Disclaimer - The Mentalist belongs to Bruno Heller and CBS. Not me. Obviously.
A/N- So I'm back. Sorry it took me so long, but on top of this story, I've had two other stories to update and a ten thousand word dissertation to complete for my university course. Thankfully that's all handed it now, so I should hopefully have a bit more time to write. Thanks for the reviews I received. I haven't lost interest in this story and I'm glad you haven't either.
This chapter is pretty short, but I'd still like to hear your thoughts on it. Thanks for reading!
Blood Ties
Part Three
Alex Jane's eyes narrowed as his son spoke but he didn't react to Jane's obvious coldness otherwise. The tension in the bullpen had risen to an almost unimaginable level, and even the always stoic Cho seemed surprised by the anger emanating from their usually tame consultant.
"What the hell happened to you?" Jane's father asked, ignoring the tension as he eyed up Jane's slightly swollen nose.
"Like you care," Jane answered coldly before turning his attention back to Lisbon and repeating his previous warning. "You can't trust him. He's a liar and a conman."
"Like you were," she pointed out.
"I learned from the best," Jane replied with a fake grin that failed to reach his eyes. No one, not even Rigsby, was fooled by it.
Lisbon sighed slightly as she cast her gaze between father and son. Honestly, even with the pair of them side by side, she would never have known that they were related. Apart from the eyes, they looked nothing alike, and the cold hatred in Jane expression - something usually only reserved for Red John – made the difference even more stark.
"Boss?" asked Rigsby, clearing his throat uncomfortably. The team were clearly looking to her for orders but in truth she had no idea what to do.
"Let's take this to my office," she offered for lack of a better solution. She turned back to her team. "You three keep working on those leads we talked about."
"Yes, boss," they chorused, turning away to work on the tasks she had set them with a professionalism that she had come to expect from each one of them. Now, more than ever, she was grateful for that; this conversation was going to be hard enough as it was without an audience listening in.
"After you Mr Jane," Lisbon said, careful to keep her voice calm. She had a feeling that she was going to have to be the rational one in this conversation, and it wouldn't help for her to lose her cool.
"You can't honestly believe he has anything useful to offer," Jane said indignantly. "He knows the suspect."
Lisbon's attention flipped back to Alex Jane. "You know Landon?"
"We've met," Jane's father admitted.
Lisbon tried to process this new information. "Jane, why didn't you mention it before?"
"I didn't know until I saw his face." Jane glared at his father. "He's hiding something. Why else would he be here?"
"I came here to offer my help," Alex said calmly. "Surely any information is useful at this stage in a case?"
Jane scoffed and was about to dispute that claim, but Lisbon had had enough.
"I'll be the judge of that," she said, interrupting Jane before he could speak. "Office, now. Both of you."
Without another word, Lisbon marched the two of them into her office, closing the door behind her to give them some semblance of privacy – she had a feeling Jane would need it.
Slowly she made her way over to take a seat behind her desk, valiantly trying to ignore the very palpable tenseness in the air. Jane, for his part, remained standing, with his arms firmly folding in front of his chest as a sort of protection. Jane's father, however, casually took a seat in front of her desk, looking for all the world like a man who didn't have a care in the world.
"So," she began, attempting at least to keep her voice free from hostility. "What do you know about Landon?"
"He's an old friend," Alex Jane replied nonchalantly with a brief shrug of his shoulders.
"He would be," Jane muttered.
"And why is that?" his father asked, turning in his chair to face his son. Jane simply glared at him.
"Abusers love company, it seems," Jane replied, his calm words not doing much to hide his obvious contempt.
"Now, I wouldn't know anything about that," Alex replied with an infuriating smile.
"Of course you wouldn't – "
"Jane," Lisbon warned, before turning to Jane's father. "When was the last time you spoke to Mr Landon?"
"Last week," replied Alex calmly. "I'm not sure exactly what day it was, I'm afraid."
"You knew he was going to be in trouble and that he'd drag you into it," Jane accused his father. "That's why you called me."
"I had to cover my back," Alex replied with a shrug.
If possible, Jane's glare got even more intense. "And you thought I would help you?"
Alex Jane met his son's gaze evenly. "Blood is blood."
"Your blood means nothing to me," Jane snapped. "You could rot in hell for all I care. But you knew that, didn't you? You knew I would never help you. Which begs the question: why did you bother to call at all?"
Alex Jane didn't answer, but he squared his shoulders slightly in the face of his son's accusations. Jane glared at his father, but Lisbon could tell by the look Jane's eyes that he couldn't get a read on the man. It worried her. Jane seemed to have a blind spot when it came to his father, and considering the type of man Alex Jane was, that weakness could come back and bite them in the ass later on. She'd have to keep a careful eye on him. On both of them, really.
"Let's get back to Landon," Lisbon began, but she didn't get far with her questioning.
"You knew he was hitting his son?" Jane interrupted as he glared towards his father with barely concealed hatred.
Alex Jane shrugged. "Yeah. None of my business though."
Jane growled – actually growled – and Lisbon knew she had to step in before the situation got out of hand. Keeping a careful eye on the pair of them, Lisbon got up and poked her head out of her office door.
"Rigsby," she called. "Can you please escort Mr Jane to interrogation room two?"
