Maura is sitting in her office and studies the medical reports from Baltimore that had arrived this morning before she arrived at work.
She looks up when someone is knocking at the open office door and she is frowning in surprise.
Ben stuffs his hands into the pockets of his trouser as he enter her office. "I can see that you already got the autopsy reports from Baltimore."
She licks her lips and leans back in her chair. "Yes, thank you for requesting them, they are really helpful."
He nods slowly and takes a deep breath. "You're welcome, Maura."
An uncomfortable silence is settling over them and the ME is shifting in her seat.
"Um," he says and frowns. "Can I ask you something?"
Maura takes a deep breath and nods approvingly. She isn't quite sure what he's going to ask and if he is ready to hear her answers. "Yeah, sure."
He is sitting down on a chair in front of the desk and crosses his legs, and opens the button of his jacket. "I don't understand it, Maura. I don't understand why you are leaving me all of a sudden. I thought it would went well between us. I mean, you never said a word that something is wrong. What happened?"
Maura is staring at him and doesn't move an inch.
She is wondering if he really doesn't know what went wrong the last couple of months, or if he just wanna hear it out of her mouth.
She gets up from her chair and closes the door. Not everyone needs to know what they are about to speak.
It is a thing between them both and no one knows about it. Even not Angela or her own parents.
She takes a deep breath and is still standing at the entrance. "That is one of the problems, Ben. I tried to talk with you about thee deciding reason why we don't work out, but you just weren't listening.
You and me, we both buried ourselves in work and decided to pretend that it never happened. As soon as I felt the need to talk to you about it you locked yourself up. You were unavailable. I felt like I would talk to a wall. And when I was hoping that you would take me in your arms, you hurried upstairs and disappeared in your study, Ben." She pauses and closes briefly her eyes. "You were never there when I felt miserable and needed you the most. And when I tried to jump at the chance and tell you how I was feeling, you changed the topic and told me what an amazing day you had at court, and gone was the chance again.
It killed me, Ben. It killed us both."
He doesn't look at her, but he's frowning deeply. "But you said that something like could always happen."
Maura scoffs and wipes an tear off of her cheek, walking back to her desk. "Yes, I know what I have said, Ben. But I also said that it will take time until these wounds are healing and that we need to talk about it, ready or not. You are not a child anymore, I thought you would be able to understand how I am feeling and that you would share your thoughts with me. But you were more like So? Shit happens, lets try it once more and let's never talk about the failed attempt."
Ben gets up to his feet and raises his shoulders. "What do you wanna hear, Maura? That I was devastated? That I was heartbroken just like you? Do you wanna hear that I was looking for a lonely place when I went out for a run and screamed on top of my lungs? Or that I thought that you rather needed someone who is standing strong while you are grieving?
That I preferred to bury myself in work before I break down and become a picture of misery. And that I tried to pretend that everything will be fine again, and that our pain will fade when we finally would -"
Maura nods slowly and sighs heavily. "Yes, that would have been a beginning. When you would have give me the feeling that we are together in this and that we make it through this together, but you rather was a lone wolf. And you forced me to be one too."
"I didn't ask you to keep it for yourself, Maura." He replies and raises his eyebrows. "You could have tell Angela or your parents about it."
The doctor huffs and is scowling at him. "But I didn't want to tell Angela or my parents about it because I know that they would have felt pity for me, and that's what I didn't need," she says a little louder and Ben takes astounded a step back. "I wanted to go and share it with my best friend because I knew that Jane would give me what I actually needed from you: support and solace. Something you should've give me as my husband.
I know that it was my mistake too and that I can't blame only you, but I think that this was the last straw."
Ben blinks a couple of times and is standing dumbfounded there. "We can work this out, Maura." He finally says.
Maura licks her lips again and shakes sadly her head. "No, we can't work this out anymore, Ben. I already told you that I don't love you like a good wife is supposed to. I mean, I love you … as a friend."
He is clenching his teeth and furls his brows. "Did you come to realize that the last few days, or was I just a second choice at all?"
Maura looks long at him and frowns.
It is a legitimate question that she has asked herself the same and she came to one honest answer. "I have never lied to you about my feelings, Ben. You are a good man and I loved you in the beginning, and I enjoined our time together. Otherwise, I wouldn't have married you, or tried to start a family with you. But -"
"You never fell in love with me," Ben finishes her sentence and swallows hard. "You couldn't because you have been in love with Jane."
