I have to be honest here, my friends, I have no clue what the hell I am doing! Usually, the bunnies are banging on my keyboard and leaving fur everywhere. For this one, they are showing up and hiding under the sofa behind the dust bunnies. Can someone coax them out??
DISCLAIMER: IF they were mine, nothing would be getting faked, if ya know what I mean…wink wink
Sleight of Hand Chapter 2
Kimball Cho did not get to be one of the top interrogators at the CBI by being a fool. His first reaction to the big break up had been surprise. He was sure Rigsby would choose love. After all, he had almost made that mistake once before. No, when it was laid out for him, Cho knew where his friend's choice would go.
Giving up on them? So easily? Yeah, he had looked miserable and Van Pelt looked like she had spent a night crying, but that was really it. When Rigsby got those phone calls from Tiffany, Van Pelt didn't look as upset as she should. Rigsby didn't get that goofy look when a woman paid attention him. For a big guy who women fell over, he was a klutz when it came to women. He would stammer and step all over his own tongue. And Cho wasn't getting any details. He wasn't really interested in them, but Rigsby was the king of the overshare. Cho always knew too much about Rigsby's theories on women, always wrong. Cho always knew the outcome of Rigsby's trying out said theories, always a disaster.
Not this time. Had his relationship with Van Pelt changed him that much? Had he learned about women? Was he now finally comfortable? Cho threw a quick look at Rigsby. Nope. Something was off. Wayne was working out like crazy. He was also much quieter. Not as if his heart had been broken, but rather he was afraid to say anything.
And Van Pelt. The heat between those two had been almost embarrassing. They were usually circumspect, but still, it was there. Now? Nothing. No one turns that kind of heat off that easily. She was quiet, almost too quiet. For someone who's boyfriend was clearly moving on, she didn't give out that single vibe. She seemed still to be unavailable. Cho knew there was a line of guys waiting to ask her out. Some were agents like Rigsby who didn't care enough about the rules. Some were from the AG's office. There were some defense attorney's and even a judge. But she wasn't biting. And oddly enough, given the light speed of gossip around here, no one was even trying.
Something was off. Jane was making bull in the china shop insensitive remarks. Both Rigsby and Van Pelt would look mortified, but that was it. Cho would expect more. Something was off. Cho began to watch more carefully.
It only took a week and Cho knew. He couldn't even say how or why, but he just knew. He was actually impressed that they had been this careful. He also knew it had to be killing them both. Rigsby was as open and readable as a puppy. Van Pelt was more closed off, but she hadn't been an agent long enough to develop that toughness. He understood why they were trying this dangerous path. What he didn't get was Jane's part in it Sure, he lived to flout the rules, but putting himself out for someone was not his normal behavior. Cho found Jane to be brilliant but self absorbed. Jane would only be doing this if it served his own ends. And only as long as it served those ends. That was just part of what concerned Cho.
He briefly debated saying something. But when this imploded, and he knew it would he decided plausible deniability would be better. It would be bad enough for Lisbon to lose those two, losing him too would be a career ender. So, he did what he did best. He watched, quietly.
Cho would have been relieved to know that Lisbon was not quite as clueless as he thought. She noted the same things he had. She hadn't been quite as shocked over their announcement as everyone thought. She was actually surprised that she managed to fool Jane on that one. She wouldn't have been much of a cop if she hadn't noticed them. They were careful, she would give them that. She half expected it all to come out when Van Pelt got shot. But no, she was proud of how well Rigsby handled it. She decided at that point to ignore the whole thing. They behaved. If they hadn't made that announcement, she could have lived with it as is. Even after she un-officially gave them her blessing, she was proud of how they handled it.
She was annoyed at Hightower. She understood the need to make everyone toe the line. She knew Hightower's first job was to fix the CBI. Take the battered trophy of California Law enforcement and hammer out the dents. Smooth over those marks and polish it till gleamed again. The Governor, State AG and the people of this state needed to feel like they had a go-to force when those crimes too vile or too big for the local law enforcement reared its ugly head. They needed to be the cavalry coming over the hill, the big guns, pulled out for the big battles against evil. The last few years had taken a toll on the CBI. Hightower's job was to fix that.
Lisbon was a cop. She knew every aspect of her life was controlled by that. It was one of those career choices that defined you forever. It didn't matter if you cured cancer or sang arias. You were a cop first and always. It meant that you lived by a different standard. Your life was under a microscope and anything you did could be picked up and examined at the will of the people you protected.
Van Pelt and Rigsby knew that too. They knew going into this job it would be that way. For them to still ignore and sneak around the way they were was to walk a very dangerous line. She was sympathetic to them. She didn't think Hightower had made the right call there. But if they got caught, and she was sure they would, she would lose most of her team. It was going to be very bad.
What Lisbon wasn't sure of was why Jane was helping. He had to be. There was no way something like this was going on behind his back. He had to know, and based upon his comments was trying to throw everyone off. Why? He had to know how bad this would be. Even the king of the rule-breakers was smart enough to know what lines not to cross. He usually only took care of himself. This was the puzzling and typically Jane-like frightening piece.
Why? What would happen? Who really knows? In between solving cases, those questions taunted both Lisbon and Cho separately. This limbo of uncertainty would have gone on had Hightower's car not gone up in flames.
Just a little sense of the rest of the team for you all…….we like or no?