The next morning Maura came into the kitchen and smiled as she saw her wife sitting at the kitchen counter reading. "You couldn't sleep anymore?"
Jane shook her head without looking up and sipped her coffee. "No, too many thoughts in my head. So I decided to get up and look at the file again."
Maura opened a cabinet and took out a cup. "And the kids?"
Jane pointed in the direction of the living room. "Alexis is watching T.V. and the twins are in the playpen."
"And Angela?"
Jane looked at the kitchen clock and sighed. "I gave her a free day so she can spend it with Cavanaugh. Sarah is on duty anyway today."
Maura poured herself a cup of coffee and drew her eyebrows together. "Are you alright?"
Jane looked up and nodded slightly. "Yeah, why?"
Maura sipped her coffee and shrugged. "You sound a little dull."
Jane closed the manila folder and leaned back with a heavy sigh. "It's just ... This case started out so simply and now everything points to Pamela Wilson."
Maura sat next to her and took the file. She opened it and scanned the pages. "What do you mean?"
Jane sipped her own coffee and leaned forward on her elbows. "Pamela told us that she was with her sister in law when Aaron got killed and Chloe Wilson confirmed that. But Chris said that Pamela was obsessed by the thought that she could get in contact with her son Leon. But then Peter told us yesterday that he tried to protect her because he knew that his half-brother was just a con man."
Maura ran a finger along her bottom lip thoughtfully as she read. "Do you think that she saw red and killed Aaron because he lied to her?"
Jane sipped her coffee and took a deep breath. "Maybe. The only question is, how did she get that damn potassium cyanide?"
"You think there's an accomplice."
"Yes."
Maura closed the folder again and took her coffee cup in her hand. She rolled it in between her fingers. "That sounds reasonable. And you are sure that her brother hasn't helped her?"
Jane drew her eyebrows together and shook her head. "No, his alibi is strong. The key card was only used twice, when Chris checked in and after he checked out. And the floor was too high to get out of the hotel any other way. The accomplice must be a friend or an unhappy client who helped her. Maybe they met at the studio."
Maura looked at her and gave Jane a soft kiss. "You will find the accomplice, Jane."
Jane smiled and nodded in agreement. "I know."
Maura smiled back and sipped her coffee.
Jane stood up and walked to the sink to put her cup away. "If I don't make it home for dinner tonight, don't wait for me."
"You know that I always wait for you." Maura replied saucily.
Jane chuckled and shook her head.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Jane sat behind the steering wheel and stared out of the windshield as she clenched her teeth.
Maura watched her tense facial expression and laid an hand on Jane's leg. "You sure that you want to do this today?"
Jane was silent for a moment as she considered the answer. "You know ... before Foley told me that Masterson was a psychopath, Ryan gave me some good advice. He said that I was ... so ... sad because I never visited Frost after his funeral. And he said that it would help if I went to the cemetery but that it would hurt. That was at the evening Masterson and I had the fight in headquarters. We went to the Dirty Robber and he said that. It's kinda odd because he is a serial killer. However, the next day I went to the cemetery and visited Frost. And it did hurt, but it was also a relief. Well, it didn't help that Tommy was also there because he said some stupid things but he also said the right things too. He encouraged me to talk to a stone. To make a long story short, yeah, I want to do this today because I couldn't make it on the anniversary of his death."
Maura bit her bottom lip and nodded. "Okay. I'll stay here."
Jane grabbed the small bouquet of flowers from the back seat and gave her wife a kiss. "I won't be long."
Maura smiled reassuringly. "Take all the time you need, Jane."
Jane got out of the car and walked straight to Frost's grave.
Maura watched her wife and sighed as Jane fidgeted with the plastic around the bouquet while she talked to Frost. She absolutely knew how her wife felt. She felt the same way. There was a deep empty place in her heart that Frost left behind after he was gone. She could also still feel the awful pain that never seemed to go away. Maura missed him too. She missed Jane making fun of Frost because he lost his food during an autopsy.
After he died she had told Korsak in a private conversation that their team would be okay again ... after a while. And, it almost was. But it would never be the same again. It was good and it was nice, but Frost couldn't be replaced. And thank God, Frankie didn't try to replace him. He was a good successor in his own way, and he toed the line pretty well. To be honest he had three pretty great mentors. Frankie didn't doubt Jane's or Korsak's skills which was the opposite of Masterson who had tried to oust Jane - out of her job and out of their relationship. As soon as her brother-in-law was unsure of something in his job, he asked Jane or Korsak what he should do next. And that only happened once in a blue moon.
As similar as he and Jane were in their private lives, they were just as similar in their jobs. Well, Frankie was still new at this, but Maura was pretty sure that he would gain more experience and improve soon. A tear ran down her cheek and she wiped it away as soon as the driver's door opened.
Jane sat down behind the steering wheel and looked at her wife. "Is everything okay?"
Maura sniffed and smiled sadly. "Yes. I just got lost in my thoughts."
Jane wiped away another tear from Maura's cheek and sighed. "Why don't you take a moment with Frost for yourself, Maura?"
Maura closed her eyes and shook her head. "I was here last week. I am fine, Jane."
Jane scrutinized Maura for a moment and turned the key in the ignition. "Okay, let's go."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Frankie turned around as Jane entered the bullpen and raised his eyebrows. "You okay?"
Jane nodded and put her jacket over the back of her chair. "Yeah, why?"
"Your a little late.", Frankie replied.
Jane looked at the board and crossed her arms over her chest. " I had to do something before I came here. Something stinks in this case."
Jane had changed the subject so fast that Frankie knew his sister didn't want to talk about it. He took his notepad from his desk and walked to her. "I have a odd feeling about it too. I stewed over my notes the whole evening when I got home yesterday."
Jane thumbed through his notes and drew her eyebrows together. She held the page in front of of her brother's nose. "What's that?"
Frankie paused and shrugged. "That's a caricature of you. You crossed my mind."

