When the front door opened and immediately closed, Maggie was sitting on the couch with her tablet and raised her head. She frowned a little as she watched her wife's movements closely.

Elizabeth dropped her well-worn satchel bag, a gift she had received from Jane and Maura back when she started to work as a detective, which she still saw as a good luck charm, at the coat rack and headed straight for the couch. She looked at her wife in depth before greeting the redhead with a kiss and then sat down next to the ME with a profound sigh. She then propped her elbows on her knees and ran her hands over her face. "The girls?" she asked curtly, even though her two daughters were her top concern.

"Nikki's out walking Blu, and Ash is in her room studying."

Elizabeth dropped her hands and looked at her wife almost in surprise, but then she let her gaze drift down to the redhead and stroked Maggie's bulging belly with her hand. "And potato?"

Maggie rolled her eyes with a smile. "They're doing better than me."

Elizabeth chuckled and looked Maggie in the eye.

The doctor held her gaze and grew serious as she realized something was on the detective's mind. "Did you find the body to the feet?"

"No," Elizabeth sighed, shaking her head. "No, since when has it been so easy with us?

Maggie thought momentarily and then pulled the corners of her mouth down with an approving nod. "True," she agreed, looking closely at her wife's profile. Then her brows shot up as a thought formed in her brain. "Has Jane announced her retirement, or what?"

Jane's eyebrows drew together, and she slowly turned her head toward the redhead, but then she gave a short laugh. "What, no! Ma will sit behind her big desk at BPD until her last breath."

Maggie watched as the detective rose from the couch, strolled toward the refrigerator, and then rolled her eyes. "Okay, I can't guess what you're trying to say since I'm no longer working out of my office." She lifted herself off the couch with a sigh and followed her wife. "So, what's going on, Liz?"

Elizabeth didn't answer on the spot and grabbed a bottle of beer from the fridge before turning to the kitchen island and setting the drink down on it after taking a deep swig from the bottle.

Maggie frowned deeply and anxiously. A thousand scenarios played out in her mind. This is mainly how her wife might have fallen out with Jane during one of the many meetings and asked for a transfer after the current case was closed. As often as Elizabeth had broken over the past few months about starting over in a foreign city where the Rizzoli name didn't carry as much weight as it did in Boston, this was a serious matter. Elizabeth had argued that she wanted to ensure the newborn child had a different opportunity and perspective without the Rizzoli name hanging over them like a sword of Damocles. Maggie, on the other hand, had argued that they should think not only about what would be best for the baby in the future but also about what would be best for Nikki and Ashlyn and that a move for the two girls, who had deep roots in Boston, would mean moving to a strange city, going to a new school where neither had any friends. Such an uprooting could also mean far-reaching consequences for the two girls.

Since that evening, the doctor felt that the entire family was in a mood for departure. Not only Elizabeth but also Katherine and Nick. Something had changed quite significantly.

That evening, the two of them had agreed that they would table the issue until it was time, if necessary, to pursue this line of thought.

Maggie took a deep breath and frowned deeply. "Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth blinked a few times and looked at the redhead. "Ma wants me to climb the ladder and take the sergeant's exam. I'm supposed to --" she paused and raised her eyebrows, " ... officially take charge of the team."

Maggie blinked slowly and took a deep breath. "You mean that you've been in charge for ... I don't know ... its inception ... leading?"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. "Well --"

"So, yes."

The detective rolled her eyes again and nodded slowly. "Yes."

The redhead narrowed her eyes. "And that's ... bad?"

"It means more media exposure and more workload." The detective rolled her eyes again as she met her wife's gaze. "You know what I mean."

"I know you don't have to work."

Elizabeth gritted her teeth and took a deep breath. "You know I'm not doing this job for the money."

"I know," Maggie said placatingly, aware that the allusion to the family fortune owed by Maura's hated parents was a touchy subject. She walked over to the detective and touched Elizabeth's heart. "I know, Liz." She kissed her wife tenderly on the lips and rested her forehead against Elizabeth's. "I want you to know that I have your back no matter what you decide. Okay?"

