"He lives here?!" Rigsby burt out, stunned at the size of Jane's house. Grace rolled her eyes.
"He does wear those suits everywhere, did you expect him to live in an apartment?" She asked.
"No, but I'm just surprised at the size of his house." Rigsby reitterated.
"He did have a family once, you know." Cho cut in, killing the moment.
The team followed Lisbon up to the front door.
"Jane? Are you home?" No answer. "It's us! Lisbon, Cho, Rigsby, and Van Pelt. If you are in there you better open this door, or so help me..." It was an empty threat. They all knew that if Jane was inside, he was probably dead. Lisbon waved to Rigsby and Cho to cover her as she kicked open the door. Entering the house with her weapon drawn, she quickly inspected the bottom floor, and the others spread out to check upstairs.
"Clear!" She called, hearing echoed replies from various area's throughout the house. Jane was nowhere to be found.
"Boss!" Cho called from upstairs. Lisbon hurried up.
"What...oh." She started upon entering what she assumed was once the master bedroom. On the wall was a red smiley face, Red John style. Probably the one left over the bodies of Jane's family. Directly under it was a small cot with a blanket. It was the only furnishings in the house.
"That can't be healthy." Grace commented. Lisbon shook her head and left the room, heading out into the front yard. She tried calling Jane's cell once more. She heard a ringing sound, but it wasn't from her phone. It was coming from the bush next to the front porch. Upon closer inspection, Lisbon found the phone. What was really strange was that the caller Id did not say Lisbon, Teresa, Work, or anything one would expect. It said "Across the street the telescope points..."
"Hello, I'm Teresa Lisbon and this is Kimball Cho. We are with the CBI." They both flashed their badges to the woman in the doorway. She was a tall blond, and looked to be about mid-forties.
"Hello, Can I help you with something?" She wondered. Lisbon nodded.
"You're Jennifer Saxon?" The woman nodded.
"We came to talk to you about the disappearance of your neighbor, Patrick Jane?" Jennifer looked worried.
"Disappearance? Was he abducted? Is he ok?!" She asked.
"May we come in?" Jennifer nodded and stepped aside.
"Of course."
"What's your relationship with Jane?" Lisbon queried once she and Cho were settled on the couch in the sitting room. Jennifer smiled.
"He's a charming man and a good neighbor. We have tea together on occasion. He's been so sad and lonely since what happened to his family. But he came over the evening before yesterday with some cookies. Said he was feeling a little lonely and wanted to spend some time in friendly company."
"Did he discuss anything while he was here? Anything that you may think would be related to his disappearance?" Cho asked.
"He mentioned wine several times. He kept talking about how he was craving an italian wine... amarone, I believe. But that's all, and I hardly see how its relevant." Jennifer replied.
"Anything could be relevant. Do you have a telescope?" Lisbon questioned. Jennifer looked at Lisbon and then to the ever serious Cho.
"Yes, it was my late husband's. Why?"
"May we see it?"
Back at CBI the team was preparing the footage from the telescope's camera for viewing.
"Is it a coincidence that she had a telescope pointed towards Jane's house, that recorded the whole abduction, and that Jane knew about it and had prepared a message for us?" Rigsby asked.
Lisbon frowned. All of this was evidence leading to Jane's own involvement in his abduction. If that was the case, they needed to hurry. Jane had a death wish, and was always putting himself in deadly situations with the assumption that the CBI would save him. What the point of this was Lisbon was not sure. But she knew time was limited. One of these days Jane was not going to be able to walk away.
"I bet you twenty bucks this is one of his elaborate schemes." Cho dared Rigsby.
"Really you two? Jane's missing and you two are placing bets?" Van Pelt was disgusted. "You should be ashamed."
"Let's just watch the video please." Lisbon interceded before things could escalate.
The footage showed Jane sitting in his car for a while, then showed him walking up towards the front door of his house. He paused once on the foot of the stairs and messed with his phone. As he was texting Lisbon, a tall caucasian man wearing a black outfit snuck out from the shrubbery on the side of the porch. He hit Jane over the head with something, and then picked dragged him to the street. He lifted Jane into the back of a black or dark blue suv. The angle was wrong to get the plates, but the image sparked a memory.
