"Izzie Stevens was murdered." Arizona breathed out, her voice thick with emotion.
"What? What do you mean Izzie Stevens was murdered?" Addison asked, her eyes widened in shock, struggling to process what she was just told. She instinctively guided Meredith onto her lap, the blonde quickly burying her face in the redhead's chest.
"Karev went up to the roof and saw what looked like blood, he followed it and found her body just laying about twenty steps past the helicopter pad. She wasn't even hidden, it's almost like the killer wanted her to be found." Arizona ran her shaking fingers through her hair as tears spilled down her cheeks. "Yang said that they're calling the police now and once she talks to them she'll be back."
"Why do they want to talk to Cristina? They don't think she had anything to do with it, right?" Meredith poked her head out, fear clouding her eyes.
"No, they're just going to want to talk to anyone that worked closely with Izzie so they're going to be talking to all of Bailey's interns." Arizona explained in a soft voice. "Do you think that whoever killed Izzie is the person that's been working with Derek?" She asked, looking at Addison.
"Either that or Richard has more than one murderer on his staff, I just don't understand why anyone would want Stevens dead. Yes she was annoying and entitled and quite nosey, but for someone to purposely end her life? That poor girl…" Addison sighed at the feeling of tears falling down her cheeks, hiding her face in Meredith's hair.
Officer Taylor, Officer Jacobs, and Agent Nicholls made their way to Seattle Grace after receiving the call from Richard about a murdered intern. Taylor was kicking herself, she knew that it was likely that whoever killed Izzie Stevens was the same person who assisted Derek in torturing Rose and that they could have prevented this. Had she tested the rope right away or called in the FBI sooner they could have caught this person before they killed again. She knew it wasn't her fault, but she still felt some responsibility. The three of them soon found themselves in Richard's office, trying to get a grasp of what happened from the distressed chief of surgery.
"I had a bad feeling when Stevens didn't show up this morning, especially when her roommate told me that she never made it home last night, but I never thought we would be finding her body on hospital property. I should have called the second she didn't show up, but I just wanted to believe that nothing was wrong…" Richard said as he paced back and forth, trying to block out the images of her laying there lifeless on the roof, her eyes open and empty. "There was so much blood, the bastard slit her throat with so much force that she was nearly decapitated."
"You said that she left with her roommate George O'Malley around 6:30 last night?"
"Yes."
"Then her roommate said that she dropped him off at home before going to pick up dinner for the two of them, just to never return home?"
"Yes, we did have a trauma last night so my first thought was that she saw the ambulances heading this way and her intern bloodlust caused her to follow, but no one had seen her. I was hoping she would show up with some explanation, but…" Richard sighed as he rubbed his temples.
"Could we see the security footage? It's possible that she did follow the trauma back like you initially suspected, because somehow she did end up back at the hospital. The footage could possibly answer a lot of questions, we also found skin cells under her fingernails so we have the killer's DNA. Honestly it looks like she fought back hard so whoever killed her probably has some injuries of their own. Did anyone have problems with Dr. Stevens?" Agent Nicholls asked, pen out ready to take notes.
"Honestly, most people here had complaints about Stevens. Izzie was talented, especially in neonatal, but she never knew when to be quiet and things got progressively worse ever since Meredith was rescued and Addison took a leave of absence. She spent most of her time on Addison's service, once that wasn't an option anymore she started to feel as if her education was being compromised and acted out a lot. She was extremely disrespectful to our Neuro attending Dr. Nelson, telling him that he didn't compare to Derek so he threw her off of his service. Dr. Robbins said that Izzie would compare everything she did to Addison even though the two work in different specialties, there's been fights with her and another intern, her resident has also reported issues with her, I've even had conversations with her regarding all the complaints I was getting about her."
"Did anyone ever seem particularly angry with her?"
"A couple weeks ago my chief of cardio, Preston Burke, had come in here in a rage. Izzie was on his service and had scrubbed in on a risky surgery, they lost the patient and he solely blamed her because she was holding onto a clamp and the clamp slipped. I was able to calm him down and he admitted that even if the clamp hadn't slipped the outcome probably would have remained the same. It just caught me off guard because normally Preston is very much in control of his emotions, I had never seen him that angry."
"Was he here last night?" Officer Jacobs asked, her gut telling her to dig for more information.
"Yes, the trauma that came in had a cardiac case that he worked with Alex Karev, who is actually the one who found Izzie. He and Cristina Yang were the only two of Bailey's interns who were scheduled last night and we had enough hands here that we didn't feel the need to page Stevens or O'Malley." Richard explained as the officers and agent exchanged looks.
"Okay, we still need to review the security footage to see how Izzie ended up back at the hospital. We also would like to talk to the other interns in her group as well as her resident and Dr. Burke." Officer Jacobs said as Richard nodded and gestured for them to come around his desk. He pulled up the parking lot security footage on his computer and it showed Izzie Stevens getting out of her car at 7:36pm the night before, glancing down at her pager in her hand. "What time did the trauma come in?"
