Die Again by Tess Gerritsen Read Free Book Online

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.”
    “So going to California is all about avoiding him.”
    “And temptation,” Maura said softly.
    “To go back to him?” Jane shook her head. “You made your decision. Stick with it and move on. That’s what I would do.”
    And that’s what made them so different from each other. Jane was quick to act, and always certain about what needed to be done. She wasted no sleep second-guessing herself. But uncertainty was what kept Maura awake at night, mulling over choices, considering their consequences. If only life were like a mathematical formula, with just one answer.
    Jane stood up. “Think about what I said, okay? It’d be way too much work for me to break in another ME. So I’m counting on you to stay.” She touched Maura’s arm and added quietly: “I’m asking you to stay.” Then, in typical Jane Rizzoli fashion, she brusquely turned to leave. “See you tomorrow.”
    “Autopsy’s in the morning,” said Maura as they walked to the front door.
    “I’d rather skip it. I’ve seen more than enough maggots, thank you.”
    “Surprises might turn up. You wouldn’t want to miss it.”
    “The only surprise,” Jane said as she stepped outside, “will be if Frost shows