Chapter Twenty
"I'm worried," Jane admitted to Maura over coffee that morning. "No one has heard from him since the funeral."
Maura looked across the island at Jane with sympathy. She, too, was growing concerned about the whereabouts of Frank. At first everyone just thought he needed some time alone. But it had been three days and no one had seen or heard from him. "And no one has seen him?"
Jane shook her head. "No one. He's not answering his phone. He's not at the office. Clearly he isn't at Ma's. Frankie checked Tommy's apartment but he wasn't there either." She absentmindedly stirred her coffee. "I had Korsak run his credit cards but there hasn't been any activity on them either. I thought maybe he was just staying at a hotel or something but not one we can find."
She could not get herself to go to Tommy's apartment since his death. She had just figured that her father hadn't wanted to go back there without Tommy either.
"Maura," she said with an edge to her voice. "What if..."
"Jane don't. Don't let your mind play the what if game. It will just drive you crazy. You have a missing person's report out for him. You've checked all the hospitals. I have the lab on the lookout for any John Does that match his description. I don't know where he is but we'll keep looking for him. Ok?" She rounded the island and pulled Jane into an embrace.
"How much more can this family take?" Jane asked trying not to let her mind travel where it kept wanting to travel.
"We'll find him Jane. You just have to believe that," Maura tried to as reassuring as she could be. But it was hard. Frank seemed to have disappeared without a trace.
"This was the last thing Ma needed," Jane said in frustration. Her mother was barely holding it together and the fact that Frank was missing or feared missing was almost more than the woman could take.
Maura tightened her embrace with Jane. She was worried about Angela too. They had Angela over for dinner the night before and Maura was concerned that Angela was on the brink of exhaustion. She clearly hadn't been sleeping but she was refusing to visit her doctor. She said she didn't want to go through the days in a medicated haze.
Neither knew what else to do but wait and hope Frank would return. As much as they both wanted to stick close to Angela they needed to get back to work. They had both been off for over a week but both had things to get back to. The Hoyt trial had started. Jane was set to testify later that afternoon and Maura was scheduled for first thing the next morning.
Jane released Maura from the embrace but stole a quick kiss before letting her go completely. Even with everything going on they had fallen into a very comfortable morning routine. Maura was the earlier riser of the two and would get up first. But she opted to exercise first thing in the morning. Jane liked to sleep as long as possible choosing to get her exercise in at the station in the afternoon or after her shift. But Jane was quicker in the bathroom than Maura and would inevitably be ready to go before the doctor even with being the second to get up.
She had finally figured out how to work Maura's coffee machine so she would get the coffee and breakfast going and it would ready by the time Maura was finally down the stairs and ready to go. But there was always time for them to have a cup of coffee together before heading to wherever they were going.
"I'm going to check out Tommy's place before I head to court," Jane said.
That surprised Maura. Jane hadn't wanted to go there opting to send Frankie on several occasions. "I could go with you," she offered.
Jane smiled. It was a sweet offer but Jane knew it was something she needed to do on her own. "Thanks, but I'll be ok. I need to see if Pop left behind any clue as to where he might be." She knew Frankie had looked around but Jane had the better 'detective' eye and knew she would always wonder if Frankie missed something if she didn't look herself.
"Are you sure?" Maura asked.
Jane simply nodded. "You need to get to back to work. I'm just going to swing by on my way to the courthouse."
"I need to make sure you are ok," Maura said with conviction. As much as Jane was worried about everyone in her family she wasn't really taking any time for herself which was concerning to Maura.
"I'll be ok. And if for some reason I'm not I'll call you. Ok?"
Maura nodded. She understood that was the biggest concession she was going to get from Jane that morning. "I'll keep my phone with me today."
They finished their coffee and then headed out. Maura to the station and Jane over to Tommy's apartment.
R&I
Jackson had been distraught after leaving the jail. The litany of emotions he was going through seemed to keep him on edge. The strongest emotion was fear. It was so strong it was palpable. He had initially returned to his apartment but the minute he was inside paranoia kicked in and he became convinced Hoyt was going to send someone after him.
So he threw a few clothing items into a bag and he retreated to one of the family summer houses. He had a feeling Hoyt knew everything there was to know about the Allister family but he was hoping that whoever was working with Hoyt on the outside wouldn't have access to each property his family owned. He deliberately picked the most secluded home in the area to hide out in hoping that he would simply be overlooked for some time. Time enough to regroup and figure out what to do.
He started carrying a gun. Somewhere along the way he became convinced that it was just a matter of when he would have to use it. Not if. And there was the question of who. Some pawn. Some minion could be asked to come after him. But there was a part of him that thought Charles would want the pleasure of killing him for himself.
