Disclaimer: I don't own The Mentalist.
A/N: A drabble-bunny – the plot bunny's much smaller though no less ferocious cousin – bit me while I was watching the season finale, resulting in this short piece. Lorelei strikes me as a singularly determined (albeit amoral) woman. After learning of RJ's role in her sister's death, would she really have helped him just to lessen her suffering? Maybe. Then again, maybe not.
Idiot. Idiot.
That's what she'd been to have thought that she could get revenge on Red John on her own. To have thought that Red John wouldn't know her intentions right away, wouldn't catch her before she caught him.
Idiot.
Her body ached, ribs protesting at her every breath as she settled into the lone chair in the room.
Red John had not been pleased with her defection. And that was putting it lightly.
In addition to the physical torture she'd undergone, he'd torn her apart mentally and emotionally, using his intimate knowledge of her to cause her pain. Then he'd turned the charm on, using that (forked) silver tongue of his to spin such a web of lies that she'd hardly been able to tell up from down. He'd been so convincing.
Yet the fact remained that Red John had been responsible for Miranda's fate; no number of pretty words could change that. And there remained a spark of defiance in her, one that all of the serial killer's methods couldn't smother.
She began to speak into the camera, adrenaline pounding through her veins.
"Hello, Patrick. As you can see, things didn't go as I planned. Don't say 'I told you so.'"
She did her best to keep her voice even, but it shook a bit despite her best efforts as she continued.
If Red John caught her –
Fingers tapping nervously against her lap, she said, "Red John wants me to read a message to you, and, in return, he won't make me suffer so much. He was really mad at me, so I think this is very fair under the circumstances."
And as she read Red John's message aloud, she could only hope that Patrick would receive her own message.
For as she'd spoken her initial piece, she had spelled Red John's real name out in Morse code against her lap.
She'd done all that she could.
Now it was up to him.