A/N This is my first fanfic, please review, I would love to know what you think.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of this.
"We got a case it's time to go Jane." Lisbon called causing me to open my eyes.
"Where are we going?" I yawned stretching my arms behind my back.
"Santa Barbara. Come on we have a six and half hour drive ahead of us." Lisbon called ushering Rigsby, Cho, and Van Pelt out of the office.
"Santa Barbara?" I stopped.
"Is there a problem with that?" Lisbon wondered, stopping to hold the elevator.
"Not at all."
"Well then come on Jane I can't hold the elevator forever." Lisbon complained. So I obeyed no point getting her worked up this early in the day, not when in looked like we would have a long one ahead of us.
"What are you thinking about?" Lisbon turned to me, I was sitting half asleep in the passenger seat.
"Nothing."
"You're lying." She teased.
"You can't tell." I smirked.
"Yes I can, you must be wearing off on me or something." Lisbon decided.
"You say that like it's a bad thing." I laughed, I love our banter, she is the best part of my day.
"I don't think anyone could handle two of you running around." Lisbon laughed.
"Matter of opinion, so tell me about this case." I smiled, I love the way she blushes when I smile at her.
"They found the body of a young girl on a state beach." Lisbon started.
"Can't the local cops handle it rumor is they aren't to bad in Santa Barbara." I shrugged.
"Oh really, since when can people solve cases without you?" Lisbon teased again.
"You make me sound so arrogant." I retorted.
"You are arrogant." She reminded.
"Fair enough, so why are we going to Santa Barbara." I asked again.
"The AG's daughters boyfriends sister. Or something like that, so they want us involved." Lisbon explained.
"It must be nice to have connections." I watched her face as she drove.
"Why so they can have you play with their body when they die?"
"A minute ago you said crime couldn't be solved without me, make up your mind should I look at the bodies or stay on my couch."
"By all means look at the body, investigate just act like a normal person for once in your life." Lisbon threatened.
"That is entirely no fun at all." I laughed. "What do we know about the crime scene?"
"Nothing, just that she was probably killed else where and was dumped in the water." She turned off the interstate and started heading toward the beach, following Cho, Rigsby, and Van Pelts car. "It's basically nothing."
"Well lets take a look shall we." I jumped out of the car to a scene I wasn't expecting. I was standing on the pier, my old pier. It had been at least sixteen years since I had been back here. Nothing had changed, and yet everything had changed, I was a different person then. My office was over on the other side of the pier I could see the building from here there were flowers outside of it. Even after all these years.
"Jane we're over here." Lisbon called directing my attention to the body. "What do you see?"
"Female mid twenties hit over the head with something hard and flat, probably a shovel." Cho stated looking over the crime scene.
"Real private eye you got there." A detective with a strong Irish hairline, it was grayer than the last time I saw him, but then again it had been sixteen years.
"And you are?" Lisbon barked at the detective.
"Head detective Carlton Lassiter and you are?" He frowned, exactly the way I remember him.
"I'm Special Agent Lisbon, that's Agents Cho, Rigsby, Van Pelt, and this is our consultant Patrick Jane." Lisbon introduced, "What can you tell me detective?"
"What we know you know. If it were up to me you wouldn't even be here, we can handle this case fine one our own." Lassiter started. "McNabb!" I couldn't stop myself from turning to look.
"Escort these fine agents back to the office and have Juliet show them the file and suspect list." Lassiter ordered.
"Right on top of that sir." McNabb started for the car, before realizing no one was following him. McNabb was a detective, that was something I could have never predicted.
"Excuse me detective we would like to have a look at the crime scene real quick if that's okay with you." Lisbon interrupted.
"Oh relax Lisbon I've seen all there is for me to see here." I replied looking up and down the beach.
"Oh and what have you seen Mr. Jane." Lassiter turned to me, it was the first time he had paid me any notice. "You look familiar."
"Of course I do, but your dead girl was a surfer, the tan line around her ankle, and Cho was right when he said a shovel was used to kill her so I'd look in someone's garden shed or at a construction sight. She was thrown in the water probably a couple miles to the north, probably those rocky cliffs over there. I'd suspect you'll find her car, or her clothes or something like that." I explained.
"Seriously do I know you from somewhere?" Lassiter scowled.
"You might I don't know I've met a lot of people Lassie." I smirked.
"Lassiter." He corrected. "McNabb take them back to headquarters."
"First could you send some men over with Van Pelt to check out those cliffs." Lisbon ordered.
"Of course Agent." He continued to scowl, "Seriously do I know you?"
"I think I'll ride with McNabb." I shrugged walking over and hoping in the car where McNabb was waiting. He looked me up and down and then turned to make sure Lisbon and the others were following us. "So detective huh?"
"Yea, there was a big case about fifteen or sixteen years ago, one of our consultants was murdered." He frowned, "It was a huge deal, his partner was psychic, Shawn, Shawn Spencer. Gus, the victim, and Shawn were best friends and he took the murder really hard, it was just two years after his dads murder."
