It was a pretty hot day, nearly reaching the 80s in Massachusetts. After receiving a call from a distraught girlfriend of a woman, the Boston Homicide team entered an apartment in lower Somerville to find a woman's body, lying in the bathroom in her nightgown.

"Name?" Jane Rizzoli asked to Korsak who had just been informed of the situation.

"Vanessa Colt," he said gravely. "29, owns one of those hippy stores on Union Square. Her girlfriend informed the police today, she hadn't been able to get hold of her for a day. Suspicious?"

Maura peered at the body and noticed the extreme paleness of the corpse. Twenty-Nine. Far too young. "Any pill bottles around? Alcohol?"

Frost appeared from the living room. "Not that I can see… everything's pretty clean. No sign of forced entry."

"Notice the rash on her hands, her elbows? Looks angry… would have been very painful" Maura frowned. "Recent…"

"What are you saying?" Jane bent down and touched Maura's shoulder.

"I'm saying this seems to be a one time thing… no scarring, no retracting rash. It was sudden." She noticed the woman's mouth incredibly dry. "We'll look at it further at the lab. Something's not adding up." The medical examiner admitted and felt a comforting tap on her back from her co-worker before her friend got up to look over the rest of the apartment.

Three hours had passed and soon, the relevant background information was discovered about Vanessa Colt. "Jane? Come look at this," Maura's gentle tone brought the dark haired woman out from her musings.

Jane frowned and nodded as she hopped up and followed the medical examiner into the lab, looking at the dead girl on the table.

"Anything yet?" Jane grumbled. It was 7pm and the longer time went on, the less they were getting done and more importantly, the more tired she was getting.

"I don't see any sign of struggle, any signs of asphyxiation." Maura held her hand up, knowing Jane was about to bite. "But… But look at this," she turned the body slightly to reveal pock marks displayed over the woman's left buttock.

"Injections? Wha…what does that mean?"

Maura shrugged. "If this were any other place, she could have been self-injecting."

"But this was too hard to reach, she was right handed." Jane countered, leaning closer to stare at the marks, displayed around the skin like a hexagonal star. There must have been about 17.

"Exactly… So it looks like she was helped. Her blood sugars were fine, and there were no new entry marks."

"So we're ruling out diabetes… How about HCG levels?"

Maura shrugged. "Levels were low. Reproductive organs all fine. Healthy infact."

"Robust?" Jane smirked and watched her friend roll her eyes. "Anything else?" She tried to work things around her head.

"Slight swell of the abdomen, but stomach relatively empty. Bowels and anus show distinct sign of diarrhea."

Jane had to process what she thought she'd just heard. "Ewww ewwww!" she waved her arms around and paced around the table in disgust.

Maura's tongue slid inside her cheek as she smirked. "You did ask."

"Why do I even bother?" Jane sat down with a huff and shuddered. "Her MD said she suffered with bipolar… apparently she relapsed sporadically, though he said she hadn't been to seen him in about three months. Would that be anything?"

Maura's face contorted, a sign that Jane usually took as her 'thinking face' and began pointing her finger at the detective. "Yes. It could be." They were interrupted when a lab technician came through with an envelope. "Thank you," Maura smiled politely and scrambled slightly to get the results open. "Aha!"

Jane blinked, attempting to hide the admiring smile as she watched her colleague hop up and down. "What have you got?"

"At the moment the toxicology outcome is very basic," she excused. " I'll get the rest of the results tomorrow hopefully."

"Okay, okay… And? What was with the big hoo-ha exclamation?" Jane asked irritably.

"Risperidone," Maura chirped. "It's an atypical antipsychotic… Though it's usually administered orally, it can also be injected intramuscularly." She wore that smile, the one oozing quiet pride of herself and self-assurance.

Jane nearly smiled, then frowned. "Hold up, Vanessa wasn't being prescribed for anything. Dr Kinsman said she'd been fine for a while… Blackmarket?"

