Elizabeth took a deep breath before entering her apartment. For some reason she couldn't name, she was sitting in her car and had actually considered texting Dr. Ross and asking the doctor if she would be interested in a very official date with her, but then she had decided against it.

"Hey, Ma," she heard the voice of her youngest daughter, Ashlyn.

"I'll be right with you," the detective called. she heard her daughter putting plates on the kitchen island.

Elizabeth turned into her bedroom and closed the door to freshen up in peace, change clothes and lock her service weapon safely away in the gun safe in her closet. She picked up her cell phone, which she had carelessly tossed on the bed, again and stared at it as if it were ghostwriting and sending the message to Dr. Amelia Ross. She sat down on the edge of the bed with a loud sigh and frowned deeply. The conversation she had had with her sister today, which had actually started out as much more of a little skirmish, had triggered something in her. It hadn't escaped her notice that every time the two of them had gone out for a drink together, Ross had shown more interest in her than a common acquaintance, and Elizabeth had enjoyed these light-hearted evenings and conversations together that weren't just about work or raising children. She couldn't even list the number of times Maura had been urging her for several months to finally go out again in the evenings, to have fun and meet other people. Elizabeth knew exactly what her mother had meant by 'meeting other people'. Meet a strange woman in a bar, buy her drinks and take her home, if only for one night. Of course, the young woman had always turned down that suggestion.

She winced as one of her daughters knocked on the closed door of the room.

"Ma, are you okay?" her daughter Nikki's voice rang out on the other side of the door.

The detective blinked a few times and then looked at the framed picture of her then-intact family sitting on her nightstand. "Yeah, everything's fine," she said, standing up and opening the door. "It's just been a long day."

"Oh, I see," Nikki replied with pursed lips. "Dinner will be ready in a minute."

Ashlyn walked in and wrapped her arms around her mother. "We're having your favorite, meatloaf. Just like Mom used to make it."

"Just not exactly the way Mom made it," Nikki improved on her little sister. "I think I've got it right by the recipe now."

"I'm sure you have," Elizabeth said as Max appeared at her feet, tail wagging. He sat obediently on his hind paws, and Elizabeth patted him. "And I can't wait to taste it. But I think Max needs some fresh air first." She saw the look on Nikki's face. "If it's all right."

"Oh, come on, Ma. The food's hot. And it's on the table."

Elizabeth kissed her eldest on the cheek. "I'll take him out after dinner, then." She followed the two girls and the dog into the kitchen, where she momentarily forgot about everything but her two girls and the dinner they had prepared. The meatloaf was even better than her wife's. "Something's different," she noted.

"The gravy," Nikki enlightened her. "I tried one with three different kinds of cheese."

"You mean instead of the ketchup Mom used?" retorted Elizabeth, taking another bite.

"Ketchup has too much sugar in it, Ma," Ashlyn explained like a mother reprimanding her child. "Mom shouldn't have let you eat so much of it."

"We didn't worry about that," Elizabeth said with furrowed brows, nodding slowly. "But you're right."

Max suddenly jumped up at the table, the smell of meat and cheese too much for him despite his training. Everyone laughed as Elizabeth grabbed him by the collar and dragged him away from the food. "There is nothing of what we eat for you, my friend," she said. Max sat there looking at her begging. The detective looked him firmly in the eye. "This won't work, not today, not ever," she assured the dog. "Now go wait by the door." Max followed obediently, albeit very slowly, tail tucked in to show his defeat as only a dog can.

The meatloaf wasn't the only improvement over Elizabeth's wife's cooking. She bit into a steaming broccoli floret, marveling at how crunchy it was, and gratefully registering that her daughters didn't invariably cook every vegetable to a pulp, as her wife had done.

She relaxed and enjoyed the only place where the outside world could not harm her. The feeling quickly faded, however, when Jane's words, once spoken many weeks ago, came to her mind. Was her mother right, was she providing enough security for her daughters? Or was she so preoccupied with her return to real police work that she was neglecting her duties as a mother?

Elizabeth stood up, kissed both daughters on the cheeks, and put her hand on their shoulder.