"Oh wow that must have been some case." I listened.
"Yeah, It drove Shawn nearly insane, he was engaged to Juliet, the detective you'll meet in a little bit. He couldn't go through with it and he just disappeared. It broke her heart, but anyway I was involved in finding the murder and got a promotion." McNabb went on.
"And this psychic you never heard from him again?" I questioned, I was staring intently at McNabb.
"Nope." He frowned, "And we all tried to find him."
"And how is this detective Juliet?" I needed to know.
"She's married now, has been for two years." McNabb smiled.
"Well that's great." I smiled, "For her."
"Yeah, no one thought she was going to be able to get over it." McNabb smiled, "But her husband Scott is amazing, the wedding was beautiful, I guess they were sweathearts in college or high school, something like that."
"No kidding." I continued to smile, Scott, Scott Seaver, I helped her find him twenty years ago, I saved his life to. If we hadn't pulled into headquarters I may have jumped out of the car right then and there. I had to get over all this I am a new person I grew up, but I never thought I'd have to face Juliet again.
"Here we are." McNabb smiled.
"Thank you detective." I smiled back I couldn't help but smile I really had missed McNabb, he was a sweet and naïve man it was good to see nothing had changed with the tragedy.
"What were you doing?" Lisbon wanted to know as I followed her into the headquarters.
"Getting to know our new friends." I grinned.
"I never should have let you ride alone, what did you do?" Lisbon panicked.
"I was perfectly civil, I treated him like an old friend." I tried to ease her mind.
"You don't have any friends." She pointed out.
"I thought you were my friend." She didn't answer, "Cho, Rigsby are you my friend." They both turned and looked slightly confused.
"You must be from the CBI." It was Juliet.
"Yes and you are?" Lisbon started.
"Agent Juliet Seaver, nice to meet you." She smiled, I really did miss that smile, she looked good, she hadn't changed at all.
"I'm Agent Lisbon these are Agents Cho and Rigsby and this is Patrick Jane." I watched as Juliet eyed the crowd ending on me. I was begging her to look away, but I had to hold her gaze at least long enough for it to not be suspicious.
"Nice to meet you Agent Seaver." Rigsby stepped forward.
"She's married, and you have a kid." I smirked.
"How did you know I was married?" Juliet turned.
"Ring." I pointed.
"Right, sorry. I didn't mean to bark at you." She apologized, "You.."
"I just look really familiar." I nodded.
"You've been getting that a lot today." Lisbon stated, she was getting suspicious.
"You know what's weird boss, being on tv kind of makes some one easily recognized." Rigsby smirked.
"You were on tv?" Juliet turned to me.
"Don't we have a case to be solving?" I turned to Lisbon.
"That's right I was told you had the suspect list, I would also like to speak with the family, if that's alright." Lisbon took over, I was more than willing to stand back in the shadows.
"Yes of course my desk is over here." Juliet led the way. "So are victim is Caroline Matthews, she lives with her two brothers and one sister. She co –owns a surf and scuba shop on the pier." She hesitated when she said that, I may not be psychic but I bet I know where that shop is.
"Alright we'll talk to the family first, then visit the shop." Lisbon ordered. "Rigsby wait here and set up a desk for us. Cho and Jane will come with me and detective Seaver."
"McNabb stay and help Agent Rigsby get settled." Juliet instructed. "Where's Lassiter?"
"Checking out a lead on the beach." McNabb answered.
"Who's lead, no one told me we had a lead." Juliet turned to him.
"Mr. Jane's lead." McNabb responded, motioning to me. I was already part way to the car, but was by no means out of earshot.
"What's his deal?" I heard Juliet ask Lisbon as they followed me to the car at a distance.
"He's had a hard time." Lisbon brushed off her question.
"No like how'd he come to be a consultant?" Juliet wanted to know, before Lisbon could answer they had reached me and the car. And at the same time Lisbon's phone rang, "What do you have Van Pelt?" I watched her nod, and waited for her to hang up.
"They found her car." I stated.
"Yeah it was right where you said it would be." Lisbon started, "They found the girls clothes in the passenger seat, but there was a lot of blood in the trunk."
"I figured, to anyone who saw the car it would look like the girl had gone for a swim or surfing or something." I yawned.
"How'd you know that?" Juliet started. "Are you a psychic or something?"
"There's no such thing as Psychic's." I turned to her. She looked at me, I could feel her stare as I turned back around.
"That's not true, we had one working for us once a long time ago. He was an excellent consultant, and he solved plenty of cases." Juliet argued.
"He was a fraud." I didn't want to look at her.
"Jane don't do this not now." Lisbon scolded.
"He was not a fraud." Juliet started, then stopped, "He was a good man."
"You were engaged to him weren't you." I couldn't help myself.
"How did you know that?" She asked again.
"Detective McNabb told me." I started, "There's no such thing as psychic's, and my guess is he told you the truth before he proposed. Now you're just protecting his honor or whatever by continuing his lie."
