AN: Here is the final part of the Red Reality Trilogy, in which characters from the brutally short-lived Fox drama Touch (look it up if you haven't heard of it, and try your damnedest to find a way to watch it 'cos it's good stuff) are entered into the fray alongside The Mentalist, Max Ride, and Dollhouse.
Also, if I'm not mistaken, this is actually the first crossover featuring Touch. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. You be the judge.
R&R and enjoy!
Tales of the Red Thread
Chapter 1
Lisbon placed the sheet back over Alpha's face and turned to Rigsby and Cho. "What the hell happened, guys? I thought you were better than this!"
"Tell that to the guy who gassed us unconscious," Rigsby grumbled. He was visibly embarrassed at the thought of having been bested by a (seemingly) random murderous intruder.
Cho, naturally, was much more stoic, so any embarrassment he may have felt over the situation was virtually imperceptible. "Is Jane all right, at least?"
"Yes," said Lisbon, taking a look at Jane's EKG readout, which was slowly rising as he started waking up again.
"Lisbon?" Jane asked blearily. "Is that you?"
Lisbon walked quickly over to Jane's bedside. "Yeah, it's me. Please tell me you saw something."
Jane raised his eyebrow. "Of course I did. I know who the killer is."
Fearing that the typical Patrick Jane refusal to elucidate was on its way, Lisbon sighed. "And you're not gonna tell us who did it, are you? You're just gonna give me a cryptic clue and expect that we'll know what the hell you're talking about, right?"
"I don't have to," said Jane. "You know who the killer is too. You can sense it in your gut, if you just take some time to listen."
"See, that's what I was telling you not to do!" grumbled Lisbon. "Have you no civic pride, Jane? Lives are at stake here! Stop being a jackass and tell us who killed Alpha! Don't make me arrest you."
Jane sighed breezily. "Sheesh. Here I thought you cared. But you actually know the killer, Lisbon. We spoke to him twice already in the last few days."
"Not Jeb Batchelder?" Jane nodded, prompting an exasperated sigh from Lisbon. "Come on, Jane, stop going on about Jeb. You've never been right about him yet."
"It's hard to be right about someone who somehow manages to resist good old-fashioned cold readings," Jane pointed out.
"Hello, little guy," said Rigsby all of a sudden. "How did you get in here?" Lisbon turned and saw him speaking to a young curly-haired boy, about thirteen or fourteen years old, who apparently had just entered the room.
"Go to the stairwell," the boy said flatly. "That's where the man you're looking for is hiding."
Rigsby glanced at Lisbon and Cho. "Are you sure?" he asked the boy.
"Go to the stairwell," the boy repeated. "Trust me."
At this point, an older man with a young blonde girl in tow rushed up to the scene. Wondering how so many sundries were getting in, Lisbon strode forward and held out her hand in a "halt" gesture. "Sir, this is an active crime scene. You can't just-"
"I'm so sorry," the man said in a raspy voice. "These kids, they tend to run out and do their own thing-" He stopped to look at something outside the door. "455. That's what I figured."
"This boy just said to look in the stairwell for our murderer," said Cho.
The man blinked. "Then go there. Jake's never wrong. If that's where he says your suspect is, that's where he is."
"Cho, Rigsby, go," ordered Lisbon. They nodded once and headed for the stairwell, with Cho going up and Rigsby going down. From far, far below, Cho heard Rigsby yelling, "CBI! Freeze!" As Cho raced back down the stairs, meeting up with Lisbon and the other man as they entered the stairwell themselves, he heard a gunshot.
At the bottom, Rigsby stood over a slightly paunchy man in a black bodysuit and ski mask, who held his knee gingerly where it had been shot. The killer looked up and saw the man standing behind Lisbon, then his eyes widened behind the eyeholes of the ski mask. "Martin Bohm? Really? Haven't you had enough of trying to get me down already?"
Lisbon turned to Martin. "You know this man?"
"His voice is familiar, but I can't place the name," said Martin. "Take off his mask." Once Cho did so, Martin sighed. "Of course. Jeb Batchelder. I should've known."
Lisbon froze. Apparently, Jane had been right all along. "How do you know him?"
Martin stared daggers at Jeb, and pointed an accusatory finger at him. "This man," he said, "used to work for AsterCorps. That company kidnapped Amelia and held her for years. They tried to take my son, too."
"Who's Amelia?" asked Lisbon.
"That's kind of a long story," said Martin. "If you'll let me explain..."