Chapter 17 Puzzle pieces
Jane barely waited for the car to come to a complete stop before she is at the door handle and inside. "Go, go ! Let's see what the bitch has to say," Jane seethed as she looked at Henry.
"I'm not moving this car until YOU calm down. She is in a fragile place right now and I need you to be calm. If there is anything we can get from her we need to approach this with sympathy and tact, " he admonishes her before passing her the coffee cup.
Jane takes a breath, "Now can we go, why do we have to sympathize with her anyway?" as she takes a sip of the hot liquid in the cup.
"Jane , she's at her Mom's bedside in Boulder. Her Mother has alzheimer's. I guess she went where she felt at home with her mom. Shame is , I don't know if Mildred even knows who Amy is anymore," he sighs. "Amy grew up here, she was and is, I believe, a compassionate nurse. I watched her grow up some what." he chuckles. Henry looks at Jane, "Word is she was broke and they threatened to put her mom out if she couldn't pay. She has a story, all I ask is you listen and not strangle her. We need her to find Dr Isles, she may be our biggest lead."
"I'll be on my best behavior, really Henry, lets go." Jane looks at him and reassures him with a smile.
"Buckle up, it's an almost four hour drive," he says as Jane groans and puts on her seat belt.
Korsak pointed to the photo of Jane and Maura as well as the letter for the kitten box delivered to Angela. "Who the hell is OR,"comments Vince.
"Again, Paddy mentioned the O'Rourke family staging a comeback," injects Sean.
"OR stands for O'Rourke, okay, plausible." agrees Frost. "Why threaten the Rizzoli family?"
"To instill fear, it would work for me," comments Pike. "Are you sure I'm safe? No one will come kill me in Dr Isles' lab?"
"I assure you, you are quite safe," comments Cavenaugh with a smirk.
All four men turn their attention once more to the case at hand. "Let's just assume Doyle is telling the truth and there is a take over a foot. Why would they follow Maura to Colorado? " Queeries Korsak.
"Corruption in the FBI was not unheard of in the days of Al Capone , so I guess just times have changed, "states Frost, as he looks up from his computer to his boss.
"We know that full well, money and power are great bedfellows and can bring down the most honest of men," all three officers nod as they recall the take down of a powerful Internal Affairs Captain, by Jane's hand, last year.
" They probably followed her to keep an eye on their asset. They would want to keep tabs on who she talked to and where she went, " Frost commented.
" What did Haas get too close to? Was it too close to identifying the O'Rourke connection that planned the take over?" Cavenaugh wondered.
" So, this take over has cost four people their lives, senseless," comments Pike as he shakes his head at the revelation.
" Power and money, life means nothing to people like that, they were just expendable pawns in their game." answers Sean.
Frost pipes up, " The heat is on from the FBI, they want answers. Dean is coming back down to coordinate between here and Aspen," as he looks from his computer.
" Then we better have something for him to work on when he gets here," says Vince.
" Lets get on it people, " nods Sean.
Jane was tired when they arrived at the Care facility in Boulder. There were police cars there before them. As they park, Henry gently touches her hand to get her attention. She smiles and nods. " Yea, I promise, best behavior," as she exits the passenger side.
As Jane enters the staff coffee room, she is hit with how fragile Amy looks. She is shaking as she holds onto her coffee cup and her eyes are red and swollen. Jane approaches silently, Inspector Morrison gave the signal for the uniforms to leave as he close the door behind them.
"Amy," Jane says as she sits in the chair across from her. Amy doesn't look up as tears again cascade from her eyes.
"I'm sorry," is all she squeaks out ,"I truly am." As she gains composure she looks at the Detective. "I didn't want too but I needed money to keep mom here. I was by her bed, I think she recognized me, just for a moment she knew who I was," A slight sad smile caressed her lips. "Then she looked at me again and the light was gone. She asked me if I was there to care for her; I said yes. I sang to her and held her hand. Then the officers came and took me." She took another shaky sip from the mug. " They are wonderful here, and my mother needs the help, she has alzheimer's." Amy drops her stare.
"Is that why you did it, for your mother?" Jane softly inquiries. She snakes her hands over and covers Amy's on the mug. "Amy, I need your help, who paid you to help kidnap Dr Isles, I really need to find her?"
