A/N: Apologies for delay in updating this one, been working on Trust this past week as it gets to a meaty point in the story where I needed to focus on it solely, hard to keep my train of thought going sometimes when I dip in and out of different stories. A bit of light relief with this chapter of this one. It's short but I hope sweet. As I feel I've shortchanged you I'll work on next chapter over the weekend so not too long a wait until next update. And thanks again for all the lovely reviews and new followers to this story.


Chapter 8 - A Lead

Wide eyed he stared at the cufflinks on his wrists. "You're arresting me?" he asked incredulously.

"Haven't decided yet," a thoroughly annoyed Lisbon replied. "But I wanted to make sure I had your full attention."

"There were other ways you could have done that," he responded under his breath as he fiddled with his cuffs to make them more comfortable. He looked back up at her as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"What the hell, Patrick?! Is that what I am to you now? A mark like everyone else? I thought..." Her words trailed off and she shook her head.

"You thought what?" he frowned.

She puffed out a breath. "Doesn't matter," she snapped. "So, do you have any credible information or was that whole spectacle back there just so you could make a quick exit?"

He read her quickly. Saw the personal reason behind her temper. Behind the anger there was hurt. Softly, "Teresa...just because I wanted a head start doesn't mean I wasn't interested in knowing what's going on in your life now. You have to know that conversation was more than me just buying some time until you got that tip off."

"Do I? Because-"

Her cell phone buzzed on the inside pocket of her leather jacket. She answered it as she continued to stare at him, afraid if she took her eyes off him for a second he'd run off again. Gruffly, "Lisbon."

After listening to the other side of the conversation she answered, "Okay, we'll check it out. Thanks, Cho."

As she put the phone back in her pocket he told her, "You have a lead, don't you?"

She arched an eyebrow. "You think I'm going to tell you that?"

"You already did. It's obvious from your posture that you have something solid." He paused for a moment as he read the situation and made the best he could of it. "He's at his cousin's cabin, isn't he?"

Before she said a word he nodded, "Yes, that's what the call was about. His car was seen there. Damn, I should have gone there first than spent my time wasting it on checking hotels."

She rolled her eyes and pulled on his right arm roughly. "Yeah, you should have. And stop reading me," she barked.

"That's like telling me not to breathe," he muttered as she dragged him through the diner.

"That can always be arranged too," she mumbled.

The waitress' eyebrows hit her forehead as they crashed through the door to the front of the restaurant. Jane waved at her through a cuffed hand as they passed her. "Lovely tea, thank you," he smiled as Lisbon bundled him out the entrance onto the street where Van Pelt was waiting for them.

The young agent regarded the scene in front of her with the same expression the waitress wore. She'd only been on the team a couple of weeks and knew her boss had a fierce reputation but had never seen her quite so annoyed. Or flustered. Up to now she'd witnessed her handle any occasion or arrest in her stride but this man had well and truly got under her skin.

"Hello again. Grace, isn't it?" Jane smiled effortlessly at the redhead who was standing with her mouth open.

"What'd he do?" Van Pelt asked her boss.

"That's a very good question," Jane interjected. "Why exactly am I being manhandled, Agent Lisbon?"

Lisbon ignored Jane and spoke to Van Pelt. "He tried to run after giving us a false tip. Ignore that last call from Rigsby."

As Van Pelt nodded slowly Jane interrupted again. "And how do you know it's a false tip?"

Lisbon turned to him, "Because if it was a real one you wouldn't have told us about it."

He shrugged noncommittally. "You have no evidence of that. In fact...there's really nothing you can charge me with so..." he looked to his handcuffs then back up to her face, "if you couldn't mind?"

"You're crazy if you think I'm taking those off you," she responded. "Your car is faster, you'll be there before us." She lowered her tone, pleaded with him with her eyes, "I'm doing what's best for you. You're just too pigheaded to see it."

His expression changed from one of faint amusement to annoyance. "I don't need you to do what's best for me. I need to see him and you know I'll stop at nothing until I do."

He paused, softened his tone, "What if I promise I only wanted to talk to him? I just need to know, Teresa. I need to look that man in the eyes and know if he was the one who killed Melissa."

She wasn't entirely sure she was buying his sudden talk of only wanting to have a conversation with Paul Henson but she put that to the back of her mind for the moment. She took a breath and nodded, realising that one way or another he was bound to track him down. He may not even be at this cabin after all but Jane likely would know of another place he might be before they could find it. And she couldn't keep surveillance on him 24/7. And, unfortunately, he was correct. She really had nothing she could arrest him for that he couldn't buy or talk his way out of in five minutes. And get herself reprimanded at the same time for wasting valuable resources on a menial arrest. Also, if Jane did manage to find him on his own, there was no knowing what his reaction would be. At least this way she could control him from reacting rashly. A headache formed and she closed her eyes.

