Life as We Know It
Chapter 10 - Life Can Do Terrible Things
A/N - The title of the chapter is from the song "Terrible Things" by Mayday Parade. This chapter is pretty dramatic but then it gets happier, hopefully, I have no idea where this fic is going to end up, I'm just rolling with it, I reckon it will only have 3 or 4 chapters left though.
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, nought, nada, zilch!
The team got back to the CBI and Grace was trying to find out more on the two possible Red Johns, Hightower was making phone calls and Rigsby and Cho were recruiting anyone they could find to help out in the investigation with the excuse that, "This is Jane and Lisbon's kid, c'mon guys!"
Soon the bullpen was full to the brim with over half of the CBI who wanted to help find Lily and take Red John down once and for all. With the room being so busy it was easy for Jane to sneak out. He got in his car and drove past the slightly suspicious security guard, the moment he was out of the car park he took off and looped several times to make sure he wasn't being followed. Jane had no idea where to go. He knew that Red John was Jack John Redcap, the burnt man. He knew this because when he'd seen Red John in that old building with the fake Red John's the man had worn a plastic mask similar to the ones that people wore over fresh burns to protect them from infection. It all made sense now. The team would never cotton onto that though because Jane had never told anyone about that night and had never once mentioned the mask, he'd been too pre-occupied by the poem.
As Jane drove aimlessly he thought of possible places Red John could be, he could only think of a few places that were of importance to him. There was his Malibu house but he doubted it would be there, that was too obvious and Red John wouldn't want the team to walk in during their little showdown. Another place of importance was the graveyard but Jane knew that was far too public for the epic showdown the murderer had planned. The carnival was of importance because that was where they first met and it was ideal, it was abandoned, decaying and eerily empty, it was off the beaten road but then again he just didn't think that was where Red John would be. The answer was at the back of his mind but he just couldn't put his finger on it.
Red John wanted it to be slightly public but not too public to be heard. He wanted it to be obvious but not obvious enough to get caught. He wanted somewhere where no living soul would know Jane would go, somewhere that no one alive would know of the importance it held. Jane wracked his brains for the happiest memories he shared with his wife and after a few moments of deep thought as well as running two red lights the answer hit Jane.
His happiest memory of his wife was their wedding day. The Church they had gotten married in was small and off the beaten road. There were a few houses nearby, an old shut down mill factory and the little chapel on top of the hill, it was very small and picturesque. It was where Jane and Angela's life together had begun so it would be Red John's sick way of saying it should be where the whole thing was put to an end. Charlotte had been christened in that little chapel too, it made sense that Red John chose it, the place did mean a lot to Jane.
A new determination sparking in his bones Jane sped up, he did a quick U-turn and headed in the direction of the old chapel, going back there was going to be hard but if it meant the end of Red John then he would happily stride back into that building. Gripping the gun in his left hand Jane drove faster yet, he didn't care about being stopped, he had to get there fast. He hadn't been able to save his first daughter, he was going to save his second.
Jane wasn't sure how long it would take to get there but soon he was on a dirt track road and kept glancing in his mirrors to make sure he wasn't being followed, it would be easy to see on a road like this. The drive seemed to go on forever and after what felt like hours Jane saw the church looming out from the distance, it was the first thing you saw with it being so high up. It looked eerie in the early morning sky, it was a bright flaming orange tinged with shades of pink and outlined like a large shadow against the bright sky was the small chapel, not quite as picturesque as he remembered it. The chapel had fallen into ruin and Jane suddenly wondered if he had been wrong about the location.
As he pulled up next to the gate leading into the graveyard Jane glanced around, the area was silent, almost too quiet really. Feeling slightly creeped out Jane opened the gate and made his way up the hill, his heart pounded faster as the adrenaline pumped through his veins, he was so close and he wasn't even afraid, the moment he'd been waiting for was finally here. As he neared the top of the hill his throat became dry and his heart pounded so fast he thought it might burst out of his chest.
Jane reached the top of the hill and took a minute to take in the sight before him. The chapel had definitely deteriorated, it clearly wasn't in use anymore. The windows were all gone so the cool morning breeze could blow through the large hall. The roof was falling apart and tiles lay crumpled and smashed all around the outer edge of the building, The double doors were hanging off of their hinges but were still obscuring the view of the inside of the chapel. Holding the gun tight in his hand Jane pushed the door open slightly and walked into the chapel.
