Freaks

Gerritsen, Tess

Ballantine (2011)

Product Description

In this free Rizzoli & Isles short story from New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen, author of The Silent Girl, a bizarre death comes with a supernatural twist. Homicide cop Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles have seen their fair share of mortal crimes, but the death of Kimberly Rayner may qualify as inhuman in more ways than one. When corpse of the emaciated seventeen-year-old girl is discovered next to an empty coffin in an abandoned church, mysterious bruises around the throat suggest foul play. Caught fleeing the scene is the victim’s closest friend, Lucas Henry, an equally skeletal, pale teenager who claims he’s guilty only of having a taste for blood—a craving he shared with Kimberly. But the victim’s distraught father doesn’t believe in vampires, only vengeance. And now, another life may be at risk unless Rizzoli and Isles can uncover the astonishing truth. Includes a special preview of Tess Gerritsen’s new Rizzoli & Isles novel, The Silent Girl, on sale July 5. And don’t miss the season premiere of TNT’s hit series Rizzoli & Isles on July 11

Also by Tess Gerritsen

Harvest

Life Support

Bloodstream

Gravity

The Surgeon

The Apprentice

The Sinner

Body

Double

Vanish

The Mephisto Club

The Bone Garden

The Keepsake

Ice Cold

The Silent Girl

Freaks is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

A Ballantine Books eBook Edition

Copyright © 2010 Tess Gerritsen

All Rights Reserved. Used Under Authorization.

Published in the United States by Ballantine, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

Ballantine is a registered trademark and the Ballantine colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

This short story originally appeared on www.tnt.tv in 2010.

eISBN: 978-0-345-53008-0

www.ballantinebooks.com

v3.1

Contents

Cover

Other Books by This Author

Title Page

Copyright

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Excerpt from The Silent Girl

Rizzoli & Isles Bonus Material

About the Author

Chapter One

The Queen of the Dead had arrived.

As medical examiner Maura Isles stepped out of her black Lexus, her appearance on that chilly afternoon matched the nickname that Boston PD cops had long ago dubbed her. Black car, black coat, black scarf. Appropriate for this winter’s day with its deepening shadows and the scent of impending snow.

Detective Jane Rizzoli raised a gloved hand in greeting. “Hey, Doc!” she called out. “Hope you brought your flashlight.”

Maura crossed the street to the front steps of the church and stared up at the arched doorways and boarded-up windows. “St. Anthony’s? This building’s been closed up for years.”

“The victim managed to find her way in.” Jane shivered as the wind whipped her hair and flapped the hem of her coat. “Unfortunately, so did her killer.”

“Killer?” Maura shot Jane a questioning look. “So you’ve already decided this is a homicide.”

“When you see her body, you’ll know why.”

Jane waited for Maura to pull on shoe covers and gloves, then she pushed open the massive oak door and they stepped inside. Though now protected from the wind, the dank interior felt colder, as if a chill radiated from the stone walls. The building had no power, and the only illumination came from a battery-operated CSU lamp glowing at the far end. In the cavernous space above, shadows hung as thick as night.

“How was the body found?” Maura asked.

“A passerby reported screams coming from the building and she called nine-one-one. First officer on the scene said the back door was unlocked. He came in and found the body.”

Jane turned on her Maglite and led Maura past rows of deserted pews toward the altar, where Detective Barry Frost and three criminalists stood waiting for them. They’d formed a solemn circle around the victim, as though protecting her from any predators that lurked in the darkness. The men parted to reveal a young woman lying on the ground with head flung back, mouth agape.

Frost said, “According to the ID, her name’s Kimberly Rayner, age seventeen.”

No one spoke as Maura moved closer and gazed down at the swollen face. The girl’s blond hair was stringy with grease, and filth smudged her face.

“She’s fully dressed, so it doesn’t look like a sexual assault. But see the strangulation marks?” Jane said. She aimed her flashlight at the neck, which was arched backward, the throat exposed to reveal skin bruised by pressure marks from a killer’s pitiless grip. Death had left the girl’s face bloated, but the body was almost skeletal, the clavicles grotesquely prominent, the wrists as thin as twigs. Malnutrition had forced the girl’s own body to start devouring itself, consuming fat and muscle as it struggled to keep nutrients flowing to brain and heart.

“Want to see what really freaked us out?” Jane asked.

“A dead body wasn’t enough?”

“Take a look at that.” Jane turned, and her flashlight beam landed on something that gleamed in the shadows. Something that made even the unflappable Maura Isles gasp in a startled breath.

It was a coffin. And the lid was open.

Chapter Two

In the darkness above, something fluttered. Jane glanced up and shuddered as she spotted a shadow swooping high overhead. “There really are bats in the belfry,” she said. “We noticed them flying around earlier.”

“Bats?” said Maura with a startled laugh. “And an open coffin?”

“Wait. It gets better,” said Jane, crossing to the coffin. “Take a look.”

“Please don’t tell me there’s a vampire lying in there.”

Jane shone her light into the coffin. On the satin pillow inside were half a dozen black strands of hair. “Someone’s been lying in here. The question is, were they dead? Or just sleeping?” Jane gave a nervous laugh.

Maura stood over the coffin, staring at the telltale strands. Suddenly she gave herself a shake, as if to cast off the spell that this place had spun around them all. “Jane, there’s a logical explanation for this.”

“You always say that.”

Maura turned and pointed to puddles of melted wax on the floor. “Someone’s been burning candles. And look, there’s a big cardboard box over there, with blankets. Someone’s been camping in here, that’s all. Maybe the victim.”

“Or the guy who slept in that coffin. Wherever he is now.”

Maura crossed back to the body. “It’s too dark in here for me to properly examine her. We need to get her to the morgue for autopsy.” She began dialing her cell phone. “This is Dr. Isles. We have a body to transport …”

One of the criminalists muttered: “Maybe we should drive a stake through her heart first. Just to be sure.”

The chill had deepened, and Jane could see her own breath in the darkness, a ghostly cloud that dissipated into the shadows. Kimberly Rayner should be in high school, thought Jane, looking down at the body. A seventeen-year-old girl should be flirting with boys and applying to college and dreaming about her future. Not lying dead on an icy stone floor.

“Detective Rizzoli?” one of the criminalists called out. “I found a shoe print.” Jane crossed to where he was crouched, his flashlight aimed at the muddy track. “Looks like a man’s size eight or nine. Too big to be the victim’s.”

With her flashlight pointed to the floor, Jane followed the tracks backward until she reached a door—not the one the responding patrolman had entered. No, someone else had entered the building this way. The door hung ajar, and she felt icy wind seep through the opening.

