A/N: Many thanks for all the reviews/follows/favourites - means a lot :D
"Aaargh!" Amelia, or Senior Criminalist Raine as she now was, screamed as she tripped over the leg of the chair that had been carelessly left in the middle of the Homicide Department room, and landed, face first, on the worn carpet, the file of papers in her hand scattered across the room.
The detectives around erupted in laughter, just as Rizzoli walked into the room, scowling.
"Assholes." She said as she helped Amelia gather the debris of her accident. "Any normal set of people would come and help." Rizzoli rolled her eyes, handing the file to Amelia.
"Actually, it's for you." Amelia said as she handed the file back to the detective. "I don't have email yet, so brought it up in person. Wouldn't bother reading it though. Nothing out of the ordinary - no alcohol or drugs in her system, wasn't on any medication, final meal was a healthy grilled chicken breast with a leafy green salad, no DNA on her body other than her own - we're still under the impression it was suspicious? But I can confirm the time of death was approximately 12:05am, so that may narrow your search."
"No fancy medical or Chemistry terms. I like you." Jane said with a half-smile. "The MEs team don't seem to understand how much I hated AP Chemistry." She joked.
"Know the feeling - GCSE was as dull as ditchwater. A Level was better though." Amelia sympathised.
"GCS-whats?" Jane asked, confusion filling her expression.
"In case you haven't guessed already from the accent, I'm not American, I'm British." Amelia answered quickly. "GCSEs are like the High School Diploma here, I think? English schools are 2 years ahead of America, so I left school at 16." She finished, slightly unsure of American culture.
"That explains a lot," Jane said. "I'll be honest and say you fit in pretty well here though. You been in the States long?"
"Since my final year at College, so nearly 7 years." Amelia replied. "Feels like forever though - wouldn't go back."
"Right, well I suppose we'd both better get back to work." Amelia finished. "Murder to solve and all that!"
"Right," Jane said, turning back to the murder board, report in hand. Now was time to take a statement from Suzie's former employer: Dr Isles.
***In a BPD conference room***
"I'm gonna do this one on the record, Maura." Jane said as she set up the recording equipment, and placed her notepad on the hard, wooden table in front of her. "I promise I'm not interrogating you, just this one may need to go as court evidence is all." She finished, smiling.
Suddenly, her tone turned serious, as she pressed the record button. "Detective Jane Rizzoli, interview relating to the suspicious death of Suzie Chang." She turned to Maura. "Please state your full name and occupation."
Maura took a deep breath, then began. "Doctor Maura Dorothea Isles, Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts."
"Thank you." Jane continued. "Okay then, Doctor Isles, for exactly how long was the victim employed by you?"
"6 years, 2 months and 13 days - from September 2008 until last Tuesday. She came with an excellent reference." Maura responded, her fact retention evident.
Jane rolled her eyes just slightly, but couldn't help smile at how adorable her girlfriend's genius brain was. "Just over 6 years then. Why was her employment terminated?"
"It wasn't," Maura responded shortly. "Suzie handed me her letter of resignation, and asked it be implemented with immediate effect. She cited "needing new challenges" as her reasoning. Thought it was a bit suspicious, but there's nothing I could do to stop her. I advertised for her replacement immediately."
"That was pretty quick." Rizzoli noted.
"I can't work without a Senior Criminalist, the entire department would fall apart - I tried to get her to reconsider, but she was determined. Naturally I would've given her an excellent reference should she have required it." Isles stated matter-of-factly.
"You mentioned Suzie came with a pretty good reference - who gave this?" Was Rizzoli's next question.
"A Professor John Rayer, Head of Forensic and Chemical Sciences at Boston Cambridge University. I have worked with him before - Suzie had been taught by him as a Postgraduate student."
"Okay." Jane continued. "Did you know Suzie Chang on a personal level?"
"Not especially. I had seen her socially with my forensic team, played baseball and thrashed the Homicide Department," Both women laughed at the memory. "But never really outside of work. We got on well - everyone in the MEs office did -we just had our own separate lives outside of the workplace." Maura finished.
"Do you know anything about Suzie's relationships outside of work?" Jane pressed.
"As I didn't see her often socially, not really. I know she had been romantically involved with one of the METs, but I couldn't tell you the status of that." Maura answered.
"Okay, finally, in the weeks prior to her death, did you notice anything unusual about Suzie's behaviour?" Was Jane's final question.
"No...actually yes," Jane perked up at this. "The Monday before she resigned, she came into work late, with no prior warning or explanation. Traffic wasn't an issue, and Suzie was always punctual. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but it was unusual. She did seem a little stressed too, but I put that down to her being late." Maura finished.
"Okay, thank you Doctor Isles. Interview finished." Jane said as she stopped the tape.
"Thanks for that, Maur," Jane smiled as the two women made there way out of the room.
"Oh," Jane began again. "You never told me your new Senior Criminalist was English?"
"Yes, not all people from England have accents like Casey," Maura said. "Senior Criminalist Raine went to Oxford University - very bright. Did her Postgraduate training under the same Professor as Suzie," Her voice faltered slightly, still not quite over the shock. "He was also one of Amelia's references." She finished as Jane walked into the Precinct, and Maura went back downstairs to the morgue.
"Go through everything." Jane commanded shortly. "Find out why Chang was late for work, and what distressed her on Monday."