Nikki stood at her parents' kitchen island with a beer bottle and ran her fingers over her brows with a deep sigh. She paused when she sensed that someone had joined her at her side and raised her brows. "I liked you better as a high school teacher," she said bluntly, locking her sister's gaze.

Standing next to the detective in a simple T-shirt, jeans, and her hair down, Ashlyn smiled broadly with a glass of whiskey in her hand. "You're not the first to say that," she replied, glancing at Mike, sitting next to Jalen, who was explaining something on his cell phone. She became serious again and frowned a little. "You know I'm just doing my job."

The detective pursed her lips and nodded slowly. "Yes, I know. It would be unusual if the prosecution were to be more careful with us cops." She looked at Maura, who was sitting on the couch with Maggie and seemed to be in conversation, while Jane occasionally rolled her eyes before joining the conversation. "Maura would have already given us a hard time several times during the investigation."

Ashlyn grinned broadly and took a sip from her glass. "So you think I should work on my strictness?"

Nikki grunted briefly and sat up a little. "No, I'm doing pretty well with your high school teacher manner."

Unlike the detective, the lawyer grinned broadly, sat down at the kitchen island, and frowned a little as she took a closer look at Nikki. She could see clearly that her sister's latest case was taking everything the detective had. It seemed to the blonde that her older sister had aged by years in the past few days. "I sense that you don't really want to be here."

Nikki took a deep breath and let her head hang for a second. "I keep thinking that those seven guys are sitting somewhere scared and know their time is slowly running out while I sit here and enjoy a nice meal. That's --"

Ashlyn pursed her lips and nodded slowly, frowning a little. She knew that her sister would not rest until she had found either the bastard who had kidnapped the seven boys and killed their parents or the bodies of the children. She also knew that giving up was not an option for the detective; it went against her nature. Giving up was against the nature of the Rizzoli family, starting with Jane and Maura. "You need a break, Veronica. To get a clearer view again."

"I'll take a break when I crack this damn case," the older woman replied, walking to the fridge to take out another beer. She paused and closed her eyes before looking at Benjamin, who was now trying to explain something technical to Mike with Jalen. "Right now, I feel like I'm the family member who --" She shook her head and licked her lips. "Can't keep up intellectually with the rest of you."

Ashlyn pulled in her chin and lowered her brows. "You're just as smart as I am, and Ben."

Nikki gave a humorless laugh and shook her head again. "No," she replied. "No, definitely not as bright as Ben. He understands how Ma thinks because his brain works similarly to hers. I'm so desperate that I've already asked him for advice because Ma refuses to help me."

"Your mother refuses to help you because she's afraid she'll lose herself in the world of murder and mayhem again," Jane said, coming into the kitchen to refill Maura's glass. "You can see what happened when she descended into that dark world one time too many."

Nikki paused and looked at Maggie, who smiled repeatedly, but those smiles never really reached her eyes. During her regular visits to her mother, the detective noticed that the redhead kept looking towards the front door, consciously or unconsciously, as if she were waiting for Elizabeth to finally come home.

Since it had come to light that Elizabeth had been leading a double life for years and Maggie had decided that it would be better to separate from the former captain, the ME hadn't been on a date with either men or women. As if she was hoping that Elizabeth would come out of her shell again and take an active part in her family's life.

"I just don't understand why Mom doesn't just go to Ma and talk to her about what happened."

"That's what's known as wounded pride," the former chief replied, frowning as she looked at Nikki intently. "You should know what I'm talking about."

Nikki pursed her lips and lowered her gaze for a second. She knew her grandmother was right. If it hadn't been for this case, she would never have approached Elizabeth on her own initiative. She was still too hurt and disappointed by the former captain.

Jane looked at her granddaughter for a long time. "How is your mother, by the way?"

The detective opened her mouth but closed it again. "I'm not really sure."

Jane nodded slowly. "I thought not."

Maura joined the three of them and frowned slightly as she took her glass from Jane's hand. "Are you three talking about work again?"

"Of course not," Jane replied with a smile, kissing her wife.

Maura rolled her eyes, knowing she had been exactly correct in her assumption.

Nikki smiled broadly and looked at Maggie, who was again looking towards the front door. She took her beer and went to the redhead in the living room, sitting beside her. She studied her mother carefully and smiled weakly. "Hey, Mom."

Maggie smiled broadly and took a deep breath. "Hi, sweetie." Her smile died as she looked into her daughter's exhausted and bewildered eyes and stroked a strand of Nikki's hair behind her ear. "You look exhausted," she said.

Nikki smiled weakly again. "I am," she admitted without hesitation. "I can't sleep at night."

Maggie took a deep breath and nodded slowly. "Yes, I know. You got that from Elizabeth." She raised her eyebrows when Nikki looked at her questioningly. "Not to relax until this one case is not closed with a satisfactory result. How often do you think I found your mother in the middle of the night reviewing case files? Or sleeping here on the couch because she couldn't return to bed because a case had been pulling at her so hard? I think she spent more time here than in bed with me. At least, that's how it seems to me."

Nikki leaned back on the couch and turned her head to her mother. "I'm sorry, Mom."

Maggie looked at her sympathetically and kindly. "Don't be," she said with a smile. "I knew what I was getting into back then. And it's not like you or your mother were fanatical about a case. I wasn't much better back then."

Nikki smiled broadly and looked at her husband, Mike, for a second. "That's why you complemented each other so well."

Maggie smiled again. "Yes."

The detective took a deep breath and looked at her mother intently for a few seconds. "Do you regret it?"

The redhead blinked a few times and frowned. "What do you mean?"

Nikki pursed her lips and thought about how best to ask the question. "Do you regret marrying Ma?"