Pushing through, she found herself outside, in an overgrown side yard littered with the debris of autumn leaves. The crack of a branch made her head snap up. She aimed her flashlight toward the sound.

A pair of eyes glowed back at her.

Chapter Three

In an instant Jane had her weapon out and pointed. “Boston PD! Identify yourself!” she commanded.

A black-clad figure sprang out of the bushes and fled.

“Halt!” Jane yelled, but the figure hurtled away. Jane took off after it, her shoes cracking through ice-encrusted mud. Her quarry was a spidery shadow, swooping in and out of sight, like something not quite solid. Not quite human.

Behind her, she heard Frost yell: “Rizzoli?”

She didn’t stop to answer him but kept up the pursuit. The figure ahead was moving fast—too fast. Her legs pumped harder, muscles burning. The air was so cold, it seemed to sear her throat. She saw the figure clamber over a fence and drop out of sight.

She scrambled over it, too, felt wood splinters bite into her hand. She dropped hard on the other side, and pain shot up her shins. She was standing in an enclosed yard. Where is he, where? Frantically she scanned the shadows, looking for some telltale flicker of movement.

Did something just slink into that shed?

Clutching her weapon in both hands, she approached the shed doorway. Inside was only blackness, so thick it seemed solid. She inched forward and stood on the threshold, trying to peer inside. Seeing nothing.

A sound in the darkness raised the hairs on the back of her neck. The sound of quick, desperate breaths. They didn’t come from the shed, but behind her.

She swung around and spotted her quarry, crouched and cowering in the shadows. It was garbed all in black. As she shone her flashlight in the eyes, the arms came up, shielding the face from the glare.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

“I’m nobody.”

“Show yourself! Stand up!”

Slowly, the figure rose to its feet and lowered its spindly arms. The face that stared back at her was an unearthly white; the hair gleamed jet black. The same color as the hairs they’d found on the coffin pillow.

Chapter Four

“Man, he sure looks like a vampire,” said Barry Frost, staring through the one-way mirror at the pale young man sitting in the interview room.

The subject was eighteen years old and his name was Lucas Henry. Transpose the first and last names and it became ominously familiar: Henry Lucas. Did his mother realize she’d named her kid after one of the most prolific serial killers of all time? But the boy in the next room looked more frightened than dangerous. He sat huddled at the table, a black forelock drooping over his white brow. With his jutting cheekbones, his deeply sunken eyes, he looked like a living skeleton. Multiple studs pierced his lips, nose, and God knew what other parts of his body—so many studs that he’d set off the metal detector when they’d brought him into Boston PD headquarters.

“Why the heck do kids poke holes in their skin?” said Frost. “I never understood that.”

“It’s a Goth thing. You know, death, pain, oblivion.” Jane snorted. “All that fun stuff.”

“He’s sure not having any fun.”

“Let’s go make his night even more enjoyable.”

As Jane and Frost walked in, Lucas snapped straight in his chair, eyes wide with apprehension. Despite his grotesque piercings and the black leather jacket with the death’s-head decal, Lucas looked like just a scared kid. A kid who may have wrapped his skinny hands around Kimberly Rayner’s throat and squeezed the life out of her.

Jane sat down across from him. Noticed that the boy’s eyes, heavily rimmed with black eyeliner, were bloodshot from crying. “Are you sure you don’t want an attorney?” she asked.

“I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“I take it that’s a no.”

“She was alive when I left her. I swear it.”

“Tell us how you came to know Kimberly Rayner.”

The boy took a deep breath. “I first met her a few months ago, when we were both hanging out in Harvard Square. We recognized each other immediately.”

“I thought that was the first time you met.”

“What I mean is, I knew at once what she was. And she knew what I was.”

“And that would be?”

“Different. We’re different from other kids. From everyone else.”

“Every kid thinks he’s different.”

“I mean really different.”

“Like how?”

He took a breath. “We’re not human,” he said.

Chapter Five

There was a long silence. Frost, standing in the corner, rolled his eyes.

“Funny,” said Jane. “You look human to me.”

“That’s just on a superficial level. But if you examine my cells, if you look at them under a microscope, you’ll see that I’m different. Since I was just a kid, I’ve known that I wasn’t like everyone else. I don’t need food like you do. I can survive perfectly well on just air and …”

“Wait, don’t tell me,” Jane said. “Blood?”

The boy’s eyes narrowed. “You’re mocking me.”

Oh, you think?

“Are you telling us you’re a vampire?” asked Frost, managing to keep his face perfectly serious.

Lucas looked at him. “If that’s what you want to call us. We’re a subspecies of human, nocturnal and hemophagic. That means we devour blood.”

“Yeah, I got that. So whose blood do you devour?”

“We don’t kill people, if that’s your question. We’re the pacifist branch of our subspecies. Sometimes volunteers will donate a few tubes to feed us.”

“Volunteers?”

“Friends. Classmates. Or someone will smuggle out a bag or two from the local blood bank. But mostly, we consume animal blood. You can buy it, you know, from any good butcher shop.” He sat up, puffing out his thin chest. “It gives us superhuman strength.”

Jane looked at the anemically pale face, eyes sunken in hollow sockets, and thought: What he’s got is a superhuman case of the crazies. “So Kimberly Rayner was a vampire, too?”

“Yes. A few weeks ago, she ran away from home. I invited her to crash with me, in the church.”

“You slept together in that coffin?”

“No! We were, like, totally platonic. I found an old shipping carton for her to sleep in. To block out the light.”

“I thought vampires were supposed to be immortal. So what happened to her?”

“I don’t know. I woke up, and she was screaming. She was rolling around on the floor, saying her stomach hurt. Even though it was still daylight, I went out to get her some Pepto-Bismol. When I got back, about an hour later, there was a police car parked at the church.” His head drooped. “I didn’t know she was dead.”

“How about telling us what really happened?” Jane said.

“I told you.”

Jane leaned closer, her gaze hard on the boy. “Here’s how I think it went. You wanted sex. Or maybe you wanted a taste of her blood. Or maybe something ticked you off, and you attacked her. And she started screaming.”

“No, that’s not how it—”

“She wouldn’t shut up, so you grabbed her by the throat, just to quiet her down. She kept screaming, and you pressed harder. And harder. And suddenly she wasn’t screaming anymore.” Jane paused and said quietly: “It was an accident, wasn’t it? Isn’t that how it happened?”

“You’ll never get me to say that, because it’s not true.”

There was a knock on the door, and Detective Darren Crowe stuck his head in the room. “Hey Rizzoli, the girl’s father just arrived. I’ll have him wait in—”

A man suddenly shoved past Detective Crowe, into the room, and stood staring at Lucas Henry. “You freak,” he said. And he lunged at the boy.