Not used to such spontaneous expressions of affection from her mother, they both looked at her as if she wasn't quite in her right mind.

"What was that for?" asked Nikki.

"You know how much I love you both, don't you?"

"Of course we know, Ma," Ashlyn replied lightly.

"I mean it," Elizabeth replied with furrowed brows. "I know it's been hard since mom died. And I know I'm not here enough, sometimes not even when I'm home."

Nikki took a long look at her mother and also frowned deeply. "Ma, what's wrong?"

"Just listen, okay? I'll make it up to you. We're going on vacation, maybe somewhere like -"

"Hawaii?"; Ashlyn asked excitedly, performing her version of a hula-hula dance. Elizabeth had shown her pictures years ago of the trip there she took before she got married, and Ashlyn had been raving about the islands ever since.

"Sure, why not," Elizabeth said, smiling at seeing Ashlyn so happy. Since Sarah's death, there had been few moments like this for the three of them.

"Just the three of us?" asked Ashlyn, making sure the detective was serious.

"Just the three of us," Elizabeth replied, noticing a sneer on her older daughter's face. "What is it?"

"Maybe you'd better take Max and go for your drink now," Nikki replied.

Elizabeth took a deep breath and nodded slowly. „Okay. But I'm serious. We're going on a Christmas vacation."

"If you say so, Ma," Nikki replied. "Just the three of us."

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Katherine sat behind the steering wheel of her Jeep, which was parked on the side of the road, and peered down a side street. She had driven home, changed her clothes, and was now wearing jeans and a dark blue cotton blouse. She had been here for a while, remembering the last rays of sunlight when she arrived. Now all the light came only from the streetlights and the headlights of the cars whizzing by.

She thought back to the conversation with her sister and wondered why she had actually reacted so defensively when Elizabeth brought up that Detective Simms was interested in her, after all, it wasn't like she was betraying Nathan. But the day he died marked the before and the after of her life. After she lost Nathan, she stopped feeling anything. Since then, whenever anything disturbing happened, she shut down her emotions. She had become so accustomed to cutting herself off from life to avoid any pain that she soon didn't know how to feel anything at all. Nate, wouldn't have wanted this, she thought. If she hadn't been peering down the side street, she wouldn't have noticed the flash of green that snapped her out of her thoughts. It was too faint and too brief to have come from a changing traffic light. She reached for the binoculars she had brought from her apartment and spotted exactly what she had expected.

Elizabeth. She held Max's leash in one hand and her video camera in the other. The green light came from the camera's night vision mode, and it was pointed at Victor Palmer's brick house.

This was why she was standing here, on the street corner. Because she hadn't believed Elizabeth's promise to stay away from Palmer for a moment. And she was determined to protect her sister from herself.

Elizabeth took up position on the sidewalk across from Palmer's house, where she believed the man couldn't spot her. She turned on the camera, set it to night vision mode, and zoomed in on Palmer's front door as a couple walked by holding hands in the foreground. A man passed between her and the couple. Something about the man prompted Elizabeth to follow him with the camera as he moved away on the same side of the street as Palmer's house. The man moved quickly, a heavy-looking travel bag hanging over his shoulder. Elizabeth couldn't remember seeing him before the couple had passed, which meant he must have come from one of the brick houses on the block. Is that Palmer?

She looked toward Palmer's building. It was dark. Elizabeth knew she had no choice but to find out.

She walked to the opposite end of the block, but not too fast, lest the man saw her and became suspicious.

The man reached the corner and crossed the street.

Crap. If it was Palmer, I screwed up.

Elizabeth continued to the corner, stopped, and pointed the camera across the street. What she saw shocked her.

The man was clearly Palmer, and he was talking to a woman standing on the sidewalk next to a red Jeep. Oh, fuck ...

Katherine had seen the couple walk by as well, and seconds later, the man with the duffel bag. Although he was moving quickly and was across the street, Katherine recognized him as Victor Palmer. She raised the binoculars to her eyes. There was no sign of her sister. She had to act.

She got out, walked to the rear of the Jeep and opened the hatch, then lifted the spare tire cover.

"Are you all right, miss?"

Katherine turned around.

