A/N: Sorry I'm late with this chapter. It seems many of you are close with your detective work. I have a few twists and turns that I hope will keep you going.
Maura is up, showered and ready for work when she finally pops her head in to check on Jane. To her surprise Jane is fast asleep and Angela is too; cuddled up beside her. Maura can't help but smile; Jane is forever butting heads with Angela and yet no one could ever deny the love between this mother and daughter. Maura moves in quietly to check Jane's fever. When she touches her forehead, Jane stirs. In a very sleepy and groggy voice Jane acknowledges Maura and goes to roll on to her back. That's when Jane realises there's someone else in her bed.
"What" she looks behind her; then back at Maura, "what's she doing in my bed?"
"I guess she was worried about you," Maura smiles.
Angela stirs, "Oh; oops. I must have fallen asleep; sorry baby." Angela says in a sleepy voice as she braces for an onslaught of angry words from Jane. Jane doesn't say anything as Angela moves to get up.
"Jane your fever is still up, I think we should get you to the hospital" Maura says.
"I'd rather stay here if that's OK. I don't have the energy for work or the hospital. I'd really like to just have a day in bed" Jane explains.
"I don't know Jane, I have to go to the office and I'd rather you weren't here alone."
Angela chimes in, "I'm not going in today Maura, I'm going to stay home with Jane."
"I'm too sick to argue with you Ma but you are not staying in my bed." Jane pulls the blankets up over her head. From underneath comes the muffled sound "I would like you all to leave me alone now please."
"One last question Jane" Maura pulls the blankets back from over Jane's head. "How are your hands? Are you getting pain and spasms?"
Jane frowns at Maura as Angela jumps in; "what do you mean how are her hands, Jane are you having problems with your hands?"
"Gee thanks Maura! Just a bit Ma."
"Jane" Maura stares.
"Yes; OK! My hands have pins and needles all the time Maura and I get pain if I clench my fists or try to pick up anything too heavy."
Angela looks from her daughter to Maura, "how long has this been going on" she asks.
Maura looks at Jane; Jane pulls the blankets back over her head and Angela and Maura hear the muffled sound of Jane advising it's been going on for over a year.
They both respond in shock "over a year!"
Maura's not so gentle when she pulls the covers back this time. "Jane Clementine Rizzoli, why didn't you say something" Maura is cross.
Jane's flabbergasted; "what did you just call me?"
"You heard me!"
"I think the shoe fits Missy" Angela chimes in.
"Look, I'm sorry. Please; right now I don't have the strength or energy to have this discussion." Jane again goes to pull the covers over her head. "So please can you…"
Maura stops her this time. "OK Jane; you're right. Did Doctor Hughes prescribe anything for you" she asks.
"Just an anti-inflammatory and the hand cream and I'm out of the anti-inflammatory" Jane explains.
"OK; I'll have a talk to him today and see what he suggests. If you need more of the anti-inflammatory I'll get some today." Maura let's go of the covers and Jane pulls them up over head. She mumbles alright in response.
When Angela and Maura are in the kitchen Maura says, "I don't think she'll want to get out of bed today Angela, but if she tries don't let her OK. The longer she has this fever the more dangerous it is for her to exert herself."
"Oh I hear you Maura, she's a tough patient but I've nursed her through fevers before."
Maura smiles "Of course you have." Maura feels that pang she sometimes gets around the Rizzoli's. She never had anyone to comfort her when she was little and sick; well except for the boarding school nurses. "Well I have to go Angela, call me on my cell phone anytime if you need anything."
"My dear sweet Pauline I have breakfast for you" He places a tray of food in front of her. Pauline is in the padded holding cell he has created. She's been in there all night. Jack had entrapped her on the way back to her car the previous evening.
"Why am I hear Jack" she says with terror in her voice. "Are you going to rape and murder me" she chokes on tears.
Jack looks at her with burning hatred. "Yes I am. You are part of a master plan dear sweet Pauline and you are key to the final stages coming together. I need you to be strong for that; so you must eat."
"What are you talking about; you're crazy" Pauline whispers.
