Rizzoli & Isles 8-Book Set

of them showed up in town. Maybe she killed that couple out of fury. Or maybe she was just trying to save one baby girl.” Jane gave a grim nod of approval. “In the end, she saved a lot of girls. The kids are all in protective custody. And the women are starting to leave Plain of Angels. Just as Cathy predicted, the cult’s collapsing without Jeremiah.”
    “But she had to kill him to make it happen.”
    “I’m not going to judge her. Think of how many lives he destroyed. Including the boy’s.”
    “Rat has no one now,” said Maura softly.
    Jane looked at her. “You realize he comes with a big set of problems.”
    “I know.”
    “A juvenile record. Bounced around among foster homes. And now his mom and sister are dead.”
    “Why are you bringing this up, Jane?”
    “Because I know you’re thinking about adopting him.”
    “I want to do the right thing.”
    “You live alone. You have a demanding job.”
    “He saved my life. He deserves better than what he’s got.”
    “And you’re ready to be his mom? Ready to take on all his problems?”
    “I don’t know!” Maura sighed and looked out at snow-covered rooftops. “I just want to make a difference in his life.”
    “What about Daniel? How’s the boy going to fit into that relationship?”
    Maura didn’t respond, because she herself didn’t know the answer.
What about Daniel? Where do we go from here?
    As they pulled into the hospital parking lot, Jane’s cell phone rang. She glanced at the number and answered: “Hey, babe. What’s up?”
    Babe. The endearment slipped off Jane’s lips so easily, so comfortably. This was how two people who shared both a bed and a life spoke to each other, no matter who was listening in. They didn’t need to whisper, to slink off into the shadows. This was what love sounded like when it came out of the darkness and declared itself to the world.
    “Is the lab absolutely certain about that result?” said Jane. “Maura’s convinced otherwise.”
    Maura looked at her. “What result?”
    “Yeah, I’ll tell her. Maybe she can explain it. We’ll see you guys at dinner.” She hung up and looked at Maura. “Gabriel just spoke to the toxicology lab in Denver. They ran a STAT analysis of the girl’s stomach contents.”
    “Did they find organophosphates?” asked Maura.
    “No.”
    Maura shook her head in bewilderment. “But it was a classic case of organophosphate poisoning! All the clinical signs were there.”
    “She had no degradation products in her stomach. If she swallowed that pesticide, there should be some trace of it, right?”
    “Yes, there should have been.”
    “Well, there was nothing,” said Jane. “That’s not what killed her.”
    Maura fell silent, unable to explain the results. “You can also absorb a fatal dose through the skin.”
    “Forty-one people got the stuff
splashed
on them? Does that sound likely?”
    “The gastric analysis can’t be right,” said Maura.
    “It’s going to the FBI lab for further analysis. But right now, it looks like your diagnosis was wrong.”
    A medical supply truck rumbled into the parking lot and pulled up beside their vehicle. Maura struggled to concentrate as the truck’s rear panel rattled open and two men began unloading oxygen tanks.
    “Gruber had pinpoint pupils,” said Maura. “And he definitely responded to that dose of atropine.” She sat up straighter, more convinced than ever. “My diagnosis
has
to be correct.”
    “What else could cause those symptoms? Is there some other poison, something the lab might not have picked up?”
    The noisy clang of metal made Maura glance out in annoyance at the two deliverymen. She focused on the oxygen tanks, lined up in the cart like green missiles, and a memory suddenly clicked into place. Something that she had seen in the valley of Kingdom Come, something she hadn’t registered at the time. Like those oxygen tanks, it had been a cylinder, but it was gray and encrusted in snow. She thought of the Code Blue in the autopsy suite, remembering Fred Gruber’s pinpoint pupils and his response to atropine.
    My diagnosis was almost right
.
    Almost
.
    Jane pushed open her car door and stepped out, but Maura didn’t move from her seat. “Hey,” said Jane, looking in at her. “Aren’t we going in to visit the kid?”
    Maura said, “We need to go to Kingdom Come.”
    “What?”
    “There’s only a few hours of daylight left. If we leave now, we can get there while it’s still light. But