Chapter 7: Melody Taylor Part 1

The gun's trigger had been on a timer.

That was the first thing that Jane noticed as he entered the gymnasium of Sacramento Elementary. It was sitting on a table right in front of the young woman, now deceased young woman, who had been tied to one of the school's portable basketball goals. She'd been shot once in the head. Right between the eyes. She'd had no hope for being brought back.

All around him, agents Cho, Rigsby, and Lisbon were in various states of getting up from the floor. They had all three ducked and covered when the shot rang out. Cho had been the closest to the victim. He'd obviously been trying desperately to reach her before the gun went off. He was now on the floor cursing loudly, something he never did. Everything was finally getting to him. The the impenetrable Agent Cho. The last case involving Red John, Rigsby's drinking (which reminded him too much of his father for him to stand), now this case with the weight of all of those dead and dying girl on his head, he felt himself slipping then stopped. He couldn't. He had to be strong. He felt he was the only one on the team who still was.

At 9:01 while the team began studying the scene for any evidence (not that they thought they'd get any. Red John aka Simon James hardly left any clues) a loud voice rang out from above them. If Jane had been a religious man, he might have thought it was the voice of God. As it was, he knew it was probably the principal. Or someone in the office over the loud speaker. "Is there a Patrick Jane in there?" the male voice asked, shaking.

"Yes." Jane answered, hands in his pockets, neck looking up toward the ceiling.

"Mr. Jane. There is a package in the office for you. We think you'd better come and open it right away."

Jane didn't stop to see Lisbon's reaction as he ran out of the gray double doors, out into the hall, paused to get his barrings, and turned right toward the office. He walked inside the glass enclosed room and nodded to the three uniformed men and one civilian (more than likely the principal) inside. "This was found by these officers in Ms. Miller's room a few minutes ago." the principal (a porkly man, maybe mid 50s, graying hair) told him. Jane took the box as it was given to him.

The box was brown cardboard, about the size of a loaf of bread. His name was scribbed on the outside in red. Jane knew that it wasn't actual blood, but the symbolism was there anyway. Underneath his name was the red smiling face he'd known for years.

"There was a tip by someone claiming to be Red John who said where this box was located. I wanted to take it to the bomb squad." one of the officers said. Jane noticed that the young officers name was Harris. "But Macky wouldn't let me." he sounded a bit bitter about that.

"Got a call from a Minelli that anything having to do with Red John was to go directly to either Agent Lisbon or Patrick Jane if his name was on it. He said no shitting around about it." the older officer Jane pegged as Macky chimed in, glaring at the younger officer. His arms were crossed and his words were firm. Harris shut up.

Not caring about their petty office politics, Jane tuned them out and opened the box. Once he opened the lid, he noticed that it had a clear container inside. Inside the container was red liquid. Blood. Inside the blood there was a note folded neatly inside a clear plastic baggie. Jane hesitated briefly, opened the second container, and pulled out the bag. His hands became stained with blood as he opened the bag and pulled out the crisp, white piece of paper. It smugged where his red fingers touched it.

Mister Jane,

I do so hope you saved poor Ms. Miller. Did you know she was pregnant? I didn't either until she told me. 8 weeks she said. Like that would keep me from killing her. Such a silly, silly bitch. Is she alive now? Is the baby ok? hmmm... so many questions. Well, it doesn't matter now, does it? Tell you what, I'll let the woman I had to kill so that ass of a tv producer would let me on his program count for your cause. So, see, I'm not entirely evil. It saves one worthless girl at least. I guess that makes us on lovely lady number 4. You'll love this one, Mister Jane. It's a scream.

Do you like fun houses, Mister Jane? All of those mirrors. All of that darkness. Things just jumping out of you at every turn. And the best part of all... you never know if what you are seeing is what is truly there. Think about it, Mister Jane.

Whore's name is Melody Taylor. She is 24 years old and hails from Leapers Hollow, Tennessee. An aspiring actress, I found out. Begged me not to kill her too. What's with the begging? Will you beg, Jane? Will the girl?

I hope you found this letter in time. This blood, well it's Melody's of course. She may not make it to 10. I'm not sure. I get so bored sometimes.

With all my hate. :)

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"Lisbon!" Jane yelled, running back into the gymnasium. Instead of the three people he'd left in there looking over the body, there now seemed to be hundreds. Local PD was helping the CBI gather evidence, but Jane knew it didn't matter. Barbara Miller was just a random person. She had probably been at the wrong place at the wrong time. And now she was dead.

