"What were you thinking?" Elizabeth snapped at Caleb after she came out of the courtroom and into the corridor.
"That I'd get you out of jail," the boy replied in a huff. "Should I apologize for that now?"
Rosalyn Vaughn listened attentively to their conversation but didn't get involved.
"Why haven't you deleted that damn data from your phone? What have I been telling you for ages?"
"I've been Facetiming you over the Wi-Fi from the coffee shop on my street!" Caleb continued to defend himself. "No one can trace the connection back to my cell phone. And besides - be happy! What do you want anyway?"
"Frankly, I'd be interested to know," Vaughn now explained, looking back and forth between the captain and the teenager. "Relationships between adults and fifteen-year-olds are not forbidden. Okay, it's certainly not good for your reputation as a captain, not to mention your marriage, but you're a civil servant, and nobody can fire you for something like that. And even if they did, that would be better than a conviction for triple murder. What's your problem anyway?" The lawyer ensured that none of the others were following the conversation before asking as quietly as possible: "Is the alibi a lie?"
Elizabeth looked at her family, standing at the other end of the corridor, talking animatedly to each other, and gritted her teeth. "If in doubt, I'll say it is," she replied, looking at Caleb with a piercing gaze.
"You'll what?"
"Before I let CJ testify in court, I'll confess to the murders!"
Vaughn was momentarily speechless. Then she turned to Caleb, who was obviously overwhelmed by the situation. "I can see that you both care a lot about keeping your relationship secret, and I can understand that. But under no circumstances --"
"I have to prove my innocence somehow else," Elizabeth ran her mouth over her defense attorney. "And another thing: did anyone see CJ come in here? Any of the journalists waiting outside?"
"We came in through the back entrance," the lawyer reassured her client.
"At least something," the captain breathed a sigh of relief. "CJ has to get out of this building just as secretly as he came in. Under no circumstances must his identity be revealed to the media; you must guarantee me that!"
"The boy is a minor," Vaughn explained with a furrowed brow. "There are strict guidelines when it comes to personal rights. It shouldn't be a big deal. But the young man's legal guardians are probably a bigger problem." She looked at Caleb closely. "Do your parents know about your relationship with Captain Rizzoli?"
"No one knows," the student replied. "Well, at least until today."
Rosalyn Vaughn thought she had grasped the dilemma. "All right," she concluded. "We'll try to dispel the suspicion by other means. Apart from that, this isn't a particularly stable alibi. As soon as new incriminating evidence emerges, the judge could have doubts at the trial. Well, we can prove a connection between two cell phones. But if everything comes crashing down on us, it could become too thin for an acquittal."
"Things are going to come crashing down!" Elizabeth announced. "Or do you think I can just go home now, and everything will be settled?"
"What do you mean?" Caleb asked anxiously.
Elizabeth looked at her family again and frowned a little.
Maura and Jane eagerly spoke to Maggie while Nick and Mike stood slightly apart from the three women. Nikki stood next to her boyfriend, nodding here and there in agreement.
She approached the boy and gave him a loving hug. Then she said, "Someone is very cleverly making it look like I'm a murderer. What do you think he'll do when he finds out I'm out of prison again?"
As she uttered these words, she still had her eyes on her family.
Maura and Jane paused abruptly, their gazes fixed on Elizabeth and Caleb, while Maggie turned away all at once and hurried to the elevator.
Nikki stood there, staring at her mother until Mike put a hand on her shoulder, and she followed her stepmother.
xxx
Nikki sat at the kitchen island of her apartment, staring ahead with a frown while Mike was off to get at least a little something to eat.
She reviewed what had happened. Everything she had seen and heard.
When she heard the key in the lock, she blinked a few times and took a deep breath. Then, she straightened up in her chair.
Mike came into the apartment in jeans and a sweater with two plastic bags in his hands and smiled briefly. "Took me longer than I thought."
"I thought you were lost," the young woman replied, opening one of the kitchen cupboards to take out two plates.
"I ran into someone else."
"Oh yes, and who?"
"Me!" a female voice replied.
Nikki froze for a second before slowly turning around with wide eyes. "Ash?"
The blonde smiled broadly and dropped her arms to her sides. "Hello, big sister."