"Jane!" Lisbon yelled.
"Come on shut up man." Cho warned.
"You just think you know everything don't you." Juliet started, as the car came to a stop.
"He has that affect on people." Cho sighed. As we started to the house Lisbon pulled me aside.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Lisbon scolded, I shrugged, "That was mean even for you."
"I know I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself." I apologized.
"Behave, otherwise I'm sending you home. You understand?" Lisbon threatened.
"Yea, Yea I understand." I agreed turning and walking toward the house. "So who do we have here, her brothers and sister?"
"Yes, that's right." Lisbon followed. Juliet and Cho were waiting for us at the door, Lisbon knocked and there was an immediate response. A young man couldn't be older than twenty opened the door.
"Can I help you?" He wanted to know.
"I'm Agent Lisbon with the CBI, this is Agent Cho, Detective Seaver, and Patrick Jane." She answered. "Can we come in, we have a couple questions to ask."
"Yes, yes of course. Anything to help." He motioned us inside. "Eric, Hannah the police are here to ask about Caroline."
"When was the last time you saw your sister?" Lisbon asked following the boy to the living room.
"Umm Friday morning right Michael, that's when it was." He turned to his older brother.
"Yeah she left for the shop around eight Friday morning she was angry because she was running late." Michael added, "She always gets there at five on the dot to make sure everything is in order, but she over slept."
"Was she dating anyone?" Lisbon wanted to know. I let her ask the questions, while I wondered around the living room picking up pictures. I could feel Juliet staring at me the whole time.
"A boyfriend, umm yeah his name was Milo or something like that, she kept her personal life pretty secret from us." Eric answered.
"But not private from you." I pointed to the sister, Hannah.
"Yeah I guess not." Hannah looked at me, then she looked at my hair I never got why women liked my hair so much. "She's been dating Milo for a couple weeks now."
"And where can we find Milo." Lisbon cut in.
"He works as a nurse at the hospital down the street, that's all I know, they met surfing." Hannah answered.
"And who is she sleeping with?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" Hannah looked at me again.
"She's sleeping with someone other than Milo isn't she?" I repeated.
"His name Adrian, that's all I know." Hannah cried.
"Alright, and where's the bathroom?" I smiled.
"Down the hall to the left." Eric answered, he was eyeing me now too. I nodded and started walking in the direction he pointed. Instead of going to the bathroom I crept out to the back yard.
"Shawn!" She had followed me out I knew she would I saw the way she was looking at me in there.
"Excuse me?" I turned around.
"Don't play with me, the only way anyone could know that stuff you said in the car was if you really were a psychic or you're Shawn." She yelled.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." I shrugged.
"You can wear nice suits, and change the color of your hair but I still recognize your methods." She continued to shout.
"Please keep your voice down." I sighed.
"Just tell me the truth." She begged, I hated seeing her beg.
"What do you want me to say Jules?" I wiped my forehead.
"Shawn!?" She cried, she came forward to hug me then backed away, and in the end I got slapped in the face.
"I deserved that." I frowned.
"Yes you did, you left me, you left all of us." She cried.
"I lost my dad, then my best friend. I freaked out and ran. I'm sorry, I didn't want to hurt you, I didn't know what to do." I apologized.
"You could have helped find Gus's killer, you could have stayed, we were going to get married." She hissed, I couldn't answer and that caused her to stop. "You did find Gus's killer didn't you?"
"Excuse me?" I looked at her.
"We found him dead, shot, it was you wasn't it?" Juliet looked me in the eyes, I held my gaze. "You should be arrested."
"There's no proof of anything, it's a sixteen year old case." I reminded. "And besides as far as anyone is concerned Shawn Spencer doesn't exist anymore."
"What about me, am I not supposed to care?" She asked.
"You want to arrest me for a crime I may or may not have committed sixteen years ago. " I questioned, "The man who killed my best friend?"
"Is everything okay out here?" Cho came out the back door. Juliet slapped me again, and then turned to walk away.
"Juliet." I called, "What are you going to do?"
"Well 'Patrick', I'm going to solve this case so you can go back where you came from." She shouted. Cho watched as she stormed back inside.
"You do have a way with women." Cho stated, with his usual lack of facial expression, but you could tell he was enjoying it.
"You have no idea." I smiled.
"Well come on we're leaving, we're done talking to the family. We're going to go check out the shop next." Cho explained, leading the way back to the car.
"I thought I told you to leave the poor girl alone." Lisbon whispered
"She came to me, it's not my fault." I shrugged.
"How come I don't believe you?" She started toward the drivers seat.
"Because you seem to think I am not worthy of your trust." I smiled at her, she blushed again, she always blushes. "So the surf and Scuba shop then."
"Yes, and it's down by the pier not far from where the body was found." Lisbon told me, I could feel Juliet staring at me from the back seat. The drive was short but nonetheless it was not comfortable. We pulled the car into our parking spot, well it was Gus's parking spot, I never really had a car. I could feel Juliet still staring at me. We all got out of the car and I let them lead the way, it was the building on the corner, it was our building. I wiped a tear from my eye, I noticed Juliet catch my eye and then look away a little to quickly.
