The mood between Jane and Maura turned weird again which didn't surprise Jane this time. But she silently thanked god, that their private stuff didn't affect their ability to work together while waiting for the connection to Frost to build.
She was honestly still taken aback by the stress relief thing. There she was, feeling something for Maura, and therefor it felt like being hit to the head when getting such words from her. It hurt.
"Good morning!" Frost greeted her with his usual good mood and interrupted her thoughts. "How's your vacation going?"
When Jane sighed and rolled her eyes he chuckled. "I see." He said cheerfully despite her foul mood. "I have managed to get your gun onto the way to you. I know it was supposed to arrive yesterday, but there were complications. You should get it today."
"Thank you Frost."
"No problem. We are still not knowing what kind of gun was used, but we and SFPD began to look for similar cases and came up with another one. I will send you the details via email later. Have you been able to retrieve any fingerprints?"
Jane tilted her head in no. Her eyes fell on Maura who was sitting on the terrace with her open laptop and wondered what the doc was doing.
"We'll try again today. But at least the police brought us a fingerprint and DNA kit yesterday. We think that people have a suspicion why we are here which makes them be careful about leaving any fingerprints or DNA. And our room was ransacked the other day which can't be a good sign. I'm considering changing this into an official investigation and play with open cards."
"You will have to speak with Cavanaugh about it. But it would make perfect sense." Frost stated. Before they continued to theorize about the heist and Louis Fandangos accomplices for a while.
R&I
Another boring excursion was on today's agenda and the brunette felt grumpy as hell when reaching the room where breakfast was served to find that she was late. Maura had left earlier under the excuse that she had to do something and that they would meet at breakfast. But the blonde wasn't there when she arrived which made Jane wonder if she was evading her.
Most of the people were gone but she had another plan to get their fingerprints and DNA.
They all consumed a lot of water due to the heat and she had observed how they used to throw the empty bottles into dustbins. Hence, she would take a bunch of evidence bags to their trip today, ready to collect trash, while Frost would try to find out more about the heist.
She had read his email earlier and passed on her phone to Maura so that she could read it too. They hadn't talked much about the case Frost had found as a possible match to theirs and now they were silently driving down to the lobby in the elevator to meet their group.
"Trouble in paradise?" Mrs. Cane asked Jane when Maura had left for a quick visit to the bathroom before it was time to board the bus.
"Not at all." Jane smirked and Mrs. Cane looked at her. "You should give her flowers. Women love flowers." She winked. "Or do something nice for her. Show her that you care. Women always fall for little gestures."
Oh great! Now she was getting tips to mend a relationship which didn't exist from a suspected murderer. Could this get even crazier? Jane was glad when Maura returned and saved her from further discussions with the old lady.
She spent almost the entire drive to the museum to go over their list of suspects. Her eyes already hurt and just when she was about to look away, she saw it. Excitedly she grabbed a pen and wrote Louis Fandangos fake name next to his real. She shifted a few letters and found that it matched.
Her excitement caught Maura's attention and the blonde looked at her for the first time of the day. "What are you doing?" she asked, and Jane held her notepad towards the blonde who immediately recognized that Louis Fandango fake name was consisting of his real name. She raised an eyebrow. "Good catch!" the doc stated with an appreciative tone.
Jane nodded and took out her phone to text Frost, asking him to try to solve the puzzle with the other names. She couldn't do it because she didn't have access to the right program which enabled her to look for persons in databanks.
"I'm sorry for last night." Jane whispered after putting her device back into her pocket.
"You did nothing wrong Jane." Maura sounded tense as she replied.
"I came on to you and then left you to shower to end up saying that it cants happen again." Jane stated, trying to get a look at Maura's averted eyes.
"Yes, the showering part was kind of repellent." Maura admitted. "As if you felt disgusted."
"I wasn't." Jane hitched a breath. "I really wasn't, but I needed time. That's all. I like sleeping with you. But I have a feeling that this isn't helping any of us." She explained in a low voice.
"I can't see why Jane. We are stressed, so we just help ourselves to get rid of some tensions. That's all." Maura simply said and Jane studied her face cautiously. At the beginning she had had the feeling that Maura was having feelings for her. Could she be so terribly wrong she mused. She sighed.
"Either way, we can't do this anymore." She said decisively and Maura shrugged. This gesture annoyed Jane who gave an unsatisfied grunt.
R&I
The excursion to the museum on the outskirts of town was even more boring than all the other things they have seen so far. Glancing at a firestone in a showcase, Jane clenched her fists. She was still angry about Maura who was standing a few feet apart, staring at some weird piece of fabric with an interested face.
Jane began to wonder if it was really that bad if Maura thought of their sexual encounters as stress relievers when her phone buzzed and she took it out of her pocket with an irritated look, when seeing that the blonde had texted her.
I noticed something.
"What are we looking at?" Jane asked after striding over the few steps and bending down to look into the showcase over Maura's shoulders.
"A piece of leather clothing from the 18th century." Maura mumbled. "I didn't mean that. I mean what did you notice?" Talks between them could be confusing sometimes and Jane chuckled inwardly. She realized that she had done it again: she had invaded Maura's personal space and Maura hadn't rejected the closeness of their bodies. Well how else could they whisper with each other? she tried to justify the fact that the blonde was like a magnet to her, attracting her all the time and pulling her closer.
"I followed Mrs. Cane earlier that morning. Something was bothering me about her body, but I couldn't say what until I saw her at the buffet. Remember how she told us that she has to use a cane because of a hip replacement five years ago?"
Jane nodded and her motion was reflected by the glass of the showcase.
"She lied. She can't have had a hip replacement, otherwise she couldn't move without her cane, which she did when she thought that nobody was watching her." There was a triumphantly smile on Maura's face. "Hence we have to ask ourselves why she bothers to carry around a cane."
Jane hitched a breath. "Why?"
Maura turned her head to look at her in person and shrugged. "I don't know. But maybe you have an idea."
Jane took a deep breath. She had believed that Maura had also an answer ready for this question or a theory. Now she scratched her head observing the old woman. "What do I know? Do you think she wants to attract pity? She doesn't seem to be like that though. Maybe its part of her undercover. Maybe its just a miracle."
There was a nudge to her side. "Don't make fun of me Jane." Serious and hurt eyes locked with brown orbs. "I'm sorry if it sounded like it. But I'm really not making fun of you. I was just theorizing." The brunette mumbled and Maura walked away leaving a frustrated Jane behind. They were walking on thin ice right now and she really couldn't use this.
She didn't know why, but Maura suddenly reminded her of Mrs. Marple from Agatha Christies stories. She shook her head at her own antics and wrote Frost another text before following the group to continue her observation. The thought of Mrs. Marple had given her an idea and she was curious what Frost thought about it.
When she saw one of their suspects throw an empty bottle into a dustbin, she collected it, scribbling the name onto the evidence bag. Things were going better today she noticed happily. Apart from her friendship with Maura who shot her an angry glare. She gave the blonde a small smile and walked on. She had no time for this right now. She was on a mission.
