Broken

Chapter 4

Reagan noticed Jane had set her stuff next to the couch, so she went to go pick it up.

"Hey, Reagan, are you hungry? There is Eggplant Parmesan over here," suggested Maura, leaning over the counter, from the kitchen.

"Mhmm, yum. Eggpoop cheese," stated Jane sarcastically, with a beer in her hand, leaning against the counter.

"Uh... sure..." replied Reagan, not sure if she was hungry enough to eat it.

"Okay! Let me get it out. See, Jane? Other people like it, too," said Maura, with her eyebrows raised.

"Pfft, okay. She hasn't even tried it yet, Maura," snickered Jane from the corner of the room.

Maura set the meal on a plate with a fork, and set it on the table for Reagan.

"Thanks," stated Reagan, as she used the wall for support to walk to the table.

Maura gave her a small smile, and as she did, Reagan noticed her appearance. For a medical examiner, she seemed quite... different. Maura was just shorter than Jane, with hazel eyes, and strawberry-blonde hair. Her clothes seemed too "dressy" for an M. E., wearing pencil skirts more than lab coats. To put it simply, Maura Isles loved to party, and definitely wouldn't drink canned beer.

Finally, Reagan made it to her seat, and sat down slowly. She tried to pick up her fork, but dropped it, suddenly noticing the stitches in her hands.

"What happened?" she gasped, her eyes widening in horror.

"Did you not notice before?" Jane wondered aloud, while Maura's face displayed a great amount of concern.

"No. I guess everything was just so crazy, I didn't realize. I certainly don't remember much," commented Reagan, flipping her hands back and forth to examine them.

"We think that the person who -uhm- murdered your parents, did that to you. My partners, Maura, and I were searching the rest of the house, when we found you. You were in the basement at the bottom of the stairs, with two scalpels in your hands. One sticking out of each palm. And there's a cut on your neck too," explained Jane, moving to the chair in front of Reagan.

Reagan reached up to touch her neck, then feeling the stitches, she jerked her hand back in horror.

"What did they do to me?" Reagan said, her eyes wide, as she flipped her hands back and forth to examine them.

"He," Jane cleared her throat,"He sliced your neck with a scalpel, and stuck two more through your hands."

"Why did you say 'he', couldn't it be a woman?" questioned Reagan.

Maura decided this was going to be a long conversation, so she grabbed some wine and sat in the chair next to Jane.

"This is like the work of a serial killer. A case I worked on about a year ago. His name was Hoyt, but we called him the 'Surgeon'. He targeted innocent families, went into their houses, and killed them," Jane explained.

"So, I don't see where this is going?" wondered Reagan, looking between Jane and Maura, expecting for more explanation.

"As I said, I worked on this case, so did Maura. It was hectic and bad, bad things happened. The work of Charles Hoyt was pure evil. The team and I were at headquarters when we found a clue. We were led to an empty house in the middle of nowhere. Korsak and I decided it was best for just us to go. So we did, and Maura stayed at HQ," explained Jane, looking down at her hands, "We arrived there and split up to search the house. I made it to the basement first, so of course, I was first to go down. It was dark and dead silent, the two characteristics of evil lurking around. I finally made it to the bottom of the stairs, where I noticed on the near wall laid a girl, about my age at the time. She was tied at the wrist and ankles with nylon rope. Suddenly, I was hit in the back of the head with a wooden beam, and blacked out. Waking up, I was laying on the ground as Hoyt sat on top of me. He told me how it was all a game, a sick, cruel game. He had two scalpels, slicing a cut in my neck, and then stabbed then through my hands."