Author's note:
First of all, I'm sorry this update took me quite a while longer than the previous ones. Don't you just hate it when real life gets in the way of your outlet for all the 'rizzling' fandom inside you? I certainly do.
Anyways, I decided to include an author's note in today's chapter because I wanted to thank you all for your kind reviews full of (mostly) nice words and constructive criticism. Please know that they are always read carefully and taken into consideration during my writing process. There was one review, however, that was neither constructive nor nice (in terms of how the criticism is brought across, not in terms of 'praise – I really like criticism but not like that…); that's why I couldn't let that one stand without a direct comment.
Let me quote the review, posted by a Guest on February 23rd: "This is so dumb. How can you can call yourself a Rizzles fan. If Jane really loved Maura she would not be flirting with stupid Judith. Of course Maura reacted badly to Jane being reckless. Jane is all Maura has . Jane has a lot if family and friends. Meanwhile Maura has nobody. I am so sick of everyone writing Maura so lonely and pathetic. If Jane hooks up with Judith I am so out."
And my comment would be the following: I can call myself a Rizzles fan because I am indeed a huge Rizzles fan. I know all the episodes inside and out, I spend a lot of time obsessing over the show and its two lovely main characters, I obsess over them with fellow Rizzles fans; hell, I even frequently dream about Rizzles at night (get your minds out of the gutter, people!). If I tell you that I have a plan for my fanfiction, an actual plotline and that the things I write happen for a reason within that story that is currently finding its way from my little brain onto (digital) paper – then you're just gonna have to trust me a little bit. It's not dumb, it's creativity. It's writing, it's the choices I make. Now, I'm a big believer in reader response theory: every reader takes the story a writer offers and makes something of it by themselves and for themselves. But in my opinion that still doesn't mean that anyone should leave a review saying "That's dumb" instead of providing any actual constructive criticism. Everybody has the right to say "I don't like this" or even "This storyline feels stupid to me" but one reader's feelings/perceptions are not a universal truth. If my fanfiction is stupid to you, dear Guest, even though you have only the beginning of it as the basis for your judgment, then I am very sorry to hear so – but it can be. It's what you make of it. I guess my final recommendation or rather appeal is: try to be more constructive in your criticism. Tell me why it's dumb (to you, not in general). And maybe choose your words a bit more carefully instead of being borderline offensive (e.g. dumb and also calling a character of my own invention simply "stupid"). And for what it's worth: while I as an author will not comment on how a certain passage was meant to be understood (again, I'm referring back to the reader response approach to literature), I became curious and asked a few of my readers: Nobody else has understood Jane's and Judith's conversation as flirting, and nobody else seems to be seeing Maura as a lonely and pathetic character.
For everybody else, who may or may not still be interested in today's chapter, here goes. Thank you for reading my author's note.
PS: And, Guest, if you're out then I can only congratulate you. I have been out for 11 years now and I love my partner very, very much…
For the rest of the dinner (as far as one beer and one third of a soy burger could be considered one), Jane found herself engaged in a surprisingly pleasant conversation with her new colleague. Even though Maura was still the obvious elephant in the room, they managed to avoid any further discussion of coping with the (potential) loss of a loved one and swam in the shallow waters of small talk instead. As it turned out, the two women had more in common than just being female officers in what could only be called a man's world (both the micro world of BPD and the macro world at large): Judith was a fellow Red Sox fan, she knew the struggle that was growing up with two younger siblings (albeit sisters), and she turned out to be an even bigger coffee addict than herself (if such an unthinkable thing was even possible).
When the check was paid and their jackets put on, Jane couldn't help but return to the more serious part of their dinner conversation: "Thanks again, Judith. Talking to you put things a little bit more into perspective and I'm really glad you were here to cheer me up after Maura stormed out. As I said before, patience is not my strongest suit but I will work on it. Speaking of which, I have no idea how Maura and I are supposed to act around each other at work now."
"Anytime, Jane. I'm happy to know I could make you feel better – even if it was just slightly. I believe that Dr. Isles and you are grown-up women, and, from the little I have already been able to observe, very professional workers. I'm sure you'll figure it out. She knows as well as you do that you guys need to work together in order to solve the crimes you're supposed to. I assume that… you know, if you are professional around her, she will be the same way. Just wait and see", Judith patted Jane on the shoulder before heading towards the door.
"I'll be a paragon of professionalism if that is what it takes. I gotta get home now and walk my poor little dog. She must be out of her mind because I left her alone for so long. Thanks again for tonight", Jane said as they slowly walked to their cars.
"You have a dog? I'm one of these rare types that like both cats and dogs. I brought two lovely felines with me to Boston but I miss being around dogs. I would like to meet yours someday!" Judith smiled at her colleague and got into her car, "see you in the morning."
When Jane finally got home, she walked Jo Friday and waited patiently for her dog to do her business, replaying the evening's events in her head. When Maura had first walked into the Dirty Robber, she had cursed the moment in which she'd decided to invite Judith to dinner but in hindsight, the evening had even gone comparatively well. Maura had at least accepted her apology; she had realized that Jane had done some careful thinking. True, they were still not friends again and Maura had actually asked her to respect her decision once and for all; but instead of worsening her desperation, it had given her hope. It wasn't that she assumed she knew Maura's feelings better than she did herself; it was just that she had felt something. Something she didn't understand, something that had never been there before. And maybe if she figured out what that was, she could make a new step towards her former best friend. In any case, she attributed another great part of her newfound hope to Judith's presence at the restaurant. She had calmed her down, had told her that neither she nor Maura had gone crazy, that quite possibly everything would get sorted out eventually. Most importantly, Judith had helped her to put herself into Maura's shoes, to really feel what Maura must have felt when she acted like Detective Rizzoli rather than "just" Jane on that damn bridge.
