Disclaimer: I do not own Hustle or The Mentalist but I think this would be a dream crossover
I'm not experienced so don't penalise for mistakes, plot holes or character inaccuracies
Most importantly, ENJOY AND REVIEW!
It was an early morning and the CBI team were called into the crime scene. They arrived to the New California Bank car park. There laid a dead woman face down onto the floor with blood behind all over her back. Half of the body was under the building shelter, arms partly spread out; the other half of the body exposed and wet as it had rained that night.
Lisbon walked over to the victim quickly while Jane trailed behind her casually. They were joined by two other police officers who were wearing a blue uniform with a badge on them. Lisbon bent over to investigate the body.
"My deputy found the body this morning, Ms Lisbon" the police officer said boldly. He was tall and seemed to be a bit too young to be in charge of the police force. Next to him was the deputy who wore glasses and was slightly shorter than his superior, he was smiling.
"The sun is blinding me Lisbon, have you got any sunglasses I could borrow?" Jane spoke with his hand over his eyes trying to shield the light.
"This is...?" The police officer asked with uncertainty.
"Oh Chief Clarke, this is my college Jane, he's a consultant working with the CBI" Lisbon answered.
"Hi, Patrick Jane nice to meet ya" He shook hands with Chief Clarke. "And...?"
"Jeremy Carter" the deputy replied with a delightful smile. He shook hands with Jane.
"Newly promoted I presume, both of you."
"Yes how did you work that out?" Carter asked with curiosity, still maintaining his smile.
"Oh, it's nothing..."
"Jane! Anything you could tell from the victim?" Lisbon broke off the cop conversation and demanded Jane to read the body. Jane went around the body and looked at the details of the victim. He came to an immediate conclusion.
"She wasn't murdered here. This body was taken down here to mislead us."
"How do you know that?"
"Look, a part of her body is wet yet her, the soles of her shoes are dry, there isn't much blood around, normally there would be drops of blood somewhere. And look, her face has a bruise and if she was shot through the front of her body why has she landed on her face. Besides when you get into a fight and when you get shot this is not the body position you would be in. My guess, she was probably murdered inside."
"Ok Jane, so you're saying she was murdered in the building."
"Signs of assault..." Carter listed in his notebook.
"Precisely, look her lipstick, half smudged, probably in the middle of an office romance last night, so this woman must have been seeing someone after work"
Cho came in with his notebook. "The murder victim is Sarah Cox, she's an accountant and she is also in charge of security maintenance in this company, 29 years old and lives not far from here. She doesn't have her car keys or her house keys. Her DNA has been found on the ground floor. I've asked around and no one has said much."
"Good work Cho. Find out who was working here last night and tell Rigsby to check the CCTV, talk to all possible witnesses."
"Will do boss."
"Oh and Cho, tell the others that the CBI is going to cooperate with the California state police in this investigation" Cho left immediately.
"Carter, organize a team to track down the victim's belongings such as the missing car and house keys" Clarke ordered.
"Yes Sir" Carter went away.
Lisbon, Jane and Clarke went off into the building in the opposite direction from Cho.
Meanwhile, Albert Stroller was in a small gentlemen's club within the rich part of Los Angeles, he was talking to another member. Rows of chairs and tables covered the whole room as if it was a restaurant or a cafe. They sat in cosy armchairs with a huge table between them. There were glasses of wine and food on the table.
"Yes, my old friend, those were the days when we worked the con together. Well I better be off"
"See you Winston" Albert shook his hand as his friend got up and left him. At that moment another man appeared behind Albert who would eventually go past Albert. He was in his fifties, in a dark suit, on his phone.
"Yes screw their ass'...I am not going to waste my fortune on those small little companies who hardly pays more than a couple of bucks" he turned away from his phone and asked the waiter. "Where's my paper... (Back to phone) I am not going forward with it...no I still haven't got that jewellery, now stop wasting my time...(Hangs up) Where's my paper?" The waiter came but the businessman simply snatched it. "Get me a glass of brandy!"
Albert looks at him. "I'll have a paper and a glass of brandy too" Albert turned to waiter also. The businessman realised Albert's seat was the only available space. Then he put his iphone into his coat pocket and started opening the paper.
"Mind if I join?" he asked.
"No, please." Albert smiled. He winks at the camera (you).
An hour later, Albert arrived to his hotel, which was a comfortable hotel with luxurious furniture. There was a huge glass door leading to the balcony letting in all the light. The crew sat on the couch, Ash next Sean as he was teaching him something, Emma who was feet up on her couch reading a magazine, Mickey who was standing up as he greeted Albert. Albert raised his newspaper and gave a nod to Mickey.
"So Albert how was Winston?"
"He's doing great, but also I've found a mark!" Albert said.
"A mark" Sean blurted out. "While we're on holiday? I was thinking of going to the beach today" Sean moaned. "Why do we have a mark?"
"Why not"
"Well shouldn't we wait until the holidays finished then find a mark?"
"Today's a day good as any to find a mark" Mickey argued.
"Alright"
"You'll like this one Sean" Albert cutting in.
Back in the CBI headquarters the office was busy, Van Pelt and Rigsby sat at their desks, Lisbon and Jane stormed in. Jane held a cup of tea in his hand as he directed himself onto the couch.
"Boss, I checked the victim's phone records and the last text message she received was from a man named Steve Miller. One of the texts she received was "I'm coming to kill you!"
"A threat message, check that out" Lisbon pointed out. Cho then entered the room with a handful of documents.
"Boss, forensics say that the victim was shot three times with a 9mm, also suffered physical assault, no signs of sexual assault but signs of facial contact were evident, and as Jane said the victim was killed inside and then dumped in the car park"
"When abouts was the victim killed?"
"Between 9-10pm, Boss" Cho replied quickly.
"Boss, according to the company timetables Sarah would have finished her shift at 9." Rigsby interrupted.
"She stayed for a couple of minutes after. So we could presume that she was romantically involved with someone after, possibly meeting someone as you said Jane." Lisbon logically said.
"Something else is weird; the company has no record of the security in the past few days, no tapes or anything. As if it's been all wiped off" Rigsby continued.
"Hmmm" Jane hummed.
"What are your thoughts Jane?"
"I don't know" Jane replied in deep thought, he smiled.
"Right okay, Cho and Rigsby go and find this Steve Miller see if he has anything to say. Van Pelt, see if you can trace the security and keep digging on the phone records. Jane and I will go back to the crime scene and we'll go and question the staff there."
Cho and Rigsby left the office, Van Pelt carried on with her computer work and Jane slowly got up. He stretched much to Lisbon's annoyance as he kept her waiting.
"Come on Jane"
Jane went and followed Lisbon as they walked out of the office.