"There was a black suv outside of Sarah Ledford's shop the day of the murder. Same shape. An Acura." Cho commented. Lisbon looked at him,
"Do you think we got a photo? Let's look through the evidence."
After about an hour of searching, they managed to find a picture where the car was evident in a reflection in the window of the shop. Half the license plate was cut off, but they managed to see the first four letters. Running a scan on it, they managed to narrow the search down to two people: Daniel Rizzoli, and Harry Trump. Both owners of black SUV's in California.
"We can conclude that the fact that we did not find Jane dead outside his house meant that the killer wants him alive for some reason. Therefore, Jane had probably come in contact with this person before. Check his old client's list and see if there is any connection to either of those men. Also, look for a connection with wine, specifically amarone." Lisbon ordered. The team split up and began to work.
"Cho, you and Rigsby go and question Daniel Rizzoli and Harry Trump. Grace and I will take over here until you get back."
"Yes, Boss." Cho replied. The two men left.
"Boss," Grace said almost before the two men had even left. "I think I have something."
"Did any of the names match up with a client?"
"No. But the name Rizzoli matched up with something else. Jane once exposed a man named Anthony Rizzoli as being a fraud. Rizzoli had a son, Daniel, and a wife, Marissa. Daniel commonly called himself Dante, as a stage name. And even better, Rizzoli's grandfather owned a vineyard called "Amarone Forest"."
Lisbon pulled out her cell phone.
"Cho meet up with us outside the vineyard, "Amarone Forest". Hurry."
Daniel Rizzoli was agreeable enough and allowed the CBI to search his house without putting up any sort of fuss. But Lisbon knew he had Jane somewhere in the house.
"Where is the cellar?" Lisbon asked. Daniel acted confused, but the contracting of his pupils meant that she had just touched home. God, if she was noticing these things, she HAD been hanging out with Jane too much.
"There isn't one." Daniel replied much too quickly. Lisbon was obviously disbelieving.
"Really? A house at a vineyard, and no cellar to store wine? How strange." She probed. Dante shrugged, having regained his composure.
"My family is anything but normal."
"Oh yes. Your father was a psychic. Or well, a fake one." Lisbon commented halfheartedly.
"I know what you are trying to do, but it won't work because I did not do anything wrong. And there is no cellar in this house." Dante replied smugly.
"Then why do you have dirty footprints right outside your pantry door but no where else?" Lisbon commented. She walked over and opened the Pantry. There were shelves with few odds and ends on them, but when pushed the wall moved backwards, like a door. Behind it were stairs.
"I believe I just found the cellar." Lisbon gloated. Dante pulled out a revolver.
"I wouldn't go down there. Unless you want to end up like your little friend." The other agents were in different rooms, and Lisbon knew they wouldn't be able to help her in time.
"Are you going to kill me, Daniel." Lisbon asked. "Because if you do, you'll be going to jail for a long, long, time. But if you show some goodwill and put the gun down, I'm sure I can help work out a deal."
"I don't need a deal. I don't need anything from you or him." Dante nodded towards the stairs to where Jane was most likely located. Lisbon took her chance to attack. She reached out and grabbed the revolver. A shot was fired, but it missed and lodged itself into the wall instead. Lisbon managed to wrest the weapon away from Dante but before she could point it at him the other agents had all trained their weapons towards him.
Lisbon, slightly out of breath and sweating, nodded towards Dante.
"Cho arrest this man."
Lisbon could hear Cho saying out Dante's rights as she ascended the stairs towards the cellar. She could see a dim light from under a heavy wooden door and hastened to open it. Inside was Jane, but he wasn't moving and there was blood...a lot of blood.
"Jane!" She cried as she ran over. She felt his hand, but it was limp.
"Call for an ambulance!" She screamed out. She pulled out her gun and shot at the chain holding the collar around Jane's neck and it fell off the wall. the collar unsnapped with a clang as well, which was odd but at this point she didn't care.
"Jane, oh Jane." She cried as she held his still head in her lap.