Author Note: Thanks everyone for showing some love. This is the penultimate chapter, just one more left after this one, and then it's all over. It's been a fun story to write, it'll be sad to see it go even if it has taken me forever to write the last three chapters. Enjoy!
"I don't understand what we're doing here," Maura said.
Jane handed her a pair of crime scene gloves and snapped a pair over her own hands. She lifted up a bag of garbage and tossed it across the alley, away from the place the victim had been found.
"We're looking for any evidence that could connect Tony Scott to our victim."
The tilt of Maura's head made her numbers follow. Jane watched with mild curiosity as they travelled down towards the floor when Maura reached for another bag. Together they shifted the pile where Alice was found.
"Bingo!" Jane said, lifting up a used condom. She took an evidence bag from her pocket and shook it open, dropping the condom inside.
"What are you expecting to find?" Maura asked.
"I'm expecting to find Tony Scott's DNA on this condom."
"Why would his DNA be on the condom? That condom could belong to any number of people who have had sexual intercourse in this alleyway."
Placing the sealed evidence bag into her pocket, Jane tugged off the gloves and tossed them into the dumpster. "Alice's friends seem to think she has occasional sex with the friend who is in the band."
"You're expecting the condom to contain his DNA?" Maura asked.
"I need you to test the condom for DNA evidence and match it with Tony Scott. Then you need to do a second test of the original DNA evidence gathered at the hospital. I'll work on getting a sample from the musician."
"You do realise that neither DNA sample will prove who attempted to murder Alice."
"No," Jane said. "But what it will do is narrow down the list of who saw her last, and thus we can bring both the musician and the stalker in for questioning."
"Thus?" Maura asked, raising an eyebrow, smirking.
Jane rolled her eyes and marched towards the road. "I've known you for too long."
She waited on the sidewalk until Maura joined her again. They walked back to the car in silence. Once they were on their way back to BPD, Maura turned to Jane.
"How are you?"
"What do you mean how am I?" Jane asked.
"It is a question people ask to ascertain someone's wellbeing."
"I know that," Jane said. "Why are you asking it?"
"Why wouldn't I ask it?" Maura paused. "You've been agitated for a while now."
"I'm fine," Jane said, slowing at the stop light.
Maura's eyes stayed fixed on Jane's. Jane glanced briefly at the numbers above her head. The absence of changes didn't seek to remove her agitation, though she was hardly going to inform Maura of that fact. She pressed down on the gas and continued towards BPD. Every person and animal that she passed had a number ticking along above them. Every person was oblivious to the countdown of their lives. She wondered if someone else had been in her position before. Was she once as oblivious as everyone was now? She pulled up outside the entrance to the building and shut off the engine.
"I'm going back to the hospital to see Alice," Jane said, handing over the evidence bag. "Call me when you've got the results."
"You know it can take weeks," Maura said, slipping out of the car.
Jane gritted her teeth, her knuckles turned pale as she gripped the steering wheel. "We don't have weeks, Maura. I need the results now."
"I'll see what I can do," Maura said, standing up as she bid her farewell.
Once the car door had closed behind her, Jane set off back along the road. She had a mission and she wasn't willing to let anything hold her back. Not when Maura's life depended on it.
x
The room where Alice lay unconscious was empty. A woman pulled the sheets from the bed and exchanged them for fresh ones. A shiver travelled down Jane's spine as she stepped into the room. The woman looked older than her mother, though her time appeared healthier than she'd have anticipated. She smiled weakly at the woman, who smiled back. She had a question to ask, but the thought of the answer made her feel worse than she already did.
"Are you the police officer?" the woman asked with a thick southern accent.
"Detective Jane Rizzoli," she said, seeking comfort in the familiarity of her introduction.
"The girl's in CT, they say she'll be back soon."
"Thank you," Jane said, the weight shifted from her shoulders. She sunk into a chair by the door and waited, watching the woman finish tidying the room.
"How is she?"
"Didn't anybody call y'all?" Jane shook her head. "She woke up this morning, as bright as the sky on July fourth."
As if on cue, as hospital porter pushed Alice into the room in a wheelchair. He applied the foot break and helped her back up onto the freshly clean sheets. Jane stood up, nodded her head at the porter and moved towards the edge of the bed.
"Hello, Alice," she said. "You probably don't know who I am."
"No," Alice whispered.
"I'm Detective Rizzoli, I've been assigned to your case. I wanted to ask you a few questions. Do you feel up to doing that?" She nodded. "Great. If at any time it gets too much, just let me know, we can stop. Alright? Do you remember what happened the night you were attacked?"
Alice closed her eyes tightly, her nose wrinkled up in the middle. The numbers ticked healthily along above the bandages covering her head injury. Eventually she opened her eyes again and looked at Jane.
"I was in the club with my friends."
"What happened at the club?" Jane asked, pulling a chair across the floor and sitting down. She took a notepad from her jacket pocket and made some notes.
"My boyfriend's band were playing."
"Your boyfriend?"
"Jason, he's in a band with my friend's brother."
"I spoke to Simone and Elle; they didn't seem to think Jason was your boyfriend. They said you two were friends."
"They don't know," Alice said, placing her hands on her lap. "We've only been together for a few weeks. We didn't want anyone to know yet."
A knock on the door pulled Jane's attention away, she glanced up as Frankie peered in through the door. She signalled for him to come inside. "Alice, what can you tell me about Tony Scott?"
Frankie pulled a chair up beside Jane and sat down, Alice's eyes froze on Frankie. "I'm Detective Rizzoli."
"My brother, he's been working the case, too," Jane said, as Alice's eyes travelled across to Jane and back to Frankie.
"Tony works at the company I was temping for," she said. "He's a creep but he's harmless."
"We have reason to believe he was at the club the night of the incident," Frankie said.
"I don't, I don't remember." Alice placed a hand on her head and winced.
"Do you remember leaving the club alone?" Alice shook her head. "What's the last thing you remember?"
Her cheeks reddened, her eyes lowered to her lap. She played with the edge of the gown she was wearing. "I was in the bathroom with Jason, we were fooling around in a stall. I don't, I don't know what happened after that."
"I know this is uncomfortable for you," Jane said, placing a hand on top of Alice's. "But I need you to try and remember, did you and Jason have sex?"
"We did."
"And did you use a condom?"
Alice's cheeks reddened further. "No. I trust him. I'm on the pill, so we didn't bother."
They thanked her for her time and exited the room. The poor woman looked exhausted and Jane knew they wouldn't get much more out of her. She stood against the wall and yawned. Her own exhaustion level was low. Despite getting a decent night's sleep on Maura's spare bed, her mind had busily worked all night long.
"What's the next move?" Frankie asked.
"Maura's sent some DNA evidence off for testing, it's going to take a few days to get anything back. We need evidence from the boyfriend before we can carry out a test on the original sample. In the meantime, I think we should bring him in for questioning. My money's on the stalker but it's worth asking the question."
Frankie nodded. "Did you try to kill your girlfriend isn't the usual follow up to do you want to have sex in the bathroom?"
Turning back to the window to the room, Jane watched Alice close her eyes and roll onto her side. The number above her head continued to tick down at a suitable pace. Jane felt her mind drifting off. She considered everything she'd learned over the last couple of days. There was so much she didn't know about the world, and the people she cared about the most. Frankie was going to be a dad, Korsak nearly died, their lives were ticking clocks waiting for the moment it was all over.
"Stop!" Frankie shouted.
Jane was pulled from her reverie. Frankie wrapped his hand around the arm of Tony Scott, as he attempted to get into Alice's room again. Before she could react, Tony pushed Frankie off and ran down the corridor. He gave chase, his feet pounding the tiled floor. Jane set off at a run in the direction they both took. She kept her focus on Tony Scott. She and Frankie followed him down two flights of stairs and out into the parking lot.
"Stop, police," Frankie shouted, a few feet ahead of her.
She pounded the tarmac, yet couldn't quite catch up. Tony Scott disappeared around a corner, and Frankie blocked her view. His countdown dropped suddenly. Jane pressed on faster, her heart beating against her rib cage. Her attention shifted from the suspect to Frankie and she forced herself forwards, striding that little bit further. His number continued to slip downwards until there were merely seconds left.
Jane caught sight of the truck long before Frankie stepped into the road. Tony Scott disappeared behind a couple of cars across the road. Jane threw herself forward and tugged Frankie backwards, he stumbled against her, landing on top of her as she tumbled to the floor. She closed her eyes and gasped for breath. A loud horn blared out, silencing everyone on the street.
"Janie?" Frankie asked, shaking her arms. She opened them again and stared up into his face. He cupped her cheeks and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. She sat up and clung to her brother. The buzz of the street outside the hospital returned to normal, as people continued about their day.
When Jane looked past Frankie to the people walking around them, their numbers no longer counted down above their heads. Jane's heart sped up. She jumped to her feet and turned around, searching the crowd.
"No, no, no," she shouted, placing a hand on either of Frankie's shoulder's. She ran her fingers over the top of his head, his eyebrows creased together. "This can't be happening. What the fuck did I do?"
"You saved me, Jane," Frankie said, the line between his eyebrows deepened.
Then he froze, his eyes moved up above Jane's head, then back down to her face. He span around on the spot and Jane could see the same look of horror in his eyes she felt the day she woke up to the countdown.
"What the hell is happening, Janie?" he asked, moving his fingers over her head.
"Do you see them?" she asked.
"Numbers, I see numbers," he said.
She lowered her head and let out a guttural groan. She ran her hands through her hair. What did she do? She saved Frankie's life, but at what expense?