Chapter 15

The next morning the detectives received the information from the cab company they had been waiting for. The cab had dropped Susan off at a doctor's office.

Apparently, this Doctor, Dr. Cryer, was a big wig on the pharmaceutical board. For Susan to receive this account, it must have been a huge win for the young woman. Dr. Cryer confirmed Susan had been there to pitch a new drug. He had also mentioned Susan brought him oysters that day. Her boyfriend had a contact in TSA that supplied the rare delicacy. When pressed upon, Dr. Cryer said the female pharmaceutical reps usually brought gifts of some sort to try and get his business.

Connecting a few dots, the detectives decided to bring in the guy from the airport oyster bar. Who cracked fairly quickly while being interrogated. Unfortunately, it didn't help the detectives as much as they would have hoped. The guy, Chris, admitted that he and Susan had dated for a while, but they broke up a month ago. It was mutual and amicable. Worse than that, Chris had an iron-clad alibi.

Now at their desks at the precinct, Jane was hoping that Maura and her team had come up with something new.

The brunette was sitting on the edge of Riley's desk quietly talking with the woman when she heard the clicking of high heels getting closer. When she looked up, she saw Maura walking in their direction and she couldn't help her expression brightening upon her approach.

"Detective Cooper, Jane", Maura addressed the detectives.

"Please tell me you have something?" Jane said, looking hopeful.

"I do", Maura opened the folder she had been holding, "we found a substance under the nails of the victim. After testing we discovered they were tiny fragments of wallpaper-".

"Wallpaper"? Riley looked puzzled, "how does that help the case? There must be hundreds of different types".

"Thousands actually," Maura corrected, not entirely pleased with the interruption, "however, this particular type of wallpaper has traces of arsenic toxicity".

When both detectives now looked even more confused, the doctor continued, "years ago, arsenic was used to preserve wallpapers. You are looking for historic houses, possibly victorian."

"That's great, thank you, Maura", Jane gently tapped the ME on her shoulder, before directing her attention back to Riley, "there aren't too many houses like that in the Boston area, lets bother Nina and see if she can narrow it down for us, maybe we'll get lucky".

Nina the latest recruit to the BPD, and resident computer tech, had as she always did come through with the information the detectives needed. Like Jane had suspected there were only a few historical houses left in the Boston area, and only two that matched with the age of the wallpaper Maura had found. After a brief discussion, they decided that they should go at this from multiple angles. They still had a lot of missing pieces, so Riley would do some more digging into Susan's private life, and Jane would visit the historical houses.

This resulted in Maura joining in the car with Jane. They had gotten the needed search warrants and were now on their way to look at the two houses, hoping to find a match for the wallpaper and possibly even a crime scene.

The first house they investigated looked abandoned and was quite run down. The door looked like it hadn't been opened for years and after careful entry they found nothing indicating something sinister had happened there.

Now they were on their way to the second house.

The car ride so far had been fairly subdued, there was quiet music playing on the radio and the only time either of them had talked was to ask for, or give directions. It wasn't awkward per se, it was more that both women were lost in their own thoughts. But when traffic slowed down to a crawl, it snapped the detective from her musings and she realized they had been awfully quiet. "Soooo," Jane started, drawing out the syllable "I was thinking," she hesitantly glanced over at Maura, "is it ok if I ask you some questions? You know, in the whole getting to know each other spirit of things."

Maura cautiously looked at Jane, they had to start somewhere and this was as good a time as any; she nodded her silent permission.

Jane briefly bothered her bottom lip, wanting to ask so many questions, but not sure if she wanted to know the answers, yet. She finally settled on one she thought was safe, "How long did you work for the BPD?" she motioned with her hand, "before you came back".

Maura took a deep breath, looking out the window. Jane wanted to get to know her again, in her own way and at her own speed. She just had to be careful not to say too much. "I worked as the Chief Medical Examiner for four years."

"You were gone for six months?" Jane asked her follow-up question.

"Yes."

Jane's brow furrowed for a few seconds. Six months, right before her accident, "where did you go?" It wasn't what she wanted to ask, but it seemed safe enough. She felt like a coward.

Maura had hoped for a 'why did you leave', but she could sense the detective was deliberately avoiding the question, once again being reminded that if they were ever really going to get to know each other again, it would be on Jane's terms.

