Silver Decade: "decade:(noun) 1. a period of ten years; 2. a group, set or series of ten." A collection of 10 oneshots dealing with the reality and aftermath of catching Red John after 10 years. Some scenes we didn't get to see onscreen,. I hope you enjoy, please review!
Sam is in her kitchen when she hears. She's standing at the sink, scrubbing the stain out of a tea cup when she hears. Sam always has the radio blaring when she's doing the housework; something that annoys Pete she knows, but he never says a word, just sighs and finds an excuse to go outside. Sam likes it better that way. He wouldn't ask her to switch it off, wouldn't ask her for anything he didn't need or anything he knows she wouldn't give him. She's always had the upper hand their whole lives, even when they were children. They both prefer it that way. The stain in the tea cup has been there a long time, perhaps always, Sam muses as she rubs it a little more persistently.
It's then the news comes on the radio, and of course it's blaring, and all of a sudden the headline is that the husband and father, Patrick Jane, of two of the serial killer Red John's victims, has killed the serial murderer in Sacramento yesterday evening, and the report booms around the walls of her home. Had the sink not been full of hot soapy water, the tea cup she was holding would surely be shattered, for Sam drops it in fright, but it hits the bottom of the sink with only a light clinking sound, dulled by the water between her hands and it. Before she realises what she's doing, Sam finds a warm soapy fist at her heart and she can feel her heart thundering in her chest and pounding in her ears. She feels dizzy, and she presses her hands to the sink to keep herself up.
That damned boy, she thinks, he did it. After all these years, he's done it. That poor boy. She remembers him as a child, though she remembers Angela more clearly. She'd been one hell of a girl, more than a match for that troublesome Jane boy. A great girl that had grown into a magnificent woman. No wonder they'd all fallen so hard after her death. A waste was what that had been, Sam knew. Annie had always been the only one her fool of a brother would listen to. Sam had seen it a million times. Of course, Sam was a few years older than Angela had been but she'd seen it all: she'd talk him out of something stupid, calm him down when things went awry; ever since they were children, it was always Danny being looked after, being kept out of his trouble by his big sister. He was the only boy Patrick had ever had to compete with for Annie's attentions. Those pair had adored each other. Sam knew Patrick would have followed that girl to the end of the world. Hell, she'd been dead almost a decade and he was still living his life for her. Or, he had been. Who knew what he'd do now.
Sam pauses and tries to imagine the same young boy she used to see with Angela, grown now, and for the first time in the years since she'd died, free. Free from his past and free to move on if he so wished. It had been a while since Sam had seen Angela and Patrick and their little girl before the night they'd died: while there had been no real hard feelings between the Janes and their former carnie family since their departure – how could there be when it was Angela Ruskin, the circuit's darling and Patrick Jane, former boy wonder involved; Sam supposed life happened: visits back became less frequent, time and space were put between them all. There was no real resentment between the Janes and the carnies, just a bewildered non-understanding on the part of the carnies. They'd both been successful always here, were well-liked and seemed happy. What would come of leaving? Nothing good, they all knew well now.
Sam has seen Patrick only a couple of times since Angela's death, and she tries to imagine him with someone else but finds it near impossible to do – all their lives, the two had been together, or so it seemed to her. And yet, now when she thinks of Jane killing that horrible man, it's not Angela Sam imagines standing beside him, but that little cop, Lisbon. Sam had been shocked to say the least when Patrick Jane of all people had wound up on her doorstep with the police, and with that little whippet of a lady cop at that. Still, Sam knew straight up that this Teresa Lisbon had to be made of strong stuff to manage to keep Patrick Jane onboard, and she'd been proved right on more than one occasion. Not typical police to say the least, Sam thought. Following Caitlin's disappearance and her safe return to them, Sam had been forced to change her opinions about law enforcement, or at least when it came to Teresa Lisbon. Sam had seen a notion of change in the working relationship between Patrick and Lisbon when they'd come the second time, about Caitlin, something she'd been glad to see, though she'd kept it quiet. Who knew what would happen now, Sam thinks. She had been so glad to see Patrick and Danny reconciled, she just prayed now that Patrick could reconcile himself to himself, and to a future of happiness ahead. She had been there to witness love blossom between Patrick and Angela in their youths, perhaps now she might see love blossom once more. Sam always knew about these things. Sam smiled.
Through the boom of the radio, Sam hears Pete approach outside, and to her it sounds like he has trouble right alongside with him, if the gurgling laughs are anything to go by, and they are. Sam takes a towel to dry her hand, and opens the door. Caitlin grows more beautiful by the day and she is a beacon of hope to them all. Sam smiles at Pete as he readjusts his hold on the little girl in his arms.
"What is it?" he's saying now.
"Red John is dead."
"Patrick Jane?" Pete says and Sam nods.
"I'll be damned," Pete says, and he turns away, playtalking with Caitlin. They were never a pair cut out for overexcitement.
Sam watches the scene before her. Red John killed one little girl, Charlotte, and her mother, Angela, and he killed Lele, and would have killed Caitlin, but she lives, and she is here and she is happy. There was happiness for Patrick before Red John, and there will be happiness for him again, Sam is sure of it.
She's always known about these sorts of things.
