Oops, I Did It Again – Chapter 24
Frank came home from Church and Angela just gave him a look. She told him that his dinner was warming in the oven. She didn't want to eat dinner with him so she ate earlier. This is how things have been going daily in the Rizzoli household since the last Sunday family dinner. Angela didn't like it but she was not going to make any concessions for him. Jane deserved to be happy and if being with Maura made her happy then so be it, she would support her and Maura.
Angela had spoken to Jane every day. She continued to let her know that she supported her relationship with Maura. This pleased Jane. Her mother and her didn't always see eye-to-eye on things but Jane was happy that her mother supported her relationship with Maura. It assisted her in feeling more confident in her relationship.
Jane had her own misgivings. She had never been interested in having a relationship with a woman, but since meeting Maura that had all changed and now Jane wouldn't have it any other way. She was all in with her relationship with Maura with or without her father's support. She had her mother, brothers and most importantly Maura.
Thursday morning Jane and Frost were able to verify their suspect's alibi and confirm that he was not their murderer. Jane had no reason to hold him any longer, she had to let him go.
At approximately 10 AM Maura received an email letting her know that the new DNA results were in. Maura read the results and was surprised to find a familial match. She had run the DNA through CODIS and no results were found. However, when she ran the DNA collected at the scene against the victims' DNA, she found a familial match. She called Jane right away. She took the report up to Jane so they could review it and look over all the reports and see if they could discover exactly how the person that the DNA belonged to was related to one of their victims.
Maura explained, "A familial match in this case means that the person of interest is a relative of our third victim. They share enough genetic markers, 15 in total, to let us know that our person of interest is most likely a parent, child or sibling of our third victim."
Jane immediately asked, "So how can we use this information?"
"We need to find out who her relatives are and if possible, get DNA samples from them."
"Can we break down and tell if the person of interest is male or female?" Jane asked as she was curious as to how all of this stuff works.
"We would have to have the DNA phenotyped. That could take a few days or longer."
"Oh hey, I know this guy that does all that stuff. I met him at a conference and he said, if I ever needed anything like that to let him know." Jane announced.
Maura nodded and Jane looked through her email to find the guy's information. Jane called her source, a forensic genealogist, that knew about genealogy and phenotyping and she gave him all the information she had. He said to give him time and he would see what he could find out.
This person knew to keep this information private as it was for an ongoing police investigation. All this DNA matching stuff and phenotyping was new to Jane and if she was honest with herself, which is what she was trying to be nowadays, it was confusing. Jane didn't like being confused, she liked knowing the answers or how to find them, this case was puzzling her.
Frost didn't understand it all either, which made Jane feel somewhat better. She knew Maura understood DNA and that she hadn't checked into any services to match DNA to try and find family members because they had discussed it previously. Maura just used DNA for cases to match the DNA to the evidence and never to find family members, so this checking genealogy and phenotyping was new to her also.
Maura like to learn new things and this case was the perfect opportunity for her to learn about this other side of forensics. Maura knew she was adopted and she had never once tried to find her biological parents. She had parents and although they weren't perfect, they were better than nothing. Maura preferred Jane's mother even though Jane said her Ma drove her crazy.
This case was now making Maura wonder if she had any biological siblings and if her biological parents were alive. She wondered if maybe she should check into her genealogy and have her DNA tested for possible matches. She would talk to Jane about this after this case was over.
The entire time that Maura had known Jane she had not seen her parents. She had spoken with them on the phone and contacted them via email but had not seen them in person. So, consequently Jane had never met her parents.
Late that night when they were sitting on the couch after having dinner, Jane asked, "Maura, didn't you say something about your parents coming to Boston soon?"
Maura turned towards her so she could look at her as she spoke, "Yes, although it will still be about another month before they arrive. Mother likes to give me a heads up. They are excited to meet you."
"Will they be staying here at the house or do they like to stay in a hotel?" Now that Jane was living with Maura, she was curious where her parents would be staying.
"They have a house here in Boston. Wait, have I never taken you by their house?" Maura asked, finding it strange that she had never taken Jane to her parent's house.
"No, babe, you haven't. How often do you go by their house?" Jane was now curious there was a part of Maura she knew nothing about. They spent so much time together when had Maura had a chance to go to her parent's house without her knowing about it. Not that Maura needed to check in with her, she was just curious.
"I try and go by at least once a month, more often if possible. They still receive mail there and I sort through the mail that the staff puts on the counter daily. I throw out the advertisements and make sure the bills were properly paid. It takes me about fifteen minutes. If I am feeling adventurous, I take one of my father's cars out for a quick drive." Maura answered Jane.
"How many cars does your father have?" Now Jane was really curious, she likes cars and would have to find out more about the cars and what type they were and if Maura needed help driving them. She smiled at that thought.
"Here in Boston about six. He has two cars in Paris. I don't believe he has cars at any other house as they just use a car service." Maura quickly replied as if that was normal for someone to have multiple cars in various location around the world.
"How many houses do your parents have?" Jane inquired, she was still surprised about this other side of Maura.
"I think they have about eight now, they have sold some recently." Maura replied, once again obliviously to the fact that this is not normal for most people.
"How did I never know this about your parents?" Jane questioned.
"Jane, we really do not talk about my parents. I only see them once or twice a year. Sometimes I go without seeing them for almost two years. We talk on the phone and email but they are not parents like yours. They just check in with me once in a while. I much prefer the interactions with your mother than mine. You will see when you meet my parents. They are just like older friends instead of parents." Maura admitted.
"Wow, I don't know what I would do if I didn't have my Ma. But then I have always had her. I didn't grow up the way you did." Admitted Jane.
Maura gave a small smile acknowledging what Jane had said and replied, "We both had very different childhoods and you grew up with siblings. I could only dream of having siblings. Do you think maybe when this case is over, I should check my genealogy and have my DNA tested to see if I have any biological relatives?"
"That is a very personal decision. I say, if you really want to know they go for it. If it is just a little bit of curiosity maybe you shouldn't. How about you do one of those pros and cons worksheets you like. You can weigh all of your options and see what is best for you." Jane offered.
"That is a great idea Jane, thank you. I will do that tomorrow, right now I am getting a little bit tired. How about we go to bed." Maura suggested.
"Just how tired are you?" Jane said as she raised an eyebrow and winked at Maura.
"Not that tired." She replied as she stood and up and offered Jane her hand. She pulled Jane up and led her to the bedroom. There was an activity that she wasn't too tired for that Jane could participate in with her.
