Man on TV
Grace Van Pelt hated waiting at the dentist's office. Years of wearing braces did that to a person.
It didn't matter that she didn't actually have a dentist's appointment. She was just here to ask the doctor a few questions. The victim of their current case had an appointment with him on the last day she was seen alive.
It was routine stuff, really. They could have invited the dentist to CBI headquarters and any of the three junior agents could have gotten a statement. Besides, she didn't see how the dentist could help shed some light on the matter. So Van Pelt was a little surprised when her boss, Teresa Lisbon, announced that the two of them were going to talk to the dentist in his office.
Van Pelt suspected that the reason why they were here was because Lisbon needed to escape Jane for a while. She couldn't blame the woman. He'd been especially insufferable today.
Plus she liked the idea that she was going to do the drilling for once.
Still, that didn't keep her from fidgeting nervously on the plush sofa they were sitting on. Her boss was idly flicking through one of the several women's magazines lying on the coffee table in front of them.
To keep her hands occupied, she reached for one herself. She rarely had the time to indulge in that sort of literature nowadays, wondering where the complete set of Tigerbeats 1993 to 1995 she collected where. She didn't think Lisbon was the girly magazine type.
However, at this very moment, her boss seemed to be engrossed in an article. Curious, Van Pelt glanced over to see a face she knew very well staring back at her. Her heart skipped at the recognition.
When she noticed Lisbon giving her a funny look, Van Pelt realized that she had sighed. Out loud. Heat flooding her face, she felt confused when Lisbon just grinned at her.
"He's great, isn't he?"
It took a second for her to understand what her boss had just said and blurted, "You watch 'Medium'?"
It was Lisbon's turn to blush. The rookie agent couldn't believe it. Senior Agent Teresa Lisbon indulged in something as trivial as television?
"I may have seen a few episodes."
It was the way Lisbon said it that convinced Van Pelt that it had been definitely more than just a few episodes. She was about to make a comment when the receptionist told them that Dr. Polmy was now free to speak to them.
An hour later, with more information about their victim's dental history than necessary and her dislike for the profession re-confirmed, Van Pelt was making notes on her notes, while Lisbon, like always, was driving them back to CBI headquarters.
The victim's body was found washed up on the banks of the river at 5 am on Sunday morning by hikers. According to the initial estimation by the local medical examiner, time of death was around 8 to 12 pm on Saturday based on liver temperature, cause of death strangulation based on ligature marks around the neck. But these findings were not as yet conclusive. Considering that the night before there had been a thunderstorm and the body showed clear signs of damage caused by the night's weather conditions and the river, only a full autopsy was going to give them reliable forensic information. They were still waiting for the report from their own M.E.
The CBI was requested to get involved when the victim was identified as Melissa Hathaway, wife of Nicholas Hathaway, a prominent businessman. Van Pelt didn't see why the CBI was needed for this case, but as her boss commented "Our work is fifty percent politics."
Van Pelt went through the information she already had on the case including the - irrelevant in her opinion - dentist's to make some sense of it all, but a question she'd been meaning to ask her boss kept her preoccupied. Better get that one sorted, then.
"So…do you think they exist?"
Her boss glanced at her briefly, "What exist?"
"Mediums," Van Pelt provided. She knew Jane's opinion on that – they didn't, Cho's – probably didn't, Rigsby's – there's a possibility, but she'd never gotten to ask Lisbon.
Lisbon smiled, "I'm glad Jane's not here." That made Van Pelt smile too. She never would have asked if he had been.
"I'm finding it hard to believe that a husband like that exists," Lisbon chuckled.
"Like Joe DuBois?"
"Yup."
Van Pelt sighed the sigh of a woman in the know, "I know what you mean."
They looked at each other and then laughed.
"I watch it mainly for the family stuff – them and the kids, Allison and Joe," Lisbon said.
"I think there's something very real about those two," she said.
"And sexy…" Lisbon muttered. Van Pelt looked at the older woman. Did she just say 'sexy'?
"You know, they are based on real people."
"I know."
"So?"
"So what?"
"Do you think she's for real?"
"I don't know."
"But do you think there's a possibility they do exist?"
"I want to believe."