"Jane you coming?" Lisbon called again.
"I think I'll look around out here." I decided.
"Don't get lost." She warned, but turned and hurried into the building.
I started for the pier but then decided to head for the beach instead. I through my jacket over my shoulder and started walking. Eighteen years since I lost my father, sixteen since I lost my best friend, and eight since I lost my wife and daughter. All had one thing in common, me and my desire for attention, my big mouth. Juliet was right I killed Gus's killer, and I will do the same to Red John, the killer of my wife and child.
Just down the beach was the stand with the best pineapple smoothies in California, and in the end I couldn't help myself.
"That looks a little more familiar." Juliet had walked up behind me. "I'm sorry about how I reacted, it was rash."
"You acted appropriately." I sipped on my smoothie.
"You really have grown up." She smiled, "Gus never would have believed it." I didn't say anything. "What did you do to your hair?"
"You know most women seem to like it." I smiled.
"I have this horrible desire to run my hands through your hair." Juliet laughed.
"Yea for some reason that's what a lot of people want to do." I laughed with her.
"How'd you do it?" She turned to me, "We all looked for you, for months, how'd you disappear?"
"I sunk really low I was drinking a lot and then I got taken in by a carnival. They were able to sober me up and give me a job as a psychic, from there my career took off."
"What do you mean?" She looked at me.
"I mean I… I mean you can find out all you want to know about Patrick Jane online." I buried my face in my hands.
"Jane what are you talking about?"
"How long have you been behind us Lisbon?" I needed to know.
"Enough to realize you're not really who you have been saying you are." Lisbon was angry, I could feel her glare in the back of my head. While Juliet was equally confused beside me but for different reasons, each knew the opposite half of the story.
"You never told her?" Juliet asked, "Looking at the two of you I would have thought that."
"I never told anyone because no one ever needed to know." I declared. "No one ever would have known if I hadn't come back here."
"You were never going to come back to us?" Juliet asked, "You never wanted us to know that you were alive?"
"It was better that you thought I had died or something, then you could move on easier." I tried, "I was worried about you, every person I cared about was dying."
"Explain to me what's going on!" Lisbon yelled.
"You two talk I'll take Agent Cho back to the police station." Juliet offered, Lisbon hesitated before handing her the keys.
"Start talking." Lisbon warned.
"Let's go for a walk." I got up from the sand, and threw my jacket over my shoulder. "Let's start at the beginning shall we."
"That would be nice." Lisbon glared.
"That consultant Juliet was talking about his name was Shawn Spencer." I started, "His father was murdered and then two years later so was his best friend. Shawn Spencer disappeared never to be heard from again, when the cops found his friend Gus's killer he was dead."
"What does this have to do with anything?" Lisbon started, and then stopped. "You!?" I didn't say anything. "You're Shawn Spencer."
"Guilty." I nodded.
"And you told no one." She continued, I just nodded, "You were engaged to her?"
"I was."
"And left?"
"If I hadn't she could have ended up like everyone else in my life." I yelled at her.
"That is ridiculous." Lisbon shouted back.
"Is it ridiculous? Because when I did get married, and tried to start a family it turned out perfectly didn't it."
"Jane." Lisbon face changed from anger to pity.
"For all I know leaving saved Juliet's life, she got to move on and have a family. I got to watch mine die." I couldn't stop it from coming out.
"Jane you are acting ridiculous." Lisbon shouted, "Ridiculous and paranoid." I couldn't answer I knew she was right. "You killed your friends killer didn't you?"
"He was a lot easier to find than Red John I'll tell you that much."
"Dammit Jane!"
"What? Shawn Spencer killed that man, and as far as the world is concerned Shawn is dead to." I told her the same thing I told Juliet. She stared at me for a minute then turned to look out over the water.
"Jane why didn't you run away after the second time?" She wondered.
"Red isn't really a good hair color for me." I tried to make her smile, she grinned for a second, but then it left. "I knew I wouldn't be able to find revenge on my own this time, and Red John would find me anyway there was no point in hiding."
"So you have been using us this whole time?!" She tried to get angry.
"Yes, and you've known this whole time." I watched her closely, and she turned to look at me.
"Do you still have feeling for this detective Seaver?" She looked into my eyes.
"I have feelings for Juliet O hara, just like I have feelings for my wife." Lisbon looked slightly confused. "They are both relationships that I lost because of my own stupidity."
"Sometimes I think you're to hard on yourself." She frowned.
"And sometimes you think I'm an out right bastard." I smiled.
"How do you do that?" Lisbon grinned, "How do you always make me smile when I'm mad at you?" I laughed to. "You know something."
"I know a lot of things your going to have to be more specific." I answered.
