Eight Red Names
By:
Saslyax
Summary: [Tag to 5x22, Red John's Rules] A terrible thought crosses Teresa Lisbon's mind: What if there is an eighth name that Jane doesn't even know about?
Disclaimer: Yup, I don't own The Mentalist.
Warnings: Some spoilers for Red John's Rules.
Seven Names.
Some of them aren't too alarming, but others… I try to mask my shiver. Jane may have been right. There's now a terrible expectation for me to lie, as well as the king of liars, Patrick Jane. I don't know how he can look these people in the eyes, when there's a very tangible possibility that they murdered his family. I wonder how Jane manages to restrain his vengeance, when he's so close to ending this.
Then again, Jane can turn non-believers and skeptics into advocates of the mystical and occult. There have been too many people that think he's an actual psychic. It's laughable, but Jane is very good at reading people. He once told me that all great con artists are sociopaths, and little bells go off.
Panzer comes to mind. How he followed his kills under the guise of helping the police. How some of the names on Jane's list come very close to that MO.
More memories come to mind.
How Jane manipulated multiple serial killers, for his own bidding; how Jane constantly uses people for his own gain; how Jane's typically the most intelligent person in the room; how Jane puts on charades to get what he wants; how much of a narcissistic ass he was in his fugue state; how Jane had a mental breakdown; how Jane disappears for weeks, days, or hours; how very alike Jane and Red John are.
I don't want to go there- that Jane is capable of going into very dark places that most people never even dream of in their best nightmares.
It's impossible! The idea itself shouldn't even crawl into a single one of my brain cells! Jane couldn't have been at all of the Red John crime scenes. He was with CBI, with me, during some of them. He has alibis. Lorelei Martins said the two of them shook hands.
Another name comes to mind.
Timothy Carter.
Red John has many accomplices and 'friends'. Maybe there are several stand-ins and fakes, like Carter. Maybe Red John's friends don't even truly know the man behind the curtain. There could be lies within lies. My head hurts.
It's a scary possibility, but how else could Red John know Jane's seven names before Jane himself even knew? How can Red John pick out a private memory from inside Jane's head? How can anybody else outsmart Jane, but Jane himself?
It's a fact that Jane truthfully loathes Red John and will tear the world apart to get his revenge. There's real emotion and conviction in his eyes, but what if his mind created a twisted, complex game of cat and mouse to entertain himself? To give him an interesting challenge?
I hide my initial shock of the idea. I pretend I'm stunned by the names, by the CD, which I am.
I'll have to lie to everyone, even to myself.
It'll be another dark secret only I know, like what's in LaRoche's box.
There might be eight names.
The end
Yeah. I don't actually think this will happen in the show, but I do find the idea that Jane is Red John interesting. I also like the idea of him being suspected as Red John. I'd be surprised if the show went there since I think it would upset a lot of fans, and there would be a lot of plot-holes.
Revisions: Minor cosmetic changes.
Posted: 05-09-13
Revised: 04-25-14