"Maura and i had a long talk yesterday." Jane told Frankie while sitting in the car. Observing a man who had visited the riddles website the day before. Somehow IT had been able to identify him.
"I hope you're not breaking up." Frankie looked concerned.
"No, we took some very important decisions though and if you tell ma what I'm about o tell you I'm gonna kill you." Frankie rolled his eyes. "You know that she'll kill me too if she senses that I have a secret." He smirked.
"Ok. So, I won't tell you then." Jane said and chuckled knowing that her brother would want to know the news.
"Just spill it Janie!" He snorted.
"Ok." Jane said, eager to tell him. "We decided to move back to Boston, taking on our old jobs."
Frankie cheered. "That's great Janie!" He exclaimed and hugged her.
"I've also got some news to tell you. Michelle is pregnant!" he blurted out.
"Uhhh I can't believe it. How wonderful!" Jane felt excited about the news. And Frankie looked very happy too.
"So, we are going to have a lot to celebrate on thanksgiving." He said with a wide grin.
They hugged each other and laughed.
"You are going to be a great dad." Jane said to her little brother feeling very proud of him.
"I hope so." He muttered.
"I'm pretty sure of it. When are you going to tell ma?"
"We don't know yet. You?"
"We neither. We first want to settle some things first."
"Let's hope you will get done that in time before ma finds out herself." Frankie took a bite from a sandwich and chuckled.
Suddenly, Jane spotted the man in the rearview mirror.
"He's leaving the house." she told Frankie who immediately put his sandwich away.
They watched as the man climbed into a car and followed him down to the main road. The plan was to find out more about him. They hoped to catch him doing something bad, so they could offer him a deal. They would make him a snitch and infiltrate the riddles in exchange for a lesser charge. According to the IT guys he wanted the riddle to help him get rid of his wife. That would make a great deal for them.
Korsak and another police officer took over after five hours. The siblings felt deceived for they had hoped that the man would go to a bank, to withdraw the money for the murder. But he didn't. "Maybe tonight or tomorrow." Frankie mused pulling into their mothers' driveway.
"I've checked for some houses today." Maura said, when they were alone in their room. "I hope you don't mind. If you feel pressured, please say so. But I couldn't help. I'm so glad about our decisions."
"Have you told ma?" Jane asked.
Maura shook her head and chuckled. "No way. She asked a few times though, what we have been talking about yesterday in the guestroom."
Jane knew that her mother could be great at finding out about other people's secrets. Especially the ones from her kids. Therefore, she felt relieved and sat down next to Maura on the bed. "Show me what you found." she asked and Maura opened her laptop.
"I looked for a small house with a garden." She explained while opening some pages showing some of her results to Jane who softly kissed her neck from time to time.
"We have a different idea of small houses." she mused chuckling when Maura clicked through the pages. Some of the real estate's even had guest houses.
"Yeah, but you never know what's going to happen. And I need space for my stuff." Jane immediately had a vision of a wardrobe as big as her old apartment and chuckled.
"I like this one." she said and looked amazed at the pictures of a typical Boston house. "And it has two garages and is close to the sea, where we used to run. I'm going to check the neighborhood for criminals and…."
"What?" Maura interrupted laughing.
We are quite a couple Jane thought amused.
They had a lot of fun and couldn't stop giggling and grinning. Once Angela entered the room Maura quickly closed the laptop.
"Sounds like a party is going on here." Angela noted. "What's so funny?"
"Uhhhh oh, we're just joking around here." Jane said before Maura could open her mouth. She knew that Maura couldn't lie, and she wanted to keep this a secret for a little bit.
Jane, sensing that her mother was a bit lonely proposed to go downstairs to watch a movie together. There was nothing better than a good glass of wine and a funny movie to relax.
The man went to the bank the next day after another contact with the riddles the previous day.
His wife is probably sound asleep, and he is organizing a hit man to kill her. Frankie stated while watching the bank.
"No advertisement for a marriage huh?" Jane replied.
"Thank good not all marriages are like this." Frankie mumbled thinking of him and Kiki.
Jane thought about all the cases of home violence she had witnessed as a young officer and had to admit that it was one reason why she had been reluctant to board a relationship at all.
She remembered the previous evening and hoped that it wouldn't end like this with Maura and her.
The man came out and put his duffle bag on the passenger's seat. It looked fuller than before.
They both got out of their car and Frankie knocked on the driver's window. Jane saw immediately that the man was nervous. She kept her hand close to her gun as you never knew how some people would react.
"Sir, we would like you to come with us to the police station." her brother said calmly, showing his badge.
"Why? It's not like I robbed the bank or so." The man replied, his hands rubbing nervously over his thighs.
"Then you have nothing to fear right?" Frankie replied. Still calm.
"Don't make me take out my gun." Jane talked for the first time using a warning voice and standing in a way that the man could see her FBI badge and her hand at her gun. The guy nodded and got off the car.
"You can take your duffle bag with you." Jane said.
The man looked shocked but did as he was told.
A quick check of his duffle bag proofed them right. He had about 200 thousand Dollars In it. That's what a human's life is worth Jane thought sadly when she sat down at the table on the opposite side of the man.
"Quite a lot of money which you have in your bag." Frankie started after dictating their names, date and time. "What do you need it for?"
The man was still rubbing his hands on his pants looked around nervously.
"I need it to buy a house." he muttered.
"You are not a very good liar Bradley." Frankie noted. "We know and can proof that you are planning to have your wife killed."
