Chapter 8
Maura's house was a blur of activity, causing the Chief Medical Examiner to feel out of sorts in her own home. When the plans for her "trip" had been finalized, she had been rushed from Patrick Doyle's house to her own. The irony wasn't lost on Maura that, while the police were working to hide her, what seemed like the entire force was parked in and around her driveway processing the crime scene. She stepped out of the BMW, blocked from pulling into her garage by two patrol cars. Apparently when one of their own was affronted, the BPD took it personally.
"We're gonna get 'em, Dr. Isles." Maura smiled at the familiar uniformed officer who often guarded the rope on crime scenes. "Don't you worry."
"Thank you," Maura remained gracious as the young man lifted the crime scene tape to allow Maura to easily pass under it.
Maura approached the door, seeing the jam split in two. Undoubtedly it had been forced open and she sighed. She'd have to replace it once again due to Patrick Doyle. Her eyes took in the scene before her, her couch cushions were turned over, her coffee table had been pushed on its side, and various papers from her desk were strewn across the room. She closed her eyes, desperately trying not to imagine how the rest of the house looked but knowing it would be similar. Her desk chair had been split with what she could only imagine was a rather sharp serrated knife given the slit. She nodded seeing one of her kitchen knives thrown on the ground near the chair; it sometimes got tiring being correct.
Maura walked further inside, putting her designer purse on the kitchen table, in one of the only places that didn't have damage or articles thrown across it. Her throw pillows had been slit and various pieces of art were laying all over the room. She fought valiantly to hold back her tears.
"We need to get going." Frost walked up behind Maura and placed his hand on her back as he whispered in her ear.
Maura stood still; she remained silent. Frost prodded her further.
"Jane will be here shortly," Frost offered, attempting to usher her toward the staircase that led to her bedroom upstairs. Maura's feet refused to budge. Frost looked over at Korsak with pleading eyes; it was obvious he wasn't going to get far with her.
"Where am I going?" Maura remained fixated on the police crew processing the scene in front of her.
"Can't say," Frost answered sadly, but honesty was the best policy in this case. He hadn't been briefed yet; Korsak was keeping the location tight to his vest.
"How do I know what to pack?"
"Local weather." Korsak approached Maura on the opposite side of where Frost stood. "I told Jane just to plan on local weather; it's the easiest."
Maura simply nodded and began to walk toward the staircase. She smiled graciously at those officers that offered her a word of condolences, never truly hearing them as she passed by to get to her bedroom. The bedroom had much of the same destruction. Her pillows had been thrown off the bed; her comforter bunched up. Her drawers all hung open with various clothes hanging out and she felt particular sadness when she saw various shoe boxes destroyed and thrown around the room.
Maura sat on the edge of her bed fighting back tears. Her emotions were over the entire spectrum and she tried to analyze them to compartmentalize efficiently. This would be difficult, more so than usual, to put everything in a place to function in the moment. Her anger began to rise to the surface; people had violated every part of her life.
"Doc, you need to pack." Maura looked up to see Frost standing in her doorway. He looked hurried; anxious to have her pack, which she knew was his only job for the moment. He didn't know where she was going; he wasn't going with her to protect her. That would be Jane's job. He wasn't processing the scene; his only function was to get Maura to pack and yet she had little energy to comply with his request.
"Please, Doc."
"Some of this stuff was irreplaceable, Frost." Maura stared at the mess in front of her. "What a mess."
"I am so sorry, Maura." Maura could hear the sentiment in his voice and politely smiled as Frost bent over and picked up a picture frame where it had been smashed. It was a picture of Maura and her parents on a boat, tooling around the waters in Italy on one of their last family vacations. "We'll work to get it cleaned up again; Korsak, Frankie, all of us will pitch in."
"There's not a lot to be salvaged, it won't take you long to throw it all out in a dumpster because it's broken." Maura could hear bitterness and self-pity in her voice and she cringed. She hated those types of people; she reminded herself to rise above. Maura stood and went into her walk-in closet, stepping over shoes and various clothes finally finding her suitcase. Frost took it from her hands and placed it on her bed, unzipping the luggage and opening the top to allow Maura to place her clothes easily inside.
"Is there anything I can help you with?"
"My life," Maura chuckled slightly; knowing her current circumstances were not amusing in the least. "I'm sorry I didn't confide in you, or Korsak, or especially Jane. I know you must be very disappointed in me, Frost."
