The Mentalist
Season Three
Episode 3
New Breed of Warrior
Prologue
Patrick Jane kicked open his car door. "Lisbon," he snapped as he stepped out of his car and strode over to the yellow tape that bordered around the crime scene.
Teresa Lisbon half-smiled. "You're late."
"Better late than never," Jane said casually as he ducked under the tape.
Lisbon rolled her eyes. "So the victim's name is Patricia Cornwell. She was murdered around three hours ago, if forensics know their stuff."
"Which they do," Jane added.
Lisbon nodded. "The point is, this girl was actually murdered three hours ago, but the wounds happened before she died."
"Torture?" Jane asked in disgust.
Lisbon shrugged. "Who can say?"
Jane quick stepped to the body. There were two gashes on the left side of her forehead. Clean, slit cuts. Not jagged. Probably a knife of some kind. He examined the right arm which was practically torn open. The bone was visible. Jane cringed. He noticed something. He stepped back and frowned.
"That's interesting," he mumbled.
"What is?" Kimball Cho asked, suddenly glancing over Jane's shoulder.
Jane raised an eyebrow. "She was raped."
"She's still wearing clothes," Cho said with a perplexed look on his face.
Jane pointed to her face. "A look of exhilaration, yet total fear. Not only that, but her pants are unzipped and unbuttoned."
"We'll find out what happened in our autopsy," an unnamed forensics guy muttered as he shuffled by.
Cho frowned. "Why is she still wearing clothes?"
Lisbon stepped forward. "Maybe the murderer raped and killed her, but cared for her enough to clothe her again."
Jane stared blankly at the body. "Maybe. Or maybe we've got a new breed of warrior on our hands."