The next morning Jane and Riley were back at their desks. Although they now had a cause of death for Susan, and so far one man behind bars, Dr. Cryer. They still couldn't quite close the case as they had a few more very important questions to answer. Was Susan's death just an unfortunate accident, and where did the snake come from?
"You want to go back to the airport?" Riley asked. "You think we missed something?"
"I was just thinking about the snake," Jane said, suppressing the chill that wanted to run down her back, "and where it could have come from, and then I remembered Chris, the ex, he got the Oysters from his buddy that worked in TSA."
"You are wondering what else he could've gotten from this buddy?" Riley continued Jane's thought.
"It's just a hunch, but let's find out if TSA has any record of a 'Baboon' Viper entering the country," Jane already was getting up from her desk, with her partner following close behind.
After speaking with the TSA manager, they quickly found out that the venomous Gaboon viper had indeed been confiscated by airport security. It didn't take them long to find the responsible party, Chris' TSA buddy, that told them the snake had gone missing, but he was afraid to report it, in fear of losing his job. It would take some time to go through the security footage, but in the meantime, continuing on her instincts, Jane suggested they bring Chris back into the station for some follow-up questions. He was now waiting in one of the interrogation rooms.
"I just know he has something to do with this," Jane briefly frowned. She and Riley would usually discuss and come up with some sort of strategy before they would enter the room.
"I'm with you, Jane," Riley replied, "we just don't have the evidence, or at least not yet. Nina is still going over the video footage".
Jane started putting a hand through her hair, then stopped midway, making her hair look slightly untamed, "I have an idea."
About twenty minutes later Jane and Riley were sitting across from Chris. Maura had just finished explaining to Chris how Susan had died, in all excruciating detail, until he couldn't take it anymore.
"Stop," Chris closed his eyes, "that wasn't supposed to happen. It was meant to scare her. It was just a joke", he said, while looking at the detectives distraught, "she left me for a married guy, I just wanted some payback. It was just a baby snake, too small to hurt anyone."
"Actually," Maura said, "any poisonous animal that hasn't reached maturity has little control over their venom, making them more deadly than their adult counterparts."
"Take him away", Jane told the officer that was standing just inside the door. The team had what they needed to wrap up the case. There was only the usual paperwork left and barring a new case coming in, the team would actually have a few days off to relax.
Maura knowing this as well, took her opportunity the moment she saw Jane alone. "So, detective, I believe I owe you a baseball game."
"Huh", Jane turned her chair towards Maura, her brain trying to switch gears.
Maura pushed through, "Red Sox against the Yankees, tomorrow night? You want to go?"
"Wait", Jane rushed out, "You have tickets?"
Maura smiled at the other woman's enthusiasm, "yes, I have tickets."
Jane practically jumped out of her chair, "then yes, I am so game."
"Great, so the game starts at seven...", Maura said, trying to decide if Jane would want to meet at the game or if she could suggest riding together.
Jane noticing the hesitation offered a way out, "shall I pick you up at six then?"
Maura quickly nodded, "Yes, six is good. I'm looking forward to it."
"Me too, Maur, I'll see you tomorrow".
Jane was actually nervous while driving towards Maura's house. It's just baseball, she told herself, just relax.
She wore her Red Sox Jersey, a pair of jeans, and sneakers. Looking forward to the game, and spending time with Maura, she smiled as she walked up to the front door.
"Hi Jane," Maura answered the door, motioning for her to come inside.
It took Jane a moment to recover from seeing Maura so casual in front of her. "Huh," she opened her mouth, then closed it. She had brought Maura a baseball hat and a red sox shirt, imagining the woman might not have anything appropriate to wear to the game, or at least nothing that would make her blend in. But it definitely hadn't been needed. Maura was wearing an identical Jersey to her own.
"What?", Maura asked, looking down at her own Jersey, the name Isles on the back. This is what she usually would wear when joining Jane to a game, she thought to herself. Was this not appropriate?
"No, nothing," Jane shook her head, "I guess I just didn't expect you to be so prepared." she gestured at Maura's shirt. "Didn't realize you were a Red Sox fan yourself."
"Oh, well", Maura started uncomfortable, not quite knowing how to respond to that.
"It's okay, just tell me." Jane casually leaned against the kitchen island, gently urging her to go on.
"Well," Maura started again, "You bought this for me. You used to just let me borrow one of your shirts, but then after a while, you told me I was part of the team now, and it was time I got my own shirt." Her voice had started to trail off towards the end. Not sure how Jane would respond.
But to her surprise, Jane just shrugged her shoulders, and kind of mumbled how that sort of made sense. With a "ready to go" next, and they were on their way.
