It was not long before Alessandra decided that she wanted to show them her bedroom, she had no idea that they had already seen everything that the house had to offer and had been in every room before.
As they made their way up the stair case, Maura glanced over to the living room but had to close her eyes briefly as an image of the original crime scene flashed into her mind. She found herself taking a deep breath before she followed Jane and Alessandra up the stairs.
Alessandra ran her fingers over the pattern that was carved into the hand rail, "Papa made this when he first bought the house," she explained, "He bought it after he married Mammina." The pattern was marine themed with waves and boats.
Jane turned and began to walk up the carpeted stairs with hand carved hand rails going up the sides of the wall, she couldn't resist running her gloved finger along the intricate carvings of the wood as it was clear that someone had taken great care in carving the pattern into the wood before varnishing it carefully. She followed the blood that led her from the three bodies that lay in the front room to another on the landing.
When they reached the first bedroom, it had 'Christian' written on the door, "Christian doesn't like me going into his bedroom," the little girl told them, "He says I mess with his things."
She glanced to the side and pushed the door open slightly as she entered the first bedroom, she looked around at the room and noticed the quantity of Boston Red Sox memorabilia. It was a collection that she would be proud herself to own. She stepped into the room, going deeper into the young boy's bedroom where she opened the cupboards and closet to check for the missing young girl. Jane looked up at the wall above the bed at a large photo canvas that had been hung there and she smiled softly at the sight. It appeared to be a photo of all of the family together, they were at Fenway Park together and the Sox mascot was visible behind them in the shot. Jane found herself looking at the happy facial expressions that each family member held so that she had that to hold in her mind rather than just the imagery of the crime scene.
"He has lots of Red Sox things in his room though, it's so cool," her eyes lit up as she told Jane and Maura about the different memorabilia items she knew her older brother had. "And that one is Tyler's bedroom, he really likes the Bruins," Alessandra explained, "But he isn't very good at ice skating, he went to a Bruins camp but he just came back with lots of bruises because he kept falling over. He was annoyed because he didn't win any of the awards."
Her leather boots made a gentle sound as she stepped into the next bedroom, which seemed to be themed on the Boston Bruin's and had sports gear in the corner of the room. Again, she found herself checking the possible hiding spaces in the room and again she found herself hoping.
Closing the door behind her, she stepped out of the room and walked down the hallway a little further. She opened another door to find the bedroom of Mr and Mrs Harmon. She noticed how the sheets had been torn back and how a slither of light leaked in through the curtains. Jane repeated the actions of the previous rooms by again checking the closets and again she failed to find the child.
"This bedroom is Kelly's," Alessandra said as she opened the door, "She always lets me come into her room but mostly because she wants me to play teddy bear's picnic with her and play dolly with her too." She looked up at Jane and shook her head, "It's far too pink in here," she said with a sigh, "And she always spreads glitter everywhere... Mammina says it gets everywhere and drives her crazy."
She didn't give up however and closed the door as she stepped out of the room. She had to be careful when she went to the next room as it required her stepped over the body of Mrs Harmon. She opened the door to find a room filled with everything pink, fluffy and covered in glitter. The name 'Kelly' was on the door in pink, glitter covered wooden letters. She looked around the room, opening doors and cupboards to check for the missing child before her eyes fell upon a framed photo that sat on the bedside table. It was a photo of the little girl that now lay downstairs but in this photo she was smiling happily as she posed in a ballet position whilst dressed from head to toe in pink. She had to remind herself to stay in check and not let her emotions get the better of her because she had a job to do.
"This is just the bathroom... Mammina used to sing to me when I had to go in the bath," Alessandra explained as she opened the door, "Papa made everything in here, I like the mermaid." The mermaid that she was talking about was carved on the side of the bath tub swimming in a sea scene.
Carefully she left the room, closing the door behind her and stepped closer to the next room, she found a bathroom next with an obvious sea theme. She noticed the toy boats in the bath tub, the photo of the father in his marine uniform as he stood in front of a ship with his wife, and the hand carved wood that seemed to fill the room. It was clear that each wooden item in the home had been handmade and she found that to be quite impressive.
"That door there is Mammina and Papa's bedroom," she said with a smile, "But we can only go in there when we have permission, okay?"
Before they answered her, she had already moved on to the next door, "And this is the best bedroom, because this one is mine."
From the position of the mother's body, Jane assumed that the woman had been attempted to reach her little girl. She hypothisised that Hoyt had killed the others and in a last attempt to save her remaining child, she attempted to get to her but the painted red of the woman's night clothes highlighted to her that it had failed. Again her hand drifted to her stomach and she forced it down before she turned to the last room. Her hand reached out and pushed the door open further. The name on the door read 'Alessandra'.
Jane stepped into the room to find shelves of books, more books than had been in the other rooms combined and a desk with a microscope sat on it. She glanced around at all of the educational materials and wondered if this is what Maura's bedroom had looked like when she was a little girl. She looked at the walls and noticed the awards and certificates that the little girl had from science fairs and other educational events. Jane's eyes were scanning the room as she took note of the bedding that had been pulled back and it appeared as if part of the bedding was missing as the others seemed to have an extra blanket compared to this one. Each of the other of the children's beds had a fluffy blanket and a stuffed toy on them but this one didn't have either which led the Detective to believe that they had been taken along with the child. She couldn't help but be glad that at least the little girl had something that might give her a little piece of comfort in the confusion of all of this drama that seemed to be happening around her.
Jane stepped into the room further again and picked up a china doll that sat on the side. It appeared to be very much like the little girl who had gone missing as the doll hard dark curls and bright blue eyes. It wore a silk blue dress with a matching bow in its hair along with white tights and blue doll shoes. Jane looked at the photos on the wall of the little girl, grinning with her father, winning awards and smiling with her family before looking at the doll again. The Detective sighed heavily, "Why'd he take her Maur'?", she asked without looking up at the honey blonde Medical Examiner, "Why break his M.O. and take a child?".
'Alessandra' was written on the door and the little girl had a huge smile on her face as she opened the door and ran inside with excitement. She wanted to show them everything from the handmade toys to the awards that she had won and the photos that were on the wall.
Jane and Maura found themselves smiling as the little girl showed them everything in her room. Her excitement was contagious.
