A/N: Thanks so much to penguincrazy, msdarque, Gone2Far, SlasherrGirl, Avenacookie, joniskpelare, Serpa. Sas, Artemis Sparks and rya13 for the reviews! And thanks to everyone who added this to alerts and favorites as well ;) I really appreciate the support and feedback guys! It means a lot!

And now… onto chapter four! Yayz ;)

So… Jane and Reid (and Prentiss and Morgan) are going to meet for a little chat, exciting huh? Yep, I'm delusional and deranged but that has nothing to do w/this…

Please review! I always appreciate feedback of all kinds!

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Chapter Four

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Prentiss and Morgan were watching Reid carefully as they entered the small, bustling little coffee shop. He seemed together enough, but they knew the young man and they knew that he was better at concealing emotional turmoil than he sometimes let on. Bad things happened to him all the time and he'd gotten good at hiding his own personal demons over the years… They just hoped that he wasn't shoving all of his grief and pain inwards because that never led anyone anywhere good.

"Do you see him?" Prentiss asked, looking around the shop. There weren't any free tables, most of them taken up by young businessmen and women working away on laptops, trying to make a name for themselves, chattering away on cell phones.

Reid's eyes skimmed the shop and he nodded, "Right over there." He pointed to a blond man grinning and waving at him, sitting at a small table near a window in the corner, a coffee sitting in front of one of the empty seats, a cup of tea between the fingers of his free hand.

They made their way toward him and he smiled brightly, "Dr. Reid, you brought friends… colleagues of yours, I presume."

"Um, yes. This is Emily Prentiss and Derek Morgan." Reid introduced them as they took their seats. "How did you know they work with me?"

"Well they're both wearing their guns." Jane motioned to the guns concealed at the agents' hips, "And of course they both sort of scream 'cop', don't they?" A small smile twitched on his lips and he pointed to the coffee.

"I bought you a coffee, if I'd known you were bringing your friends I would've ordered them something too, but –"

"Don't worry about it." Morgan shook his head. "We're fine." A faint smile ghosted his lips and he looked to Reid, "Hope they got it sweet enough for boy genius here."

Reid rolled his eyes and fiddled with the lid on the cup before clearing his throat. "You, uh, you said you wanted to talk to me about something, Agent Jane."

"Oh, I'm not an agent." Jane shook his head, "No gun, see." He pushed his jacket back to reveal the fact that he indeed wore no weapon at his hip. "I'm a consultant."

"A consultant?" Prentiss raised a brow. "What exactly do you do?"

Jane smiled a bit, "Read minds. Catch killers. Bring justice to those who deserve it. You know, that sort of thing."

"Read minds?" Morgan looked skeptical. "You're one of those psychics who help cops?"

"No. There's no such thing as psychics." Jane shrugged. "I observe people. It's easy enough to tell what someone is thinking if you study their behavior."

"You profile them." Reid nodded, "Makes sense. Explains why you're so certain Red John didn't kill Lila."

"Yes, it does." Jane nodded. "Red John doesn't leave ribbons behind. He kills his victims, paints the smiley face, sets the stage for the scene to be discovered and he leaves. No extra finesse, no ribbon. There's no need. And he only breaks that pattern if it's personal or something unexpected happens."

"You think it wasn't Red John because a ribbon was left behind?" Prentiss sounded unsure and Jane turned to scrutinize her, her dark eyes fixing themselves on his for a long moment. He was briefly reminded of Lisbon, the way she stared so intensely. But of course, Prentiss was much taller than Lisbon and her eyes were dark, almost black, not green.

"Yes I do." Jane nodded seriously. "He doesn't make mistakes, so this isn't a mistake. He doesn't leave ribbons behind, it's not Red John."

"It does make sense." Morgan said, "If he's never done it before, he likely wouldn't change things now. How long has he been killing?"

"Since 1998." Jane answered, his voice a bit tighter. Reid frowned and narrowed his eyes, watching as Jane's pulse quickened ever so slightly and his entire demeanor seemed to change, his eyes a bit more intense, his voice harsher, throat tighter. "He's killed 20 people, including four CBI agents less than a year ago through a woman inside and then he killed her while she was in custody."

