A/N: This is my first attempt to finally write a fan fiction of "The Mentalist". I've been reading so many that I just couldn't resist writing my own one, since "The Mentalist was and is my favourite TV show.
I don't think I'm the only one who misses the series and wants to keep it alive, am I?
The story might include some Jane pain and some Jane/Lisbon, which is rather on a basis of a close friendship than a relationship.
It's set somewhere in between Season 1 and 5, when they're not yet a couple, Red John's still alive and the CBI still exists.
I hope you'll enjoy it!
Feedback about how the story lives up to the actual characters, the plot, the style of writing and basically everything else you can think of / want to comment on, is greatly appreciated :-)
Now there is nothing more to say than: Enjoy reading!
He desperately tried to get the fresh, intensely red blood off of his hands. Even though it was still wet and he could feel its warmth, it seemed to be impossible to rub it off.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, again and again, leaving his gaze firmly fixed on his stained hands, so he wouldn't need to see the picture that presented itself in front of him.
"Patrick," he heard a familiar voice, "Why would you do this to us? You told me you would do anything to protect us,"
"You're safe, you're loved and you're wise," the words he told Charlotte every time when he tucked her in the bed.
This wasn't his wife. Angela was dead. And so was Charlotte. He had just killed them. Killed them and made his mark on the wall above the bed. He knew they were dead.
"Patrick, look at me,"
He finally looked up and saw his wife sitting on the bed, blood flowing from a cut on her neck profusely. She didn't seem to notice.
"You have a case," she whispered. He looked at her in confusion. A case…what?
His mind slowly made its way back into the real world, his wife's voice transforming into Lisbon's.
"Jane, care to join us?" he knew she was standing right next to his couch.
He slowly opened his eyes with a soft moan. Normally, he would never allow himself to drift this far into sleep while so many people were around, but since he ran out of sleeping meds, he really needed the rest.
"A dead girl in an alley," she informed him briefly, not happy that he overslept that information.
"Coming," he said sleepily and slowly got up from the couch.
They walked towards the elevator in silence. The rest of the team was already on its way.
He yawned. Jane was definitely not in the mood for a new case right now, and Lisbon seemed to notice that.
"You didn't sleep last night, did you?" she asked turning to him.
"Meh, it's fine." he said and stretched his arms to shake the last tiredness out of his body.
"Jane, I understand you're under a lot of pressure, but I don't think it's a good thing if-" she started with a softer voice than before.
"Lisbon, I promise, I'm alright," he said and smiled his most reassuring smile.
Lisbon wanted to say something but was interrupted by the elevator's bell.
"Insomnia is a serious problem, and you know I don't like you sleeping all day in the office," Lisbon stated with a concerned voice.
"Lisbon, please, it's all under control," he tried to calm her somewhat.
Lisbon sighed and decided it would be best if she'd change the topic.
"SacPD said it's the body of some CEO's daughter," she said when she drove her car through the cool morning air, "I need you to be nice, Jane, because-"
"Because he's a very important person. Why do you always get intimidated by these powerful people, Lisbon? They are just-"
"Jane, I know, you're right but I don't want to get in trouble," Lisbon said. They'd had this conversation for so many times now.
Lisbon parked the car right in front of the yellow "Crime Scene - Do Not Cross" bands. They got out of the car and headed for Rigsby, who was standing in a dark alley.
"What do we got?" Every bit of concern and softness had vanished from Lisbon's voice when she went from being a friend to being a boss.
"Emma Lindgreen, 16, death due to blunt force trauma to the head, as it looks. Time of death is around 2 am, an anonymous caller informed the police about the body. Her father is Anthony May Lindgreen, the founder of Lindgreen Corporations." Rigsby briefed, "Better be careful with this one, boss," he added with a quieter voice and gestured to an angry and upset man who had to be kept outside the barrier by the local police. He could only be her rich and powerful father.
They looked at the girl's pale and sad body. It's a tragedy if a young life dies like this, thought Jane.
He bent down to take a closer look at her body. She was nicely dressed. Her outfit was too good for the disco and a little too much for casual wear. The fact that she was here in this dark alley, where a father like hers would probably keep her away from, and her clothes didn't fit in this scene either, led him to the conclusion that she possibly did something here, that shouldn't have been doing. Maybe she had a secret lover, or…
He leant further down to see the dark shades under the girl's eyes, that she had tried to cover up with concealer. He as well noticed that her skin was very bad and she had a faint smell of alcohol - Tequila - hovering over her.
