Chapter 1, reviews and crits are welcome, infact I encourage crits, then I know what to improve upon for next time. Most of my chapters are shorter than this...
Again I do not own The Mentalist, yadda yadda yadda blah blah blah.
Patrick Jane was awoken by the sound of footsteps entering the room, he didn't need to open his eyes, he already had a pretty good idea of who it was. Seconds later he heard the impatient voice of CBI agent Teresa Lisbon confirming his earlier suspicions,
"Victim, Joseph Walker 29 year-old male, found dead in his office in Sacramento this morning. Cause of death, a bullet wound which penetrated his heart." Lisbon looked around the room at the other CBI officers, "All clear?"
"Do we have background on Mr Walker?" she turned to meet the gaze of agent Grace Van Pelt, and threw a brown folder her way,
"All relevant background information is there. He had a wife, no children and he worked in a large company in Sacramento. Everything else is in those files." Lisbon replied nodding at the folder, "That all Van Pelt?" Van Pelt nodded and began to look through the files. Jane meanwhile, had taken the liberty of making himself comfortable on the office sofa so he could fall asleep again. He had no reason to stay awake unless…
"Jane!" Lisbon's crisp call pierced the man's ear causing him to flinch, "You're coming with me to talk to the wife." Jane got up off the sofa slowly,
"Alright, don't get your knickers in a twist." he murmured, Lisbon fixed him with a sharp glare and turned to leave,
"Er, boss?" came a questioning male voice. Lisbon turned around to see the face of CBI agent Wayne Rigsby looking at hers,
"Rigsby. You, Cho and Van Pelt stay here. We'll call if we need anything." she replied making her way out of the office and along the corridor. Jane looked at the remaining officers, shrugged and followed Lisbon as closely as he dared. Kimball Cho shot an inquiring glance at Rigsby, who shrugged,
"Anyone for a coffee?"
***
Lisbon and Jane pulled up outside a large detached house on the outskirts of Sacramento. The two clambered out of the car and slammed the doors shut in unison,
"Nice place." Jane commented following Lisbon up the long driveway,
"Just don't say anything stupid." she replied irritably, ringing the doorbell . The door was answered by a woman in her twenties, her short blonde hair bobbed as she opened the door. Her eyes were red from crying,
"Mrs Walker?" the woman nodded slowly looking from Lisbon to Jane and back again,
"Wh-who are you?" she stuttered shakily holding onto the door frame which seemed to be keeping her upright,
"I'm agent Teresa Lisbon, CBI." Lisbon held up her badge so the woman could see it, "This is my co-worker Patrick Jane," Jane raised his right hand and nodded in greeting, "I'm sorry to bother you like this but we'd like to ask a few questions about your husband."
Karen Walker ushered the two inside,
"Go straight into the kitchen, I'll make you some tea." she told them closing the door and following them through the house. The kitchen was a large room, more of a kitchen-diner, with a breakfast bar at the centre. Here Karen sat them down and went to make tea,
"Sorry to have to invade your private time Mrs Walker," Lisbon apologised earnestly, "but we think, due to circumstances, it would be good to know a little about the nature of your husband's work and recent activities."
"I understand." Karen replied setting the tea down at the breakfast bar and sitting down opposite Lisbon, "What is it you need to know?"
"Had your husband received any threats or hate mail recently?" Lisbon questioned trying to concentrate on the job at hand rather than the clunk of Jane's feet on the kitchen floor as he wandered the room,
"He had to lay off a couple of workers recently, so yes he had received hate mail recently." she replied gingerly sipping her tea,
"Could you elaborate on the nature of the hate mail he received?" Lisbon inquired clenching her hands together in annoyance at the sound of Jane's footsteps as he continued to pace the room,
"It was mostly just spiteful comments, calling him a bastard and suchlike," Karen replied, "though there were some which were very threatening…some even contained death threats, though Joseph thought nothing of it." Lisbon nodded,
"Do you have any of the hate mail around?" Karen nodded and shakily got up to fetch some of the hate mail,
"I'll just go and find it." her wavering voice called back to Lisbon,
"Thank you Mrs Walker." Lisbon quickly turned her attention to Jane who was still walking around the kitchen behind her, "Stop pacing." she hissed, "I can't think straight with you doing that." Jane held his hands up in mock surrender and stood looking at the photos on the wall.
Karen re-entered the room moments later with a small pile of letters and handed them to Lisbon,
"These are the only ones I could find," she murmured, "I hope they help somewhat." Lisbon nodded reassuringly,
"I'm sure they will be a great help. Thank you." she replied putting the letters away in her pockets.
"You were very fond of your husband weren't you Mrs Walker?" came a male voice from behind Lisbon, Karen looked to see Jane standing next to her fridge, "They're beautiful photos." he noted pointing to the photos stuck to the fridge door,
"Yes Mr Jane, I was fond of my husband." Karen replied, a tear trickled down her face. Jane watched Karen's eyes closely as she replied,
"We should be going now Mrs Walker," Lisbon said standing up, "thanks for your time, we appreciate it. We'll be in touch if we find anything more or need to ask any more questions."
"Y-yes of course." Karen replied showing the two out of the house, "I hope I have been of help."