For the first night in almost a month, Jane managed to go to bed early (okay, early-ish) and sleep through the night. The business of figuring out Maura had been a nerve wrecking and very tiring one, and it was still work in progress. When her phone rang, Jane had no idea what time it was, nor what day of the week.
"Hullo?" She mumbled into the phone, "Sup?" She managed to open her eyes enough to look at her alarm clock. Shit, it was 7.00 am already.
"Good morning, Detective McSleepy. Johnson's wife has just arrived and is ready to be interviewed. I assume you want me to wait for you?" Korsak laughed and seemed to be way too lively for this ungodly hour.
"Yes. Give me 20 minutes, I'll be right there", Jane managed to haul herself out of her horribly comfortable bed and started to look for the next best thing to wear, "and Vince, I'm Italian. It's Detective Sleepoli to you." The only thing worse than happy people in the morning was when they managed to infect you with their good mood.
By telling Vince to wait for her for 20 minutes, she had given herself a margin of about 5 minutes to stop by Boston Joe's and get herself a much needed bathtub full of coffee. When she finally arrived at BPD, she bumped into Judith on her way to the interrogation room.
"Morning, Jane. How was your dog?" Great, another morning person. How did everyone but her manage to be so awake so early?
"She was as crazy as was to be expected; but I really wouldn't know what do to with myself without her company", Jane managed a smile, "do you wanna sit in?"
"Nah, thanks. I'll be watching, though." Judith pointed towards the other door: the one whose inside was hidden behind the one-way mirror.
Jane nodded and walked into the interrogation room. Sleepy, grumpy Jane off. Professional detective on. Showtime: "Good morning, Mrs. Johnson. Thank you for coming in. Have you been informed why you are here?"
The woman, a tall blonde in her thirties, looking way too perfectly dressed-up for neither the time of day nor the occasion that had brought her here from Washington D.C., nodded slowly and stared at her flawlessly manicured hands: "Yes. They told me on the phone that something happened to Greg. Is he okay? Or is he…"
"I'm very sorry to have to tell you that your husband died yesterday, Mrs. Johnson. We are truly sorry for your loss." Vince told the now obviously upset widow, "Can you think of anyone how could have wanted to harm Greg?"
Celia Johnson rummaged through her purse until she found tissues to more or less discretely wipe her tears off with ('God forbid her make-up should get ruined', Jane couldn't help but thinking) and took a moment to reply: "What do you mean? Are you saying that my husband was murdered? How did he die?"
"At this point it is safe to say that yes, your husband was indeed murdered. He was pushed off either the roof of your company's building or out of one of its windows. We are still working on that. So, is there anyone you would consider an enemy of Greg's?" Jane explained tactfully but decidedly.
Mrs. Johnson looked honestly horrified at the thought of how her husband had died and seemed to be carefully considering their question: "My husband is – was – the CEO of a very successful company, and you don't get to the top without stepping on some other people's toes. There were some competitors that lost quite a lot of money thanks to Shield but mostly, the company's success is due to years of hard work and protecting the right people. The only serious issue that I can think of right now actually happened just a few weeks ago. A local celebrity hired Shield's services because he was being bothered by a stalker. When said stalker finally broke into the celebrity's house while he was out of town, his manager stormed into Greg's office and blamed him personally. He told him he would hold him responsible for his 'piss poor work' and that he would regret to ever have accepted this job only to mess it up."
Jane frowned and wrote a few key words into her little black notebook: "I'm not sure I understand. Why would the manager be so angry if nothing happened to his client? Was anything stolen?"
"Not that I know of. They blamed Shield for installing a faulty alarm system – which was simply not the case. I honestly don't know why the situation escalated like this, and neither did Greg", Celia explained and wiped her eyes again.
"This is very helpful, thank you. We are sorry to have to ask but it's part of our routine procedure: You were at a fundraiser in Washington D.C. yesterday, correct? Can you point us towards somebody who can confirm this?" Vince checked for the widow's alibi.
"I understand, detective. And yes, I left for D.C. on Friday morning and was not due back until Monday. Apart from the 250 people at the event itself, I can refer you to my personal assistant, Maria. She was with me the entire time", Mrs. Johnson explained and wrote the woman's contact information down for the two detectives.
"Thank you. This is all for now. Again, we are very sorry for your loss. If you think of anything else that might be relevant to our investigation please don't hesitate to call me. Anytime, day or night", Jane said and handed her one of her calling cards.
After the interview was finished, Jane was already half on her way downstairs to discuss her impression of the grieving widow with Maura when she realized that she was not supposed to do that anymore. Jane sighed and stood in the hallway, visibly torn. What was it that Judith had said about professionalism? Maura had surely finished her autopsy by now and Jane wanted, needed to know what the final results were. It was about work and it was necessary, so yes, she would have to go look for Maura. Strictly professional business.
When Jane stepped out of the elevator, she froze in motion in front of Maura's office. The door was slightly ajar and Jane could see two people inside: Judith and Maura. Had Judith beaten her to Maura's office to get the results? As the two women's voices reached her ears, she momentarily forgot about all her supposed professionalism. The topic was too interesting not to eavesdrop.