Chapter Six

“If someone killed your kid,” said Tony Rayner, “you’d want to rip him apart, too!”

The father of Kimberly Rayner was a powerfully built man, and it had taken the efforts of all three detectives to pull him off the boy, who was now cowering in the corner.

“Mr. Rayner, we haven’t established that this boy did it,” said Jane.

“Look at him!” said Rayner, glaring at Lucas. “Of course he did it!”

Jane turned to Frost. “Could you get Lucas out of here? Have him wait in the other room.”

“I should’ve beaten the hell out of you months ago,” said Rayner. “Back when you were sniffing around her. Maybe she’d still be alive now.”

“You’re the reason she ran away,” Lucas shot back. “To get away from you.”

“Oh, I had you spotted months ago, you sick—”

“I was her only friend!”

“Freak.”

“She hated you!” Lucas yelled as Frost pulled him toward the door. “Her mom hated you, too!”

Jane took one look at Rayner’s face and thought: Uh-oh. Lunging protectively between Rayner and the boy, she felt her blouse rip, heard the boy give a yelp of terror as Frost hustled him out of the room. Jane and Crowe shoved Rayner back against the table, pinning him there until Jane could snap on the handcuffs.

“Well, that was fun,” said Crowe as he pushed Rayner into a chair. “Not cool, man. And look what you did to Detective Rizzoli’s shirt.”

Jane looked down at the gaping rip that exposed the top of her bra. In cold fury, she grabbed her blazer from the chair where she’d draped it. As she buttoned up, she saw Crowe smirk as he pointedly turned away.

“You are in trouble,” she said to Rayner through clenched teeth.

“I’m the one who’s grieving, and you handcuff me? That freak’s the one who belongs in jail!”

“We haven’t proved he’s guilty.”

“For God’s sake, he believes he’s a vampire.”

“It doesn’t mean he killed her.”

Rayner heaved out a deep breath. “Look, I’m sorry I tore your blouse. Can you take these handcuffs off?”

Jane and Crowe glanced at each other. She thought of the headache of booking the man. Thought of what she’d say in court. Yes, Your Honor, I know he just lost his daughter and he was emotionally distraught. But I paid a hundred dollars for that blouse.

With a sigh she unlocked the cuffs.

“What about him?” Rayner asked, rubbing his wrists. “Is that kid under arrest?”

“That’s for us to decide.”

He looked at her. “We’ll see about that.”

Chapter Seven

“It sounds like a classic case of folie à deux,” said Maura. “That’s my diagnosis.”

Of course Maura would come up with a diagnosis, thought Jane. From the instant Maura meets someone, she’s diagnosing him, like a scientist mentally dissecting a lab rat. As Jane tossed aside her torn blouse and buttoned on a new one, she saw Maura eyeing the ruined garment, no doubt analyzing the tensile strength of the threads and the force needed to initiate a rip.

“A pity,” said Maura. “That looks like dupioni silk.”

“I got it on sale, too.”

“Even sadder.” Maura turned toward Jane’s kitchen. “I brought us take-out Chinese. Shall I put it on the plates?”

“What’s wrong with eating out of the cartons?”

“Jane. Really.” Maura opened up cupboards and pulled out dishware.

“So tell me about this folie à deux thing.”

“It’s a delusion shared by two people,” said Maura. “In this case, their delusion was that they’re vampires. And it sounds like they carried it to extremes. Avoiding daylight. Sleeping in a coffin.”

“Which is where he’ll probably slink back to, since we didn’t have enough evidence to hold him.” Jane shook her head. “He swears they were living only on air and blood. Is that possible?”

Maura considered this as she dished out spoonfuls of kung pao chicken and stir-fried pea shoots. “Blood has plenty of iron, but it lacks essential vitamins. And since it’s seven hundred calories per liter, you’d have to drink three liters of blood a day.” She set a plate of food in front of Jane. “Bon appétit.”

“You know, I really didn’t need to know that.”

“It does explain why Kimberly Rayner was so malnourished. I’ve seen dead anorexics with more body fat. If she’s been eating only blood, she could hardly fight off a strangler.”

“Heck, she couldn’t fight off the common cold virus.”

Expertly wielding chopsticks, Maura delicately plucked up a morsel of chicken. “Scientifically speaking, the common cold isn’t caused by one particular virus. It’s a constellation of symptoms that …” She suddenly stopped, frowning.

“What?”

“Jane, you just raised a very good point.”

“I did?”

“About her lack of resistance to disease processes.”

“How is that relevant? She was strangled.”

“It looked like strangulation.” Maura set down her chopsticks. “But the autopsy just might reveal something else entirely.”

Chapter Eight

Through the viewing window, Jane and Frost could see the dead girl lying on the table in the next room. The naked body looked even more wasted than Jane remembered, the hipbones jutting out, every rib shockingly visible. But above the neck, in grotesque contrast with the skeletally thin body, the face was bloated, the eyelids swollen almost shut.

“You sure you’re up for this?” Jane asked Frost.

“I’m fine. I’m okay,” he insisted.

“That’s what you said the last time,” Jane muttered as she pushed into the autopsy room, where Maura and her assistant had already assembled their knives and scalpels, bone-cutters and tweezers. Jane avoided looking at that frightening array of instruments and focused instead on Kimberly Rayner. Once she might have been a pretty blue-eyed blonde who’d turned boys’ heads. Now with so much fat and muscle stripped away, she was a skeletal husk. Had months on a self-imposed diet of “air and blood” caused this?

“No surprises in her X-rays,” said Maura as she flipped on bright lights. “Let’s take a closer look at the neck.”

“Still looks like strangulation bruises to me.” Jane glanced at Frost, who was standing yards away from the table, strategically placing himself near the sink. “You should get a closer look at this.”

“I can see it fine from here,” he said.

“And see how her face is swollen,” Jane added. “That happens when you constrict the neck, right?”

“It’s one mechanism,” said Maura.

“So what else would cause a swollen face?”

“An allergic reaction. Anaphylaxis.” Above the surgical mask, Maura’s forehead suddenly wrinkled into a frown. “Or Latrodectus facies,” she said softly.

“Come again?”

Maura didn’t answer, but reached for a magnifying glass. Bending close, she turned the girl’s head to expose the side of the neck. Staring at the skin, she murmured: “My God, it’s so small I almost missed it.”

“What?”

“A puncture mark.”

Frost’s cell phone suddenly rang.

Maura’s focus remained glued to the corpse’s throat. She turned the head the other way to examine the opposite side of the neck. “There’s another one here.”

