Who: Van Pelt, Rigsby, Cho
What: Brief conversation after solving murder of casino manager with poker game sting
Where: CBI bullpen
When: Season 1, episode 6 of the Mentalist-just as team and Jane are starting to work well together
Why: Secrets are unlikely to be kept in a close-knit working group
Summary: Van Pelt, Rigsby, and Cho discover what Jane did with the three-hundred thousand dollars he won in the poker game sting to catch the casino manager's murderer. Jane claims just to have bought "stuff," but secrets are hard to keep in a close-knit team.
"Hey, guys. Remember Jane's poker game sting a few months back?" asked Van Pelt. "The sting nailed the Calida casino manager's killer, the son-in-law."
Rigsby glanced up. "Yeah. What about it?"
"The blackjack dealer, Alexandra Yee, sent a letter to Lisbon."
"Why are you opening Lisbon's mail?" asked Cho.
"She told me to. She's out at a management seminar. I have to open the mail in case something requires action before she gets back."
"So?"
"You two were wondering what Jane did with the money he won. Listen to this:
'Dear Agent Lisbon, I am writing to thank your team for your incredibly generous gift. I regret I did not catch his name, but one of your agents–the man with blond, curly hair-left $300,000 at the hospital. This helped me pay for my mother's liver transplant surgery. My mother had the surgery and is doing well. I cannot thank you all enough for saving my mother's life and for giving me a pass on the gaming violations. God bless you all. Sincerely, Alexandra Yee.'"
Rigsby opined, "Well, that explains it. I never could figure what he spent that kind of money on. He doesn't have flashy tastes."
"Why did he keep it a secret?" wondered Van Pelt, puzzled.
"He's carny," answered Cho. "A gift like that makes him look suspicious. Or like a mark."
"How so? What's suspicious about such a good, generous act?"
"Think about it. In the carny world, you'd wonder what his angle is, how he's trying to scam you. And if he wasn't working some angle, he'd look like a soft touch, a mark."
Van Pelt, frustrated, "That is so screwed up. Generosity is a bad thing, then?"
Rigsby chimed in, "Maybe just embarrassing. But at least we know."
"Isn't it kind of tacky that we're talking about Jane behind his back?" asked Van Pelt, uncomfortably.
Cho. "Self-defense. The more we know about how Jane thinks, the better we can protect ourselves – and him, for that matter."