Maura stood in the semi-darkness of her office, watching the sunrise through the window. The hospital was never fully quiet, but on this floor, at this time in the morning, there was little to interrupt the stillness of the dawn.
She often stood here at this time, thinking through her day. Maura's mind allowed her to organise her day without notes or a list (though she always kept detailed notes as well). She considered each of her patients, prioritised them, left margins for emergencies, and scheduled time in Accident and Emergency. Her days rarely played out exactly as she planned them, but her mental list was under continuous revision, and she had never left the hospital without completing everything she had assigned to the day.
She chose not to reflect too deeply on the possibility that this was also down to her lack of personal life and her willingness, if not outright desire, to stay late if needed.
The highest priority was the patient she had operated on the previous evening. Avoiding rounds whenever she could, Maura visited the nurses' station on his ward and spoke to the night shift staff instead. He had remained stable throughout the night, regained consciousness from the anaesthesia at around 2am, then slept. There were no other patients on the ward. Maura nodded to the police officer sitting outside, showed him her ID, then went in to check the chart.
To her surprise, the patient's eyes were open. Restricted both by his injuries and the handcuffs holding his right hand to the bed, he had managed to position himself so he could see out of the window, and was watching the reddish-pink clouds over the city.
"Red sky at night, shepherd's delight. Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning," he said softly.
His voice was gentler than Maura had expected. He sounded kind.
"What does it warn them of?" she asked, standing at the foot of the bed.
"I don't know. Rain, perhaps? Or wolves. I'm not sure what shepherds delight in," he replied, without turning to look at her.
"I imagine it depends on the shepherd," Maura said.
At this, he did turn, and smiled. Again, Maura thought, he seemed kind.
She knew people could be deceptive, and thought of Lyin' Eyes, another song Jane had introduced her to. But Maura had never been able to tell if eyes were lying or not.
"I'm Dr Maura Isles," she told him. "I operated on you last night."
"Good morning, Dr Isles. What's the prognosis?"
"You arrived unconscious and tachycardic. You had significant internal bleeding following a vehicular collision, and your body was in shock. After restoring cardiac rhythm, making your heart beat normally again, I performed emergency surgery to stop the bleeding, which was mainly in your abdomen. Your head CT was clear. You were struggling to breathe when you came in, likely due to swelling, but after surgery the recovery doctor deemed it safe to remove your breathing tube. Your throat may feel a little sore for a few days. A cardiac specialist will examine you today, which is normal protocol following tachycardia, but I'm reassured that your heart has been beating normally since yesterday evening."
There was a pause while he digested this information.
"I suppose the escape plan failed, then," he said ruefully.
Maura's eyes flicked to the handcuffs. "I'm afraid so."
Her patient shrugged. "At least I'm still breathing. Perhaps you can testify on my behalf - or were my insides as rotten as people think?"
Maura chuckled in spite of herself. "Your internal organs were much the same as anyone else's, if a little more battered."
"I must say I'm relieved. I thought I was a goner."
"You should have worn your seatbelt," Maura told him.
"I was in a bit of a hurry."
Maura was becoming more and more curious about why he'd been running from Jane, but she knew it wasn't her place to ask. However, as his doctor, she would be remiss if she didn't ask for a complete medical history, which would include his recent whereabouts and occupation.
"I need to ask you a few questions, relating to your medical care. Would you like me to come back later?"
He smiled again. "Now's as good a time as any."
"As you wish. I'll collect the forms."
When she returned from the nurses' station he had raised the bed so he was sitting up. Maura leaned against the windowsill, holding a clipboard.
"I hope these questions aren't too difficult, doc," the patient said, trying to catch her eye.
"I'll help where I can," Maura said, holding back a smile. "Name?"
"Ah, falling at the first hurdle. I'm afraid I can't give you that."
"You're registered as John Smith."
"I'll take it."
"Date of birth?"
"Another no go," he told her. Maura sighed.
"Age, then."
"42."
Maura wrote this down.
"Ethnicity and place of birth?"
"Irrelevant to my medical care."
Maura circled, "choose not to say," and moved on down the list.
"Occupation?"
"Hardened criminal. But you can tick self-employed."
Maura knew he was trying to amuse her. She pretended it wasn't working.
"Do you have any of the following medical conditions?"
She read through them. He admitted to none.
"Do you smoke?"
"You offering?"
She waited, not appreciating his flippancy on this particular issue. Disapproving of his attitude helped her remember that eyes could lie, and she shouldn't trust the twinkle in his.
"Pack a day, or thereabouts."
"Would you like NHS support to stop smoking?" She answered exactly according to regulations.
"I think the handcuffs will do the trick for the time being. But I wouldn't say no to a nicotine patch."
"I'll add that to your chart. What is your average weekly alcohol intake?"
He shrugged. "In a good week or a bad week?"
"In an average week."
"None. But I haven't had an average week since primary school."
"Patient declined to answer," Maura muttered as she wrote on the form. "Is there any further information you think your doctors should be aware of?"
He looked a little uncomfortable. Maura softened her expression slightly.
"I need to use the bathroom," he confessed.
Maura pointed to the call button next to the bed. "Press that, and ask the nurse to bring you a bedpan."
He sighed. "Don't suppose you could talk them into taking these off?" he asked, gesturing to the cuffs.
"Even if I could, I wouldn't. I'll be back later to check your incision," Maura said, already on her way out of the room.
"I'm already looking forward to it," he called after her.
BREAK
"D'you know what time it is?" Jane groaned into the microphone.
On the other end of the phone, Maura ignored the grumpy reception.
"It's 6.42AM, and your suspect is awake," she said.