“You mean, like needle marks to draw blood?”

“No, like—”

“Rizzoli, we gotta go!” yelled Frost. “St. Anthony’s Church.”

“What’s going on?”

“The girl’s father. He’s taken Lucas Henry hostage, and he’s threatening to kill him!”

Chapter Nine

Four Boston PD cruisers were parked in front of St. Anthony’s, rack lights flashing as Jane and Frost scrambled out of their car and ran toward the church.

“He’s got the boy inside,” a patrolman reported. “We have all the entrances covered, and we’ve been trying to talk him out, but he’s not cooperating.”

“Let me talk to him,” said Jane, pulling on a Kevlar vest.

“Ma’am, he’s already fired off a few rounds. That’s how we got the call, when someone in the neighborhood reported gunfire.”

“Is the boy okay?”

“He was able to answer us. Other than that, I don’t know.” The patrolman looked her up and down, as though questioning her ability to deal with the situation. “There’s a team on the way. I don’t think you should—”

“I know Rayner. I’m the one who should do this.” Jane started toward the church entrance. “Mr. Rayner!” she yelled through the door. “It’s Detective Rizzoli. I want to talk to you!”

From inside came Rayner’s shout: “Don’t bother! It won’t make a difference!”

At least he wasn’t issuing threats. “I’m opening the door now,” she announced. “I’m coming in alone.” There was no answer. She took a breath and stepped over the threshold.

It was gloomy inside, lit only by the distant flicker of a burning candle. She could not see Rayner or Lucas, but she could hear the boy’s terrified whimpers somewhere in the shadows. Bat wings flapped overhead.

“He’s crazy!” Lucas sobbed. “He broke in here while I was sleeping. Says he’s going to kill me.”

Jane’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and she could see them now. Lucas sat huddled against a pew, and Rayner stood over him, his weapon pointed at the boy’s head.

“Let him go,” said Jane. “This doesn’t help anyone.”

“It’s justice,” said Rayner. “That’s worth something.”

“Is it worth your own life?”

“Someone has to pay. We both know he killed her.”

“I didn’t!” wailed Lucas. “I keep telling you that!”

Jane said, “If the boy’s guilty, let the courts prove it.”

“They won’t,” said Rayner. “You said last night there’s no proof. There’ll never be enough proof. My girl’s gone, and he’ll walk away free and clear.”

Even in the gloom, Jane could see Rayner’s arm straighten as his hand tightened around the grip. As she drew her own weapon, her cell phone rang. All three of them froze, caught on the threshold of violence. She let the phone keep ringing as she kept her gaze on Rayner.

“If Lucas killed her,” Jane said, “I swear I’ll find a way to prove it. And he will go to prison.”

She and Rayner stared at each other in the gloom. Now another phone began to ring, but this time it wasn’t hers—it was Rayner’s. Without breaking eye contact, he answered it. “Hello?” There was a long silence, then he bent down and slid the phone across the floor toward Jane. “It’s for you.”

Baffled, Jane picked it up. “Rizzoli.”

Maura answered. “Jane, I’m standing right outside. The boy didn’t do it!”

“Then who did?”

“The killer’s inside that church. With you.”

Chapter Ten

Maura’s footsteps echoed across the stone floor as she approached them through the shadows. “I’m alone,” she called out. “And I’m not armed. All I have is a flashlight, and I’m going to turn it on.”

“What the hell’s going on?” Rayner demanded.

“I’m Dr. Maura Isles, the medical examiner. I performed your daughter’s autopsy, and I can prove that Lucas Henry didn’t kill her.”

“How the hell can you prove that?”

“By showing you the real killer.” Maura’s flashlight came on, and Jane squinted at the sudden glare of the beam. “Lucas, tell me where Kimberly was sleeping.”

The boy’s voice was shaky in the darkness. “I couldn’t find a coffin for her. So we dragged in that cardboard box. Over there.”

Maura’s flashlight beam swept the shadows and came to a stop on a giant appliance carton. She approached it and read the shipping label. “This box was sent from North Carolina.”

“So what?” said Rayner.

She bent down and stared into the carton. “Jane, do you want to come take a look?”

Jane crouched down beside her and whispered: “What the hell do you think you’re doing here?”

“I told you. Identifying the killer.” Maura aimed her flashlight beam into the box, scanning past rumpled blankets and a stained pillow, to focus on the corner above. “There’s our perp.”

Jane stared at the gossamer web, and the creature that had woven it. “A spider?”

“Genus Latrodectus. A black widow. It probably hitched a ride from North Carolina and bit the victim while she was sleeping in this box. She may not have even felt the bite. In most healthy adults, the poison’s not fatal, but Kimberly was not a healthy adult. She was malnourished and medically fragile.” Maura’s voice dropped so that only Jane could hear her next words. “Death would have been excruciating. Muscle spasms, abdominal pain, followed by respiratory arrest. No wonder passersby heard her screaming.”

Jane rose to her feet and turned to Rayner. “Your daughter wasn’t murdered, sir. It was a spider bite. A freak death. And the killer’s right here, in this box.”

Slowly the man lowered his weapon. Even as Jane took it away and handcuffed him, Rayner stood motionless, his head bowed. “I only wanted justice,” he said. “Justice for my little girl.”

“And you’ll have it, Mr. Rayner,” said Jane. “In this case, all it takes is the heel of a shoe.”

Read on for an exciting preview of Tess Gerritsen’s next thrilling novel featuring Maura Isles and Jane Rizzoli

THE SILENT GIRL

ONE

SAN FRANCISCO

ALL DAY, I HAVE BEEN WATCHING THE GIRL. She gives no indication that she’s aware of me, although my rental car is within view of the street corner where she and the other teenagers have gathered this afternoon, doing whatever bored kids do to pass the time. She looks younger than the others, but perhaps it’s because she’s Asian and petite at seventeen, just a wisp of a girl. Her black hair is cropped as short as a boy’s, and her blue jeans are ragged and torn. Not a fashion statement, I think, but a result of hard use and life on the streets. She puffs on a cigarette and exhales a cloud of smoke with the nonchalance of a street thug, an attitude that doesn’t match her pale face and delicate Chinese features. She is pretty enough to attract the hungry stares of two men who pass by. The girl notices their gazes and looks straight back at them, unafraid. It’s easy to be fearless when danger is merely an abstract concept. Faced with a real threat, how would this girl react? I wonder. Would she fight or would she crumble? I want to know, but I have yet to see her put to the test.

