I just have to say thank you to everyone who has been reading this little story. I have never gotten this many reviews, or hits on a story in such a short amount of time in all my years of posting on FF. This is by far one of the most generous and kindhearted fandoms. You all are so wonderful you skip over my typos and horrible grammar. LOL! Thank you for everything. I'm blown away!
~Snow
"How in the hell is this happening to all of these people and there are no suspects?" Frost asked as he watched Jane process the body with Dr. Isles. Jane stood and looked around. This was different.
"Maura, what can you tell me?" Jane asked the medical examiner.
"I would say, he was killed with a sharp hit to the back of his head, but I need to run tests to be sure," Maura tried her hardest to 'guess' for Jane.
"If you could guess," Jane began, and Maura slightly slapped at Jane's shin. Jane simply smiled, "Ill eagerly anticipate your findings. Frost could you look for a round object a pipe, pole, or a…" Jane stopped and then threw her hands in the air, "or a rusty rod."
Frost handed the rod to the CSU technician smiling at Jane. Jane looked down to Maura, and the blond rolled her eyes. Jane smirked and then walked around the scene. The scene did not go unnoticed by Frost and Korsak. Jane ripped her gloves off as she approached a woman crying, the woman who found the body.
"I am sorry, Miss…" Jane prompted the blubbering mess of woman.
"Little, Corine Little," she replied, and Jane nodded. Check got her name now…
"Could you tell me how you found the body of…" Jane asked.
"Raymond, Raymond Rowling. He was the director of the upcoming production. That's three people gone, how can we go on?" she asked as she gazed with glazed over eyes at the dead body.
"How do you know Mr. Rowling?" Jane asked softly coaxing the woman to trust her, confide in her.
"We were," she swallowed, "We were supposed to meet here," she replied eyes dropping to her hands.
"I know this is hard, but can you tell me why?" Jane went for sympathetic.
"We were…" she looked around and leaned forward, and Jane leaned forward too, "We were lovers," Corine Little dropped a small bomb on Jane, and she may or more may not have found motive.
"One more question, did Raymond Rowling, have a close personal relationship with Ava Crowe?" Jane asked as she placed a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder hoping to get her to confide in her. It was the opposite. The woman's eyes shot open, and then she glared at the detective.
"How dare you?" Corine Little strode away from the scene and Jane. Jane watched the woman stalk away with narrowed eyes. Korsak came up next to her and asked how it went and Jane told him she had a gut feeling. Korsak knew not to argue with Jane's gut, but there was something about this that didn't seem to fit right. Something was off.
"Jane," Maura called the detective over.
"He has been dead for three hours," Maura informed and Jane nodded. Little found the body an our ago according to her interview.
"Frost," Jane called out, and out of nowhere her partner popped by her side, "Can you have the cameras in the area and see when she actually came to the theater? Also, can you go back through the cameras throughout the day?" Jane asked. Frost nodded and took off, Korsak monitored the scene with his hands in his pockets. They both had gut feelings, and this was getting out of hand. Three people from the Boston Ballet Company dead, and all of them worked on the same production.
"I think it might be time to get those tickets Maur," Jane said softly. Maura nodded but Jane noticed the fallen look in Maura's eyes. Jane walked Maura to the car talking about the findings at the scene but when she got to Maura's car she looked around.
"It won't be about work Maura," Jane looked at her friend, "Ok not all of it. I really do want to go to the ballet with you," Jane said. Maura nodded and opened her door. She started her engine but before she took off leaving the detective Maura rolled down her window.
"Dress or tux detective?" Maura asked. Jane smiled and leaned down in the window.
"Dress," Jane said to her friend. Maura smiled.
"I can't wait," Maura said, "Tomorrow 8 o'clock," Maura confirmed the time with Jane.
"It's a date," Jane said. She knew she said it. She wanted to say it, and she said it. No backing out now, and, Maura's face was all the more reason to have said it. The pleasant shock written on her features was more than enough reward for being bold.
