I do not own Rizzoli and Isles
I only own the story
LET SLEEPING BLOOD LIE
Chapter 20 - Washing it away
"What have they done to you"
It is several moments before the detective is calm. Maura leans away to check on her, making eye contact.
"The water" it's a whisper and it is the only explanation Jane can give.
"Come" Maura stands up pulling Jane with her and walking her to the bed. Jane feels sick at the uncontrollable fear as well as the worry in Maura's face. She whimpers as they sit on the bed. Maura gently removes Jane's grubby and stained tee-shirt, it was white once, now it is grey and black with red orange blood smears across the front and yellow sweat marks around the collar and under the arms. Maura gets some warm soapy water and looks in Jane's eyes.
"Is this ok? She holds up the wet washcloth. Jane nods and Maura begins to wash her gently taking note of all the new bruises and cuts since last she did this. Jane sits stiffly allowing it to happen to her, trying not to move.
She has green and purple marks from her shoulders to her elbows. A few blueish bruises across her collarbone, like someone held her down. A few red marks on each shoulder, like bug bites or irritated needle marks. Other than the raw wrists, bruising on her left cheek, the gash above the right eyebrow and the tired dark eyes, she looks relatively healthy. After a thorough wash she puts a clean tee-shirt over Jane's head waiting for Jane to put her arms through the holes. Next she washes Jane's neck and moves up towards her face, again Jane pulls away from the touch looking at the ground.
"Jane, I'm not going to hurt you"
After a moment Jane nods that its ok.
Maura carefully wipes Jane's brow and cheeks and chin, wiping the old dirt and smears away as well as some blood that had dried near her ear and neck.
Next Maura pulls Jane's pants down off her hips, Jane lies back on the bed to help and stares at the ceiling. Maura washes the thighs and legs carefully and finds the same ligature marks on Jane's ankles. She is careful to clean the area without causing her pain. Jane doesn't show pain if she feels any, she is so still it's like she is unaware of her surroundings. Maura wraps the ankles in a soft gauze bandage to give a layer of protection and then slips on some Yoga pants and slides them up, Jane instinctively lifts her butt off the bed. Maura then wraps Jane's wrists as well.
Maura see's no emotional reaction at all from Jane which worries her more. She sits close to Jane and places a hand on Jane's thigh, waits a moment and slides her hand to Jane's hip expecting Jane to push her away, but she doesn't. She lies down on her side beside Jane and reaches out to touch her face and Jane turns away from her.
What is going on, she wonders silently. These reactions are not normal.
She whispers in Jane's ear, "Were you raped?"
"No" is the whispered response, "I am fine."
"Are you hurting anywhere?"
"No, I'm fine." Jane grunts defensively
"No you aren't fine Jane." Maura says wrapping an arm around Jane's chest and holding her tight then rests her lips and chin on Jane's shoulder giving it a gentle kiss.
"Are you hungry?"
Jane shrugs and just stares at the ceiling.
"Will you go to the hospital to get checked?"
"No" it's a whisper but also stern and annoyed.
After about 20 minutes of silence her eyes drift shut and her breathing evens out. Maura stays watching her until she is about to fall asleep also.
"Come back to me, Jane" a whisper so quiet she would never hear it anyway.
Monday 1pm
It's the sound of knocking that wakes her and she opens her eyes. Jane is now facing her and their foreheads rest against each other but Jane is still asleep.
Maura reaches out and strokes the side of jane's face, this time there is no pulling away. She leaves Jane to sleep and goes to let Vince inside.
"Hi Maura. How is she?" Vince steps inside removing his heavy coat and boots
"I don't know Vince. I am going to take a few days off to stay here until I'm sure."
"Understandable. Angela is with Frankie by the way. They just sorta filled her in, she isn't too happy, but she is going to give you and Jane space for a few days and stay with Frankie. We played the whole thing down a lot"
"Thank you Vince" Under her breath she silently adds so only he can hear in case Jane is awake, "She freaked out at the shower, she wouldn't go in."
She watches a certain strained look cross his face as he looks towards the ceiling almost like he can see through the floor to Jane and make a determination.
Maura puts the kettle on the stove and prepares some tea for them both. Korsak gratefully accepts it and they sit in silence sipping.
Maura finally turns to Korsak, "I don't know how to tell you this Vince. That night I came home, there was a parcel under my door. Inside was a photo of Jane and a note."
Korsak's eyebrows almost merge with his hairline in surprise.
Maura pulls out both the photo and the note giving them to Korsak to study. She watches him frown at the picture and then turn the note over in his hands to check the back.
"You destroyed evidence. Maura, this is serious."
Maura's face is appalled that he would think she would do that. She shakes her head at him. His brow is furrowed and deep.
