Liz sat at her desk and stared long at the glass table with all the evidence and connections, pictures of the crime scene and the living and the dead victim while she ponderingly tugged at her lower lip.

Sam glanced long at Adam and frowned silently.

Both men knew very well that the evidence was enough to put their prime suspect behind bars for a very long time.

They also knew that Liz would rather look at the evidence four times to remove any doubts and that neither of them had missed a small but important clue because the main suspect was a colleague.

It was hard for any of them to understand how this tragedy could have happened without either of them realizing that something had gone terribly wrong in the marriage of Jace and Ellie Hayden.

Ellie worked with Vice and Jace with Robbery.

Actually, most of the couple's paths had crossed with Sam, Adam or Liz only by chance and downstairs in the café, or when information from the respective department was needed.

Privately, none of the three cops were really friends with the couple.

Adam could see in the corner of his eye that Sam was getting a little restless and shook his head admonishingly to let the other man know in silence that it would be unwise to disturb Liz in her thinking process at this moment.

Liz let her eyes wandering from the image of the bloody bed in the Hayden's bedroom to the bloody hammer and then to the man, who was laying on his stomach on a metal table in the autopsy room, the back of his head with a hole as big as a man's fist, her eyebrows were furrowed in the process to put the pieces together and she chewed on her lower lip.

Adam had also noticed that there were a lot of question marks and contradictions in this case and that this time they had to be more than thorough because the victim and the suspect were members of law enforcement.

There were too many chances they could commit a blunder.

Especially since there were allegations that Jace was beating his wife behind closed doors and even raped her.

Liz turned her chair towards her cousin and frowned. "Were there traces of fluids on the sheet indicating sexual activity the night Jace Hayden was killed?"

Adam looked long at his wife, furling his eyebrows as well before slowly looking at the FBI agent-to-be.

Sam blinked several times before searching for the file that contained the required answer and opened it.

He glanced over the report with a frown and then looked up with a shake of his head. "The only thing found on the sheet were the usual traces, apart from blood. So skin particles, sweat, and saliva. No traces of semen or vaginal fluid."

Adam sat thoughtfully back in his chair and looked at Liz questioningly. "Didn't Ellie claim she woke up when Jace was on top of her and raped her?"

She pressed her lips together and nodded slowly. "Mm-hm."

Sam looked at the two more experienced detectives and scratched the back of his head. "Is it just me, or are there too many inconsistencies with Ellie Hayden's statement?"

Liz looked at him and shook her head with a hard expression. "No, you don't feel this way alone." She stood up and pointed to a picture of Ellie and frowned deeply again. "What I also noticed is that Ellie had no strangulation marks on her neck, although she claimed that Jace was strangling her during the rape. As soon as the offender let go, your neck starts bruising. Why not here?"

Adam exhaled slowly while his eyes rested on her as he took a sip from his coffee cup.

He made a face when he realized the coffee had been cold for some time and spat it back into the mug.

He saw the questioning look of the other two and shrugged. "What? The fucking coffee's cold."

Liz snorted with a big grin.

"You kiss your wife with that mouth," Sam asked with indignant big eyes but a grin.

Adam opened his mouth to tell the young man that he was doing much more than kissing his wife with his mouth in the classic sense but closed it again when he saw Liz's admonishing look.

She closed her eyes with a loud sigh and ran her fingers across her brow.

She loved her cousin, but not so much that she would discuss her sex life with him in the bullpen, or anywhere else. "Can we get back to business," she asked with a sigh while she pinched the bridge of her nose.

She smiled gratefully as the two men grumbled a 'yes'. "You two go back to Joseph Akerele. And this time, don't be so indulgent."

"We're supposed to play good cop, bad cop," Sam asked while getting out of his chair.

Liz got up too and grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair. "If there's no other way, yes."

Adam was still sitting and stared long at her. "And what are you gonna do?"

"I'm going to find another nail for Ellie's coffin," she replied earnestly and firmly.

Adam took a deep breath and finally stood up. "Good luck."

"You too."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sam looked at his cousin's husband unnerved and again knocked loudly on Joseph Akerele's door, identifying himself as Boston Police. "Joseph Akerele, Boston Police. Open up."

Adam glanced briefly at his watch and wiggled his brows. "Maybe he's at work. The lunch shift is supposed to be over in thirty minutes."