"Yes, it is," Maura smiled back at Jane and then left the scene to get back to the lab. Jane turned around and looked at the building. She noticed camera's positioned monitoring the roads and alleyways. There were two in this alley alone. She shot off a text to Frost with pictures, so he knew what she was looking at. She walked back in and found Korsak.
"Ballet with the doc?" he asked privately as they stood away from everyone else. Jane shot him a look and he smiled, "I won't tell anyone, but does your mother know?" Korsak asked. He hated being interrogated by Jane's mother. She was worse than Jane was in an interrogation room, and twice as frightening.
"Yeah, she will help me find a dress," Jane said.
"Try for a dress with a shawl," he said, and Jane looked at him with wide eyes.
"These places can get cold. You look great in a strapless every time you went undercover. So, I think you will go that route, but when I took wife number two from time to time I froze my ass off every show," he said with a smirk. Jane looked at the man beside her and then looked back at the crime scene with a smirk.
"Good to know," Jane reviewed Maura's questions earlier. Tux or dress? Jane wondered if it even mattered. Jane pulled out her phone.
Jane: Would it have mattered if I said tux?
Maura: No. I have said earlier, no matter what you wear you would be splendid.
Jane: Thanks
Jane put her phone away. Sometimes it was great to feel lovely, no matter what you wore. She would have to test that theory with Maura someday. But not now. She smiled when it hit her. She wanted to be beautiful for Maura, try for Maura. Everyone could take her as she was or get lost. She wanted to be more than blazers and sweatpants with Maura. She never really wanted that with anyone else.
OOOoooOOOooo
Jane and Korsak monitored the scene while waiting from Frost on the update from the cameras. Jane narrowed her eyes and looked around at the people at the crime scene then looked up to the mezzanine. She walked from the room, and then found stairs up. She came to a corridor decorated in rich crimsons and wood paneling and turned. Jane saw the stage, with seats looking down upon the gallery seating. Her hand went to her gun. Blood everywhere as if it were straight out of a horror movie. Her hand went to her phone.
"Korsak, get up here and bring CSU," Jane said in a strained whisper. She was on high alert. Her hand pulled the gun from her holster when she heard a noise from the right. She waited. She could hear Vince coming up the stairs, and the chatter behind her. She had taken risks in the past, going gung ho and then inevitably something ended up broken, scrapped up needing stitches, or she got shot. Not this time.
Korsak came into the balcony and saw Jane with her gun drawn and her attention solely on the area to her right. He pulled his gun as she began to slowly walk toward the noise she heard. Down each step, slowly, methodically. The burn in her quadriceps told her she was alive, and the blood on the floor was not hers. A flash from Hoyt popped into her mind and she held her gun up straighter, poised like panther about to pounce on any movement. There it was again but different and she looked at Vince. They both blinked as the suspected noise sounded like a gurgle this time. Jane reacted. She flew down the steps. She holstered her gun as she motioned to Korsak to keep his at the ready. She placed her fingertips to the neck of the woman on the floor. Jane gasped.
"There's a pulse. Get an ambulance back up here," Jane ordered but Korsak was already on the phone. Jane didn't move the victim. She made the woman as comfortable as possible and murmured small assurances to keep the woman there, breathing, and alive. She was their only link to the case that could provide them with a suspect. When the EMS drove off she looked to Korsak and she let out a deep breath. She motioned to the car and he got in and followed the siren, and lights toward the hospital.
"You didn't rush in," Vince said after a few blocks of silence. Jane was driving, and he noticed her grip tighten on the steering wheel and her arms pulled slightly forward as she shifted uncomfortable in her seat. She didn't reply.
"Jane," Korsak began but he let out a sigh, "Its ok to feel. But why?"
"Why what?" Jane rasped back watching traffic and making sure she stayed with the ambulance in front of her.
