7
Red Eye
CBI Headquarters, Sacramento, CA
Caroline and Patrick were babbling about God knows what the next morning as Lisbon hesitated. She wouldn't be surprised if the girl never wanted to talk to her again. She'd had a shitty night sleep. She tossed and turned for hours, thinking about what Caroline had told her, and the look on her face when she did. And Jane. When Jane had talked to her afterward, he was seething. For a brief moment she thought he might strike her, not that she would blame him. When she went home that night she actually wished he had hit her.
Stop bein' a baby, Teresa, She told herself. Just go talk to her. She's rational. I mean, it's not like the girl's stupid…But she is a teenager.
She walked into the room, receiving the usual "Hi, Boss" from Rigsby, a polite smile from Van Pelt and a half-hearted wave from Cho. Caroline and Patrick didn't notice her.
"It was Syria." Caroline said, folding her arms.
"I'm telling you, it was Persia." Patrick retorted.
"No, Alexander the Great already had Persia. It was Syria."
"She's right." Cho said, still staring at his monitor.
"And how do you know?" Patrick asked.
"Google." Cho replied.
Caroline smiled triumphantly, batting her eyelashes. Patrick rolled his eyes
"Caroline," Lisbon said, gathering her courage. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" The girl nodded and stood, bouncing her way into the break room.
"What's up?" She asked, leaning against the counter. Lisbon sighed.
"I'm sorry, about yesterday. I shouldn't have pushed you so much. You had every right to yell at me. And I apologize that you even had to." Lisbon said.
Caroline chuckled and shook her head.
"To be honest, I'm angry with myself for losing my composure. I told myself I wouldn't do that if someone brought up my past." She said.
"Everyone's entitled to it every now and then." Lisbon stated. Caroline shook her head.
"Not me. It's one of my own personal rules, number one to be exact. My rules aren't ones to break. So I am sorry that I yelled at you. How could you have known about all of that? You couldn't."
"So…You aren't mad?" Lisbon asked.
"Hell no," Caroline said, sitting down and leaning back in the chair. "Life's too short to hold grudges. And I'm not about to hold one for something so stupid."
Lisbon smiled, happy her and the young girl were at peace. Van Pelt entered the break room to refill her coffee mug. She glanced at Lisbon and Caroline.
"It's fine, Grace," Caroline said. "There won't be anymore of those horrible incidents as long as I'm here." Van Pelt smiled lightly and filled her cup, relieved.
Caroline looked between the two of them, an amused smile that hardly ever left her face in place.
"Just ask me." She said.
"What do you mean?" Lisbon asked. Caroline giggled.
"Don't be coy, I know that you and Grace have been talking, now ask me." She said. Van Pelt sat down next to Lisbon, across from Caroline.
"So," Van Pelt said. "You obviously know our question. Do you?" Caroline grinned.
"No. I can see why you would think so, though. Don't get me wrong he is quite handsome, but thinking or feeling such things about him is senseless." She said.
"So, you don't have a crush on Patrick?" Lisbon asked. Caroline laughed.
"Do you have a crush on your father?" She asked. "That would be the equivalence in this situation." Lisbon smiled.
"Alright. We were just curious." She said.
"Oh, I can see where you would get your assumptions, but they are false, I'm sorry." She stood and skipped back into the office, plopping down next to Patrick.
"What was that about?" He asked. Caroline grinned.
"Now, Patrick, you should know that girl talk is strictly confidential. I couldn't tell you if I wanted to."
"Even if I say please?" He said slyly.
"Not unless you get a warrant, mister." She said defiantly. Patrick rolled his eyes.
"Women."
"Boss!" Rigsby yelled suddenly. Lisbon came around the corner. "Fairfield police department just got a call on their tip hotline. A neighbor said they might have saw who snuck in the back window of the Wesson's."
"Then why are we still here?" Caroline asked, jumping up. "C'mon, I want to get this investigation over with."
Allen residence, Fairfield, CA
"Caroline, what are you doing here?"
"I'm helping them, Mrs. Allen. Now could you tell Agent Lisbon what you saw?"
"Right," Mrs. Allen said. "Every night I watch the news and then I do the dishes. And the other night was no different. Now the window above my sink looks right into the Wesson's backyard. I saw someone movin' around back there, not that I look often, mind you. But there was a man back there. I didn't see him go into the window or I would have said something sooner. Just dawned on me when I saw that report on the Wesson's last night that what I saw could be important."
"Did you see what he looked like?" Rigsby asked.
"It was kinda dark but…" Mrs. Allen thought for a moment. "He was about 5'11, with, uh, dark hair. I couldn't see anything else."
"Thank you, Mrs. Allen. If you remember anything else let us know." Lisbon handed Mrs. Allen a card. They turned back to the cars.
"Did we learn anything?" Rigsby said.
Patrick and Caroline were whispering to each other, their heads close together.
"Hey!" Rigsby said. "Share with us less intelligent people." They grinned at each other.
"We have an idea." They said.
"Uh oh," Lisbon said. "What?" They grinned at each other again.
"We need to go back to Wesson Inc." Patrick said.
"Why?" Lisbon asked.
"We'll tell you when we get there."
--I know, it was short. The next one won't be!--