"A man with reach." Prentiss murmured.

"Yes, exactly. Reach and influence somewhere."

"Twenty victims from 1998 to now? That's a long stretch of time." Morgan murmured. "Not impatient, irrational and no sign of devolution. Very controlled."

"Very." Jane's voice was still tight and Reid frowned, still silent and watching the blond man with keen, observant eyes. "But this wasn't him. I think it was someone close to Lila who worked very, very hard to make it seem like it was Red John, but they couldn't resist adding their own little touch, their own secret message, if you will. The real killer is someone Lila knew, someone she likely trusted. And someone you knew too, Dr. Reid."

Reid blinked, "Me?"

"Yes. You knew Lila's friends, didn't you?"

"Of course, but… Lila, she… she didn't really have a lot of friends, socially. She was either working or resting most of the time. Her agent, Celia, a few actors from her show and the couple of movies she's made, that's it really. No family, nothing like that."

"She's been in movies?" Jane raised a brow. "Which movies?"

Reid looked confused, "Um… Lilith's Rose and Redemption for the Devil. Lilith's Rose was a made-for-TV thing she did a few years ago and Redemption for the Devil actually just finished shooting about a month ago, it hasn't even been released yet."

"Huh… you wouldn't happen to know the plot of either of the movies, would you?"

"Lilith's Rose was a romantic-drama about a woman who left her husband when he cheated on her and later finds out he'd dying of cancer and forgives him and they eventually get back together. I… I haven't seen the entire movie. And all I know about Redemption for the Devil is what Lila told me, which wasn't much. She was playing a woman named Tara Morn… apparently she snaps and kills her husband and someone else was convicted and years later some cop starts looking into things and finds out the truth. It…" he swallowed and looked down at the coffee cup between his fingers. "She said it was going to be her 'big break', really get her name out there, you know?"

Tears welled up in his eyes and he forced a sob back down his throat. Prentiss and Morgan eyed him sadly and Prentiss gently rubbed his hand, not knowing exactly what to say at a time like this one.

Jane watched the young man and looked down, a flitter of guilt crossing his mind as he swallowed and looked back up. "Interesting." He mused. "I'd certainly love to see it…" Morgan and Prentiss gave him shocked looks but he brushed them off. "Dr. Reid, can you think of anyone who would want to hurt Lila? Anyone at all?"

"She… when we met, the first time, I was working a case and she was being stalked. As far as I know, she's still in prison but Lila had been acting paranoid lately. She wouldn't say why, but when she called I knew something was wrong. Something happened and it scared her."

Reid grimaced and his grip on the cup grew tighter. "If I'd just gotten there sooner…"

"If you'd gotten there sooner it's likely the killer would've just killed you both." Jane told him. "I mean, you said you didn't have your gun and you… well, honestly, you don't look like you could've very well fought them off yourself."

"Watch it, man." Morgan frowned at him but Reid waved it off, shrugging and smiling a bitter, sad smile.

"True… but at least I could've tried." His eyes got distant. "Trying and failing is better than never trying at all."

Jane smiled, nodding. "Tell me something, Doctor, if you were to find yourself in the position to do so, would you kill whoever killed Lila?"

Reid's eyes snapped to Jane's face and he studied him again, hazel eyes delving deep into blue ones for a long, somewhat tense moment as Morgan and Prentiss shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

"Yes, I would. And falling short of that, I'll do everything and anything I can to make sure he suffers for this."

Jane nodded, looking thoughtful for a long moment.

Reid brushed hair out of his face and took a breath, "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, just curious is all. Revenge… I… I hear it's unhealthy."

Reid pursed his lips, "Maybe, but that doesn't stop you, does it?" he asked. His voice was quiet and gentle but Jane looked surprised, like Reid had just slapped him in the face.