"Jane, thoughts?" Lisbon asked impatiently. Jane only raised a finger that told her to wait a second. He went over to the man who was still fighting with the police.
"Mr Lindgreen? Patrick Jane. This is your daughter?" he asked innocently.
Mr Lindgreen nodded, not knowing where this was going.
"I am very sorry for your loss. You know if she was into drugs?" he asked bluntly.
"What, Emma, no!" he was angry that Jane would even suspect such a thing.
"Alcohol?" he persisted.
"Mister Jane, I assure you that my daughter is not into such things." Liar, Jane thought. She not only was into both, he also knew about it.
"May I see her now?" he asked still angry.
"Ah, no. Crime scene, they are very fussy about that." he turned away, while Lisbon tried to calm the CEO down and assure him they'd do everything to find his daughter's murderer as fast as possible.
"Have you found drugs or alcohol on her?" Jane asked a coroner who was standing around doing paperwork.
"Ahm," he seemed somewhat startled by Jane's sudden question but started to browse through his records.
"No, nothing."
Jane nodded quietly and went back to the dead body, where Rigby and Van Pelt were having a conversation about whether she was now in heaven or not.
Jane decided to skip this everlasting topic and look for the drugs, of which he was certain they had to be somewhere here. She was definitely taking them, and in a dark place like this, in such a bad neighbourhood as well, at that time of day, there would've been no reason to leave them at home, where her control addicted father might find them.
He went down the alley and followed it around a corner, where he found two dumpsters. He immediately hoped he was wrong, so he wouldn't need to go through them. But because his guts told him to, he eventually opened the first one hesitantly and was pleased with what he saw.
"Lisbon!" he called. He had not only found the white, powdery drugs in a clear bag but also the murder weapon, aka an old pipe with blood on it. How cliché, he thought.
A smile about being right once again spread on his face when he heard the familiar, metallic sound of a gun getting ready to be fired.
He quickly turned his head and his smile vanished immediately. He saw a dark shape aiming a gun at him. "Stay silent! Now, you're gonna take the drugs and the pipe out, and then you give them to me, or I'm gonna fire. Clear?" a deep voice demanded.
"Crystal," said Jane, who automatically held his hands up in surrender. He very slowly took both from the dumpster. Firstly, because he didn't want to frighten the gunman, secondly, because he hoped Lisbon would come to save him, once more.
Cautiously, he took a couple steps toward the man, stretching his arms out in his direction so he wouldn't need to get any closer than necessary.
"In there," he said so quietly that only Jane would be able to hear him. He motioned towards an old and shabby backdoor next to them, which was opened only a crack and revealed nothing but darkness.
Jane hesitated. This could be my death, he thought. He found it somehow ironic that after he recovered from his nervous breakdown and his willingness to live was finally back, even though the only purpose of his newly gained life was to catch Red John, he repeatedly got into nearly deadly situations like this one.
"C'mon!" the stranger said and accidentally knocked the drugs from Jane's hand by gesturing around wildly with his gun.
"Jane?" Lisbon, thank god! he thought.
He heard the gunman swearing, "Not one word," he hissed into Jane's ear. "Now, go!"
He pushed Jane roughly into the darkness and closed the door quickly but quietly, shutting out the last existing light.
Jane tried to see something, anything, but there was nothing but calm blackness. Then he heard a whirring noise, followed by light that flooded the room. Jane took a look around. It was old and dirty and looked somehow abandoned, due to the lack of furniture inside. There were two other doors that might've led to other rooms but they looked like no one ever dared to open them in the past decade. Then, in the middle of the room, there were once black painted steel stairs, leading up once again into darkness.
"Up there," the man quietly commanded. Of course, Jane thought and had to suppress rolling his eyes.
They made their way up in tense quiet, and Jane was ordered to open the door on top of the stairs.
He turned around to his perpetrator. "Listen, I don't think you want to do this. There's still a way back. The sentence for murder-"
"I haven't killed that girl, man. And now, shut up!" he cut Jane off and pushed his gun warningly into his back. He decided it would be safer to stay calm for now.
They went up two more stairs in the seemingly abandoned building, the atmosphere getting more and more threatening. When they went through the last door, he locked it firmly behind them and Jane got a really bad feeling about this.
The man took out handcuffs and pulled one of Jane's arms behind his back.
"I don't think this is necessary, really, I am not good with-" he tried to explain but was cut off by the man's "Shut up," and cuffed anyways.
"Over to the windows," he ordered to Jane's surprise. Maybe the team would spot him, then. He didn't know whether that was a good thing or not.