Elizabeth took a deep breath and closed her eyes, nodding slightly. "Okay," she whispered.

This was not how she had imagined this conversation to be. In the past, such information would have gone over hours of discussion with Sarah and finally ended in an argument. "Okay," she whispered.

"Okay," Maggie whispered back, smiling. "I love you."

Elizabeth still kept her eyes closed and took another deep breath. "I love you too."

xxx

Elizabeth was sitting at Katherine and Nick's kitchen island, sorting through thoughts about the conversation with Maggie last night, and had just started answering much of her email via smartphone when Nick came down the stairs.

"Look at this real quick," he said. "I just got a message you might be interested in."

Elizabeth quickly typed two more letters into her smartphone and hit send. The message disappeared with a whooshing sound. She had often wondered how she could turn off the stupid hissing sound. But then again, it was helpful to know that the message had left her phone and wasn't treacherously languishing in some outbox where it would remain until the end of time. And Elizabeth wondered why she only got a response once she possibly complained to someone that they had yet to receive a response from her.

She lowered her phone and furrowed her brows. "What's this about?"

Nick sat beside his sister-in-law and held his smartphone under his partner's nose. "A man, late forties. His name is Trevor Williams. Colleagues just brought him into BPD."

Elizabeth, after a sip of her coffee. "So?"

He also took a sip from his cup and frowned deeply. "I guess he got one of those ... boxes yesterday, too."

Elizabeth's ears perked up all at once. "A cardboard box? With contents?" She immediately thought of the sinister cargo the junkie had brought with him.

Nick took a deep breath and nodded bitterly. "Yes. With contents."

"And this Williams guy is just getting in touch today? Why?"

Nick pulled the corners of his mouth down and shrugged. "I don't know. I was about to leave to question him." He looked at the countertop. "Well, there was a pair of his daughter's panties in the box, among other things. And a cell phone. That's what he was called on." He got up from his chair. "According to Reid, just then, he had another flashback. Fell over and banged his head against a table. He's fallen over at his house before; too, it looks like. Wasn't in the hospital, though. Williams is pretty banged up now. Back and front. Maybe we should take Maggie with us to take care of the laceration on Williams' head." He saw Elizabeth's stunned look. "I know he's supposed to go to the ER, but what will we do? He doesn't want to go to the there."

Elizabeth started writing a text. "All right," she growled, knowing one small but important piece of information was missing. "What was in the box? Another --"

"No, not a foot. A ... Nose."

Elizabeth looked at her brother-in-law in disbelief for a moment. "I suppose a real nose?"

He gave her a somewhat dachshund-like look. "True, I'm afraid."

Her gaze firmed again. "That means two things to me: this could be the same kidnapper or murderer as the one who put the feet in the box."

"Even though sometimes they're feet and sometimes a nose?"

"They are extremities. And they could have symbolic meaning, Nick; Kate is right."

Nick licked his lips. "There's something else. There was a rose in the box, too. Just like with the feet."

Elizabeth looked at him wide-eyed for a long moment. "Nick, this is too striking to be a coincidence."

Nick took a deep breath and nodded slowly. "I agree."

Elizabeth closed her eyes briefly and gritted her teeth. "And then there's a second conclusion. And it's no less unpleasant."

"The junkie," he growled, handing his sister-in-law her satchel. "He certainly didn't do it alone. If he's lying in a coma at Bonnie's ranch."

"That's right. Or when did Williams receive the box?"

"Last night. 5 p.m."

"By then, our junkie was already at Bonnie's ranch." She glanced at her partner. The corners of her mouth drooped. "It's the same modus operandi. And at the same time, it wasn't just one perp. It was several!" She stepped out of her sister's house into the driveway. Nick preceded her. "Let's see what Mr. Williams has to say."