"Yes, boss," Rigsby nodded. There was a question in his eyes, but Lisbon shook her head slightly and he kept silent as he made his way over to her office.
"Jane, calm down," she warned as she came back into the room. She turned to his father "Mr Jane, Alex, Agent Rigsby will escort you into interrogation. I'm afraid we have a few more questions for you."
"In that case, I think I should contact my lawyer," Jane's father replied evenly, although his voice held a hint of a threat.
"That is your right," Lisbon replied calmly, completely unaffected by the man's attempt at intimidation.
Rigsby took that as his cue, taking the man's arm in a grip that was slightly tighter than was strictly necessary. Lisbon had to hide her smile. They may have had their differences over the years, but the team really were like family. When one of them was threatened, they had each others' backs.
Once the two of them had left, Lisbon turned to face Jane. She sighed slightly, but tried to keep her face free of any pity she was feeling, knowing that he would hate that above all else. Jane's bravado had disappeared with his father apparently, and the usually composed man looked close to losing it - the last thing she wanted to do was push him over the edge.
"Jane, sit down," she said softly, directing him into the sofa. She could feel a slight trembling in his limbs as she sat him down, taking a seat beside him as she mentally prepared herself for another difficult conversation.
"Jane," she began softly, "You okay?"
"Oh, I'm fine, Lisbon," Jane replied quietly. "Never been better."
"Jane, I need to know," Lisbon continued seriously. "Did you call your father back last night?"
Jane sighed. "Yes."
"Did you know – "
"He didn't mention anything about a murder, Lisbon," Jane replied with a faint trace of annoyance in his voice. "I assure you, if he had, you would have been the first to know."
"I know that, Jane," Lisbon replied calmly. "I had to ask."
"I know," Jane said. "But I promise, he didn't mention John Greening or Jimmy Landon. Not once."
"I believe you, Jane."
They sat in silence then. Lisbon, for her part, was patient; she knew Jane was using the silence to try and calm down, and she had no problem giving him time to do so. God knows she would have needed to same if it had been her father in interrogation.
"Do you really need to keep him here?" Jane said, breaking the silence after only a few minutes. She was pleased to note that, although he still looked pale, he seemed much calmer and much more in control of himself once again.
She hated to do this, if only because she didn't want to ruin the calm he had found. "We've got no choice, Jane. He's a person of interest, whether you like it or not. Go home if you don't want to deal with him. I wouldn't blame you.
"No, I'm coming," he said, waving her concern away. "I need to keep an eye on him if nothing else."
"I think we can handle it," Lisbon said dryly.
"He's good, Lisbon," Jane warned. "Not as good as me, but he's good. There's a reason he's a free man, despite the fact that he possesses a list of illegal activities even longer than mine."
A small smile flickered across Lisbon's face.
"Fine, Jane. But you need to keep calm, or I will ask you to leave. And you won't be an official part of the investigation. No interrogation, no ridiculous plans to catch the killer. You will observe, that's all. Agreed?"
Jane put on his best innocent face, and Lisbon almost groaned aloud.
"Agreed," Jane replied cheerfully, although his eyes narrowed as he glanced to the door of her office where his father had left only moments before.
"Jane..."
"I can't promise to behave on this one Lisbon," Jane said seriously, and Lisbon felt a strange sense of foreboding. "I'll do my best not to get you or the team in trouble, but I can't promise to stay detached. Not with him involved."
"Just don't do anything stupid." She fixed him with her best cop face. "Promise me."
"As if I would do anything stupid," Jane scoffed dramatically, although it seemed a little forced this time. "Name one plan of mine that's been even remotely stupid."
"I'm serious, Jane." She had no intention of playing his games today.
"I know," Jane replied quietly, but he didn't seem to change his mind, and Lisbon knew in that moment that it was a battle that she wouldn't win.
"Come on, then," she said as she got up from the couch. "There's no point in putting this off."
Jane got up as well but he paused at the threshold of her office, and Lisbon paused as well as she turned to see what was keeping him.
"Be careful, Lisbon," Jane warned seriously, and if it wasn't for the situation, Lisbon would've scoffed at how strange that phrase sounded coming from him. As it was, she stayed silent. Jane was rarely serious about anything, but when he was, there was almost always a good reason for it.
"I will be, Jane," Lisbon replied, trying to inject a confidence in her voice that she didn't quite feel.
"He'll try to mess with your head," Jane continued, apparently not fooled by her act in the least.
"I've been dealing with you for years, Jane," Lisbon said with a roll of her eyes. "I think I can handle a few mind games."
For the first time, she saw a small but true smile reach his eyes, and she felt a surprising amount of relief at the sight.
Without another word, Jane nodded and swept past her. With a small sigh, she followed him, a slight amount of the apprehension leaving her as she watched him walk with determination back in his stance. He looked almost back to normal – or at least as normal as Jane ever got – but she couldn't help the small amount of foreboding that rose up in her as they made their way over to interrogation room two.
So much for that quiet day at the office.
A/N - So, how was it? I'd love to hear from you! The truth is, I'm not sure how far to take this story - my original plan was for it to only be a couple of chapters, but already it seems to be going beyond that, so any thoughts you have on it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for reading!