The conversation continued, they talked about London, Maura's parents, and their charity work. Not long after, the traffic cleared up and they quickly arrived at the second house.

Having exited the car, they made their way up the steps and inside, looking around the rooms for any evidence that the victim had been there.

"So far, this place doesn't look much better," Jane said after they had gone through most of the house, "I mean, the victim lost all of her blood, but this place is spotless."

She took a moment to observe Maura, who had moved to the opposite side of the room they were currently in.

"Uhm, why are you sniffing the walls?" Jane asked amused, "do I need to be worried?"

Maura looked over at the detective, hazel eyes showing confusion.

The detective waved it off, "find anything?".

"Look at these", Maura pointed to the wall nearest to her, "scratch marks and smell this, -"

Jane put her nose to the wall and sniffed as requested, "-bleach", she exclaimed, "somebody used bleach on the walls."

The M.E. put down the large blacklight she had been carrying around, "if you can turn off the light please".

Jane flicked off the light and after a brief moment of complete darkness, the room was now bathed in the soft illumination of the black light.

Maura sprayed some Luminol on the wall and floor and after a few seconds, "there's our victim's blood", she said, her voice low.

Jane slowly looked around the room, "it's everywhere and someone did a damn good job of cleaning it".

"Language," Maura said out of force of habit, not noticing the funny look Jane gave her at the remark.

The detective lightly shook her head, then grabbed her phone and called her partner, "Riley, hey, we found something. Yes, I'll meet you back at the station after I wrap up here," she paused for a few moments, listening to the other end of the line, "…yea, that's something. Yup, indeed, and also about a dozen new questions."

Later that same day, after wrapping up at the crime scene, Jane finally strolled back into the bullpen and flopped down in her chair. She received a raised eyebrow from detective Korsak who was doing some paperwork at his own desk. Jane waved her hands in a motion indicating she was fine. Yet, after hearing the brunette sigh deeply for the third time, detective Korsak made his way over to Jane's desk. "I'm assuming by the heavy sighing that there's no break in the case yet?" He knew Jane hadn't really been 'back', if you could call it that, for all that long. Even though she had been a seasoned detective before, some of that experience had fallen away with her memories; she was essentially a rookie again. Jane looked sideways at Korsak, not sure what to say. After coming back to work for the BPD she had immediately felt drawn to the older detective. She knew on pure instinct alone that this man could be trusted and would have her back, no matter what. She leaned back in her chair and relaxed a bit, "It's like one step forward, two steps back with this case", she reluctantly admitted, "at this point, we don't even know what caused our victim to bleed out, was it a homicide or just an unfortunate accident? All we know is someone cleaned it up." She was going to say more, when Nina walked up to her desk, interrupting her train of thought. "I found something interesting going through the records of the historical society", she said, handing Jane a list of names. "I cross-referenced these to see if there is any connection between people that have access to the house and our victim." Jane looked at the clever technician with a hopeful look in her eyes. "There's one," Nina pointed to the name on the paper, "Dr. Cryer, he had booked the house for a private party on the night our victim died."

Jane had quickly picked up Riley from the cafe downstairs and together they visited Dr. Cryer at his office. It hadn't taken all that much for the man to break down and confess. Unfortunately for our detectives, it wasn't the confession that gave them all the answers they needed, but it did get them a lot closer. The doctor, a married man, had been having an affair with Susan over the last few months. On the night of her disappearance, they had met at the house together.

At some point during their evening, Dr. Cryer had left the house to call his wife. Being in the location they were in he had to walk quite a ways to get a signal. When he finally returned to the house, he had found Susan already deceased. Terrified his wife would find out about the affair, he panicked, and instead of calling the police, he disposed of Susan's body, including any traces of her ever having been at the location. Jane and Riley had taken Dr. Cryer back to the station, recorded his full confession after which he was booked and put into jail awaiting trial. Illegally disposing of a body and removing evidence wasn't as severe a crime as homicide, but it would still put him away for quite a long time.

They now had the where, part of the whom, but still not the how and why Susan Johnson had died in such an excruciating way.

"Stupid, slow elevator", Jane mumbled to herself while repeatedly pressing the call button.