He waited as silence spread into the room, Jane sitting at her chair watching the scene without talking.
The interview ended quickly as the man finally admitted to the accusations. Jane and Frankie were happy after having sealed the deal with the man who was just about leaving the police station followed by Korsak and officer Paulson.
"Do you think that he's going to play foul?" Frankie asked Jane who was just tanking a sip from her coffee.
"I don't think so, she said. Seeing as how nervous he was. He is a coward. That's also why he needed the riddles. He couldn't have killed his wife on his own."
"This whole thing", Frankie made a gesture with his hands, "makes me think that the name riddles comes from getting rid of someone."
"Yeah. It really does." His sister admitted. "I don't see a religious cult behind this anymore. Just some hitman, with good connections to a person at the government."
"That's it!" She suddenly exclaimed. "Maybe we can find that person if we checked for deceased partners."
Frankie clicked. "You mean that they killed someone for this Man from the government. And now they are blackmailing him?"
"Yes! Exactly. It's possible, isn't it?"
"So, if we're right, and he decided not to protect them any longer, he's in huge danger."
Jane nodded. "And this whole thing about the religious cult is just hokey pokey to intimidate people or get rid of some bodies. I don't think that they would have to spread scare and terror if they were so dangerous. I mean, they are dangerous. But not as mighty as they made us believe. They have made one mistake after the other since we appeared."
"That's true." Frankie confirmed and put his empty cup on the table. "And that in return means that they are neither untouchable nor invincible."
Jane nodded again.
Tonight's dinner at the Rizzoli household was delicious as always. Though it contained vegetables, which was probably Maura's doing Jane mused and watched her girlfriend dig in. she wondered if Maura had any news about houses. After being interrupted by her mum the previous day, they hadn't talked about it anymore. Maura winked at her several times over dinner and smiled happily. Jane sighed.
Frankie and she found themselves in the kitchen afterwards, cleaning the dishes.
"We should buy her a dishwasher." he whispered, and both laughed.
"Yeah, I actually feel like 15 again, when I still lived at home."
"Me too." her brother said. "Only that now we are older. And we still have to wash the dishes.."
"And we still have to do what ma orders." Jane replied.
They both laughed and rolled their eyes.
"You seem to enjoy that." Angela stated when she came into the kitchen. Her kids rolled their eyes once more. "I'm not going to interrupt you for long. I'm just fetching some ice cream for dessert. Maura and I decided to watch a movie if you want to join us after you're done."
They wanted to watch the movie too. So, half an hour later the Rizzoli Clan had settled on the couch and the chairs in the living room. Angela had bought the favorite ice cream of each member of the family. And they were happy. Jane was surprised when Maura snuggled into her in front of the family. She could see that Angela grinned. She took a cover as she felt that Maura was cold and put it carefully over them.
Frankie smirked in a way which made Jane laugh. Then he winked at her and smiled before returning his eyes to the screen.
She helped Maura to take a shower and brought her to bed, to then take a shower herself. When she entered room, Jane found Maura reading a book, which she had bought for her today. She knew that it wasn't Maura's genre, but the blonde surprised her again by giggling about the thriller.
"What? You're going into reading thrillers now?" She asked astonished.
"I never would have thought that they could be so fun." Maura answered grinning.
"Thrillers should be full of suspense." Jane replied wisely and said: "Give me the book. I just want to check if you haven't just put the cover of the thriller over one of your scientific books."
Maura was laughing hard. "I think I start to get your jokes Janie."
The other woman rolled her eyes dramatically. "Anarchy!" She exclaimed with a dramatic tone. "Everywhere I look I see anarchy. Ma cooking vegetables, you are doing what you want. We are all doomed!"
Maura couldn't stop laughing to Janes delight. The brunette couldn't help but to join in.
"I have called the real estate agent for the house you were interested in while your mum was shopping." Maura told Jane later. "It is still on sale. What do you say? Or do you want to see if there is another house?"
Jane smirked. "You know how I love shopping. I think that the million houses which we looked at yesterday offer enough choice. But to me the one feels perfect. How about you?"
"It looks perfect to me too." Maura replied." And we didn't look at a million houses yesterday!"
Jane chuckled. "Well it felt like it." She replied rolling her eyes but chuckled.
"Did you actually do your check on the neighbors? Any mass murders among them?"
Jane blushed for a second having a hard time to admit that she had checked. "Uuuhhhm well, I couldn't find anything or anyone suspicious."
Maura nudged her. "It's ok you know. And I totally get it after all the stuff we have seen."
"Thank you for understanding." Jane smiled still feeling a little bit weird about it. But it was just as Maura had said. They had seen lots of crazy things in their career.
"So, I make an appointment with the real estate agent that we can take a look at the house?"
"Sure. Just tell me when it is. I'll come and pick you up."
Both couldn't really believe that they were doing it for real. They hugged and kissed.
"Can you…?" Jane asked feeling aroused. Maura looked puzzled.
"Can I what?" Maura still looked puzzled and a little bit scared.
"Uhhhhm I'd like to sleep with you." Jane mumbled shyly.
Maura chuckled and seemed to relax. I don't know. But I d love to find out she whispered. But honestly im more scared about Angela coming in.
Jane rolled her eyes, feeling like a teenager. She looked around thoughtful. Then jumped of the bed and put a chair under the handle. "Problem solved!" she exclaimed with a wide smile.
It was the sweetest lovemaking Jane had ever experienced.
"I've never had such an attentive and careful lover before!" Maura mumbled as they were lying entangled in bed.