"I couldn't be sure, but my estimate says no." Maura shook her head.

"Estimate?" Jane quirked an eyebrow, letting out an amused smirk. "Is that your new word for guess?"

"I don't guess," Maura batted her eyelashes.

"No… you don't." Jane huffed. "You just estimate," she chuckled. "I'll call in the girlfriend, see if we can get anywhere else for tonight."

Maura nodded and continued to look over the first set toxicology results, hoping the rest would come soon. She heard Jane leave and flopped down onto her chair, "Missing something… what am I missing?" She rolled her head back to look at the ceiling as she processed her thoughts.

Jane looked at the snivelling woman in front of her and sighed. "Miss. Lu, where were you at the time of your girlfriend's death?"

"Alex…," she introduced herself. "I was… I was at home," the Asian woman rubbed her eyes sadly with her fist. "I… she told me to go home, said she wasn't feeling up to company."

"What time did she tell you to go home?" The detective put on her sympathy face. It usually worked and calmed them down but this chick would not stop crying.

"Umm… about 4pm? I got home about 4.30."

"Okay, alright…" Jane soothed. "And when did you last speak to her then?"

"Just then… I went home and let her cool off. It's been hard since the trials… I wanted her to stop."

"Trials? She was doing medical trials? We found risperidone in her bloodstream…"

Alex nodded. "She… I noticed some changes in her… I mean she'd be fine, and then near the end of the two weeks she'd be completely insane, shouting at me all the time."

"Was she getting paid for it?" Jane asked gently. She was getting little clues from this woman. She wasn't the killer…or so she estimated.

"Yeah…" Alex squirmed in her seat. "She just got paid the lump sum of $5000 dollars three days ago."

Jane shared a glance with Frost. "Alright… can you think of anything… anyone who may have wanted her dead?"

The 'd' word set Alex off again and she crossed her arms, sobbing down onto the table. Jane winced and looked at Frost who shrugged. Hesitantly, she reached out and laid her hand on the grieving woman's wrist. After a further minute, Alex had calmed down and looked up with a red face. "Her father, he's a recovering alcoholic. He's the only one I can think of."

"We tried to contact him before… There was no answer at his address. Do you know where he lives?" The detective asked gently.

"I haven't seen him for a long time," Alex frowned. "I don't think Ness did either, unless she was contacting him behind my back. Last I saw he was living in a squat on Bernard St, Dorchester?"

"You know the address?" Jane asked. The upset woman nodded hesitantly, and was asked to write down the number. "Alright," Jane soothed, giving the woman's wrist a squeeze. "We'll find who did it. You can count on us."

An hour later, after much struggling, the homicide team had brought Mr. Colt into questioning, kicking and screaming. He struggled in his cuffs and was finally sat down in a chair, huffing at Jane a little woozily.

"Mr. Colt, do you know why you've been arrested?" she was a little confused at his behaviour as he tried to hold his head up.

"I stole a crate of beer?" The man mumbled.

Jane's eyes nearly crossed and she looked up and she stared at Frost. "You stole beer…" she intoned with disbelief. "You stole beer? What, tonight?"

"You gonna lock me up?"

"Don't know yet, you gonna tell the truth?" Jane responded. "Where were you on the night of your daughter's death, Mr. Colt."

"My daught…" The man had slumped in his chair and looked at the cop blearily. "My daughter's dead?"

Jane's mouth widened. This was just getting more and more ridiculous. "M…Mr. Colt we told you why you're here. Your daughter was found dead yesterday in her flat." The man looked crestfallen in his drunken state and she tried to understand. "Sir, we told you half an hour ago." His face didn't change and Jane was getting fed up. She wanted to go home, get a few beers in and have a movie night with Maura. "How much alcohol have you consumed, Mr. Colt."

"I stole a crate of beer," he repeated with a pointed look. His eyes were empty and he stared down at the cuffs in dismay. Jane rolled her eyes and stood up hastily, getting visibly annoyed. "Tell me what happened." He begged.