Palmer stood directly in front of her, smiling. His strong white hair was impeccably cut, and he wore a dark blue cashmere sweater, gray linen pants, and soft brown leather shoes.

Somehow she found the courage to smile back. "Thank you, I'm fine." She hoped Palmer would keep walking, but he stopped with her.

"It's just that I saw you and the open spare tire cover, and well, it's the middle of the night, and a beautiful woman like you shouldn't have to change a flat tire by yourself."

Katherine now understood how this man wrapped up his victims. And if he's looking for a new victim, I'll make it easy for him. "I don't have a flat tire," she said with a laugh, so he wouldn't notice what a terrible fear she was in. "And thanks for the compliment. I keep a few tools back here, and I was just looking for a screwdriver -" And then she decided to make sure. "Excuse me, but I didn't catch your name."

"Victor. And yours, my dear?"

"Katherine. And it's very kind of you to stop and offer your help."

"Excuse me, is everything all right here?" came Elizabeth's voice from a few paces away.

Katherine had been so focused on Palmer that she hadn't seen her sister cross the street with Max and approach them. She decided to pretend she didn't know her sister, but just as she was about to speak, Palmer went on the offensive. "Yes, everything's fine, ma'am," he said.

Elizabeth immediately recognized that her sister was frightened. "Do you know this woman?"

Palmer seemed confused. Who was this woman squeezing him here? "Yes, I know her. Her name is Katherine. However, that should hardly be any of your business."

"Yes. Sir, it is very much my business," Elizabeth replied, pulling her gold badge from her jacket pocket. "I live a few blocks away, and we've had complaints about burglaries in the neighborhood."

Palmer eyed her suspiciously. "Is that so?"

"When I saw you here with your travel bag, it struck me as odd, that's all," Elizabeth explained.

"Then maybe you should call a colleague," Palmer said, exasperated. "Because I was locking up the house when I noticed a green glow outside my window."

"A green glow?" posed Elizabeth dumbly.

"Like from a night vision device," Palmer explained. "Or from the camera in your hand.

Elizabeth and Katherine looked at the evidence.

"You pointed the camera at my house. And I live alone."

"I pointed it at the entire neighborhood," Elizabeth replied.

Palmer pretended to be reassured, but Elizabeth and her sister knew better. "I think you're doing the right thing by protecting the neighborhood from burglars, detective."

"Is that why you left the house with a duffel bag?" the detective asked. "Were you afraid someone might steal your valuables?"

"Yes, because if someone is watching my house, I don't want them to see anything. If you must know, I was planning to spend the night at a friend's house."

"Wonderful, then just quickly tell me who the friend is and where he's staying, and we're done here."

It was as if Elizabeth had asked him for the chemical formula for gasoline. "I ... I don't think that's any of your business," Palmer stammered, and Elizabeth's cop thinking told her she had the man cornered. Palmer, however, seemed to read her mind and tried something new. "I was actually going to ask my friend Katherine here if she could drive me over."

Palmer didn't look at Katherine. But if he had thought she would support his fairy tale, he found himself bitterly disappointed. "Friend? We just met for the first time," she said, looking at the detective. She was playing her part perfectly. "I was getting something out of the back of the car, and he approached me. Honestly, I was a little bit scared, detective."

Gotcha, Elizabeth thought. "Sir, drop the bag and put both hands on the hood of the Jeep," she said firmly.

But Palmer did neither. "You're not going to frisk me, are you?" he asked in mock surprise. "Because if it makes any difference, the Chief of Police is a friend of mine, and I have his phone number on speed dial."

"Oh, the Chief of Police can't do much to me," Elizabeth replied.

"He can do plenty to you if he finds out -" Palmer didn't finish the sentence. Elizabeth grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him face-first onto the hood of the Jeep.

"Shut up and don't move," she growled.

Katherine saw Palmer's right hand close around the bag, and she knew what was coming.

"Watch out!" she shouted fervently.

Too late. Palmer rammed the bag into Elizabeth's stomach, causing her to stagger backward until she fell, hit her head on the sidewalk, and lay dazed.

