Chapter 13

Maura was halfway up the staircase when she felt someone tackle her by her waist.

"Nooooo!" she yelled in frustration as she tried to kick herself free. "Fire!" she started to scream. "I'm trapped the basement!" she shouted toward the closed door at the top of the stairs. "Fire! Fire!"

She understood bystander apathy. She knew humans in general respond to a fire emergency. When someone yells 'Help!' or 'Rape!' their pleas are less likely to be acknowledged. Even if she couldn't get out, she might be able to cause a distraction and get someone to her. Soon Harris had her by her ankles and proceeded to drag her back down to the bottom of the stairs. Each bump down the stairs was leaving her body battered and bruised.

He finally got her to the bottom of the landing and turned her over. Maura reached up and tried to get her thumb in his eyes, but he grabbed her wrist and put on one of the hand cuffs.

"You son of a bitch!" she shouted and tried to kick him away.

He backhanded her so hard that she felt the powerful sting and then darkness.

Back at the department, Frankie shot up from his desk. "I found a link to Hoyte!"

"What is it?" Jane asked as she and Korsak both moved to Frankie's desk. Hearing the commotion in the other room, Nina also made her way over.

"Joe Harris wasn't always a doctor. He went back to school later in life. He was doing his graduate work with a doctor who was Hoyte's psychiatrist at the prison when Jane put him away the first time. I'm not sure when or how they met, but I can place Harris in Hoyte's circle at some point."

"Did they have any correspondence?" Vince asked. "Letters, prison sign-in logs?"

"Nina might be able to track it," he offered.

"I'll pull Hoyte's visitor history to see what turns up," she said as she started to type.

"That could be enough to get a search warrant on Harris."

Jane walked over the walkie-talkie and punched in some information before hitting the button. "You there, Toro? Over."

"Yeah," he replied. "I'm still waiting on Harris. He hasn't left the prison yet. Over."

Jane looked at her watch. "Are you sure he's still there because it's getting late? Over."

"He hasn't come this way and it's one way in and one way out. Over."

"Okay, stay put. Over."

"Roger that. Over and out."

"What's wrong?" Vince asked as he waited on the phone to speak to the judge.

"Harris is still at work...or he gave us the slip," Jane replied. She turned to her brother. "You still have the warden's number? The one who works with Dr. Harris?"

"Yeah, you want me to call her?"

"Please."

"I think I found something else guys," Nina said as she waved them over.

Jane and Korsak looked at an image on her widescreen monitor on the wall. "Hoyte had hardly any regular visitors...ever. No family, no friends-."

"No surprise," Jane sighed. Vince snorted.

"Except for one guy..." She tapped the keyword a few times and an image of their co-worker came up.

"Is that Frank Conte?" Vince replied.

"He brought the candy bars up," Jane added, "and Nina found him following me out of the precinct twice just prior to my house fire. What is he doing there?"

"That I do not know," Nina said. "But I've got a hunch." She began to type again. "And Bingo was his name-o," she said with a grin. She put the image on the board. "Frank was a janitor for a Boston University before coming to the Boston PD. He was employed there the same time that one Joseph Harris was a student."

Vince was already on the phone.

Jane turned back to Nina. "Frank probably ran messages to Harris from Hoyte and vice versa."

"It's possible," Nina offered, "or it may be a coincidence. I'm still going to keep looking for any other possible leads or connections between them all."

"Frank didn't come in today," Vince told the room as he got off the phone.

"But Harris went to work," Jane said. "I saw him leave."

"Who wants a pie?" They all heard someone say. They turned to see Boris standing there handing out some pizza boxes to the other detectives. He made his way into Nina's area. "It's one of your favorites," he told Jane as he handed her the last box.

"Thank you, but hold that thought," she told him before she turned to Vince. "Could they both be holding her?"

"Janie," Frankie yelled. "I got the warden on the line."

"Excuse me," she said as she moved around Boris, who still had the pizza box in his hand. Nina gave it a sniff so he opened the box. She took a slice and took a huge bite.

"I'm starving," she said with her mouth full of pizza.

"Have at it," he said invitingly. "That's what it's for."

The two of them walked to Frankie's desk where Jane was talking to the warden.

"I'm sorry to bother you this evening," Jane began. "Can you tell me if Dr. Joseph Harris was at work this week and if he was there for his entire shifts?" Jane listened to her on the other end of her phone and closed her eyes for a moment. She started to shake her head and snapped her fingers before pointing to the walkie-talkie. "I'm not sure, but could you give me any of his addresses you have on file there...Okay, thank you." Jane put her hand over the receiver. "He didn't come back from lunch!" she whispered. "And with Frank out that means they two of them are probably together." Jane moved her hand from the mouthpiece. "Yes, I'm still here," she told her as she grabbed a pen and paper. "I'm ready." She made a few notes and then hung up.

She turned to the team. "Let's get these sons of bitches."