When he wasn't letting the fear he felt dictate his movements and actions, Jackson felt deep loss and despair over failing and losing Charles from his life. Charles had become Jackson's whole world. Over the two years Charles had taken him under his wing he had felt alive. He had purpose. He had found what was to be his path in life. Charles was everything to him.
And he had lost that. Now he was lost. Unsure of what to do. Unsure of how to move forward. Just unsure about everything.
At some point during the night on the second day Jackson was in hiding a thought occurred to him. If he could somehow make Charles happy again then Charles would want him back. If he could make Charles happy then he wouldn't want to hurt him anymore. And he knew what would make Charles happy again.
Fixing his failure. His big mistake. One thing would make Charles very happy. It was the only thing Jackson could think of that could fix all of the mess he had caused and get Charles of bring him back into the fold.
The answer was so simple. Why had it taken him two days to figure it all out?
Resolved and renewed with new confidence and spirit, Jackson Allister headed out from his hideout now a man on a mission.
It was time to get Charles what he wanted.
Dr. Maura Isles.
R&I
Charles Hoyt sat expressionless in the courtroom listening to both sides of the courtroom ramble on and on about things that just no longer interested him. Dead people. Victims. Crimes. Justice and retribution. None of it mattered to him at all. He was still reeling from his missed opportunity with Dr. Isles.
This wasn't how all of this was supposed to happen. He wasn't supposed to be just sitting at a table letting inferior beings without a clue as to his true genius dictate the course of his life. He found the proceedings to be demeaning and insulting of his intelligence. Listening to both lawyers attempt to make 'legal' arguments was an exercise in patience and Hoyt just simply didn't have patience anymore.
He was supposed to be getting ready to watch the brilliant medical examiner in action. He had thought the DA would lead with her like he had during the preliminary hearing. Instead, he was stuck listening to simple minded police officers and so called detectives attempt to construct complete thoughts and actual answers to questions. Not one of them had any real measure of intelligence.
All morning he had listened to Boston's 'finest' describe their pathetic attempts at trying to identify him. Locate him. Arrest him. Only one of them even had a clue. She was the one who had caused his premature arrest. Rizzoli. She had been the one who found a print he forgot to get rid of and it was only because of his own mistake that she interceded and kept him from killing the Cordell woman.
He wondered if he would be marginally interested in Rizzoli's testimony. It at least piqued his interest. She never took the stand during the preliminary so he wasn't quite sure what to expect. At least she was something better to look at than old, fat males who seemed to come across as all high and mighty simply because they were cops.
His lawyer said the DA would end the day with Rizzoli's testimony. Hoyt was going to have to wait until the next morning before getting a chance to watch Dr. Isles in action. He had never cared that it was him she was burying with her testimony. That was incidental. He just wanted to be in the presence of someone he felt was equal, or at least close, to his intelligence.
He didn't hold it against the doctor for testifying against him. She spoke the truth. She spoke to the science of what he had done. She didn't pursue the emotional aspect. She pursued facts. He was guilty. Of the murders he stood on trial for now. But there were more. So many more. Oh what people didn't know. Didn't understand about him.
That may be the part bothered him the most about his plans getting blown up by Allister's failure. He was temporarily being deprived of showing Maura his true genius. His skills. His discoveries. His experiments. All of the things he knew only a fellow doctor, a fellow scientist, could truly appreciate. He just knew Dr. Isles would recognize his brilliance with the work his had done to that point and appreciate the scope of the work he was yet to complete.
He had been wrong trying to work through Allister. That was his crucial error. He thought he had trained the kid enough, taught him enough, that mistakes and miscalculations would have been avoided. But in the end that was his mistake. He should have just waited until he was free from the jail to go after Maura on his own. He should have never used an intermediary.
But that was going to be fixed. There would be a new plan. Next time he would handle things himself. He would see to the details personally. He wouldn't be denied his time with the ME. Not when he was sure she would understand him. He would just have to find the patience to strike at a better time. A right time.
He was putting the finishing touches on the details that would result in his escape. He only had to wait. Once this joke of a trial was over and he was finally being sent from the jail to prison. That's when he would make his move. Prisoner transport was always a complicated tactical task to arrange. That would be when he had his opportunity and he would most certainly take it.
R&I
Jane had been parked outside Tommy's apartment building for about fifteen minutes. She hadn't really made a move to get out of the car yet. She hadn't been inside Tommy's apartment since before his death. She was having a hard time even visualizing his place without him anymore. But she really did need to go inside. She thought there was a chance that her father had left behind some idea or clue as to where he had disappeared.
