Don't You Remember – Chapter 4
When they arrived at the morgue Jane introduced Dr. Isles to Sr. Criminologist Chang, "Chang, this is Dr. Isles, she is the new Chief Medical Examiner. Can you please introduce her to the rest of the staff?"
"Yes, Detective Rizzoli." Susie replied as Jane turned to Dr. Isles.
"Dr. Isles, if you need anything please don't hesitate to let me know. Here is my office number and my cell number," Jane stated as she handed Dr. Isles a business card and then promptly left so that she could go back to her desk and work on her boring paperwork. Jane hated paperwork with a passion.
Susie led Dr. Isles to her office. Maura secured her purse and overcoat. "Sr. Criminologist Chang, can you please ask all of the staff to meet in the morgue at the tables so that I can talk with everyone?"
"Yes, Dr. Isles, please call me Susie."
"Susie yes, I can do that. I would say to call me Maura but protocol suggests that that would not be appropriate."
"Yes, I agree Dr. Isles." Susie said as she left to go round up the staff for a quick meeting. A few minutes later all of the staff that was on duty were gathered in the morgue. Maura stepped out of the office and addressed them all. Susie introduced everybody and Maura spent a few minutes telling them of her upcoming plans for the lab. Everyone was excited to hear about the new equipment that would be coming. Their equipment was adequate but the new equipment would speed up their processing time and help the detectives solve their cases quicker. After a few minutes the meeting was over and everybody went back to work.
Maura was so excited to meet her staff. She found Sr. Criminologist Chang, 'Susie' to be quite enthusiastic. Susie was so excited to be rid of Dr. Pike, she didn't tell Dr. Isles that but her smile spoke volumes. "Dr. Isles, it is a pleasure to have you here as the new Chief Medical Examiner. The staff have all been looking forward to your arrival." Susie wanted to say, 'we almost killed Dr. Pike several times while waiting for you to arrive. Good thing you arrived when you did or he would have been on your slab upon your arrival.'
Maura's meeting with the staff was brief, she knew they had work to do. she explained that she would be able to hire several new team members in the week and an a assistant medical examiner within the next few months and that she would be able to obtain new equipment for the lab. The techs cheered at that. They all knew that the new equipment would help them complete their tests faster and thus provide vital information to the detectives quicker.
When the meeting was over, she stepped into her office to review what awaited her. The office was such a mess, files were everywhere. She spent about half an hour looking over the inadequate filing system and noting what changes she would like to make to provide herself with an efficient work space. She called Lt. Cavanaugh, after pleasantries where given, she asked, "Sir, it is possible to meet with you at your earliest convenience?"
"Yes, Dr. Isles. I happen to be free at the moment until my 2 PM meeting. Do you remember how to get to my office or would you like for me to come down there?"
"I remember how to get to your office sir. I will be there in a few minutes." Maura stated as she disconnected the call. She looked around the office, closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then she walked out of her office and headed upstairs. She had so much work ahead of her. The office was a disaster and she wondered how her predecessor got anything done or found anything. She tried to put those thoughts out of her mind as she rode the elevator up to the third floor. She knew what she needed to do and she was about to meet with the one person who could help her.
A few minutes later she knocked on the doorframe to his office as his door was open but she didn't want to just barge in. "Please, come in Dr. Isles."
Maura walked in and he motioned for her to sit down. She sat and then asked him, "Is it possible to get a listing of all recently closed court cases and a list of all of the current open cases?"
"You don't waste any time, do you?" Lt. Cavanaugh stated as he smiled. He liked her and was happy to have someone with competence in that job. He had sent an email to the governor several months ago asking if he could find a competent medical examiner for the Boston PD and was so pleased when the governor stated that he was working on it and had a candidate in mind.
"No sir, I understand from the Governor that I might have some catching up to do so I would like to review all of the cases that have been or are being worked on to make sure everything was accomplished correctly."
"I liked that. I will have Detective Rizzoli help you with that. She is still on desk duty for a few more weeks and I am sure she would rather help you with your task then work on the paperwork I have assigned her."
"I might not require assistance once I have the lists and the case files." Maura informed the lieutenant.
"That is fine, she can at least help you gather the files after I present the lists to you. The recent court cases might be a priority. We had to let a few suspects go after the evidence was mishandled. You will find that our detectives were not that pleased with your predecessor, Dr. Pike. I won't gossip with you. Your staff can tell you honestly about what he did or didn't do. I trust Sr. Criminologist Chang. She has been the go between for Homicide and your department. You are very fortunate to have someone of her caliber to assist you. If there is anything else that you need, please let me know and I will get it for you."