Amy lost it and when she came around there were sympathetic brown eyes looking at her. "I didn't know they were going to take her, I just thought they were going to sedate you two so they could take your notes. The voice was afraid you were getting too close."
"The voice?" Asked the Inspector.
She looks at him,"The guy with the voice is the one who approached me. Tim said the people he worked for could help me get the money I needed to keep mother here."
"Tim?" Jane asks while looking at Henry then back to Amy.
"Yes, Dr Tim Horton, Dr Isles' Doctor, I thought we had something," she dropped her eyes, "Now I know he was using me because he has disappeared too."
Before Jane can speak, Henry whips out his phone and exits the room.
"When did Dr Horton start at the Medical center?" questioned Jane.
"Only a few weeks before the avalanche, we were very pleased to get a young Doctor with great credentials." reminisced Amy.
"Your people had him checked out?" questioned Jane.
"I guess, all I know is that he went in the Administrator's office and when he came out with a job."
"Way too easy," Jane muttered. Jane got up from her seat as the Patrolmen reentered. "Amy, I'll say you were very helpful, but you will be held accountable for your part in this." Amy still shaking as she nods, the patrol women cuffs her and reads her her rights.
Jane joined Henry, who was just ending his call, "You know they never checked the guy out? They just gave him the job." Henry said incredulously. "We are doing a run down on him. Are you ready to start back?"
"Yea, I want to get Maura's things from the Resort, I have a contact on the Ski Patrol. You said she had no mitts or boots either, didn't you find that strange?"
"Yea, but she was our only suspect at the time, now , well, I don't think she did it, with all the new witnesses and evidence. I do think she is in a lot of danger and we have to find her soon." He spoke the last sentence before he thought about the impact it would have on Jane. He looked up into her sad eyes as she nodded her head and bit on her lower lip. "Lets go Jane." They walked to Henry's car.
" Doyle was trying to protect Maura by sending his girl, Haas was investigating wrongdoing in the FBI/Mob ring. The two young victims were from prominent Mob families. Killed with an ice pick to infuriate the relatives and take revenge on Doyle."recounts Frost.
"Yea, by killing Maura," refuted Korsak, "That's why he sent someone to Aspen, he had an inkling things were going to go bad and he wanted Maura safe."
"We'll brief Dean," Sean is stopped mid sentence as his phone goes off, " Excuse me ", as he looks at the number. He exits the room, as Barry and Vince continue.
"Should we let Jane know? "questions Frost.
"Oh yea, she needs to know. She has to watch her back too. The threat is on the entire Rizzoli family, "as he points at the photo of Jane and Maura as well as the note. "Angela called her and she knows. She probably hasn't passed that on to her people there. I think I'll have a chat with," he looks at the screen, "Detective Morrison, he should know what could come down on them over there."
Jane arrived at the Aspen Ski hill and waited for Jeff Hubley to complete his ski run. She had retrieved the ski pack and was waiting to talk to him. She opened the pack and there was Maura's wallet and ID, chapstick, as well as her cell phone. Jane took it out to inspect it and found the GPS activated. "Oh ,Maura, how many times did I tell you to turn that thing off," she whispered. She now knew how they located Maura so easily.
She was stirred from her musings as a young well groomed man approached her with an outstretched hand, "Hi I'm Jeff, I see you have your friend's pack, the police tell me she was found'."
"Yes,"Jane responds as she stood and shook his hand. "Is there anything you can tell about that day?.
"Not really, It was crazy after the Avalanche, some people swore they heard a gunshot. Could've been anything. News said there was some one shot?" He looks at Jane.
"Yea, there was, do you have everyone accounted for?"
"I think so,"he scratches his head.
"This maybe a stab in the dark, but do you recall names Wanda and Jack?" Jane asks.
"Actually ,I do Dr Wanda and Jack Saxton, they were inquiring after your friend a few days ago, they were happy to hear she was found." Jane smiles at him, trying to swallow the lump in her throat. Yea, until I lost her Rizzoli, she thinks.
"Detective Rizzoli!
She turns to see a very angry Inspector Morrison.
"I just got off the phone with Sergeant Detective Korsak." He was almost seething. "If we are going to work together I need for you to be straight with me. It's not just you in this now, I and my colleagues and friends are involved too." He points an angry finger at her and turns to leave.
She looks back at the young ski patrol officer, whose mouth is agape, then at the receding Inspector. She grabs the pack and slowly walks in the Inspector's wake.