By 8pm that evening, it became clear that Jane wasn't going to be able to propose that day; or possibly even that week. After finding traces of cyanide in Daniel Wilks' system, Maura had ruled it a homicide, and none of them had sat down since.
'Okay, so you checked the wife's alibi?' Jane asked Frost as she sank down into her desk chair.
'I left a message with her office but no one was able to tell me whether she was there or not' Frost replied, frowning slightly at his computer.
'And the poison must have been in the last thing he ate or drank, right?' Jane continued, looking over at Maura, who nodded.
'A dose of cyanide is fatal at a ratio to 1.5mg to the kilogram. Wilks was 90kg and he ingested, at my estimation, 140mg of the poison, which was more than enough to kill him' she explained, 'as his stomach was empty, that amount of poison would have killed him in ten minutes at the most'.
Jane rubbed her eyes wearily. 'And we're sure he didn't poison himself?' she asked, allowing herself some false hope.
'Nothing to suggest that he did' Korsak said, 'no history of depression, happily married, good job, no money worries… Plus he collapsed at work, people don't generally go to work to commit suicide' he shrugged.
'I'm calling it a night' Jane finally conceded, 'hopefully we'll have some more to go on in the morning'.
Maura sighed in relief, she was so tired her eyes could barely stay open, and her stomach had been growling with hunger for the last three hours. She beat Jane home and slipped out of her heels with a happy sigh, padding to the kitchen in bare feet she rummaged in the cupboards for something to make for dinner. It took her less than five minutes before she decided it was a pointless endeavour and picked up the phone to order pizza instead.
'Honey I'm home' Jane's voice rang out as she wearily trudged through the front door. 'Please let me get take-out tonight' she said hanging up her jacket. 'And not from that organic-vegan-all natural Chinese this time' she turned to her girlfriend with pleading eyes. 'I don't think my taste buds have forgiven me for that yet'.
'An extra-large, stuffed crust, pepperoni pizza is on its way as we speak' Maura said with a grin.
Jane moaned and dropped her head onto her girlfriends shoulder, wrapping her arms around her waist. 'You, Maura Isles, are the single most amazing person on this planet'.
'Statistically that's unlikely' Maura joked, 'but I think I won't argue with you this time'.
The two collapsed on the sofa lamenting about the excessively long day and devouring the pizza when it arrived. Jane's thoughts however, kept straying back to that little black box which she'd hidden under the seat in her car.
Despite how exhausted she felt, it took Jane much longer to fall asleep than Maura, who was snoring softly within minutes of her head touching the pillow. Jane had agonised for so long over the perfect way to propose, but now she had the ring and was no closer to deciding how to do it. She had long since accepted that the entire wedding would be done to Maura's standards, fancy ceremony, dozens of guests, a big cake; the whole nine yards. Jane would even wear a dress if it made her happy.
So the proposal had to match the standard. She debated all of the clichés, ring in the champagne, picnic in the park, or dinner at a fancy restaurant… But none of them seemed right, not for her and Maura anyway. Jane thought that she should do it somewhere special, but really the only place that was 'special' to Maura was the morgue… That's where she was happiest anyway, and Jane would not be proposing surrounded by dead people, she thought with a slight shudder. Perhaps she would hide the ring somewhere for Maura to find, like in her desk at work or at the bottom of her coffee cup. Smiling slightly to herself; Jane snuggled closer to Maura and closed her eyes, she'd hide the ring somewhere tomorrow.
For the sixth day in a row, Maura woke up alone. She frowned slightly to herself as she swung her legs over the side of the bed. Jane had been acting very strange lately, usually Maura had to practically drag her out of bed in the morning, but she had been up remarkably early every day for the last week. As she went about her morning routine, Maura's thoughts moved on to the case they were solving, the poisoned man. It was a lucky find, realising it had been cyanide that had killed him, it was infamously hard to trace. They had all agreed that it had been administered in liquid form, probably in the coffee he had drank, mere minutes before his death. However, there had been no coffee with him, and as he carpooled with his wife, there was none to be found in the car either.
She made her way to her own stash of coffee, her favourite part of the morning. To her surprise, Jane was already in the kitchen, swearing under her breath at Maura's latest coffee machine.
'Jane?' Maura asked suspiciously, 'what are you doing?'
Jane, who had evidently not heard her enter, span around suddenly looking immensely guilty. 'Just… Making some coffee' she said with a sense of forced airiness, 'didn't sleep well'.
'I can do it if you like?' Maura offered; she knew from experience that Jane's coffee was usually rather bitter, as she didn't really understand the machine.
'Yeah of course' Jane said, gathering up the things she'd scattered across the counter, 'it's all yours. I couldn't get the damn machine to work anyway'.
As Maura walked over to the cupboard to retrieve the right coffee beans, Jane surreptitiously slid the ring back into her pocket. She'd try again tomorrow.