CHAPTER ELEVEN
Monday morning came far too soon for the detective, her cellphone waking her long before she needed to rise.
Jane made a grab for the offending device with her eyes closed, fingernails scrambling on the bedside table. As she located it and swept it from the surface, Casey's handwritten note fluttered to the floor. Staying with a friend is all it had said, and she'd shed no tears over spending some time alone after leaving Maura in a panic and arriving back at her apartment to find it on the bed.
She slid her finger across the screen, took a peek at the caller ID and settled back into her pillow with a sigh, cursing the unwarranted disturbance.
"Hey, Ma," she yawned, propping an extra pillow behind her head.
"Don't Hey, Ma me, young lady! I think you have some serious explaining to do."
The brunette scowled, "What are you talking about?"
"You! Putting it about with that… that… woman!"
With no time to react, Jane sputtered, "What -?" Oh god.
"I get to the café and there's a couple of lab techs gossiping about Dr. Isles, about how she got caught kissing in her office, and I go to get them some coffee but I overhear the name Rizzoli and I'm thinking, oh, how wonderful, Frankie got himself a girlfriend! Maybe he met her when he was on duty and maybe he's keeping secrets from me because its early days and he doesn't want to jinx it, or - or maybe he's a little embarrassed 'cause she's a bit older than he is and..."
Angela didn't stop for breath and Jane's heart was beating wildly in her chest. This wasn't going to end well.
"… then, not ten seconds later, I find out it was YOU!"
"Ma, I can explain -" Jane tried, but Angela didn't listen, she just kept on yelling.
"What were you thinking? How can I show my face at church now? I knew I should have put a stop to all the tomboy stuff when you were old enough to know better. It's my fault for having you grow up with two brothers. I mean, look at how you dress, Jane. Is it any wonder she forced herself on you, the signals you give off?!"
With a vein pulsating in her temple, Jane shouted back, getting her mother's attention, "MA! You don't know what you're talking about."
"It's a sin, Janie. Do you hear me? It's not right. I can't believe you've done this to your family -"
The detective ended the call with a huff, turning and pressing her face into a pillow. Her screams were muffled as she beat the duvet with a fist, cursing both Susie Chang, with her inability to be discreet, and Maura Isles, with her delectable fucking lips and perfect... everything.
oOo
Jane parked her car outside BPD later that morning dreading the inevitable; she'd have to see her mother. She could try to avoid it by sending someone else to get her coffee, but Angela would just track her down eventually and she was loathe to have any kind of personal conversation in the middle of the bullpen.
Gritting her teeth, she took the front steps two at a time and walked straight into the café, determined to face the music on her own terms. She waited in line for a long moment, her hands clasped in front of her belt buckle, standing tall and trying to act normal, but on reaching the cash register she was cowed by her mother's deathly expression.
"Detective," Angela snapped.
So that's how it was going to be. She wasn't really surprised; Angela Rizzoli was a world-class sulker and, as ridiculous as the situation was, Jane had evidently disappointed her. "The usual, please, Ma."
Angela filled a large cardboard cup with coffee from the pot and slammed it on the counter. "That'll be two dollars."
Jane felt around her pockets, cursing expletives under her breath when she came up empty. Shit, not again. "I think I left my wallet in the car. Can I -"
Angela slid the cup out of reach before extending a hand and viciously tapping a sign that was taped to the cash register. She raised a daring eyebrow and pursed her lips as Jane read the words We do not give credit.
Sighing, the brunette turned and stomped away. She exited the café in a huff, almost shoulder-barging a civilian in the foyer in her haste, before shoving the main entrance door open on her way back to her car.
Upon reaching the sidewalk her mouth was agape in shock and she held out her hands in despair. "Come on!" Carl, the parking attendant and her previously fawning admirer, was busy helping Mo hook up her Crown Vic to his tow truck. "What the hell, man?"
"You're in a no parking zone, Rizzoli," Carl barked as he turned to look at her. Sweeping his eyes up and down her with disdain, his top lip curled in disgust, he accused, "You should'a known better."