"Stop!" screamed Katherine, automatically grabbing the wheel wrench and trying to block Palmer's path. Max leaped toward the man but couldn't reach him because Elizabeth was laying on the leash.

In a flash, Palmer had the bag open and reached in. When he pulled his hand out, he held a butcher knife.

"What are you doing?" cried Katherine in near panic.

"I'm going to say it was self-defense," he said in an eerie tone as if possessed. "I didn't know she was a cop."

"Drop the knife!" cried Katherine, her heart threatening to leap from her throat.

Palmer turned and saw the young woman take a step toward him.

"Get away from her!"

"Don't be stupid, Katherine," Palmer said, dropping the knife to the sidewalk. Katherine continued to hold the wheel wrench in the air threateningly as he shoved the knife to the street with his foot.

But Palmer was still standing, so that was a problem.

"Get down on the ground, hands behind your back!"

Palmer didn't budge. To add emphasis to her words, Katherine walked toward him with bared teeth, the wheel wrench looming menacingly over her shoulder.

If Palmer hadn't believed she was serious before, he believed it now and slowly got to his knees.

"You're making a mistake, Katherine," he snorted.

"I don't think so," Katherine growled and eyed her sister briefly, hoping Elizabeth was better than she looked. She knelt down beside Elizabeth and saw a thin trail of blood flowing from the back of her sister's head onto the sidewalk.

Several passersby had now gathered around the three. Palmer knew he didn't stand a chance. Slowly, he lay flat on the sidewalk and didn't move.

Katherine looked up at the crowd. "Somebody call 911!" she yelled. "Tell them a cop is unconscious and we need an ambulance."

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"How is she?" asked Jane as she walked with Maura toward Katherine, who had just come out of the packed Mass Gen ER, which was more chaotic than usual at 10:35 p.m. during the week, as three teams of paramedics were rolling by the injured from a traffic accident; plus the usual suspects: Flu sufferers, cuts because someone wanted to get a nibble before sleeping, psychotics talking animatedly to unseen enemies.

"She's dazed but stable," replied Katherine, who knew that what she and Elizabeth had done would not be without consequences. "The doctors are doing another head CAT scan to make sure there's no bleeding in her brain."

Maura, who already had her cell phone in hand, squeezed her wife's hand with a relieved sigh before turning back into the chief prosecutor and giving instructions to her staff via cell phone.

Jane closed her eyes briefly before her face hardened. "Oh," she said dangerously low, and Katherine swallowed hard, "there's going to be plenty of blood. After what you two got yourselves into tonight."

"Ma, I can explain -"

"Like hell you can," Jane barked, grabbing her daughter by the arm and leading her to a corner full of IV stands. "I hope you still realize that Nikki and Ash only have one parent left and could have lost their other mother in your action. Your mother was scared to the bone, didn't know what had happened to her daughter", she growled with a look that bored straight into Katherine's heart. "And do you know what Victor Palmer did the second after he was arrested? He claimed his phone call." Jane stood close in front of her daughter and spoke harshly. "He called his personal friend, the goddamn Chief of Police, who in turn has been calling me for the last hour, even though my daughter's in the emergency room. On my fucking cell phone! I assured him I would expect an update on Liz's condition this minute and call him back immediately. But in reality, I blew him off because God knows I don't know what to report!"

Katherine had never seen her mother so angry, even as a child and teenager. Her face was dark red, and the frown had dug deep into her forehead.

"So you better start talking, Katherine," Jane hissed through her teeth.

Katherine looked at her for a long, wide-eyed moment. "Tell Mom and the Chief of Police it was my fault."

Jane laughed incredulously and shook her head. "Don't play games with me, Kate, because this is truly not the time."

"Blame it on me," Katherine declared firmly. "It's the truth."

"You expect me to believe this whole thing wasn't Liz's idea?"

"It wasn't hers. She took me straight home from your office. She had to promise me she wouldn't go near Palmer, and she did."

Jane paused. Then she pulled up two chairs and motioned for her daughter to take a seat. "Okay, Kate, we'll do it your way," she said with an unreadable expression. They sat down facing each other, their knees touching. "And then?" she asked, looking Katherine straight in the eye. "After that supposed promise to you?"

