Simple Diversions
A/N: I am so sorry for the long wait! I had such a hard time with this chapter, so any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you to all the readers who have recently followed and favorited this story and have gone back and read some of my other stories. It puts a HUGE smile on my ae when I hear about new readers following my work :)
I have recently rekindled my passion for drawing! I am learning to draw Manga style, but I would still like to know if any of you can draw Mentalist related Manga. I would love to have some illustrations of Mia and Jane, so PM me if you have an Manga abilities :)
Disclaimer: I don't own the Mentalist or any of the characters or ideas.
Chapter 10
Mia and Jane had been walking for about ten minutes and hadn't found anything.
The trail was beautiful and the scenery was amazing, but they weren't on a tour.
"I really don't think we're gonna find anything." Mia said with an exasperated sigh.
"Let's just keep going and see what we find." Jane replied as he carried on walking.
"Patrick," Mia said tiredly as she stood and didn't even attempt to follow behind Jane.
Jane turned to Mia and walked over to her to stroke her cheek. He looked into her eyes and gave a small smile as he leant down and kissed her softly.
Mia returned the kiss, but it remained sweet as she put her hand on his chest.
However, the romantic moment was cut off by a rustling in the bushes. Mia and Jane both jumped at the sound and Mia pulled Jane closer to her.
"What was that?" Mia asked as she pressed herself tightly against Jane's chest.
"I don't know," Jane replied calmly as he rubbed soothing circles on Mia's back. "But I think it came from over there."
Jane started moving towards the sound, pulling a reluctant Mia along with him.
They looked through the bushes and found a little clearing right near the edge of the river bank. There was a dark figure holding a huge metal can over the water of the river. He was pouring what seemed to be paint into the clear water.
"Stop," Jane said loudly as he and Mia burst out of the bushes. "Police."
The figure got such a fright when he heard Jane's voice that he turned and dropped the huge tub of paint directly onto his foot.
The figure started jumping up and down in pain, causing his hoodie to fall away and reveal a middle-aged face that was contorted in pain.
"Ouch!" The man yelled with an angry face. "What's the big idea?!"
"I'm Patrick Jane," Jane said as he showed his little CBI card. "And this is Mia Black, we're consultants for the police."
"Consultants?" The man asked as he stood hunched over in pain.
"Yes," Jane replied.
"What were you doing with that paint?" Mia asked as she found her voice once again.
"I was getting rid of it." The man replied as he limped over to a nearby tree stump and sat. "There's no other way to get rid of it out here in the forest."
"Obviously you haven't been to the outside world recently." Mia replied with a slightly angry look. "You could have killed a lot of animals."
"Whatever," The man replied. "I was just doing what my boss told me to do."
"Who is your boss?" Jane asked as the man started rubbing his injured foot.
"Madam Bortacelli." The man replied with a somewhat condescending tone of voice. "She runs the art school up on the hill."
"Art school?" Mia asked with curiosity.
"Yeah," The man replied. "Madam Bortacelli's Art Academy is just up the path."
"Would you mind showing us the way?" Jane asked with his charming smile.
"Well, I have to get back to work, so I might as well show y'all the way."
"Thank you," Mia replied as the man stood from his stump and started limping up the pathway.
"Are you up for some art lessons?" Jane asked with a cheeky grin.
"Depends," Mia replied. "Do you even know how to hold a paint brush?"
At that Jane scoffed in mock horror as Mia started jogging up the hill.
xxxxx
They reached the large, multi-colored building with a fancy sign that read 'Madam Bortacelli's Art Academy'.
Mia and Jane thanked the man who had shown them the way and walked up to the huge doors.
Jane opened the door and followed in behind Mia.
Soothing classical music was playing throughout the reception area as Jane and Mia walked up to the long desk that seated a woman who was typing away on her computer.
"Welcome to Madam Bortacelli's Art Academy, how can I help you?" The woman asked with a sugar sweet tone as she momentarily stopped typing to face Jane and Mia.
"We are looking for the woman herself." Jane replied. "We work for the police."
"I'll get her right away," The receptionist replied as she stood and walked off in the direction of what Jane assumed was the Madam's office.
Jane and Mia were left by themselves as the hum of the current song died down.
"She seems like a woman who is very concerned about her reputation." Mia said suddenly.
"Hmm, I agree." Jane replied as he came up behind Mia, who was inspecting a painting, and put his arms around her middle.
Mia gave a small smile as she turned her head to face Jane. Mia put her head in the crook of Jane's neck as he too looked at the painting.
"Too bad most of her paintings are fakes." Jane said.
Mia's head shot up as she asked astoundedly, "What?!"
"Yeah," Jane replied calmly. "This painting has a shovel that's not supposed to be there."
Jane pointed to the little silver object on the canvas.
"How did I miss that?" Mia asked incredulously. "I used to love this painting when I was in high school. There was a printed copy of it that used to sit in the music class."
Jane gave a small smile at Mia's tone.
"It was quite a while back." Jane replied as he kissed Mia on the cheek.
"Yeah, but the image was stored in my memory palace." Mia replied.
"You have a memory palace too?" Jane asked.
"Yeah," Mia replied as she turned to look at Jane. "I recently opened a room named Patrick Jane."
Jane gave a small smile and was about to kiss Mia when Madam Bortacelli walked in and said, "Ah you must be with the police. How can I help you?"
Jane and Mia quickly pulled apart and walked over the woman who seemed to be in her late twenties to early thirties.
"Hi, I'm Patrick Jane and this is Mia Black. We are consultants for the police and we were wondering if you knew someone named Jessica Holden?" Jane asked.
"Yes, Jessica was one of my best students." Madam Bortacelli replied.
"Did you see her at all today?" Mia asked.
"Um yes, she dropped by to pic up somr art equipment that she had ordered." Madam Bortacelli replied easily. "Is she alright?"
"Her body was found this morning in the river that runs behind your art studio." Jane replied.
Madam Bortacelli's face paled as Jane spoke. Tears started welling in her eyes,but Mia wasn't sure whether the tears were put on or real.
"How? Why?" Madam Bortacelli asked as she walked over to a nearby chair and collapsedheavily onto it.
"We don't know yet," Mia replied. "It's still an ongoing investigation."
"But I don't understand," Madam Bortacelli continued. "She was standing right in front of me just this morning. She was like a daughter to me."
Jane and Mia shared a brief look as Madam Bortacelli gave a little sniffle next to them.
"Ma'am, we need to know if Jessica seemed different when you saw her this morning?" Jane asked. "Did she seem upset or paranoid this morning?"
"Um, no, she seemed fine when I spoke to her." Madam Bortacelli replied as she wiped a tear from her eyes.
"Good," Jane replied.
"Did you ask your grounds keeper to dump used paint into the river this morning?" Mia added suddenly.
"What? No!" Madam Bortacelli replied, outraged. "I would never endanger the environment! I've told him so many times not to dump the paint in the river. He could harm thousands of poor animals."
Mia reached over and squeezed Jane's hand briefly to indicate that she was done talking.
"Thank you for your time Madam Bortacelli, we'll let you know as soon as we find anything." Jane said as he started pushing Mia towards the exit.
Madam Bortacelli remained seated as Jane and Mia exited the large building.
"She did it," Mia said plainly as she and Jane started walking back down the path towards the crime scene.
"I think so too," Jane replied as he took Mia's hand in his to help her climb over a large rock. "Bht how about we get a nice cupmof tea before we slap then cuffs onto the wrists of her well manicured fingers."
"Sure, I could use a cup of tea." Mia replied with a smile as she hugged Jane close to her.
Once again thank to all of you amazing readers. Please leave a review and let me know what you think!