I own nothing Rizzoli and Isles
LET SLEEPING BLOOD LIE
Chapter 21 - The funeral
Monday 7pm
"Shut the window. You quit?"
"It's 'door' Maura. And no I didn't quit, I excused myself from this case."
"But, why?"
"I thought it would be most obvious to you of anyone. You faked destroying evidence to make it look like an accident to get me back. It has to look like an accident." Jane's voice is squeaky with aggravation
"I wasn't told to make it look like an accident"
"You weren't?"
"No Jane. Were you?"
"Well," Jane rubs her face, dropping her tone even lower, "Yes. I have to keep it an accident. And the only way to do that right now is to not be involved. Cause I won't lie about what I know. I can't purger myself on the stand if it goes to trial. And mainly because you and I could be in danger."
Maura watches Jane as her eyes dilate and her pulse quickens. She can tell it is upsetting her so she moves on quickly, "I was told to destroy the evidence so his death will continue to look like an accident. But that note wasn't the only thing suspicious about his death. It was the strongest piece mind you."
"If they find out you didn't destroy it..." She whimpers at the thought of what they might do to Maura
"They won't know and they can't do anything Jane. Even IF they could hurt me the note would still be out there."
Jane stand so abruptly her chair falls backwards on the tiles causing her to cringe, she turns to face Maura directly and leans close to her. She is angry, not at Maura, but she uses the anger to make a point, "NO Maura, No. They can make it disappear if they wanted. They made me disappear didn't they. There's no way you would have found me unless they let me go, they could do the same to you, to Korsak, to the whole damn BPD if they felt like it. We are not safe and this investigation has to end. You don't know them, you don't know who they are, what they can do, what they...have...done. We have to do what they want. And yes I'm aware I sound paranoid but I don't care...we have to destroy that note." she growls.
Maura taken aback at the outburst can only whisper horrified, "You can't"
"Well, you won't" Jane spits angrily
Maura's eyes become wet and she furiously shakes her arms trying to calm herself down
Jane's face softens, she should have known that anger wouldn't work, so she tries another approach, "Please Maura, please for me. I can't loose you. I..." a few tears fall down her own face, "I- I love you." she whispers softly
Maura wipes the tears from her own face with the back of her sleeve and reaches over to wipe away Jane's and then she places both hands on either side of Jane's face, "I can't destroy it. I don't care about me, but it protects you doesn't it, us having it, like leverage."
Jane shakes her head, "No, It doesn't protect me."
"We can't give into fear, Jane, It's not like you to give up, to walk away. You're a fighter, you've never backed down. You-you jump off bridges and shoot yourself, you don't do this...you don't let the bad guys win. It's not worth it Jane."
Her soft hopeful smile is met with dark eyes and a menacing features as Jane pulls away from her hands and stands staring at her friend in dismay
"Maura, You deserve to be safe, and I will do whatever it takes for that to happen. I'm not being crazy or paranoid here. They have already won...we didn't stand a chance before it even began. And I will do what I have to Maur'."
"Just explain it to me Jane, I don't understand." Maura cries out in bewilderment
"I don't know how to..." then Jane reaches out and strokes Maura's jawline, "I want to tell you but I don't know how. I just know how powerful they are."
Jane leans in for a kiss, a strong seductive needy kiss which carried more meaning than could be passed through words. A kiss that said hello and goodbye and everything in between.
Then Jane simply turned and walked out the front door.
Tuesday 7:20 am
Maura wasn't sure she would see Jane again for a few days at least, so she was completely surprised when Jane was suddenly standing behind her in her office at BPD right after she'd arrived. Jane looked like she hadn't changed since the day before, she looked tired, worn, and expressionless.
"Jane, you startled me" Maura said after the initial surprise had passed
Jane stepped closer keeping her staunch demeanor, it wasn't in a menacing way although to some perpetrators it would have been labelled as such. She was suddenly so close Maura subconsciously stepped backwards bumping into her desk.
Maura's heart began to race and she felt herself start to perspire as Jane was studying her almost like a bird might study it's prey. She had no idea what was happening, what was going through Jane's mind and it scared her a little. It was out of character both before and after the recent events.
"Give me the note." Jane breathed in a perfectly even, strong tone, without emotion
Maura blinked and frowned but didn't speak. After a pause Jane's eyes softened and she repeated the question "Please Maura, give me the note."