"She drove me home. But we all know what to make of Liz's promise," Katherine replied, trying for a light tone.

"Yes, and of yours," Jane said humorlessly.

"I decided to stop by Palmer's myself," said Katherine.

"You did?" asked Jane mockingly.

"Yes, ma'am. Just to see if Liz was there."

Jane hated the defiant undertone in her voice. "After I explained to both of you that there was no way that was an option?"

"Actually, you only told Liz that. I just happened to be in the same room. And with all due respect, Captain, I don't work for you, so I'm not bound by your orders."

Her daughter's words infuriated Jane. She leaned toward her daughter. "Listen carefully, Doctor," she hissed through her teeth, lowering her brows. A sign that Katherine was on very, very thin ice. "As long as you're cooperating with this investigation, which was your wish, and as I said at the very beginning when I called you in, you damn well better do what I say."

Katherine waited a moment for her mother to cool down; she had to be careful about her sister's will.

"Now tell me the rest of the story," Jane commanded, leaning back.

"It was getting dark, and I was sitting in my car when Palmer suddenly came out of his house and started walking in my direction. So I got out and opened the tailgate -"

"What the hell for?"

"To have an excuse for why I was standing at the corner of the street."

"I see," said Jane, who knew that everything that came out of Katherine's mouth was sheer nonsense. But she also realized that her daughter might actually get away with this story if she stuck to it. Jane sighed and stood up. "What if I had to corroborate your story about this mysterious breakdown?"

Katherine innocently raised her shoulders and pulled the corners of her mouth down. "I should have gone to the auto shop for maintenance a long time ago. The Jeep's been acting up for a couple of weeks now."

Jane smiled. "And you want me to tell that to the Chief of Detectives and the Chief of Police, right?"

"Unless you want me to tell them myself. Which I would do with the greatest pleasure."

Jane looked at her long and piercingly, and she realized that her daughter resembled Maura much more than she would have liked. She silently made her way to the exit.

Katherine followed her. "Because here's what I would tell them," she continued. "Liz went to Palmer's after trying to reach me by phone several times without success. Knowing me well enough, she thought I must have gone to Palmer on my own, and she wanted to make sure your orders were followed and that some stupid incompetent person like me didn't screw up the whole case."

Jane regarded her closely. "You're a lot of things, Kate," she said dangerously calmly, "and crafty is high on the list. But stupid and incompetent doesn't even come near the bottom."

Katherine smiled a little.

"Okay," Jane sighed loudly and walked with her daughter through the automatic door to the ambulance entrance. "Now that you've piled up this huge pile of shit, I've got a little more of it for you to trot out right on top."

"Give me that," Katherine said, crossing her arms in front of her chest, ready for whatever her mother might trot out.

"Here's the thing: Palmer is lying through his teeth. He attacked Liz for no good reason."

"Ma, some passersby saw what happened."

"I know you're new to this whole lying business, Kate," Jane replied with furrowed brows. "But at this point, we don't have very many options."

Katherine nodded slowly. "Okay, got it."

Jane stopped and looked at her daughter for a long moment. Right now, she was glad the doctor was on the side of the good guys. "So, Palmer claims he grabbed the knife in self-defense because he didn't believe Liz was a real cop. We've got twenty-four hours to charge the son of a bitch, and when we do, I don't want it to be just for assault. I want him nailed for murder."

Katherine looked at her mother long and hard. "Is that an order?"

"Indeed," Jane confirmed, her face making it quite clear that there was no room for discussion this time, "even if it's not your forte to follow. We know what we have to do. Can you manage to work through a night?"

Katherine snorted, almost amused. "I did it all the time in med school and residency, Ma -"

"Dr. Isles," a voice sounded from the doorway. It belonged to Trina Cates, the pretty young African-American neurologist with whom Katherine got along well.

"Trina, are you okay?" asked Katherine, walking over to her with her mother.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Jane saw the neurologist's questioning look. "Jane Rizzoli, I'm Liz' mother.

Katherine nodded briefly and frowned a little. "What's wrong?"

"Your sister is conscious," Trina answered quietly, "but there's a problem.

