A/N:

Hello hello! Posting a short chapter this time around. I will try to get this story wrapped up before our move. :)

See you all soon, thank you for your continuing support and I look forward to the next. -Much love as always, E

P.S. I don't have a beta reader or a braincell to rub together at the moment so please ignore an errors till I can re-write. 3

Chapter 10

Jane leaned over to Maura to swipe a soft kiss on her cheek as she exited the car in front of bright yellow crime scene tape. Medical bag in hand she turned to watch Jane drive off towards the station before moving towards the small group of patrol officers guarding the entrance to the park. Lush green was meshing with yellows and red as autumn set into the city and she felt the refreshing sting of cold hit her lungs.

Langone Park was a staple landmark along Boston Harbor as its well-maintained walkways and baseball fields faced the endless rows of sailboats and harbor tugs. A younger officer stopped her briefly to check her credentials before pointing her towards the field to their left. She nodded her thanks and set off behind the trail of forensic technicians and straggling uniformed officers.

She trekked up through the concrete walkways in a familiar trail. The department occasionally held their softball tournaments here when they were up against the other stations in the championship. She didn't have time to dwell on those fond memories as the scene came into view.

The baseball diamond was manicured and ready to play, but walking closer to home plate she could see multiple disturbances around the dirt. She couldn't tell if there had been a struggle or if simply EMS had trod heavily through as they had been known to do. Hip height white privacy sheets had been erected around the scene for privacy, and she stopped short of them to don her booties and gloves.

"Good morning, Dr. Isles. Sorry to have to call you out so early. Sargent Holstead said it would be best to call you over your alternate."

She smiled over to the tech she recognized, "It's alright Max, what do we have?"

Max held his hand out to her for stability before leading her around to the small entrance between the sheets.

"Female victim DOA, some kids found her when they showed up early for a practice session."

She felt her face slip into its mask of cool professionalism as she rounded the woman's body to stand at her feet. An open leather jacket and matching black miniskirt covered little of the woman's body leaving her wounds on open display. She could see large open dissection lines marring the woman's lower body with several cuts around her ribs.

She took a steady breath in as she continued her initial viewing stopping at pale green eyes that had begun to sink into the milky white corneal clouding, she had seen a thousand times before. The small scar that ran from her cheek to ear was bruised and she saw a handful of areas that held similar markings around her wrists and feet.

"The Sarge said you've seen stuff like this before, is it…common out here? I've from the Mid-West and we don't get many murders, let alone anything like this." Max's voice wavered.

"I have, but they are not common. Statistically speaking, events like these are less than 1% of known murders in a year. Of those, they are rarely anywhere near as grusome."

She normally would have fielded his questions, but on a quick turn of the heel she excused herself to make a call outside the ears of those around her. She couldn't face his excitedly nervous inquiries while Mary Castor's face stared back at her. An echo of failure to protect looming over her normally put together persona.

She removed her gloves and slid her phone out of her bag. Dialing Jane's speed dial, she waited impatiently as it rang, the tones dropping short as her voicemail picked up.

"Jane, I need you to call me immediately when you can or come find me in autopsy. The body at Langone park is Mary Castor. I'm going to call Lieutenant Cavanaugh and have him supervisor the scene."

She hung up, the words sounding muted and forced. Willing herself to continue, she allowed her mind to disconnect and procedure to take over as she began calling more people to her scene.

Jane waited patiently for the lawyers in front of her to stop fidgeting with their files and look at her before beginning. Slipping the recording device on she ran through the introductions and charges before settling into her stare off with Gretchen. Her eyes blazed back at her in contempt, probably still mad about Frost's interception at the airport.

"So, miss Rizzoli…" The lawyer snipped.

"Detective, thank you."

"Detective…" he rolled his eyes, "Can you please enlighten us why you felt the need to disrupt my client and her employers flight plans today? They are due in England for a meeting with the board and cannot delay with these ridiculous charges."

Jane leaned over and hefted a box full of evidence bags onto the table, the weight of it echoing hard against the steel.

"I wouldn't call pre-meditated murder ridiculous. If anything, a missed board meeting is about to be the least of your client and Mrs. Brumfield's least concerns."