"Wh-"

"Red John murdered someone close to you." Reid said slowly, speaking carefully. "Every time you mention him your pulse quickens, you start to sweat a bit, your pupils dilate and your voice hardens."

Jane's smile was as bitter and sad as Reid's had been. "You're very good." He said quietly. "I can see why you're a profiler now."

He cleared his throat and his fingers played with the rim of the tea cup for a moment, "Yes, Red John did kill someone close to me. He murdered my wife and child almost eight years ago."

Reid's eyes softened, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Jane's voice was tight, but he shrugged and did his best to look nonchalant. "It's my fault not yours. And I will find him and I will kill him eventually. It's only a matter of time."

"Red John killed your wife and child?" Morgan frowned, looking confused.

"Yes, he did." Jane nodded, staring into his tea rather than look up at the agents. "Because I said some things I shouldn't have about him on television and he decided it was necessary to punish me."

"It was personal." Reid's voice was still quiet. "You know, Mr. Jane, no one can truly predict how a psychopathic mind will react to something being said about them in the media. We take risks as profilers every time we talk to press about UnSubs because we could be encouraging them to kill more, to become more brazen, more violent. We never know. You can't blame yourself for how he reacted to whatever you said."

Jane shook his head. "I can. It was my fault. But right now, I'm trying to find out who killed Lila, so… I'm going to need you to do something for me, Dr. Reid."

Reid sighed, watching the man who was clearly suffering just as much, if not more than he was. He nodded, "Anything you need."

"Any copy you can get of Lilith's Rose and whoever was in it or auditioned for it and a copy of the script for Redemption for the Devil and a list of everyone who worked on it and auditioned for it."

"Why do you need that?" Prentiss frowned, confused.

"I have a theory." Jane said simply. "But I'm not sure yet and I need to confirm it. So… would you mind?"

"I can try but I doubt I could get a copy of the script…"

"What about Lila's copy?"

Reid blinked, nodding slowly. "She may have kept it in the house. I could check."

"Excellent." Jane grinned. "Thank you for meeting with me, Doctor. Agents." He nodded to Morgan and Prentiss as he stood, digging his cell phone out of his pocket quickly and glancing at the screen. "Duty calls." He shrugged as he picked up his jacket. "I'll be in touch."

~/.\~

"Miss Jorge, thank you for coming in this morning." Van Pelt and Lisbon sat down across from the woman at a table in the bullpen in the LAPD.

"Of course," Celia nodded with a smile. "It's the least I could do. I'm so sorry for running out on you last night, Agent Lisbon, a client of mine needed my help and I had to be there."

"Not a problem, ma'am." Lisbon said easily. She felt much better after a long and for once peaceful night's sleep. Though the absence of Jane was worrying, she pushed it from her mind and focused on talking to Celia. "We just have a few more questions about Lila."

"Anything you need to know."

"She was doing pretty well as an actress, correct?"

"Yes, she was." Celia nodded. "Her show just ended its fourth season and was picked up for a fifth. She's even made a couple of movies. She was definitely moving up career-wise."

Lisbon nodded, "We looked into her past, she's been in a couple of other smaller television shows before, correct?"

"Yes, they lasted a season or two generally; there wasn't a lot of viewer interest." Celia explained. "But it was a good start to her career. We were actually in the process of re-negotiating her contract. She was offered a new movie role last month and it would've interfered with her show, we were in the final processes of working out the new contract. As a matter of fact, we were supposed to go in this afternoon to finish."

"A new movie role?" Van Pelt asked. "What film?"

Celia smiled, "Crimson Tides. Shooting was scheduled to start in a month." Her face fell and she sighed. "She was excited, it's the biggest thing she's done so far and coupled with the release of Redemption for the Devil she was almost guaranteed to be a house-hold name in no time."

"So she was moving up, probably beat out a lot of other actresses for the role." Lisbon mused. "Was anyone overly upset about it? Angry?"

Celia frowned, "No, not that I can think of. The producer came to me asking me to pitch the idea to Lila, as far as I know, no one else auditioned for the part. You could talk to Harvey Bulkwright, the producer, he may know for sure. Or the casting director."

