A Little Trickery

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews, it means a lot to me. After a update on Secluded in Red I was able to clear my block and get back to writing this story. Enjoy the chapter as always and feel free to leave a review.


The heat from the sun shinning through the window was making Lisbon sleepy as Jane drove to the crime scene. They were about forty minutes from the small town when she heard sirens go off.

"What the hell?" She asked as she looked behind her shoulder and noticed a dirty police unit car following right behind them with lights going on and off. "Are you speeding?"

"I wouldn't call it speeding," Jane replied as he looked in the rear-view mirror.

"Dammit, Jane pull over the car," Lisbon ordered as she sat up straighter in her seat.

"I wasn't doing anything wrong," Jane pointed out as he pulled his car over to the side of the road and stopped it. "We are late for a crime scene."

"Jane, we are not above the law."

"You have told me that before."

"And you still don't listen and you are paying the fine this time," she told him as she crossed her arms and waited for the person to knock on the window. Within in seconds she heard the knock and watched as Jane reached down and rotated the window handle.

"What seems to be the problem?" Jane asked as he finished rolling down the window.

"You were doing 85 in a 45 zone," the officer told him. The officer was a older gentleman who looked very unhappy that he had to be working today. Jane looked over and smiled at Lisbon before turning his head back to the sheriff, Lisbon sighed and place two fingers against the bridge of nose, she was going to have a headache by the time this conversation ended.

"Well, you see uh, officer McNeil, myself and agent Lisbon are on our way to a crime scene," Jane stated.

"Crime scene?"

"Yes, show him your badge, Lisbon," Jane suggested. Lisbon reached into her jacket pocket and handed over the badge to the officer. He studied it for a moment.

"Never heard of the CBI."

"Really? We must get Brenda to start advertising more," Jane told Lisbon with a smirk.

"Jane, shut up," Lisbon ordered then looked over to the officer. "Listen we are late and if you let him off with a warning I promise I will have a serious talk with him later."

"Serious talk? Why?" Jane asked for knowing that he was just pushing her buttons now.

"You know what, on second thought just give him the damn ticket," she told the officer before leaning back against the seat with annoyance.

"You two having some sort of couple's spat?" The officer asked as he handed her back her badge.

"We are not a couple," Lisbon corrected the officer. "We work together and that is it."

"That isn't it, we are friends also," Jane stated as he leaned over closer to Lisbon. "You shouldn't lie to an officer of the law."

"Jane, shut up," Lisbon ordered as she tried to hide the blush that was creeping up her neck. Damn the man sitting next to her for being himself today.

"We are all officers of the law and I think it would be in yours and the state's best interest to let me go with a warning," Jane suggested to the officer. Lisbon just shook her head as Jane spoke.

"You are an agent?" The officer asked skeptically.

"No, he is a consultant that for now works for me," Lisbon informed the officer as Jane reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his CBI identification and handed it over to the officer.

The officer stared at it "Patrick Jane," he handed the identification back to Jane.

"That's me," Jane nodded as he placed his hand on the wheel and started to tap it in a smooth rhythm. "Are we going to go around and around again about my speeding?"

"Speeding?" The officer asked as his eyes focused on the tapping of Jane's hand. Lisbon looked over then reached out quickly to stop Jane from tapping and gave him a death glare.

"I will let you off with a waning for now but no more speeding," the sheriff gave them a weak nod and headed back to his car.

"You didn't just try to hypnotize an officer of the law," Lisbon stated as she let go of Jane's hand and returned to her seat.

"I wouldn't do any such thing," Jane stated as he put the car into drive and pulled back onto the street. "But I did mange to get out of the ticket."

"You wouldn't have been pulled over at all if you hadn't been speeding!"

"Meh, the officer had nothing better to do today," Jane said as he watched the road.

"Just get us to the crime scene," Lisbon ordered as she pulled out her phone and dialed Cho's number.

"So grumpy today," Jane murmured as he leaned back against his seat.

Lisbon ignored his comment and waited for Cho to answer. "Cho, what do you have?"

"The judge is telling the story that his son was a good man but he recently started to run with a dangerous crowd."

