AN: A huge thank you to the guest review who corrected my mistake in Chapter One!
Hope the story's still going well. Reviews are golden and helpful! Enjoy. :)
Jane was at Maura's house, where Angela had made them both lasagna. "Now, you girls enjoy your dinner, I have somewhere to go." Angela said with a grin.
"Thanks, Ma. Where are you going at this time of the night?" Jane asked. But, she paused awhile before continuing. "Wait, don't tell me. I don't wanna know if you will be snuggling with my boss – ouch!" Jane yelped as Angela used the dish towel to whack her daughter's arm.
"Where I go is none of your business, miss. And, it's not night time. It's only 8:53 P.M." admonished Angela. Jane merely smiled and ruefully rubbed her arm.
They ate in relative silence, and Maura could tell that something was on. She cleared her throat, "So, any leads on the case?"
"Hm? Oh, not really. Frost and Korsak thought they had one. But, she was so squeamish, they have written her off the suspect's list. Marianne did have a boyfriend, though. Frost and I will be checking in on him tomorrow." Jane replied.
"I see. You know, I read in an article that said 'Up to 30 percent of children are afraid of the sight of blood, a response that usually continues into adulthood, according to the definitive study on the topic, by Isaac Marks of the Institute of Psychiatry in London. That study also revealed that approximately 15 percent of the adult population faints when donating blood.' So that could probably explain why some people cannot stand the sight of blood."
Jane looked at Maura as if she (Maura) had grown a third eye. "Uh-huh...I can see why Mary Bigsby didn't donate blood, she apparently faints whenever the she tries too." Suddenly, Claire's words echoed in Jane's mind. All her idiosyncrasies were what made her unique. That was true of Maura. All her google-mouthing were what made her, well, Maura.
Jane was afraid. There was no way she could love Maura the way Claire loved Marianne. They were colleagues. She had already told Frankie that people shouldn't people with whom they work with. No, what Jane needed was space right now. She jumped up from her seat. "Hey, Maur, I just remembered that I had some things I need to do at home before tomorrow comes." Jane hastily emptied her half eaten lasagne and rushed out of the house. She felt guilty as Maura stared in shock at her abrupt behaviour.
The drive back to her apartment was filled with a one sided conversation with herself. Smart move there. Now Maura must think you've finally gone off your rocker.
Jane's heart and mind were in a jumble of feelings, as if someone had cut an apple into pieces, mixed it in a jar of peanut butter, handed it to her, and told her to pick out the bits of apple from the sticky mess and assemble it. Maybe what I need is some time away from Maura. Yes, stop spending so much time with her and see what happens. She jerked when she felt her phone vibrating. Already knowing who it was, she opened up the message.
M. Are you all right? You bolted so suddenly. Was it something I said?
Jane typed out a quick reply and hit send. No. Just hv to settle some things. Dun worry, it wasn't anything ya said. C u tmw!
Maura rubbed her eyes when she saw Jane's reply. Maybe she was just overreacting, maybe Jane really did have something. More than anything else, Maura had hoped Jane would trust her enough and confided in her.
This was why she decided to work as a medical examiner. Dealing with the dead was so much easier than dealing with humans. At least the corpses didn't give you problems like this. Maura finished the rest of her dinner in absolute silence.
The next morning, Jane and Frost went over to Max's house. The address they arrived at was a ratty one story house. The lawn was overgrown with weeds, the paint work on the house was peeling, and the fences were in a deplorable state. Jane walked up the stairs and knocked on the door.
There was the sound of rustling papers and chairs being shoved before the door opened and a ruffled and unshaven young man stood at the entrance. "Yeah, what d'ya want?" Max squinted at Jane.
"Max Chaitin? We have a few questions we would like to ask you regarding Marianne Johnson. Tried calling you a few times, but no one picked up. I'm detective Rizzoli from the BPD."
At the mention of the police department, Max bolted. "Whoa! Frost! Go to the back entrance!" Jane yelled and they both started to give chase.
There was papers and trash all over the floor, it looked ten times as worse than the state Jane's house was in when she had gotten shot. She nearly tripped over a chair that Max toppled. Using the chair to her advantage, Jane picked it up and hurled it at Max, causing him to bowl over, and not a moment too soon before he reached the back door. Frost came in just in time and helped to cuff Max.
"Frost, I think I saw something when we were chasing him. Bring him along too." Jane said as she walked back to one of the rooms she had passed during the chase. Walking in, she was momentarily stunned at the number of pictures – which covered almost the entire four walls of the room – that were taken of Marianne and some of Claire. Jane glanced at the latest photo and saw that it was dated on the last day Marianne was alive.
Jane immediately called for the CSIU.
Max winced when Jane slapped a few of the photos that were taken from his house. "You wanna tell me what all this is about, huh?"
Max just remained tight lipped and continued to stare at the floor. It was time to turn on the heat. Jane slammed another photo of Marianne. This one was taken the night that Max had assaulted her. "You remember this? Look at her face, you freak." Jane then showed the final photo, the one taken at the crime scene. "Did it escalate into this, huh? Finally went all the way and killed her off?" Max's eyes ventured up for a few seconds to focus on the photos, before he resumed his staring competition with the floor.
By now, Jane was in Max's face, invading his personal space. "Listen, your house is now being investigated by our CSU. I don't think it will be long before we can find something to send you to prison, or better still, give you the death penalty."
At last, the threats had their effect, and Max responded in a loud voice. "Look here, I did not kill her. Sure, I did take those damn photos, and I did that to her face. But, I did not kill her."
At last, they had gotten him to talk. "Oh, really? Then why is there a photo of Marianne taken just a few hours before she was killed?" Frost asked.
"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know! Okay?" Max whined. "I had taken just that few photos and that was it!"
"Where did you go after you took those pictures, then?" Frost followed up with another question.
"Home." Max sullenly replied, knowing how weak an alibi that was.
"Is there anyone who can vouch for your alibi?"
"No."
Jane and Frost shared a Looks like we got out killer look. Jane walked over to the door and knocked on it, summoning an officer. "Could you bring him to the holding cell?" The officer nodded and escorted Max out of the room.
"I am telling you, you've got the wrong person. I didn't kill nobody!" Max screamed as he was led out of the room.
Jane decided to head down to the cafe before going to the morgue.
As Jane refilled her coffee cup, Angela's voice boomed into her ear. "Janie, honey! How is your day going so far?"
"Goodness, Ma! You nearly made me spill my coffee!" Jane replied.
"Can't a mother say 'Hello' without getting snide remark back?" Angela sniffed.
"Oh, come on Ma. Fine, I am doing swell. How are you?"
But Angela didn't get a chance to reply, for Jane's phone rang. Angela watched as Jane's face turned from one of neutral expression to that of shock.
"What happened, honey?" Angela asked as soon as Jane hung up.
"Claire's dead."