"What was that?", the voice next to her briefly startled the detective, before a small smile formed on Jane's face when she saw the owner of that voice. "Hey Maura," she said, noticing the woman still looked immaculate even at the end of their long shift today. "It's just this case," Jane shrugged her shoulders, "it's been a bit frustrating".

"I think I can help with that," Maura said, "I was just on my way upstairs to give you the latest test results."

Both women stepped into the elevator, while Maura continued with her findings. "Remember the spot on our victim's skin we found during the autopsy?"

"The one you didn't want to guess about? I remember", Jane responded, winking at the doctor.

"Well," Maura continued, while Jane's comment went slightly over her head, "the skin was fairly degraded in the area, but we were able to do a digital imaging scan of the underlying area and when we cleaned it up we found puncture marks. Two, to be precise."

Both women stepped off the elevator and into the bullpen, "the puncture marks were made by snake fangs."

"Snake fangs?" Jane felt a shiver go down her back, "Susan died from a snake bite?."

"Yes, a Gaboon Viper to be exact," Maura took a picture from her file to show to the detective, "extremely poisonous, our victim bled out and died within twenty minutes of being bitten."

Jane quickly gave the picture of the venomous creature back to Maura, "I'm assuming they're not exactly local to Massachusetts` area."

"You would be correct, they are native to Sub-Saharan Africa", the M.E was about to go off on a more detailed explanation about the Gaboon Viper, but Detective Riley's arrival interrupted her train of thought. Jane quickly caught up with the other detective about the latest development. "So this snake is still out there?", was the first thing Riley brought up.

"Oh, shit, yes", Jane jumped up from where she had been sitting on the edge of her desk, "we need to get animal control out there to find this snake before someone else gets bitten."

Since the historical house was still a possible crime scene, the detectives had to join animal control while hunting for the loose Viper, much to Jane's dismay. On the detective's insistence, Maura had also joined them back at the house, just in case they overlooked something the first time they were there.

They were slowly walking through the house, or more creeping, in Jane's case. They stayed a safe distance behind animal control, so the professionals could do their job. However, this still didn't deter Jane from subconsciously using Maura as a human shield. "Jane, are you afraid of snakes?", Maura semi-seriously asked the detective, not remembering Jane ever having shown fear for the creatures before. Although she also didn't remember them ever being in a situation where that would've come up in conversation. "Pfft, no," Jane said while gently pushing Maura back in front of her again.

The detective tried to hide her fear better, but she could still hear her partner snicker quietly from the other side of the room. "What?", she threw in Riley's direction. The latter quickly shook her head, hiding her amusement, while mumbling something under her breath about 'Indiana Jones'.

Not long after the venomous Viper had been found and put away, Riley had dropped off Maura and Jane back at the station, then excused herself and headed home for the day. They would figure out where the snake came from tomorrow.

The two women were just making their way inside when Frankie stepped out of the elevator, "Jane!" he called out before rushing up to the brunette, "Hey Maura," he quickly greeted the doctor. "So," he directed his attention back to his sister, "we're all heading to the Dirty Robber for some food and drinks, you coming?"

"Yea, sure, I'm kind of starving," Jane said, "nothing else I can do tonight anyway". She then noticed Maura had wandered off.

Frankie looked to where Jane"s attention had gone, suddenly his face lit up, "Hey, why don't you ask her to come with us?", he gave his sister a little shove to her shoulder.

"I don't know," Jane said, "you think she'd want to come?"

"She's part of the team, right? Go, ask her" Frankie pushed her a little more forcefully now.

"Watch it, Jr." she playfully glared at her brother before calling across the room, "Hey, Maura!", waiting for the woman to turn around, "you want to join us for a drink?"

"Real classy, Jane", Frankie mumbled under his breath.

"Shut up," the detective told her brother, before rushing over to Maura who was waiting with her hand already on the door handle. She looked hesitant at Jane, but when Frankie gave her an encouraging smile she nodded, "I'd love to".

They had been sitting at The Robber for about thirty minutes; now on their second round of drinks.

Maura was just observing her co-workers, Korsak, Nina, Frankie, and Jane.

Frankie had been right, Jane was, no, 'is' different than she was before. Somehow lighter. The thought made Maura sad and happy at the same time.

Sad because she would have to get to know Jane all over again. It was like they were strangers, yet it didn't feel like they were.