"Of course he did."

"What did you find out about the kid?" Lisbon asked as she pushed the speaker button on the phone so Jane could hear the conversation.

"Carl Danton, 21, just dropped out of college," Cho told Lisbon over the phone. She and Jane shared a knowing look.

"Did you talk to his friends?" Jane asked without looking away from the road.

"Rigsby is on it right now and Van Pelt is still looking into his phone records, it seems as if he stopped using his phone recently," Cho informed them.

"How recently?" Lisbon asked as she held the phone closer to Jane.

"Last call he made was two weeks ago, the same goes for withdrawing money."

"Did his father mention any fights between the two of them? Jane asked as he looked down at the phone quickly.

"No."

"What are you thinking?' Lisbon asked Jane as she watched him start to formulate a theory in his head.

"Not sure yet but I will know more when we get to the crime scene," he told her as he pulled on hand off the steering wheel and grabbed her phone. "Call us when you know more, Cho," he then hit the end call button and toss the phone back to her.

"I still had question for him," Lisbon said angrily as she placed the phone in her jean front pocket.

"No, you didn't"

"We know everything we need to know for the time being," Jane said matter-of-factly.

"Which is what?"

"Judge Danton had a fight with his son about dropping out of college and told him to get out of sight. The son took it literally and met up with some iffy people and in the end he met a terrible demise," Jane explained.

"You do not know that, once again you are just guessing." she told him annoyed.

"What is wrong with guessing?"

"It isn't police work."

"And how many times have I been correct with my guessing compared to the times you have been correct with good solid police work?"

Lisbon bit her tongue from making a snide remark and turned her focus on the road ahead of them.

"My point exactly," Jane said gleefully.

"Jackass," Lisbon muttered under her breath and then notice the sign for Twin Sun, thankfully they would be at the crime scene soon enough. Any more time in the car with Jane and she was likely to kill him.


Finally they arrived at Twin Sun and pulled into the small visitor center that was also home to the local sheriff department. Getting out of the car she slammed the door before Jane had a chance to turn off the engine.

"Be careful," Jane shouted to her as he pulled the keys out of the ignition. She shook her head and walked straight into the building without waiting for him.

"Can I help you?" The receptionist asked as she spotted Lisbon entered the building.

"I'm looking for the local sheriff."

"Concerning what exactly?" The blond receptionist asked warily.

Lisbon sighed to herself and pulled her badge out of her jacket pocket. "I'm an agent with the CBI and we were called in to investigate a crime scene."

"A crime?"

"Where is the sheriff?"

"He is sleeping in his office," the receptionist said.

"Seriously?" Lisbon lifted an eyebrow just as Jane walked into the building.

"The door is fine by the way," he told her as he flashed a smile at the receptionist. "And who do we have here."

"Jamie," the receptionist smiled at him and Lisbon rolled her eyes.

"I'm Patrick, I see you have already met my colleague Agent Lisbon," Jane motioned to Lisbon and leaned on the desk.

"Yeah, she was talking about some crime."

"Yes, a crime, what a terrible thing but we are the people who solve those crimes."

"Jane," Lisbon growled at him to stop.

"Hush, Lisbon we are having a conversation here."

"You enjoy your conversation," she replied sarcastically as she walked away from the pair and down the hall in hopes of finding the sheriff office. It was the third door down and closed with a

'Do not disturb' sign hanging from the door handle. Lisbon was about to the knock on the door when she heard the blond receptionist laughing. Lisbon knocked on the door not lightly causing the class around it saying sheriff to move a little.

"Who is it?" A deep groggily voiced asked.

"Sheriff, we need to talk," Lisbon yelled as she pounded the door again.

The door opened and a man in his late 60's early 70's appeared looking half asleep. "Who in damn hell are you?"

"I'm Agent Lisbon, we were called in to look at a crime scene," Lisbon informed him as she showed him her badge.

"CBI?" The sheriff looked at the badge. "Never heard of it."

"Sheriff, why don't you let us look at the crime scene?"

