DISCLAIMER: I do not own Rizzoli & Isles nor any of the characters from the show. I am writing this purely for entertainment, not profit. Rizzoli and Isles are property of Tess Gerritsen and TNT.
Please find the full disclaimers in the beginning of Chapter 1.
Chapter 4
They had agreed to ride side by side, and would adjust if needed. They had no lights, the moon was in its first quarter, but even that reflecting on the body of water to their right gave enough light for them to keep going.
Things were silent, and except for the soft crunch of light snow under the tires of their bikes, and the rustle of their puffy warm parkas, no other sound was to be heard.
It was painfully cold, and although they were making a physical effort and that helped keep them warm, it was not enough to counteract the headwinds.
They started at 6.40PM. The snow kept light during the entire journey, but even light snow accumulated, what begun to slow them down about half-way through their trip. The good thing was that the snow muffled any sounds, so protected by the dark and the silence, they kept pushing non-stop.
They passed outside countless villages and small cities, but everything was dark, there was not one sign of life or fire or electricity, and they had agreed before not to wander or explore, just stick to the path as much as they could.
They rode without pause, their bodies not used to that amount of cycling, Jane's hands stiffing even in the gloves as the cold air became colder.
It was just past midnight when Maura held Jane by the arm, stopping her bike. Jane stopped too. Maura silently pointed out to the outline of a mansion barely visible about a mile ahead. As every single building they had seen so far, it was completely dark. There was no smoke coming out of any of its chimeneas.
Jane nodded her understanding. They had reached the Isles mansion.
Maura veered to a small path from the road, and guided Jane to a backdoor entrance, the one that would take them through the kitchen from the lake.
They parked their bikes by the door. Maura fumbled with her gloved hands to fish a key from her pants pocket, but when she put it on the door, she realized the door was opened.
She pocketed the key again, raising urgent hazel eyes to Jane, who signaled her to keep quiet and to allow Jane to go in front. Jane positioned herself on the corner of the door, keeping Maura behind the frame of her own body, and picked the Swiss-knife she had stuck on the inside of her hiking boot, opening its blade. She also picked her pocket flashlight to have some light. She pushed the door lightly inside. Jane scanned the dark interior, keeping the knife tightly held on her hand. She stepped inside.
Things seemed to have been thrown on the floor – the doors to the cabinets were opened and hanging from their hinges.
Jane had a really bad feeling about this…
She turned around, and motioned Maura to follow her.
Maura's eyes widened when she saw the destruction in the kitchen. This was not a good sign. It meant someone had ransacked the house.
Jane moved slowly. Maura had explained to her the layout of the house, so Jane knew that from the kitchen there was this corridor that if crossed would take to the main room, but if followed to the right would take to the library and to an office, as well as to the stairs that gave access to the second floor of the mansion.
Jane stopped dead on her tracks as she approached the corridor. She wished she had kept Maura outside. Maura didn't need to see this.
She turned to Maura and whispered. "Stay here." As she crossed the corridor. Jane had seen the outlines on the main room floor. Two bodies were laying down there on top of an expensive rug. The cold weather had kept them preserved, and as she walked closer it was clear they were Arthur and Constance. There was congealed blood by the side of their heads, what indicated they were likely shot from a close range. Jane swallowed hard. War was senseless.
There didn't seem to be any sign of a struggle, and from the position of the bodies, someone seemed to have ordered them to kneel before simply shooting them on the back of their heads.
Jane walked back to Maura, as Maura was looking urgently at her. Jane raised her grave eyes, and shook her head slightly, and Maura moved to approach. Jane barred her path.
"You don't need to see this..." Jane whispered fervently by Maura's ear, as Maura struggled and then sobbed in her arms when Jane held her firmly, preventing Maura to move.
"I do need to see it through, Jane." Maura whispered when she finally calmed down. "Please."
Jane looked deeply into pleading hazel eyes. She still didn't think it was a good idea. But Maura was a grown up.
Jane walked by her side, as Maura approached the bodies and kneeled between them. Jane observed as Maura analyzed the situation, first her mother, then her father.
After a few moments, Maura shook her head, and motioned to get up, and Jane helped her by supporting her elbow.
"They were executed." Maura stated, her eyes welled in tears raised to Jane. "More than two weeks ago."
It matched Jane's impression.
But this would not change the outcome.
"I am really sorry, Maura." Jane extended her gloved hand to hold Maura's gloved hand.
Maura just nodded.
"If you know where there are gardening tools… I can dig a grave to bury them." Jane offered shily.
"They were in a little shed outside, if it was not ransacked." Maura replied in a very small voice.
Jane removed their backpacks and left them by the ransacked kitchen before walking outside. The little shed was only kept closed by a simple old latch. Jane opened it, and found a sharp spade and a mattock.
Closer to the house there was a tree, naked of leaves because of the season. But Jane used the spade to clean the short layer of snow that had been falling, and then quietly put herself to work. She removed dirt from a space that was taller than her, thinking of Arthurs height, and that would fit two bodies side by side. She broke the hard soil with the mattock, and then used the spade to remove the dirty. Maura joined her with another pair of mattock and spade.
It took them several hours, since they were not used to that type of work, and the moves didn't come naturally. Besides, they were already tired from the several hours cycling. The cold didn't help, and each blow sent a wave of pain to Jane's scarred hands.
"Three feet deep are more than enough, Jane." Maura approached her when she assessed they had reached that depth. Jane could see Maura was fighting shock, trying to keep grounded, hypnotized by the repetitive manual work of digging.
"Wait for me here." Jane asked. She didn't want Maura to have to handle dragging the bodies.