The window's curtains had been long gone and some glass had occasionally splintered. They both looked down on the small alley, where Lisbon, Rigsby and Cho, who Jane hadn't yet seen today, where examining the street and looking for their consultant. Eventually, Lisbon found the drugs Jane had dropped not far from the door through which they had entered the building.
The other two agents, and Van Pelt, who had just come around the corner, crowded around Lisbon.
She looked up from her strike and looked around, "Jane?" she called.
"Why did you drop 'em, huh?" the man asked aggravatingly.
"You were a little-" Jane started to explain but was cut off by the gunman who told him to be quiet, stressing the order by showing Jane his gun once more.
What is his plan? How will I get out of this? How am I going to show Lisbon and the team I am up here? Jane's mind was racing.
The man opened one of the two windows with a loud creak, which caused his unit to look up.
He portended Jane to step back and started talking to the team, "Hey, you down there," he called to get their full attention, "I want you to drop that bag and leave this alley, now," he said loudly but calmly.
The team's hands went to their guns while they listened to him, "And leave the guns where they are,".
"Agent Teresa Lisbon, CBI," she showed him her badge, "And you are..?"
Even though Lisbon's voice was deadly serious, it succeeded to calm Jane a little.
"Only for me to know, Agent. Now, please, do as I said!" he got impatient. That wasn't good, and Jane knew it.
"Why would we do that?" she asked coldly.
"Because then," he turned around to Jane and pulled him closer to the window, so his team would see him, "he can live," a mischievous smile spread on the man's face when he pressed the cold metal of his gun against Jane's temple. He sucked in a breath, "Lisbon," he said warningly.
Jane was now able to look down directly at the team, whose faces showed pure horror. He was wondering if they could see the fear in his eyes.
"Okay, Mister, listen to me," Lisbon said with a steady voice, "Everything is going to be okay, just don't hurt him," If it was in different circumstances, Jane would've been touched by her concern but now it just seemed like the standard thing to say.
"Good, agent. Now, take the bag, open the door to your left and lay it on the ground. Then, close the door behind you, and no games!" he said.
Jane was wondering about the fact that the door must be open. Hadn't he closed it, when they came in? Also, he found that the man almost talked in the same way as Lisbon. Maybe he'd been in law enforcement as well at some point.
Lisbon pushed open the door and disappeared in it together with Rigsby. Jane realised that Lisbon didn't want the gunman to notice that one of her men had entered the house as well, so he tried to create some distraction by talking to him, "Really, there's no need of doing any harm to me. We can sort this out like grown-ups," he said because it seemed like the thing to say. "Quiet," he whispered and increased the pressure of the gun to his head. Jane swallowed and felt his aversion against violence rise up in his chest.
Lisbon appeared back in the doorframe alone and shut it behind her. It had worked, due to the four agents standing crowded around the door, he didn't notice one of them was suddenly missing.
"I did as you told me, now, please, release your hostage," Lisbon said and Jane felt a cold chill run down his spine when she referred to him as a 'hostage'.
"First, I want you to leave, agent," he said cheerfully. He loved being in control, Jane noted.
"How do we know you won't kill him after we left?" Lisbon asked. Jane couldn't help but feel a little offended.
Suddenly, they heard how someone tried to turn the doorknob of the locked door behind them. They both turned around. Rigsby, don't, Jane thought.
"Didn't I say no games?!" the man screamed this time in anger.
He turned Jane around, so he was standing with his back to the window, grasped his collar and pushed him backwards. Now his head and a part of his upper body were outside of the building and he looked up in the cloudy sky. Panic took hold of him, "Lisbon!" he called her uselessly.
"Don't!" she yelled back, more at the gunman than at Jane. Her voice wasn't as steady anymore. The concern was breaking through her cop facade like Rigsby at that moment through the door.
"CBI - Drop your weapon!" he screamed and Jane heard the man chuckling quietly before he pushed him out a little more. "No, please, you don't have to do this," Jane said with a rather calm but shaky voice.
"I said 'no games', agent." Jane tried to calm his heart, which was relentlessly slamming against his ribcage, to no avail.
"Leave him alone," Rigby said, while Jane could neither see Rigby and the man inside the house nor Lisbon, Cho and Van Pelt outside in the alley. He prayed, not to a god but to himself, that this would take a happy ending.
"As you wish," the man chuckled and pushed Jane one last, powerful time further out the window frame. He lost contact to the ground and couldn't prevent the fall anymore. Shots rang out.
A/N: I hope you liked this first chapter! The second one will be coming soon, so stay tuned :-) As I said in the beginning, reviews are greatly appreciated!