Chapter Text
Chapter 1
Prologue
He is a man of many interests, a self-styled Renaissance man.
Motivational speaking. Writing. Art. Sculpture.
The speeches, manuscripts and travel pay the bills, and allow him to create his works of art.
Some of his interests, however, are ones he keeps close to the vest - and pursues in secret.
Someone has to take care of the whores, after all.
He prefers to keep his...darker...interests separate from his job and the hobbies he shows off to colleagues, associates and dates. Until now, they haven't crossed paths.
A week ago, after one of his seminars, he met a fan: a nice, attractive, single Naval lieutenant, here in Boston to visit her family. They hit it off, and she accepted his kind offer of dinner and a drink.
Instead of going to the bar at the hotel, she followed him to his apartment. He showed off, with faux modesty, his sculptures. Then, he led her into his living room, where he poured her a drink, and asked her to model for his latest project.
She declined, citing Navy policy, then found herself drifting into unconciousness.
This is where the Renaissance man's public and dark worlds intersected.
She was a nice lady, and would have been a very pretty model, but it was unfortunate that she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, he decided.
At least she didn't feel any pain. Unlike those whores.
And unlike those others who made him look over his damned shoulder every day, wondering when they would catch up to him.
The Naval lieutenant wasn't like the others, and so he would treat her with more respect than the whores and bitches.
He'd leave a calling card, of sorts, so that others could pay their final respects.
And, he'd leave her in a place where they would be sure to find her - and where he could start to track them and put them down before they caught on to what he was doing.
As he placed the statue onto the dolly, he looked briefly at the photographs of the people he himself only referred to as 'they' or 'them':
The detective and her medical examiner girlfriend.
The former marine, turned federal agent, and his probable girlfriend, the ex-Secret Service agent now working for them.
One year of them making his life a living hell. And the medical examiner, of all people, saving his life not long ago.
Their time is coming, he decided, as he wheeled the statue into the elevator.
Boston Cambridge University
"Where's the crime scene?" asked Barry Frost, detective, Boston Police Department Homicide Division, riding in the back passenger seat.
"Up there," said the driver: Jane Rizzoli, a fellow Homicide detective and Frost's work partner, as she pulled over behind a TV station truck.
"The commons yard," said Homicide detective Vince Korsak, Jane's former work partner. "That's right in front of the student center."
"And a core part of university lore," said Dr. Maura Isles, Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and Jane's fiancee.
"University lore?" Jane cracked, as she shut her door and walked alongside Maura, Frost and Korsak towards the scene.
"Yes. It is said that the founder of Boston Cambridge University walked through a patch of wilderness that its owner said was worthless, since it was unsuitable for farming. The founder looked about him and saw a great and vast university. So he met with men of great wealth who agreed with his vision, brought out the landowner, and three years later founded the university."
"Maur," Jane said, stopping. "That was in the BCU information brochure I picked up from the advisor's office in high school."
"It was also in a biography of the founder, Phineas Knox. Which I've read twice. Did you know Mr. Knox also was one of the foremost promoters of medicine in Revolutionary War-era America?"
"Did you KNOW, Dr. Isles, that there is a Venus de Milo bleeding from its arm in the middle of that field?" Jane said, pointing to the center of the crime scene.
"And it looks like someone's crying," Frost said, pointing to a female student standing with her boyfriend and another female with a BCU Campus Police uniformed officer on the opposite side of the scene.
"They may be the witnesses who discovered the statue," Korsak said, referring to what they were told by BCU Campus Police via telephone back at the station. "I'll go over and talk to them."
"And Maura, Frost and I will check out this latest chapter in 'university lore'," Jane said, as they crossed under the tape.
"Too bad Frankie's not here," Frost said. "He deserved the gig."
"You're not just saying that because of how Riley screwed you and Frankie over?" Jane replied.
"I'm saying that because he deserved it," Frost answered, putting on his gloves; the trio were at the statue, and Maura was looking it over. "He's got to be at the front of the line for the next opening."
"Let's worry about what's in front of us," Jane said; Riley Cooper being picked the day before for the open position in Homicide over Frankie Rizzoli still irked her.
"A piece of the statue appears to have been removed, and possibly replaced," Maura said. "An eight-and-a-half by five-inch portion, on the right buttock."
"On its butt?" Jane said. "Someone cut this out and slapped it back on?"
That was in fact the case, as Jane, Frost and Maura learned after hearing one of the female witnesses being interviewed by Korsak scream.
"Omigodomigodomigod," said the witness, a petite sophomore named Heather. "Chuck - my boyfriend - took out his hunting knife and cut into it and THERE WAS A DEAD BODY WAAAAAAHHHH"...