Finally she regarded him with a steely gaze. "Okay. Here's how it's going to work. You can...you can accompany us to the cabin but if he is there you go nowhere near it until we check it out first, make sure it's safe. If he did murder your wife-"

"He did," he asserted.

She took a deep breath to maintain her composure. "If he did murder her then he's a dangerous man. So once we've taken him into custody-"

"No," Jane told her. "If he's there I talk to him there and then. Before he lawyers up and I can't get anywhere near him."

She figured he wouldn't go for her opening gambit but had to give it a shot.

"Fine. If he's there you can talk to him. Briefly. And under our supervision."

"Deal," Jane replied after a second's hesitation, a hint of a knowing smile on his lips as the word came out.

Lisbon nodded, blushing slightly, as she recalled the first 'deal' they ever made too and what that had transpired into after it was made.


Jane rubbed his wrists after Lisbon removed his cuffs as he sat in the back of the SUV. Van Pelt drove, Lisbon at her side. "I could have taken my own car and met you there," he proposed.

"You must think I'm an idiot," Lisbon huffed from the front seat. "You'd be there doing god knows what before we got near there."

Van Pelt looked sideways at her questioningly.

"I've always held up my side of any deal, Teresa," he said from the backseat, humour in his voice again. "You know that better than anyone."

Lisbon flushed furiously as she saw Van Pelt steal another glance. He was only back in her life a couple of days and he was already turning it upside down.

He continued, "Grace has already worked out we know each other. The others too, I suspect. There's no point trying to hide that fact any longer." He leaned forward and shifted slightly to get a better look at Van Pelt's face to get his confirmation. She was staring ahead wearing an expression mid way between fear and mortification, afraid to enter into the conversation. "Yep. Your team have discussed it. They know we have...history, as they say."

Lisbon raised her eyes skywards. She knew what he was doing. Using humour (and mostly at her expense) to stop him facing the pain of his grief. He'd always hidden behind a smile and she expected that side to his personality had only grown over the years. He was candid when he spoke to her privately but now he had an audience he couldn't help himself try to put on a show.

"What do you know about this cabin?" she asked to get the conversation away from her personal life.

Jane leaned back in the seat and sighed. "Not much. Never been there obviously. It was where they went sometimes. In the beginning. Before they started meeting in hotels. His cousin lives out of state, only uses it in the summer months. It's out of the way, remote. How was his car tracked there?"

"Ranger saw a light on and knew it was unoccupied. Realised it wasn't his cousin's vehicle and checked it out. Saw the BOLO out on it. Called us in."

"Hmm. Interesting," Jane remarked.

"Not really," Lisbon responded. "Lucky break, we get them sometimes."

"Hmm," Jane repeated.

Lisbon turned in her seat to face him. "What are you getting at?"

Innocently, "Me? Nothing. Like you said, lucky break."

She frowned at him for a moment before turning back in her seat, her instincts kicking in that he was withholding something once again. "How long until we get there?" she asked Van Pelt.

"About an hour."

"In that case think I'll take a nap, ladies," Jane yawned as he leaned his head against the side window of the car. "Wake me up when we get there."


When she was as sure as she could be that he was asleep, Lisbon spoke quietly to Van Pelt. "Minelli knows that we knew each other before this case," she said, nodding to the back seat. "We dated. Briefly. In case you think it's some big secret you have to keep. It's not and you don't, Van Pelt."

A little more comfortable now Lisbon had brought up the topic she whispered back, "But how? You don't believe in that psychic stuff!"

"It was a long time ago. A lifetime ago, really. It's no big deal. But...but I should have been honest with you guys from the outset too. There shouldn't be any secrets amongst us. We're a team, after all."

Van Pelt smiled as she overtook a car. "He seems like quite the character, can imagine he was quite the bad boy in his younger days."

"You have no idea."

"He's certainly keeping us on our toes now, that's for sure."

"Yeah, just make sure you check you still have your wallet on you if you stand too close to him," Lisbon smiled.

"You defaming my character again, Teresa?" he interrupted much to Lisbon's chagrin. "Have I missed any of the more interesting stories you're telling of our youth?"

"No and you keep your mouth shut about them," Lisbon replied.

"Or what?" he smiled.

"I don't know but you won't like it," she glared into the road ahead of her.

Van Pelt bit her bottom lip to withhold a smile. She had no real idea what Jane's marriage or Lisbon's relationship was like with their respective past and present partners but, although they'd only recently become reacquainted, they seemed to be bickering like her parents did who had been married for over thirty years.