Maggie's smile disappeared, and a certain sadness could be seen in her eyes. She took a deep breath and licked her lips. "Some days, yes, I regret marrying Elizabeth," she answered honestly and so quietly that only she and Nikki knew the conversation. Then she looked at the young woman and smiled a little again. "But most of the time, I'm pleased about it because if I hadn't met and fallen in love with Elizabeth, I most likely wouldn't have the wonderful family I have today."

Nikki smiled broadly and reached for Maggie's hand, squeezing it tightly. "Thank you for being my mom."

Maggie returned the squeeze and nodded, with tears in her eyes, without saying a word.

xxx

"Please tell me that one of you has finally found a concrete link between our case and Fjodor Sokolov!" Nikki said the following day, sitting on the edge of the desk in the BRIC office and running her fingers over her brow.

The mood could have been more inspiring. Most of the detectives' faces were turned away from Nikki and directed toward laptop monitors or files, apparently unmotivated. What else had she expected? After all, the team had been groping in the dark for weeks. Nikki summoned the evidence specialists, trace analysts, and detectives from her team to an extraordinary meeting on the third floor. Only Nick Simms, the captain of the homicide division, hadn't shown up. He was still visiting his wife Katherine in Quantico, and Nikki couldn't help but feel that was for the best.

He really doesn't need to see me like this. Desperate and at my wit's end.

"I've spoken again to the detectives from the drug squad and a couple of confidential informants on the scene." Detective John Balewa lifted the file in his hand and frowned a little. "It's true that the Boston parents who were killed were connected to Sokolov's people. It was probably about the occasional storage of cocaine in medium quantities in one case and about distribution in the other. But this information was passed on unofficially to our undercover investigators. Officially, no one will be found who will utter the name Sokolov to any cop or judge. And sorry, O'Laighin, but under the current circumstances, none of our people will give up their cover either. Not another one."

Nikki bowed her head briefly before finally looking at her long-standing colleague worriedly. "Of course not --" She took a deep breath. "And it wouldn't be enough to link Sokolov to the murders and the abductions of the boys anyway. All of his colleagues we arrested on the steamer claim they don't even know him. He was just a normal passenger on the steamer. They won't risk their lives, we can forget that. They'll just go to prison for a few years, and that'll be that."

"Sorry, but that doesn't look good." Balewa looked sympathetically at Nikki. "We definitely can't get this bum, Sokolov, with the current state of affairs. And honestly, the current state of affairs isn't changing much. We've followed every possible lead around the clock for almost two weeks. Without real success. The case is practically closed."

Nikki nodded slowly. The large monitor on the wall showed a picture of the bunker she had called up. "Yesterday, I was in the bunker where the twins were found. According to the file, only traces of the children and Esther Wallace were found there. Whoever prepared this hiding place knew exactly what they were doing. In fact, the evidence points to a highly intelligent, very controlled perpetrator with extensive experience in thwarting our case analysis methods. This narrows down the circle of suspects considerably. And then, these twenty years since the old case! Why is this coming up again now?" She looked at a colleague from her team. "Judith, what did your search turn up for murderers and kidnappers who were arrested for something about twenty years ago and were only recently released?"

Judith Copeland shrugged. "There weren't very many possibilities. Based on the current status and after consulting with colleagues in other states, the search narrowed to six people. The DNA we found at the seven crime scenes didn't match them. Besides, they all had either alibis or would have been physically incapable of pulling off this stunt. Not to mention the fact that, according to all the laws of physics, no one in the world would be able to carry out seven kidnappings at the same time anyway."

Nikki closed her eyes as if she could make the whole case disappear, along with the sight of the baffled faces of her team. And without getting her hopes up for a pleasing answer, she asked, "Is there any progress in the search for the boys?"

It was John Balewa again who spoke up. "The detectives from other states and we are following numerous leads. Hundreds of abandoned halls, disused factories, and bunkers have been searched nationwide. Mantrailer dogs have searched in vain for new tracks, and kidnapping specialists, psychologists, and imprisoned offenders from the area have been heard. But there is simply nothing to do. The kidnapper doesn't get in touch with demands, and we can't search every attic and basement in America. Without new investigative approaches, we're screwed!"

Nikki looked around. Some looked at her sympathetically; others continued to stare at the screens of their laptops. Of course, there were rare cases in which all investigative technology failed to lead to success; Nikki knew this very well. But this case was not one in which it seemed even an option to admit defeat to a particularly cunning culprit.

The boys are dying in their hideout, and Sokolov gets away scot-free. Isn't a deal that would be less bad?

"What did Lady Firehand say to the twins Carl and Dennis?"

Judith Copeland's voice sounded like a distant echo in Nikki's ears, but she didn't want to pay any attention to her. She didn't like the thought that had just occurred to her at all. It was reprehensible, disgusting, and in extreme contrast to everything she believed in. But the idea of a just world, which Nikki had explained to her stuffed animals as a four-year-old, would not help the boys hiding in the attic, hoping for rescue.

Unlike --

"Are you okay?" John's voice pulled Nikki out of her thoughts.

"Yes, sorry. I was just thinking about something." She closed her laptop.

"Can we help you with anything?" Judith Copeland sounded more worried than helpful.

Nikki looked again at the faces of her team. And while she was still deluding herself that she had any doubts about her decision, she also realized that the die had long since been cast. Even if she decided to keep the enormity to herself for now. "Yes, everyone's okay. Just keep going, don't give up."

"And what are you going to do next?" Balewa sounded as if he had seen something in his colleague's face that had revealed her monstrous intentions.

"I'm going to see Sokolov again. It seems he's the last person who can still help me."