"No I didn't destroy it. I faked destroying it." she whispers extremely quietly
Korask's face is full of relief, mainly because he really wouldn't want to arrest Maura
"How did you know it would work?" He queries
"I didn't. But I didn't have a choice. They want it look like an accident." She puts her head in her hands releasing the air out of her lungs heavily. She is frustrated by this situation.
"Has Jane told you anything?" he asks trying to find a clue in the photo of Jane.
"Nothing" Maura reply's despondently
"The erm, shower thing and the ligature marks..." Korsak looks darkly at Maura, "If she was tortured it won't be the scars on the outside that will be the problem. She will need time, and support. She will talk about it in time."
He doesn't sound 100% convinced himself and he looks back at the photo of Jane he still holds.
"If she can help us then we can catch them...otherwise we have nothing."
Maura nods and turns towards the stairs and to Jane standing there watching them both, a half smile on her face, leaning against the wall, arms crossed, eyebrows raised.
God, she is beautiful.
Maura can't help but think it, she is caught completely off guard, no time to catch herself and remain professional. Jane's teeshirt is a loose wide neck one and it is hanging off her shoulder completely exposing the skin of her neck and upper arm, her pants clinging to her long legs, her stance is confident and exuberates strength. She looks so much better after a sleep.
Korsak turns to see why Maura is frozen on the spot
"Jane. You look awful. What happened?" He teases, waving her into the room. She stalks towards them and sits down slowly.
"You hear much of that?" He looks at her gently
"None" she replies honestly
Maura puts some food on the counter for all three and they eat in silence. All deep in their own thoughts.
"Sooo...how are you?" Korsak ventures once food is no longer a temporary distraction
Jane half smiles briefly making eye contact. "I'm fine"
Korsak holds up the picture of Jane he had been looking at for her to see, and instantly all the colour drains from her face and she looks away quickly. She can't see that, not yet. She pushes Korsak's arm away from her and fights the sudden urge to hurl.
"Don't" she whispers, "Don't show me that."
It's a reaction close enough to what he expected and he immediately places it face down on the counter.
"What did they do?"
She stares at the counter eyes glazing over at the memories and she shakes her head to try to forget
Korsak asks again, "What did they want?"
Maura puts her hand on Jane's back causing a tear to fall from her eye. She places both hands over her face holding them there. What can she say.
She slides her hands away from her face wiping the stray tears with them and swallows. She starts rubbing her thumbs over her scars. Another horrific memory she has to bury to survive.
"It was an accident. Hamish fell. Case closed."
Maura and Korsak exchange a look over Jane's shoulder.
"Humph," Korsak scoffs, "Jane you just went through a lot, you were tortured. It's going to take time to heal from that. But it was no accident."
"He fell, and I'm fine." Jane says loudly, firmly
Korsak sighs, "I don't know what to say Jane. You know what Maura did for you? It is really important you tell us what happened so we can understand the link and catch them."
Jane glances to Maura, she does know what Maura did, and she can never repay that. The saying 'stuck between a rock and a hard place' doesn't even do this justice. Damned if you do and damned if you don't might be a better fit.
Your Maura, she does deserve to be safe
Jane has to protect her, that is the only thing she is sure of and right now there's only one way to achieve that.
"Korsak," she pleads, "What happened to me is nothing compared to what will happen IF I tell you anything other than it was an accident."
Korsak raises his eyebrows, "Yeah...and how did he get up there, inject himself with Cocaine, fall off the roof, and drag himself 20 meters to the obelisk without leaving a trail?"
Jane shrugs, "You'll have to figure that out"
Korsak narrows his eyes, "I would protect you Jane, we all would. We can put you in police custody, witness protection, the whole shebang."
Jane laughs cynically, she looks mildly amused in a despairing way. Of course she knows he would try, but she knows they would not succeed.
"You can't protect us Korsak, your intentions are good but it's impossible."
"Us?" He frowns perplexed
"I can't talk about this" Jane says gently, she cares about them, that is the problem. It isn't a situation she can't just run away from. She can't sacrifice herself. No, this was different, her actions could put everyone she cared about in danger, from rich and powerful people in high up places that could find her anywhere, anytime, they already proved that. They knew about Maura, and her family. "I'm going back to bed" she placed a hand on Korsaks shoulder as she passed him, giving a slight squeeze. "Thank you for caring Korsak, and I am really sorry I can't help you with the case and really sorry you have to repeat the 'bonesman' case again." Leaning even closer she whispers, "I am sorry Hamish won't get justice but I do strongly recommend you walk away from this too, and Maura, for everyones sake. It was an accident. I'm sorry."
"S'okay Jane, I'm sorry too, I understand" Korsak smiles sadly, getting up to leave, "Jane, Maura. talk to you later"
Jane walks back up the stairs into the dark bedroom. She sits on the end of the bed and contemplates her next move...
...to be continued...