Tuesday

They had no new clues for their body. No ID. Nothing in his pockets or on his person to point towards who he'd been, let alone who'd killed him. They'd run the prints, but nothing had come up yet.

"How'd he piss someone off so much that they'd shoot him, close range, four times in the chest?" Jane asked Frost as they waited in line in the Division One cafe.

"Perhaps they spilled coffee on one of their colleagues?" A voice came from behind them.

"Doctor Isles, what a pleasure. Can I replace that coffee for you now, or would you rather shoot me in the chest four times." Jane asked jokingly, trying to keep the mood light.

"Neither," Doctor Isles said. "Excuse me, I've lost my appetite." Doctor Isles turned and walked away. Jane saw her leave the building, presumably to get a coffee somewhere Jane wasn't.

"Oof, cold as ice," Frost said.

"Frosty," Jane agreed, chuckling at her own joke. "I told you she hates me."

Jane confirmed Doctor Isles was out on a crime scene before trying again at the morgue. The attending ME was well into the autopsy, pulling out organs. Jane was fine, watching through the window, right up until he picked up a scalpel and sliced open the liver. Jane dropped to the ground, covering her face with her hands, ragged breaths coming hard as she huddled into herself, trying to remind herself that she was safe, she was at work and the man with the scalpel was just doing his job, like she'd seen so many other MEs do. That there was a door between him and her, that even though she didn't have her gun back yet, she still had a truncheon and a tazer and was more than a match for him if he did decide to try to stab her.

"Detective Rizzoli?" A voice asked, and Jane looked up. One of the crime lab tech was there, a pretty Asian-American with large glasses, and right now, a kind smile. Jane had been down to the lab yesterday as part of her re-induction - when not to enter, the exits and decontamination policies - and they'd been introduced. Jane rattled her brain for a name, glad of the distraction.

"Oh, hey. Senior Criminalist Suzanna Chang, right?" Jane didn't get up, but she dropped her hands, tucking them away out of view.

"Yeah. Um, do you need anything?" Susie asked, and Jane took another deep breath, trying to remember what her therapist had said about dealing with panic attacks.

"Yeah, I need you to keep this to yourself. Everyone already sees me as broken," Jane held out her hands, palm out, feeling a small jolt of satisfaction at Susie's shocked face. "Ugly, huh?" Susie composed herself quickly; clearly she'd been briefed as well. Hell, the whole precinct probably had, that was probably why everyone was on tiptoes around her, walking on eggshells.

"I meant do you need some water, or a chair, or a doctor."

"No, no and nope. Just you doing me a massive favour and not telling anyone you saw me like this." Jane got to her feet, back to the morgue. "I'm not ready for autopsies, I guess," Jane said. "Reminds me I'm mortal."

"We all are," Susie said. "And don't worry, I don't talk to anyone. I mean, I won't talk to anyone. Is this why you spilt coffee on Doctor Isles?" Susie asked.

"How'd you know that if you don't talk to anyone, huh?" Jane asked, and Susie grinned.

"Can't get anything past you, can I, Detective?"

Jane was frustrated. Without an ID they had no one to interview, nothing to go on. Korsak had been moved from the desk directly opposite hers, and she didn't know Frost well enough yet to throw her waste paper at him to liven up the afternoon.

Jane's phone dinged.

"I'm going down to the lab. They got results on that black stuff," Jane said, relieved. The others still had old cases to look over; all she had was this one body in her case load. Maybe she'd get lucky and steal someone's cold case later. Maybe the black substance would crack the case.

"It's printer's ink," Susie said. "Doctor Isles said that was one of your guesses."

"Did she now?" Jane asked. She kept her back turned to the morgue window. "Anything unique about it? Can we tie it down to a brand or sommit?"

"I can check against the ink database, but if it's a knockoff or a cheap brand we'll be out of luck."

"And nothing on ballistics?"

"Nothing yet."

"Damn."

"You wouldn't want your first case back to be too easy," Susie pointed out.

"Yeah, but does it have to be this hard? Nothing on the face ID either?"

"Nothing on prints, no facial matches," Susie confirmed. Jane rubbed at her hands, quickly stopping when Susie glanced at her.

"Let me know if anything comes back, wouldya?"

"Sure thing," Susie said, glancing over at where Doctor Isles was looking through the glass at them, her intense gaze drilling into Jane.

"Thanks," Jane said, looking up and across to the morgue to meet Doctor Isles' eyes. She didn't smile, remembering the reaction from last time, just nodded. "She got a body in there?" Jane asked from the side of her mouth.

"Just bones," Susie said. Jane nodded and left the lab, looking through the hallway window, watching Doctor Isles carefully measure and document each fragile bone as carefully as she did a human body. There was something about the tenderness of her touch that showed her respect for the people that came across her table. Doctor Isles looked up and met Jane's eyes, and this time Doctor Isles nodded, recognising the respect in Jane's eyes.

Notes:

I need to reread the Tess Gerritsen books, but I don't want the OG characters to override the tv characters, I just want to be better at crime.

Not better at doing crime, just at writing crime.

However I would like a lockpick kit...