Hi! I'm going to try and post on Mondays. How's that sound? :D

"What do we have?" Jane swayed back and forth on the balls of her feet, partially from the wake-up call at midnight but also from the extra large coffee she bought on the way.

The scene looked tame on the outside: two-story brick house with white shutters. It's even got a freakin' picket fence. Did the wife burn dinner? Shit.

Korsak looked haunted and Jane felt her nerves spike. After years of experience with the seasoned sergeant, she trusted his judgment as well as she trusted her own. If he thought it was bad, it was bad.

"Kids...four of them.."

She grimaced.

"Great," Jane whispered. "Who called 9-1-1?"

"Call came from here, apparently. You gonna be…?"

"I'll be fine. Any details yet?" She avoided his question.

He exhaled slowly and turned towards the door of the house. "Come on, I'll show you."

Jane followed him into the house and was immediately assaulted by the unpleasant odor of burning plastic. It wasn't heavy, but it was recognizable nonetheless. Based upon the clean and tidy appearance of the living area, and the amount of breakables placed neatly around, it didn't look like children lived there.

"Where's Dr. Isles?" Korsak motioned for Jane to follow him.

"Off. She was supposed to go up to Maine for the weekend, but those plans changed." She remembered how disappointed Maura had been to hear that the annual CME's conference had been postponed. After endless prodding from both Jane and Angela, she'd taken the days as a impromptu vacation

"Would she want in on this one? Or is she enjoying her free time?"

"No, I think she needs this break. She's kind of been bearing the brunt of my family's emotional drama for too long. I think it's starting to wear on her," Jane admitted, slightly embarrassed "Did you know that she's worked at least 350 days of the last calendar year? I didn't until I heard Chang talking to Frankie."

"Sounds like someone else I know." Korsak's expression was neutral.

They reached the stairs leading to the basement and, after a quick nod of 'all clear' from the CSRU tech, Korsak led them down. At the last step, the sergeant turned to Jane.

"You ready for this?"

"Yeah."

With a curt nod, he stepped aside. Jane immediately raised a hand to her nose. Years of brutal crime scenes had hardened her stomach, but occasionally one got to her.

"Four children. They all look under 10, but we need to wait for Pike to be sure. Scene seems clean, no sign of struggle. I'm guessing poisoning."

She knew she should be paying attention, but her focus was on the four tiny bodies lying on a dirty mattress in front of her. They looked so peaceful, like they were simply sleeping. The middle two were sprawled out on a mattress, eerily similar to Jane and her siblings at that age. They look so content.

"I knew it. It's too soon. Call Frankie in and you go home." His tone was strict but his eyes were kind.

"No. Vince, I've...got this one." Jane slowly knelt down next to the mattress. She'd learned early on how to detach from murder victims, but this was the first case with children since the miscarriage. Before she could stop herself, Jane reached down and brushed a lock of hair from the nearest child's forehead. She wasn't a religious woman, but she prayed these children had gone peacefully.

"Okay."

"Any sign of the parents? Who called it in?" Jane pointed upstairs. "I mean, the place looks too clean, but maybe they're neat freaks?" Memories of Maura walking around her kitchen in crime scene booties and a hazmat suit surfaced. That's the last time any of us fed Jo fresh buttercream frosting.

Korsak shrugged and shook his head. "Nope, not a trace. House is empty. The call came in, but there was no audio. Uniform found them right after midnight. I don't think they lived here."

"What makes you think that?"

"There's nothing here, and I mean nothing. No clothes, shoes, books, keys, or anything personal in this house. I had Nina run the address. Jane, no one's lived here legally since 2011."

Jane threw her hands up in frustration. "Who owns it? Someone has to!"

"Ms. Goldie Husigea, rest her soul, lived in this house for 65 years. She died of a heart attack right before Thanksgiving of '09."

"But you said that-"

"Her son, however," Korsak shot her a look, "lived here until 2011. That's when the house finally foreclosed. It's been on the HUD list since. I had Nina look up the son, too: he's been living in Texas with relatives and hasn't been back since."

"Can he prove that?" Jane challenged.

"Can't get anything solid until morning. It's too late to call now, but his license was revoked last year, so that would hinder his ability to go anywhere."

"What did he do?" It was too early to be grasping at straws.

"Nothing. He had Simple Partial Epilepsy. I'll have Nina check it out, but my guess is that he moved to Texas because Massachusetts law is stricter about driving. "You just have to go six months symptom-free to be able to drive legally in Texas."

"How do you know that?"

Korsak rolled his eyes. "First wife had Petit Mal seizures, but still couldn't drive. I put 60k on my car that year."

Jane cocked an eyebrow and kept going. "But, this house looks very lived in. There's a freaking Precious Moments book open on the kitchen counter. Someone was living here recently." She gave an exasperated sigh and pulled off her latex gloves. "Okay, are you good here? I think Pike's on his way, and I do not want to deal with him this early in the morning."

"I'm good. Wanna swing by Taco Bell? They started serving breakfast!" He seemed a little too excited at this new development.

"No, I'm going to stop back at Maura's house before I meet you there. I need a shower."

For a moment, Vince seemed to ponder something. The corners of his mouth turned up and he chuckled. "Ok. There's not much we can do until everything opens, anyway. He waved her off in a good-natured way. "Plus, you look like shit. Go catch up on your beauty sleep."

Jane slowly shook her head and smiled at the ground. "You sure?"

"Yeah, just don't tell Frankie. I promised him that we'd go get waffle tacos together. But, I'm hungry now."

She just nodded, raised a hand in concession and headed back up the stairs. Maybe Maura will be awake. She knows that place on your neck to rub so you'll pass the fuck out.