B/N: Thank you all for your RnR! I should let you know that I don't write chapters in order, so updates will continue to be sporadic. Also, this has a minor reference to the events of the episode "His Red Right Hand" from Season 2. This chapter and the next chapter will reference and slightly distort the actual events in this episode, so bear with me on that. I don't own The Mentalist, only my OCs. Enjoy!
Jane ushered Van Pelt into her room and closed the door. Confused, Van Pelt turned around as soon as the door closed. Sensing her discomfort, Jane guided her to the desk in the room and she sat in the hard office-style chair. Jane sat on the edge of the desk, facing her.
"You know what's really going on with Rigsby, and you were covering for him on the way here. So if the reason why he left isn't for you, it's because of you-so why did he leave?" Jane asked, in his annoyingly accurate interrogative style.
"I should have figured that you would have caught my lie. To answer your question, he left because of me. I'm just worried about what will happen to him once this gets out. There's no way any law enforcement agency will have him now."
"Once this gets out?"
Van Pelt went on to tell Jane about what happened her flat.
In the car on the way to the restaurant, Lisbon's phone rang-she answered, and Cho tried his hardest not to eavesdrop. So in order not to overhear the conversation, he busied himself with the task of sending back the pictures of the scene that the local LEOs took to the CBI, more specifically to Rigsby. Rigsby would then offer his advice and expertise on the scene. Once he had finished the task, he studied Lisbon's face as she drove. While reading her face, he realized a few things. She is as good at hiding outward expressions of emotion as he is, and that whatever that phone call was about had troubled her greatly. He was about to ask her what was bothering her when they arrived at the restaurant.
The resturaunt was the type where one seats onself in the dining room, and was served the special of the day-in this case, burritos so spicy that a gallon of milk came complimentary with the food. You could tell it was authentic in food and heritage just by the decorations-plain, simple, and classy, rather than the more commonly found gaudy and over-the-top decorations of Mexican propaganda found in non-authentic resturaunts. Lisbon and Cho chose the small table in the corner near the door.
"So what's going on? You look really worried." Cho finally asked, after they got their food.
"It's just that I'm worried about Rigsby. He's been acting so strangely lately-and now he's just disappeared. He didn't show up for work today, so don't send him the crime scene photos yet-rather, don't send them at all. We'll wait for his replacement."
"Too late. I did that while you were on the phone in the car. I wonder what is going on with him... There is nothing in his file that would suggest he'd be into something illegal, yet he shows the signs of trying to hide something big-which can only be illegal."
She had her eye on him for a while before approaching him last month. Wayne Rigsby would put the final touch on her dream team. She met him back in the Police Academy, only then she went by the name Alexzandra Down. They were the top two of their class-and therefore were very competitive with each other-both academically and physically. She graduated first with Rigsby trailing a solid two points behind in second. After the academy, they worked together as partners as street cops until they both received promotions-him to the LAPD, her to the Border Patrol. They kept in contact for three years-even dated for a while. She got another job with a different agency, and could no longer keep up regular coorespondence with him. Their careers led them in different ways, and they lost all contact with each other. Now she is one promotion away from being eligible for the top position in her agency-not only her dream job, but the best of the best- to be the first female head of this particular government agency. She needed something major to happen to give her the final push-and she believed that her academy buddy could provide her with that final edge.
Down had put together the perfect team for her agency-hand-picked, top-notch men and women who are the best at what they do. All she needed was Rigsby to complete her dream team. Rigsby was the best arson specialist and undercover operations cop that she could get to easily and cheaply. He really was the best-she watched him while he was at the CBI-his reaction to the pain-in-the-ass consultant there had made him perfect. He followed all the schemes of the consultant and got the job done at the best of his ability-perfect for a disposible undercover agent. Her superior wanted to make sure that Rigsby was the best for the jon-so they gave him an initiation of sorts-to slip away from his current team unnoticed and commit a crime they couldn't solve-all while doing a task that the agency needed done-he exceeded expectation, but still had one flaw-he had a low drug tolerance and thus, acted irresponsibly. That flaw could be worked out with further training though. Down still marvelled at the fact that Rigsby went all out and burned down her old stomping ground-the first observation tower she was stationed at while on the Border Patrol. She was now waiting to meet him here in Alburquerque.
Lisbon and Cho went back to the hotel after they paid their bill for dinner. Lisbon still looked troubled, and when they got back in the hotel, she called Van Pelt and Jane in for a team meeting.
"Alright guys, there has been an incident at the CBI, and we have to go back early, since that has more priority than this. Bosco's team has found something really big in the Red John case, and there was a security breach in the building. Minneli has requested that we return tomorrow."