"I really want to be mad at you for not telling me, but deep down I know why you did it and just can't stay angry with you." Lisbon confided.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you." I reached for her hand.
"What are you doing?"
"I was going to hold your hand." I stated not letting go of her hand. She didn't pull away, so we walked on in silence.
"We have a case to solve." She sighed, looking back at the pier.
"Yes you do." I smiled.
"Let me guess you already know who did it." Lisbon frowned.
"I have a guess."
"Well would you like to let me know?" Lisbon wondered.
"You already have all the information you need." I kept on grinning. Then her phone rang I knew it was the team probably calling about a lead they had.
"Uh huh, he was with her Friday night? And does he have an alibi for afterwards?" Lisbon kept nodding.
"Milo's a suspect." I yawned before leading her up to the road to catch a cab.
"Yea and he looks pretty good for it, he was with her the night she was murdered." Lisbon explained, just now realizing she hadn't let go of my hand.
"Okay." I nodded.
"But you don't think he did it do you?" Lisbon questioned, letting go of my hand.
"I don't think he even knew about Adrian." I stated, opening the cab door for her.
"He says he was with her the night of the murder and has no alibi for the end of the night." Lisbon argued.
"They were at a bonfire on the other side of the rocks." I yawned, "There was a whole group of people."
"How would you know that?" Lisbon frowned.
"There were some pictures back at the house of the siblings at a bonfire on the beach. Plus she was in a bathing suit when we found her which probably means she was at the beach." I tried to explain.
"But you said you knew her clothes would be in the car." She stated.
"Well how many people do you see walking around in just their bathing suits." I turned to her.
"Fine, so what does this bonfire have to do with the murder?" Lisbon looked at me, "and what makes you think Milo didn't do it?" I looked at her and grinned before handing the cab his pay and jumping out of the cab. "Come on Jane, we don't have time to mess around."
"On the contrary we have plenty of time, I was going to offer to spend the night here, and it is getting quite late." I yawned to add affect.
"Jane we have a suspect with no alibi in custody, why do you always have to make things so complicated?" She complained letting me lead her into the station.
"I'm not making things complicated, you are by arresting the wrong guy and looking for evidence where there is none." I retorted.
"You're the one looking for extra evidence." She argued.
"Have you found the shovel yet?" I wanted to know.
"Have you?" She asked in return, I just smiled. "Have we found the shovel yet?" She asked the team, everyone was going through the files in the conference room. Lassiter was sitting between McNabb and Juliet on one side with Van Pelt between Cho and Rigsby on the other side.
"No luck boss." Cho looked up.
"Where have you been?" Rigsby wondered, looking from Lisbon to me, I just grinned, causing her to slap me.
"We were following up a lead on the beach?" I answered for her.
"What lead?" Lassiter interrupted, "we didn't hear of any leads."
"That's my fault. I forgot to tell you when I got back." Juliet turned to him.
"We just started talking to a friend of the victims on the beach." Lisbon added, "We didn't develop anything new."
"Except that we don't think Milo did it." I cut in.
"You don't think Milo did it, I still do." Lisbon frowned at me. "Where is he anyway?"
"Interrogation." McNabb answered, "Lassiter talked to him already."
"Alright and all we got was that he was with her that night, but when he left her she was alive." Lisbon basically restated the facts. They just nodded, she sat down to look over the crime scene photos. So I slipped out and wandered off, first making a glass of tea, and then heading toward the interrogation room.
"Your Milo?" I asked coming in and sitting down across from the boy, he was young and clearly in pain. I suppose he may have actually loved this girl.
"Who are you?" He wanted to know.
"Patrick. Patrick Jane." I answered.
"I already told that other cop everything. I didn't kill my girlfriend." Milo stated, looking up at me for a second, and then back at his feet.
"I know."
"You know?" He looked back at me.
"Yea you didn't kill her, you loved her, you had no idea she was sleeping with Adrian." I started, "What I do want to know about is your bonfire Friday night."
"Our bonfires?" He repeated.
"Well that was where you saw her last right?" I wanted to know.
" Well yea, but those were all our really close friends, we hang out there every Friday night together. It's just me and Caroline, some friends from her shop, some friends from the hospital, her siblings come sometimes, and then Adrian has started coming in the last month." Milo explained, "I still can't believe she was sleeping with him."
"You told the cops you left early." I wanted to make sure I had everything in order.
"Yeah, I had to work early Saturday morning." Milo started to explain when the door slammed open.
"What the hell are you doing!" Lassiter stormed in.
"Don't worry I'm all done." I smiled at him, "Here you go." I handed him my empty cup of tea and walked out of the room. "Lisbon do me a favor and let him go, he didn't do it."
"Jane, what are you talking about?" She groaned, watching Lassiter storm in behind me.
"Oh don't worry about him he's just out of practice." I smiled, "But anyway, he didn't do it."
"Oh and your so sure of this." Lisbon replied.
"Actually he might be right," Rigsby came up to us. "Earlier today at the crime scene Jane said to look for the shovel in a shed or on a construction site."
