Die Again (Rizzoli & Isles, #11)(12)

“I think you might have missed a microbe there.”

“Not funny. Think of where that cat’s been. What his feet have been walking through in the past four days. Would you want to eat at that table?”

“He’s probably cleaner than my three-year-old.”

“No disagreement there. Children are like fomites.”

“What?”

“Spreading infections everywhere they go.” Maura gave the table one last vigorous swipe and threw the sponge in the trash can.

“I’ll remember that when I get home. Come to Mommy, my sweet little fomite.” Jane opened the bag of kitty litter and poured it into the plastic litter box she’d also brought. “Where do you want to put this?”

“I was hoping I could just let him out and he’d do his business in the yard.”

“Let him out and he might not come back.” Jane clapped litter dust from her hands and straightened. “Or maybe that’s a good thing?”

“I don’t know what I was thinking, bringing him home. Just because he attached himself to me. It’s not as if I wanted a cat.”

“You just said Frost needed a pet. Why not you?”

“Frost just got divorced. He’s not used to being alone.”

“And you are.”

“I have been for years, and I don’t think that’s going to change anytime soon.” Maura looked around at the spotless countertops, the scrubbed sink. “Unless some miracle man suddenly appears.”

“Hey, that’s what you should call him,” said Jane, pointing to the cat. “Miracle Man.”

“That is not going to be his name.” The kitchen timer beeped, and Maura opened the oven to check on the casserole.

“Smells good.”

“It’s eggplant Parmesan. I couldn’t stomach the thought of eating meat tonight. Are you hungry? There’s enough here for two of us.”

“I’m going to my mom’s for dinner. Gabriel’s still in DC, and Mom can’t stand the thought of me and Regina by ourselves.” Jane paused. “Maybe you want to join us, just for the company?”

“It’s nice of you to ask, but my dinner’s already heated up.”

“Not necessarily tonight, but in general. Anytime you need a family to hang out with.”

Maura gave her a long look. “Are you adopting me?”

Jane pulled out a chair and sat down at the kitchen table. “Look, I feel we still need to clear the air between us. We haven’t talked much since the Teddy Clock case, and I know the last few months have been tough on you. I should have asked you to dinner a long time ago.”

“I should have invited you, too. We’ve both been busy, that’s all.”

“You know, it really worried me, Maura, when you said you were thinking about leaving Boston.”

“Why would it worry you?”

“After all we’ve been through together, how can you just walk away? We’ve lived through things no one else could possibly understand. Like that.” Jane pointed to Maura’s computer, where the photo of entrails was still on screen. “Tell me, who else am I gonna talk to about guts in a trash can? It’s not something that normal people would do.”

“Meaning, I’m not normal.”

“You don’t honestly think that I am, do you?” Jane laughed. “We’re both sick and twisted. That’s the only explanation for why we’re in this business. And why we make such a good team.”

It was something Maura could not have predicted when she’d first met Jane.

She’d earlier heard of Jane’s reputation, muttered by the male cops: Bitch. Ballbuster. Always on the rag. The woman who strode onto the crime scene that day had certainly been blunt, focused, and relentless. She was also one of the best detectives Maura had ever encountered.

“You once told me you didn’t have anything keeping you here in Boston,” said Jane. “I’m just reminding you it’s not true. You and I, we’ve got a history together.”

“Right.” Maura snorted. “Of getting into trouble.”

“And getting ourselves out of it, together. What’s waiting for you in San Francisco?”

“I did get an offer from an old colleague there. A teaching position at UC.”

“What about Julian? You’re the closest thing to a mother that boy has. You go off to California, he’ll feel like you’re abandoning him here.”

“I hardly get a chance to see him as it is. Julian’s seventeen, and he’ll be applying for college. Who knows where he’ll end up, and there are some fine schools in California. I can’t hitch my life to a boy who’s just starting his own.”

“This job offer in San Francisco. Does it pay better? Is that it?”

“That’s not why I’d take it.”

“It’s about running away, isn’t it? Getting the hell out of Dodge.” Jane paused. “Does he know you might leave Boston?”

He. Abruptly Maura turned away and refilled her wineglass. Driven to drink, just by the mention of Daniel Brophy. “I haven’t spoken to Daniel in months.”

“But you see him.”

“Of course. When I walk onto a crime scene, I never know if he’ll be there. Comforting the family, praying for the victim. We move in the same circles, Jane. The circle of the dead.” She took a deep sip of wine. “It would be a relief to escape it.”