A/N: First off, I want to say how incredibly terrible I feel for not updating this story sooner. These past weeks at college have been an absolute nightmare. Second of all, this chapter is a little slow, more story development and sliiiight Rizzles fluff, if you wanna call it that. Please read and review, anything you have to say is much appreciated! I love hearing from you guys. I've come to realize that knowing where you want to take a story and actually getting the characters there can be two very different things! Anyway, thanks for reading!
Maura, Frankie, and Korsak arrived on the scene near the docks not long after Jane and Frost. But it had been long enough. Jane had already gotten a look at the body and had to fight against her urge to run back to the car. This victim looked strangely similar to the first one. She was wearing a black blazer and black suit pants with a dark purple shirt. Jane didn't need to wait for the medical examiner to get here and tell her what the cause of death was. She knew Maura would hate her for "guessing," but Jane didn't think this counted much as guessing. The victim's throat was most definitely slit. Heck, Jane may have even gone so far as to say slashed. The first body could have been considered coincidence, if you stretched your boundaries about it a bit, but this one threw that possibility out the window. Jane knew someone was trying to send her a message. She looked up as she heard the sound of car doors shutting nearby. Her eyes met Maura's immediately, and she saw the worry in her friend's eyes. Was there a hint of fear there, too?
As Maura met Jane's eyes, should couldn't help but feel a wave of worry wash over her. The pain in Jane's eyes was almost too much for her to bear, and that scared her. She knew in that moment that whatever had happened to this victim was worse than their first.
"Jane, are you alright? What happened?" Maura started. Jane just shook her head in response and motioned to the body. As Maura got a view of the victim for the first time, she let out a slight gasp. The first murder had been clean, but this one was messier. She knelt down next to the body and did some of her initial checks, giving the body a once-over. She looked up, expecting to see Jane next to her, but Jane was back by the cars, sitting up against a wall. Maura looked from Frost, who was busy trying to keep his lunch down, to Korsak. Korsak gave her a small nod, and she immediately got up and went to Jane.
"How are you doing?" she asked as she sat down next to her best friend.
"I'm doing great, Maura, thanks for asking! This day is turning out to be the best!" Jane's biting sarcasm made Maura flinch just the slightest. "Geez, Maur, I'm sorry. You didn't do anything wrong," Jane apologized as she slipped her arm behind Maura's back. She rested her head on Maura's shoulder and continued, "Why is this happening? What did I ever do?" as a single tear slipped from her eye.
"Jane, you did nothing wrong. I wish I could tell you why this is happening to the most amazing woman I know," said Maura, as she rested her head on top of Jane's. She reached out and put her arms around Jane, holding her, trying to convey all of her thoughts and feelings into one hug, though she knew that simply wasn't possible.
The two stayed that way while Frost, Korsak, and Frankie finished the rest of the preliminary scene investigation. Silent tears made their way down Jane's face, and onto Maura's shoulder, seeping through the fabric of her dress.
"I think we're done here, unless you have anything else you'd like to do before the move the body, Doctor?" Korsak informed them as the men made their way to the ladies.
"No, it's quite alright. I can do the rest of my tests better in the morgue. Jane, are you ready to go?" Jane nodded her head and started to stand, extending a hand to Maura to help pull the doctor to her feet. Jane pulled her up a little too hard, and Maura found herself falling into Jane, who held her close. Maura looked up and met Jane's eyes. She was momentarily lost, her breath caught in her throat, and rooted to the spot. She also noticed as Jane's eyes darted down to her lips, then back to her eyes. Jane quickly let go of her friend with a slight cough.
"Shit, Maur, I'm sorry," Jane said, glancing at Maura's tear-soaked shoulder. "I'm—you, you should have said something." Maura remembered to start breathing again and answered, "Jane, it's fine, really, it is," and dismissed it with the wave of her hand, "Let's just get you back to the station."
"Jessica Riganti. At least, that's who her prints say she is." Frost was back from running the victim's prints through the database, and now they had somewhere to start. "System says she worked at the pawn shop near where she was found. Should we head over there and get going on the questions?"
Jane nodded, "Yeah, we should. The sooner we get that done, the better. Wanna come with us?" she directed towards Maura, "Unless you wanted to get started on the autopsy, of course." Maura wasn't sure whether or not Jane really wanted her to come along, but she figured she must if she had asked.
"Sure, but can we make a quick stop by the morgue? I want to see if Susie has the results from the tox screen yet," and with that, the trio headed down to the basement.
Sure enough, Susie was waiting for them just inside the morgue doors. "What did you find?" Maura asked.
"Well, Doctor Isles, there were traces of chloroform again and also some of the same venom. Both amounts were significantly lower, though, than the first victim." Jane and Frost looked at each other quizzically. Noticing the exchange, Maura decided that needed to be brought up to date on the cause of death for their victims.
"Our first victim was poisoned. Korsak was right when he suggested that the cut on her throat did not kill her. Chloroform was used to render her unconscious, which is why she didn't fight back. I was rather confused by all of this at first, but when I looked closer, I saw a tiny mark on her arm. It turned out that she was injected with snake venom, a copperhead, to be exact, one of the only two poisonous snakes in this area. As for our second victim, the cause of death was exsanguination. Or," she said looking at the increasingly confused look on Frost's face, "she bled to death from having her throat slit." Frost nodded, finally understanding something the doctor was saying. "Also, based on the lower levels of both chloroform and venom, I'd say that our killer wanted this young woman to know what was happening to her, and to be in pain." Jane grimaced at this news and felt her stomach clench. They weren't any closer to finding this new monster, and they now had two bodies. She hoped that there wouldn't be any more.
"Good to know," Jane said. "We found out that the first victim had her clothing changed from when she was last seen to when we found her. Apparently she had been wearing a blue sundress when she was at work, but as you know, we found her in a pant suit. So the clothing is important to the killer for some reason." Jane had her growing suspicions, but was afraid to talk about them before she was sure. Though she was worried what it would take for her to actually be sure.
"Now that everyone's all caught up," Frost started, "let's head out to the pawn shop. Maybe we can find a lead out there." And with that, the three of them headed back out into Boston.