...and she then cried and wailed into Korsak's shoulder.
While Maura tried to comfort Heather, Jane rolled her eyes in exasperation, then had a campus uniformed officer bring over Chuck.
"Heather and Felice - her bestie - said to leave it alone, but there was blood and I wanted to check and see if there was a body-" Chuck said, before Jane put up a hand.
"You didn't think about this being a crime scene? And that the statue was evidence?" Jane interjected - sternly.
"Uh oh," Chuck replied, meekly.
"Uh oh is right," Frost said. "Why not call the campus police and let them - and us - handle it?"
"Because Heather was crying and Felice was scared and other people were talking," Chuck said. "One guy was about to knock it down. I said I'd cut into it to see what was going on."
Chuck explained how he cut out a piece of the plaster to shut everyone up - and that he slammed it back on the statue after seeing the exposed skin.
"The skin was gnarly. Pale. Dead pale, dude," he said to Jane, Maura, Frost and Korsak. "Dudette. Dudes. Dudettes-"
Jane cut him off. "DUDE," she half-shouted, then gave him a lecture on interfering with a crime scene, followed by his very sincere and very long apology, Heather's crying, and Felice's pointing to the base.
"Chuck saw something else near her feet," Felice said to Maura.
"Chuck, did you cut here?" Maura asked, as Chuck continued to apologize.
"Hey DUDE," Jane held her hand up to Chuck's face to shut him up. "The lady's speaking to you."
"And be a gentleman," Frost said, "and answer her question."
Maura had to repeat it, since he was babbling when she asked it the first time.
"I saw something sticking out," he explained. "Not smooth like the rest of the base - almost like an ID card."
"Where's your knife?" Jane asked him; it was in his pocket.
"I'll take it," Korsak said, as Chuck handed him a hunting knife.
"Jane?" Frost said, looking at the 'protusion'. "It does look like some sort of identification card - Chuck. Did you take it out and stick it back in?"
"No," he answered. "I cut a place to pull it out, but the cop told me to leave it alone when he saw me try to pull it out-"
"YOU TOUCHED IT?" Jane said; Chuck nodded. "Great."
Then, the plaster Chuck slapped on the buttock fell onto the ground, reexposing the flesh, and causing Heather to wail yet again.
"Somebody calm her down!" Jane yelled, then told a Boston PD uniform to escort the students away from the statue, and the media. "Maura. Might as well take a look."
Maura was ahead of Jane, examining the opening and sniffing around it.
"You're sniffing?! You smell something, Dr. Bloodhound?"
"I do detect an odor, Detective," Maura replied. "Different from the woman in the plaster statue from yesterday."
"How different?" Korsak asked; Maura looked more closely at the exposed flesh and sniffed again, then answered.
"Upon initial examination, I would say this body was refrigerated, but not as long as the body from the first statue," Maura said.
"How long was this one refrigerated?" Jane.
"The rate of decomposition, combined with the temperature of the flesh, suggests she may have only been refrigerated for one to two weeks," Maura replied.
"The first body was refrigerated for much longer than that," Korsak interjected. "You said two months, Dr. Isles?"
"Two to six," Maura replied.
"Two bodies, encased in plaster, arms cut off, two days in a row," Jane mused. "Frost. What did campus police say as far as security camera footage is concerned?"
"I was told there is none, from 5 a.m. on," Frost said. "The cameras were taken out with a laser pointer."
"Then we're definitely looking at a serial killer," Korsak said. "The park yesterday, BCU today, the other killings along the east coast."
The homicide detectives, and Dr. Isles, were so focused on the statue and the case, that they failed to notice two familiar faces interviewing Heather, Chuck and Felice.
"Okay," Jane said. "Let's review what we've discovered so far."
"This is plaster," Frost said of the 'statue' covering the corpse, "not bronze. Paint's chipping off quickly, too."
"And the body is very cold," said the M.E., Maura Isles. "Consistent with prolonged refrigeration of a week to two weeks. It would account for the specific degree of decomposition."
"Frozen," Korsak said.
"Not as long as the other corpse," Maura replied. "And not frozen. Refrigerated. And taken out very recently, within the past eight hours."
"Consider me corrected, doctor," Korsak replied. "Refrigerated. But why?"
"That's what they pay us to find out, Korsak," Jane said, before seeing the protrusion at the base and remembering what Chuck said about an ID.
"I know the kid said he didn't touch that card; I'm betting he lied to us," Jane remarked.
"Probably scared out of his mind," Frost replied.
"At least he's not wailing," Korsak interjected, glancing at his lapel of his coat, which Heather had cried into.
"Korsak. Gimme that knife."