"Oh my God," the detective breathed, hurrying around the kitchen island to her sister, the plates long forgotten. She pulled her younger sister, who was supposed to be in Denver, into her arms and hugged her tightly.
"Okay," Ashlyn laughed and returned the hug. "I'm happy to see you too."
Nikki let go of her sister again and looked her over from head to toe. "What are you doing here?"
Ashlyn pulled the corners of her mouth down and took a deep breath. "I heard that Ma was in trouble again, and I got to Boston as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, my flight was significantly delayed, so I'm only here now."
"Your sister actually wanted to be here for the exam," Mike added as he prepared three plates.
Nikki blinked a few times and furrowed her eyebrows. "You knew my sister was coming to Boston?"
"Mike was the one who kept me in the loop," the younger woman replied, sitting beside her sister. "How bad is it?"
"Bad," Nikki replied and took a deep breath.
Mike took three beers out of the fridge and laughed humorlessly momentarily. "You mean really bad, Nikki." He paused when he saw the blonde's questioning look. "It would appear that Elizabeth is intent on protecting this boy rather than proving she had nothing to do with the three murders."
Ashlyn looked first at Mike and then at Nikki, even more confused. "What boy?"
Nikki closed her eyes briefly and took a swig from her beer bottle, running a hand through her hair. "A fifteen-year-old teenager named Caleb Hayes Junior. Ma claims --" She paused and took a deep breath. "Ma claims she's in a relationship with him."
Ashlyn tucked her chin and started laughing, looking at the two detectives. "No, she didn't."
Mike pressed his lips together and nodded slowly.
Nikki gritted her teeth and then licked her lips. "I heard it with my own ears today, Ashlyn. She told the judge herself after he wanted to know their relationship."
Ashlyn stood up from her chair and shook her head. "Ma would rather cut off both her hands before she gets involved with a minor. Especially after what happened to her and Kate in their childhood?"
Mike looked at the two women and furrowed his eyebrows. "What happened to her and Kate?"
The blonde looked at him closely. "Something they hardly ever talk about."
"It runs in the family, then," he mumbled into his beer bottle and grinned as his girlfriend bit her lower lip and rolled her eyes.
He knew that Nikki had had several childhood experiences that had had a decisive influence on her and that she had to thank for her career choice. He also knew that it was better to wait so long for Nikki to talk about it on her own rather than push her.
Ashlyn grinned a little and took a sip from her beer bottle.
After dinner together, the blonde followed her sister onto the balcony with two glasses of whisky and took a deep breath of the cool evening air as she handed one of the glasses to Nikki.
Nikki smiled a little and licked her lips as her gaze roamed the city. "When are you going back to Denver?"
"Why? Do you want to get rid of me again? I've only been back in Boston for a few hours," Ashlyn replied, smiling broadly when the detective looked at her with startled eyes.
"Of course not!" the older woman replied, smiling when she realized that the question wasn't meant seriously.
Ashlyn grinned broadly and nodded slowly before licking her lips. "To be honest ... I'm moving back to Boston. I'm not just here for Ma."
Nikki looked at the blonde in surprise and turned a little to her sister. "Honestly? That's great, Ash." She paused and drew her eyebrows together. "But what made you make that decision?"
The younger woman took a deep breath and pulled the corners of her mouth down. "Well, as you know very well, most of my family lives here, and I'm currently at a stage where I'd like to be closer to my family and not two thousand miles away from them." She paused and licked her lips. "Just call it homesickness if you like."
Nikki smiled broadly, but then she turned serious again. "You're not pregnant, though, are you?"
Ashlyn paused in her movement to take a sip from her whisky glass and looked at her sister with a deep frown. "Who am I supposed to be pregnant by? By the Holy Spirit?"
Nikki pulled the corners of her mouth down and lifted her shoulders. She knew her sister had been single again after catching her fiancé Brandon, in bed with her best friend. "Maybe you've met someone again?"
Ashlyn rolled her eyes and finally took a sip of whiskey. "Would I be standing here drinking whisky with you if I was pregnant?"
Nikki frowned now. "You have no idea what I've been through in my job, Ash."