"You wanna wait in the car for Akerele," Sam asked, making a face as the other man nodded. "It's freezing cold outside."

"You'll survive."

Sam rolled his eyes and followed the older man.

He put his hands in his coat pockets and gritted his teeth briefly. "How's Liz actually doing after -"

Adam scratched his hairy chin and frowned deeply. "After the series of murders ended as abruptly as it began?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know," Adam admitted and frowned. "We barely speak about it. We continue as if nothing happened."

Sam nodded slowly and sighed loudly without looking at Adam. "Do you think she'll be the same?"

"Yes," Adam replied without hesitation. "When all this is over and Winters and Martens are behind bars or in a body bag, everything will go back to normal. I'm sure of that."

"From your lips to God's ears," Sam breathed heavily and furled eyebrows when he was jostled by a man with paper bags in his arms. "Hey!

"Sorry," the dark-skinned man muttered without looking at the officer.

"Hey, hold on. You're Joseph Akerele's neighbor, aren't you?"

The man in Adam's age looked at them and had an illegible expression. "Who wants to know?"

Adam pulled his badge out of his coat pocket and lifted it in front of the stranger's eyes. "Detective Laverty, BPD."

The man's posture changed and he nodded. "Yes, I'm Jo's neighbor. What do you want with him? Is he in trouble?"

"We just wanna know when he'll be back home. We need to talk to him."

The graying man shook his head and laughed briefly. "Jo moved out two, no, three days ago. He's not coming back."

Adam lowered his shoulders and suppressed a curse by baring his teeth.

He pointed at the resident while following Sam. "Thanks, man."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Liz marched down the corridor of the department where only the equipment and staff had changed.

She knew the outline of the premises like the back of her hand.

She could be blindfolded and still reach her desired destination.

She stuck her head in the office that was once Maura's and said, in a friendly tone, "Hey, Rose."

The M.E. jumped in her chair in shock, almost pouring hot instant soup over her lap, and looked at the detective with big brown eyes. "Jesus, Liz."

"Still pretty jumpy, huh?"

"Only if you sneak up on me like a ninja."

Liz sauntered into the office and sat in a chair at the far end of Rose's desk. "Maybe you should get out a little more. Meet up with living people."

Rose put down her steaming soup tureen and dried the desk with a paper towel. "Very funny. What can I do for you?"

Liz chuckled briefly and raised her eyebrows.

She was friends with the medical examiner, but not so close that she would count Rose among her closest friends.

"How likely is it that a person not exhibiting strangulation marks who claims to have been strangled during a rape?"

Rose was about to sip her soup when she stopped abruptly and looked at the other woman in confusion. "Is this a trick question?"

Liz pressed her lips together and furrowed her brows with a shake of her head. "Nope."

"That's a question you can answer yourself."

"I'd like to get that answer from a person who isn't as involved in this case as I am. From someone who is perhaps a little more objective than I am."

Rose nodded slowly and had already forgotten her soup. "You want me to tell you if Ellie Hayden's testimony is consistent with my findings."

"I want to know if Joseph Akerele beat his friend's husband to death during a rape, or if it was a cold-blooded murder and the two of them can possibly get away with it by the history of self-defense."

Rose licked her lips and frowned. "What do you think?"

Liz laughed for a moment and looked into her lap. "Right now, I don't really trust my intuition." She took a sharp breath and scratched her forehead.

The medical examiner nodded briefly and looked at her. "The answer to your question is no. Excessive choking causes damage to human tissue, resulting in petechial hemorrhaging. Usually, this can be seen on the mucous membranes such as the inside of the eyelids, palate or inside of the lips." She paused and smiled a little. "You can also see the bleeding on internal organs, but I doubt Ellie Hayden will let me dissect her brain willingly."

"I doubt that too," Liz reluctantly said, and the two women shared a laugh.

Rose sat back in her chair and scrutinized the detective long. "What is this really about?" She held up one hand as the woman tried to make an excuse. "I know you're smart enough to know when a petechial hemorrhage occurs, you don't need me for that."

Liz opened her mouth to disagree, but decided against it and closed it again. "Right now, I feel like I can no longer trust my judgment. Like my brain is playing tricks on me and I'm interpreting some things more than necessary if you know what I mean. I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything or reading too much into anything."

"Sounds like you're ready for a vacation."

