"JANE!"
Maura braced herself against the dashboard of the car they had hired as Jane swerved harshly around a corner.
"I shouldn't have let you drive. You're a liability in any car, but this is something else!"
"Well, I'm sorry" Jane bit back, jokingly. "But you try driving a strange car from the wrong side of the vehicle, and on the wrong side of the road! It's confusing!"
Maura leaned back in her seat, clutching the arm rest and fighting the childish urge to squeeze her eyes closed and ignore the dangers around them until they arrived at their destination.
"At least we didn't get a stick. Most British cars have manual gears."
Jane rolled her eyes. "In that case, I think we'd have been better off cycling."
"Probably. At least then I'd have had a modicum of control over my fate."
"I thought you didn't believe in fate."
Maura smiled at her friend. "Eyes on the road, Jane."
/
With the car parked in the public car park for the museum, Maura took a moment to allow her heart rate to return to normal.
"I'm driving back".
Jane scoffed at her friend's suggestion. "Hey! I got the hang of it by the end."
"Jane, you drove down that private road completely on the wrong side. What would you have done if something was coming the other way?"
Jane offered her hand out to her friend, pulling her out of the passenger seat.
"Well, if there had been a car coming the other way, I would have realised I was on the wrong side!"
Maura rolled her eyes. "Come on. We're meeting the professor in ten minutes."
/
"Dr Isles" Professor Mountford stretched out a hand for her to shake, "I hope you are well. I see you've brought a friend."
As the professor turned to face her, Jane took his hand and shook it firmly. "Jane Rizzoli" she said with a smile, "FBI."
Maura shook her head subconsciously. It didn't sound right. It would never sound right.
"Ladies, I asked a few of the Historical Preservation Society to join us today. I thought, since you are preserving Rachel's legacy, that they may be of more assistance than myself. I do have paperwork to attend to, but should you need me, I'll be in my office."
Professor Mountford walked slowly away from them, back towards his office. His tweed blazer hung loosely from his thin frame, his joints clearly swollen. "Have we cleared him?" Jane mumbled, hoping Maura would hear her. Maura shook her head. "I'm not sure; the police probably have. But is arthritis would have made it difficult to wield a hammer. Or a gun."
"Dr Isles, we were sorry to hear about Rachel."
An older woman with a clipped British accent stepped towards them, hand outstretched. "Marjorie Lawrence. Chair of the Bletchley Park Historical Preservation Society."
"Please, call me Maura."
After a round of introductions, Jane and Maura were prompted to take their places at a large, round table. Tea, cake and biscuits covered the surface.
"Please, help yourselves" one woman gestured to Jane, offering her a patterned china plate.
"Thank you" Jane said kindly, reaching out for a chocolate-covered cookie.
The women from the society were all at least seventy years old. It took Jane by surprise when they began to explain their purpose.
"The society began its life in a more covert group. When the secrets of Bletchley were still under government protection, certain former employees would meet a few times a year to discuss any rumours. You see, after the war, rumours began to fly about all sorts of covert operations. Some of them were true. Some of them were… ridiculous."
"So, how did you all get involved?" Jane asked, finding herself fascinated by the idea that a project so large had remained a secret for so long.
"Our parents." Marjorie explained. "We are, as some like to say, the children of Bletchley. My mother was a translator. Eileen's father worked, we have found, in naval communications. Brenda's parents met here- her father was fresh out of university when he was recruited."
"It's amazing" Jane commented with a smile. "So, now that the secret's out, what do you do?"
Eileen, a smaller woman with wiry grey hair and thick glasses, turned to face them both. "We continue the legacy. Our job is to protect the truth of what happened here. A lot of people went to their graves still keeping this secret, our job is to make sure the world remembers them as heroes."
"And what a wonderful job you are doing" Maura commented, raising her tea cup in a makeshift toast.
"And Rachel. How did she become involved?" Jane questioned.
"She had questions. At first, her focus had been purely on the roles women had here. It was an empowering time in history, and she found the shift in hierarchy fascinating. But later, before she- you know- died, she wanted to know more about particular people. The details."
"Which people?" Jane probed gently.
"Iris and Henry Pickering. Hut four and hut twelve."
"Did Rachel ever ask anything about Operation Mercurius?" Maura asked.
"Yes." Marjorie answered. "She did. She… she didn't quite have all the details. And, to be honest, neither did we. I'd never heard of it before she mentioned it."
"Do you know if Rachel had much contact with anyone else here?"
Marjorie took a second to think. "No. I mean, aside from Professor Mountford and the team who run the archives."
"The archives?"
"Oh yes. A lot of evidence was destroyed- burned- but we have everything that remained. Everything we could find is logged and stored here."
Maura nodded in satisfaction as Jane continued to question. "And nobody suspicious has been around?"
The women all shook their heads. "No, no. There hasn't been anybody new here, apart from Rachel, in over a year. We're a small bunch, and shrinking fast."
"Do you have a list of members I could copy? It would be helpful for our investigations." Jane smiled sweetly at the women around her.
"Professor Mountford has a copy in his office. I'm sure he will be able to copy it for you before you go. We… we're an intelligent bunch but I'm afraid email is a little out of our skill set."
/
Folding the list carefully and placing it in her back pocket, Jane walked a pace behind Maura as they made their way back to the car.
Her mind was heavy with questions. The case, the murder, sat at the fore as always, but she couldn't shake the image of Maura's toned form writhing in ecstasy, calling her name. The thought was enough to stir feelings deep in the pit of her stomach. Feelings she had successfully managed to ignore, to quash, for the last seven years. Watching the doctor's golden ponytail swing gently as she walked, Jane felt herself smile.
Their path had always been chaotic, full of danger, risk and pain, but there was nowhere else she would rather be.
"Jane!"
Maura's voice pulled her from her thoughts.
"I was kidding- you can drive if you want."
Nodding, Jane walked around the car and took the keys from Maura's waiting hand.
"Let's go."