As evening falls, the teenagers on the corner begin to disband. First one and then another wanders away. In San Francisco, even summer nights are chilly, and those who remain huddle together in their sweaters and jackets, lighting one another’s cigarettes, savoring the ephemeral heat of the flame. But cold and hunger eventually disperse the last of them, leaving only the girl, who has nowhere to go. She waves to her departing friends, and for a while lingers alone, as though waiting for someone. At last, with a shrug, she leaves the corner and walks in my direction, her hands thrust in her pockets. As she passes my car, she doesn’t even glance at me, but looks straight ahead, her gaze focused and fierce, as if she’s mentally churning over some dilemma. Perhaps she’s thinking about where she’s going to scavenge dinner tonight. Or perhaps it’s something more consequential. Her future. Her survival.

She’s probably unaware that two men are following her.

Seconds after she walks past my car, I spot the men emerging from an alley. I recognize them; it’s the same pair who had stared at her earlier. As they move past my car, trailing her, one of the men looks at me through the windshield. It’s just a quick glance to assess whether I am a threat. What he sees does not concern him in the least, and he and his companion keep walking. They move like the confident predators they are, stalking much weaker prey who cannot possibly fight them off.

I step out of my car and follow them. Just as they are following the girl.

She heads deep into the neighborhood south of Market Street, where too many buildings stand abandoned, where the sidewalks seem paved with broken bottles. The girl betrays no fear, no hesitation, as if this is familiar territory for her. Not once does she glance back, which tells me she is either foolhardy or clueless about the world and what it can do to girls like her. The men following her don’t glance back either. Even if they did, which I do not allow, they would see nothing to fear. No one ever does.

A block ahead, the girl turns right, vanishing through a doorway.

I slip into the shadows and watch what happens next. The two men pause outside the building that the girl has entered, conferring over strategy. Then they too step inside.

From the sidewalk, I look up at the boarded-over windows. It is a vacant warehouse posted with a NO TRESPASSING notice. The door hangs ajar. I slip inside, into gloom so thick that I pause to let my eyes adjust as I rely on my other senses to take in what I cannot yet see. I hear the floor creaking. I smell burning candle wax. I see the faint glow of a doorway to my left. Pausing outside it, I peer into the room beyond.

The girl kneels before a makeshift table, her face lit by one flickering candle. Around her are signs of temporary habitation: a sleeping bag, tins of food, and a small camp stove. She is struggling with a balky can opener and is unaware of the two men closing in from behind.

Just as I draw in a breath to shout a warning, the girl whirls around to face the trespassers. All she has in her hand is the can opener, a meager weapon against two larger men.

“This is my home,” she says. “Get out.”

I had been prepared to intervene. Instead I pause where I am to watch what happens next. To see what the girl is made of.

One of the men laughs. “We’re just visiting, honey.”

“Did I invite you?”

“You look like you could use the company.”

“You look like you could use a brain.”

This, I think, is not a wise way to handle the situation. Now their lust is mingled with anger, a dangerous combination. Yet the girl stands perfectly still, perfectly calm, brandishing that pitiful kitchen utensil. As the men lunge, I am already on the balls of my feet, ready to spring.

The girl springs first. One leap and her foot thuds straight into the first man’s sternum. It’s an inelegant but effective blow and he staggers, gripping his chest as if he cannot breathe. Before the second man can react, she is already spinning toward him, and she slams the can opener against the side of his head. He howls and backs away.

This has turned interesting.

The first man has recovered and rushes at her, slamming her so hard that they both go sprawling onto the floor. She kicks and punches, and her fist cracks into his jaw. But fury has inured him to pain, and with a roar he rolls on top of her, immobilizing her with his weight.

Now the second man jumps back in. Grabbing her wrists, he pins them against the floor. Here is where youth and inexperience have landed her, in a calamity that she cannot possibly escape. As fierce as she is, the girl is green and untrained, and the inevitable is about to happen. Already the first man has unzipped her jeans and he yanks them down, past her skinny hips. His arousal is evident, his trousers bulging. Never is a man more vulnerable to attack.

He doesn’t hear me coming. One moment he’s unzipping his fly. The next, he’s on the floor, his jaw shattered, loose teeth spilling from his mouth.

The second man barely has time to release the girl’s hands and jump up, but he’s not quick enough. I am the tiger and he is only a lumbering buffalo, stupid and helpless against my strike. With a shriek he drops to the ground, and judging by the grotesque angle of his arm, his bone has been snapped in two.

I grab the girl and yank her to her feet. “Are you unhurt?”

She zips up her jeans and stares at me. “Who the hell are you?”

“That’s for later. Now we go!” I bark.

“How did you do that? How did you bring them down so fast?”

“Do you want to learn?”

“Yes!”

I look at the two men groaning and writhing at our feet. “Then here is the first lesson: Know when to run.” I give her a shove toward the door. “That time would be now.”

I watch her eat. For such a small girl, she has the appetite of a wolf, and she devours three chicken tacos, a lake of refried beans, and a large glass of Coca-Cola. Mexican food was what she wanted, so we sit in a cafe where mariachi music plays and the walls are adorned with gaudy paintings of dancing señoritas. Though the girl’s features are Chinese, she is clearly American, from her cropped hair to her tattered jeans. A crude and feral creature who noisily slurps up the last of her Coke and crunches loudly on the ice cubes.

I am beginning to doubt the wisdom of this venture. She is already too old to be taught, too wild to learn discipline. I should simply release her back to the streets, if that’s where she wants to go, and find another way. But then I notice the scars on her knuckles and remember how close she came to single-handedly taking down the two men. She has talent and she is fearless, and those are things that cannot be taught.

“Do you remember me?” I ask.

The girl sets down her glass and frowns. For an instant I think I see a flash of recognition, but then it’s gone, and she shakes her head.

“It was a long time ago,” I say. “Twelve years.” An eternity for a girl so young. “You were small.”

She shrugs. “Then no wonder I don’t remember you.” She reaches in her jacket, pulls out a cigarette, and starts to light it.

“You’re polluting your body.”

“It’s my body,” she retorts.

“Not if you wish to train.” I reach across the table and snatch the cigarette from her lips. “If you want to learn, your attitude must change. You must show respect.”

She snorts. “You sound like my mother.”

“I knew your mother. In Boston.”

“Well, she’s dead.”

“I know. She wrote me last month. She told me she was ill and had very little time left. That’s why I’m here.”

I’m surprised to see tears glisten in the girl’s eyes, and she quickly turns away, as though ashamed to reveal weakness. But in that vulnerable instant, before she hides her eyes, she makes me think of my own daughter, who was younger than this girl’s age when I lost her. I feel my own eyes sting with tears, but I don’t try to hide them, because sorrow has made me who I am. It has been the refining fire that has honed my resolve and sharpened my purpose.