The two lawyers that flanked Gretchen eyed each other with a quick glance, gazes settling on the large box in front of them.

"Now before we get into any questioning, just know that the DA has offered an agreement of accessory to murder and lesser obstruction charges for Ms. Sanders here if she is willing to testify."

She could see the worry lines crease Gretchen's face as the men sifted through the file. She began to remove the top layer of smaller evidence bags and laid them in a neat line in front of them. The first two bags contained small flip phones, the third was the locket they had found, and the last held two rings that Frost has found in Gretchen's apartment that morning.

"Normally these kinds of cases involve a lot of guessing but I'd say based on the text messages found that you and Anne have been together for a hot minute."

Jane let the silence surround them as Gretchen filtered her gaze around the room, tears dotting the corner of her eyes.

"You know my partner and I were friends for years before even coming close to being comfortable with how we felt. I know the pain you feel when you see them together, the bone achingly deep pressure that settles in your chest when you see her hug or kiss him. The longing that tugs at you when she turns to you for comfort instead of him…"

Jane tapered off, fiddling with the end of file bending it back and forth. She could feel the tension in the room as the lawyers began to argue back at her with threats of conjecture and misrepresentation of facts. She could see the resolve slipping as she smiled.

"I've not seen the prenups for them, but what I don't understand is why? We both know that his and Alan's relationship was more than friendly, and that you and Anne's was as well. Why not divorce and live your lives free? Why kill him?"

Gretchen's hand was white knuckled as she gripped the edge of the table, her gaze hard on the rings in front of her.

"My partner Detective Frost found those in your bedside table drawer under some old magazines. I don't know about you but if my partner gave me a ring, I would be hard pressed to ever let it out of my sight, let alone stuff it in the back of a long-forgotten drawer."

The chair that Gretchen was sitting in scrapped harshly against the linoleum leaving deep etches behind as she wiped her hands down her face.

"You think you've got it all figured out don't you." Her voice was tense as she spoke from under her hands.

"If our relationships were that simple then you know damn well that he wouldn't have needed to die."

Her lawyer laid a hand on her knee.

"We are done here Detective. Gretchen not another word."

His hand was brushed off as she quickly leaned forward, arms braced against the evidence bags in front of her.

"Did she tell you how long we were together? Years! The better part of fifteen fucking years, and what to show for it? Two rings exchanged by two kids with nothing but love and hope that got discarded the moment his fucking ego swooped in."

Her lawyer's voices grew louder as she tried to drown them out, Jane remained entirely focused on her, face impassive.

"She loved him didn't she, more than she loved you." She responded.

"She loved him more than he loved her. She opened the marriage to keep him, but she really didn't want anyone other than him. He didn't want anyone other than Alan, and you and I both know why that wasn't allowed."

Jane nodded, the country itself was getting more progressive but the ruling class was not. Hell, even her and Maura's relationship was barely tolerated, and they hadn't even launched it into the Boston high society column yet.

"So, you did what you knew to be the only option to getting her fully back?"

Silence creeped into the room at her statement. Gretchen sat still, tears rolling down in face in acceptance as her lawyer's scrawled furiously on their notepads.

"I know that those texts are old, but it's clear that she still loved you or at least was willing to say she did. Were you holding on to that as hope? Pulling them out to reaffirm yourself as you used her pills to hide your evidence. Playing them over and over as you spiked James' water bottle and again before you shot him dead before you almost shot me dead?"

Jane's voice turned hard as she stood towering in the space between them.

"She was mine and that entitled twit couldn't have given two shits about her. What was I supposed to do?" Gretchen's voice was laced with frustration.

"We do not own the emotions and autonomy of others especially not those we choose to call our partners. Her feelings were valid as much as they hurt, but that does not excuse the act of murder nor the act of betrayal on her part. Anne Brumfield is not a toy that you got taken away, she is a living breathing human that gets a say in how and who she lives this life with."

Jane rose collecting the evidence in front of her as the useless men rose, ranting at her about legalese she could care less about. The door opened in front of her as the uniformed officer stepped in to help her. Turning in the doorway she chanced a look back to the forlorn woman, shaking her head as she left to debrief with Korsak and Frost.