Jane hit the top of his head with the notepad and smirked as he winced. "Yeah, that's the meaning of thinking about an clue.", she sobered and sighed. "What conclusion did you come to?"

Frankie put the notepad into the inside pocket of his jacket and pointed at Pamela's picture on the board. "I think that someone made the connection to Pamela Wilson. The murderer tried to set Peter up because there was this accusation of his abusive of Leon. But Peter had a solid alibi. His professor and his boyfriend both confirmed that he was with them. But Pamela only had her sister-in-law for an alibi."
Jane looked long at him. "So you think that there is a third party?"
Frankie nodded slowly and sighed. "You don't?"
Jane looked at the board and her eyes traveled to Peter's photo. She tilted her head and pointed at him. "Peter said that there was a vendetta between him and Aaron.. How far did it go?"
Frankie walked to his desk. He understood what Jane meant and tapped the keyboard of his computer. He frowned deeply. "Peter was in the hospital a year and a half ago."
Jane's head snapped in his direction. "Why?"
Frankie read the report. "He was badly beaten up. He had a punctured lung, a broken hip, and a severe concussion. He also had severe bruising and a broken arm. He reported it as a simple robbery."
Jane narrowed her eyes. "Let's talk to him again."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Jane scanned Peter's room and was impressed that it was quite organized.
Peter sipped his water and frowned. " Does the appearanceof the two of you are here mean that I am not longer a suspect?"
Jane's eyes snapped at him. "Guess again ... Anyway, why didn't you tell us that your brother beat you up?"

Jane's eyes snapped at him. "Guess again ... Anyway, why didn't you tell us that your brother beat you up?" Peter put down his glass and stared at his feet for a moment. Then he looked up. "No matter what happened, Aaron was my brother. We had some differences." "Well, this time Aaron ended up poisoned.", Frankie stated. Peter glared at him. "I am aware of that. Thank you. I'm the one who has to plan the funeral." Jane scrutinized him. "You always took care of covering for Aaron, didn't you? But he was unthankful after you started to warn his clients about him after James Riggs' sister killed herself. That was the reason you'd started warning people, am I right?" Peter looked at her and sighed. "I didn't care what he did as long as no one got hurt. No matter what you think, Aaron was a good guy. I mean he was a rascal, but a good person ... until he discovered the esoteric scene. I told him he should stop with that shit, but Aaron told me that it was a great source of money and that those dorks would not recognize when they were fooled. And when Pamela started to go to Aaron, I begged her to not, but I already told you that." he paused and licked his lips." I also told her that I would look for another medium if she really believed in such things - but she was so convinced by Aaron." "And then he beat you up." Jane said as the puzzle started to form a picture. Peter nodded in agreement. "That was almost a year ago. And then suddenly I was a suspect in a murder that didn't existed." Jane drew her eyebrows together as she started to understand that all that Peter wanted to do was to protect his older brother. "Why didn't you tell us this when you were at the station?"

"You didn't ask." Peter replied quickly and Jane wanted to kick his ass.

Frankie looked at Peter. "So, all you tried to do was to protect your brother."

Peter looked at him and frowned. "Yeah. Just because the business calls itself esoteric it doesn't mean that it is a safe business."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Jane wanted to know confused.

Peter sipped his water. "Aaron got threats from other so called mediums. I thought you knew about that."

Jane clenched her teeth and resisted the urge to strangle Peter. "If we would have known about that, we would have asked you about it. Where are those threats?"

Peter looked at her. "He kept them in his studio slash apartment. If you didn't find them, I don't know where they are."

Frankie raised his eyebrows as he saw that Jane's facial muscles twitch and prepared himself to hold her back as soon as she as decided to jump at Peter and beat the shit out of him.

•••••••••••••••

Jane stomped down the stairs and pointed at the front door of the house. "If I wasn't on duty ... or a cop, I would have beaten him until he had a sense of logic." She almost yelled. "Jesus Christ, he sat in the interrogation room. How could he not have known that that information was important?"

Frankie fished his car keys out of his pocket and looked at her. "That changes a lot of things, right?"

Jane opened the passenger door. "That changes everything. We have to start all over again. God, I could ...", she stopped herself. "No, I don't want to say it out loud because if something happens to Peter, then I'm a suspect."

Frankie chuckled and sat down behind the steering wheel.