I need this girl. Clearly, she also needs me.

“It’s taken me weeks to find you,” I tell her.

“Foster home sucked. I’m better off on my own.”

“If your mother saw you now, her heart would break.”

“My mother never had time for me.”

“Maybe because she was working two jobs, trying to keep you fed? Because she couldn’t count on anyone but herself to do it?”

“She let the world walk all over her. Not once did I see her stand up for anything. Not even me.”

“She was afraid.”

“She was spineless.”

I lean forward, suddenly enraged by this ungrateful brat. “Your poor mother suffered in ways you can’t possibly imagine. Everything she did was for you.” In disgust, I toss her cigarette back at her. She is not the girl I’d hoped to find. She may be strong and fearless, but no sense of filial duty binds her to her dead mother and father, no sense of family honor. Without those ties to our ancestors, we are lonely specks of dust, adrift and floating, attached to nothing and no one.

I pay the bill for her meal and stand. “Someday, I hope you find the wisdom to understand what your mother sacrificed for you.”

“You’re already leaving?”

“There’s nothing I can teach you.”

“Why would you want to, anyway? Why did you even come looking for me?”

“I thought I would find someone different. Someone I could teach. Someone who would help me.”

“To do what?”

I don’t know how to answer her question, and for a moment the only sound is the tinny mariachi music spilling from the restaurant speakers.

“Do you remember your father?” I ask. “Do you remember what happened to him?”

She stares back at me. “That’s what this is all about, isn’t it? That’s why you came looking for me. Because my mother wrote you about him.”

“I knew your father, too. He was a good man. He loved you, and you dishonor him. You dishonor both of them.” I place a bundle of cash in front of her. “This is in their memory. Get off the street and go back to school. At least there, you won’t have to fight off strange men.” I turn and walk out of the restaurant.

In seconds she’s out the door and running after me. “Wait,” she calls. “Where are you going?”

“Back home to Boston.”

“I do remember you. I think I know what you want.”

I stop and face her. “It’s what you should want, too.”

“What do I have to do?”

I look her up and down. See scrawny shoulders and hips so narrow they barely hold up her blue jeans. “It’s not what you need to do,” I reply. “It’s what you need to be.”

Slowly I move toward her. Up till now she’s seen no reason to fear me, and why should she? I am just a woman, the same age as her mother was. But something she now sees in my eyes makes her take a step back. For the first time she understands that this could be the beginning of her worst nightmare.

“Are you afraid?” I ask her softly.

Her chin juts up, and she says with foolish bravado, “No. I’m not.”

“You should be.”

TWO

SEVEN YEARS LATER

MY NAME IS DR. MAURA ISLES, LAST NAME SPELLED I-S-L-E-S. I’m a forensic pathologist, employed by the medical examiner’s office in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”

“Please describe for the court your education and background, Dr. Isles,” said the Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney, Carmela Aguilar.

Maura kept her gaze on the ADA as she answered the question. It was far easier to focus on Aguilar’s neutral face than to see the glares coming from the defendant and his supporters, at least two dozen of whom had gathered in the courtroom. Aguilar did not seem to notice or care that she was arguing her case before a hostile audience, but Maura was acutely aware of it; a large segment of that audience was law enforcement officers and their friends. They were not going to like what Maura had to say.

The defendant was Boston PD Officer Wayne Brian Graff, square-jawed and broad-shouldered, the vision of an all-American hero. The room’s sympathy was with Graff, not with the victim, a man who had ended up battered and broken on Maura’s autopsy table six months ago. A man who’d been buried unmourned and unclaimed. A man who had, two hours before his death, committed the fatal sin of shooting and killing a police officer.

Maura felt all those courtroom gazes burning into her face, hot as laser points, as she recited her curriculum vitae.

“I graduated from Stanford University with a BA in Anthropology,” she said. “I received my medical degree from the University of California in San Francisco, and went on to complete a five-year pathology residency at that same institution. I am certified in both anatomical and clinical pathology. I then completed a two-year fellowship in the subspecialty of forensic pathology, at the University of California, Los Angeles.”

“And are you board certified in your field?”

“Yes, Ma’am. In both general and forensic pathology.”

“And where have you worked prior to joining the M.E.’s office here in Boston?”

“For seven years, I was a pathologist with the M.E.’s office in San Francisco. I also served as a clinical professor of pathology at the University of California. I hold medical licenses in both the states of Massachusetts and California.” It was more information than had been asked of her, and she could see Aguilar frown, because Maura had tripped up her planned sequence of questions. Maura had recited this information so many times before in court that she knew exactly what would be asked, and her responses were equally automatic. Where she’d trained, what her job required, and whether she was qualified to testify on this particular case.

Formalities completed, Aguilar finally got down to specifics. “Did you perform an autopsy on an individual named Fabian Dixon last October?”

“I did,” answered Maura. A matter-of-fact response, yet she could feel the tension instantly ratchet up in the courtroom.

“Tell us how Mr. Dixon came to be a medical examiner’s case.” Aguilar stood with her gaze fixed on Maura’s, as though to say: Ignore everyone else in the room. Just look at me and state the facts.

Maura straightened and began to speak, loudly enough for everyone in the courtroom to hear. “The decedent was a twenty-four-year-old man who was discovered unresponsive in the backseat of a Boston Police Department cruiser. This was approximately twenty minutes after his arrest. He was transported by ambulance to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival in the emergency room.”

“And that made him a medical examiner’s case?”

“Yes, it did. He was subsequently transferred to our morgue.”

“Describe for the court Mr. Dixon’s appearance when you first saw him.”

It didn’t escape Maura’s attention that Aguilar referred to the dead man by name. Not as the body or the deceased. It was her way of reminding the court that the victim had an identity. A name and a face and a life.

Maura responded likewise. “Mr. Dixon was a well-nourished man, of average height and weight, who arrived at our facility clothed only in cotton briefs and socks. His other clothing had been removed earlier during resuscitation attempts in the emergency room. EKG pads were still affixed to his chest, and an intravenous catheter remained in his left arm …” She paused. Here was where things got uncomfortable. Although she avoided looking at the audience and the defendant, she could feel their eyes on her.

“And the condition of his body? Would you describe it for us?” Aguilar prodded.

“There were multiple bruises over the chest, the left flank, and the upper abdomen. Both eyes were swollen shut, and there were lacerations of the lip and scalp. Two of his teeth—the upper front incisors—were missing.”

“Objection.” The defense attorney stood. “There’s no way of knowing when he lost those teeth. They could have been missing for years.”