Korsak handed Jane Chuck's knife, and cut away the plaster holding the badge in place.
"Frost, Korsak, Maura. It's a Navy I.D."
Frost took the laminated badge from Jane and looked it over, even as a man and woman flashed badges at a uniformed officer and headed towards the statue.
"She's a Petty Officer," Frost said. "Jane Stanton."
"If this is in fact the same person," Maura said, "I can identify her through dental records that the Navy would undoubtedly have."
"They may have DNA records as well," Korsak said.
"Shouldn't NCIS handle this?" Frost asked, as the man and woman approached them. "She's a Petty Officer."
"And that makes it our case," said the man, calmly and directly.
Jane, Maura, Frost and Korsak looked up, and saw the familiar gruff expression of NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
Next to him was one of his senior agents, Special Agent Caitlin Todd.
"Dead Petty Officer places this under NCIS jurisdiction," she said.
"Well hello to you, too," Jane responded. "Here for a visit?"
"Here to investigate," Gibbs replied. "Petty Officer Jane Stanton, assigned to Norfolk, missing for two weeks, last seen with her mother here in Boston."
"I'd say your being here is a helluva coincidence, Gibbs, but I know what you think about coincidences," Jane said.
"This isn't a coincidence, Jane," Kate said. "We're in on this case now."
"Not here, Kate," said Jane. "Our city, our case."
"Joint jurisdiction, then," Gibbs replied.
"Excuse us?" Frost.
"Joint jurisdiction," Gibbs repeated. "Already spoke with Cavanaugh. Our cases intersect with yours. Besides. There's plenty of work to go around."
"Gibbs, what are you talking about?" Jane asked, as Frost read a text on his phone.
"I think he's referring to another statue," said Frost. "Just got a text from Riley. Another Venus de Milo, three miles away. She says Woody and Roz are working it, with some feds."
"We know," Kate said. "The rest of our team's there, along with our M.E. Victim's civilian, and the girlfriend of a Marine."
"Same thing as here," Gibbs told them. "Venus de Milo, plaster casting, bronze paint."
"Serial killer?" Korsak asked, to see if Gibbs had come to the same conclusion that he, Jane and Frost had.
"My conclusion, too," Gibbs answered.
"Don't like the sound of that at all," Jane said. "Let's find out what the hell's going on here. We can sort out jurisdiction later...Gibbs, you might want to talk to those kids-"
"We just did, while you were looking at the statue," Kate said. "Gibbs nearly chewed their asses out for messing with the scene."
"Cavanaugh gave his approval for us to use your morgue, Dr. Isles," Gibbs said. "I assume that's where you're headed?"
"Of course," Maura replied. "I want to compare her to the victim from yesterday, and since you're here, I'll need dental X-rays, DNA samples-"
"Ahead of you on that, Doc," Gibbs said. "Ducky's already put in the request; he can fill you in when we get back to your morgue."
"I'll ride with Dr. Isles back to the station," Korsak said. "Agent Gibbs, will you and Agent Todd be following us?"
"We'll meet you there," Gibbs replied. "We're going back to the other crime scene... Rizzoli. We'll give you and Frost a ride if you want."
As they walked to Gibbs' rental car, they reviewed the crime scene and briefly discussed similar cases Gibbs' team had investigated within the past two weeks.
"Who's at the other scene?" Jane asked, as she buckled her seat belt in the back. "Burley? Paula?"
"DiNozzo," Kate said. "McGee. Ducky. And Ziva."
Jane knew from previous emails with Kate that Ziva had joined their team...and, from reading between the lines, things weren't as rosy as Kate portrayed them to be.
"Isn't DiNozzo your senior agent, Agent Gibbs?" Frost asked.
"One of them," Kate interjected. "The senior among the two of us...you know the detectives with them?"
"Yeah," Jane said. "Woody, Roz. Both good cops, and...Riley. She's new."
Kate noted the hint of disdain in Jane's voice for 'Riley'; she'd have to ask her about that later on.
Assuming they got to the other crime scene in one piece.
"Strap your belts on, guys," Kate said. "Gibbs is driving."
Gibbs pulled out of his parking spot and floored it; Jane swore he went from zero to 60 in a second.
"Aw come on, Kate, you think I'm gonna kill them?" Gibbs joked.
Jane now knew first-hand what Kate meant when she talked about her boss's insane driving habits.
"Frost," she mumbled as Gibbs swerved in and out of traffic while speeding towards their destination. "Meet Leroy Jethro Gibbs."
Author's Note: The story of the founding of BCU and the reference to Phineas Knox is made up for the purposes of the storyline. Consider it canon for the story's universe, not for the Rizzoli & Isles television show.