"Thank you, lieutenant, for now I just need the lists and of course for you to let Detective Rizzoli know that she will be assisting me at least for today." Maura said and started to get up. Maura was pleased at how willing the lieutenant was to assist her. She knew it was vital for their departments to work together and she wanted to have a great working relationship with all of the Homicide department.
"Please Doctor, let me call Detective Rizzoli in and explain to her what is going on while you are still present, then I will have her bring the lists downstairs to you."
"Yes, thank you." Maura sat back down and waited a few minutes while he called Jane and then explained to her that she was being detailed to Dr. Isles for the day, maybe more. Jane smiled as that was a better assignment then the paperwork she had been assigned.
Maura went back down to her office and within half an hour Jane knocked on her door with the lists and two cups of coffee in her hand. "I wasn't sure how you like your coffee so I just brought down black coffee and some sugar and creamer." Jane said as she pulled the sugar and creamer packets out of her blazer pocket.
Maura smiled, that was nice of Jane to bring her coffee, "Thank you, for the coffee."
"You are welcome." Jane stated as she smiled back at Maura. She loved how a small dimple had shown up when Maura smiled at her. She was intrigued by the doctor and felt at ease in her presence.
Maura fixed her coffee and then took a few minutes to look over the lists. She asked, "So which of these closed cases would be the best to start with?"
"I personally think that the 'Murder for Hire' case needs to be looked at again. It didn't seem as though the autopsy report was as thorough as it should have been. It wasn't my case as I was out on medical leave at the time but I looked everything over recently and made notes on the questions that I had about the case."
"Do you mind pulling the case file and I will pull the autopsy report file from here and we can meet back up and look it over together?"
"I don't mind at all doc. I will be right back." Jane said as she rose to go get the file from the bullpen.
Jane came back about five minutes later with the file folder in her hand and sat back down at the table in Maura's office. Maura asked her, "Detective Rizzoli, do you always make notes with questions on cases that you have not been assigned to?"
"Please, call me Jane and yes, I guess I can't help myself. I enjoy finding the answers. My partners share brief comments on the case. It was assigned to a different homicide team but they were curious also and then when the case was closed, they looked it over to see if they could find anything that would allow us to reopen the case. They know that I know quite a bit about the autopsy reports so they had me look it over and these are my questions." Jane handed Maura her list of questions.
"Jane, please call me Maura when we are working like this." They smiled at each other and spent the next hour reviewing Jane's questions. After they answered the questions, they could, Maura determined that the autopsy report was incomplete, just as Jane had thought, she needed to exhume the body to look for further evidence.
Jane called the DA's office and asked to speak to the prosecutor that had worked on that case. She explained that they had a new Chief Medical Examiner and that she wanted to exhume the body and reevaluate the body to look for further evidence. He said he would have to check with the DA.
Maura and Jane met later that day with the DA and the prosecutor to review what they had discovered. The DA personally walked the paperwork through to exhume the body. After reviewing the reason for the request, the judge signed the paperwork. They would exhume the body at 1 PM this next day. Jane was excited, no one had ever listened to her like Maura had. Maybe having a new medical examiner was going to be a great thing for Boston Homicide.
Jane and Maura spent the next few days going over the case file and examining the body. Maura decided it would be best to just start from scratch with the autopsy and that is what she did as best as she could considering the damage to the body. She painstakingly went through the autopsy step by step.
She was surprised that Jane stayed there the whole time. Jane knew quite a bit about autopsies for her short time as a homicide detective. "Jane, how do you know so much about autopsies?"
"I have known since I was in high school that I wanted to be a homicide detective so I learned everything I could so that I could be a better homicide detective. Autopsies are part of the evidence that needs to be considered in a homicide case so I read about them. Some of the previous medical examiners let me observe while they conducted an autopsy."
Maura found this fascinating. She had never met a homicide detective that liked to watch an autopsy. Maura looked at the clock it was close to 6 PM. "Jane, I have to wrap up for today. I need to get home. If you would like you can join me when I continue first thing in the morning."
"Thank you, that would be great. I will let the lieutenant know that I will be working with you again tomorrow." Jane said as Maura motioned for one of the lab techs to finish up and secure the body. They knew that she left by 6 PM every night. She made that clear when she greeted her staff on her first day.
By 6 PM Maura was walking out of her office. Jane had waited for the doctor so that she could escort her to her car. Jane and Maura were becoming friends and Jane enjoyed spending time with the doctor although she didn't know that much about her personal life. Maura had shared everything about her professional life but hardly anything about her personal life.
On her way home, Maura thought to herself, 'Jane sure reminds me of someone but I just can't put my finger on it.' By 6:30 she was home having dinner with her son, Tony, and his caregiver, Tina. Tony, at 10 years old thought that he didn't need a caregiver but his mother disagreed. Maura told him she will think about it more when he is 13. He agreed and that was the end of that conversation.