In an odd way, it also made her happy. Some of the things Jane had experienced over the past few years were memories that anyone would wish they could erase; like Hoyt.

"Enjoying yourself?" Jane interrupted Maura from her musings.

"I am", Maura replied.

Slowly, both women started a conversation.

It was a little awkward at first, but soon things were getting comfortable. It wasn't long before Jane and Maura were caught up together in their own world; like nobody else was there.

Frankie occasionally glanced at them, 'they don't even realize they are doing it' he thought happily.

...

"What do you mean, you can't lie?" Jane asked a little unbelieving.

"Just like I said, I can't lie," Maura shook her head and took another sip of her wine.

"Not even a small lie?" Jane still didn't believe the woman.

"No. Every time I've tried, I go vasovagal." Maura folded her hands together on her lap, "what?" she asked seeing Jane smirking at her.

"Nothing, nothing," the detective looked very pleased with herself. "You do realize I'm going to have to test this theory," she said playfully.

Maura laughed, an honest to god laugh. One that gave Jane the feeling again like she was missing something with the doctor, something was there, something she couldn't quite put her finger on, a connection she hadn't felt before. Over the last few months she had noticed that when she met people from her life before the accident, even though she didn't remember who they were, part of her still recognized them. It was like being in their presence triggered a specific emotion. It was kind of like when she was on the job, sometimes she'd get a feeling, just knowing something wasn't right. I guess it was gut instinct. She had the same thing with people. With some, she felt instantly comfortable, like Frankie. There was a familial feeling there, he 'felt' like her brother. Then others like Korsak, he 'felt' like a friend, like she could trust him. Then there were those like detective Crow, she instantly 'felt' like punching him. She couldn't really explain it, but these instincts, it made sense to her.

With Maura, she 'felt' like home."

It was after another round of drinks Maura excused herself to use the bathroom, and at the same time, if she was honest, she needed to gather herself.

Talking with Jane was very nice, yet it was also painful at the same time. Even though Jane had told her not to worry too much about what she did or didn't say, a few times throughout the conversation she had to hold back to not accidentally divulge too much information.

After being able to center herself again, Maura made her way back out of the bathroom, and back to the table where her co-workers were still gathered.

It took the doctor a few moments to realize there was someone else sitting at their table. A woman Maura had never seen before was sitting in her seat, sitting closer to Jane than a normal friend would. The woman was leaning into Jane listening to what the brunette was saying, before exaggeratedly throwing her head back while laughing. Flirting, Maura realized, this woman was flirting with Jane. Her Jane.

Without giving it any more thought Maura strode quickly over back to the table. When the woman didn't look up directly, Maura cleared her voice, "excuse me," the woman looked up, slightly annoyed. "You're in my seat."

"I didn't realize the 'seat' was taken," the lady answered, she had said it with much innuendo, definitely talking about more than just the seat itself. She then looked back at Jane, who was now solely looking at Maura; a small smile pulling at her lips.

Maura never noticed as she was still glaring at the woman in her seat, "oh, it's taken". The doctor had now put her hands on her hips, impatiently tapping with her foot on the floor. The whole table had quieted now, Korsak, Frankie, and Nina, all waiting to see how this would play out. The tension quickly dissipated though, as there must've been something in Maura's face that made the woman next to Jane change her mind, quickly making her apologies before trailing off.

It wasn't until after Maura had sat down again, wondering why everyone was staring at her that she finally realized what she had done. She had responded on instinct alone, responded in the way she would have when she and Jane were still together.

Embarrassed she covered her face in her hands, "I'm so sorry", Maura apologized, a" blush creeping up her face, "I had no right - "

Jane gently grabbed Maura's hands and pulled them away from her face, to her surprise, the detective looked awfully amused by the whole scenario.

"It's okay…" Jane paused, she tried to pull her face in a more neutral expression, biting her bottom lip, "I wasn't interested…although, tickets to the Red Sox…it was tempting."

It only took Maura one second to respond, "well, then perhaps I should make it up to you, I should take you to see the Red Sox…it's only fair."

So it's been a minute, or maybe more like 7 years. Yikes! But I found the original outline for this story I had made, and I feel motivated again to finish it.

I've always known how it will end, just got to get the story there. I will do my best to keep it moving forward. Realistically, we got about 5 chapters to go.