Maura scowls at her "No Jane, you know I can't"
"Where is it, Maura?"
Maura's eyes flick towards the top drawer of her desk before she realizes what she's done, Jane goes to move towards where she glanced so Maura moves to stand in front the drawer, her body blocking Jane, "No, please Jane."
"You know I will just come back later and take it."
Maura looked down briefly, it was something Jane would do and she was pained at the thought
"If you cared about me you'd give it to me." Jane looks forlorn as she looks at Maura's quivering lip.
"Don't manipulate me Jane."
Jane presses her body close to Maura, and leans her face close to Maura's, lips barely touching, teasing her. Maura looks into Jane's eyes searching, confused. Jane closes the distance lips meeting, not waiting for permission, and slides one hand into Maura's hair to increase the contact, her other hand slides down to Maura's chest, stroking her breast. Maura moans loudly giving Jane more access to her mouth, she slides her tongue in exploring. Maura places her hands on Jane's hips pulling her pelvis closer. Sloppy kisses and nibbling making it hard for Maura to think clearly anymore.
"Door" Maura breathes
"Locked" Jane replies quickly continuing her assault of kisses. She moves her hand down Maura's body to the hemline of her dress and slowly runs her fingers up her inner thigh pausing at the panty line and softly stroking with her thumb, growling softly.
"Wait Jane," Maura hums through her haze
"Why?" Jane whispers softly pulling Maura's lip gently with her teeth
Groaning Maura starts to pull away speaking firmly, "Wait..."
Jane pauses her administrations and pulls back "What's wrong?" she looks worried now
"Jane...don't, I mean if you are...please don't seduce me for this..this.. note. You'll only break my trust by using me. You'll get what you want but you will have hurt me." She struggles to get out clearly between the throbbing of her heart and between her legs as well as the tingling on her lips, "If that's what you're doing..."
Jane sighs loudly, releasing her grip and moving her hands away. She knows Maura is right. "I'm sorry..." Jane whispers hanging her head for a moment the passion vanishing, then looks Maura in the eyes. The moment is tense and long.
"I want to explain to you but I can't.." Jane starts, "I don't fully understand myself...and without re-living it all and ending up a crying, unconsolable mess on your office floor." She drops her head forward in shame.
Maura leans her head forward so it rests against Jane's, "I wouldn't mind. I want to know, Jane. I need you and that includes everything that comes with you good and bad."
Jane moves to hold Maura's upper arms tenderly, rubbing her forearms with her thumbs, her voice crackles when she speaks, "There are invisible forces at play, Maura, unforeseen powers. I can't protect us from them, no-one can. But I've seen them now and I think the only thing keeping us safe is the fact that they think the note no longer exists. Why? I don't yet. Why taking me and making me stop investigating helps them? I don't know either. I don't even think the note is that damning to anyone really. I don't know what they thought I found, or what they thought I knew...' she shudders for a moment, "If they can capture me driving home from work, yet leaving no evidence and I don't even remember it..." She bites her lip, "...what else can they do Maur'. I don't even know who they are. And they are unstoppable because they don't even exist."
"If they don't exist then what is there to be afraid of." Maura frowns
"You're the dumbest genius I know," Jane chuckles pecking an offended Maura on the cheek, "They exist, it's that they don't appear to, they have no names, only illusions to names."
"Allusions" Maura corrects
Jane smiles, "Yes. All those movies we watch about spooks and secret operatives and stuff. Groups with no identities, like shadow organisations, probably linked to the government. The are high up Maur', and they seem to get what they want and get away with whatever. I can't explain more than that right now. But I need you to trust me. Can you do that?"
Maura's starts to cry a little finally understanding what Jane has been trying to tell her
"We aren't safe from them, we have to walk away. We cannot fight this...EVER." Jane says it with such finality and such sadness that Maura has to look at her face to know she really means it. Jane looks at her sternly, yet with care and gentleness.
Maura finally nods and pulls away from Jane, walking to her drawer and unlocking it. She pulls out the unlabelled plastic bag with the note inside and stares at it in her hands.
"You won't get in trouble for this Maura. I will." Jane reassures her softly, patiently.
"Why do they want it gone?" Maura asks sadly, confused
Jane shrugs, "They want it to go away, the whole thing."
"You must have a theory at least."
Jane looks from her down to the note still in her hands and back to Maura, "Too many to count" she whispers in a choked voice, "But it doesn't matter."
