"The director would like you to come to the set, Ms. Lisbon." Teresa is seated as usual on a high folding chair in video village. She hangs her headset on the back of the seat and follows Roger, the P.A. to where the petite dark-haired young actress is about to search the darkened CBI headquarters for an armed suspect.
"Can you show her how to do the whole flashlight/gun thing, Reesa?" Ugh, only her family calls her that and she hates it. She wishes they'd just call her Lisbon. But everyone here has a nickname.
This is a fun job. Technical advisor to a dramatic series based on a true story. Her true story. After the CBI and her whole world imploded, she'd had to find something else to do.
With Cho, she'd co-authored the book, Red John. It had been a huge success. On The New York Times Bestseller List for eighty-seven consecutive weeks. So it wasn't surprising when they were approached to sell the rights to one of TV's top producers.
She found herself with money but not much to occupy her days. And when this tech advisor job had presented itself, she'd moved to L.A. And four years later here she still was.
Cho had gone on to much success writing crime novels. He'd married his editor, Patience. Patience Cho was a great name. Rigsby and Van Pelt had two children and now worked for the FBI in Washington. Jane had disappeared and re-surfaced two years later with an ethereal blonde and brilliant young wife, Brigitte, and a one-year old daughter, Violet. That had been hard.
Teresa had been in on casting the show which was weird but fun. It had been relatively easy to cast herself, Cho, Van Pelt and Rigsby. Casting Jane was a bitch. The casting specs had gone out. Looking for a blond, beautiful, young Cary Grant-type who could do everything from comedy to tragedy. Everybody they saw was too beefcake, too fashion model, too airhead. Not enough warmth. Not enough depth. Not enough class. Not enough charisma. God, Jane had been so special. Really special.
Then one day, an actor walked into the casting room and they all knew. Much like when Jane first walked through the door at the CBI all those years ago. He had it all, down to the crinkles in the corners of the blue-green eyes, the impossible spearmint smile and the wild roller coaster hair.
She found herself with an embarrassing crush on a man ten years her junior. A man who had a beautiful dark-haired wife and three children. She kept coming up with reasons to talk to him. Unlike Jane, he was down to earth; very real. She found it impossible to keep her eyes off him when he was on the set. Her and every other woman in America, she thought.
The show was an immediate hit. An international barn burner. Everyone involved was giddy with success; drowning in money. She'd never been so proud in her life.
She called Jane and asked him to visit the set. The cast and crew were dying to meet the real Mr. Jane. But Jane was far away caught up with his new life and his new family. He'd actually become a painter. Another one of his many hidden talents. And of course he was excellent at it. At the cutting edge of new artists. His work already commanded high six-figures in New York galleries. Jane commented that all he had to do was die and his income would skyrocket. They lived in a townhouse in London and bought a house in Provence. They invited her to come anytime she wanted. Maybe someday she would.
She had a small cottage in the Hollywood Hills and a dog, Nico, and a nice boyfriend, Joe who works as the first A.D. on the show.
"Sorry Ms. Lisbon, can we have you on set again?" Roger the P.A. leads her to an exact replica of the break room. "The characters, Lisbon and Jane, will be sharing a private moment in this scene," the director says. "They're discussing how they're partners but the subtext here is that they're talking about their unacknowledged romantic relationship." Teresa nods. The director asks, "So my question is, should he hug her or might this be the moment when he surprises her with a kiss?"
She doesn't have to think. "Oh, the kiss, definitely."