Summary: It started, as many things tended to do in their profession, with a murder. A puzzling case starts a chain of events that no one at the CBI envisaged. Case fic with some Jane/ Lisbon UST thrown in for good measure.
Disclaimer: The Mentalist doesn't belong to me, unfortunately.
Warnings: Some graphic descriptions, naughty words and dirty thoughts.
Spoilers: No major ones, but I would probably say this is set before the end of Season 3 so spoilers for who's in charge etc. And I guess therefore maybe it's a little AU…
Authors note: First off, a massive thank you to all who read and reviewed my last story; it gave me a lot of encouragement to carry on with this writing bug I appear to have caught.
This one's a bit different, more case based than my first one with a little bit more plot. Just trying to flex my writing muscles to see what occurs! I've tried to go for a bit of humour, a bit of UST (but that may well change!) and I've also tried to compose an intriguing case that you won't all guess the plot to in the first 5 minutes. I may or may not have succeeded with any of these ;) I've got the first couple of chapters written and most of this plotted out(ish), so hopefully I should find writing the rest of it relatively easy (famous last words!) I have no idea how long this will end up though!
Hope you enjoy and as always, any feedback is greatly appreciated.
Title inspired by a quote by Kevin Starr – "Red-tiled roofs glowing carmine in the sunset."
It started, as many things tended to do in their profession, with a murder. A young boy, only 13, had been killed by what appeared to be blunt force trauma, his body lying face down in a small, deserted parking lot at the back of a local movie theatre that had been shut for the last 2 weeks due to a long term refurbishment project. Lisbon stood just inside the police cordon, hands on hips, surveying the scene. Her team had headed off a couple of minutes before, each member determined to find some clues that would help solve the brutal murder.
Rigsby and Van Pelt were currently talking to the group of teenagers who had found the body while Cho was attempting to track down any security personnel for the building who might have been a witness, or who could provide him with some CCTV footage from the nearby camera. Jane had immediately wandered off, in typical Jane fashion, not bothering to give her an explanation of what he was up to. Which was par for the course for him really. She spotted him heading away from the main crime scene, and hoped that he wouldn't piss anyone off in the 5 minutes she needed to collect information. She didn't really want to be dealing with consultant related paperwork this early in the case.
She could see the coroner and forensics teams working around the body; making notes, taking photos and collecting evidence. The victim had a small pool of blood around his head, almost like a twisted halo, but apart from that, the victim could have just been asleep. It just wasn't right. Lisbon was determined to find out who could have been malicious enough to end the life of this poor, young boy. She looked around, hoping to find the man she needed to talk to, and spotted him almost immediately.
She wandered over to her target, the local sheriff who had called them in; Keller, he had called himself on the phone. The sheriff, tall, balding and about 50 pounds overweight for a man his height, took off his hat and wiped his forehead with his sleeve as she approached. The summer heat was causing Lisbon's shirt to cling uncomfortably to her back and she glared at the man who was currently peering underneath a half open dumpster at the far end of the abandoned lot.
Patrick Jane was, as always, wearing his three-piece suit; vest clear under the jacket and Lisbon really couldn't believe that the man was anything but uncomfortable in the days heat. The man himself, however, appeared unfazed as he shifted his vision from underneath the dumpster to the top.
Lisbon eventually reached Keller's side and acknowledged him with a handshake and a polite greeting as she arrived. They exchanged brief pleasantries before Lisbon got down to business. She hated cases with kids, and she had a feeling this one would be no different.
"Have you got an ID?" She asked as she took a small notebook from her pocket.
"Yes ma'am. The victim is Liam McKenzie; 13, youngest boy to Derek and Paula McKenzie." The ease with which the Sheriff had reeled off the information signalled to Lisbon that there was a familiarity to the victim and his family.
"Did you know him?" Lisbon asked, catching movement in the corner of her eye as Jane attempted to climb onto the dumpster. She ignored him and concentrated on gathering more important information from the man in front of her.
"Yes ma'am. The McKenzie's are a big family around here; handle most of the real estate, pretty much responsible for making this place what it is. Liam was a bit of a nuisance. Smart, but a nuisance. Always following his brother Andrew, he's 19, and his friends around, getting into mischief. You know," he paused, shrugging, "kids' stuff."
"Mischief?" Lisbon queried, pointedly ignoring the fact that Jane was now balancing precariously on top of the dumpster and appeared to be trying to reach the fire escape above it.
"Usual small town stuff," Keller replied, "occasional vandalism, broken windows and the like. Couple of nuisance calls to some of the more elderly folk in town. Lots of graffiti though. Liam was a talented kid. Great artist, lots of nice ideas and images. Not many people appreciated seeing it on the side of the town hall though!" The sheriff smiled slightly, obviously remembering the tale with a sort of fondness, before he appeared to come to his senses. "We cautioned him a couple of times, made him do some community service, that kind of thing. But he knew that if he put another foot wrong he'd end up with a record, even if it was only a juvenile one. He'd been quiet the last few weeks, staying out of trouble, and now, well…" He paused, and turned slightly to look at the body of the poor young boy, his shoulders seeming to slump slightly at the sight.
Lisbon nodded, made a quick note of the information and then prepared herself to ask another question. There was a loud crash to their side and a weak "I'm ok!" but she ignored that too.
"If you wouldn't mind Sheriff, is there any chance you can pass on an address for the McKenzie's to my colleague Agent Cho? We'll want to talk to them in the near future about Liam. See if we can find out who did this." She pointed to the determined looking man approaching the dumpster, which by now was surrounded by Van Pelt, Rigsby and a couple of teenagers with their cell phones out. Lisbon turned back to Keller, who nodded and frowned, following her gaze to the dumpster.
"No problem Agent Lisbon. Do you want me to…" he waved vaguely in the area of the dumpster.
"No, it's ok, I've got it. Apparently the CBI toddler has escaped from his cot and has got himself into trouble." She rolled her eyes and wandered over to the dumpster, knowing full well that she was not going to be impressed with what she saw. She nudged Rigsby out of the way and peered over the edge of the receptacle, catching a whiff of putrid, gone off food and some other less than savoury items. Looking back up at her, a grin on his face and a twinkle in his eye was her ever present, headache inducing consultant.
"Hey Lisbon, nice to see you!" Noticing he was about to get his head bitten off Jane held up a finger to silence her. "Ah ah ah, before you get mad, I've been very helpful while you were talking to our good old sheriff over there. Look" he paused for dramatic effect, "I found the murder weapon!"
His grin widened at her frown and pointed to his left, where a bloodied baseball bat lay, nestled in between a bag full of what looked like fish heads and a takeaway tray of old Chinese.
Lisbon just sighed, rolled her eyes again and walked off, yelling as she went, "Rigsby, Cho, get him out of there and process the evidence, including his clothes. He could have picked up some residual material from the dumpster. And whatever you do, don't let him back in the SUV!"
All she could hear as she wandered back towards the car was the faint call of Jane, muffled slightly by his current holding cell: "Lisbon, how am I supposed to get back? You drove me here! I'll have to walk! Or get a bus! And what about my clothes? I haven't fallen in any residual anything. Apart from maybe that, but I don't know what that is apart from gross and smelly. Lisbon? Lisbon!"
Lisbon smiled to herself and went to find some coffee. She had a feeling she'd be needing it.