"We thought you'd like to tell us," Barry said, looking in distaste at the man.

"You," Colt pointed at Frost with his hands, still shackled in their cuffs. "think I killed my daughter? My own family? My… My only family." He began to blubber, stumbling as he sat down again and thumped the table. Frost inwardly groaned as the situation suddenly got a whole lot more complicated.

Jane shared the look of sympathy with her colleague and stood up. "Take him away, we'll continue the questioning when he's sobered up." The officer stood in the corner nodded and took the man away to lock him back up as Frost and Rizzoli looked at each other in disbelief. "This just got…stupid," Jane whined.

"You're telling me," they walked back into where Korsak was sat, looking over some papers. "What do you think?"

Korsak groaned. "I think we're not gonna get anywhere without some more evidence." He sighed, "Got the clinic where Vanessa was doing her trials. She was at BCT."

"BCT…" Jane processed the information. "So we'll go down tomorrow, find out some more about the trials….and then? We have no leads!"

"Ants in the pants, Rizzoli?" Korsak chuckled.

"I'm tired," the woman grumbled.

Vince nodded and looked over the woman's medical reports. "Time to call it a night… Maura still here?"

Jane nodded wearily. "Waiting for me out back…"

"Not anymore," the voice sighed and Jane smiled immediately turning round to see Maura holding a box of pizza and what seemed to be a pasta dish in a take-out box and bag in her other hand. "You were taking too long."

"Well sooorry," Jane mocked and grabbed her bag, looking forward to getting home, having some good food and a nice, if somewhat rushed sleep. "See you in the morning, guys." Jane rubbed her eyes.

"Will do, get some sleep." Korsak smiled, watching as Maura opened the door for the detective.

Maura waved goodbye, "We will." They disappeared out of the office.

Frost's eyes flashed, his mouth turning into a big grin, "Oh I bet they will…" He looked at Korsak who simply chuckled and shook his head in dismay at his coworker's immaturity.

"You don't really believe it, do you?" Vince asked suddenly as he was ready to leave.

Frost shrugged. "I don't know what to believe anymore…" He shook his head and grabbed his keys from his desk before both men left to go to the respective homes.

Jane growled a little, finding that she couldn't pull her duvet around her for some reason, having woken up feeling cold. Turning, she saw Maura next to her, curled up and snoozing softly. "Oh you have to be kidding me," she moaned. "Maura…" Nothing, the other woman just mewled and snuggled closer. "Maura!" The dark haired growled and flopped back down on the bed in frustration. "Joe Friday… get her," Jane whispered and watched as the small dog hopped up onto the bed and began to happily lick Maura's face.

The medical examiner winced and then spluttered, wiping chin with the back of her hand. "Yuk! Get off, get off! Joe Friday, down!" The small dog worriedly jumped off the bed from Maura's batting hands and ran back to her basket.

"What are you doing in my bed?" Jane whined. "You steal the covers… Just, go home!"

Maura cleared her throat from its husk and rubbed at her eyes, sitting up with a pillow behind her back. "I was just resting my eyes."

"You stole my covers!" Jane rolled her eyes and looked at her friend's attire. "And you're in pajamas! Since when did you move into my house?"

"What, so I buy you dinner and I'm not allowed to crash?"

"Bu…" Jane groaned and lay back down. "Just go to sleep… and give me some of that duvet there…" She pinched some of the quilting, pulling the whole thing off of her friend with a giggle.

"Jane… play fair…"

"It's my bed," the detective squawked. She turned around to face the woman and cautiously offered some more bedding. "No stealing."

"Promise." Maura nodded and closed her eyes with a smirk. "Night, Jane."

"Goodnight, Maura…" Jane grumbled and rolled onto her back, unable to close her own eyes thanks to the unsolved case and the annoyingly geeky but beautiful woman in her bed.

TBC

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