First off as always thank you for your reviews. This was a tough chapter to write. I hope you like it, and are happy were things are going. I do want to apologize with any inconsistencies in my story or errors. I had to go back and read what I've written; I'm always catching mistakes in grammar or in the story line. I didn't even realize I accidentally changed nurse Angela's last name, lol. Anyways, hope you like the chapter. One more to go.
"Come on, Jane." Maura said over the detective's car.
"We've seen like five places today. Can we just call it a day? I'm tired. I'd like to relax on the one day I have off."
"You have tomorrow off too. You always have the weekend off. It's only Saturday."
"I'm on call tomorrow, so there's always a possibility that someone might die."
"That sounds morbid."
"This is coming from the girl who always wanted to dissect people."
Maura snickered at her girlfriend. She turned and made her way to the front door; where the realtor had been waiting. She didn't turn around but was hoping that Jane got the hint and followed. Jane did, but she dragged her feet to the front door.
"Maura, nice to see you again," the woman said shaking the doctor's hand eagerly.
"Thank you Mary," Maura replied. Maura extended a hand towards Jane. "This is Jane, my partner."
Jane extended her hand shaking the hand of the eager realtor. Jane also smiled at Maura's comment. The use of the word partner could be taken a few different ways.
"It's a pleasure to meet you both. Let's get started. It's a three bedroom, with two and a half bathrooms. Let's start with the living room."
They entered into the house, into a small hallway. They were standing in front of the stairway, with a balcony at the top. There was a hallway that lead to the kitchen. They made their way towards the living room to the right, when Jane's phone went off. Jane looked at the screen. She didn't see a name just a number she'd never seen before.
"Sorry, excuse me," Jane said leaving the living room, going into the hallway. "Hello?"
"Should we wait for her before I continue?" Mary asked.
"No let's continue. Show me the basement. You said it was recently redone?"
"Yes, it was. Follow me," Mary made her way back into the hallway.
"She is?" Maura heard Jane say into the phone. She wanted to ask who she was talking to but followed Mary to one of the doors in the hallway. They made their way downstairs. Maura was surprised at what she saw. The walls had wood finishing as well as the floor. It looked homey, and knew Jane would've loved it.
"So what do you think?"
"I think Jane will love it. Show me the rest."
The two made their way upstairs. Mary jumped when the basement door was jerked open by Jane.
"Maura we have to go," Jane said as she moved to the side letting Mary and Maura exit.
"Jane? What's wrong?" Maura asked placing her hand on Jane's shoulder.
"It's Angela-"
"What happened?" Maura interrupted.
"She's awake."
The elevator doors of the seventh floor of Beth Israel opened. The two women stepped out and was met with a large group of people. Maura was surprised to see such a large group of people. Jane was scanning the group, and recognized only four people. She remembered Angela made a comment about being Italian. She just neglected to say it was a traditional big Italian family.
"Jane," Maura whispered. "I thought family was only allowed to visit in the ICU."
"I think they're all her family."
"Jane," the woman she recognized as Angela's mother exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"We're here to see Angela."
The older woman laughed. "Get in line."
"Who is everyone?"
"Well we're still waiting for Isabella to finish helping Angela getting cleaned up. I'll introduce you to everyone."
Anne took Jane's hand and began making her way towards the ICU. Jane shrugged and grabbed Maura's hand. The first person Anne stopped at was another blonde. She looked similar to Angela; Jane concluded she was probably Angela's sister. She was talking to another girl Jane recognized as Jeri.
"This is Josephine-"
"Jodi," she interrupted.
Anne continued down the line, introducing the rest of the family. Including in-laws, nieces and nephews, plus Angela's other good friend Sophie. Jane and Maura heads were whirling with names and relations. Three brothers all married, plus Jodi's husband, four nephews and two nieces.
"How many people is that?" Jane whispered to Maura.
"Including her parents sixteen, add Angela and Isabella eighteen," Maura replied.
Jane whistled. "Now that's a big Italian family."
Maura laughed at comment.
"Did you pick up on the names?" Jane asked
"You mean like Luigi, Vincenzo, Giovanni, and Josephine?"
"Well yea. You can't get any more Italian than that."