Maura holds out the note for Jane to take, instead Jane takes both her hands and squeezes them, "Thank you Maura." She leans in and gives her a long soft kiss before pulling away, then takes the note and walks towards the door.
Maura hugs herself as she watches Jane unlock the door
"When will I see you again Jane?"
"Soon" she replies before a last look over her shoulder, then she was gone...again...
Maura would later look back on the way Jane leaves her so suddenly, and would realise this was a new trademark of her friend. It would become such a common occurrence she would accept it as being normal.
Korsak tried to proceed with the case despite Jane's warning. Despite that Jane quit and then got suspended on account of the evidence she took. Jane gave no statement of the 4 days she was gone. Jane didn't return to BPD after taking the note. Cavanaugh somehow got any charges against Jane dismissed. Korsak hit brick wall after brick wall. All the students lawyered up with one big lawyer working to get all the boys tried as minors together and advised the D.A. that the students claimed coercion tactics were used to gain their existing testimonies, despite that they were recorded and followed protocol. Korsak couldn't re-interview the boys himself, and the new interrogator substitute was useless. The case was either going around in circles or backwards. Without the note, all the usable evidence was that they had drugs which carried only a small amount of weight but no direct link to Hamish, and the testimony of Jared which wasn't much on his own and he would be destroyed on the stand, he would just be considered a hazed unhappy kid.
Eventually Cavanagh had no choice but to leave the school to investigate the hazing practices themselves. He did say to Korsak in passing one time that he 'expected the case to go cold' and it wasn't Korsaks fault, it had just been 'inevitable'.
The case was eventually thrown out of court based on lack of evidence and witness testimonies although the judge did seem a tad bias towards the young men and it now sat on Korsaks desk labelled a cold case until new witnesses or evidence came to him. Cavanagh allowed Korsak to keep it on his desk instead of it going into a cardboard box and put downstairs in the archive room.
It was the only case Jane ever worked on that was still unsolved, had she been at work this might have bothered her, but she wasn't there anymore. Korsak was assigned a new partner two weeks later and Korsak had to move onto new cases and keep his chin up, two similar cases both without justice, and his partner and friend in a sense missing, gone, barely contactable, lost somehow, he hoped she would get through it and not have it torment her like it did him, he wasn't mad at Jane, he understood, he was merely and understandably frustrated.
Roy Hamish Jones the third's funeral was on the Thursday, Jane and Maura went together and stood on the outskirts of the crowd. Hamish's sister cried uncontrollably near his tombstone, her father holding her tightly. A stoic man but the emotion showing through the cracks, he was hurting, he felt guilty. The priest said very little about the young unsung hero that had his life cut short and Jane felt the guilt in her stomach that he wasn't being publicly praised for his valiant efforts. Had the case continued to be investigated with all the evidence, these people would probably know why Hamish died, it might even have put an end to the ill treatments of students during rushing, exposed the cracks in the responsibilities of schools to their students, got the media involved and questioning the practices, but No, thanks to her the note was destroyed, she had single-handedly destroyed the truth, caused the boy to be just another accident victim. Maura had been right, it wasn't worth it. But she would now have to live with this the rest of her life.
Evil prevails when good men do nothing
She turned away from the grave letting tears run down her face.
Maura quietly read the inscription, "A son, A brother, and a friend. Isaiah 57:1." she paused, "Interesting, why that scripture."
Although Maura was speaking to herself Jane answered with a shaky voice, "Because I asked them too. Come on, let's go Maur."
The righteous perish,
and no one takes it to heart;
the devout are taken away,
and no one understands
that the righteous are taken away
to be spared from evil.
...to be continued...
I'm so sorry about the delay. I screwed up a bit and didn't think about the filling in of some scenes (I was lazy...but I promise to not take a shortcut on the end now)...then when I did fill it all in properly I had to rewrite a few upcoming half-written chapters so it wouldn't eventually contradict itself, and obviously my 'quick ending' set to be about 5 chapters ago has taken a life of it's own and now i'm trying to merge MY original idea of this with where it's going on it's own. I have said it before and I will say it again...Never start a story you don't know how you'll finish. In hindsight...Hamish's body shouldn't have been moved (seemed a good idea at the time lol) and as much of a challenge it has been it made it difficult to resolve. As always...let me know if it's awful. Hope you enjoy it tho :)