Jack slaps her hard across the face, "you will not speak to me like that; do you hear. Now eat!"
He turns and leaves; locking the cell behind him.
When Maura arrives at the station she goes to Homicide first. Frost, Cooper and a very fragile looking Korsack are all there and working. "Good morning" she says as she walks in. They each greet her in return. "Jane's not well enough to come in today. She says she slept well last night but she is still burning up with a fever" Maura explains.
Frost responds "she looked terrible yesterday Doc."
"I considered admitting her to hospital this morning but she didn't want to go. Angela is staying home with her today" Maura adds.
"Probably for the best" Korsack says.
"How are things going on the case; any developments" Maura asks.
Cooper speaks up "I've interviewed a couple of people from John Hoyt's past. They had the same father but different mother's. Apparently the father was a very domineering man. Charles and John went through the same schools and they were both extremely intelligent."
"Hmm, that doesn't surprise me at all" Maura listens as Cooper continues.
"Their Master at Odyssey High said the boys were troubled and often in trouble. He said John idolized Charles. Charles was in his last year when John started his first year at the school. John was always going to follow his brother into medicine. When Charles was expelled from University Edward Hoyt, the father took John out of high school and John was never heard of again" Cooper finishes her explanation.
"Yeah, the funny thing is there is no death certificate for John Hoyt. There was never a missing persons report filed on him either and I think he's alive, Doctor Isles" Frost adds.
"Cooper found a person that knew them as kids and said the last time she saw the boys was at the old man's funeral" Korsack explains.
"That was twelve years ago; five years after he supposedly disappeared" Frost adds. "I'm trying to track the funeral home down to see if they have any records of John Hoyt being at the funeral. It's a long shot though."
"The truth is Doc; we don't have any other suspects" Korsack looks at Maura. She can see he's in pain and struggling.
"I'll get to the lab and keep going over the bodies and see if I can find anything that will help." They all nod encouragement to Maura as she turns and leaves.
The first thing Maura does when she gets to her office is call Dr. Hughes.
"Dr Hughes" he answers.
"Hello Doctor, its Maura Isles here."
"Dr. Isles; to what do I owe the pleasure. Let me guess, Jane's hands did fail and you're looking to implicate me in a medical Mal-practice suit."
"Dr. Hughes you are one of Jane's doctors whether I like it or not, can we please try to keep this professional. I was not accusing anyone of misconduct, you misunderstood my concern for how Jane would feel if she were responsible."
"What can I do for you Dr. Isles" Jackson is short; he finds Dr. Isles very annoying.
"Jane is still very sick, she has a fever and her hands are getting worse. She said you prescribed her an anti inflammatory that she is out of. She is using the hand cream as you recommended but she doesn't think it is helping. Can you suggest anything else that might help with her symptoms" Maura asks.
Dr. Hughes responds with concern. "I'm very sorry to hear that Dr. Isles and I'm glad you called me." Maura's pleased that he is at least genuine when it comes to Jane's care or at least it sounds like it. "Is she still in the same ward, I'll pop in and have a chat to her later today" he adds.
"Actually Dr. Hughes she's staying at my place; would you be willing to make a house call" Maura asks.
"Of course, I'd be happy too; assuming you live somewhere in the immediate vicinity of Boston" he laughs. No; Maura doesn't like him but she relents and gives him her address. Hughes promises to call Maura after he's called on Jane.
Maura is about to call Jane when Senior Criminologist Chang walks in. "Dr. Isles you were right; the chemical formula you identified is a very rare combination. It would most likely be classified as Anthrax because there is no other clear definition of the components. The biopsy's show cause of death to be multiple miniature aneurysms in the Medulla Oblongata of the brain."
"That's very good work Suzie, well done."
"Thank you Dr. Isles."
"Suzie I need you to run these exact chemical elements and see if you can find any studies or research being done on this specific chemical combination please" Maura asks.
Suzie nods in acknowledgement and leaves. Maura picks up the file and goes upstairs to Homicide. She goes over to Korsack to explain she may have another possible lead. "Sergeant Detective Korsack I have the exact cause of death of Lilly Romano and Maria Montenegro" she announces. Frost, Cooper and Frankie walk over to hear what Dr. Isles has to say. Frankie's joined them since coming off his shift.