Jane took the phone away from her ear and checked her messages. Sure enough, there was one from police HQ, saying her suspect was awake and speaking to medical staff.
"You the medical staff he's been talking to?" Jane asked.
Maura confirmed this.
"He say anything useful?"
Maura paused. She wasn't sure how to explain the patient's appealing demeanour to Jane.
"He talked about the sky, then I took a medical history."
"The sky? Why was he talking about the sky?"
Maura could hear rustling sounds which indicated Jane was getting up.
"He was watching the sunrise and said, 'red sky at night, shepherd's delight, red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning.'"
"What does a red sky warn the shepherd about?"
"Neither of us were sure."
"Sounds like you had a nice chat. He still in cuffs?"
"Of course, and guarded."
"He tell you his name?"
"No, nor his date of birth or address. He told me he was 42, that he smokes, and that he has no allergies or health conditions."
"A witness said he can be sweet as pie when he wants something. Don't let him charm you, alright Maur?"
"I'm not a fool, Jane," Maura said defensively. "I know people can be deceptive."
Jane spoke more gently. "I know you're not. I just… Well, you can be, you used to be-"
"Naive? Gullible?" Maura provided, almost angry.
"Actually, I meant something more like you always wanted to see the best in people. Which I always admired," Jane said.
There was no answer. Jane waited, worried she'd ruined everything already.
"Maur, you still there?" she asked after almost a minute.
"Yes," Maura said quietly. "You really admired that?"
Jane took a deep breath. "Before I met you, I saw so much ugly. And then there you were, in that alley, just like all the other college chicks who couldn't handle their alcohol, only not like them at all."
"I don't think I saw the best in people," Maura murmured.
"You saw the best in me," Jane replied, and Maura couldn't argue with that.
They ended the call, Maura to give a morning briefing to the surgical team, Jane to travel to the hospital to formally arrest her suspect now that he was awake.
After the briefing, Maura returned to her office and attempted to focus on work. She checked her phone roughly every 30 seconds to check if Jane had arrived yet. In the end, she gave up on the report she was writing and leaned back in her chair.
Thoughts about Jane were so easy to succumb to. They always had been. She remembered the morning after the night they'd met, lying in her dorm, feeling utterly vile, then finding Jane's card on her nightstand.
BREAK
"Rizzoli," a voice answered gruffly on the second ring.
"Hello, uh, is that Jane?"
There was a pause. "Is this the future doctor?"
"This is Maura Isles."
There was a chuckle. "Of course it is. How are you doing, Maura?"
"Aside from nausea, a headache, and a sense of impending doom, I'm well, thank you."
"You too sick to grab a coffee? I just finished a call at BCU, I'm on my lunch break now."
In fact, Maura felt so sick she wasn't sure if she could stand, let alone walk to meet Jane. And yet, she found herself agreeing without hesitation.
BREAK
Maura's eyes snapped open to reveal the subject of her daydream in the flesh, leaning casually against her door frame, a cup of coffee in each hand.
"It's a flat white," Jane told her. "And there's a granola bar for you in my pocket, because I bet you skipped breakfast."
Maura took the coffee gratefully, and in response to Jane's smirk at knowing exactly what she wanted, reached into Jane's pocket herself and retrieved the granola bar. Jane raised her eyebrows, but her smirk seemed even more satisfied.
Maura sipped the coffee, which was delicious, then stepped back to lean on the edge of her desk. Jane stayed against the door frame, drinking her own coffee, occasionally thinking about her case, but mostly thinking about Maura.
"What time did you come in?" Jane asked.
Maura hoped her mouthful of granola would excuse her from answering, but Jane was still waiting for a response when she finished chewing.
"Early."
"I figured that. How early?"
"Around 5."
"So you left your house at what, 4? Did you sleep at all?" Jane's tone showed genuine concern, and Maura felt an ache in her chest.
"Perhaps an hour. I'm fine," she replied, clipping her tone to hide any emotion.
"Did you sleep the night before?"
"Yes," Maura said. It wasn't a lie - Jane hadn't asked how much.
Jane frowned. "You need to relax more," she told her friend.
"I engage in a healthy range of relaxing activities," Maura said, finishing her coffee. She stood up, hoping to end the conversation. "Shall we check on your suspect?"
Jane sighed, threw away her cup, and followed Maura out of the room.
The suspect greeted Maura like an old friend when they entered his ward.
"Couldn't stay away for long, could you, doc?"
"Good morning, Mr Smith," Maura responded evenly. She checked his chart. "Your vitals seem fine. After Detective Inspector Rizzoli speaks with you, I can check your incision."
Jane stepped forward.
"I have with me a warrant for your fingerprints and DNA, and for your arrest. Are you refusing the opportunity to tell me your name?"
Mr Smith, as Maura knew him, gave a cheery smile. "I'm afraid so."
"Then obstruction of justice will be added to the charges. John Smith, you are under arrest on suspicion of murder. You do not have to say anything. But, it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. You will remain in custody in the hospital until your health permits you to be moved to a police holding cell."
Jane stepped back to allow the officer on guard, who would act as the custody officer in the hospital, inform Mr Smith of his rights. She flicked through her notebook, then glanced at Maura and gestured that they should step outside.
"You want to sit in on the interview?" Jane asked. "It's up to him, but he seems to like you. Might help loosen his tongue."
Maura tried to hide her excitement at being involved in the detecting element of a police investigation. "I'm happy to do anything that might help you," she said, choosing her words carefully.
Jane touched her shoulder in thanks, then motioned that they should re-enter the room. Maura stretched out her fingers as a pleasant tingle made its way down her arm, and walked confidently into her first police interrogation.