Tuesday, 11:35 P.M.
Three knocks announced Jane's presence at the door of Lieutenant Sean Cavanaugh and she walked in without hearing his reply. She knew there would be no point to say anything given that hardly anyone went to the Loo's office unless he asked to see them beforehand. He was the principal of the homicide unit; no one wants to see their principal on a recreational basis.
With a frown that never left his face, Cavanaugh stared at the brunette's figure-hugging black dress and matching stilettos and shook his head disapprovingly. "I'm going to assume your choice of dress has nothing to do with the fact that two new bodies were found at the ritzy place for the rich and famous, a couple of hours ago."
"That would be a wise assumption for the both of us, sir," Jane said innocently, her feet jumping slightly in place in pain. Damn it, Maura. I know you think I look sexy in these suicide shoes but does sexy have to come at the expense of comfortable?
Cavanaugh looked back down at the report that had his attention before she had walked in and Jane was forced to waste precious time staring at her boss while ignoring the pinpricks of pain travelling through her toes. Her eyes rolled just as he set his pen down, returning his focus back on the frustrated detective. "Am I keeping you from something, Rizzoli?"
"Yes," Jane replied in a rush of exasperation. "I'm working a case and it's really hot. As much as I love to see your face every-day, I'd really like to get back to the team and solve it."
She knew that her sarcasm was slightly rude and on any other day, she would have apologized but this was a critical moment in the case. Being on the sidelines chatting with the brass about the details of a case they had no connection with while she could be in the trenches was beyond frustrating. I've been waiting for this serial to give us something to work with and now, I'm forced to wait, again.
"Rizzoli, I'm going to ignore your attitude as an unfortunate side-effect of being sleep-deprived." he said with bristling annoyance, motioning the detective to take a seat in front of his desk. "Catch me up to speed on your current case. It's so hard to get Sgt. Korsak on the phone, as of late."
Jane sighed heavily, her hands immediately going to rub her pained feet after sitting down in the uncomfortable straight-backed chair. "Three female victims with external bruising on the wrists and knees were found in two locations in the last two days. All have been physically altered with what we believe to be post-mortem. Messages have been deliberately painted in blood over the bodies of all three victims and these messages seem to be connected to each other. Maura Isles found that the first victim was poisoned with a lethal dosage of atropine. We don't have anything else yet concerning hard evidence but I've asked Maura to rush the lab to get more evidence to work with. That's about it, sir."
"What about the Russian angle?" He asked with mild curiosity.
"Not a big deal." Jane lied, hoping Cavanaugh wouldn't persist on that line of logic.
"Really," he questioned, the small smile dissipating into a frown. "If that is the case, then why have I been contacted by the media with an early edition copy of Boston Daily with a headline that clearly says different?"
Cavanaugh threw a freshly printed edition of the Boston Daily at Jane's face, barely managing to not hit her as her hands came up quickly to catch it. In bright, bold, black font, the headline, "Heartbreaker snatches yet another visiting Russian princess; authorities remain speechless as serial killer roams Boston streets" yelled out from the newspaper print in an obvious attempt to attract readers. Unbeknownst to the writers of this sensationalized drivel, Jane knew that this would do nothing but give the killer the attention that he craved while creating unnecessary panic across Boston. Panicky citizens made unreliable and unhelpful witnesses, leaving her and the prosecution high and dry with nothing to use to convince the jury that the killer was guilty.
Looking up, Jane frowned, anger showing on her face. "Sir, I don't know what these reporters got their facts for this story since we just started putting things together a couple of hours ago, but I can assure you-"
"You can't assure me anything until you get the murderer of these girls off the street, Rizzoli, so don't try to play that with me. The Russian angle by itself is enough to get the feds involved given the international implications." He sighed in exhaustion, glaring at the brunette. "Detective, this case is swiftly developing into a potential cluster for the department. Please, tell me you have this under control."
The brunette struggled to retain her poker-face despite her obvious state of exhaustion. "I have it under control, Lieutenant."
"Really." Cavanaugh deadpanned, challenging his subordinate.
"Yes," Jane stated, returning his challenge with confidence. "I do."
"Then what do you suggest our next action as department should be, Detective? Since you have this 'under control', I'd figure you'd know best as the lead on this case."
This was a big gamble; but if there ever was a time to be brave, this was it. Jane looked Cavanaugh in the eyes with a confident smile, hoping the confidence was being reflected in the rest of her body. "If the media want to run with a story, we'll give them one. We can set up a press junket which allows the media to get the info they want but allows us to control what that info is. They get off our back, the public is left assured, and BPD retains their standing in the community. It's hardly an ideal situation, sir; but at this point, we're hardly left with much other choice. They're going to go ahead with the story, regardless of our actions."
Going to the press was the last thing Jane had wanted to do with this sensitive case. Giving the serial killer attention would just increase his confidence but with this boost in confidence came an increase in time to work with. If the killer saw his actions being reported, he would feel validated, spending more time working out his next victim in order to bring more attention to his actions. All serials were alike; there motivations might be different but their actions followed similar trends and patterns. The more time spent figuring out the patterns, the more their M.O. falls into place. I learned that from Korsak when I was just starting out and I kept getting on him about the old days of the Irish Crime Wars.
His answering chuckle surprised the detective, resisting the urge to congratulate her ego. "Either you're getting smarter or you're getting to know me far too well but we finally agree on something without having to argue first. I'll see you bright and early in your dress blues since the public have been in love with the Hero of Boston since she got shot last summer. If we can keep this case on low-profile, I can keep the feds out of the mix, which I know would make you very happy, Rizzoli. You're dismissed."
Wait, I'm being thrown out to the wolves? Come on! Isn't Sgt. Korsak supposed to throw himself into the line of fire? Damn it…that means I have to do my hair. Nodding her head toward the Lieutenant, Jane rose from the chair and hobbled in pain out of his office. A sigh of released tension came from her mouth followed by an unexpected fist pump. Despite being happy for making the Loo pleased with her actions, she was mostly exhilarated that she didn't have to deal with the feds sniffing around and mucking up. Feds can never do anything right except take all the glory. This is my show, no one else's. Now, it was back to business.