Jane took a step toward Trina. "Did anything show up on the CAT scan?"

"Nothing life-threatening. But Liz has a decent concussion."

Jane exhaled slowly and audibly while Katherine tried to resist the urge to roll her eyes.

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Elizabeth tried to sit up as Maura and Trina entered the treatment room. "It's good to have you back," Maura said with relief that her daughter was okay.

"How long was I out?" the detective asked, lying back down.

"About forty-five minutes, according to Kate," Trina explained, checking Elizabeth's vital signs on the monitor above the bed. "You're lucky, detective. Your MRI shows no brain bleeding."

"Why was I out for so long?" asked Elizabeth, thinking something could be wrong with her if she was hooked up to monitors in the ER. "What aren't you telling me?"

"You have a concussion," Trina explained, putting authority in her voice. "And we're keeping you here so we can keep an eye on you overnight."

"She thinks you need to take it easy," said Maura, who was standing on the other side of the bed. While her wife and other daughter clarified a few things, she had remained at Elizabeth's side.

The detective made an effort to nod despite the throbbing pain in her head. "I really hate to ask, but can you leave us alone for a moment?"

"As long as you like," Trina assured her. "Let me know if your vision gets cloudy, if you feel dizzy, or if you throw up," she explained to Elizabeth and walked out.

Maura took a deep breath and eyed her daughter closely. "How are you feeling?"

Elizabeth rubbed the spot where her head had hit. "Like I got hit with a baseball bat."

Maura nodded slowly. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," she replied.

"Remind me of that next time Kate and I do something stupid like we did tonight."

"At least you got Palmer, right?" said Maura even though she was reluctant to ask the question.

"Especially if the travel bag contained something interesting?" the detective asked, hoping for an easy solution to the case.

Maura took another deep breath and set her purse down on a chair next to the bed. "Just a butcher knife and some clothes," she said. "Maybe he was out looking for his next victim and took something to change into after the bloodbath."

"Where's the son of a bitch now?"

"Your mother said he's down at BPD."

The mention of Jane immediately made Elizabeth's headache worse. "Ma's here?"

"Down in the ambulance feed, getting some fresh air with your sister."

"Ma's going to rave. And I'm going to lose what's left of my job."

"Jane has been taken care of by Kate," Maura said, licking her lips. "Jane is very much interested in saving her own ass and this case, and very little in what her superiors might think."

Elizabeth looked at the prosecutor for a long moment. "What the hell of story did she tell Ma?"

Maura described the white lie her daughter had told her wife. "As long as you stick to that truth, nothing will happen to either of you."

Elizabeth stared at the ceiling, unable to believe it. "She's given Ma a way out of this mess."

"Not quite yet," Maura replied, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "Jane's way out will be to get a confession from Victor Palmer. And it will be your only one, too."

Elizabeth swung her legs over the edge of the bed. "Then we'll have to go for it. Free me from these wires and tubes so I can interrogate the son of a bitch," she said, trying to stand up.

But Maura stood in her daughter's way. "You will," she said, lifting Elizabeth's legs back onto the bed. "But I'm not going to let you leave the hospital against medical advice."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and immediately regretted it. "Ma, Savarese ... They don't know this case as I do. Like Kate and I -"

"Maybe so," Maura interrupted her daughter. "But you don't know Palmer. That's why the others need to find out as much as they can about him tonight."

"And that's why I have to be there," Elizabeth replied.

"In the morning," Maura said solicitously, but also indicated that she would accept no argument. "For now, you'll have to let Dr. Cates make sure you don't fall over as soon as your feet hit the floor."

Elizabeth knew she wasn't going to win this argument. "Okay, Mom," she relented. "What do you want me to do?"

"Stay here and be a good girl," Maura said with a slight frown. "I'll go to BPD with Jane and Kate and spend the night on the computer. Tomorrow morning I'll come and pick you up here. By then you'll have as much material on Palmer as you need, or at least as you can get."

Elizabeth feared that if she wasn't there now, she might be shut out later when things got down to business. But there was no point in arguing with her mother, and she actually still felt like crap. Besides, her sister had lied to save her ass and what was left of her job. "Okay," she relented.