“One tooth showed up on X-ray. In his stomach,” said Maura.

“The witness should refrain from commenting until I’ve ruled,” the judge cut in severely. He looked at the defense attorney. “Objection overruled. Ms. Aguilar, proceed.”

The ADA nodded, her lips twitching into a smile, and she refocused on Maura. “So Mr. Dixon was badly bruised, he had lacerations, and at least one of his teeth had recently been knocked out.”

“Yes,” said Maura. “As you’ll see from the morgue photographs.”

“If it please the court, we would like to show those morgue photos now,” said Aguilar. “I should warn the audience, these are not pleasant to look at. If any visitors in the courtroom would prefer not to see them, I suggest they leave at this point.” She paused and looked around.

No one left the room.

As the first slide went up, revealing Fabian Dixon’s battered body, there were audible intakes of breath. Maura had kept her description of Dixon’s bruises understated, because she knew the photos would tell the story better than she could. Photos couldn’t be accused of taking sides or lying. And the truth staring from that image was obvious to all: Fabian Dixon had been savagely battered before being placed in the backseat of the police cruiser.

Other slides appeared as Maura described what she had found on autopsy. Multiple broken ribs. A swallowed tooth in the stomach. Aspirated blood in the lungs. And the cause of death: a splenic rupture, which had led to massive intraperitoneal hemorrhage.

“And what was the manner of Mr. Dixon’s death, Dr. Isles?” Aguilar asked.

This was the key question, the one that she dreaded answering, because of the consequences that would follow.

“Homicide,” said Maura. It was not her job to point out the guilty party. She restricted her answer to that one word, but she couldn’t help glancing at Wayne Graff. The accused police officer sat motionless, his face as unreadable as granite. For more than a decade, he had served the city of Boston with distinction. A dozen character witnesses had stepped forward to tell the court how Officer Graff had courageously come to their aid. He was a hero, they said, and Maura believed them.

But on the night of October 31, the night that Fabian Dixon murdered a police officer, Wayne Graff and his partner had transformed into angels of vengeance. They’d made the arrest, and Dixon was in their custody when he died. Subject was agitated and violent, as if under the influence of PCP or crack, they wrote in their statement. They described Dixon’s crazed resistance, his superhuman strength. It had taken both officers to wrestle the prisoner into the cruiser. Controlling him required force, but he did not seem to notice pain. During this struggle, he was making grunts and animal sounds and trying to take off his clothes, even though it was forty degrees that night. They had described, almost too perfectly, the known medical condition of excited delirium, which had killed other cocaine-addled prisoners.

But months later, the toxicology report showed only alcohol in Dixon’s system. It left no doubt in Maura’s mind that the manner of death was homicide. And one of the killers now sat at the defense table, staring at Maura.

“I have no further questions,” said Aguilar and she sat down, looking confident that she had successfully made her case.

Morris Whaley, the defense attorney, rose for the cross-examination, and Maura felt her muscles tense. Whaley appeared cordial enough as he approached the witness stand, as if he intended only to have a friendly chat. Had they met at a cocktail party, she might have found him pleasant company, an attractive enough man in his Brooks Brothers suit.

“I think we’re all impressed by your credentials, Dr. Isles,” he said. “So I won’t take up any more of the court’s time reviewing your academic achievements.”

She said nothing, just stared at his smiling face, wondering from which direction the attack would come.

“I don’t think anyone in this room doubts that you’ve worked hard to get where you are today,” Whaley continued. “Especially taking into account some of the challenges you’ve faced in your personal life in the past few months.”

“Objection.” Aguilar heaved an exasperated sigh and stood. “This is not relevant.”

“It is, your honor. It goes to the witness’s judgment,” said Whaley.

“How so?” the judge countered.

“Past experiences can affect how a witness interprets the evidence.”

“What experiences are you referring to?”

“If you’ll allow me to explore that issue, it will become apparent.”

The judge stared hard at Whaley. “For the moment, I’ll allow this line of questioning. But only for the moment.”

Aguilar sat back down, scowling.

Whaley turned his attention back to Maura. “Dr. Isles, do you happen to recall the date that you examined the deceased?”

Maura paused, taken aback by the abrupt return to the topic of the autopsy. It did not slip past her that he’d avoided using the victim’s name.

“You are referring to Mr. Dixon?” she said, and saw irritation flicker in his eyes.

“Yes.”

“The date of the postmortem was November first of last year.”

“And on that date, did you determine the cause of death?”

“Yes. As I said earlier, he died of massive internal hemorrhage secondary to a ruptured spleen.”

“On that same date, did you also specify the manner of death?”

She hesitated. “No. At least, not a final—”

“Why not?”

She took a breath, aware of all the eyes watching her. “I wanted to wait for the results of the toxicology screen. To see whether Mr. Dixon was, in fact, under the influence of cocaine or other pharmaceuticals. I wanted to be cautious.”

“As well you should. When your decision could destroy the careers, even the lives, of two dedicated peace officers.”

“I don’t concern myself with consequences, Mr. Whaley. I only concern myself with the facts. Wherever they may lead.”

He didn’t like that answer; she could see it in the twitch of his jaw muscle. All semblance of cordiality had vanished; this was now a battle.

“So you performed the autopsy on November first,” he said.

“Yes.”

“What happened after that?”

“I’m not sure what you’re referring to.”

“Did you take the weekend off? Did you spend the following week performing other autopsies?”

She stared at him, anxiety coiling like a serpent in her stomach. She didn’t know where he was taking this, but she didn’t like the direction. “I attended a pathology conference,” she said.

“In Wyoming, I believe.”

“Yes.”

“Where you had something of a traumatic experience. You were assaulted by a rogue police officer.”

Aguilar shot to her feet. “Objection! Not relevant!”

“Overruled,” the judge said.

Whaley smiled, his path now cleared to ask the questions that Maura dreaded. “Is that correct, Dr. Isles?” Whaley asked. “Were you attacked by a police officer?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“I’m afraid I didn’t hear that.”

“Yes,” she repeated, louder.

“And how did you survive that attack?”

The room was dead silent, waiting for her story. A story she didn’t even want to think about, because it still gave her nightmares. She remembered the lonely hilltop in Wyoming. She remembered the thud of the deputy’s vehicle door as it closed, trapping her in the backseat behind the prisoner gate. She remembered her panic as she’d futilely battered her hands against the window, trying to escape from a man she knew was about to kill her.

“Dr. Isles, how did you survive? Who came to your aid?”

She swallowed. “A boy.”

“Julian Perkins, age sixteen, I believe. A young man who shot and killed that police officer.”

“He had no choice!”