The family continued to talk waiting for Isabella to come out. Jane was starting to get impatient. She was already tired from house hunting, but she couldn't leave yet. She needed to see Angela was ok, also needed the nurse's statement. It would be the final nail in the coffin for Beth.
"Mom, when can we see Auntie?" the little boy near Jodi asked.
Jane smiled at him. He was expressing what she was feeling. Jane decided to take action and push the button on the black box. She's been waiting about three weeks waiting to see her old nurse.
"Can I help you?"
"Detective Jane Rizzoli, I have a few questions for Angela Scavino."
There was not response on the other end. After a few minutes Isabella was at the door. In response Angela's family crowded around the door.
"Whoa," Isabella said raising her hands. "You know the rules, two at a time."
"Then Dom and I will go first," Anne said moving to push past the smaller girl.
Isabella again held up her hands. "No. Angela wants to speak with Detective Rizzoli first. Get her statement done and over with. Then she'll see the family."
Anne scoffed at Isabella, "Well, fine." She stormed away from the door.
Isabella let out a sigh at Mrs. Scavino's reaction. Isabella motioned for Jane to follow her. Jane grabbed Maura's hand dragging her into past the door. Isabella took a step before abruptly turning around.
"What took you so long?" she whispered.
"What are you talking about? We've been here for at least twenty minutes. Anne said you were helping Angela get cleaned up."
Isabella swatted her hand. "That was a smoke screen. Angela made me call you first. She wants to get this over with. She won't even tell me what happened."
"Well I'm here now, so lead the way," Jane said extending her arm in the direction of Angela's room.
Isabella walked into Angela's room, "Look who's been here for twenty minutes." She motioned towards the women behind her. Isabella walked to the other side of Angela's bed to allow the nurse to see the detective and doctor.
"About time you two showed up," Angela teased. She motioned for them to come closer and give her a hug.
Jane looked at Angela's face. Last time she saw her she was barely recognizable with a blue tube coming out of her mouth. Now the tube was gone, and the many bruises were at various stages of healing. She didn't see any scaring or stitching. The left arm, closer to the door was wrapped in a white cast, from the hand to the elbow. Maura walked over first, giving Angela a hug. Jane was taking in what she was seeing.
"Jane?" Maura asked her girlfriend. Jane was still staring at her nurse. When she didn't respond, Maura walked over and took Jane's hand in her own. The contact finally broke Jane from her trance.
"Sorry," Jane said. She finally made her way towards Angela, giving her a light hug. "I'm not use to this part of the job."
"What part?" Angela asked.
"Having a surviving victim, I work homicide."
"I know. But I knew you were good at your job. That's why I requested you, hoping there'd be an exception."
Everyone's gaze went to the floor or their hands. Angela noticed the change in everyone's demeanor.
"What don't I know?" she asked to no one in particular.
"There was still a homicide the night you were attacked," Jane explained.
Angela was silent for a minute. She thought back to that night. She remembers getting severely beaten then someone yelling. Followed by Jeri, which is when Angela began signing.
"Who was it?" she finally asked, tears stinging her eyes. She was afraid her best friend was killed after she had passed out.
"His name was Tim Johnson. He worked as the doorman at Jacques," Jane answered.
"What happened?"
Jane took a deep breath. She was afraid of this. "According to Jeri, he was chasing the person who attacked you."
Tears fell from Angela's eyes. He died from being a good Samaritan. "Did you get her?"
"Why don't you tell me what happened?" Jane asked instead of answering.
"Did you get her?" Angela asked again.
Jane took Angela's hand. "I don't want to influence or tamper with your statement; especially since I don't have Frost or Korsak here. I need you to tell me your side before I can tell you mine."
Angela attempted to take a deep breath, but was stopped from the pain she felt on her sides. She doubled over placing her arms around her ribs. Isabella placed her hands on her fiancé's shoulders.
"You ok? Do you need pain medicine?" Isabella asked, looking for the call light.
"No," she replied. Angela placed her good hand on Isabella's. "I need a clear head. When I'm done, it'll make the visits short."
Isabella smiled at the comment. She intertwined her fingers and lifted Angela's hand, meeting it halfway placing a kiss on the back of the hand.
Angela turned her attention back to her other visitors. "Where should I start?"