One call to Michael Rhay, who still sounded exactly as sad and desperate as Jane thought he would, had blown the case wide open: his stalker had never successfully broken into his home (and eventually, moved on to the next handsome celebrity) and Rhay knew nothing about his manager yelling at Johnson, as neither the former nor the latter had told him. "So, in a nutshell: somebody is definitely lying. The question is: Who, and what does this person gain by doing so?" Jane dropped her phone on the desk and leaned back in her chair, folding her hands behind her head.
"In my opinion, there are two options: the encounter between the manager and Johnson never happened at all, in which case Celia Johnson would be the liar and a fine suspect at least in terms of having hired or asked someone else to kill her husband. What she'd gain, I guess, is the focus of our investigation shifting away from her and onto the manager, and thus possibly also time to get rid of evidence that would implicate her as the one pulling the strings", Judith brainstormed while Frankie was taking notes on their famous whiteboard.
"Right; and the second option would be that the encounter between the two actually happened but not for the reason that Johnson mentioned to his wife and for some reason that he could not share with his boyfriend at all, in which case I'd say that something shady must have been going on between the manager and our victim; something that ultimately culminated in murder", Jane continued her colleague's train of thought and earned yet another thumbs-up.
"If something shady was going on, then why would Johnson have told his wife at all?" Frankie asked from his position as unofficial minute-taker.
"The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is that there might have been a witness to the encounter. Who is the one person who always knows what's going on?" Jane asked and Nina was already racing back to her desk.
"Johnson's secretary, of course. Give me 90 seconds and you'll have his or her number on your phones", she said over her shoulder, fingers already typing before she even sat down.
Johnson's secretary, who insisted on being called his "personal assistant", confirmed that he had indeed witnessed several meetings between the victim and Rhay's manager, Jackson Leonard, in the last month or so, the last one only about a week ago. According to Johnson's assistant, who had been told that the appointments were in reference to Rhay's stalker, said meeting ended abruptly when Leonard stormed out of the victim's office, slamming doors and yelling obscenities. Johnson had then explained to him as well as to his wife, who had been alarmed by the commotion, that the stalker had successfully broken into Rhay's apartment, stealing various personal items of a delicate nature.
After Judith finished her call to the assistant – she had put him on speaker for the others to listen in –, Jane placed another call to Johnson's wife and equally put her on speaker: "Mrs. Johnson? This is Jane Rizzoli, BPD. We spoke yesterday when you were kind enough to come in but a couple of new questions have arisen during the course of our investigation. Do you have a moment to talk?"
"Hallo, detective. Yes, absolutely. I can already imagine what your call is in reference to."
"And I imagine that you are referring to your husband's relationship to Michael Rhay, correct? Can you confirm that you knew about it prior to Gregory's death?" Jane asked.
"Yes, detective Rizzoli. I absolutely knew about Greg and Michael. They were a really great couple and very happy with each other. I should really call Mike, the poor boy", Mrs. Johnson answered openly.
"Forgive me, Mrs. Johnson, but I think that most people would consider your answer to be very odd. You were married to Gregory yet you speak highly of your husband's homosexual relationship with a third person. How does that fit together? And in contrast to your honest opinion now, you didn't mention Michael at all during our interview yesterday morning. Why is that?"
"Well, detective. When I married Greg I promised to be there for him and support and protect him for the rest of my life. After a few really good and passionate initial years of our marriage, Greg started to change and become really introverted. At first I thought he was simply burying himself in work, then I thought he was having an affair but I was completely blindsided when he finally came out to me. Our sexual orientation is something we do not get to choose, detective Rizzoli, so I never blamed for being gay. He was suffering enough as it was, he didn't need me to tell him that I had married him believing he would love and desire me forever; I couldn't stand to see him as unhappy as he was. So I did what I had promised in my marriage vows: I supported him, I helped him through the process, I told him I would stay with him if that was what he and the company needed. And after all, there are different kinds of love: he did love me, you know – just not in the way that I had originally wanted. Anyway, we had an arrangement: we divided our house in two parts, thereby living together but apart. He was with Michael, I was with Felix, my boyfriend. Sometimes we would have a little dinner party, a double-date if you will", her voice broke momentarily, "what the hell am I going to do without Greg? He was my best friend."
She continued to explain to Jane that she had omitted Rhay's role in Johnson's life to protect both Shield and Rhay's acting career, which seemed very plausible to Jane. Before hanging up, Rizzoli told her about the fake reason for Leonard's angry departure and the victim's wife seemed to doubt her late husband and friend for the first time: "I'm very sorry but I have absolutely no idea why Greg would have lied about something like this. I highly doubt that anything illegal or suspicious was going on but I honestly don't know. Have you found Greg's diary yet?"