"What is it?" Lisbon asked, finishing up a conversation she was having with an officer before excusing him and walking over to Jane.

Jane said nothing, just handed Lisbon the letter. The first thing Lisbon noticed was the blood stains on both it and Jane's hands. "We need to get this to forensics. See if there is anything special about the blood."

"There is more in the office." Jane said, catching his breath from his brief jog.

Lisbon looked down and read the note carefully. She didn't want to miss any details. "Ok," she said finally. "Do you know where this woman is, Jane?"

"Carnival somewhere. Fun house definitely. Scream. He said it was a scream. How about the scream house at the Norton Park?"

"The house that is a replica of the house from the movie Scream, right?" Norton Park was a newly erected amusement park about fifteen minutes outside of town. It wasn't big like Disney or Busch Gardens, but it was coming into it's own. It's claim to fame was that it housed rides designed to look like movies. Think a smaller scale Universal Studios. The Scream House had been one of the main attractions when it opened six months before. It was a fun house full of mazes, black lights, hidden tunnels, and two way mirrors. And of course, Billy Loomis tried to kill you at the end.

"I think that's where she is." Jane told her with certainty.

"Ok." she said and gathered Cho and Rigsby from their duties. She explained the situation and that she was going to let the Local PD take care of the Miller crime scene. They were going to go to the Scream house at Norton Park and find Melody Taylor before 10 a.m. They weren't going to lose another victim.

After the team dispersed, Lisbon looked down at her watch. It was 9:24.

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Outside of the gym, Cho watched as his former friend, Rigsby, tried to conceal the fact that he was drawing a swig from his metal canister. "ENOUGH!" Cho yelled, grabbing it and tossing it as far as he could. It ended up landing somewhere in the school parking lot. "No more drinking. Do you understand me? We have girls to find and if you keep this up, your ass is going to be wasted before the end of the day." Mentally exhausted, Cho sat down on a curb next to the black SUV they had arrived in and sighed. They had to wait for Lisbon and Jane anyway. "Look, man." he said more calmly. "I get it. I do. You feel guilty over letting Jason Copola die. And I gave you hell for that, and I'm not sorry for it. But you have got to get it together. No matter what I said, yes, Jason did deserve to die. Did you need to see to it? No. But you didn't put him in that position. Red John did, and Jason did. You didn't murder him, Rigsby. No matter what his father is saying. Now you have got to chalk it up, stop this drinking, and focus on work before some innocent girl dies and it is your fault. Do you understand me?"

Rigsby was taken aback by Cho's rather long speech, but nodded. He did understand. He wanted to believe what Cho was saying, but it was hard to work and focus when he had the D.A. (and the charges he wanted to bring down on Rigsby) breathing down his neck.

"Focus, Rigsby."

"I will, man." he said and hopped into the back seat of the SUV. Cho hoped he meant it. While he had a second, he decided it would be a good time to call his niece Cora to check in. It was on the third ring when Lisbon came out and told him it was time to go. Cursing under his breath, he hung up, not waiting for her to answer. He'd call her back later. He was sure she was fine.

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"I phoned Van Pelt and told her the situation." Lisbon said out of the blue as she drove toward Norton Park.

"And?" Rigsby asked. It was the first time he'd seemed interested in what the other team members were talking about.

"And she was sad that Barbara was dead and upset that she had to deliver the news to the Miller family since she was already on her way there."

"She's a good girl." Jane said from his shotgun post. His eyes were open and he was scanning the road to the park. For what, he didn't know, but he did know that he had to do something to keep busy.

"She's a woman not a girl, Jane. And yes, Van Pelt is a good one. She's going to go back to HQ after she talks to the Miller family to see what trick Red John pulls next."

Whatever it is, it won't be pretty. Jane thought to himself. And unfortunately he was right.

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[A/N: I cut this chapter in two because I promised a few people I'd have it updated tonight and I thought this was a good stopping place. It would have been a really long one other wise. I'm sure Melody would hope they'd hurry, but she's just going to have to wait. Thanks for your patience with this story :) I hope it still interests you. All mistakes are mine]

[Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. I guess I kinda do Melody. We have 2 dead girls and one living girl so the odds aren't in her favor, so she might not want me to 'own' her. I guess Cho's niece, Cora, is mine too......... Other than that. Nope.]