Maura rested her hands gently on the autopsy table as she leaned over Mary Castor's body. The feeling of failure had been lingering since she placed the last stitch in the Y-incision, and she couldn't shake the spiral she felt as she questioned every move and puzzle piece they had found. Her mind and even her money had not been enough to help keep this girl alive like it had before.

Not being able to stare at her any longer she moved to her workstation as the technicians moved to transport Mary to the morgue freezers down the hall. Deciding to distract herself, she flipped on the dictation editor and began to work on the write up for the autopsy. She had sent toxicology requests to Susie for a workup and now just needed to submit these to the database.

Focusing on her writing, she knew this was where her strength lay. Speaking for the dead was more than just a write up, it was a deep dive into the parts that people that were normally never seen. With data and evidence to support her she felt invincible when something seemingly as insignificant as stomach contents was the break her detective's needed. Even something as simple as giving closure to a family that someone wouldn't have felt any pain as they passed fueled her desire to stay.

As she wrote the final thoughts, she looked up to see that Barry had entered and was looking around curiously. He seemed less nervous than the last time he was here, though that could have been attributed to the fact that Mary's body was no longer on her table and the space was devoid of anything other than cool steel and her.

"Hey Doc, just came to check in on you. I know that the last few days have been rough, and I know you are clocking overtime on that genius brain of yours."

She smiled at him earnestly.

"Thank you, Barry. They certainly have been and with Mary being found this morning, I'm positive none of us are about to rest till that woman is caught."

Frost nodded as Jane had caught him up after their interrogations. She shifted to face him fully, watching as he fiddled with the empty tray next to her exam table. The silence was comfortable to her.

"I feel like I let you two down a lot with these last few cases." He whispered as he thought mostly to himself.

"I don't know what you mean Barry. You and Jane have closed the last several cases successfully, what's to be let down with that?"

He let out a short laugh into the air as she felt her body hum with that familiar feeling of not understanding.

"No sorry that's on me I wasn't clear," he moved to stand directly in front of her. "I meant with these last serial cases."

"Hoyt and Callaway you mean?"

"Yes, exactly. I don't know how to say it other than I feel like while what I can do with my tech skills has helped but it's never been in time to make a difference. Even with the Ripper case, it was you and Jane who figured out clues that no one other than a walking Google would be able to see."

She felt a laugh free itself before she could stop. Slipping a hand over her mouth and cheek she let it go and felt the giggle get stronger as confusion and hurt slipped over his face."

"I'm sorry Barry," her laugh hiccupping her words.

"It's not you, it's I was just feeling the exact same way about my work. I can't help but feel that I let Mary down. I couldn't protect her, and I couldn't save her again. Even with your amazing program and our collective smarts."

She paused to wipe a tear that had escaped from sadness or laughter she wasn't sure.

"We were lucky that Susie and I were able to identify that building in Brookline before Callaway could do anymore harm to either of them. I can't bring myself to go against evidence or extrapolate like you can. Like the triangulation we ran, that was based on science. On data, and repeatable evidence and patterns in New York. How could I ever do something like that here without a measurable stance to go on."

Barry moved to give her a small comforting hug as they felt the tense air release from the room. She felt his chest rumble with a deep laugh, and she allowed the safety of her friend to wash over her.

He muttered quietly to no one.

"Here we are, both feeling some type of way about where we stand as partners and a team, not releasing we all have our own unique part that makes our team so strong."

Jane's gravelly voice sounded from the doorway as she pulled back from him.

"You both are the dumbest smart people I know."

She scoffed at that, giving a small glare to the woman making her way towards them. Jane lifted in hands in innocence.

"All I am saying is you would need to be blind to not see how important both of you are to not only me and Korsak, but to this whole damn precinct and town. Both of you speak for those that have no voice and do so with a precision and accuracy that a Marine sniper would be envious of. Hell compared to the two of you I'm just a pretty face with a badge."

That earned her a small from both her and Barry.

"Now," Jane continued, "give us the details Maur. What happened to our girl and how the hell are we going to catch this monster again."