Maura presses her lips together and furrows her eyebrows. "I'm so sorry, Ben."
He nods and sighs heavily. "Well, you know that I normally won't give up so easily, but I don't fight wars that are already lost. I … I should get going now."
She smiles sadly, but then a thought crosses her mind. "Jane has asked me some strange questions about you last night. Do you know why, Ben?"
He frowns deeply and clears his throat. "What did she asked you?"
"If I would know why you moved to Boston and what you have told me about your past in Baltimore. I am wondering why she is so interested in that."
He licks his lips and can feel the sweat in his neck. "That's … that's a long story, really long story. How about I invite you to a glass of wine and tell you the story tonight?"
Maura has to smile because that's how their relationship had begun. "Ben -"
The DA holds his hands up and smiles as well. "I have no ulterior motives, I swear. We go and have a drink and I tell you why Jane has asked you these strange questions, and maybe we could find a base for a friendship. How about -" He pauses and squint at the ceiling. "The Dirty Robber?"
"That would be the first place where the guys and Jane would dropping by," the ME replies with a smile.
Ben nods and purses his lips. "All right, how about the winery we used to go to?"
Maura hesitates and nods approvingly. "Okay, but I won't go home with you."
"We talk and then we separate our ways. You went home and I go to my hotel." He glances at his watch and takes a deep breath. "Okay, I should go now. We meet after work?"
"Yes," Maura agrees once more and closes her eyes as soon as he rounds the corner. "Oh, my God."
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Jane is flipping through an file and furls her eyebrows. "That is an impressive personal file that Lieutenant Kevin Kessler have. Racial discrimination, sexual harassment of suspects, massive police brutality against male suspects … How the hell did this guy become a Lieutenant? Or still have his gun and badge? Such guys are a shame for the police."
"Such guys have a lot of connections," Korsak states and looks over the rim of his glasses. "Connections who are from the old school too."
"Kessler's old partner, Walter Hansen, isn't any better." Frost says as he walks back to his desk. "He's almost worse. The funny thing is that he and Kessler immigrated from Germany when they were teenagers."
"I hate such people," Jane grumbles and can feel questioningly gazes on her.
She looks up and frowns. "What - I don't mean immigrants themselves, just those who came here decades ago and don't treat other people with different roots or skin color equally.
I don't give a shot if our suspects or victims are black, white, yellow, blue, purple or turquoise dotted with pink. Or if there are rich or poor. I try to treat each of them how they are supposed to be treated. Fair and equal.
I don't go and beat a confession out of a suspect just because they have Martian roots. Jesus, I thought we had passed the timeline of cave men."
Korsak looks at her and chuckles amused.
Jane takes a deep breath and looks long at Frost after a idea has crushed her mind. "Can I interest you in a trip with Frankie?"
Frost drags slowly his eyes off of his screen and furls his eyebrows as he looks at her. "Where would that trip go?"
"Baltimore," Jane replies and shrugs.
He groans and his shoulders are slumping. "Why do I have to go to Baltimore?"
"I'm sorry," she replies loudly and furrows her eyebrows. "but I am not … a man. It would be odd when I would introduced myself as Detective Barold Frost and Maura as Detective Francesco Rizzoli, don't you think?"
Frost growls low and huffs. "Baltimore sounds great. Frankie will be thrilled."
"See it as foretaste of your honeymoon," Jane says with a broad smirk.
"Ha ha ha." Frost replies and huffs once more.
Korsak snickers and gets up from the chair. "However, I was brooding over the case last night and I think that I found a connection between the cases in Baltimore and ours."
Jane turns serious again and frowns, "Care to share, Sergeant?"
The older man nods and walks to the glass board. "I couldn't get sleep and after hours it hit me. The first victim was kidnapped exactly on the same date like Jill Masterson."
The Italian furls her eyebrows as she gets his drift. "Let me guess, Nancy Dern got kidnapped at exactly the same date like the second vic in Baltimore, just ten years later."
He nods once. "Yup."
She takes a deep breath and scratches thoughtfully her chin. "So, you created some kind of timeline." She looks at Frost and shrugs. "At least we have an idea when the killer could strike again. When was the third victim abducted in Baltimore?"