Surprised, Jane and Judith looked at each other – no diary. "If your husband kept a diary, we haven't found it. Could you bring it in for us?"
"That won't be necessary; he used to keep a diary on his personal laptop which you already have in possession. As far as I know, it's an encrypted file that he named 'A Tale Told by an Idiot' because he was the biggest and loveliest literature nerd I have ever met", Mrs. Johnson's voice broke again; she really seemed to have loved her husband, platonically or not. "I'm sorry but the only thing I cannot tell you is his password. I wish I could be of more help."
After reassuring her that she had indeed been very helpful, Jane ended the call and was about to tell Nina to search for the file, when the latter already requested a high-five for having found it.
"Johnson's wife is right, it's password-protected. I can try to hack my way in but it would take time. The easiest way would be to guess his password but unless it's 'Zombiekillermichael' it might be a bit difficult", Nina explained as she brought up the file on the big screen and, just to be on the safe side, unsuccessfully tried 'Zombiekillermichael'. Other combinations with Rhay's name and date of birth and even with Celia Johnson's were equally wrong. "Any ideas?"
"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing", Jane visibly startled when Maura's voice suddenly filled the room as she walked into the office and up to the screen reciting the famous lines.
"What?" Was the only thing she managed to say, even though the lines sounded vaguely familiar to her and a little voice in the back of her head whispered that it was something high school-related.
Maura smiled and pointed at the title of the file: "Macbeth, act five, scene five. Try the most obvious ones first, Nina: 'Shakespeare', 'Macbeth', 'SoundandFury'." None of them unlocked Johnson's diary.
In full Maura-genius mode, she seemed to be temporarily unaware of the detectives as she walked up and down the room, finally sitting down on Jane's desk. Unsure whether to lean in closer to Maura, or lean back in her chair, Jane herself seemed to freeze in motion and simply stared up into her best friend's face, whose mouth was moving silently. Was she reciting the entire play in her head?
"Okay, let's go out on a limb here. In the famous 'sound and fury' monologue, Macbeth is not exactly presenting a very positive outlook on life and its meaning. From what I have heard about the case, that was not Johnson's way of thinking at all; rather the opposite. He was happy with his boyfriend and very successful, right? So maybe, a foil to Macbeth. Hm…" For a moment, Maura stared at the screen, apparently going through the play.
"'Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak knits up the o-er wrought heart and bids it break', Malcom in act four, scene three", she finally mumbled and looked up at Nina, "That's exactly what Johnson did in his diary, right? Nina, try 'Givesorrowwords'.
When the file opened before their eyes, Maura smiled happily and rather content with herself, and got up from Jane's desk to return to her regular job in the morgue. Nina was already scanning the document for Leonard's name, while Korsak and Frankie were still trying to figure out how on earth Maura had probably just cracked their case. Jane, however, jumped up from her chair and, without so much as a split second of thinking about it, she grabbed Maura's arm and pulled her into a hug. It had been so long that Maura's warmth and the smell of her hair (that damned lemon balm shampoo!) almost knocked her off her feet and for a moment, Jane simply closed her eyes and forgot all about the case and her colleagues in the room. When she remembered, however, she still didn't break the hug and basically whispered into Maura's ear: "Thank you for that beautiful brain of yours. I, I mean, BPD would be nothing without you."
Finally, Maura broke the embrace, smiled warmly at Jane and said loudly enough for everyone: "It's all about team work. I'm always happy to help. That's also why I came upstairs in the first place. I'm finished with the official autopsy report and put it on Korsak's desk when you were all staring at the screen." Then, softer and just for Jane's ears: "See you at 8. Don't be late. And if you make an arrest until then, I will make dessert for you, too."
Even without the promise of a delicious treat (Chocolate cake? Chocolate cupcakes? A chocolate fountain? Jane was feeling very chocolate-y), Jane's gut was telling her that they were indeed close to finding the killer and closing the case once and for all.
