Innocence

Part 9

Heavy subject matter ahead. Trigger warning of child death. Rating is M.

Maura sat on a bunk in her new cell that was segregated from the rest of population. Tom, her lawyer, had demanded it after he had a chance to take a good look at her face once Jane had left. He had also seen to it that an outside physician had examined her injuries.

The doctor had treated her with kindness, but Maura could tell that jail was the last place the doctor wanted to be. It was all over now though. Tom had left with her written accounting of what happened in the days that lead up to her incarceration; which amounted to absolutely nothing until Jane and her team came to arrest her.

Now instead of lesson plans and planting sweet kisses on Jane's lips; she was in here. The cinder blocks were painted a dull, flat grey that clashed nicely with her orange jump suit. Just maybe if closed one eye and squinted, the walls could pass for dove grey, then it wasn't so bad.

There was nothing else except for a solid steel door and a scratchy wool blanket and a next to nothing pillow with even less desirable sheet set that looked ready to disintegrate at the slightest touch. At least she was alone. Alone she could deal with. Alone was good. Yes, alone was indeed good for her.

Maura bowed her head and went to that place, the same place she went when she was a kid to escape whatever… whatever was being visited upon her body. They could keep her here, physically; but her mind was her real key to freedom. She rocked to the familiar rhythm that only she could hear as she blanked out her surroundings. Once again with her mind she was gone. Losing herself in another time and place, even another world.

It was passed midnight and Jane couldn't, try as might, quiet her mind as she tossed and turned in her bed. The case was eating away at her. No matter what avenue of questioning she pursued, she was either shut down or it didn't pan out to anything. Korsak's query still played havoc with her mind. Did Mezzler have an agenda? If so what was it? What could Maura have possible done to a man that was almost twice her age?

Age…age…what if it wasn't Maura who wronged Mezzler. What if it was someone Maura was related to that wrong the older Lieutenant? What if he wanted to go after Maura as payback against someone he couldn't touch?

Jane pushed herself up to sit on the edge of her bed. As she thought along those lines it made perfect sense. Well, Mezzler was going to have to get over his grievance; nobody was going to railroad a Jane Rizzoli case.

Jane got up and quickly used the bathroom and showered. Thirty minutes later she was on the road headed back to BPD.

3am found Jane in cold case records, hip deep in cases Mezzler worked. Jane knew she didn't have time to read every folder so she narrowed her search to the ones pertaining to sex crimes. She had to admit Mezzler was one hell of a detective. Sex rings, human trafficking, prostitutions, he had them all under his arrest belt. As Jane went through the stacks, one caught her eye. Plaintiff Judith Mezzler.

Jane ripped open the file and devoured the information.

Judith Mezzler, age 16 filed a complaint against Constance Isles. Judith was an art student of Constance Isles. After claiming that she saw raw talent in the young student, Constance Iles, age 42 suggested Judith take on extra tutoring. Both Judith and Judith's parents agreed to allow her to stay over and on some weekends actually stay over at the Isle's estate to receive private tutoring. During one of the weekends, Judith claimed that Constance Isles made sexual advances towards her. Judith demanded to go home, but Isles refused to contact her parents until almost two hours later.

Jane looked for the rest of the notes, where were the ones containing the arrest? Jane went back through the box, nothing. She paused for a moment and thought things through. Who was, Judith Mezzler, how was she related to Lt. Mezzler? Jane gathered the rest of the folders and filed them back in the evidence box. It was time to do some electronic sleuthing. She tucked the box away on the warehouse like shelving and took the Judith Mezzler folder with her.

The rising sun found Jane hunched over her keyboard rapidly tapping out search parameters, trying to piece together a plausible hypothesis of the who and the why of everything Mezzler and the older Isles. The trail was rife with leads and finger pointing, but then everything just once again stopped.

Jane pushed her hair back and closed her eyes. Footsteps entered homicide and headed straight for her. A light tap on her desk and the wafting aroma of fresh coffee caused a surly groan of appreciation.

Korsak had to smile. A hard working Jane was a sight to see. He looked down on her desk and saw the cold case she was reading.

"Oh boy, Jane? We need to talk. Let's take a walk." Korsak said gently while tucking the folder into Jane's side desk drawer, away from prying eyes. Once again, Jane grunted and stood to follow Vince out into the daylight.

The chilly air hit Jane like a hammer. The briskness pushed the weariness away. She took a sip of her coffee and enjoyed the rich flavor and waited for Korsak to speak his peace.

"I see you found Judith's folder." Korsak stated.

Jane nodded still waiting.

"It was a bad time Jane. Mezzler was Judith's older brother. He loved that girl to pieces."

"What happened, Vince?"

"Constance Isles happened. The kid loved art. Eat, breathe and slept it. Then she found Constance, or Constance found her. Judith was beyond pleased that an artist of Constance Isles caliber took notice of her work. She mentored Judith for around a year, then she tried to have her way with Judith. Poor kid was not a day over fifteen."

Silence hung in the air as Jane mulled over this new bit of information.

"Where is Judith now?"

Korsak looked off into the distance and separated himself from the facts as they were taught to do in law enforcement. Stay objective, but he still could not stop his eyes from tearing at the memory.

"She's dead Jane."

Jane gasped at the words. Nothing in the reports even remotely pointed to Judith's demise.

"Poor kid. She was a nervous wreck from then on. Not only had her hero tried to hurt her, the stigmatism that went along with something like that back then was unbearable. Then when the governor stepped in and squashed the investigation Judith lost it. She ran away from home. We looked, we all were searching. Those that were on shift asked around, those of us off all volunteered eight hours every day; we were determined not to file her under missing. Then two days later we found her body. It was washed up on the shore. She left a note in a Ziploc baggy we found in her pants pocket stating that she wanted to be cleansed before she saw the face of God."

Jane swallowed hard and turned towards the horizon. That was the link. If Constance wasn't going to pay, then Mezzler wanted Maura to pay for her mother's crimes. Still there was Nikki Vickers damning statement. Without that, Mezzler had nothing.

"Vince, as awful as that is, Maura is not her mother. For Mezzler to make Maura his target is deranged."

"Yes and I think now you know the key to the why. Now, now you have to find the how." Korsak was once again trying to be mysterious.

"Come on Vince. Maura's trial is tomorrow, we should be working together. This woman's life is on the line."

Jane paused and thought.

"Can we re-file charges against Constance? Judith was a minor so the statute of limitation doesn't apply."

"No Jane, that is as per the governor. The Isles do have power in this city as well as those all across the world."

"Then why are they letting Maura fry, Vince? She's one of them, why?"

"Beats me Jane, maybe it's just not the right time to come to her aid?" Vince suggested.

Jane closed her eyes and exhaled loudly. She didn't say it but now it came down to two outcomes and neither were good. First one, Maura goes to jail. Mezzler gets his retribution. Second way, Maura is exonerated and Mezzler is investigated for unilaterally singling out a private citizen for revenge because of their familial relations to a person that wronged his family in the past.

Nope, no good outcome either way it went. Now she only had hours to find the real truth or an innocent woman may be forced to pay for a crime she did not commit.

Jane and Korsak silently headed back in to BPD, they would keep digging until not one stone was left unturned.