* I own nothing of Rizzoli and Isles I just have the privilege of playing with the characters for a while.
(Chapter Eight)
P
It was 2am when Jane's phone vibrated waking both the women out of a deep sleep. Jane's eyes flew open and she was looking straight into emerald eyes. The sight took her thought process totally away from her. She began leaning forward as her phone vibrated again causing her to jump out of the fog Maura's eyes had caused her to fall in.
"Rizzoli…"
"Yeah… okay. I'll be right there… Just calm down Mrs. Carter I'm sure he will be okay. Give me a few minutes and I'll be there." She said then hung up the phone as she stood. She couldn't trust herself to continue being that close to Maura and not kiss her.
"What is it Jane?" Maura asked concernedly.
"Mr. Carter woke up with chest pains and they are taking him to the hospital. I'm the only one that Mrs. Carter knows in Boston and I really need to get going." She said starting for the counter hoping she could avoid any questions about the previous moment. "You can stay here if you like."
"No… I'll come with you." Maura said standing up.
"That's okay Maur I got this. One of us has to have a clear head for tomorrow and that requires sleep. Go home and get some rest if it suits you better."
Maura looked at the woman who she thought was about to kiss her moments ago and pondered her words, "I'll go home where I can rest in my own bed instead of getting muscle spasms from sleeping on your couch." She said placing her hand on her already stiffened neck. She decided to give the woman an escape because she hadn't totally processed what had just almost happened or if it was going to happen.
Jane shook her head in understanding, "Okay…" she said as she got her gun and placed it on her belt. They walked out together, "See you tomorrow." Jane said as she got into her cruiser before she could even hear a reply from Maura.
XXXXX
Maura got into her car and sat there watching Jane leave. Her mind went back to only moments ago when Jane's lips were so close she could feel the woman's breath on her own lips. Things were starting to fall into place, all the discussion about sin and the heightened emotions about the girls' death.
Jane may be having deeper feelings for her than she realized. She started the car and headed home. Her thoughts were rolling around in her head until she pulled up to a stop light and Jane's words went through her mind, "I just need to solve this case… I promise."
"Does she think the emotions will disappear when the case does?" She asked herself. The light changed to green and the only other car on the street that just happened to be behind her beeped. She looked in the rear view mirror then at the light and pressed the gas. But her thoughts continued the same track. She remembered the mixture of fear, pain, and anger in Jane's eyes earlier.
"I do not know the words to open the gate and allow all that out Jane. But I'm not going to stop looking for the key to open the gate." She said to herself as she parked her car and went into her house.
XXXXX
Jane had chided herself all the way to the hospital. "You almost kissed her again and she was awake! God… what were you thinking?" Then a thought hit her, "she didn't move away from me."
"She was still half asleep and didn't expect you to lip lock her you stupid…" She said as she pulled into the hospital parking lot. She took in a deep breath to steady everything out before going in knowing that Mrs. Carter was going to be a handful, if the morgue was any indication of how she handled stress.
She walked into the lobby and saw the woman sitting in the waiting area all alone. She looked so small, "Mrs. Carter." The woman looked up and an instant look of relief registered on the woman's face. Jane walked over and sat down beside the woman who took her hand and sat back in her chair. Jane started to ask her something but realized all the woman was in need of was a familiar face and a strong hand to hold on to. So, she just sat back and waited with the woman.
XXXXX
Jane walked into BPD after going home and changing clothes because Mr. Carter had been released with the diagnoses of a panic attack. She couldn't blame the man for having one, especially with everything going on in his life right now.
When she got to her desk she noticed a message saying that the McDermott's would be coming into the office at two. "Great I can go and do some interviews on my own today." She thought to herself and started looking at her notes.
"Detective Rizzoli" was said tentatively from the door way. Jane looked up and saw a small young woman in a t-shirt and jeans.
"I'm Detective Rizzoli." Jane said standing and smiling at the girl. "How can I help you?"
"I…" she started then looked down to the floor while wiping at a tear. Jane came up to her and wrapped her arm around the girl. She looked up, "… I need to talk to you about Alley and Bethany."