Korsak sighs heavily and lifts up two finger. "We have two days left."
Jane groans and rubs her eyes with her hands. "Perfect, we know that there will be a third victim within the next two days, but we have no idea whom, where or why. So, all in all we know nothing."
"We could enlarge the presence of patrol cars and foot patrols," Frost suggests.
"I am not quite sure that this would be an deterrence for our guy, Frost," she sighs and leans back in her chair.
She turns her head to the entrance of the bullpen as soon as she hears a familiar clicking on the floor, and sees Maura come in. "I was wondering why he always left these flowers at the crime scene. Maybe they are his signature."
"The Lily of the valley," Maura says and looks at the board. "Or also known as Our Lady's Tears. Or Mary's tears from the Christian legends that it sprang from the weeping of the Virgin Mary during the crucifixion lf Jesus." She says absentmindedly. "Other etiologies have its coming into being from Eve's tears after she was driven with Adam from the Garden of Eden or form the blood shed by Saint Leonard of Noblac during his battles with a dragon.
It is a symbol of humility in religious painting.
Lily of the valley is considered as the sign of Christ's second coming.
The power of men envision a better world was also attributed to the lily of the valley."
Jane is frowning deeply and blinks a couple of times. "So, we're looking for a lunatic serial killer who kills women who are reminding him lf the Virgin Mary, and who is awaiting the resurrection of Jesus Christ?"
She drops her hand loudly to her desk and she looks at the two men. "And I thought we had it all."
The two men chuckles and Maura rolls her eyes with a smile. "The flower's scientific name, majalis or maialis, means of or belonging to May, and old astrological books place then plant under the dominion of Mercury, since Maia, the daughter of Atlas, was the mother of Mercury or Hermes, in the language of flowers, the lily of the valley signifies the return of happiness.
Legends tells of the affection of a lily of the valley for q nightingale that did not come back to the woods until the flower bloomed in May."
Jane furrows her brows and gets up to her feed, looking at the glass board. "That's it, that's the key. Marta Rodríguez and Jill Masterson are looking quite familiar, and both are born in May. They are the starting point. We know that she and Ben had a -" She stops when she meets questioningly hazel eyes. "Uh … We have something to go on."
Korsak and Frost are nodding slowly and approvingly.
"He is reliving the murders of Baltimore." Frost states and takes a deep breath. "But we have thousands of possibilities who could be the next victim. It is impossible to tell who is gonna be the next one within two days. Especially when Frankie and I are away."
Maura turns her head to him and furls her eyebrows, but she doesn't ask why the two men are going to Baltimore.
She takes a deep breath and looks long at looks long at the Italian.
Jane is about to walk to the coffeemaker when she is catching the doctor's gaze. "What?"
The blonde smiles a little and shakes her head without saying a word.
Jane arches an eyebrow and pours herself a cup of coffee. "The only thing we can do is hoping that Frost and Frankie are finding something helpful before the deadline has lapsed. And that we can prevent another woman from being killed."
"I don't feel like someone is putting me under pressure," Frost says and leans back in his chair.
Maura smiles empathetically at him and licks her lips. She knows exactly how he is feeling right now. Jane has the ability to put a person under pressure when she needs or wants something.
It's not like she can't understand the Italian's motivation, she doesn't want to have a new victim of the murderer on one of her tables within the next two days. She also would prefer it when they could catch the killer sooner than later.
"I read the autopsy reports from Baltimore before I came up here. The murders in Boston aren't just copies, they are committed exactly like in Baltimore."
"That would confirm Korsak's theory," the Italian says and sips her coffee. "The murderer is reliving the time in Baltimore, but now the question is why he came to Boston, and why he was waiting for ten years."
"That's what you have to find out," Maura replies and smiles as Jane rolls her eyes. "I'll go back to work now."
Jane put her cup on her desk and follows the ME. "I … I'll walk you to the elevator."
Frost furls his eyebrows and looks confused at Korsak.
The older man shrugs and sips his coffee. He isn't wondering about the behavior of the two women anymore.
Jane is walking next to Maura and frowns. "You okay?"
The ME nods slowly and pushes the button of the elevator. "I am, yes. Well … Um, Ben came by this morning and we talked."