"Yea." Lisbon looked at him for an explanation.
"Adrian works part time for a landscaping company." Rigsby concluded.
"Well alright do we know where he is?" Lisbon asked.
"He lives on the other side of town with his parents." Rigsby answered, "Should we send some one over to check it out?"
"It's late does it look like he might be running?" Lisbon questioned.
"No priors in his folder, and he did show up for work today." Van Pelt called from the table.
"Alright it's late find a hotel and we'll talk to him tomorrow morning." Lisbon decided.
"I wonder who gave you that idea." I whispered in her ear.
"Just shut up," She hissed at me. "Detectives go ahead and release Milo, he's not going to leave the town or anything, then you guys go on home as well. We'll pick this up in the morning." Lassiter went to argue but thought better of it. Juliet and McNabb both nodded, and started packing up their paper work. "And you don't say anything."
"I wasn't about to." I smiled, "Go to the hotel, I have a couple errands to run."
"Are you going to be okay?" She needed to know.
"Yeah don't worry about me. I'm a big boy I can take care of myself. Go get some sleep." I let her know. Juliet was watching me out of the corner of her eye, but she looked almost afraid to say anything. She had been online.
"Alright well get some sleep please." She worried, before following the team down the stairs and out the door.
I started for the stairs as well, I turned to look once more at Juliet but decided against trying to talk to her again, especially in the crowded police station. Besides I did have errands to run before sunrise. On top of that I was thinking of going back to sit on the beach some more. First the hardware store, and then the florist. Finding what I needed was easy and took less time than I had anticipated. So I headed to the beach, it was quite a bit colder down by the water, but still very nice. I walked down past the pier and past the crime scene, I stared out at the full moon over the open water. I chose a spot at random and threw myself to the ground, scaring some sand crabs.
I had made peace with my actions long ago, but why was it so hard to be back here. I knew it would be hard if I had to see Juliet again, but just being back here in general is hard. I tried falling asleep, just staring at the moon was definitely restful, but it wasn't helping. What if Red John found our about Juliet?
I couldn't bear to think about it. We had gone on this long without him, learning anything, or maybe he did know. No if he knew, he wouldn't leave her alone. I shouldn't be thinking about this.
Time was passing slowly and thoughts were circling in my head. The sun was just rising and I could hear voices coming toward the beach. I had to make a phone call.
"Hi guys." I smiled, two boys and a girl were walking toward the water with some flower.
"Who are you?" The older boy asked.
"You were with the police yesterday weren't you?" The girl wondered.
"Yes, and you are Eric, Hannah, and Michael." I nodded. "You come to honor your sister?"
"What?" The younger boy, Michael, looked at me, I nodded to the flowers. "Oh yeah we were going to throw them into the ocean where she was found."
"She loved the water hence the surf and scuba shop." Hannah filed in. "We want to throw the ashes in to, but you guys still have the body."
"Yeah sorry about that, we should be done soon." I shrugged my shoulders.
"You're close to catching the killer." Eric wondered.
"Well I think so, my friends are going to talk to what was his name Adrian." I sighed.
"Adrian? You think Adrian did it?" Hannah turned to me.
"You seem surprised." I watched her.
"I'm not, I mean she just met him, and suddenly he's showing up at our bonfire, and then their sleeping together." Eric put together.
"That means he killed her?" Hannah asked him.
"Maybe he wanted her to leave Milo or something and she wouldn't. I don't know." Eric tried again.
"Hey what's that in the water?" Michael asked running toward it.
"It looks like a shovel." Hannah stated pulling it out of the water.
"How is that possible?" Eric wanted to know.
"How is what possible?" I asked.
"It's nothing." He shook it off.
"No it's something." I answered.
"I promise it's nothing." Eric insisted.
"That's the shovel you killed your sister with." I announced.
"That is ridiculous!" Eric shouted, "I loved my sister!"
"What are you talking about?" Michael asked, coming in between his brother and myself.
"Yeah why would you think Eric killed her?" Hannah wanted to know throwing the shovel back on the ground.
"I'm not a hundred percent sure of that to be honest, I know you had something to do with her being late for work yesterday morning." I stated looking at the three siblings waiting for giving someone to give something away.
"That's just stupid!" Eric continued to yell.
"But it's not untrue." Hannah stopped. "You came in late drunk of your ass, and she woke up and chewed you out for it, no one got any sleep Thursday night."
"Oh now I know why he did it." I nodded, watching Eric's reaction.
"You don't know anything!" Eric yelled at me.
"You were mad at your sister because she yelled at you when you did something wrong, but then she would sleep with a bunch of guys and it was okay." I started.
"You have no idea what you're talking about!" He kept shouting. "Caroline raised us! She raised us to be good moral people. Not to go out and drink, and definitely not to go out and whore around!"
"Eric!" Hannah tried to calm him down.
"What! She was a hypocrite and we all knew it!" Eric continued to shout.
"She just wanted to protect us, and keep us safe." Michael tried to calm his brother down.