"Do you think Kristina Frye was the real deal?"
The way Lisbon glanced at Van Pelt made her explain, "I saw her leave one of the interrogation rooms and when I walked by I saw Jane. He was crying." The younger agent saw Lisbon's eyebrows rise in surprise.
Seeing Jane like that had shaken Van Pelt. Previous to that, she'd always been too dazzled by or too annoyed with him to acknowledge that he was just as human as she was. To dismiss him as a cynic - affable but incapable of any deeper emotion - had been easier, especially as he made it a point to let everyone know that he was one.
But that night, seeing him cry, it was the first time Van Pelt had realized how damaged he really was. It also explained the looks Lisbon gave him sometimes, when her boss thought no one was watching. Especially Jane. Van Pelt thought it was a crush - there was certainly some chemistry between the two - but now she believed that Lisbon had always seen him for what he really was - a sad, angry, lonely man.
"You know that Smokey Robinson song 'Tears of a Clown'? That's Jane," her boss commented. Van Pelt made a mental note to look that one up. Thank God for the Internet.
A silence fell between the two and Van Pelt had never been good with awkward silences. Before thinking better of it, she blurted, "Did you know that Jake Weber's British? That's not his real accent!"
Van Pelt expected Lisbon to react with a "What the hell" look, but she put it down to Lisbon spending so much time with Jane that her face remained neutral. Except for that little twitch around her mouth.
"He's good," she commented.
Van Pelt sighed dreamily, "And sexy!"
Lisbon laughed, "As your boss, I order you to never reveal to Jane that you and I had this conversation."
Van Pelt nodded, chuckling, "Oh, I promise."
Lisbon gave the younger agent a fond smile, "Don't ever let Patrick Jane keep you from believing the things you believe."
Van Pelt's eyes widened.
"He's good - and right more often than I want him to be - but he doesn't know everything," she continued.
Most stories Van Pelt had heard about Senior Agent Teresa Lisbon prior to her joining the team, she'd now dismissed as untrue. Especially the one about her being a humourless cold bitch. Whoever told her that about Lisbon had some serious issues. Yes, Teresa Lisbon was intimidating. Yes, she was a stickler for rules. And yes, she can be abrasively direct when she needed to be. But for all the tough agent she presented to the world, Van Pelt knew this about her boss. She was fair. She wasn't too proud to admit it when she was wrong. She had a great sense of humour – working with Jane required that. And she genuinely cared about people.
"Thanks boss."
Lisbon simply nodded. Then smiled mischievously, "Have you ever seen one of his shows?"
"You mean Jane? Yes I have."
They pulled into the CBI parking lot.
"Really?" Lisbon asked, expertly parking the large vehicle into her allotted space.
"Curiosity," Van Pelt answered.
"And?"
Van Pelt smiled at the memory. Being the resourceful and capable agent she was, she'd found some tapes of the shows Jane had made in – how had he put it once – his 'former life'. Unruly hair, worn in suit, scuffed shoes Jane was already a force to be reckoned with. Styled hair, silk suit and that deadly smile of his? Van Pelt knew why he'd been so good at what he did. She couldn't take her eyes off him. And for a while after, she had to keep a little distance from the man, until that bothersome crush she'd developed subsided.
Luckily, dealing with a co-worker kissing you right in front of your other co-workers – even if he had been under hypnosis – did help one get over things like that more easily.
"I don't think I would have wanted to be in that audience," Van Pelt answered her boss. They stepped out of the vehicle and headed towards the building.
Lisbon chuckled, "But I think we are, anyway."
Van Pelt took a second to think that over. "Crap," she muttered.
Lisbon nodded wisely, "That's why it's always good to get away for a little while."
...to be continued...
A/N: Several notes. First, this as an attempt at a multi-chapter fic with a loose plot - part of which might have been inspired by (ie stolen from) an Agatha Christie story. Second, if you have read my other fic "Late Night at the CBI", you will already know how this story ends. Also, I made a slight modification in that one so it fits slightly better with this one. Third, I love Allison and Joe DuBois (the fictional characters). Fourth, I do not own "The Mentalist" nor "Medium" but all the mistakes contained in this story. Fifth, if you review, I will be happy.