"Yeah," Liz agreed and laughed heartily with the M.E.

She took a deep breath and got serious again. "You found any injuries in Jace Hayden's body that indicate Ellie fought back, right?"

"You mean scratch or bite marks?"

"Yeah.

"No, I didn't find anything like that."

"Okay, thank you," sighed the detective and tried to get up with a deep frown.

"Oh," Rose suddenly said with a little too much exuberant enthusiasm. "And please pass on my congratulations to Adam."

Liz paused abruptly and looked at the other woman questioningly, gently shaking her head to signal that she didn't understand what the medical examiner was alluding to.

Rose blinked a few times when she realized that she might have said a little too much and nervously shifted in her chair. "I thought you knew Adam was short-listed to succeed Frankie as a lieutenant."

"No," Liz said disturbingly calmly but in a deep voice. "I did not know that. I didn't even know Frankie was thinking about retiring."

"Oh, crap," Rose breathed and leaned back in her chair, putting her hand over her mouth.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jane sat on her couch and changed the TV channels every few seconds while drinking beer and stuffing potato chips into her mouth.

Because she and her wife finally had a night off, Maura and she were invited to dinner, which she declined after it turned out that the invitation had come from Maura's forensic friends. She had suggested to her wife to tell her friends that she wasn't feeling well so she could stay at home.

Maura wasn't particularly fond of this idea but had agreed after Jane came up with the argument that the evening would most likely end for her drunk, or with a headache, or drunk with a headache.

Jane shoved another chip in her mouth and looked over her shoulder with a frown when the front door slowly opened.

Maura entered the lobby and looked long at her wife before she took off her coat and scarf and stowed it in the dressing room before going into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of red wine.

Jane followed her with her eyes and blinked several times. "Did you have a nice evening?"

The former medical examiner slipped out of her heels before she sat down on the couch next to her wife. "I did," she answered the question and then eyed the coffee table, which had several empty beer bottles, chip bags, and a dirty plate on it. "So did you."

Jane very slowly let her eyes wander to the coffee table and raised her eyebrows. "Um, yes, I enjoyed the evening as well." She got up with a sigh and collected the evidence of her evening in front of the TV, took them to the kitchen and then disposed them. "Did I miss anything exciting?"

"Not really, but your snappy comments were missing," the blonde replied, taking a sip from her glass, smiling.

Jane smiled mischievously while she strolled to the couch and sat down next to her wife again.

She leaned over to Maura and gave her a quick kiss. "Hi."

"Hi," Maura replied, leaning into Jane's body after she wrapped her arm around her shoulder. "It felt good to finally spend the evening with other adults who are not family in any way."

Jane looked at her from the side and furled her brows. "Is that your subtle way of saying you enjoyed the evening more with your friends than with me?"

Maura looked up at her wife and uncharacteristically rolled her eyes. "Of course not. You know I love spending evenings with you. It's just -"

Jane nodded slowly and huffed. "Yeah, I know. If we had told the kids we were staying home, they would have found a reason to have us babysitting again."

With children, former Lieutenant meant Liz and Adam.

Maura frowned, and concern was evident in her eyes. "Does it make us bad people?"

"I hardly think we can be blamed for wanting to spend one evening or two alone, Maura."

The blonde nodded slowly, placing her head on Jane's collarbone.

She knew her wife was right and that no one could blame them for taking time for themselves. And she also knew that there was a time when she and her wife simply had to be an old married couple who had to give up all responsibility for at least one night.

Maura sat up a little and gave her wife a gentle kiss, looking deep into her eyes. "You're right, this evening is just for the two of us."

Jane smiled a little and nodded her head in agreement. "Mh-hm."

The former M.E put her wine glass down on the coffee table, stood up and took Jane's hand in hers, tugged it a little.

Jane immediately understood what her wife said wordlessly, got up without hesitation, and followed Maura to the stairs.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Adam stood at the doorway of Zane's room and had crossed his arms as he contemplated the sight, aware that his wife was aware of his presence but consciously ignoring him.

She sat in Zane's bed with her back against the wall while her son lay under his blanket and snuggled up against her.

Liz kissed his head before she asked with furrowed brows, "Are you sure it's supposed to be this book tonight?"

Zane nodded eagerly, answering the question wordlessly.

Adam inevitably had to smile and when his wife looked at him briefly.

