. He glanced over to Maura, or from their future families, he thought sadly.
The smell of the scene was an odd mix of stale urine, blood, slight decomp, and accumulated dust. Even being used to the sights and smells in her autopsy suite, the combination curled her stomach when she heard about Douglas' family. She again grieved, knowing the pain the wife was going to feel. Once again she was left pondering if letting Frankie get closer was a good thing or not – until him, nothing got in her way of being a good ME, not even her first husband. Even though she bet that both Frost and Korsak would have disagreed. Her emotions, even though she fought and wasn't sure of them made her more human...the heart of the Queen of the Dead had started to thaw and beat. But should she let it continue, or harden it again?
Frosts called out for a car to head over to the Phur residence. To make sure the family was safe and to inform them of the death of their family member. Frost also asked for them to bring the family into the station so that he could talk with the wife, but also to keep them safe until he could get a security detail set around her house for a few days. Even though the likelihood the perp would strike after all this time was low...he just hoped the man hadn't already struck.
Having the information that they could see with just their eyes, until they got the reports from the various labs, Frost and Korsak were getting ready to leave for headquarters, along with the Doc as the body was now in a black body bag on the gurney and being pushed out to the Medical Examiner's van. Maura turned to Frost, "Can you drive Jane back to her apartment so I can get on to the morgue?"
"Sure," Frost said, even though he was internally groaning. He knew that somehow Jane would make him forget that he was supposed to drive her home. He was surprised to find that she was still sitting relaxed in the front seat of Maura's car; however he failed to see the harassed look on the nearly boy standing on the edge of the crime scene. "Come on, Jane, I get to drive you home."
Jane got out of Maura's car and started to slowly stroll over to Frost's car while Maura jumped in and nearly sped away to headquarters. Jane just grinned; Frost just groaned. "She's got my luggage...we should go get them before you drop me off."
He knew she wouldn't leave then once she got there. "I'll have Maura drop 'em off later."
"She shouldn't have to go out of her way...she's tired so should go home."
"Then I will drop them off later." That was his real plan, however, once Jane got in the car, somehow she kept him distracted so he forgot what he was doing.
"So are you going to go back and play with you gun shot locator, toy-mi-bob thingy?"
This time Frost was nearly growling. "It's back with the tech guys. Cops kept showing up with guns drawn to various locations where cars backfired so they decided the code needed to be tweaked. But not before the armed cops frightened an elderly lady and her yappy dog."
Jane nearly snorted as she laughed. "Well at least her hair couldn't get any whiter then."
"Nah, I heard she had some odd orange tint." The laughter of both got louder, and before Frost knew it, he was pulling into his spot at headquarters. He started to reverse the car, but Jane had another idea.
"Look, Ma is coming into town anyway...I can just have her pick me and my bags up here before she goes to my place for Sunday dinner."
Frost thought about saying no, knowing that Jane just wanted to see what was going on with the case, but she was already pulling out her cell phone.
She typed a text message to her mother, as it was not even seven in the morning yet, and then got out of the car, leaving Frost no choice but to park his car.
"Okay, but you stay on desk as you will be starting tomorrow."
"No problem." Only because she knew she could bribe Korsak to see the notes on the other two cases.
Three hours later, Maura joined the group upstairs to deliver her preliminary report and saw for the first time that Jane was in the office. "The lieutenant is going to be pissed if he learns that you are in the office, Jane."
"It's a Sunday, he won't be in, so I'm okay." At the odd glances of her friends and colleagues, Jane added, "He's behind me, isn't he?"
"Yes HE is...it's a serial case for sure now, of course I'd be in," Lieutenant Cavanaugh's voice was quiet but deadly. "The question is what the hell are you doing here, Rizzoli?"
"I'm okayed to drive tomorrow, and I was with Maura..."
"Don't bring me into this."
Before she could get the guys in trouble too, she went on, "So I'm just waiting for Ma to pick me up to go back to my place and have dinner. You could come, the more the merrier...bring your notes even and work where it's more comfortable."
"I thought your Ma hated talk of work at the dinner table," Korsak joked and Jane just glared at him.
"Go home, Rizzoli, and don't let me see your ugly mug before noon tomorrow."
Sadly her Ma called then to say she was five minutes out. As she raised the phone and pushed the answer button, she answered her lieutenant, "Yes, sir...not you Ma...see you then." She was tempted to sit and pout for those five minutes, until she realized she still had five minutes to speed through the files.
The officers brought in the still living family and pointed out the two detectives to the wife before they turned and left.
Without talking about it, it was determined that Korsak would take the kids to chat, while Frost talked with the wife. As they approached the trio, Korsak grabbed a few dollars out of his wallet and said to the two kids, "Let's go raid the vending machines...I'd suggest the cafeteria, but the food is a bit scary, so I'm sure you mom an cook you something much better later."
"Dad usually cooks," a sullen looking fourteen year old boy stated.
Well this was going GREAT! Korsak thought as he led the two away.
"I'm sorry about you husband, Douglas, ma'am."
"Erica, and he preferred Doug, as I'm sure you can understand." She gave Frost an amused smile that much too quickly melted away into a sorrowful one.
After learning the few names of people who didn't seem to like the family, or the husband, the pair ended up on a little bit of small talk.
"Our daughter graduates high school this year...he was so proud."
Frost never mentioned religion much, but he did believe in an afterlife."I'm sure he still is."
Her gaze pierced his. "That's all well and good, detective, but how is she supposed to know now with the words, the caring smiles, and the gentle hugs that he can't give."
"You tell her for him...you hug her for him."
Silence hung in the air for a few moments. She gazed over at her children sitting and talking to the older gentlemen. "He fought with his father before school that day...he blames himself for those being the last words he said to him...what do I tell him?" A smaller pause this time before she quietly admitted, " I could see the hurt in his eyes when the police told us about Doug, but I was in shock and so froze rather than comforting my son..."
"So that is what you tell him...you are both human, and there are things you wish you could change...but your son knows you love him...just like his father knew Robert loved him. But sometimes we don't show it how we would prefer...we are all human."
The talk seemed to be over after that as the mother was left pondering how to help her children. Frost passed over his card and asked her to call if she thinks of anything new...he much preferred giving his number to beautiful women hoping for a date, rather than hoping for information leading to a suspect in now three murders.
AN: Next, possible break or two in the case and Jane back at work...Then, Maura thinks she probably should tell Jane before she learns that they were together.