She turned out to be right: it took Nina about three minutes to find a variety of diary entries on Johnson's problems with Jackson Leonard, Rhay's manager and the motive for his death it provided them with was ultimately one of the classics: greed. By accident, Leonard had found an explicit photography of Johnson and his boyfriend and decided to make a nice sum of money on the side. Considering that Rhay was his golden boy and main source of regular income, Leonard had met with Johnson to blackmail him instead: 100.000 $ for his silence, as he threatened to anonymously tip off the press and have them publish the photo. According to the victim's diary, Johnson didn't care so much about his own future as CEO of Shield but ultimately paid Leonard off to protect his boyfriend even though he wasn't sure Leonard would really go through with it and risk losing his best client. During their last meeting before his murder, however, Leonard requested another 50.000, squeezing Johnson like a lemon. Interestingly, his final diary entry had been written the day of his murder, as the victim was waiting in his office to secretly meet his blackmailer. Instead of paying him off yet again, Johnson had decided to no longer play along and instead tell his boyfriend the truth and risk being exposed to the public. He ended his entry by expressing his concern over how Leonard would take these news.
"I think we all know how Leonard took them", Jane said grabbing her jacket, "Let's go arrest this scumbag, Lewis." The rest of the afternoon, and with it Jackson Leonard's arrest, went by rather smoothly. When Leonard opened the door to find two badges shoved into his face, his scratched hands clearly visible to the detectives, he caved in instantly (not having to run after a murder suspect trying to escape arrest was, quite literally, a nice change of pace once in a while). During his interrogation, and rather out of fear of the jury he'd soon face than actual regret, Leonard fully confessed to the murder. Like he had decided in his diary, Johnson had told Leonard that he would no longer be blackmailed, and Leonard lost it and attacked the victim. A struggle ensued, at the end of which Leonard, fearing for his job and freedom, saw an opportunity in the open window and pushed Johnson out. Accordingly, the DNA sample they took from him would be successfully matched to the DNA found under the victim's fingernails – the cherry on the cake that would prove to be an airtight case in court.
Jane was finishing her paperwork, extremely happy that her team had been able to bring justice to yet another victim, when Judith returned to her desk from a conversation with lieutenant Cavanaugh: "I have very good news. You'll be happy to hear that the lieutenant was very content with our fast and efficient work on this case. Hell, this meeting was supposed to merely be a welcome and yet, you made me look extremely good by already having solved a case. So instead of welcoming me to the unit, he told me to tell you and the others that we get the next two days off as a recompense for the lost weekend."
"Yes, those are excellent news; I could really use a couple of days off. And hey, I didn't make you look good. We made each other look good. Well, it was mostly Maura who made us look good, huh? Without her, we would probably still be trying out passwords. Anyways, I feel like in the end, this case was a rather typical one. A scumbag gets greedy and tries to shake down a rich guy; rich guy refuses and pays with his life. And yet, this one touched me deeply. I feel so sorry for the victim and especially Rhay. They fought so hard and went through so much pain and finally found happiness with each other. I really don't wanna be in Rhay's shoes; I can't even begin to understand what it must feel like to lose the person you love the most in this godforsaken world", Jane explained, her empathy causing her to momentarily share Rhay's grief.
"It's okay, Jane. Some cases hit closer to home than others. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you will have many, many years before you have to go through a loss like this. What do you say: beers and soy burgers at your strange restaurant to celebrate two days off, a closed case and life and love in general?" Judith got up from her desk to call it a night and enjoy, as Maura had taught her, her 'Feierabend'.
Suddenly looking at her watch (how could she have forgotten to check it every five minutes to see if 8 pm was finally around the corner?), Jane dropped her pen and jumped up from her chair: "Shit. How can it be 6.30 already? I gotta go home and shower and then stop on my way to buy wine. I'm so sorry, Judith, but I need to take a raincheck. I actually have a…"
"… Date?" Judith grinned at Jane and gave her yet another thumbs-up.
"Yes. I mean no. Okay, sort of. I am meeting Maura for dinner so we can talk about everything that's happened and she might finally explain her side of things. So, yeah. I'm pretty excited!" Once again, words seemed to come out of Jane's mouth faster than her brain could actually process them.
"I'm very happy for you two and wish you all the best for tonight. Raincheck it is. We'll go have a drink soon, then; and who knows, maybe we'll have more things to celebrate", Judith said and with this last cryptic remark, she left Jane to pack up her belongings and race home.
Against all odds, Jane parked in Maura's driveway at exactly 7.59 pm and, her hands trembling, barely managed to unbuckle her seatbelt. As she walked up to the front door, a bottle of the finest Chardonnay she could find safely tucked under her arm, she couldn't help but remember her dream; this time, however, her goosebumps at the sight of Maura's new and differen – but equally captivating – smile were real. "Hey Maura, thanks for inviting me. And just so you know, we made an arrest and closed the case this afternoon", Jane explained rather proudly as she stood in the doorway, unsure whether or not to hug her best friend.
"Well, then", Maura chuckled as she motioned Jane to come inside and lightly touched her arm as a welcome, "I hope you will stay for dessert."