"The food content in the women's stomach contained the following chemical elements combined, Ibuprofen which is C13H18O2. I then found Zn8O4, Cd18 and Tl9 together they are not officially classified but the closest definition would be a very rare form of Anthrax." Maura looks at the homicide team; she's excited and yet none of them have said a word.
Eventually Korsack speaks up "Doc, this is usually where Jane tells you to speak earthling."
"The women died of a lethal number of small aneurysms to the Medulla Oblongata," Maura looks around for a response.
"Sorry Doc; even more earthling" Frost requests.
Maura is starting to stress; she has just realised what an important role Jane plays in interpreting for her. No wonder the other teams appreciate me but don't like working too closely with me, she thinks. She tries again. "Our perpetrator is feeding the women with poison in their food. It is most likely a very fine powder base. The poison would cause them to have muscle spasms and hyper tension throughout their bodies. They would feel high anxiety and nausea. They would most likely develop a fever near the end. The part of the brain that's affected by this poison controls auto responsive muscle activity."
"OK, I'm following you Dr. Isles" Frost explains. Korsack looks at him; his expression says 'I'm glad you are'.
"Oh good" Maura's anxiety eases a fraction. "He is poisoning the women in such a way that eventually the part of the brain affected by the poison starts to suffer aneurysms… Um; tiny burst blood vessels in the brain. When enough of them burst it kills our victims."
"OK Doc, so how does that help us" Korsack asks.
"The person committing these crimes is almost certainly in the medical profession in some capacity. Whilst his methods are brilliant he would have to have a done a lot of testing." Maura is really missing Jane now. "Oh this is where I would really like to have Jane around" Maura sounds anxious.
Korsack picks up on it. "It's OK Dr. Isles; just say it."
"I would suggest we look for any pattern of Jane Doe's that fit the description of our victims, where there has been no cause of death found."
"But Doc I looked up patterns of Rape Murders like these and it doesn't look like he's done this anywhere before" Frost explains.
"I would think the raping and brutality of the murders is an escalation as he's grown more confident in the power of his poison. I would keep this search to patterns of unexplained causes of death to women that look like our victims."
"OK Doc we'll get right on it" Korsack says.
"Thank you, oh and I have my team looking from the science side to see if he has registered his work anywhere in the world" Maura adds.
The homicide team gets busy and Maura heads back to her morgue.
Angela has just finished making a cup of tea and is about to sit down when there is a knock on the door. She looks out and recognises Jack, she opens the door. "Oh hello Angela, I didn't know you would be here, Dr. Isles asked me if I would come and check on Jane."
"You're a doctor; Maura didn't seem to know who you were the other night" Angela replies. "Why wou…" Jackson realises Angela is connecting the wrong sort of dots. He pushes inside the door and puts his hands over Angela's nose and mouth. Angela tries to struggle. He restricts Angela's oxygen just enough for her to pass out. He throws her over his shoulder and takes her out to his car. He locks Angela in the boot.
He goes back inside and scans Maura's place looking for Jane. He finds her fast asleep in a bedroom. He laughs to himself, this is going to be easier than I thought; the smile reaches his face and he can't contain his delight. He wakes her, "Jane, Dr. Isles asked me to call in and see you. You're mother just let me in. You look terrible, how are you feeling," he asks.
"Hey" Jane whispers in a tired, sick and sleepy voice. "You didn't need to come here."
"Oh but I did; I need you to come with me Jane."
"Jackson I'm too sick to go anywhere today; I really don't think this is my hands. I think it's something else. Can I come and see you when I'm feeling better."
"You don't get it yet; do you Jane"
Jane looks at him with a cross between confusion and apprehension.
"Allow me to introduce myself; I'm John Hoyt. My brother Charles was rather taken with you; did you know that?"
Jane starts to move immediately, she needs to try to get away from him. He slaps her once in the face and with the extent of her injuries and illness it's all it takes to knock her out.