"Like crying out in empty rooms..."

Chapitre 1

Maura was anxiously pacing. She wasn't one to be subject to such behaviour usually but today was different. She was crazy worried and had to let it out one way or another. She was stuck in that room for an indefinite amount of time and she had no one or nothing to help her to channel her emotions. It was Jane who helped her through these anxiety attacks the most but Jane wasn't there. She had left days ago, and Maura couldn't stop her. Now she regretted it. It was her fault. Everything was her fault. She should have told her to stay. But what difference would it have made? Jane had taken her decision, and no one could change her mind. Not even Maura. Yet, she should have tried. She should have done everything in her power to stop her. She was to blame for her inaction. As well as her Lieutenant and partners who had let her go.

They had been investigating on a case of human trafficking. The organisation behind it was leaving a trail of dead bodies in all of Boston. The last victim had led them to the Suffolk County House of Correction. She was an inmate that had managed to escape that trafficking. She had been caught and sent to jail for prostitution and was killed there by another inmate during a clash. Jane had determined that the ring had contacts inside the prison and that the only way to find them was to go undercover and have them recruit her. So she had taken back the identity of Tiffany from her days in the drug unit and had let herself be arrested and condemned to a fake sentence in Suffolk. Maura knew about the plan all along, Jane had told her everything, and despite her foreboding (a gut feeling was not reliable in any way in her opinion), she had let her friend go to hell.

Frost had gone with her. He was undercover as a prison warden and his mission was to protect Jane if things were going south. He was also in charge of the communications with Korsak and Cavanaugh and was coming to Maura's when he could to reassure the woman about Jane's safety and well-being. It didn't work. Maura was worried sick. Anyone could recognise her and a cop in jail was a high prize. If she was unmasked, the whole jail would become a hostile place for her. She would be safe nowhere and her life would be in danger. Korsak was well aware of the risks. Cavanaugh was too. But they still decided to let her go inside. Angela had given them both a piece of her mind when she had heard about the mission. She was proud of her daughter, but she hated her job. And today, Maura hated it too.

Frost had sent out a SOS earlier that day and requested an urgent extraction for Jane. Her identity had been revealed. She had become a target. She had to be taken out as fast as possible. No one but the Homicide squad and the director of the jail knew about the undercover mission. Said director was Jane's only way out of the hell hole she had jumped in. That same director happened to have been called out shortly before the incident that had all the staff on edge right now. Visits were suspended until the issue was fixed. No one at the front desk had been able to tell Maura what was going on or how much time she would have to wait. That situation was getting on her nerves. She wanted to see Jane. She wanted to make sure that she was okay. She wouldn't leave until she got to see her.

A door slammed and heavy footsteps came her way. She raised her head. A warden was coming her way. He was whistling and playing with the baton fastened to his belt. He stopped barely two feet away from the medical examiner and ogled her from head to toe. The corner of his lips rose. He liked what he was seeing.

"Knew that bitch was a lesbian. You owed me 50 bucks!"

The man at the front desk mumbled something inaudible with a sign of the hand. The warden laughed. Maura suppressed a shiver.

"Heard you were here to visit Tiffany. It's not gonna be possible."

"Why's that?"

"She's been moved to solitary confinement. The bitch started a fight and beat the shit out of my guys. She sent three to the infirmary."

Maura clenched her teeth. That man was a boor that didn't hesitate in watching her with a predatory smile on his lips. It made her sick but she put a brave face on and faced the man with all the authority she was capable of.

"I demand to see Barry Frost."

"I know no Frost."

Of course. Frost was here undercover as well. He had a fake identity that Maura knew nothing of. She hadn't been told the details of the mission because she wasn't a detective working on that case. She was just a friend. A worried friend.

"You should go back to your lovely house with your rich friends. That's not a place for you, miss."

"That's Doctor. Doctor Maura Isles. And I'm here to see my friend."

The warden observed her with that same disgusting look and said nothing for a moment. Thankfully Frost joined them at that moment and interrupted him by voluntarily placing himself in front of Maura. He put his badge right under the warden's nose for him to see it clearly.

"I'm Detective Barry Frost and you're interrupting an investigation. The inmate known as Tiffany is my partner, Detective Jane Rizzoli, and she needs medical assistance immediately. That's why I've called Doctor Isles. Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna take her to her patient."

Frost walked past the warden, Maura on his heels. She was given a visitor sticker and given the permission to enter with her medical supplies. Frost had blown up his cover for her to be able to see Jane. Her anxiety was a strong hand crushing her throat tighter and tighter as they approached the area commonly known as the hole. The temperature had considerably dropped. Screams could be heard from inside the cells but the one they stopped at was terrifyingly silent.

Frost unlocked the door of a dark room that was barely large enough for the bed and toilets. Jane was laying on the ground, on her back, arms spread on each side, palms up. She was crying silent tears and repeating the same three words over and over again: 'make it stop'.

"Jane?"

The detective showed no reaction to the presence of her friend. She had a nasty cut above her left eyebrow that was bleeding profusely and multiple bruises on the little skin that Maura could see. She had been beaten. Blood was covering her neck and staining the top of her prisoner's outfit. Something was wrong.

Maura slowly knelt down beside Jane. Her lips were blue, her skin was cold. Maura took off her coat and covered her friend's body with it. She pulled on gloves and proceeded to a quick assessment. The pupils were dilated. She had been drugged without a doubt. But what worried her the most was the blood in her neck. And then, she saw it. The long and deep cut that crossed Jane's neck. Someone had attempted to her life.

Immediately, Maura grabbed gauze and pressed her hands on the wound to control the blood loss.

"Quick! She has to be taken to the hospital now!"

They made it in time to save Jane's life. The toxicology revealed that someone had put a strong dose of PCP in her food. The drugs had altered her vision of reality and increased her paranoia. She had started seeing Hoyt all around her and fought to protect herself from him. Another inmate took advantage of her delirium to slice her throat. Jane still fought with all her might which had forced the wardens (unaware of her real identity) to throw her in solitary confinement until she calmed down. They hadn't seen the cut or hadn't cared about it. Jane would have bled out on the cold floor of that cell if Maura and Frost hadn't been there.

The cut had been stitched up properly. Thankfully no major artery had been cut and Jane was expected to make a full recovery. At least, physically. Psychologically, it would take some more time. The failed mission had been traumatic for her and for Frost. But she was alive, and that was all that mattered to Maura who was personally making sure her friend was getting all the cares she needed to get better...