Jane looked down into eyes filled with tears, "Okay… let's go somewhere a little more private." She said noticing the office was loud around them at the moment. She grabbed the box of Kleenex off of Korsak's desk before heading down to one of the interrogation rooms. She wanted to be prepared just in case because it always seemed that the boxes in the room were empty when they were needed the most.
Jane closed the door behind them, "Have a seat." The girl went to the first chair and Jane sensing the atmosphere sat in the chair beside the girl instead of across the table like she normally would have during an interrogation. "Now…" she started but paused realizing she hadn't gotten the girl's name, "I'm sorry, what is your name again?"
"Oh sorry… my name is Julie Ryan… but everybody calls me peanut."
Jane smiled at the nick name. "Okay then peanut. What do you want to talk to me about?"
"I was Alley's roommate last year in the dorms when I learned that Bethany was trying to get away from the witch of a step mom she had."
Jane thought, "Witch sounds about right," but she didn't say anything. "Peanut… did Alley have a boyfriend?" Jane wanted to get that question off her chest at the start.
"No… she only loved Bethany but she never knew it."
"What are you implying?"
"I'm not implying… I know. Alley and Bethany grew up together and were best friends until Bethany's dad married that witch. She thinks she knows all the laws of God and she treated Bethany like a slave when her dad was on the road. From what I understand he is on the road a lot. She made Bethany live in hell with all her rules. She never got to do anything unless her dad was there and if she told on her step mom she got beat the moment he left. At least that's what Alley told me." She paused a moment and wiped her eyes. "That's why she came here, to get away from the witch."
"Was Bethany in love with Alley?"
"Well… I'm not really for sure. The only reason I know that Alley loved Bethany is because I saw one of her letters to her and it kind of sounded like wishful thinking or hoping." She said looking down at her feet like she just betrayed a friend by speaking it aloud. "Anyway, I guess that really doesn't matter now does it?"
"It does matter... do you know if anyone else knew of Alley's love for Bethany?"
"No... No one knew for sure but I have a feeling that with her coming to live with Alley that people would suspect something because they were inseparable. The only time they were apart was when Alley was in class or working. I think her mom and dad knew though because Alley always addressed the letters she wrote to Bethany to her home address the few months she lived with me."
"Really…" Jane said thinking that was odd.
"Yeah... they were the ones who got Alley the town house."
"Wow..."
"Yeah... Alley's parents are great. I met them a couple of times and from everything she said about them seemed like they were great parents. She was spoiled a bit because she was the baby of three brothers." This statement gave Jane some insight to the morgue scene.
"Peanut... do you know of anyone that would want to hurt Alley or Bethany?"
"That's just it... no one really knew about Bethany because they were trying to stay under the radar because of her step mom. But there was one person that gave Alley the creeps though."
This perked Jane's ears up, "Yeah... who would that be?"
"Her boss at the internet cafe where she worked on Beacon Street, he creeped her out so much that she quit about six weeks ago." She paused and looked at Jane like she was putting a puzzle together, "She hasn't been the same since she quit that job. I just thought she was having trouble in biology and wanted to study more. At least that's what she told me when I asked her two weeks ago about it." Jane had puzzle pieces flying together right and left in her own mind. "I'm not sure if any of this is helping at all but I just had to talk to someone after I heard about everything and your name was given to me by their landlord."
Jane patted the girl's shoulder, "You have been a very big help peanut. You were a very good friend to them." She said giving the girl a tender smile.
"I have class in an hour." The girl said looking at her cell phone. Jane took one of her cards from her pocket and handed it to the girl.
"If you think of anything else, or if you just need an ear to listen feel free to call me."
"Thank you." She said leaving Jane sitting there pulling her cell phone from her belt. She had two hours before the McDermott's came to view Bethany's body. "Plenty of time to go and check out a scum bag," she thought as she left the room with purpose in her step for the first time in what seemed like days.
Thank you for your patience in this story. My stories evolve and if it seems like a character is not acting the way you would think... I know it and there is a reason that will reveal itself at some point in the story as to why. Most of the time, that behavior is the very point of the story.