"I have some idea," the blonde replied, looking over her shoulder at Mike, who was putting the plates into the dishwasher. "And what about you?"
"What about me?"
"When are you and Mike getting married and starting a family?"
Nikki laughed briefly and shook her head, lowering her eyes. "Mike and I aren't that far along yet."
Ashlyn tucked her chin and looked skeptically at her sister. "You're not there yet? You've been together for how long? Three years?"
"Four," the detective told the younger woman, taking a sip from her glass and now looking briefly over her shoulder herself. "Mike and I agree that we don't have to change anything if things are going well. We don't need a marriage certificate to know we love each other. And one day, when we're both ready and the time is right, we'll start a family. Until then, we'll carry on as before."
Ashlyn nodded slowly and took a deep breath. "That sounds really grown up strangely. Should I just call you Veronica from now on?"
"Don't you dare," the detective replied with a laugh and gave her sister a gentle push.
Ashlyn laughed and emptied her glass in one gulp.
xxx
Elizabeth sat behind the wheel of her car in her driveway, drumming her index fingers on it.
She knew that Maggie had been sitting in the courtroom at the arraignment hearing and had followed everything closely. She was also well aware that her wife had heard her tell the judge that she was in a relationship with Caleb after Acosta had asked about their relationship. She was also well aware that she had very probably dealt the death blow to their marriage with that statement.
She closed her eyes briefly and gritted her teeth before exiting the car and walking to the front door.
She unlocked the door and paused when she saw several bags in the doorway. She swallowed hard and walked straight into the living room.
Benjamin was sitting on the couch and looked up from his cell phone. He got up without a word when he saw his mother and disappeared up the stairs.
Elizabeth blinked a few times and nodded as she licked her lips. She realized that Maggie had told her twelve-year-old son about what had happened in the courtroom.
She was just straightening up when she heard quick footsteps coming from the stairs; she was sure that Benjamin had informed Maggie that the captain had come home.
"Maggie --" she said weakly as the redhead stopped on the last landing and eyed the captain closely.
There was no mistaking that the ME had been crying. Maggie licked her lips, hurried to a sideboard, and opened a drawer. "Ben and I will live with my parents until I find my place. I've already spoken to them."
Elizabeth winced and closed her eyes momentarily at the thought of her wife taking her son to live with her in-laws, who hadn't really liked the captain for some time. "Maggie --" she tried again, but the words stuck in her throat.
Maggie leaned on the sideboard with both hands and hung her head. "What did you think was going to happen, Elizabeth?" she asked, clenching her hands into fists for a second. "After what happened in court? That you'd come home and everything would be the same?" She turned to her wife and looked at her with reddened eyes. "After you told the judge that you were cheating on me with a fifteen-year-old boy?"
Although she didn't want it, Elizabeth now went into defense mode. "Would it be any less bad for you if Caleb was a fifteen-year-old girl?"
The redhead blinked a few times and frowned deeply as she entered the kitchen. "No, it wouldn't be, Elizabeth. After all, we're talking about a boy barely older than our son." She paused, raised her hands, and shook her head, her eyes wide. "You can't imagine what's going through my head right now!"
The captain furrowed her eyebrows and stepped towards Maggie as she realized what her wife was getting at. "Do you think I've been offending my own son just because of Caleb and his age? Is that why you're taking him to your parents?"
Maggie pressed her lips together and shook her head once more. "I don't know what to think anymore, Elizabeth. I don't know what to believe anymore. The only thing I really know is that today, you destroyed everything we built together." She blinked up at the ceiling and licked her lips. "I've forgiven you over the years and let you get away with so much. All your nooks, crannies, and secretiveness, but I can never forgive you for this today."
Elizabeth pressed her lips together and nodded slowly as she tried to sort out her thoughts. "Okay," she said suddenly, still shaking as she looked at her wife. "Okay ... um ... I know you're not really keen on moving in with your parents, so --" She paused, furrowing her brows and licking her lips. "So... let me go upstairs and pack up a few things. You stay here with Ben ... I will go to a hotel until I get a new place."
Maggie held her breath and closed her eyes briefly before nodding. "Okay."
Elizabeth gritted her teeth, took a deep breath, and approached the stairs. "Okay."