Lisbon frowned, "What about outside of work? Was there anything odd going on that you could see? Strange phone calls? Notes? Emails? Anything out of the ordinary?"

"No, like I said last night. Everything was totally normal." Celia insisted. "She got fan mail, the occasional gift but nothing that seemed strange. And believe me, she was always on the lookout for anything strange."

"Why's that?" Van Pelt asked, raising a brow.

Celia sighed, "A few years ago Lila was being stalked. Her stalker killed her agent at the time, two other actresses and very nearly killed Lila. Maggie, I believe Spencer said her name was. Lila didn't talk about it much, but she was very careful about security and Spencer was always just a phone call away if something did happen. Nothing ever did, of course."

Lisbon tilted her head thoughtfully, "A stalker?" she jotted the name Maggie down and made a note to ask Spencer about that later. She started to ask another question when her cell phone buzzed and she sighed. "Excuse me."

She left Van Pelt to finish talking to Celia and stepped into an empty office. "Lisbon."

"Boss, it's Rigsby. We just finished up with the medical examiner…"

"Anything useful?" Lisbon asked hopefully, turning to glance out the blinds, watching Van Pelt and Celia.

"It looks like Jane was right. The cuts were similar to Red John's but according to the ME the weapon used to cut her wasn't the same as what Red John uses. She says it's closer to a butcher knife. Bigger, definitely. And there was no indication that a taser was used, unlike most of Red John's other kills. No ligature marks either. Lila was hit behind the head and was either barely conscious or out cold when she was killed. There aren't any signs of defensive wounds on her body."

Lisbon shut her eyes. "Damn it." She muttered. "Alright, fine. Listen, we may have something useful. Harvey Bulkwright was producing a new movie that Lila was supposed to be in. He might know something. Find out who else auditioned for the part and if there was any bad blood between Lila and any of the actors. I'll get Van Pelt to send you the address."

"You got it boss."

"Great. And have you seen Jane?"

"Not since last night, why?"

Lisbon sighed, frowning, "No reason. He's just disappeared again. Call me whenever you have something." Lisbon snapped the phone shut and frowned, staring at the two women sitting at the table across from her for a moment before making her way back to them.

"Miss Jorge, do you happen to have Harvey Bulkwright's address?"

"Yes I do, why?"

"Van Pelt, get it and send it to Cho and Rigsby, alright." Lisbon ordered. "Thank you so much for coming in Miss Jorge, I'm sure you're busy. If we need to speak with you again we'll call you."

Lisbon watched the red headed woman leave before flipping her phone open again and dialing Jane's number.

"Ah, Lisbon, good morning. You're up awfully late."

Lisbon shut her eyes and took a breath. "Jane, where are you?"

"Oh, I was just finishing coffee with the good doctor, actually."

"You were talking to Dr. Reid?"

"Yes, I needed a favor. Is it a crime?"

Lisbon sighed, "No, Jane, it's not a crime. But right now, Dr. Reid hasn't been excluded from our list of suspects, do you understand?"

"Dr. Reid is innocent and it would save everyone time if you took him off your list of non-existent suspects, Lisbon."

"Until the I get evidence to the contrary, I can't do that Jane, you know that." She tapped her fingers against the phone and licked her lips. "But… You were probably right about this not being Red John. Autopsy results confirmed it doesn't fit his usual pattern."

"See, I told you, Lisbon. I'm never wrong." Jane said, a hint of smugness in his tone. She could almost hear that annoying grin of his on his face.

"Don't start, Jane." Lisbon ground her teeth together. "You need to come in. Now. We've got work to do. Apparently Lila had a stalker a few years ago, we need to find her and see if she's any threat."

"Oh I doubt that. Dr. Reid said she was still in prison."

"Oh he did, did he? And how would he know that?"

"He's an FBI agent, Lisbon." Jane said, "He worked the case, it's how they met in the first place. Jeesh, you'd think it was illegal to date a murder victim the way you're going after the kid."