"Why did you make the conscious choice not to rush in to the situation? You always do. I would like to know why, that is if you want to tell me," Korsak said honestly. It was that honesty that made Jane relax and then glance over to her old partner once. She saw him, sitting there, reaching out to her, wanting to help her, wanting to understand.
"Would it make any sense if I told you it was because of my dreams?" Jane replied cryptically. Vince just sat there and thought, watching the traffic in front of them. Then he nodded, and he reached out. He never reaches out to Jane. She knew he hated it because she hated it, the reminder of their worst moments together.
"Dreams about these?" he asked as he gently took her right hand and held her scared hand. The gesture was so fatherly that Jane blinked back tears. She pulled her hand and placed it in her lap. Silence for many more moments then they turned into the hospital driveway.
"Yes," Jane said, and then looked toward Vince, found his gentle gaze and swallowed, "To an extent. They are backward. I am caught, and it all goes wrong. He is…" She raked her hand through her locks.
"He is still there. I understand ghosts all to well Jane," Korsak said as he looked forward. Jane saw the haunted gaze play in his eyes. It wasn't the victims this time. It was his own demons, his own personal boogeyman, just like hers.
"Who is yours?" Jane asked before they got out of the car. Korsak shifted and then looked at Jane. He saw the hope in her eyes, hope that she was not alone.
"I can't tell you Jane," Vince began, and Jane pulled back faster than lightning and was out of the car faster that a bullet train. Korsak quickly went after her and caught her elbow and she yanked away.
"Jane!" he bellowed, and she stood firm but not looking at her mentor, her partner, her friend, "I can't tell you because it will change a few things," Jane looked up at her partner, "I like the way things are right now," Vincent Korsak could only give that much right then in that moment. He needed to talk to one other person first before he told Jane, and he had no idea how to begin that conversation.
"I like the way things are too," Jane rasped and began to stride toward the emergency room.
OOOoooOOOooo
Mom: How about this one?
Jane sat in the waiting room as the victim went through surgery. Too many thoughts crossed her mind and she was grateful for her mother going to find her dress without her. She sent picture after picture of wonderful dresses but none of them spoke to her. Once her mother got testy and typed back asking if she really wanted to do this. But the resilient detective sent back to her mother that she was sure. She just didn't like the red, hated the pink, the black one felt like she was going to a funeral.
Jane: No, Ma. I'm not going to a funeral.
Mom: That's it I'm calling Maura
Jane: NO YOU WILL NOT!
Mom: Then quit being picky.
Jane: I'm not picky, and if I am being picky it's because I am being picky for her.
Jane blinked after she hit send. OH NO! She looked at her phone and looked at every option she had in her settings but alas she could not unsend the message she sent to her mother. She began to bounce her leg. No reply, nothing. She looked at her watch. Time passed slowly as she waited for her mother to text her back. Almost an hour later Jane heard the tone just as the doctor came from ICU. Jane ignored the text.
"What can you tell me Doc?" Jane asked as she went to him.
"Lucky to be alive. Massive amounts of internal bleeding and she is not out of the woods yet, but she is stable for the moment," He looked over her shoulder to Korsak then back to Jane, "she wants to talk to the police. That's all she will say."
Jane looked at Korsak and then nodded. He turned with them flanking his right and felt side as he went through the list of injuries the woman had exacted upon her. The one that popped out was bruising to her knees, hip and side, as if she was pushed down the stairs in the balcony. Jane took the lead, and when she saw the woman, her heart went to the person barely hanging on in the bed.
"I'm Detective Jane Rizzoli and this is Detective Vince Korsak. We heard you want to talk to us. How can we help you?" Jane asked as she leaned down and used the softest voice she could muster to make the woman feel at ease.
"I am… Stephanie… Blackwell. I…dance," She closed her eyes and a tear slipped down her bruised and scuffed temple.
"Take your time sweetie," Jane said as she took the woman's hand. Stephanie nodded and swallowed.
"Black mask… my height," the woman said, "woman."
"How can you tell?" Vince asked from behind Jane.