"I'm sure you had your reasons, I just don't want one of them to be that you felt you couldn't because of how we are."
"Because you're loyal and would want to help me?"
"Because we're cops; and Paddy Doyle is a criminal, Doc. I know last time, with Melissa Joy Black, we all jumped to a conclusion that it was Doyle. It must have seemed like we were on a witch hunt."
"I can see the reference." Maura stopped gathering clothes and held them in her hand as she stared off into space. "Witch hunts were legally sanctioned to promote the witchcraft trials which led to an estimated 40,000 to 100,000 executions. Michael Byrne pointed out how blurry and misinterpreted the law can sometimes be. He said it is often self-serving and that because one has a badge, their actions are heroic. Yet the same action from a citizen, albeit an Irish mob boss, is viewed as barbaric."
"I bet he did."
"Doyle told me he would reveal the name and location of my birth mother if I helped him." Frost arched an eyebrow at that tidbit, having his doubts that would ever happen. "You're close to your mother aren't you, Frost?"
"She raised me when my father all but abandoned us," Frost answered. "So I'd say we're close; it's likely why Korsak and Jane always tease me about my relationship with my mama."
"I have a nice mother, Frost, she gave me a life where I didn't want for anything. But the entire nature vs. nurture argument is playing out in my own life! I've come to realize that I need both. I can't even imagine how different my life might be if my birth mother raised me, in an environment where Patrick Doyle was part of my life. Maybe I should be grateful to have what I have and let the rest go?"
"Only you can make that call, Doc." Frost was treading lightly, unsure of what to say. "You need to finish packing though; Jane will be here soon."
"I'm sure she won't be happy with me."
"She might surprise you when things calm down," Frost offered his perspective on Jane's personality so rarely that Maura smiled at his naïveté."
"That's very sweet, Barry, but I think we both know Jane is very upset with me right now."
When Maura finished packing her clothes, she quickly went into the master bathroom that was located off the master bedroom. She gathered what wasn't smashed and broken of her special lotions, her toothbrush, toothpaste, and hair essentials before returning back to her bedroom.
"Can you get the matching carry-on bag to this suitcase in my closet?"
"Another bag?"
"I can't risk having my lotions spill over," Maura explained as she struggled not to drop anything. "Even my dry cleaner wouldn't be able to get those stains out."
Frost bolted into the closet and returned with a bag that he hoped was correct. Even if it wasn't the matching one, Maura placed her toiletries inside of it and began looking around the room to see if she had missed packing something. It was obvious that this hadn't been a random break-in; her jewelry seemed to all be there as she inventoried it all lying on the floor.
Maura blinked back tears, knowing they would cascade down her face despite all her efforts to hold them back.
"Come on, Doc." Frost walked up to her and placed an arm around Maura's shoulders. "We'll get you back here and clean this up. It'll be as good as new."
"What is this? A feelings circle?" Korsak was standing the doorway tapping the face of his watch.
"What the hell is a feelings circle?"
"It's a common group therapy method to allow additional people outside of just the therapist to offer support and perhaps even personal experience on a matter to counsel someone," Maura explained. "It's highly effective."
"Korsak, how do you even know what a feelings circle is? You and Jane tease the hell out of me for being soft; did your feelings circle counsel you on your nasty pedi/mani incident?"
"I refuse to be baited into an argument about having nice feet! Men have to differentiate themselves somehow."
"I'm not even going there," Frost released Maura and secured her bags before lifting them off the bed and heading toward the entranceway.
"Jane's here," Korsak said quietly. "We need to debrief on what's going to happen and then get going. It's time to get you hidden, Doc."
Maura descended the stairs back into the flurry of activity. There were several uniformed officers dusting for prints, cataloging items and taking pictures of each one; the sight was overwhelming. Maura felt invaded, her carefully decorated sanctuary overwhelmed with strangers touching her most personal items. This was her home. The reality of the situation besieged her; she stopped on the middle of the stairway and placed her palm flat on the wall to gain her composure.
"We need to go," Korsak gently nudged Maura to continue to walk down the stairs. Jane hadn't seen her yet and she took a moment to watch her friend unnoticed.
Jane's thumb pushed into the palm of one hand; it was a habit that Maura had witnessed from Jane during stressful moments.
Jane's eyes were processing the site, looking for anything small that others might miss. She had a talent for processing a crime scene; for being able to see what others normally miss.
Jane's body was rigid; her jaw clenching and unclenching in frustration. She finally turned and saw Maura standing on the stairs watching her.