***
"She didn't do it." Jane called after Lisbon as they walked swiftly through the CBI building corridors,
"So you've said," Lisbon replied tetchily, "but just because you've looked at her eyes and think she's telling us all she knows does not rule her out as a suspect." Jane remained quiet as he followed Lisbon into the office. Rigsby, Cho and Van Pelt turned round simultaneously as they heard the footsteps enter the room,
"Van Pelt," Lisbon called throwing the pile of letters, which were now held together by an elastic band, Van Pelt's way, "run a background check on all the senders names." Van Pelt nodded and began to type furiously at the computer. Rigsby gave Lisbon a questioning look,
"Rigsby. You and Cho go and check out the crime scene again, see if there's anything we've missed." she told him. Lisbon saw Jane about to open his mouth, "Yes Jane, you may go with them." she turned her attention back to Rigsby, "We'll give you a call if we find anything." Rigsby nodded looking to Cho who gave him an agreeing nod and stood up to leave. The two grabbed their coats and left the room with Jane following behind them.
***
Rigsby, Cho and Jane scoured Joseph Walker's office, scrutinising every speck of dirt as if it could possibly tell them something about the murder,
"Nothing," Rigsby said scratching his head, "absolutely nothing." Cho looked over to him,
"Same here," he replied matter-of-factly, "I can't find a thing that the CBI haven't already picked up on." The two men looked over to Jane who appeared to be crawling on his hands and knees like a toddler, they exchanged a puzzled look,
"Jane?" Cho called, Jane lifted his head up and hit it on the desk. The men flinched,
"What?" Jane asked rubbing his now sore head, Cho shot Rigsby a glance which said : 'You tell him.'
"We can't find a thing Jane." Rigsby said, Jane shrugged as though it were nothing,
"We know Mr Walker was killed by a bullet," he replied getting back onto his hands and knees, "the rifling marks will tell us what type of gun it's from and, if the CBI are lucky, the exact gun it's from." Cho looked at Rigsby his eyebrows raised slightly. They exchanged another puzzled glance,
"Then why are we here?" Rigsby asked, "Is there even a point in us being here?" he glared at Jane waiting for a reply,
"Yes." the man answered simply. Rigsby was dumbfounded,
"What?" Cho asked before Rigsby could so much as open his mouth. Jane held up a silver watch. Rigsby and Cho exchanged yet another bewildered look.
***
Lisbon looked over Van Pelt's shoulder as she checked through the senders' backgrounds yet again,
"The most criminal record we have is shoplifting, otherwise no criminal records and all have pretty substantial families." Van Pelt repeated for the fifth time that afternoon. Lisbon was a little perplexed, these people had no reason to send such spiteful hate mail, let alone death threats. If they got caught their 'substantial families' would suffer, why would any go to the trouble of killing Joseph Walker if it meant the possibility of being separated from their children and wives? Lisbon finally gave up,
"I'm calling Jane."
***
"Hello?" Jane answered his cell phone as he left the office block,
"You better have found something at that crime scene." Lisbon's irate voice irate voice answered, Jane smiled to himself,
"Don't worry," he replied almost gleefully, "I found a watch."
"A watch!?" Lisbon shouted down the phone, "How's a watch going to help us?" she was positively fuming,
"I'll send it down to forensics and you'll see." Jane replied smugly, a smile still playing about his face. He ended the call.
***
"I'm going to my office." Lisbon said with a sigh as she turned to leave the room,
"Wait!" Van Pelt called after her, "I've just found a letter that we haven't seen. I'm just checking the sender's record and -"
"What?" Lisbon replied cutting her off as she looked over Van Pelt's shoulder at the computer screen. Her eyes widened, "Rape, Hijacking… this guy has quite the criminal record." she commented reading through the background further. Something on the screen caught her eye, "Claims to have connections to Red John." she murmured, "We're not letting Jane near this one."
"Not letting me near which one?" Lisbon jumped,
"Would you not scare me like that?" she asked, her hand over her chest. A playful grin emerged on Jane's face,
"Seriously though, you're not letting me near which one?" Lisbon avoided his question completely,
"Cho, Rigsby." the two men looked over to her a look of dismay on their faces,
"You're not going to-" Rigsby was cut off,
"Yes." she replied, "You two are going to question this man." she passed the letter to them along with a folded printout of the man's records, "No Jane you may not go with them. You'll just rile the guy up."
"Your words pain me Lisbon." he replied in mock hurt, dropping on to the sofa. Lisbon rolled her eyes and turned back to Cho and Rigsby,
"Well?" she snapped, "What are you waiting for? Go and question the guy. Catch him and bring him back here in necessary, though I'd rather you speak to him away from here. And please, be careful." the two men picked up their coats and left the building once again, grumbling as they did so.
"Van Pelt," Jane called across the room, "can you check who works in that office block where Mr Walker worked?" Van Pelt nodded,
"Sure thing Jane," she replied, "just give me a sec." she began to type furiously at the keyboard. Lisbon gave Jane a long hard glare. 'I give the orders here.' it said. Jane smirked and Lisbon had to resist the urge to slap him hard round the face,
"I've just done a check on all the people who work in that office block," Van Pelt's voice floated across the room, "some of them were in the office last night, one reported hearing a loud gunshot sound at the time of Mr Walker's death."
"Thanks Grace." Jane replied giving Lisbon a look that said; 'told you so'. Lisbon glared in reply,
"Van Pelt," Van Pelt turned to face Lisbon, "do a background check on all of them."
"Sure boss," she replied, furiously typing away at the keyboard once again, "just give me a sec." Lisbon fixed Jane with a glare that said; 'don't you dare do or say anything else' and walked back over to the computer at which Van Pelt sat.