"Not until close to 8:30, we first received word of the trauma shortly after 8:00."
"And you can't think of any reason she would have been paged?" Officer Taylor asked, focusing on the slightly irritated expression on the intern's face as she looked down at her pager.
"None at all, especially considering that we had no clue that a trauma was coming in at this time. I would think maybe she was paged about a patient, but she wasn't on call last night and if I remember correctly, she wasn't on anyone's service yesterday. I believe Dr. Bailey had her on scutt due to her recent behavior." They continued to watch the cameras and saw that as Izzie was approaching the main door, something off camera caught her attention causing her to walk around the side of the hospital, out of camera view.
"Is there a camera over where she's walking?"
" That camera was broken two days ago. It appeared as if a rock was thrown at it and obviously we couldn't check the footage to find out exactly what happened. We have a replacement camera being installed tomorrow which obviously doesn't help us now." Richard sighed, putting his head in his hands. At the time he didn't think much of the camera being vandalized, but now it all seems too calculated to be a coincidence. "Bailey's interns are waiting in the locker room, I can take you there now while I track down Bailey and Burke." Richard led the three to the locker room where Bailey and her interns were trying to wrap their heads around what happened to their co-worker. "Dr. Bailey, I didn't expect to find you here. This is Officer Taylor, Officer Jacobs, and Agent Nicholls. They need to talk to all of you about Izzie. Feel free to use either the conference rooms or even my office, I'm going to go find Burke for you guys." He offered on his way out.
"I understand that you are all probably in shock, we just have a few questions and then we'll be out of your hair. George O'Malley? Do you want to come with me? I understand that you were the last person to see her alive, I just want to get your version of events so we can try to figure out what happened to your friend. Jacobs, do you want to talk to Karev while Taylor talks to Yang? I figure if we split up we can cover ground faster." Agent Nicholls proposed to the officers who both nodded in agreement. "Dr. Bailey, if you want to just sit tight one of us will be back soon to talk to you." She said to the visibly shaken resident before leading George down the hall.
"Now George I just want to reiterate that you are not in any trouble, I just want to know how Izzie seemed the last time you saw her. Dr. Webber said that you both left around 6:30 last night and that she dropped you off at your shared apartment before then leaving to go pick up dinner?"
"Yes, we agreed on Thai food so I gave her my order and she went to go get it. When she hadn't come home after an hour I tried calling her, but her phone had gone straight to voicemail so I figured her battery had died."
"Around what time would you say she dropped you off and then left?"
"It was around 6:45 when we got home, she left to go get food around 7:00."
"The hospital parking lot security camera showed Izzie getting out of her car at 7:36 last night, so she returned to the hospital, we're just trying to figure out why. Did she have any patients she may have needed to check on?"
"No, Dr. Bailey put her on scut because none of the attendings have wanted to work with her lately. If she was here at the hospital someone had to have seen her, right?"
"The security footage showed her approaching the main hospital doors, but it appeared as if something off camera had gotten her attention causing her to walk out of camera view. At this point, we can't say for sure that she ever made it into the hospital. Now you mentioned that none of the attendings have wanted to work with her, but have you noticed if there was anyone in particular she was having issues with?"
"Dr. Nelson had thrown her off his service about three weeks ago and has refused to work with her since, which I can't say that I blame him. Izzie is, was, my best friend but after Dr. Shepherd was arrested and Dr. Montgomery took a leave of absence, she became very angry. She spent so much time on neonatal that I think she had felt lost, she was put on neuro but all she did was complain that Nelson wasn't as talented as Shepherd was and that she wasn't learning as much as she had when Shepherd was here. Dr. Bailey started putting her on Dr. Robbins' service since it was as close to neonatal as she would get, but Izzie wasn't happy with that. She wanted to be on Dr. Burke's service because she felt he was the only attending worth learning from, but Burke tends to request Cristina on his service because Cristina has expressed a sole interest in cardio since we started. She started to pick fights with Cristina every chance she got and a couple weeks ago it escalated to the point where Cristina punched Izzie in the face. Shortly after that, Izzie was on his service but her hand slipped during a complicated surgery so when the patient died Burke blew up on her. I had never seen him so angry, he later apologized and kept her on his service but he was very short with her and you could feel the tension anytime they were in the same room. She was actually supposed to be on his service today, but when she didn't show up Bailey called Cristina to cover her shift."
"Thank you George, this has been very helpful. That's all I have for now, but I will let you know if we need anything else from you." Agent Nicholls offered him a small smile.
"So Dr. Karev, I understand that you were the one who found Izzie's body?" Officer Jacobs asked the intern once they had sat down.
"Please, call me Alex. I just can't believe she's really gone and I mean I know a lot of people didn't like her, but to kill her?"
"Alex, I'm really sorry to put you through this but I need to know how you came across her body."
