Chapter 4, peeps! Enjoy.
"Ma. Ma!" Jane hissed. Her mother looked up from the cash register and hurried over to where Jane was standing near the coffee dispensers.
"Mr. Stanley's on a rampage today, Janie, so I don't have much time to chat. Oh! Did you see the new website Agent Frost made for me and the café? It's so wonderful! My customers can or-"
"Ma, listen to me," Jane butted in, rolling her eyes. She didn't have time to listen all about how wonderful Agent Frost was. Angela Rizzoli would talk simply for the sake of making noise if you let her. Angela looked a bit upset by Jane's interruption, so she was quick to apologize. "Sorry, Ma. It's just, well, have you talked to Dr. Isles at all since she got back from her trip?"
Angela's eyes lit up. "I saw her yesterday, but I was leaving just as she was getting home. Why?" the older woman nudged her daughter, "Did you two finally make up?"
Jane sighed.
"Or did you have another fight? This has got to stop, Jane!" Angela's voice was rising with her agitation. "She's your best friend!"
"Ma, shhh. I know, okay? That's why I'm asking if you've talked to her lately."
"Well no, I mean she was gone and everything. Why? Is something wrong?"
"I don't know," Jane rubbed her neck fitfully. She had been trying to appear as if this fight with Maura wasn't bothering her, especially in front of her friends and family, but Angela knew that Jane still cared greatly for the doctor. "It's just that she seemed a little off today."
"Maura?"
"Yes, Maura. Jesus," Angela swatted Jane lightly with the towel she had slung over her shoulder. Jane had the decency to look a bit ashamed. "Do you think you could talk to her? Try and figure out what's going on?"
"I suppose I could..." Mrs. Rizzoli trailed off. "But, Janie, you know how private she is."
"Yeah, I know. But she loves you. Maybe she'd talk to you," Jane looked at her mother hopefully.
"Honey, she's your best friend. You should be to one to talk to her."
"I already apologized, Ma. It's up to her now. Besides, what do I care if something's wrong with her. I just need to make sure the Medical Examiner is alright. Work, ya know. Wouldn't want her messing up any of our investigations."
Angela glared knowingly at her daughter. Jane refused to meet her mother's gaze.
"This is about the department. Not Maura. Or whatever," Jane finished lamely. She refused to show any sign of weakness, but Angela knew how much Jane was actually worried about the doctor. "Could you just talk to her, please."
"Sure, Janie," Angela said, softly. Just then, Stanley came out from the back room.
"Rizzoli!" he barked. "This isn't social hour! Get back to work!"
"Sure thing, Mr. Stanley," Angela called over her shoulder, not sounding in the least perturbed by the man's rude command. She patted Jane's hand, "I'll talk to Maura tonight. But you need to make up with her Janie. You're too stubborn for your own good. I love you both you know!" Angela threw over her shoulder as she disappeared behind the counter.
"I know, I know," Jane huffed under her breath, making a face at her mother's retreating back. She picked up her coffee and headed back upstairs. Now that she knew Angela would check on Maura, maybe she could stop feeling so guilty about her earlier encounter with the ME and focus on the case. There was a homicide to investigate after all and Korsak and Frost would be wondering where she'd gone off to.
When she got back upstairs, Frost was throwing crumpled up pieces of paper towards the trash can and Korsak was lounging at his desk, solitaire open on his desktop.
"What the hell is this?" Jane questioned. "I leave for an hour and it turns into a free-for-all up here."
Frost merely shrugged and went back to making baskets. "Paper work's done, call's been put out to the vic's family. Now we're just waiting on those lab reports and a definitive cause of death."
"Cut the crap," Jane sneered. "I know you've got work to do. We all do," she looked pointedly at Korsak who sheepishly closed his solitaire game. "Let's run through it all again," she leaned back in her chair and nodded towards the file sitting open on Frost's desk.
By the time Jane left the precinct, it was dark outside. She walke down the steps towards her car, thanking her lucky stars Rondo hadn't come by at all today to tow it away. There were only so many times she was going to get lucky parking out front.