Her phone buzzed an incoming message.
You are either already on your way to the courthouse or still just sitting in your car. M
Jane just stared at her phone. It was almost eery how well that woman really knew her.
I'm not even going to ask you how you know that. I'm still in the car. J
She expected a text as an answer but her phone rang instead.
"Simple math," Maura didn't even bother to say hello. "You were either going to just go straight into the apartment and do a fast search which should have only taken you roughly twenty minutes given the size and available furniture in the apartment allowing for the possibility of you being on your way to the courthouse or you would still be having concerns about even going inside in the first place which would mean you would still be sitting in your car trying to talk yourself into going inside."
Maura's answer was the picture of pure logic. And Jane oddly loved her for it.
"Nice to know my cowardice can be chalked up to simple math," Jane said half in jest.
"You are not a coward Jane," Maura said in an insistent tone. "You've just suffered a great loss. You are entitled to feel anyway you want. It's perfectly reasonable to have trepidations about going into that apartment."
Hearing that coming from Maura made Jane feel better. "I still need to go inside though," she offered up.
"I can still join you," Maura offered. "It'd only take me a few minutes to get there."
Jane found herself shaking her head into the phone. "No Maura. I can do this. I can," she said in a manner meant to try to convince her she was right.
"Yes, yes you can," Maura agreed. "If you don't want me there in person, I thought I'd offer my phone services to you. I can stay on the line while you go inside if that will help."
Again, the offer was so genuine and sincere it touched Jane deeply. "Remind me to tell you how much I love you later," Jane said and smiled. "Actually, remind me to show you exactly how much I love you later." Her smile got bigger.
"I think I can remember to do that," Maura answered back.
"Ok, you need to get back to work and I need to get out of this car," Jane said now determined to man up and go inside.
"I'm just a call away," was all Maura added.
"I know. And thank you," Jane said as she disconnected the call while getting out of the car.
R&I
She slowly made her way up the stairs to Tommy's apartment. She fished around for the key once she got to the door. She was going to have to go inside sooner or later. The landlord was giving them as much time as they needed to handle Tommy's belongings but neither Frankie or Jane wanted to put that off indefinitely.
She finally found the key and let herself into the apartment. Crossing the threshold and finally being inside was oddly anti-climatic. She hadn't been sure what she was expecting but suddenly being inside she now felt silly having put this off for as long as she had.
She reminded herself why she was there in the first place and she immediately went to work searching the apartment. Within seconds her cop instincts kicked in and she started viewing the apartment like it was a crime scene waiting to be decoded and not just her brother's apartment. She had handled thousands of apartment searches before and she had always found that if a person knew how to let it, an apartment could tell a tale about what had occurred within its walls.
So room by room she started looking for clues. She stopped looking at Tommy's stuff and instead focused in her attention on Frank's belongings. That was the tale that needed to be told. What happened to her father?
The first thing Jane noticed was the overall lack of Frank's personal items. Virtually no clothes except a stray shirt or sock here or there. No toiletry items in the bathroom. Not even a toothbrush. Virtually no sign that Frank had ever stayed there let alone any sign that he had recently been the only occupant.
Jane jumped to one immediate conclusion. Frank had taken all of his stuff and left. When and to where Jane didn't know. But it was clear that Frank wasn't here anymore. She rifled through some papers hoping to see some notes scribbled down or any indication as to where Frank may have gone to. To that end she didn't find anything. She was about to give up the search when she decided to check one last place.
She walked over to the couch and pulled the cushions out a bit. She looked before blindly sticking her hands in between the couch cushions. Her brother hadn't been the tidiest of the three Rizzoli children. On her third exploration of the couch cushions she came up with a cell phone that she knew wasn't her brother's. And it wasn't her father's unless either had suddenly starting decorating their phones with pink, sparkly phone case covers.
Jane looked at the phone. Multiple missed calls and texts. The phone may have been in the couch for some time. But it still had power so not too long. Jane scrolled through the contacts list but didn't recognize any names with the exception of 'Frank' and her father's cell phone number. Seeing this Jane got a bad feeling about who the owner of the phone was. She then scrolled through the texts and finally found one that at least identified the owner by first name.
Karen.
Frank's floozy whore.
Jane grabbed her phone and dialed a number. "Frost, I need a favor. Can you reverse lookup a name and address from a cell phone number for me?"
"Sure," Frost agreed. That was relatively simple. He wrote down the number Jane gave him and pulled up an app on his computer. He typed in the number and within a few seconds he had the information. "Karen Rasmussen," he said. She lives just off Boylston St."