"I had just finished with a patient, I tried calling her for probably the hundredth time, but her phone just kept going to voicemail. I left a message anyways and when I hung up I decided to go up the roof to get some air. I walked towards the edge and just screamed to try to get out my frustrations at her just vanishing. Once I felt a little more in control of my feelings, I went to sit down and out of the corner of my eye I saw what looked like blood so I turned my head and saw a figure at the corner of the rooftop. I walked over and that's when I realized it was Izzie. I immediately went back to the elevator so I could go tell the chief, I also paged Dr. Bailey and then I brought the two of them up to the roof so they could see for themselves."
"I am so sorry you had to be the one to find her, I can't imagine what that must have felt like. I know that Izzie has been struggling since Dr. Montgomery took a leave of absence, but can you think of anyone that could possibly want to hurt her?"
"Honestly? Over the past couple of weeks, every time I was in the same room as her and Burke, I wish I brought a knife with me just to cut the tension between them. It was suffocating. I know she messed up in one of his surgeries by letting a clamp slip, but he blamed them losing that patient on her despite knowing the guy didn't have much of a chance to begin with. I don't want to accuse the guy of anything, but I know she felt uneasy around him after that and frankly, dude gives me the creeps."
"So Dr. Yang, I understand you and Izzie didn't really get along?" Officer Taylor asked.
"No, we didn't. I didn't hate her or anything, I was always just one to keep to myself and frankly I found her irritating. After Meredith was rescued she became insufferable and she blamed Meredith for Addison and Shepherd not being here. She had a lot of nasty things to say about Meredith and I snapped a couple weeks ago and punched her, since then I've tried to keep my distance from her but she had a problem with how often Dr. Burke requested me. She didn't feel it was fair that I was getting more time on cardio than she was, but I had nothing to do with that. Burke requests me because he knows that I've already decided on cardio, I never asked him to or anything. A few days after I punched her, she and Burke had a patient who didn't make it and I know that Burke blamed her before eventually apologizing. After that she seemed uneasy around him, but still would bitch that it wasn't fair how often he was requesting me. Today was my day off and I got called in when she didn't show up and put on Burke's service. Honestly, part of me thought she didn't show up because she didn't want to work with Burke and just didn't want to admit it after giving me so much grief for a situation out of my control."
"What are your feelings about Dr. Burke? Has he ever made you feel uneasy?"
"He's an excellent surgeon and he has taught me a lot, but today he was just giving me this weird vibe. It was the only time I ever felt uneasy around him, but something about the way he smiled at me just gave me chills. It just seemed like everyone else was concerned about Izzie not showing up, even I started to get concerned after I had talked to George, but he just didn't have a care in the world. He seemed almost happy that she wasn't here, he told me that it was a relief to have someone who actually knows what they're doing in surgery with him. I don't know, it just rubbed me the wrong way."
"Thank you, that's all I need for right now, we'll let you know if we have any other questions."
"Is Meredith in danger? She and I don't talk about what she went through or anything, but Arizona and Addison told me that Derek was working with someone and that's why she's basically on house arrest right now. Do you think Izzie was killed by that person?"
"We are doing everything we can to keep Meredith safe. I can't say for sure if this is the same person, but it is a possibility."
"Dr. Bailey, after talking to both Dr. Webber and Dr. O'Malley I understand that things with Izzie have been tough lately, but does anything stick out to you?" Agent Nicholls asked the normally tough resident.
"Just about all the attendings have come crying to me about Stevens practically being Rosemary's baby, but honestly Dr. Burke has been especially cold towards her ever since they lost a patient a few weeks ago. He blamed the entire thing on her when all she was doing was holding a clamp. He did talk to her afterwards and apologized and told her that she wasn't at fault, but honestly it seemed more like he was just doing so because the chief tore into him. I think he still blamed her."
"What makes you think that?"
"He was hard on her for no reason, anytime he asked her a question it felt like he was challenging her to give him the wrong answer just so he had a reason to yell at her."
"So what do you guys think?" Jacobs asked her partner and the FBI agent once they had finished interviewing Bailey and the interns.
"I think we really need to talk to this Burke guy, both George O'Malley and Miranda Bailey said that although he apologized to her for how he acted after they lost their patient he was very short with her and that there was a lot of tension. Bailey went as far as to say that she believes that he only apologized to her because Webber tore into him and that he still blamed Izzie for the death of their patient."
"I agree. Cristina said that even though she didn't like Izzie, she was still concerned about her disappearance, but that Burke seemed happy that she wasn't here. He even told her it was a relief that she would be in his surgery today as she actually knew what she was doing."
"I asked Alex if he could think of anyone that could want to hurt her and he immediately said Burke. He said that Izzie was uneasy around him and that you could cut the tension with a knife. He didn't want to just come out and accuse him of something like this, but did say that he gave him the creeps. We definitely need to talk to him." The three knocked on Dr. Webber's office door, hoping that the man was able to track down Burke in the time they were gone as they all had a gut feeling that he was their guy. "Dr. Webber, were you able to find Dr. Burke? We really need to talk to him."
"No, I paged him but he never responded. A nurse said they saw him leave just after you arrived and all calls are going straight to voicemail. I checked the cameras and sure enough, he fled the hospital grounds."