"Okay," the detective says and shifts her weight from foot to the other.
Maura licks her lips once more and looks at her lover. "I asked him why you were asking me such odd questions about him Ben invited me for some drinks tonight, so he could explain why. I agreed."
Jane growls low and grits her teeth. This sounds like the date they had before the blonde and Ben ended up in bed for the first time.
She isn't really proud about the fact that she knows when Ben and Maura have had sex for the very first time, but she couldn't stop Maura from telling her.
Maura can sense Jane's uneasiness and turns her head to the Italian. "Jane, it is just a drink or two, and then I'll grab my belongings and drive home."
Jane sighs heavily and her shoulders are slumping. "I know, it's just … He is the man that you have dumped because of me, and now he is asking you out for drinks."
Maura frowns a little and brush the back of Jane's hand with her fingers. "Ben and I are trying to be civil around each other, Jane. Even though we are separated, we have to work with each other, and a divorce battle isn't very helpful in our situation."
Jane sighs heavily and nods slowly. "You are right, you are absolutely right, Maura. I will try to stay calm and not to call you every ten minutes."
The blonde chuckles and looks at the elevator as the door opens. "I'll call you as soon as I'll be home."
"Okay," Jane sighs and smiles a little before the door is closing again.
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Maura is glancing nervously at her watch as she is standing in front of her favorite winery. She spots Ben in the distance and smiles at him.
He groans loudly and frowns as he opens the door for the ME. "I'm sorry for being late, I had to do a lots of paperwork."
She walks through the door and takes a deep breath. "It's okay, Ben, I haven't been waiting for too long. I hope it is clear to you that we are only here so you can tell me why Jane was asking these questions."
He clears his throat and scratches the back of his neck. "Straight to the point, huh?"
Maura sits down at a table and purses her lips. "Ben."
The DA smiles wryly and nods approvingly. "Got it. We're just here to set things straight. Not more and not less."
Maura nods slowly and orders a glass of white wine for herself. "Exactly. I think it is good that you're taking the time to answer my questions."
Ben swallows hard and orders an glass of red wine. "It's the last thing I could do for you. I mean, you have been patient with me."
"What is going on, Benjamin?"
He pauses briefly and runs his hand over his three-day beard. "Um, I … I maybe haven't told you the whole truth why I have moved to Boston."
Maura is blinking a couple of times and frowns. "Okay. And what is the whole truth?"
"Can we … can we wait until our order is here," Ben asks and clears his throat.
All of a sudden, his throat feels bone-dry and blood is rushing in his ears.
She sighs and is scolding at him.
He nods slowly and takes a deep breath. "I was a student at the Francis King Carey School of Law and dated a woman with the name Marta Rodríguez."
Maura's heart is dropping and her eyebrows shoot up. "Marta Rodríguez, like Marta Rodríguez the first victim in Baltimore?"
He hesitates and is nodding slowly. "Yes, exactly that Marta Rodríguez. We … we knew each other since the first day at Francis King Carey.
At first, we were just friends, but then we realized that there was more, that we had something special. You know, something like you and I had." He pauses and looks up at the waiter who is bringing the wine to their table.
He sighs when he sees the ME's horrified expression and takes a swig from his wine. "Marta and I were together for almost an year as she disappeared. I wasn't thinking much about it because we had a really bad fight a couple of days before. Marta had told me that she was thinking about to move to Colorado and to continue her study there. I thought that Marta would cheat on me, I mean, it felt like that. She never had mentioned that she was thinking about leaving Baltimore, leaving the Francis King Carey School of Law, leaving me. And I was off the wall when she told me, and I screamed at her … And then she was gone without saying goodbye. I … I couldn't have known that Marta has been kidnapped."
He drops his gaze and shakes his head, furling his brows. "And over the months that she was gone without a sign, I gave up on her and moved on. And then her body turned up, maltreated and … and it was clear that she haven't had left for Colorado, she had been kidnapped the day we had that stupid fight.
Friends of us had witnessed our fight and, of course, had told the detectives, who were investigating her murder, about it. And that made me their prime suspect.
I didn't mind that, on the contrary, I understood it and cooperated with the police.
That's when I met Detective Kevin Kessler for the first time and seemed to be a good man who was trying to find whoever killed Marta.