"Keep us safe!" He laughed, "That's why she freaked out at me, I had a couple drinks, who was I doing harm to?"
"A couple drinks? You were drunk off your ass, you could have killed yourself or others." Hannah argued.
"Go ahead take her side, you always take her side!" Eric yelled.
"You did kill her didn't you?" Hannah started to cry.
"What I can't figure out is how the shovel got here?" Eric stopped yelling. "I thought the metal would make it sink when I threw it in the water."
"Jane?" Lisbon walked over with Cho, Van Pelt, and Rigsby.
"Oh good just in time, arrest him please." I smiled.
"Excuse me?" Lisbon asked.
"Oh he just told us where he threw the murder weapon." I clarified.
"He did?" Lisbon questioned.
"How did it get there?" Eric was whispering under his breath. "It was supposed to sink."
"Why did you do it Eric?" His sister begged.
"She was such a hypocrite!" He shouted again, as Lisbon put him in handcuffs. "I got mad, I had enough!"
"Lets talk about this down town." Lisbon sighed letting Cho lead Eric back to the car. "Rigsby grab the shovel."
"Oh I got it, don't worry, that's mine." I smiled jumping forward to grab it.
"What are you talking about?" Michael stared.
"Oh your brother was right, the shovel probably sank, I bought this at a hardware store last night." I answered picking up the bag that had been sitting in the sand and following everyone else to the car. We sat in silence on the drive to the police station.
"What the hell is going on!" Lassiter shouted, of course he was here at five thirty in the morning.
"Oh nothing we just caught the killer." I grinned going to make myself a cup of tea.
"I thought we were waiting until this morning to talk to the lover?" Juliet turned around from her desk.
"We were." Lisbon came over, "But Jane followed up his own lead early this morning."
"You did, did you?" Lassiter questioned, I shrugged taking a sip of my tea.
"Detective Lassiter would you like to come and join us in the interrogation?" Lisbon asked.
"Yes of course," Lassiter pulled his jacket on and started to follow Lisbon to the interrogation room. I grabbed my cup and followed. It was rather crowded in the tiny interrogation room, so in the ended I watched from the other room with Juliet, McNabb, Rigsby, and Van Pelt. While Lisbon, Cho, and Lassiter went forth with the final interrogation.
"Why did you kill your sister?" Cho questioned not letting his eyes waver from Eric.
"I snapped when I saw her at the bonfire. She spent the first part of the bonfire hanging on Milo and when he left she was all over Adrian." He started, " She yelled at me for an hour Thursday night about how I was being stupid and immoral for drinking, and at the bonfire she blamed me for her over sleeping and started keeping track of how much I was drinking."
"So you were angry." Cho stated, continuing to stare at Eric.
"Yes I was angry, she had the nerve to yell at me about drinking while she was sleeping with every guy there." Eric repeated. "I was drunk and she was making me angry so when we got home and she pulled the car into the garage I hit her with one of our shovels and threw it in the ocean with her!"
"Alright that's all we needed to know, we'll have an officer come in and book you." Lassiter declared getting up and leading the group out of the door.
"Wait how did your consultant know it was me?" Eric needed to know. Why do people always ask that?
"That's a good question." Lisbon shrugged and closed the door behind her. The eight of us reconvened in the conference room so that everyone else could finish up their paper work.
"Mr. Jane how did you know?" McNabb questioned looking to where I was standing in the corner.
"I kind of figured it was one of the siblings, when Michael mentioned his sister being late for work, Eric tensed up, and then when I went outside I noticed a tool was missing inside the shed." I explained. I saw Lisbon turn to look at me. "Don't worry I didn't go in the shed there was no trespassing, I got distracted before I made it there."
"What made you think it was a sibling?" McNabb wanted to know.
"I guess it was just a feeling." I sighed.
"McNabb go make sure that the prisoner is being escorted." Lassiter cut him off before he could ask any more questions.
"Yeah, you three go on home, I'll finish up the work here." Lisbon ordered. "Jane you can go to."
"No I've got some things to take care of." I answered, "I'll wait and ride back with you." McNabb walked Cho, Rigsby, and Van Pelt out before heading to the prisoners. "Call me when you're done Lisbon."
"Where are you going?" Lisbon wanted to know.
"I told you I have some unfinished business to take care of." I shrugged.
"Are you going to need a ride to that unfinished business?" Juliet asked, looking at the bag I had placed in the corner earlier.
"I would appreciate that Jules." I nodded.
"I really do know you don't I?" Lassiter asked again throwing his pen on the desk. I looked from Lisbon to Juliet and then smiled.
"Your hair really has gotten gray." I smirked, watching realization dawn on his face before turning to follow Juliet out the door. I was halfway to the door when I got my response.
"Mine may be, but how much time does it take for you to dye yours in the morning Spencer?" I stopped and smiled over my shoulder.
"It was good to see you to." I called buttoning my jacket.
"Hey what if we ever need a psychic on a future case?" He asked.
