Hi guys, here is the new chapter! Thank you all so much for reading and thanks to those of you who had reviewed! Your words make me incredibly happy! :)
I really hope you will like this chapter!
Oh, and to those who read this story because of the angst in the first chapter, don't worry… We will get there! Oh, we will…;) I just wanted to wirte some fun, fluffy, happy things first!
A giant thanks belongs to MarvelDC superhero fan for beta reading!
Disclaimer: I wish I could own it, but it's not mine…
The next morning, I stepped out of the elevator with both hands full of stuff. In my right, I had the a nice pile of paperwork and my coffee. And in the other, I had the dresses we bought yesterday. The plastic bag was surprisingly heavy for two cocktail dress.
I made it to my office before anything fell down and released a relieved sigh.
"Wonderful day, isn't it Lisbon?" came the voice of Jane from the door. I could imagine his oversized grin on his face as he spoke. "How are you today?"
It was tempting to say 'Ready to shoot you' but I decided against it. Maybe I could be a little more optimistic. Maybe Jane won't drive me crazy today...
"Fine thanks! Care to tell me that plan of yours?" I asked while I carefully put the plastic bag on me desk and turned to face him.
"Sure, I heard you had a pretty good time with Grace yesterday!" he sat down on my couch and smiled at me.
"Yes, and we bought the two dresses, just as you asked," I rolled my eyes and sat on the edge of my desk. "So, your plan?"
"Right, you and I are going to go to that club and do a little undercover work. We need to find that guy who was fighting with Boyton. I told Rigsby to call the owner of the bar and tell him that they can re-open. We should wait a day and start tommorow. I hope we can find him instantly, but we may need more time... Once we find him, we need to get a confession out of him and that's it," he shrugged like it was so easy.
"Jane, you know I don't think this is a good idea.." I started. "We should simply search his name back in the payments, and send a unit out to arrest him," I said and he looked at me incredulously.
"Lisbon, do you really think he would tell us the story if we question him in here? From what Monica said, he's not a piece of cake. He must be a tough guy, Lisbon. It would be so much easier to get him talk when he has some alcohol in him and he's in a familiar place. We give him an opportunity to boast about it and he'll tell us everything!" Jane argued, and I had to agree with him.
"Jane... You know how I feel about these plans..." I said in a pained tone.
"Believe me, this will work! Now, show me those dresses!" he stood up and came closer.
"Oh, no! No way, you have to wait until tomorrow!" I let out a wicked chuckle and his eyes widened in shock.
"What? Lisbon, that's not fair!" he whined.
"Life's not fair; deal with it!" I shrugged and he made a face.
He turned on his heels and walked out, heading to the kitchen. I followed, but I went to the bullpen to ask Cho about the victim's financials.
That afternoon I was waiting for a phone call from the lab. We sent down Boyton's cell and they promised the results for today.
So, when the telephone on my desk rang, I answered it, thinking it must be one of the technics.
"Lisbon!" I said while I closed a document on my computer.
"Agent Lisbon, this is Dr. Mike Steel from the morgue. I would like you to come here as soon as possible. It's about the case of Martin Boyton." I heard the deep voice of a man from the phone.
"All right, I can be there in 10 minutes." I offered and tried to hide my surprise. It was quite rare that we were called to the morgue.
"Thank you! And Agent Lisbon? You shouldn't come with Jane!" the man said before hanging up.
I sat in my chair for a minute in stunned silence. Why on Earth shouldn't I bring Jane with me? Actually, I wasn't even planning to bring him, since I was still mad at him for the whole undercover thing. But this warning made me rather uneasy.
I went out into the bullpen and saw my team. Apart from Jane, who was taking a nap on his couch, everyone was working.
I stepped to Cho's desk and leaned down.
"Hey Cho? Can I ask you to come to the morgue with me?" I said in a lowered voice, so only he could hear it.
"Sure; why?" he whispered back. I saw that both Risgby and VanPelt noticed the conversation but none of them said a word.
"I'll tell you in the car! Let's go!" I told Cho and without further questioning he nodded and followed me to the garage.
As we got into the car I could feel his expectant eyes on me and without turning to him, I took a breath.
"An M.E. called from the morgue about Boyton. He asked me to go and told me not to bring Jane. I thought it was weird." I didn't want to tell him that I was a bit afraid to go alone, and that's why I asked him to come with me. But it wasn't necessary. Cho understood without saying.
We rode in silence until we got to the morgue. It wasn't a long trip and being quiet next to Cho wasn't awkward at all. Interesting how he had an aura of calmness and stability.
When we arrived, he walked beside me wordlessly and even as we searched the door number 23 inside to find Dr. Steel, he never said anything.
"Agent Lisbon! Thank you for coming, I have a feeling this will interest you..." the M.E. greeted us.
"Dr. Steel, this is my colleague Agent Cho!" I introduced him and Cho nodded professionally. "Can I ask why did you call me down here?"
"Yes, I was examining your latest victim, Martin Boyton," he started and motioned to the table in the middle of the room, with the corpse of Boyton on it. "I didn't find anything unusual at first sight. Then, I turned him over. You know we always have to write down every little bit of information about the body before the actual autopsy and that's when I noticed it..." Dr. Steel explained as we stepped closer to the table. The M.E. put on plastic gloves and grabbed the dead man's shoulder. He lifted Boyton up enough to let me see his left scapula.
I couldn't really make out the small tattoo on his back, so I leaned closer and focused my eyes on the red figure.
When I realized what it was, I gasped and my head was spinning.
"Oh my God!" I murmured and Cho stepped forward to see it too. As soon as he straightened up, he searched my eyes and I could see the unspoken questions that were swirling in my head too.
It was, without doubt a little, red smiling face. A symbol we both knew too well. A symbol that caused so much heartbreak already. A symbol that only meant pain.
The sign of Red John.
"So, what are we going to do now, Boss?" Cho asked as we walked out of the building and headed for the SUV in the parking lot. I asked Dr. Steel to keep the information classified until we found out what it meant.
"I don't know, Cho. I know it's a lot to ask, but please don't tell the others yet. Jane would go nuts if he found out this case is related to Red John in any way."
"Sure; as you want, Boss," he nodded without protesting. I really appreciated his behavior, the fact that he trusted my judgement.
"Just until I make some sense out of it," I promised as we sat into the car.
The rest of the journey was spent again in silence, and this time I was even relieved that I could think.
Red John? What the hell? I couldn't believe we were again in this situation, in this endless, dark hole! I just wished I didn't have to tell Jane at all. He would get all grim and self-accusatory. No matter how much trouble he caused me, I still hated to see him hurt.
When we got to the CBI, I thanked Cho and went into my office. I locked the door and sat at my desk. My head started to ache and I knew I had to tell the others about the tattoo, probably soon. God, I hated to lie!
I didn't notice how quickly the time passed, and when VanPelt knocked on my door I jumped in bewilderment. I looked at my watch automatically and a silent curse left my lips as I realized that I was sitting in there for more than an hour. All that time, my thoughts were running around in my brain and I wasn't able to come up with a suitable solution.
"Come in!" I called out and the redhead appeared with a smile and a mug in her right hand.
"Hi Boss. I brought you coffee." she held up the mug and I waved her closer "Is everything all right?" she asked and she eyed me carefully while she put the beverage in front of me.
"Sure, thanks VanPelt! How are we on Boyton's phone records?" I changed the subject.
She looked a bit confused for a second then composed herself and opened the folder in her hand.
"Good, actually! We found a couple of suspicious looking calls from different burner phones. There are many calls from this month and the previous but the interesting thing is, the numbers change from time to time. You see, it's like a pattern, every other day or every third day. Like someone didn't want to leave a clue. Somebody called him twice from the same number the day he died. Rigsby is trying to track these down, but after that we'll check out the other calls too!" she said and she put a paper full of numbers on my desk.
"Thank you; that's wonderful!" I mumbled and I knew I sounded distracted but in that moment I couldn't do anything about it. I forced out a smile before I sipped the coffee. VanPelt glanced at me again before she turned and left.
The hot drink burned my throat but I welcomed it with a slight groan. I mused about how good the coffee tasted and then I let my mind wonder about more unimportant things. I remembered that I really had to do my laundry, then I made a mental note to call my brother about his birthday. Just some stuff that kept my mind off the Red John thing.
Unfortunately, it didn't last for a long time. With a sigh I put my mug down and reached for the phone records of the late Martin Boyton. I had a worrying suspicion that these odd phone calls were connected to Red John. I didn't want my agents to find out about it before I told them, but it was clear that I couldn't stop them from investigating. That would be way out of line…
With a sigh I pushed myself up from my chair and I turned to the bullpen. I had to tell them. I knew what it would cause. Jane would frown, turn into himself, close up and be all dark again. He would get all worked up about catching Red John, he would be obsessed with the serial killer. He would immerse himself in his grief and guilt about his past. Again.
That was the main reason I wanted to keep this a secret for a little bit. He seemed kind of happy now. He was in his element, all playful and cheeky about this case. A victim with a wife and a fiancée and a daughter from another woman. It was the best case ever, for him. I could see how the wheels turned in his head when we were questioning Monica. And later in the car.
Okay, that wasn't entirely true. I didn't see the whole undercover plan coming, but I knew he had some plan.
This news about Red John would break him. And I didn't want to break him. I hated that he played me all the time, I hated that he made plans without being thoughtful of other people, but he was my friend. Most likely my best friend right now and friends don't do that. Friends don't break each other, they don't push each other into misery.
When I got to the main area of our floor, I saw my team around the big conference table. I stopped in my tracks to take in the sight. They were all leaning above the table where a huge pizza was cut into pieces. Rigsby had a wide grin on his face, one that made me want to smile too no matter what was troubling me. Across him sat Jane with his megawatt smile on his face and it made my heart warm, and I realized I was unable to tell him right then. He looked way too joyful to ruin it. VanPelt was handing out plates and cheerfully chatting with the guys.
Cho was a bit separated from them at the far end of the table. I walked closer and sat in the chair next to him. He looked at me and I saw that he was just as down and listless as I was. He offered a sympathetic pucker of his lips and I smiled at him sadly.
"Oh, Lisbon! How nice of you to join us!" I heard Jane's voice and I broke eye contact with Cho.
"Jane!" VanPelt chided him and she gave me a piece of pizza with a smile. "I'm glad you came out Boss!"
I accepted the food but I felt a sting of nausea as I remembered on that small red tattoo.
All evening, I walked around with this uncomfortable, twisted feeling deep in my stomach and nothing I did made it better. It didn't ease even when I got home.
I snuggled into the pillows on my couch in front of the TV and changed the channels until I found some comedy to take my mind off this mess.
I drifted off to sleep somewhere around the second commercial break in the movie and woke up in the middle of the night. Sweaty, hot and wound up from a nightmare, I reached for the remote and turned off the TV. Then I pushed myself up into a sitting position and ran my fingers through my disheveled hair. I tried to look around in the dark room and I stood up. I bumped into the end of the couch and yelped. My voice seemed to echo in the cold silence.
I shivered from the chilly air as I went towards my room. On the nightstand my clock showed 1:41 A.M.
I lay into bed and pulled my blanket up to my neck. For a minute, I listened to the sounds of the night. I was never afraid of the dark and never once worried about someone breaking into my home. I slept with a gun, for God's sake...
But in the late night silence, where nothing moved and everything seemed so unreal one single image flowed into my mind and it creeped me out. The small, red smiling face.
I squeezed my eyes shut and forced my mind to think about something else. Something happy. Anything but that...
I pushed my face into my pillow and I inhaled slowly, trying to calm my racing heartbeat and breathing.
Unsuccessfully.
I tossed and turned for another half an hour until I felt as if a train hit me. I rubbed my eyes and turned on my back.
"Damn!" I muttered and crawled out of bed. I searched for the light switch on the wall but somehow I couldn't find it. I gave up and wandered out to the kitchen in darkness.
With a grumpy face, I put the kettle on and slumped down into a chair. I rested my head in my hands until I heard the sound of boiling water.
I thought about doing my laundry then chased the idea away instantly. I had to get up at 7, and go to work. And I hated to work when I couldn't get decent amount of sleep. And tomorrow would be even worse, I realized as the whole undercover thing came into my mind.
I prepared a tea, all the while thinking about tomorrow. Or to be precise, later today, since it was after midnight...
After the tea I went back to my room. I felt wasted, and luckily, this time the moment my head hit the pillow I was out for good.
So, this was it! What do you think? It was quite a turn I suppose… I just thought this would be interesting! :)
I really hope you liked it, and please please review! Just a few words to let me know your opinion! It would truly mean the world to me! :) I try to answer all the reviews, or at least the ones you write while you are signed in… Though I really appreciate anonymus reviews too! Anyways, every review is an inspiration for me! :)
Also, thank you for reading this story, I'm grateful to have every single one of you guys!
I'll try to upload next chapter soon! :)
Until then, xxx