I mean, he was a little bit strange as soon as he saw me, but he was asking the right questions. Where I have been when Marta was kidnapped, about what we were fighting and if I would be able to do that to her, because I didn't want Marta to leave. And I could answer in the negative.
I have been angry at her, but I could have never harmed her and I had a solid alibi." He shrugs and laughs sarcastically. "All my friends confirmed that I was at a party when Marta was kidnapped, but somehow Kessler didn't believed neither me nor my friends. And that's when the trouble really started, Maura. Kessler destroyed my life bit by bit.
He ambushed me every time he could and followed me everywhere I was going.
As soon as I was talking to a woman, he headed her off and told her the lie that I had killed my girlfriend because she wanted to leave me.
He was a pretty version of a stalker, and he found even more reasons as he digged even deeper. And that's why I left for Boston."
Maura is staring at him and she can't hide her horror. She's feeling like Ben just had told her summary of a mystery novel. "And what else had he found?"
Ben doesn't answer right away and is frowning.
He knew that Maura would like to know the whole story and sighs heavily. "When Marta's body turned up I was seeing another woman, I thought that Marta was in Colorado. The other woman's name was Vivien Dawson."
"Oh, my God," Maura says a little louder and she leans back in her chair. "Are you telling me that you've also dated the second victim?"
He swallows hard and downs his wine. "I … I actually dated each of them," he mumbles.
She laughs horrified and wants to get up from her chair. "Okay, I have heard enough. I … I have no idea who the hell you are, Ben."
He places an hand over the ME's and frowns deeply. "Maura, I swear to God, I had nothing to do with the murders in Baltimore and I have nothing to do with those here.
I don't know who is doing this, or why this is happening all over again, but you should know that I could never harm a human being, Maura. You know me, and I never ever had just once raised my hand against you or any other person. How can you think that I could kill someone.
This is exactly why I left Baltimore, because people thought I would be able to kill, and because Kessler was persuaded that I am the killer.
He stood on the parking lot of the law school and blared that I would be the one who killed those women because people like me would be predisposed to do such things, that it would be our nature. He was so convinced that I am the killer that he stopped to search for the real perpetrator."
Maura is looking long at him and starts to shake her head. "This investigating team is not like that, Ben. Jane has Italian roots, Detective Frost is black and Sergeant Korsak isn't narrow-minded. And I … I had a serious relationship with you and married you. How could you think that one of us would judge you just because you have a troubled past? And why haven't you told me about it? I mean, I told you everything about me. I told you that I was adopted, I told you that Paddy Doyle is my biological father and that I was framed with murder.
I feel like … I feel like I never really knew you, Ben. This is a huge and very important part of your past and you didn't think that it wouldn't be important for me to know."
He takes a deep breath and is frowning deeply. "I thought that I would scare you away when I tell you that, and that you wouldn't wanna see me ever again."
"Maybe I would have been more hesitantly before we started to date seriously," she replies and gets up to her feet and eyes the wine that she haven't touched at all. "And maybe I would have rejected you. But that would have been a result because I already have experience in dating a serial killer."
"Maura, I am not -"
"I know," she cuts him off with a frown. "I truly know, Ben, that's why I am not running out of her. Thank you for the wine."
She is about to leave, but then she turns around again and walks back to the table.
She has to ask and she needs to look him in the eye when he answers. "I know the answer, Ben, of I hope that I know it, but I have to ask anyway. Did you killed those women, or do you have anything to do with it?"
Ben is holding her gaze and doesn't blink one time. He knows that she needs to hear it and doesn't mind it. "I did not kill one single woman or human being, nor did I had anything to do with their kidnappings, Maura. The only thing I had in common with the victims in Baltimore was that I knew them, I never met one of the victims in Boston."
The ME Is still looking into his eyes and she is more than glad that she is able that she can see it in them every time he's lying to her , and she can tell that he's telling the truth right.
Maura nods slowly and frowns a little. "We won't let it happen that you are accused of something that you haven't done, Ben. Jane and the guys are not like the cops in Baltimore, and my office isn't either. We are going to find out who's trying to frame you with the killings."
The DA takes relieved a deep breath and is trying to smile. "I know."
She smiles encouragingly and finally leaves.
He closes his eyes and groans loudly before he downs Maura's wine as well.