Whaley cocked his head. “You’re defending a boy who killed a cop?”

“A bad cop!”

“And then you came home to Boston. And declared Mr. Dixon’s death a homicide.”

“Because it was.”

“Or was it merely a tragic accident? The unavoidable consequence after a violent prisoner fights back and has to be subdued?”

“You saw the morgue photos. The police used far more force than was necessary.”

“So did that boy in Wyoming, Julian Perkins. He shot and killed a sheriff’s deputy. Do you consider that justifiable force?”

“Objection,” said Aguilar. “Dr. Isles isn’t the one on trial here.”

Whaley barreled ahead with the next question, his gaze fixed on Maura. “What happened out there in Wyoming, Dr. Isles? While you were fighting for your life, was there an epiphany? A sudden realization that cops are the enemy?”

“Objection!”

“Or have cops always been the enemy? Members of your own family seem to think so.”

The gavel banged down. “Mr. Whaley, you will approach the bench now.”

Maura sat stunned as both attorneys huddled with the judge. So it had come to this, the dredging up of her family. Every cop in Boston probably knew about her mother, Amalthea, now serving a life sentence in a women’s prison in Framingham. The monster who gave birth to me, she thought. Everyone who looks at me must wonder if the same evil has seeped into my blood as well. She saw that the defendant, Officer Graff, was staring at her. Their gazes locked, and a smile curled his lips. Welcome to the consequences, she read in his eyes. This is what happens when you betray the thin blue line.

“The court will take a recess,” the judge announced. “We’ll resume at two this afternoon.”

As the jury filed out, Maura sagged back against the chair and didn’t notice that Aguilar was standing beside her.

“That was dirty pool,” said Aguilar. “It should never have been allowed.”

“He made it all about me,” said Maura.

“Yeah, well, that’s all he has. Because the autopsy photos are pretty damn convincing.” Aguilar looked hard at her. “Is there anything else I should know about you, Dr. Isles?”

“Other than the fact that my mother’s a convicted murderer and I torture kittens for fun?”

“I’m not laughing.”

“You said it earlier. I’m not the one on trial.”

“No, but they’ll try to make it about you. Whether you hate cops. Whether you have a hidden agenda. We could lose this case if that jury thinks you’re not on the level. So tell me if there’s anything else they might bring up. Any secrets that you haven’t mentioned to me.”

Maura considered the private embarrassments that she guarded. The illicit affair that she’d just ended. Her family’s history of violence. “Everyone has secrets,” she said. “Mine aren’t relevant.”

“Let’s hope not,” said Aguilar.

RIZZOLI & ISLES

“We Don’t Need Another Hero”

Written By Janet Tamaro

Directed By Michael Zinberg

All rights reserved. ©2011 Warner Horizon Television Inc. This script is the property of Horizon Scripted Television Inc. No portion of this script may be performed, reproduced or used by any means, or disclosed to, quoted or published in any medium without the prior written consent of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

INT. APARTMENT BUILDING - HALLWAY OUTSIDE APT. -NIGHT 1 6

TIGHT ON Maura as she KNOCKS.

DOOR IS FLUNG OPEN TO REVEAL -

JANE RIZZOLI. It’s been three months since she nearly died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. She’s in sweats and T-shirt she’s had on for days, eats chocolate cereal. Maura steps past her.

MAURA

You look terrible.

JANE

Thank you.

Jane’s living room gives away what she’s been doing: nothing. Well, watching TV, surfing the Web. Dead flower arrangements, dead fruit baskets, deflated “Get Well!” balloons and cards. BOXES of shit from shopping channels.

MAURA

You’re making everybody late.

JANE

Even you would look terrible if a bullet had gone through you.

MAURA

Hmmm … laceration to your peritoneum and small bowel could explain your jaundiced color -

JANE

Hey — you may not casually discuss my privates, okay?

MAURA

“Casual” is occurring by chance, showing little interest or concern -

Maura is so distressed by the mess, she starts cleaning.

MAURA (CONT’D)

Three months … Jane, you could have read all of Shakespeare! Learned Finnish. (looks at an opened box) You’re a platinum member of the shopping channel.

JANE

I swear I’ll kick you out if you don’t stop cleaning.

MAURA

Is that why you banned your mother?

JANE

She told you that? She also tell you all her OCD banging and clanking isn’t restful? Wait, Finnish? Finland Finnish?

MAURA

The stress hormone, cortisol, suppresses your immune cells’ ability to activate telomerase.

JANE

So you say. Mine are fine.

MAURA

Quite simply, keeping your brain busy aids recovery. Mind-body -

JANE

Mind-business.

As Maura tries to lead Jane toward the bedroom -

MAURA

You are my business. C’mon.

JANE (clutching her side)

Ow! Stop! I’m not going.

MAURA

Still having pain?

JANE

No. I just like saying “ow.”

MAURA

Could be from an intermittent obstruction due to adhesions. When was your last bowel movement?

JANE

You just cannot control yourself, can you?

MAURA

I think you’re avoiding –

Maura stops short: there’s a DUMMY hanging from the ceiling.

MAURA (CONT’D)—

What is that?

JANE

Get Well gift from Korsak and Frost.

MAURA

That’s “restful?” Where’s your uniform?

Maura goes into her bedroom. We hear her rummaging around.

MAURA (O.S.) (CONT’D)

It’s disgusting in here …

Maura emerges with the uniform in a dry cleaning bag.

MAURA (CONT’D)

Put it on.

JANE

It makes me look like a man.

MAURA

We can do this the easy way or the hard way.

JANE

I am not a hero, Maura. Shooting yourself is not heroic.

Maura leaves tough love behind, takes her friend’s hand.

MAURA

The people of Boston think it is.

JANE

Eight People died, Maura. I don’t want a medal for that.

MAURA

Five of them were bad guys, Jane.

JANE

They’re giving a kid who saved a squirrel a medal. That’s more heroic.

MAURA

Cat. From a burning house.

JANE

Whatever.

MAURA

This ceremony isn’t for you. It’s for your fellow officers, your parents, the community. You’re a symbol, a heroic flesh and blood reminder of the Thin Blue Line.

JANE

Wow, that’s good. Almost had me.

MAURA

Okay. Hard way.

About the Author

Tess Gerritsen is a physician and an internationally bestselling author. She gained nationwide acclaim for her first novel of suspense, the New York Times bestseller Harvest. She is also the author of the bestsellers Ice Cold, The Keepsake, The Bone Garden, The Mephisto Club, Vanish, Body Double, The Sinner, The Apprentice, The Surgeon, Life Support, Bloodstream, and Gravity. Tess Gerritsen lives in Maine.

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten