Hey guys… sorry I haven't updated this in a while. I've been so busy lately. But look on the bright side at least it didn't take me as long to post this as it did the last time I posted.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Mentalist, sadly and any mistakes are mine

Lured Chapter 4: Sexy Couple

The door squeaked as Jane and Lisbon walked into the lobby of the motel room. The clerk behind the damaged front desk didn't even look up. He was too engrossed in whatever dirty magazine he was reading. The gray blue paint was peeling off the walls. The coffee counter had bugs flying and crawling everywhere. And to top it all off, there was a bad odor, a mix between what Jane and Lisbon thought to be spoiled milk, raw meat, and dirty sweat socks, that surrounded the room. Who would want to stay here? As Jane and Lisbon approached the front desk, the clerk lifted his head quickly flipped pages of a magazine closed and shoved it under the front desk and gave them a creepy smile. "How can I help the sexy couple? Are you here for a special occasion, or just pleasure? Can I interest you in the honeymoon suit? It has a complementary hot tub great for…"

"We're not looking for a room, Mr. Smith. We work for the CBI. My name is Senior Agent Teresa Lisbon and this is my consultant Patrick Jane. We have a couple of questions for you concerning the death of the young woman in room 403."

"Yes, hello. How can I be of assistance?"

"Mr. Smith, where were you between the midnight and five in the morning?" Lisbon questioned.

"Here, sitting at the desk, watching some television. It gets slow around here, so I spend most of my nights watching the news and a few sitcoms here and there."

"And read the porn magazines that you have hiding in the third drawer to the left." Jane stated causing the clerk to blush.

"JANE!" Did he always have to call everyone's bluff? What did the clerk's possession of porn magazines have to do with the death of Ashley Green? Lisbon was already getting irritated with him.

"What? How dare you? What kind of police officer are you?" The clerk defended himself.

"He's not actually an officer of the law, he's a consultant. He has a hard time controlling his outbursts. That was uncalled for. I apologize. Would you mind continuing?" Lisbon glared at the laughing consultant and then drew her attention back to the clerk.

"Anyways, as I was saying, I don't do much around here. I only check people in, which is a small amount. And go upstairs if someone needs something. So with the lack of guests, I have to find other ways to preoccupy my time with."

"Why did you go upstairs to room 403?"

"Well…"

"He was promised sex." Jane blurted.

"Jane…"

"It's obvious! He knew exactly what was going on, and in return for not turning Ashley into the police, he was bribed with sex." Jane proudly stated, knowing he was right.

"Is this right, Mr. Smith?"

"No," Lisbon glared at him, "Well, yes."

"Did Ashley bribe you or did the person she was with?"

"I never actually saw the girl come in. There's this guy that always comes in and pays for the rooms. He dresses real nice, normally a blazer and designer jeans. He always pays for the rooms in cash. Lots of cash. I believe he goes by McFly."

"So McFly is a pimp?" Jane asked, this case was getting interesting.

"You could call him that."

"Does he come here often?" Lisbon inquired. "Finally a possible suspect," she thought to herself.

"Quite a bit. Brings different girls too. Sometimes he purchases two or three rooms a night."

"So in order to keep the prostitution under the radar, McFly promises you sex?"

"Pretty much. I know its wrong, but when you're not getting any for a while you do crazy things to get some. And man can I say that it's totally worth going against the law. McFly's lady friends are fine, and most importantly great in bed. But the past couple of times, the girls have left without keeping the promise."

"So you wanted to make sure that you got your cut of the deal tonight." Jane said piecing everything together.

"Hey, you can't blame a man for wanting to romp around with beautiful girls. So when I went up to get what was rightfully mine, I unlocked the door and entered the dark room. I turned on the lights and there she was, lying on the bed, dead. I was very disappointed."

"So you never saw the man Ashley was with at all last night?"

"Nope, just like I said before, McFly paid for the room at night, disappeared off to wherever he goes when his clients have sex and then when I got to the room in the morning, no one was there except the dead girl."

Jane looked around the lobby, eyes catching the video camera blinking in the corner, "Can we see the footage of the video cameras you have in the building?"

"The cameras on the side of our buildings are there for show, they don't really work. They're too expensive to keep up. And since the lobby isn't connected to the rooms, people enter and leave their rooms without me noticing." They knew they weren't going to get any more information from the clerk that would help solve the case.

"Thank you for your time, Mr. Smith. We'll keep in touch." Jane and Lisbon exited the lobby walking toward their CBI issued vehicle.

"Wow… that guy was a creep. And not very helpful."

"Yeah, but he got one thing right."

"What's that?"

"We do make a sexy couple." Lisbon stopped in her tracks, "Did I just here Jane correctly? Does he think we make a sexy couple?"

"Yeah right, you and me? Never in a million years." Lisbon glanced at Jane and thought she had saw a hurt expression on his face. What was up with him lately? Ever since this case had come up, he's seemed different. She shook the comment off and got into the driver's side. Jane followed her.

Lisbon started the car as Jane spoke, "You're right. That guy doesn't know what he's talking about." Lisbon's immediate denial intrigued him. "If he thinks that I would think about seducing you in a grungy motel room like the ones here, he's extremely wrong." Jane paused, smiling. "I would at least take you to a four star hotel." Lisbon quizzically looked at him in awe. "Did I hear him correctly? Does he want to seduce me? No. It couldn't be. He was probably just trying to tease me like normal." She opened her mouth to let out a remark but she was rudely interrupted by the buzzing coming from her cell phone. Jane snickered as she rolled her eyes and answered the phone. He had definitely gotten to her.

"Lisbon. Okay we'll be there in a bit." Jane looked over at her quizzically, "That was Van Pelt. She thinks they may have found a lead."

Jane and Lisbon exited the elevator and headed to the bullpen. They wondered what type of information Van Pelt had. Hopefully it was something that would wrap the case up quicker. At the moment it seemed like the case would never end.

"Van Pelt, what did you find?"

"Well, we were able to trace our victim's credit card. The last place she bought something at was the Rustic Tavern. The bar is a couple blocks away from the motel."

"What did she buy?"

"A couple drinks,"

"Probably to let loose," Jane commented.

"So why is the bar so important?" Lisbon inquired. Van Pelt would never mention something so minor if it wasn't important to the case.

"Well, as I was looking through the data base, I came across two other cases, very similar to our case. So I looked at the records of the two other girls, and both had also had last transactions at the same bar. One bought cigarettes, the other alcohol."

"So, you're thinking that the murderer was at the bar. That's how they meet him/her."

"Exactly."

"Well, then, I guess I should go run this by Laroche. I'll be back within the hour."

Jane was lying peacefully on his couch when he heard the all too familiar footsteps of Lisbon coming down the hall. He opened his eyes and peaked through have opened eyelids to see he enter her office, shutting the door and the blinds. He couldn't help but notice how tired she looked. It had been a long unsuccessful day. And to make matters worse, Lisbon had to update Laroche on the case. He probably wasn't too happy at the lack of evidence and suspects. Jane stretched and got up from the couch. He decided that after he makes some tea for himself and a coffee for her, he'll go into her office to try and cheer her up. He hated seeing her so drained.

Jane entered Lisbon's office, tea cup in one hand and a coffee mug in the other. He smiled as Lisbon looked up and placed the coffee mug in front of her.

"Here, looked like you needed it after your meeting."

"Thanks, Jane." She held the warm cup in both hands, inhaling the bitter smell. She took a sip, and a quiet moan escaped her lips. She hoped Jane didn't notice, but by the small smile on his lips she knew he noticed. He didn't comment on it which pleased her. Sometimes the man could be so sweet.

"What did he say?"

"Laroche? He wants me to go undercover at the Rustic Tavern."

"Why do you have to do it?"

"Because I'm experienced at undercover work, and it's simpler for one of our team members to go undercover so that we don't need to debrief anyone or ruin catching the murderer."

"Why can't Van Pelt do that? She fits profiles of the victims more than you do. Lets face it, Lisbon, you're not twenty anymore." Lisbon rolled her eyes and punched him on the arm. "Ouch."

"Laroche ordered me to do this because he doesn't think Grace is experienced enough to deal with a supposed serial killer. He thinks its too much of a risk, and frankly so do I. I don't want to risk my team's safety. Me going undercover is the only option we have of getting the killer and keeping everyone safe."

"But risking your own life isn't unreasonable?" He stood up angrily. Shoot, he went too far. Damn. Lately he had no control of his words when it came to speaking to Lisbon. What was wrong with him?

"Jane, it's my job to put myself at risk. I much rather be in control of a situation then have someone inexperienced in control. It'll be fine. You and I have done much worse. Why are you so bothered by this?"

He didn't know why this was bothering him so much. Internally he wanted to say, "Because I care about you and don't want to see you get hurt" but settled for "Because… because I am. I just think that there are other people who could be a lot more convincing." Heavens forbid she finds out that he might have more than friendship feelings towards her. Wait did I just say that? I don't really mean that do I?

"Whatever, Jane. Can you please leave so I can wrap up some stuff?" I'll show him how well I can pull this off. Lisbon stubbornly thought.

Jane unwillingly left. He lay down on the couch and closed his eyes. He was angry, frustrated, and confused. He was angry at Laroche for picking Lisbon to go undercover. He was frustrated that Lisbon couldn't see the harm in putting herself in danger. And he was confused because he just admitted to himself that he cared more about Lisbon then he originally thought. He cared more than just a concerned friend, which scared him. This case was doing something to him, and he didn't like it. He had a bad feeling about this.

TBC…

NEXT CHAPTER: When Lisbon said she was going undercover, it didn't register to him that going under cover would entail Lisbon walking around a grungy bar wearing a lacy next to nothing red dress that hugged her every curve. She definitely was proving to him that she was fit for the job. He also wasn't prepared for anger to set in every time some pervert ogled her or hit on her. And he definitely wasn't prepared to see the tough senior agent flirt with such perverts. It unnerved Jane. Jane didn't like this one bit and he was going to do something about it.

So I don't really know how I feel about this chapter. I don't know if this is exactly the way I wanted this chapter to go but let me know what you think!