Chapter 6

Under just about any other circumstances Jane would have become ravenous. But she didn't know enough to take that kind of risk. As much as she hated it, she would have to take whatever this man threw at her and keep her anger under control.

Jack's father allows Jane to enter his home, not wanting to seem as though he was hiding something. The older man would hold back everything he could from the detective, he enjoyed seeing her in pain. He always knew that there was something going on between herself and Maura, everyone could see it. But he never said anything to his son; no, he had a plan. He had never liked Jane, how she exuded this aura of justice and how she got away with stealing his son's wife without any reprimand from her own family; how easily she had done it. And so when she asked about the honey-blonde, he couldn't help but allow that sinister smile to escape onto his smug face.

Jane walked in and was immediately assaulted by the grandiosity of the room. These people lived like they were royals, and she bet that they lied just like them as well.

"I don't know anything detective so please make this brief and non-accusatory."

She noticed that he had called her detective, perhaps she had gotten lucky and he hadn't noticed her lack of a badge.

Jane had had to deal with men like this for her whole career. Those who thought themselves above the law, who got whatever they wanted and put their own price tag on everything.

"I don't intend to stay any longer than I have to, so as long as you answer all of my questions and I am satisfied with your answers, this won't have to be anything more than a simple conversation," she finished with a subtle hint of malice in her voice.

"Very well."

"To your knowledge did your son ever display any violent behaviour towards any individuals?"

"No."

Mr Armstrong didn't seem surprised at the question.

"Did your son ever communicate to you a plan or action to organise the current events involving Dr Maura Isles?"

"Which events, Detective?"

She almost snarled at his response.

"Her sudden departure from her life. The way that her house was left and with no information or even calls to those that she loved to let them know that she might be going away."

"And what exactly are you surmising from these "events", as you call them?"

"That she may have been taken against her wishes."

"A bold statement detective."

"But not unfounded."

"Perhaps."

He was playing with her and she knew it. She could see that there was something behind his eyes that he wasn't going to give to her. She would have to take it.

"In your opinion, does your son have the power or connections to orchestrate a kidnapping?"

And in that moment when the words left her lips and his mind made sense of them she saw a twitch in his face and some of his cool demeanour was lost.

"No."

"So you don't out-rightly deny the possibility that she may have been taken against her will?"

She had begun to see the small cracks of stress form on his face. He knew that her relaxed but yet somehow powerful manner was affecting him. He needed to bring the conversation back into his favour, bring the ball back into his side of the court.

"You don't even entertain the possibility that she simply got tired of you detective?"

"What did you say to me?"

"What makes you think that she didn't just leave you, that she got what she wanted and now she's done?"

Jane was done with his games. She took two steps towards him and he almost gasped when he saw the look in her eyes. With a strength that frightened him she grabbed him by the shirt collar and pushed him against the nearest wall, slightly lifting him off the ground.

"Don't you dare! If you ever say anything like that again you smug, repugnant bastard I swear to god only one of us will be leavening this room alive. You don't know me and so you have no idea the lengths that I will go to get her back. Your son feels that he is above the law and if that is where this needs to be fought, then so be it. I will bring him such a fight, he will crawl into the darkest corner and just as he is feeling the fear that has been forced on me for the last months I will make my face the last thing he ever sees."

The darkness in Jane's eyes and the truth to her words inspired such fear in the older man that he let go of his façade that had carried him through this conversation and let his body go limp. She noticed the change and put him back down on the ground.

She had frightened him and it gave her an intoxicating sense of power. She allowed her psyche to feed on it and fuel her resolve for what may come next.

"Tell me everything. Now."

It was done; he had lost.

"He has said some things over the last few months."

"What things?"

"There are forces working in this that are far bigger than you or me detective."

"Explain."

"Go and see Paddy Doyle."

"What does Paddy have to do with any of this?"

Without answering the older man turned around, made himself a drink and left the room. Jane could tell that he was done and even if she shot him in the leg he wouldn't talk. She wasn't happy with what he had given her but at least it was more than she came with. Hopefully he wouldn't decide to ring the BPD to make a complaint about her use of force.

The detective left without looking back and got into her car. She began to make her way back into the heart of Boston to where the Force had always known Paddy had his centre of operations but that they had never had enough evidence to legally search. But today, Jane was not in the mood to flirt with the law.

The back door of the building came off of its hinges with one swift kick of her leg.

She had her gun in her hand and took small, tentative steps into the building. It was an abandoned mechanic's garage. It seemed to be empty and all of the lights were off but Jane knew that there could be any number of Paddy's men anywhere in this building.

"Paddy you know why I'm here," she yelled. "Tell me where to find Maura. I know you know where she is. Come out of the dark old man!"

She found a switch and hoped that it was for the lights. As she flicked it upwards the building was illuminated but as quickly as it came, she was shrouded in darkness. A bag was pulled over her head and she was pulled down to the ground by what felt like four sets of hands. She could feel pain everywhere. Fists and boots were slamming into her body and she could feel herself weaken. After weeks of barely any sleep, only the food her mother made her eat on occasion and working herself to the bone, it only took a minute before Jane was limp on the floor and the beating went from punishment to senseless battery.

Eventually the men were called off and her body was dragged into a different room. A phone call was made.

"Maura?"

"What do you want?"

"Now, now baby that's no way to speak to your husband."

His response was finished with a swift slap to the side of Maura's face.

"That's enough Jack, that's still my daughter you're talking to."

"Oh come on Paddy you know that I –

A ringing noise and a soft vibrating sound cut off his speech. Paddy reached into his pocket and answered his phone, his eyes never leaving Jack. Maura simply waited, the sting of the slap still lingering on her cheek. Paddy never left the room and so she tried to listen to the conversation he was having.

"What did you just say? Rizzoli?" He whispered the name. He looked worried and Maura was immediately attentive to every detail of the moment.

"What? Are you talking about Jane? Where is she? Is she ok? Paddy!" The desperation could be heard in her voice.

"Don't do anything else. Because that's a BPD detective! What do you mean no badge?"

"She doesn't have her badge? Paddy what is going on?!"

Paddy said to the other individual on the phone that he would be there soon and without another word he left the room with Maura's questions still lingering on the air but now being topped with her screams for Jane and for answers. And just as Jack took a step towards her Paddy came back into the room and gave him a warning look. Maura's husband backed away from her and slammed the door on his way out, making sure to lock it behind him. Maura continued her screaming until tears and a deep sadness made it impossible. She ran out of air and eventually all she could do was lie down and wait.

Jane awoke with a stinging and deep pain all over her body. She tried to move to place herself in a sitting position. Eventually she made it, propping herself up against a wall. She could feel every place that she had been hit and she dreaded to know what her face looked like. She could barely open her left eye and she had no idea if she was even able to stand up straight. She had no idea how long it had been since she woke up when a door opened and a shaft of light raced into the room.

"Jane?"

"Paddy." Her voice was only a growl. "Where is she?"

"Let me take you out of here and I'll explain everything."

Jane was so tired and in so much pain that she found herself agreeing to the mob boss's terms.

Eventually Jane was brought out of her nap when she felt arms lift her out of the car. She tried to open her eyes and lift her head but she was far too weak. After weeks of hardly eating or sleeping her body was finally taking a stand against the abuse that she had dished out against it.

She was being carried up a driveway. Paddy reached for her keys and unlocked a door. She was confused as to where he had taken her; they hadn't ascended any stairs so she wasn't at her apartment. And they were definitely not anywhere near the BPD. But as they crossed the threshold of the door the familiar assaulted her.

She had been brought home, just not the one she was thinking of.

Paddy placed her on Maura's couch and Jane mumbled for him to get some towels so as not to stain the couch with blood. But he didn't pay attention to her, rather he was more concerned with taking care of her wounds and making sure she didn't bleed out.

Paddy stitched up her wounds, removing her clothes when he needed to. He placed ice on her eye and cheek, stacking pillows so that it would stay where it was needed. Gashes were stitched, her t-shirt was slowly put back on and a blanket was draped over the detective. Luckily Paddy always kept a first aid kit in his car; partly because he was prone to injuries but mostly because he felt it was something Maura would have gotten him to do had they been close.

The mob boss took a beer out of the fridge and sat on a couch facing Jane. She was asleep. He waited for an hour until he could be sure that she was in a deep enough sleep for him to leave unnoticed.

But as he stood and began to walk to the door the detective in the injured woman lying on the couch woke up.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?"

He simply looked down at the ground and laughed at himself wondering why he thought that he might just slip past her unnoticed. Nothing else ever had.

"You know that I'm not gonna take you with me."

"Oh yes you are old man. You are gonna take me to see Maura right now or so help me-"

"What? What exactly are you gonna do to me detective? You can barely stand."

"You think I've ever let that stop me?"

Before he could respond she was lifting herself up and out of the couch. It was slow and she was in extreme pain but just like she said, she had never let that stop her before. She knew that she was in desperate need of a hospital, painkillers and maybe even surgery but all of that would be for nought if she didn't have Maura to wake up to.

Maura's sleep was filled with images of Jane. She was hurt and screaming, screaming for Maura. The honey blonde woke up countless times reaching for the detective. When she saw the morning's first flicker of light she decided to give up on trying to rest anymore and began to figure a way out of this hell. She was prepared to wait for Paddy to somehow save her, she trusted him to get her out of this, but she had not seen him since he left after his phone call and she quickly lost hope.

Just as it was when she was a child she was left to fend for herself. But this time she had someone waiting for her, someone who she knew would fight to bring her home.

Her windows were boarded up from the outside but small spaces in between planks allowed her a tiny peak into the world outside. There was nothing distinguishing that she could see so that she might be able to pinpoint her location. But as soon as she began to try and piece things together doubt crept into her mind; the knowledge that no matter what she learned she would not be able to communicate it to anyone, she would not be able to save herself.

Never the less, Maura was not about to give up on herself and leave her fate to events that were not only uncertain in her mind but virtually non-existent. She couldn't be sure if the house was empty so she gathered the blanket and pillows on the bed and pushed them into the crack under the door so as to try and keep as much noise as possible from escaping to unwanted ears.

The doctor proceeded to pull the draw from the end table and emptied the contents onto her naked bed. She held onto the sides of the drawer and walked over to the window, standing in a position that she knew would give her the best chance of the strongest strike. With one foot planted firmly behind her and her hands strong on both the drawer and an idea of escape, Maura Isles swung wood into glass as hard as her courage and convictions would allow her.