Name: Carpe Diem
Characters: Red John and a little Patrick Jane
Rating: T- for slightly disturbing themes. I mean, I wouldn't want a child reading a story about a murderer...
Disclaimer: The tv show and characters do not belong to me, I'm simply writing this for my own amusement (and perhaps yours.)
Carpe Diem
Red John hated dishonesty. He certainly never pretended that he wasn't a serial killer, at least not to his closest friends. It was a fact of life. People needed other people to die so that they would have the constant reminder to actually live their lives instead of wasting them pointlessly. Red John accepted this gruesome truth and took it upon himself to do the dirty work. He didn't mind so very much, he had an inherent knack for the trade. He was very careful in choosing his subjects, as well. There were a number of criteria he could use: ugly, fat, crazy, tall, mean, criminal, alcoholic and so on. The criteria he chose, though, was a little more personal.
For one, he only chose women, it was a preference, really, not an absolute requirement, per se. Women were more emotional and more loved in general. Everyone loved their sisters and mother, and most loved their wives, so when a woman died the results were that much more effective and suited to his overall purpose. With half the population being female, however, that was not Red John's only criteria.
He had another mission, one to rid the world of the dishonest scum plaguing them all. After all, who wanted to live a rich life in a world where there were crooks on every corner waiting to rob you blind? Therefore, his second criteria were that the women had to be related in some way to a fraud, be them frauds themselves or just the wives. The wife of a dishonest man was especially suited to his purposes. For after the tragic death of a wife a man would often mend his ways, especially when eaten up with tormenting guilt. If this man was of a high-enough profile, then the populace as a whole would see his example and be more inclined to follow suit. Thus making the world a better place for people to lead these new fuller lives.
His line of work required meticulous attention to detail. The smallest err would lead to his capture and force another person to step in his role of murderer. He couldn't have that, for no other man could possibly be as focused on the common good as Red John. The need for such attention to detail made passion for the particular job indispensable. He only chose cases that he felt strongly about.
Red John also hated the occult. There was nothing more dishonest than pretending to help people while taking their money and offering nothing substantial in return. For people to truly enjoy life they must stop chasing paranormal unrealities. Red John needed a man to step out from within the psychic's own ranks and denounce their craft.
To that end, he hatched a plan. He would find a psychic who already felt conflicted about his profession, someone who was fairly well-known, and someone who was at the top of his profession, and someone who preferably worked with the police. He didn't just want any psychic, either. He wanted the best psychic. Once the man was chosen, he would weave a web and catch the fraud attacking him personally, thereafter Red John would take care of the man's wife, leaving the man so consumed with guilt over his psychic profession that he not only renounced his own psychic ability, but that of all psychics, exposing them as the fakes and frauds they really were.
His network of contacts led him to the perfect man, Patrick Jane, and the rest was history.