Mercy Bridal Boutique-5:47

"Oh, this is where your appointment is. Can you make bridal appointments?" Jane asked innocently.
"Shut up!" Van Pelt said, hitting Jane. Together they entered the store, door bells ringing as they opened the door. "Mr. Jeffs?" Van Pelt called into the empty store, her heels clicking on the tile floor.
"Be right with ya!" a confident voice called back.
"He's going to help me with my fitting and choosing the dress." Van Pelt said to Jane.
"Like I wanted to know that."
"Why did I ever want to bring you with me?"
"Good question. I don't know." Van Pelt shook her red hair, around in a circle, straightening it out. She then smoothed down her shirt. A medium sized man with very short black hair came out of the back, a tape measure around his neck. He wore casual clothes, just a t-shirt and jeans.
"Grace! There's my girl." They embraced, and Jane wolf-whistled. Van Pelt glared at him.
"He's a FRIEND!"
"So you say, Grace. So you say."
"Shall we choose your dress?"
"After I introduce you to my associate, Patrick Jane."
"Oooh, I'm an associate. I feel proud." They shook hands. "Honored to meet you, Jeffs."
"Oh no, call me Steven. Formalities are past. We can be on first name terms. And you are the psychic I've heard so much about?" Jane sighed.
"No, I'm not a psychic. Just paying attention. I have to tell EVERYONE that." Steven led Grace to a mirror.
"Let's get you measured up!" Jane watched with boredom as Grace was fitted for a dress. "Alright, Grace, do you want trendy, or classic dress?" Van Pelt wandered for a bit, looking at the dresses. Then she nodded and said,
"I think I'll go with classic!"
"Couldn't have made a better choice myself. I'll be right back. I've got to go stitch something up, let me know what your choice is when I come back." Steven quickly and awkwardly headed into the back room. Grace began browsing the dresses, looking for the perfect dress for her wedding. While she picked up a dress and held it to her torso, Jane slipped off to follow Steven. Peeking around the corner, he saw Steven picking up a small package wrapped with duct tape. Suspicious, Jane thought. I think I know what's in that package. Jane pulled back around the corner and sat down just as Van Pelt came out of the dressing room with a beautiful dress. It had a bow in the middle, with a long veil and bottom.
"Well? What do you think?" she said happily.
"Oh, yeah. It looks like you have a big albino cow turd on your dress." Grace gaped.
"You selfish, stuck up, pig!"
"Just kidding. It looks great on you." Still offended, she flounced to the counter to pay. Steven came out right on cue and took the money from her. "Three hundred dollars is pretty pricey for a piece of cloth."
"Oh, hush. It will all be worth it at the wedding."
"Craig isn't your type, Grace." Jane said coldly. Van Pelt did not respond, just headed to the car. There's something about Craig that I don't like, and what is Steven up to in his "sewing" room?

Lisbon was miserable. Having no luck finding any evidence, she decided against her judgment to follow Jane's advice. She began searching in the kitchen. She searched everywhere, and Rigsby had searched behind her. One more place to search. Lisbon begrudgingly opened up the large, beat-up refrigerator. Revolted at what she saw, she leapt back trying not to throw up from the smell of death.
"Well, we found part of the victim. Or parts."Three fingers lay in the bottom, and once again the face of Red John was there.
"Boss, this doesn't look like Red John's face. Look."Rigsby pointed to the top of the face. "No overlap. Just a straight circle."
"That means…"
"Things are about to get a lot more complicated." Agent Hightower said as she entered. Madeline Hightower was the CBI boss, if you will, taking over for the former leader, Virgil Milleni. She wore the usual cloths of a female investigator, and her short black hair was pulled into a bun at the back of her head. Her brown skin shone in the light, making it obvious she had tried to look nice.
"Madeline? What are you doing here?"
"I heard you were down two agents, so I decided to help. Unless you don't want it."
"I don't know if we will need it. We need to figure out why someone is imitating Red John."
"Because he was hired." Jane said, entering. "Red John needed someone to continue his reign of fear, while he was doing something else, maybe coordinating another killing or doing something out of state. So it seemed like he was still here, but he really wasn't. Red John doesn't leave a small part like that, he leaves the whole body mutilated. So, we know this isn't Red John, simply another imitation."
"Well, that leaves us with nowhere to go."
"A waiting game." Hightower commented.
"Not exactly." Jane replied. "If this fake face was made within 48 hours of now, and being the fool that he is, already telling us that he is not Red John, we might be able to get a fingerprint from the face if he wasn't wearing gloves."
"Jane, you are a genius." Hightower said, genuinely impressed.
"Don't give him any ideas!" Lisbon said, pulling out a fingerprint kit. She began to brush the powder onto the dried blood.
"Got it!" Lisbon said excitedly.
"Got what, boss?" Rigsby said, shifting his weight.
"Jane was right! There are fingerprints!"
"Almost too easy…" Van Pelt mused.
"Let's get back to base and get these prints analyzed. It could give us a good lead." Hightower said commandingly.
"Guess who's back." Jane said cheekily. Hightower turned to glare frostily at him, then headed out to her car.
"Guess we better follow suit before she fires us all for insubordination." Grace said with annoyance.
"Wait, I get to say it this time, Lisbon." Jane prostested. He smiled and winked at Lisbon, and she rolled her eyes. "Let's move out!" Jane bellowed.
"Promise me you'll never do that again." Lisbon said, wincing.
"Maybe." Jane sat down at the wheel of his car and started it.
"I love this car." He said sentimentally, and drove out of the parking lot, following Hightower.

R&R for me! Thanks!