"There's no such thing as psychic's." I laughed, "And my numbers on your desk." I let Juliet lead me to her car. "Thanks for the ride."
"It's not a problem." She shrugged, I watched her glance at me every couple seconds as she started driving.
"You can still call me Shawn if that makes you feel more comfortable." I smiled.
"That's not what I was thinking about." She blushed.
"What were you thinking about then?" I wanted to know.
"Okay so maybe I was trying to decide what to call you." She was really blushing now.
"And what were your arguments?" I wondered.
"Well your Shawn, and I feel like you will always be Shawn at least deep down somewhere. But every time I look at you I see the blond curly hair and nice three piece suit and that is so far from Shawn." She tried to explain, while she parked the car.
"I guess it's up to you." I grabbed my bag and pulled out the flowers I had bought the night before.
"Is that a pineapple in the bouquet?" She grinned.
"Well of course." I laughed with her. "Are you coming with me?"
"Do you want me to?" She frowned.
"Well to be honest I've never been here before." I confessed. "It took me about eight years just to visit my wife and daughter."
"Really?" She looked so shocked.
"What is spending time at a cemetery going to do for anyone?" I asked her.
"Well then why are you here now?" She asked as I knelt down to place the flowers in front of Gus's gravestone.
"I never got a chance to say good bye." I stated, she didn't respond she just stood behind me and watched. I wasn't sure how much time had passed before we heard someone walking up behind us.
"Jane." I turned to see Lisbon walking toward Juliet and myself. "Detective Lassiter told me where I would probably find you."
"Well Teresa Lisbon meet my best friend Burton Gustor." I smiled. I noticed Juliet smile when I said that.
"Sorry I was just thinking that, that was probably the first time you ever introduced him by his real name." Juliet grinned.
"Your right, I apologize Lisbon this is Doughnut Holestien or Gee Buttersnaps." I laughed, "You can pick what you want to call him."
"I think I like Burton Gustor." Lisbon smiled looking down at the gravestone.
"You know what me to." I admitted.
"Look I have to get back to the office." Juliet sighed.
"Of course." I frowned, "I'm sorry for everything Juliet."
"I know Shawn." She leaned forward and kissed me, it wasn't like any kiss we had shared before. It was like we were total strangers, but at the same time we were saying good-bye forever. I could here Lisbon shuffling in the back ground and pulled away.
"If you ever need anything call." I told her, she nodded and turned to walk away.
"Wait I don't have your number?" She stopped.
"Left pocket." I smiled, watching as she dug into her pocket. "Oh and if it's a boy do me a favor and name it Shawn." I called.
"How did you know?" She stopped shocked.
I put my hand to my forehead and winked just like the old days. "It was nice to see you again Jules."
She smiled and started to say something then stopped and started again, "It was nice to meet you Mr. Jane." I nodded and watched her walk off to her car.
"She seems really nice." Lisbon came up behind me. I blinked away the tears and turned to look at her.
"She is, she's really amazing." I had to look away, I didn't want Lisbon to see me cry. She grabbed for my hand.
"What are you doing?"
"I was going to hold your hand." She laughed, I smiled and didn't pull away. "Tell me about your friend."
"Gus, was my best friend, since we were about three years old." I smiled, "We did everything together."
"That's sounds a like you were really close." Lisbon answered, staring at the gravestone.
"We were, would you believe he was the voice of reason to all of our schemes?" I smiled.
"I'm supposed to be surprised by that." Lisbon laughed.
"Would you like to meet my father?" I turned to her.
"I would love to." She nodded. We strolled through the cemetery until we made it to the second headstone. I placed a smaller bouquet at the base of the headstone.
"Teresa Lisbon meet Officer Henry Spencer." I introduced for a second time. She didn't say anything, she just looked at me, "You know he locked me in a trunk when I was eleven." She stared in horror. "Then he taught me how to break out of the trunk if I were ever kidnapped."
"That's interesting." Lisbon really didn't know what else to say.
"He was big on survival skills, he really wanted me to be a cop." I smiled at her.
"You a cop?" She laughed.
"Yeah I didn't really live up to expectations." I smiled, "Lets face it I was never going to be a cop."
"You could have been a good cop." Lisbon shrugged.
"You don't mean that." I laughed.
"Maybe, but you do close cases." Lisbon answered.
"And that's the only reason you keep me around." I laughed, turning to head back to her car.
"It's not the only reason," She almost whispered, I stopped and looked at her. "I mean…" She stopped again. "I like your company."
"Well I quite enjoy your company to." I smiled. I wanted to say more, and so did she, but neither of us knew how to say it. "Lisbon?"
"Yes Jane?" We were in front of her car now.
"I…" I started but stopped, she was looking up at me. She is such a beautiful women. I had to say it no or never. "Teresa…I love you."
"Oh Jane." Was her only response.
""I'm sorry I had to say it. I know it was probably inappropriate but…" I couldn't finish because she was in my arms.