"Okay," she breathed and then opened the worn book, started to read, "Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away.

So he said to his mother:"

Zane blinked a few times and then read the passage, "I am running away."

Liz looked down at the boy with furrowed brows. Actually, she didn't need to look at the book to know what to say next, because she knew the story by heart, but did it anyway. "If you run away, I will run after you. For you are my little bunny."

Zane chewed on the inside of his cheek and frowned. "If you run after me, I will become a fish in a trout stream and I will swim away from you."

Adam knew his son had left out the part where the writer Margaret Wise Brown had pointed out what the little bunny had said it.

The mother swallowed hard and looked down at her son again. "If you become a fish in a trout stream, I will become a fisherman and I will fish for you."

„If you become a fisherman, I will become a rock on the mountain, high above you."

Liz licked her lips as she turned the pages and then swallowed hard. "If you become a rock on the mountain high above me, I will become a mountain climber, and I will climb to where you are."

Zane tugged at the sleeve of her sweater and then read, "If you become a mountain climber. I will be a crocus in a hidden garden."

Liz blinked several times before she pressed her lips to his head and muttered in his hair, "If you become a crocus in a hidden garden, I will be a gardener. And I will find you."

Zane looked up at his mother, frowning in confusion. "What's wrong, Mommy?"

Liz memorized every detail of his face and then smoothed gently his forehead with a smile, caressing his cheek gently with a warm smile. "Nothing, sweetheart."

Zane turned back to the children's book and snuggled up to her even more. "If you are a gardener and find me, I will be a bird and fly away from you."

"If you become a bird and fly away from me, I will be a tree that you come home to."

"If you become a tree, I will become a little sailboat and I will sail away from you."

Adam frowned when his wife suddenly hesitated and wanted to intervene, tell Zane it was time to go to sleep but changed his mind when Liz shook her head.

He now began to understand why only Liz and Maura were allowed to read the story of The Runaway Bunny with Zane.

It didn't sound like they were reading every single word, but more like they were having a conversation like they were making promises.

Liz frowned a little and looked at the boy again. „If you become a sailboat and sail away from me, I will become the wind and blow you where I want you to go."

Zane hesitated this time before saying, "If you become the wind and blow me, I will join a circus and fly away on a flying trapeze."

She took a deep breath. "If you go flying on a flying trapeze, I will be a tightrope walker, and I will walk across the air to you." She smiled softly and brushed a strand of hair off his forehead when he looked up.

He changed his sitting position a little and started playing with her wedding band. "If you become a tightrope walker and walk across the air, I will become a little boy and run into a house."

Liz looked long at him and got the feeling that they didn't really need this book because they both knew the story by heart. "If you become a little boy and run into a house, I will become your mother and catch you in my arms and hug you."

"Shucks," Zane said a little too energetically and his mother chuckled, making a face because Zane knocked his head against her chin wile jumping excitedly while Adam grunted amusedly. "I might just as well stay where I am and be your little bunny."

Liz nodded and wrapped protectively her arms around him, kissing and his head one more time before finishing the story, "And so he did. Have a carrot, said the mother bunny."

She closed the book, placed it on Zane's bedside table and climbed out of his bed carefully.

She made sure her son was properly tugged under the blanket and stroked his cheek. "It's bedtime."

Zane looked like he was about to protest but changed his mind when he saw his mother's raised eyebrows. "Mom?"

Liz took a deep breath and looked at him tenderly. "What is it, sweetheart?"

Zane looked at her with unsteady eyes. "You are always with me, right?"

She took a deep breath and gently placed her hand over his heart. "Always, honey."

She smiled broadly and kissed his cheek when Zane buried his head deeper into the pillow. "Now go to sleep, baby."

"Love you", the boy murmured when she headed for the door.

"I love you too," she whispered and left the bedroom door ajar.

Liz looked long at Adam and exhaled loudly. The next moment she found herself in a tight and warm hug, closing her eyes.

"Now I know why only you and Maura can tell him the story," he whispered.

She looked up at him and frowned. "Oh yeah?"

He nodded slowly with a smile. Sighed in relief when he saw that the anger in her eyes that was visible during dinner had vanished, or that at least the fight had been postponed to another time. "Let's go to bed. It's been a long day."

"Oh yes, it was," his wife agreed and followed him into the bedroom without resistance.