Patrick Jane sat in the passenger seat of the van, his never's on edge, his eye's darting everywhere, but seeing nothing. Only moment's ago had Teresa Lisbon, Grace Van Pelt, Kimball Cho and Wayne Rigsby and a team of agent had ran head first in the lair of Jane's nemesis, Red John. Lisbon had handcuffed his left hand to the steering wheel in the van, telling him that he needed to stay here. that if he went in there he could get hurt.
They had, of course, an other van with the back set up like a cage, so Red John couldn't get out. Jane sat in the first van and prayed. Prayed that all of them would make it out of this alive.
That's when he heard the gun fire.
He looked at his hand cuffed to the steering wheel and then at the paper clip on the dash board. He picked up the paper clip and single-handedly unlocked the hand cuffs. Jane got of the van and stood, frozen in the street, staring at the barn's, Red John's hide-out's, door's.
Cho walked with his usual impassive expression replaced with a slightly smug look, complete with a smile. Van Pelt and Rigsby came out next smiling and loking as the weight of the world had just been lifted for their shoulder's. Finally Lisbon came out, forcing a guy with short brown hair and green eye's and a cut on his cheek bone like it had been it had been hit to hard and that was bleeding slightly, in hand cuffs though the door's. The guy was wearing jeans and a v-neck t-shirt.
Jane was confused, who had been shot?
Lisbon walked the guy over to the cop car that had the cage and Lisbon locked him in the back, hands cuffed to the seat. Then Lisbon wakled over to Jane, a smug look on her face.
"I really expected you to get out of those cuffs faster," She accused.
"Ha. Ha," Jane said sarcastically, "Who got shot?"
"John, but the bullet only grassed his arm. I punched him the face when he tried to run from Cho," Lisbon said, then she smiled, "We caught Red John."
Jane smiled and laughed, "Yeah, we caught Red John." But something felt off about it...
That's when the screaming started.
A woman with dark-brown-almost-black hair to her shoulder's and brown eye's to match came storming out of the cabin not to far from the barn. She was screaming about letting her husband go and that they'd be hearing from their lawyer's. Behind she pulled a girl who looked about 14 roughly by her arm. This girl had elbow-length dirty blond hair and bright blue eye's. The woman was wearing a pair of jeans and a tank top and the girl was wearing a simple blue dress that fell to her knee's and that accented her eye's nicely.
The girl seemed to be leaning as far away from the woman as she could with her arm stuck within the woman's grasp. The girl couldn't seemed to look at the woman without some form of muffle terror running across her face or in her eye's.
As the pair drew nearer Jane could make out spot's on the girl's face where make up had been poorly applied to conceal what was probably bruises. Here and there on the girl leg's and arm's there were also scars.
"What the hell do you think you're doing? Barging into my barn and arresting my husband?" The woman demanded, a look of the utmost severity on her face.
Jane stepped forwards because he was the closest. He opened his mouth to say something but didn't get any further because the woman punched him in the nose. Jane stumbled back as Lisbon stepped forwards.
"You're going have to come with us-" Lisbon was interupted when the woman belted her across her cheek. Imediatly Lisbon backed away and pulled her gun out, as did the rest of the team and the rest officer's who'd charged the hide out. The woman raised her hands in defeat and rolled her eye's in disgust.
Rigsby and Cho cuffed the woman and locked her up opposite her husband in the back of the van. She, too, was cuffed to the seat. Van Pelt went to check on Lisbon and Jane went to check on the girl.
As he approached she studied him wearily. "Are you ok?" Jane asked.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that question?" The girl fired back.
"I'm not the one being abused by my parent's," Jane countered.
The girl studied him closer, saw something that spooked her and she swallowed hard, "Adoptive parents, and how did you know?"
"You mean beside's the scars on your arm's and leg's and the poorly concealed bruises on your face?" Jane asked, causing the girl to flinch, "You seem to want nothing more than to get away from your adoptive mother and you don't really seem to care they're being arrested. One might go so far as to say you actually believe they belong in jail."
"Was the make up job that bad?" The girl asked, causing Jane to laugh. Out of those things he'd said the thing she was worried about was covering up the abuse marks.
"Up close, yeah. If you want I can show you how to cover it properly," Jane offered.
"How do you know about using make up?" The girl asked.
"I had a wife and daughter at one point," Jane said, "They're dead now."
"You think they were killed my 'dad'," The girl accused, "And that's why you're always so sad and you blame your self, that's why you're always so angry at the world, only you try your best to hide it."
Jane looked down at the girl, slightly bemused, "How did you reach that conclusion?"
"You mean besides the fact you couldn't look me in the eye's when you told me about them and the fact the fact you glanced over at that van when you said they were dead?" The girl smirked, "You seem to be the only person hear who didn't relax at all when your girlfriend pulled arrested 'dad'."
"She's not my girlfriend. She's my boss," Jane said.
"But you like her. A lot. Am I right?" The girl asked.
"Give me proof and you're name and I'll answer," Jane offered.
"Deal," The girl answered and that's when Lisbon walked over.
"What deal?" She asked.
"It's nothing," Jane replied, but when Lisbon gave him a look he continued, "I told her that I'd show her how to properly cover those bruises."
"That's it?" Lisbon asked.
"I think there was also a cup of tea involved," The girl said.
"Ok, then. I came over to let you know we're leaving," Lisbon told Jane.
"And?" Jane asked.
"And you'll be in my car." Lisbon told him.
"Fine," Jane said, "Just know it'll happen anyways."
"Whatever help's you sleep at night," Lisbon replied and walked away, towards the van they'd come in.
"If only you knew what would help me sleep at night," Jane muttered and the girl laughed.
"Oh, she know's," The girl said.
"Yeah, not avoiding the doctor so I can get more sleeping pills," Jane said.
"Whatever you say," The girl said and Jane laughed.
"You know something better?" Jane asked.
"Mr. Serial killer does," The girl said, "He'd be more than happy to talk to you about it."
"Then take whatever we talked about away," Jane said, his smile fading slightly.
"Which is why you've almost killed your self trying to catch him," The girl sated more than asked.
Jane sighed, "So you drink coffee but prefer tea?"
"You're proof?" The girl asked.
"Well, you have dark bags under your eye's. That usually means someone tired but you seem wide awake. And you did mention tea while Lisbon was here," Jane reasoned, "I, my self, almost never drink coffee. Except in emergencies."
"Is an emergency being awake for a week straight because you watched your guardian's murder a house full of people, simply because they brought up Red John?" The girl asked, "I love having an abusive serial killer's as the people who adopted me." The girl laughed, but it was humorless.
"Well, you may never have to even hear their names again, if she was helping Red John," Jane said and the girl looked hopeful, "When did you see that?"
"A week ago," The girl replied, "I can show you where the house is if you want."
"Don't tell my boss or co-worker's. They'll hand cuff me to the car again," Jane said.
The girl laughed, "Deal." Then Lisbon honked and they walked to the car. They got in and Lisbon drove to the office.