Hi. So this was a random idea that popped into my head one night, and hasn't left me alone, so writing it seemed like the right thing to do. As you'll find out in the chapter this is set about three months after 'The Crimson Hat', but isn't exploring that particular storyline directly. This is my first Mentalist fic, so I am hoping I can write the characters as accurately as possible. Hope you enjoy and reviews are always appreciated.
The call had come only an hour after she finally drifted off to sleep. This was one of the biggest downsides of working in law enforcement, the hours fluctuated to fit in with the killer, which often meant these ridiculous one in the morning call outs. Even worse than being forced out of bed at the ungodly hour, was informing her team, hearing the annoyed grumbles as she roused them from their sleep. It was only her consultant who never seemed to complain about the early start, but she figured that had something to do with his almost constant insomnia.
Teresa Lisbon took as much time as she could afford to make herself look presentable before finally dragging herself out to her car and making her way to the latest crime scene. In her weary state, she had neglected getting a jolt of caffeine, and knew she would be soon suffering even more in her plight to remain awake and alert.
Thankfully for her fatigue the crime scene was local for a change, the back of a grocery store about fifteen minutes from her apartment. The local PD's had gotten a call out at midnight from a couple of teenagers who had stumbled upon a body while finding a place to drink their stolen alcohol. When the local officers had arrived on the scene they had canvassed the area and found two additional bodies that looked to have been dumped by the same person as the first.
Arriving at the scene Lisbon made her way over to the officers who were huddled around one of the bodies while a coroner gathered preliminary evidence. Lisbon spoke briefly with the officers first on the scene, and was informed that the case was being handed over to her and her team without any problems. This took some weight off her shoulders, glad she could avoid any territorial arguments, but as soon as she felt that relief her stress levels rose again once she noticed a blue Citroen pull up next to her vehicle.
"Hey Lisbon, what a beautiful night to be out under the stars," Patrick Jane stepped out of his car grinning, behaving as if this was a casual night out.
"Yeah, it's fantastic, nothing I like more than being woken up in the middle of the night and having to deal with a possible serial killer," Lisbon beckoned him over to one of the bodies, hoping that once he had done his mentalist thing he would go home and avoid adding to her paperwork before official office hours had even begun.
"Serial killer you say, this one should be exciting," at his words his boss rolled her eyes, marvelling at his enthusiasm at such an early hour. She watched on a Jane squatted next to the body, smelling it, climbing over it, lying next to it, and everything else no normal person would do around a dead body. Luckily for her, it was at this point the rest of her team arrived, getting her one step closer to going home and getting at least a couple of hours sleep before what looked to be a complicated case.
"Ah, if it isn't the rest of our Justice League," Jane had moved away from the body and was greeting the newly arrived agents. All he got in return was a glare from Rigsby and Van Pelt, and the usual stony expression from Cho, but if it was possible, was even more emotionless.
This had been the reception Jane had been receiving from the three agents for the last three months, ever since he came back from his six month 'breakdown' and had resumed working with them. It was clear the team were angrier with him than he originally believed, and despite his best efforts Lisbon was the only one willing to give him the time of day. This had made time in the office very awkward and boring.
"What do we have?" Cho inquired, trying to get this over with as quickly as possible.
"Three victims, all dumped here post mortem, cause of death looks to be asphyxiation, all of them have what looks to be bags of cocaine shoved down their throats. From the level of decomposition the coroner reckons the first body was dumped about six days ago and the other two sometime after that. Apart from the same causes of death, we have what looks to be the killers calling card, each of the victims have a cross sliced into their right wrists and then the skin has been stitched back together with a large red thread. That's all we have for now, not much else we can do until we get the victims ID's. But, before we leave here, I would like the three of you to speak to the officers who were first on the scene and the teenagers who found one of the bodies, try to get an accurate sense of what was here before it was disturbed."
Her three agents nodded at her orders and left their boss and consultant without a word, all sharing the same sentiment of wanting to go back to sleep.
"Looks like the pizza and donuts I bought yesterday have once again gone unappreciated," Jane commented when the agents were out of earshot.
"Jane, I've told you this already, they are still pretty pissed about you leaving like you did, buying them food isn't going to win them over," Lisbon told him making her way back to her car.
"Yeah, but it's been three months, you would think they would have cooled off by now. I mean, you were pretty forgiving quickly, why can't they be," he sulked.
"I figure, you do things like that often enough there is no point being angry all the time, don't get me wrong, I haven't completely forgiven you, but being short with you all the time isn't going to help matters." That was the truth, Lisbon was still angry at him over his six month disappearing act, but she felt hurt more than anything and was hoping by letting go of her anger she could hid what she was actually feeling sadness and confusion.
In the past three months she and Jane had been diligently trying to work any current cases they had going, while also still persisting with the task of getting Lorelei to crack. Their efforts thus far had gotten them nowhere, with Red John's girl refusing to give them anything. Lisbon was slowly growing frustrated with the constant lack of evidence and had quickly grown annoyed with Lorelei's constant referral to Jane as lover, which further added to her hurt over his 'breakdown' and confusion over the words he had said before 'shooting' her and later denied. She was glad he was back and somewhere she could keep an eye on him, but that didn't completely eradicate the residual feelings she had over his disappearance and seeming disregard for anyone who cared or worried about him during those six months.
"Lisbon are you listening?" Jane pulled her out of her thoughts, which was when she realised she had completely zoned out of her conversation with him.
"Oh, sorry Jane, my mind wandered off," She quickly unlocked her car and hurried inside, hoping to avoid any questioning.
"Are you alright to drive? You were pretty out of it just then?" The concern in Jane's voice was clear, which for a moment made her wonder if he did care, but she quickly pushed that away not wanting to get into a debate with herself in front of him.
"I'm fine, I just want to get home and get some sleep. It will probably be a long day tomorrow," she didn't wait for a response as she started the engine and drove off while hoping that tonight wouldn't be like the many sleepless nights she had endured during his absence.