Jane's facial expressions, to many, would be unreadable. To Maura, who knew them all regardless of her training, they were an open book.
Fear, Jane was genuinely afraid for Maura's safety. The thought sent chills down Maura's spine. Jane quickly displayed anger; Maura guessed it was either that her best friend's house had been broken into and destroyed or that said best friend had withheld a rather large secret from her. It likely was a combination of the two. Jane was anxious; Maura knew Jane would feel better once the transit was done and they could settle into their location, making it easier for Jane to keep her safe.
"Korsak, Frost," Jane called out and motioned for them to go into the garage.
They all followed, Maura included, and talked to one another only when the officers who were processing the garage left to move onto another part of the house.
"Frankie's got Ma at my place; he's going to stay there with her until you give them the green light to come back, Korsak. Then they'll come back and clean up around here, Maura. It might not be exactly how you had it, but Ma loves to clean and organize. Everything will at least be labeled."
Maura smiled at Jane's attempt at humor to diffuse the situation.
"Frost and I are going to tail you Jane, just until you get far enough out of the city that we know whether you're being followed or not. I'll change cars with you Jane; if they've been tailing Maura they know what you both drive I'm sure."
"Here's your cell phone." Frost handed Jane a rather dull looking phone. "Prepaid, I programmed my prepaid number as number 1 and Korsak is number 2, so speed dial is all set. And this is a custom laptop." Frost handed a laptop case to Jane as he continued, "It's setup to automatically connect through multiple proxies that rotate on a three minute…" Frost paused at the blank look he was getting from the others. "It's secure. It's safe to use."
Jane smiled and smacked Frost on the back, then took a deep breath and for the first time in hours looked right at Maura with her chocolate brown, expressive eyes. Jane was trying to provide her comfort.
"You ready, Maura?"
Maura swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. She simply nodded her head, refusing to speak knowing she would lose it if she tried.
"Frankie knows something's up but not what, Vince. Keep him and Ma safe too. He doesn't need to be involved in this, no helping out in any way."
Maura instantly saw Jane's panicked look and knew that her actions had brought danger onto the Rizzoli family. She hadn't thought through the consequences of her actions; she had never thought that something like this would be happening to her. She blinked allowing her tears to fall down her face freely.
"I told them I was heading out of town on a big case/vacation," Jane explained. "Just stick with that for a few days until we figure out if I can come and go."
Korsak nodded and Frost winked, trying to break the tension in the air.
"Ready?"
"As ready as we'll ever be," Jane said offering Maura a weak smile. She knew Jane was still angry, the conversation would be had and sooner rather than later, likely when they ended up where they were going. Korsak handed Jane a set of directions and a key.
"It's a marine buddy's cabin; nobody uses it and it's not likely they'd tie it to me. You'll need some wood, it gets cold out there at night, but it's hidden by plenty of trees you can cut down if you run out."
"It's time," Frost said quietly as Jane nodded at him. She hugged him, somehow it seemed right to offer Frost her support, and then hugged Korsak as well. Maura offered her own hugs, not saying anything for fear of unleashing her tears once more.
"Think of it as a nice getaway vacation," Korsak suggested as he watched Maura struggle to maintain her composure. "You and your BFF."
Maura smiled despite herself; there was nowhere she would rather be than with Jane, alone and uninterrupted for some well-deserved R&R for a few days. Her mind flipped through mental images of them watching television together, cooking together, Jane's beautiful smile as she laughed at something Maura said or did unintentionally. Maura allowed Jane to escort her to the car; her hand gripping Jane's as if her life depended on it. Likely, it did depend on Jane; she was being hunted by her father's associates.
Jane opened the door to her side of the car and got in, buckling her seatbelt as Maura looked at her confused.
"The backseat appears to have a soiled spot on it," Maura cringed her nose in disgust.
"One of the many presents Dr. Doolittle gets from his liberated animals."
"So what do I do?"
"Just," Jane looked around as she began to shift the car into gear. "Get in the front and lay down low; put your head down just until we get out of the area."
Maura laid over in the seat, trying to curl herself onto the passenger side. Jane's hand landed on her shoulder.
"Hey, c'mere," Jane said gently, tugging Maura toward her. "You'll get a cramp."
Maura stretched out so that her head was on Jane's lap and instantly closed her eyes as Jane's hand rested in her hair. Maura allowed her tears to fall freely now; perhaps all was not lost in her relationship with Jane.