Last to Die

EXT. ART MUSEUM - DAY 2

Full-on crime scene in the f.g. as Jane and Maura head toward it. CSRU TECHS, Korsak, Uniforms, ND Detectives.

Korsak is directing three CSRU TECHS as they prepare to lift a massive statue that resembles the Venus di Milo from the center of a fountain. Jane and Maura walk toward them.

JANE

Frankie has a right to be upset. But Riley did earn it: She’s been a detective in the Drug Unit for five years.

An ND POLICE OFFICER lifts CRIME SCENE TAPE for them to DUCK under.

MAURA

Disappointment is a dangerous emotion if it isn’t processed. I’d hate for him to set himself up for a life of misery.

JANE

That’s ridiculous.

MAURA

Read the research. I’m worried about your mother, too. She’s knitting.

JANE

Hmmm … that is worrisome.

MAURA

I think it’s a baby blanket. The yarn is 50-50 cotton-acrylic blend.

JANE

Okay, now we have a problem –

(talks into a pretend

shoulder 2-way)

All units: We have a woman who’s so desperate to be a grandmother, she’s knitting a baby blanket for the baby of Lydia, the slut who slept with her ex-husband and youngest son —

As Maura pulls Jane’s hand away from the pretend 2-way –

MAURA

She’s worried about what kind of future that baby is going to have.

JANE

You think I’m not? Lydia can barely tie her shoes.

Suddenly Maura pulls up short.

MAURA

Oh.

JANE

You pull something?

MAURA

I smell something … decomposition.

Jane follows Maura as she sniffs her way to the edge of the pool just as Korsak and the techs start moving the statue.

KORSAK

Let’s tilt her sideways first –

JANE

I can’t believe you can smell decomp through bronze.

MAURA

It’s a a heavy particulate odor detectable to some animals for miles.

JANE

(re: statue)

Looks like the Venus di Milo.

(off Maura’s look)

I’ve been to the Louvre, Dr. Snob.

Suddenly, one of the Techs LOSES his footing. Korsak moves to help him but it’s too late.

JANE MAURA

Oh no. Oh no.

CRASH. The statue DROPS onto the concrete around the pool. The HEAD cracks open. REVEALS the face of a DEAD WOMAN.

JANE (CONT’D)

It’s not bronze, it’s plaster.

KORSAK

(to Tech who dropped statue)

S’okay, Murph. We had to crack her open sooner or later.

Maura kneels to inspect the face, reaches out with a gloved hand and touches the woman’s cheek.

MAURA

She’s very cool.

JANE

A dead woman masquerading as a statue is cool?

MAURA

The body. It’s cold and exhibiting signs of delayed decomposition.

JANE

So she was frozen?

MAURA

No. Likely kept in cold storage.

JANE

(trades a look with Korsak)

So that’s “Refrigerated” not “frozen,” got it?

MAURA

The difference between 32 and 33 degrees is enormous, Jane.

Frost heads over with news.

FROST

Park was updating their electrical system. No power to the cameras.

JANE

So no security footage.

KORSAK

What about the maintenance crew?

FROST

Last guy here says he fished trash out of the water just before he left at 7:00. She wasn’t there.

Jane takes in the body.

JANE

No one goes to this much trouble for a single kill …