They ended up having a really great time together. Their conversation flowed easily. They drank beer, ate nachos, and cheered on their team.
After the game, Maura invites Jane inside for a drink.
They settle on the couch, each quietly sipping their own drink of choice.
"Maura," Jane puts her beer on the table, "tell me a story. About us, I mean. Something… fun, that we've done together. Other than baseball games."
"Hmmm, let me think", Maura took another sip from her glass of wine, taking a moment to think, then put her glass down on the table next to Jane's. "Wait here", she ordered kindly.
The doctor briefly disappeared upstairs before coming back with a photo frame in her hands. "This was taken not too long after I started working with BPD," Maura reminisced.
Jane took the photo frame from the doctor and studied the picture. It showed both women together, smiling. "Wait, PUKE? Why are we wearing leotards that say PUKE on them?"
"It's Professionals for Underprivileged Kids of Excellence, it's an unfortunate acronym, but a worthy cause. I still support them," Maura defended. "We ran for them during the Boston Marathon."
"I agreed to run a marathon? I don't think I even like running." Jane tilted her head slightly puzzled.
"No, you never did like to run. But you promised to go with me."
"Huh," Jane looked at the picture again, then up at Maura, "did we make good time at least?"
"Actually we ended up investigating a murder, during the marathon."
"Wait, what now?" Jane put the picture frame down.
"Yes, it was actually during a time we were still trying to figure each other out and …" Maura paused not sure how she wanted to word the next sentence exactly.
"What?", Jane gently pushed her leg against the doctor's to encourage her to continue.
"It was just one of the first times I felt I had found a real friend." Maura quietly finished, feeling down all of a sudden.
Jane sensing the shift in the blonde next to her tried to lighten the mood. "Did we at least catch the killer?"
Maura tried to shake off the feelings of sadness and cleared her throat. "Yes, we were all quite the team together. Oh, and I almost forgot. We did actually run the whole race. Even though it was late in the day, and hours after the official marathon had ended. You and I backtracked to where we got interrupted and finished the race from there." She picked the picture up again and fondly glanced at it. "This picture was taken right after we crossed the finish line."
Jane felt a little sad she couldn't remember any of it, but she was becoming more and more interested to hear more stories about her and Maura together. She was also increasingly becoming more interested in the woman herself, feeling just drawn to her in ways she couldn't explain. "Will you tell me another story?" Jane asked.
Maura only briefly hesitated before nodding in agreement, "yes, I will tell you more." She looked at her now empty glass of wine, "but I will need more wine. Beer?"
Both women continued the evening talking together. With Maura telling Jane some of the adventures they had experienced together in their early years together at BPD. She avoided certain subjects and people but tried to be as open as she could be.
When they finally became aware of the time, both had drunk too much to safely drive and Jane ends up sleeping in the guest room.
The next morning Jane wakes up from her phone alarm beeping on the nightstand. It's a little earlier than she would have liked to wake up, but she was supposed to meet Frankie for a game of basketball later that morning. She stretched out one last time on the ridiculously comfortable bed she had been sleeping on and got up, then quickly grabbed her head. "Ugh," she said, now regretting having a few too many beers the night before. Her head was uncomfortably pounding. She would need some aspirin, and quickly.
Where would Maura keep her aspirin? Not wanting to snoop around the house, she listened for any noise indicating the other woman was already awake. After a moment she could hear the shower running from the bathroom in the hallway. Hoping she wouldn't startle Maura too much, she decided to knock on the door. She really needed that aspirin.
"Jane?" Maura's voice came from the other side of the door.
Jane rubbed her face, "hey Maur, sorry to bother, but do you have any aspirin or ibuprofen?"
Maura laughed, "I just had some myself. The bottle should still be on my nightstand. You can go get it if you want."'
"Yes, thank you, Maura," Jane opened the door to what she assumed was the master suite and walked over to the bed. She quickly located the aspirin, picking up the bottle she also noticed a necklace that was lying next to it. A delicate chain, with two rings on it.
Feeling this wave of sadness she couldn't explain, she picked up the necklace and held it in her hand. Two rings, she thought for sure Maura was single. So maybe she had been engaged or married, perhaps even divorced. But why keep the rings then. Should she ask Maura? No, that seemed way too personal at this point in their friendship. Maybe she could ask Frankie, her brother would tell her. Jane gently put the necklace back down, grabbed two aspirin, and left the room.
First of all, thank you, thank you, for the warm welcome back. I am so happy to see people are still interested in this story. It's what will keep me motivated to finish it. Next chapter, Jane will have to stop being such a scared ostrich, as stuff is about to get real.