"Fingernails… in my hair," Stephanie said softly, slowly trying not to use her energy.
"That's good. Is there anything else you can tell us?" Jane asked as she held the woman's hand.
"Her voice…" she swallowed painfully, "Was rich… low… mean, and threatening. She said… 'It will be my time now with out you,' then…" she paused as pain flooded her body once more but she continued eyes closed, "She pulled back my head, nails scrapping across my scalp… and pulled something across my chest. I squirmed and couldn't… cut my throat. They hit me in the throat after. I couldn't breathe. Threw me down the steps. I was kicked, stomped on, and then bashed against."
"Were you meeting some one?" Jane asked softly.
"No, I go there to think," Stephanie closed her eyes as pain raked through her body.
"Get some rest Stephanie," Jane said as she patted the woman's hand and then looked to Vince as he looked up from his not pad as he took notes. Jane and Korsak left the room and Jane blew out a sigh that rattled her lips in a raspberry.
"A woman," Korsak said, "Her height and mean. Not much to go one," he pointed out.
"Yeah, but wasn't the woman who found the body about Stephanie's height?" Jane asked Korsak and he made a face and nodded.
"Yeah, but so are a lot of people," Vince rebutted.
"Yeah, but I want to interview Miss Little again. Something doesn't fit," Jane said as she began to feel that rush in her chest. The hint of a chase on the horizon. She loved this part of her job. Piecing the puzzle together was her favorite part, figuring it out, solving the mystery. She held her hands together and her right hand rubbed her left hand's scars. Finally, they had a lead.
OOOoooOOOooo
"Maura," Angela began, and Maura sifted through dresses. She had the good doctor with her throughout the entire shopping trip and had already bought Jane's dress. Angela kept showing the messages to Maura, and they had a good bit of fun, but then Angela didn't show Maura the last message. Angela felt that would be going a little far, and be a little too revealing. Something shifted in Maura when Angela refused to show her the last message.
"Is it easy to lie, Angela?" Maura asked as they went through a few dresses that Maura was trying to find for her date. She wanted to wear something completely different, something Jane had never seen before.
"Depends, why?" Angela didn't like this line of questioning. She watched as Maura slid the dresses on the rack past the other and then sighed. Maura nodded her head and then went out into the crowd of people in the mall. Maura dug in her purse for her keys and Angela knew they were going to her car.
"I can't lie to people. You all know this, and yet sometimes it seems as if you forget that I can tell that you lie. It hurts when people lie to me, especially those I hold dear," Maura replied. Angela got to the car with Maura and placed the dress gently in the back seat. They got into the car.
"I am sorry, it isn't that I meant to lie to you. Its just Janie is a little, well self-conscious. The last message she sent was personal and I know my Jane. She would have rather never sent the message if she the power to unsend it," Angela said hoping the woman would understand.
"She isn't second guessing our date, is she?" Maura asked nervously
"Oh no sweetie," Angela smiled reassuringly to the strawberry blonde, "But if I showed you that message she would not forgive me. Is that ok?"
"I see, so she admitted something she would be embarrassed by and you are protecting her," Maura mulled the thoughts over in her mind. What could have been so revealing? Her phone toned as they pulled into one of her favorite dress boutiques.
Jane: I was thinking about you. Would you like to have a drink later?
Maura smiled as she typed back a response then looked up to see Angela watching her. Maura's smile slipped, and then she looked down to her phone.
"My Jane can sometimes shock us all with her big heart. Judging by the smile on your face she might have said something to make you feel better about your date tomorrow?" Angela probed.
Maura nodded and put her phone in her purse and walked into the shop. Smile on her face grew as she saw the high-end fashion and gorgeous dresses. She found she didn't want just a dress she got stress buying. She wanted something new for something that would be new and wonderful for them both. Her eyes landed on an outfit, and she smiled as she walked toward it.
"Maura?" Angela gulped as the doctor pulled it from the wall. Maura grinned. New indeed.