The room was filled with detectives and forensic scientists when I finally made it. The flight had been delayed because of bad weather, which to be honest hadn't really bothered me. I still wasn't sure if Cavanaugh had mentioned that the best detectives of the country would be at the conference because he wanted to lure me into this or because he meant it.
I honestly don't like to travel – I wouldn't even for a Sox game, and this means a lot. It didn't matter that the conference was to take place in LA or some other exciting and fancy city – I just loved to stay in Boston. Boston was my hometown and some people reacted very strange when I told them that I never did some fancy sabbatical year in some jungle or that I didn't like to go on vacation. My home has everything I want or need really, so why fussing around with delayed flights, overcrowded airports and horrible overfilled holiday destinations?
To my dismay the seats in the back had all been taken already and I had to wander the rows to find a spot to sit. Some old professor was just saying his welcoming speech and I the sarcastic comments in the the rows I passed made me easily distinct between detectives and scientists. The scientists where all occupying the front rows, listening attentively to the words and cursed my bad luck that I had to walk up to the front to spot one empty seat next to a blonde petite.
She too seemed to be emerged in the speech given at the front which I found highly creepy for it was just the usual blab la about how nice it was to see so many people interested in this wonderful opportunity to connect and establish a better understanding of the importance of the various departments working together.
My thoughts briefly went to Pike who was a lazy ass who wasn't a great help when it came to solving cases as I quietly asked the blonde if the seat was taken. She shook her head, and I took my seat after quickly reading her nametag, remembering that mine was still in my welcome package in my room.
Dr. Isles, according to the nametag that was fastened very accurately short over her breasts, gave me a pointed look after noticing my missing name tag and I somehow felt obliged to tell her my name: detective Jane Rizzoli from Boston PD I whispered to her and she nodded, seemingly satisfied.
I couldn't help but notice her immaculate appearance which consisted of a white business blouse that accentuated her curves, paired with a navy blue pencil skirt. Her makeup was decent enough and I thought that she was pretty. Probably married I mused.
At the same time that I took her in I wondered if I would ever stop assessing the people in my surrounding. I had so much gotten used to doing so because of my job and silently shook my head at my antics when Dr. Isles took out the program of the conference to highlight what I thought were the most interesting lectures to her.
The pen stopped briefly when her eyes crossed my name on the list of lecturers. Yes right, Cavanaugh hadn't only pushed me to visit this, but he had also insisted on me presenting some of our most interesting cases.
I gave her a friendly nod when she quickly glanced up at me and shrugged. There was something like impression – at least I thought it was impression when she nodded back. My speech was only due in the afternoon and began to curse myself for not preparing it more thoroughly. Frost had helped me with the presentation which was perfect without any doubt. But my preparation hadn't gone much further than to ask him for help because I knew all cases by heart. How couldn't I after all the sleepless nights I had spent over solving them?
The problem was though that I hated talking in front of people. And this crowd consisted at least to 50% percent of persons (all detectives of course) who probably had been forced to come here by their bosses like me.
Maybe I would find a quiet moment during the lunchbreak to take some notes and mentally prepare myself I thought as the welcome speech found its end and the professor gave way to the first lecturer of the day.
Detective Solomon looked a lot like Columbo I thought as I assessed his crumpled suit and ruffled hair. He cleared his throat, and I caught a quick glance of the itinerary that still rested in Dr. Isles lap to see that he was from LAP. As a local, he opened his speech with a joke about not having to live in one of the hotels in LA – hinting at those who stayed at the famous Cecil hotel. It was supposedly a haunted place and has gotten a lot of fame by some serial killer staying there. One of them was Jack Unterweger, who had claimed to be a journalist, writing a report about the prostitutes in LA.
It turned out later, that his interest had gone far beyond only writing about their lives when he murdered three of them.
The hotel was moreover famous for the Eliza lamb case – a young woman who had been found dead in one of the water tanks on the roof of the hotel. I wasn't into ghost stories and didn't believe in hauntings. Yet, I was glad to have been placed at the hotel where the conference took place because it allowed me to sleep longer, and it would spare me the commute through the busy streets of LA.
The detective went from introducing himself to present some cases and how the forensic science had helped to solve them. This whole conference had the goal to build a bridge between the departments. Very often the detectives didn't listen to the scientists the professor had explained at the beginning, pointing out that vital information very often got lost in the bad communication. He didn't say the word ignorance, but it was clear that this is what he had meant.
Well, it was clear where he stood because of his position of chief ME from this city. From my position as a detective, it was not right. I didn't agree, again thinking of Pike who was sloppy and arrogant. Of course, there were many detectives like Pike, and you couldn't always throw all people into the same pot, but if it came to me, it wasn't the detectives fault that there were so many problems.
I secretly stole a glance at Dr. Isles who took some notes about the cases and thought that she was probably one of those scientists who unnervingly bothered the detectives. I had worked with some of those ME's who had mettled with investigations, bringing forward suspects and appearing in the bullpen all the time to question the detectives theories.
What I had to admit though was that some of the cases presented had been very interesting and outstanding. Crime wasn't just crime I mused. Because no criminal was like the other and criminals could be very creative. I sometimes secretly called them artists. Bad though that their creativity found such an outlet and if my work had taught me something it was that you have never seen it all no matter how many crimes you have worked or solved.
It occurred to me that one of the biggest problems causing the gap between the scientists and detectives was that no one knew much about the other ones work. Hell, I knew to give evidence to the crime lab, but I didn't know about the processes that led to the reports coming back to her desk.
Hence, it was easy to say that the other ones where lazy asses that didn't do their jobs right or didn't take their jobs seriously. The professor was definitely right though when saying that a better collaboration would lead to better results.