An ugly, sad little man
It's my first fan fiction. Until now, I used to prefer reading than writing. I've discovered only recently how many amazing Mentalist fan fictions have been posted on that site. Complex, exciting and moving stories I'd never been able to imagine myself. I've just written this after musing to the many questions still unsolved after 6 X 8, and about Red John's unexpected identity. Please forgive me my errors, I did my best but english is not my mother tongue.
Set after 6 x 10
Since he had come back in her life, they'd had not the opportunity to discuss Red John's death.
He had never said anything about it in his letters, and she didn't know whether she should raise the issue or not, especially as she was not very comfortable with it.
Two years ago, when she had heard Abbot explain that Mc Alistair had been found dead, and how he had died, she had immediately realised that the sheriff had to be Red John, and that Jane was his murderer. And she had felt a mix of relief- Jane was safe and he had fulfilled his revenge- and of deep uneasiness, trying to avoid the mental image of her friend strangling the man to death. Of course, she didn't condemn him. She didn't have a husband, nor any child, but what would she have done if Red John had killed Annabeth… or Jane himself ? Yet she was still a cop, and she would have prefered that he had shot Mc Alister in self-defense.
She didn't dare to ask him anything about that terrible moment, but she was worried. Had that violent act been a traumatic experience, or did he only feel relief at the memory of it ? Or did he manage not to think about it at all ?
That night was her first opportunity to have some privacy. They were alone on the balcony of her hotel room in New York. They had just solved the Schneiderman case and he had come for a last drink. Next day they would go back to Austin.
He was lingering, as if he didn't know how to say good night, or as if he had something to tell her. As an awkward silence had at last fallen between them, she felt suddenly the urge to ask him about that fateful day. She didn't dare to start with a personal question. But after all, there were so many others she had asked herself again and again during these two years.
Taking a deep breath she began : "I was very surprised when I realised that Mc Alister was Red John after all. Not only because I thought he was dead, but also because I've never really thought he had the abilities that seemed needed for it."
Jane smiled slighlty, as if aknowledging the real reason why she asked the question now – which made her blush : what did he guess about her motives, whereas herself couldn't –wouldn't- understand them clearly ?- Yet he didn't refuse the discussion.
"Ah, but don't forget that a mundane and even dull appearance is a great asset for an elusive serial killer", he said. "Mc Alister was clever, no doubt. He seems to have lacked the charisma that was needed to elicit the devotion Rebecca or Dumar had for him, that's true. But in fact, all he needed with these two was a sharp perceptiveness to feel the darkness inside them and their potential as killers. And he certainly learnt a trick or two at Vizualise on the matter of brainwashing….
"What about Lorelei ?", Lisbon asked on an impulse.
He had a rueful smile. "Yeah, difficult to imagine Lorelei with Mc Alister, isn't it ? I sometimes wondered if the man she knew as Red John was really him. After all, once he had one of his minions impersonating him for my benefit. Why not for Lorelei ? Remember what he did with the twins, Emma and Maya. He shared them with Dumar. Maybe he killed Lorelei's sister and then let one of his accomplices approach her and seduce her. If so, maybe she found out the truth in the end… We'll never know."
"He sure was a master of manipulation, but he was not the omniscient mastermind we had fantasized", replied Lisbon. "We didn't realized it for a long time, but it was not a single man we were fighting, it was a huge network of dirty cops."
He sighed deeply. "That's true. Maybe we should have guessed it sooner. But I was so obsessed by Red John that for a long time I thought that it was all about him. And I made all of you share my point of view. In fact, some of the times we thought we were fighting Red John, we were in fact confronted to some other part of the Blake association. We have no proof that Todd Johnson 's death, for example, had anything to do with Mc Alister. Todd said 'Tyger Tyger' when he was about to die, but it only means that he knew about the Blake association. He probably worked for it. We'll never know for sure what it was he thought we had in common, and why he wanted to talk to me. Maybe it was not about Red John. Maybe it was only about a thirst for revenge… As for Madeleine, the Blacke Association framed her because she was connected to one of Todd's victim, but probably also because she unconsciously knew something that could lead her to discover the network. She might have unwillingly caught Bertram, for example, saying or doing something he saw as potentialy incriminatory. O'Laughlin worked for the association, but we don't know if he even knew that Red John was part of it."
"There are also some deeds we supposed to have been commited by Red John that were in fact Kirkland's doing", added Lisbon.
"Yes. Or course, Mc Alister had kept an eye on Dumar's father, and then on Jared, who had shared his cell. He wanted to keep an eye on us as well, and he used Rebecca and of course Bertram for that. But he was far from being the omniscient evil genious we thought he was. We can't even be sure that he was the educated man who gave the association its name. He only made full use of it to elude us for years. My guess is that Mc Alister had a strong hold on Bertram, in a way or another, which allowed him to interfere in our investigations any time it was necessary. But no way that a simple sheriff could have ruled that huge network alone. He was not the one and only chief of the association, contrary to what he claimed when he wanted to make me bow in front of his superiority."
Jane made a contemptuous snort." He even tried to pretend that he was a psychic to explain how he had known about the list. Unbelievable. As if the way he had managed that was not perfectly obvious !"
"How so ?", asked Lisbon eagerly. "You always said you had not idea of how he had found out about your list".
Jane looked at her with a familiar expression, the one he used to have when he was slightly embarrassed at having lied or hidden things to her. "Well, I must admit that Lorelei's video was a very unpleasant surprise. But soon enough I realised that as Red John always kept himself informed of our investigations, he knew for the Ellison farm case. And when he learnt that Lorelei had told me I had already met him, he understood that all what I had to do was to cross the list of all the people I had met the last ten years with the list of Vizualise members at the time when the Ellison farm murders had been committed…And actually that's what I did ».
"What ? But I told you that Vizualise refused to show us their archives… Hey, wait a minut… You saw them nonetheless, didn't you ? How ?"
"Well, let's say that I found the good leverage. But as it was illegal , and considering the cult's high connections, I thought that it was better for you not to know. Deniability…"
'How typical', she thought. She was about to make some half-angry remark when he added :
"So you see, having the correct list of name was no big deal for Mc Alister". He frowned in disgust : "Pathetic megalomaniac… In the end, he begged me to spare his life, can you imagine that ?"
Lisbon didn't know if she was suprised or not. Thinking aloud, she said : "So in the end he was just the ugly, sad little man you had said he was in the very beginning."
She regretted immediately her last remark when she saw the shock in his eyes at the recalling of his fateful words. But after a moment of silence, his look lightened and he said : "Yes, in the end, that's all what he was."
"Was it a relief ?" She had found at last the courage to ask, letting him decide if she talked about knowing Red John's pathetic nature, or about having been able to kill him.
"It's a relief…yes. I could never regret what I did, I had to. And yet it's another burden as well, he whispered. "
I was the beginning of an answer to her main question. But he didn't add anything, and she didn't dare to ask for more that night.