"I need my wallet!" She reached for the driver's door but he moved to block her.
He slapped a small slip of paper onto her chest with his palm, leaning in to speak quietly as she turned her head away, grimacing at his nasty breath, "You can pay the fine when you collect it from the impound lot." He added an extra snarl before following Mo to the cab of the truck. "Try and take it like a man, Detective."
Growling and balling her fists, she scrunched up the paper and jammed it into her jacket pocket before turning to head back inside.
She was without any cash and, more importantly, without any caffeine, so, when the elevator didn't arrive fast enough, she slammed open the door to the stairwell and began an angry trudge up several stories.
Her cellphone indicated a text message after the first couple of flights and she stopped on the landing to read it. She ought to have known her mother's first course of action would be to call her father but the message still stung her terribly.
Angela told me what you did, Jane. Don't come to family dinner until you've straightened yourself out.
With a sudden well of tears in her eyes, Jane wiped a hand over her face and sighed. His reaction wasn't a surprise either but the detached coldness and rejection of it still hurt.
Reaching the bullpen, she nodded a greeting toward Korsak and Frost in turn and silently sat down at her desk. She'd barely begun reading the first email in her inbox when her cellphone rang. There was a dual sense of relief and foreboding when she saw that it is was her neighbor calling. It wasn't one of her parents, which was good, but it was somewhat unusual to hear from the young woman across the hall.
"Hey, Melissa. What's up?"
The young girl sounded a bit perturbed, "Um… Hi, Jane. I just wanted to check – there's a lot of noise coming from your apartment, like banging and stuff and I wasn't sure if you had some contractors in or something?"
"In my apartment? No. There shouldn't be – wait… what kind of banging?"
"I dunno, like…" She paused and Jane's mind whirled at the possibilities of what she was going to say next. "… to be honest it sounds like somebody's tearing up the place."
Jane's stomach flipped and she shot out of her desk chair. "I'll be right there."
She was halfway to the door when she screeched to a halt. Turning to the two men, her eyes on the ceiling in disbelief, she groaned, "Ugh, my car got towed."
Frost rolled his eyes and looked over at Korsak who nodded permission. Grabbing his jacket, Frost made his way to the door where Jane clapped him on the shoulder and quietly said, "Thanks, buddy. I owe you one."
oOo
Exiting from the passenger side, Jane looked inquisitively over the roof of the car as Frost got out and stepped up onto the sidewalk.
He scoffed, reading her eyes, "If you think I'm letting you go in there alone you're crazy. Not after the last time your place got turned over."
He had a point. The last time her place had been trashed there was a maniacal serial killer on the loose and the female detective had been attacked by the psychopath.
Still she wanted to argue, suspecting a more domestic issue, but her pause to find the words without giving the game away was sufficient time for him to add, "We'll check it out together, okay?"
Nodding, she breathed out a sigh of consent and followed the young detective into the apartment building.
At the top of the stairs they could clearly see Jane's front door ajar and could hear someone inside. Frost, taking point, withdrew his service weapon and crept up to the doorway, his shoulder pressed against the door frame. With a jerk of his head, he signaled Jane to pass, her weapon also in hand, and they burst through the doorway simultaneously.
Jane gasped as Frost yelled, "POLICE!"
The interior was a mess. She picked her way through the apartment, stepping over couch cushions, a broken lamp, smashed dishes and fractured photo frames, trying not to disturb anything with her footsteps.
There were noises coming from the bedroom and, as Frost barreled through the living area, Jane pushed the door open.
The brunette instantly deflated, lowering her weapon to her side, as she discovered Casey packing a suitcase, the bedroom seemingly dismantled around him.
"What the hell, Casey?!" She stared wide-eyed, her gaze sweeping across the room littered with clothes, empty dresser drawers, twisted coat hangers, and discarded personal possessions.
The soldier ignored her and continued to slam items angrily into the open luggage atop their disaster-strewn bed.