"I'm not going after anyone, Jane, I'm looking at the facts. Right now, we don't know who did this, but he is a suspect until we can exclude him. Are we clear?"

"Clear as mud, Lisbon." Jane said merrily. "You go fumbling around blindly, I'll work on finding the killer."

"Jane…" Lisbon warned. "Get your ass in here now. I'm not kidding."

"Alright, alright. Calm down. I'm on my way. And I brought you some coffee."

"They have coffee here at the station."

"Meh, that's police station coffee. I brought you coffee-house coffee. Much better; you'll thank me for it later."

"Whatever, just get in here."

"Your wish is my command, mistress." Jane chuckled lightly as he hung up and Lisbon shook her head, slipping the phone back into her pocket. She decided that no matter how long she worked with Patrick Jane there was no way he'd ever become less irritating. There was no way to become immune to his very acute skills of annoyingness.

~/.\~

Reid, Prentiss and Morgan remained at the table after Jane left, talking animatedly on his cell phone. Morgan and Prentiss exchanged worriedly glances before turning back to Reid, who was staring at the table, his hands folded in front of him, brows creased.

"Reid…" Prentiss leaned forward, "Are you sure you're ok?"

Reid blinked, looking up at her as if just remembering that she was there. "Of course I'm not ok, Prentiss." Reid's voice was harsher than usual and he looked away sharply. "Lila's dead and her killer is still out there, how do you think I am?"

Prentiss sighed, "I'm sorry, Reid I didn't –"

"I'm sorry." Reid interrupted her, his shoulders sagging as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I just… I don't know what to feel right now. I… She's gone and it hurts but I'm so… tangled up. I'm angry and sad and …"

"Guilty?" Morgan supplied quietly. Reid's hazel eyes met his sadly and he nodded without a word. Morgan sighed, "Kid, listen to me, this isn't your fault. Jane's right, if you had shown up on time, you and Lila would both likely be dead. Don't beat yourself up about something you have no control over."

Reid sighed, "I… I know your right, but I just.. I can't help but ask myself 'What if?' you know? She called me two days ago, what if I'd gotten on a plane then instead of waiting?"

"Reid," Prentiss shook her head. "Lila didn't say she was in danger, she just asked you to come because it was important. We were wrapping up that case in Philadelphia then. You had to wait until we got back to leave."

"You know you can't change what happened." Morgan told him. "Asking 'what if?' never gets you anywhere, Reid. The past is the past. What you can do is what you said you were going to do: Find out who did this and make sure that they get punished for it."

Reid nodded absently, his thin fingers wrapped around the foam cup of coffee. He hadn't even taken a sip of it yet, but somehow holding onto the cup made him feel a bit more grounded and less crazy and jumbled up than he truly was and so he gripped it like his life depended on it.

"And, uh…" Prentiss met Morgan's eye again before turning to look at Reid, "Maybe try to not kill the guy, Reid. I mean… I get why you want to but… you'd only end up in prison and Lila wouldn't want that for you."

Reid's eyes were hard as he gazed back at Prentiss and for the first time since she'd met the young genius she felt a bit afraid of him. His eyes were dark and unmoving, angry, bitter, sad and maybe a little bit wild.

"I will do whatever I can to make sure that his pays for what he did to her, Prentiss. Whatever it takes. I'll do it; Lila deserves that much from me."

Prentiss nodded shakily, unsure if she was imaging the dark threat in the usually upbeat, goofy, awkward and sweet young doctor. Her eyes met Morgan's and the message was clear as day: they had a lot more to worry about than just finding Lila's killer and it wasn't going to be easy to stop Reid from doing something stupid if he got the chance.

~M/CM~

A/N2: Wow… Wrote all of that in one sitting. Very much enjoyed writing this chapter, though it got a bit emotional in some places. Very fun to write all the same.

I hope you guys enjoyed it! I'm pleased with it, but I wanna know what y'all think. Let me know, pretty please review! The little blue button says he'll be your best friend if you click on him ;)