The case was going nowhere. They had the ID of the victim, Louise Randall, 20, and had tried to contact the family, but so far no one had showed up yet. They hadn't been able to locate an address for the victim because she'd only recently moved to the city. Maura hadn't been able to rule definitively on a cause of death yet, which meant they were waiting on blood work and toxicology still. Those wouldn't be in for at least another day.
The doctor had been able to determine that the victim had been raped prior to her death, and had put the semen sample into the system. So far, no matches had been returned. There hadn't been any other evidence left behind that could lead them to a suspect. Frost and Korsak had left hours ago, but Jane had spent some more time pouring over the file. It was always hard when a case got off to such a frustrating start. All in all, it had not been a good day.
With such a disappointing day, Jane might have headed for the Dirty Robber to toss back a beer or two and chat with Maura. The doctor was always able to provide some new insight on a case, or at least get Jane's mind off of work for a couple of hours. But Jane hadn't been to the Dirty Robber in months. It felt weird to slide into "their" booth without Maura sitting across from her, glass of wine in hand.
Instead, Jane headed her unmarked cruiser for home. She took Jo Friday out for a walk, changed into some pajamas and laid down on the couch, flipping SportsCenter on for some comforting background noise. She closed her eyes, mentally prepared to go through the case in her head until she drifted off, but instead her thoughts went to Maura and what the ME was up to. Probably asleep. Hopefully asleep, Jane amended. The doctor looked like she could use a good night's rest. Jane wondered if Angela had gotten a chance to talk to the other woman yet, and if so, what she had managed to discover.
Jo Friday jumped up onto the couch, startling Jane, before turning in three smart circles and cuddling up next to her owner. Jane rested her hand on top of the dog's head. "Looks like it's just you and me, Jo," she said. "Jesus. Now I'm talking to the dog," Jane shook her head in annoyance. "What are we going to do?" She questioned quietly, rubbing the dog behind the ears.
Jane fell asleep fitfully, worries about the case and Maura circling around in her brain, the baseball highlights playing on the television and Jo Friday curled tightly at her side.
Jane jerked awake, sitting up and spilling Jo off of her lap. She gazed around the apartment quickly, taking deep breaths and attempting to settle her racing mind. She was no stranger to nightmares. After Hoyt, she'd dealt with them almost every single night, reliving the moment when he pinned her to the ground using two scalpels over and over. Hearing his voice in her head, "Scent of lavender...and fear," in her dreams where she couldn't get away, couldn't make him stop talking. She saw Frankie, dying on Maura's table, and herself putting a bullet through her own gut just to save her brother's life. Lately, her nightmares had revolved around the moment when she shot Paddy Doyle and Maura had pushed her away, screaming at her not to touch the mob boss.
But this, this had been bad, worse than usual. Jane pushed herself off the couch and stumbled into the kitchen. She grabbed a glass and filled it with water from the tap. The first sip helped steady her a little. As she drank the water, it grounded her, tearing her out of the grasp of the nightmare.
It had been horrible. It didn't involve Paddy Doyle, but Maura was in it. Maura and Hoyt. And it wasn't Jane that the man had pinned to the basement floor, it was Maura and Jane had been powerless to stop him. He had taunted her, pulling the scalpel along Maura's neck sickeningly, leering at her while she screamed for him to let the blonde go. To take her instead. And throughout it all, Maura had stared at Jane, begging with her terrified gaze for the detective to come to her aid. To save her. But Jane hadn't been able to, she couldn't and Maura had - No!
Maura was fine. It had been a nightmare. That was all it was. Maura was fine. Without even being conscious of her actions, Jane grabbed her keys and shrugged into a coat, running out into the night and hopping into her car. She was halfway to the doctor's house before she came to her senses. It was 3:30 in the morning. Maura was asleep, safe, at home. She didn't need Jane to come barging in, waking her up. Jane could see Maura the next day at work. Everything was fine.
Jane kept reminding herself that it had just been a dream as she turned the car around and headed back to her own apartment. She let herself in the door and headed for the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. She wouldn't be getting any more sleep tonight, not with those images of Hoyt and Maura running around in her head. No. No more sleep for the detective that night.