She turned to look back at Frost who was still rigidly covering her back and quietly asked, "Can you give us a minute?"
He glanced into the bedroom and back to Jane with a nod, "I'll be outside." Turning back at the front door, he seemed poised to ask a question but Jane waved him away.
"I'll be fine. Go wait downstairs."
Frost disappeared, closing the door behind him and Jane closed her eyes for a beat, dreading the altercation to come. She holstered her gun and stepped slowly into the bedroom, "Casey? What are you doing?"
He didn't look up at the detective but she could see the blush of his skin, the redness of rage that tinted his face, the sheen of sweat that hung on his brow. All the while he continued to roughly grab and shove his belongings into the case, "What am I doing?! I'm leaving, that's what I'm doing. Isn't that what you wanted?"
Her automatic response was to blurt, "What? No -"
"You wanted me gone so, congratulations! I got my medical clearance and I'm not sticking around to watch you humiliate me while you… you… kiss other women and… you… Has this been going on the whole time?"
"No, Casey. I didn't -"
"You didn't want to sleep with me 'cause you're a dyke, is that it? All along you've been denying it and then I find out from your dad, that you…" He shook his head and scoffed before slamming closed the suitcase and looking up at her with venomous tears in his eyes. "You're sick, y'know that? And you fucking lied to me."
Silent tears rolled down Jane's face, sympathy for the pain Casey was obviously feeling, justified or not. This ending, unintentional and unfortunate, was also, in Jane's mind, inevitable. The guilt of having kissed someone who wasn't her husband ate at Jane's insides, burning her gut and churning her stomach, and the honest truth - the lack of devastation when she heard Casey say he was leaving - froze any counter-argument in her throat. The only thing she could do was croak brokenly, "I'm so sorry."
He laughed once, disbelieving, and lugged the case toward the doorway. Stopping just inches in front of her he grabbed her hand with one of his and fished around in his jeans pocket with the other. Jabbing his wedding ring into her palm, he whispered, "I'm not."
She watched him leave, her feet rooted to the spot, and flinched as the front door slammed closed. Falling back into the bedroom door frame, Jane sobbed, allowing the emotion that had built within her chest to bubble up and pour out. She slid down onto the floor, her eyes closed to the ruins of her life, a hand pressed to her chest trying to stem the flow of tears and ragged breaths as if they were a bleeding gunshot wound.
Ten long minutes passed as Jane sat, calming her heart and surveying the mess Casey had left. The mess she had caused. Picking up the pieces of her shattered personal life and her broken possessions wasn't going to be pleasant, and, she knew, there would be further fights along the way. But something in her gut felt right now, freer. She was open to moving on.
When her cellphone rang it was Frost checking up on her, "I saw him leave but when you didn't come out I started to get worried. Are you okay?"
She smiled, grateful to have such a caring friend, then standing up she took a deep, decisive breath, wiped the dust off her butt and said resolutely, "I will be."
oOo
Back at BPD Jane and Frost took separate elevators; he went back up to Homicide as she descended to the morgue.
During the short ride she wiped her face, flicked unruly waves out of her eyes with long fingers and then shook out her hands.
Maura was in her office, sat behind her desk with the door open when Jane approached. She knocked tentatively on the door frame before walking in, trying to appear more upbeat than she felt, "You busy?"
The blonde smiled sweetly - if she was surprised to see her friend again so soon it didn't show – and shook her head. "No. What's up?" Her response was chipper, expecting something work-related.
Somewhat cryptically, Jane quizzed, "How much notice does the on-call M.E. need in order to cover?"
The blonde didn't hesitate, "Mm, none. I can just make a phone call. Why?"
Jane's face morphed into a gentle smile as she asked, "Can you get away for a few days?"
A/N: I don't believe Susie would deliberately snitch, I imagine she just let it slip by accident, without any malicious intent, and the rest was bullied out of her by some unscrupulous so-and-so. Don't be too hard on her... or me.