"Thanks. Can you text me that address?" she asked.
"Sending it now," he said. "Need anything else?"
"Not at the moment," she answered. "Thanks."
Jane checked the time. She still had plenty of time before she needed to be at the courthouse. She had the time to return a phone.
R&I
The knock on her door startled her. She hadn't been expecting anyone that morning. The last thing she was in the mood for was some door to door salesman or some religious nut wanting to help her find the Lord. So she was quiet as she walked to her door and looked out the peephole.
She swallowed hard when she saw who it was. Frank's daughter. Frank's cop daughter. She wasn't going to open the door.
"Karen Rasmussen," Jane said loud but not too loud yet. "Boston police. Open up."
Karen stood at the door not sure what she should do. She could just wait for Jane to leave.
"Karen, I know you are in there. I see the shadow from your feet under the door." It was a cop instinct to watch for shadows on the ground to help indicate a person was on the other side of the door. "Look, I have your phone. I just want to return it to you." She wanted to talk too but she would cover that after she got the woman to open the door.
"Are you armed?" she asked. It was probably a stupid question but she was sure Jane was furious and the woman was a cop.
"Yes," Jane answered honestly. "I'm a detective. But I'm not going to pull out my gun. Please. Just open the door."
Karen put the chain up and opened the door just enough to say it was open. "What do you want?" she asked.
Jane waved her phone at her. "I told you. I found your phone and I want to return it."
Karen didn't completely believe her. "Slide it through the crack," she said.
"No," Jane replied. "I have a few questions I need to ask you first."
"I'm not discussing your father with you," she said dismissively.
"Trust me, that's the last thing I need. I don't even want to think about what the two of you did or do or will do. What I need to know is if you know where he is. We haven't been able to find him for the last three days and we are just worried about him." She was proud of how calm she had remained. She needed answers and knew the minute she raised her voice the door would close and she wasn't prepared to explain to Cavanaugh why she kicked in a door of her father's floozy.
"I don't know where he is," she answered. "I haven't seen him since the night of your brother's funeral." She felt bad about even mentioning that to Jane. She really wasn't trying to hurt any of Frank's family. The situation had just gotten out of hand.
"That makes you the last person to see him," Jane said. "Please. I really do need to ask you some questions. We have a missing person's report open on him."
Karen sighed and against her gut instinct she relented and opened the door allowing Jane to enter into the apartment.
"Thank you," Jane said handing Karen her phone.
"Where was it?" she asked.
"Couch cushion," Jane said assuming the woman would understand the couch at Tommy's.
Karen nodded. "It must have fallen down that night," she said absentmindedly. Realizing what she said she looked up. "I'm sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen. I hadn't planned on anything happening that night. Honest."
Jane wasn't exactly sure what the woman was talking about but she was talking and Jane was an expert at getting people to think she knew more than what she did. "What exactly were you expecting to happen when you ended up at my brother's apartment with him?" she asked. It wasn't a stretch to assume that much. Clearly the woman felt bad about something, the phone ended up in the couch and Jane doubted she had stopped by to see Tommy.
"I thought he was going to break it off with me," she admitted. "I thought he was going to tell me he was going back to his wife." It took a minute for her to realized Frank's wife was Jane's mother. She was suddenly nervous again.
Jane took another calculated leap. "Instead, you two end up screwing each other," she said as if she knew it for a fact.
"I don't know how it happened. We were talking and then one thing lead to another." She couldn't really defend what she had done.
"Did it bother you at all that he was married?" she asked trying to hide her anger.
"I don't think it's in my best interest to answer that," she said.
"You said you saw him the night of Tommy's funeral. What time?" she said letting her off the hook about being a whore so she could get some answers about her father.
"He came over at about 1 am," she said. When Jane raised an eyebrow she felt she should explain. "He was upset. I'd honestly never seen anyone as upset as he was. He kept saying the same things over and over and I couldn't get him to stop. And then he left. He wasn't here for more than fifteen minutes." She suddenly needed Jane to understand that she hadn't slept with Frank that night.
That didn't make much sense to Jane so she asked, "What was he saying over and over?"
"It didn't make much sense to me but he kept mumbling two things. He kept saying 'my fault' and 'he saw' but I honestly couldn't get Frank to explain anything. And then he just left."
Jane thought that through. What was his fault? Saw what? She looked at Karen again and suddenly it hit her.
Oh God!
"Karen, when exactly was it that you left that phone at the apartment?" Jane asked trying to stay calm enough not to scare the woman into not answering.
She thought for a minute, "It would have been last Friday night," she answered.
That was the night Tommy died.
My fault. He saw.
Oh no!