"Can't," the sheriff told her as he walked away from the door but left it open. Lisbon remained outside as she watched him walk over to his desk and sit down; he opened his bottom desk drawer and pulled out a bottle of whiskey before taking a big gulp of it from the bottle.

"Can't?" Lisbon asked as she took a step into the room. "Why?"

"There is no crime scene," the sheriff said as he placed the bottle on the desk and sat back. "Help yourself young lady."

"No, thanks. What do you mean there is no crime scene?" Lisbon asked even though she had a nagging feeling she already knew the answer.

"The scene has already been cleaned up and the body sent back to his father," the sheriff informed her as he grabbed the bottle and took another sip.

"Then why were we called in?"

"Who knows because I certainly didn't call you in for help."

"We were told by a judge that it was a murder," Lisbon said as she took a seat in the chair across from the sheriff.

"Well, the boy we found at the scene drowned."

"Did the medical examiner confirm that?"

"We don't have a medical examiner."

"Then how can you confirm that he drowned?" Lisbon asked as she shifted in her seat.

The sheriff took another sip of the whiskey before bring a hand to his lip to remove any excess from the bottle that might be on his lips. "We found the boy face down in the water, so we assumed he had drown."

"You assumed?" Lisbon scoffed. "Sheriff I would like to see the crime scene."

"Be my guest but you won't find anything there," the sheriff explained as he place the lid back on the bottle and returned in to its home.

"Ah, there you are Lisbon," Jane said as he peeked into the room.

"Who are you?" The sheriff asked Jane.

"Patrick Jane, consultant with the CBI," he informed him as he placed his hands in his jacket pocket and studied the sheriff.

"You have a consultant?"

"He closes cases," Lisbon replied out of habit.

"Well, there is no case to close here seeing as it is already closed," the sheriff got to his feet and headed to the door. "If we are done then I recommend you check out the local diner before leaving town."

"How are their eggs?" Jane asked suddenly.

"The best," the sheriff motioned for the two of them to leave. Lisbon huffed and got to her feet.

"Thanks," Jane smiled at the sheriff then placed a hand on Lisbon lower back to guide her out of the office.

"There is something fishy going on around her Jane," Lisbon whispered as they passed the receptionist.

"Bye, Patrick," she said with a smile.

"Bye," Jane smiled and opened the door for Lisbon. When they got outside Jane looked around and made his way down a small path.

"Where are you going?" Lisbon asked since she had made her way to his car.

"Local diner for eggs," he informed her.

"Jane we don't have time for eggs," Lisbon yelled at him.

Jane stopped and walked back over to her, when he got there he leaned down and whispered into her ear "we always have time for good eggs."

"We have a murder to solve," she whispered back.

"And we will, after having some eggs, so shall we?" Jane motioned her to follow him.

"This town gives me the creeps," Lisbon admitted as they made their way down the path.

"According to Jamie things have been weird for the past two weeks," Jane told her as he looked around the path.

"And according to the sheriff there was no crime but rather it was an accidental death."

"What do you think?" Jane asked her as they got into the main part of town. Several local residents stopped what they were doing and looked at them.

"Considering how much whiskey was missing from the bottle I wouldn't trust the sheriff," Lisbon admitted.

"We will check out the scene later," Jane told her as they approached the diner. Lisbon stopped suddenly. "What is it?"

"Do you get the feeling we stepped into some horror movie?" She asked as she felt a shiver go through her body.

"It is all in your mind, Lisbon," he held the diner door opened for her. She gave him a nod and walked into the loud diner that was full of people. The moment the door closed everyone stopped talking and stared at the two of them.

"All in my head?" Lisbon whispered to Jane as she wished she hadn't left her gun in her car.

"Hello," Jane smiled at the people then place in his in front of him at a sort of surrender stance "We're just two strangers coming in, we promise not to bring any of that evil dancing or rock and roll here."

No one laughed at his little joke so he dropped his hands to his side and looked at Lisbon who didn't looked amused at his little joke.

"Any more brilliant comments Abbott?" Lisbon asked as she shook her head and headed to the further booth away from the crowd. Jane smiled and waved to the people before making his way down to join Lisbon at the booth.

To Be Continued.