The inside was just as ruined as the outside. The tiles that had fallen had left large gaps in the roof and the rain had rotted away parts of the wooden pews. There were smashed tiles littered around the floor as well as leaves and dead animals, it wasn't a pretty sight. His wife had walked down this aisle but now it was just a messy wooden floor that had half rotted away. Jane looked down, directly ahead of him there was a man standing with his back to Jane, he felt a little fear then, he had finally found Red John and he was slightly unsure of what to do now. Jane noticed a blanket on one of the pews near the front of the chapel and was relieved to see Lily lying inside the blanket sleeping, if she hadn't moved at that moment he would have panicked.
"Mr. Jane." The man said without turning around, "You came." Red John's voice was deep and cold, it sent a chill running through Jane, it sounded very different to the voice he had heard when Red John had talked to him before, Jane had been suspicious of a voice changer back then and now his suspicions were confirmed.
"I wasn't going to let you hurt anyone else I love." Jane said defiantly and Red John chuckled but it was a humourless laugh, it was cold and high pitched and bitter.
"You love this child? She is not even yours." Red John said, he still hadn't turned to face Jane, and he was now mocking the mentalist.
"By blood you're right, she isn't." Jane said truthfully, keeping his voice strong and steady, "But unlike you I have the capacity to love and despite her not being my child by blood, in my heart she is my daughter."
Red John laughed another humourless high pitched laugh, "You are a fool Patrick Jane." He said softly as he turned around. Jane realised he was right about Red John's identity the moment he saw the mans face. His entire face was a deep pink colour due to the burns that covered it, his eyes were reduced to slits due to the extreme nature of the burns and he barely had a nose, he didn't have any lips either, he looked like some sort of alien.
Jane kept his composure as he stared at the man, this seemed to impress Red John, "You do not flinch." He said, moving a couple of steps closer to Jane.
Jane didn't say anything as he continued to glare at the man, he wasn't backing down, Red John advanced a little more, "Most people flinch, they can't look at me, I disgust them."
Bitterly Jane said, "Oh you disgust me alright but it has nothing to do with the way you look."
Red John laughed again and it sent shivers up Jane's spine, it was the strangest sounding laugh he'd ever heard. The man had stopped walking towards Jane, "I assume before you attempt to kill me you want to know why I killed your family." He said casually, as if this was no big deal.
"You bet I do." Jane said, not taking his eyes away from Red John's.
Red John nodded, pulling out a gun and aiming at Jane, in a second Jane had raised his gun to point at Red John in retaliation.
"Ah, you have a weapon, I'm impressed." Red John said, there were hints of mockery in his voice, "Well Mr. Jane, I killed your family in retaliation to something you did to me. My wife was a client of yours until you convinced her to leave me after sleeping with her multiple times."
Jane tried not to let his shock show on his face, he'd only ever slept with two of his clients, he'd been married to his wife at the time and had been so ashamed of what he'd done that he hadn't told a soul. Jane had loved Angela very much but he was young, rich and famous and these pretty girls were throwing themselves at him and he hadn't resisted it.
"Ah, you remember her I see." Red John said, as if this gave him some satisfaction, "I faked my own death in a fire not long after and then when everyone thought I was dead a couple of years later I struck, I killed my wife first and then I killed your family. After that I found that I enjoyed it so much that I couldn't stop." Red John was saying, still ever so casually as if he was telling Jane about a story he had read in the morning paper.
Jane hadn't spoken and Red John looked at him now, as if expecting him to have something to say on the matter, "Rosalyn came to me because her Husband had been hitting her and because she was worried he was going to kill her, she asked me to consult the cards and I did and told her she should be worried if her Husband was being so violent." Jane said truthfully.
"And she became worried and left me." Red John said, "Yes, it was a very difficult time, but I suppose in the end it shows your own arrogance is the reason your family died."
"No." Jane objected, somehow still maintaining a calm façade, "They died because some sick madman killed them."
Red John raised an eyebrow at Jane which looked odd because he had no eyebrows but the skin moved in that motion, "If that's what helps you sleep at night." He was mocking Jane of course, it didn't surprise him that Red John knew he was an insomniac.
"I know why you chose this place." Jane said, keen to change the subject, he wanted to keep Red John talking for as long as possible, it gave him a better chance to take the psycho by surprise.
"I thought you might have figured it out." Red John said, glancing around the chapel, "It only makes sense that your life should end where the life of your family began." He said, his eyes raking over the rotten pews and the half destroyed roof, "It's rather poetic, don't you think?"
"If you call murder poetic, sure." Jane said, his voice thick with dry humour and sarcasm, but he wasn't being funny, he was serious and he just wanted this entire ordeal to be over.
"Oh it can be." Red John assured Jane, his gun still pointing at his head, "In certain circumstances it certainly can be poetic."
"In this case it isn't and it never has been." Jane said, his finger twitching on the trigger, Red John caught the small motion and narrowed his already small eyes at Jane.
"Are you going to kill me Mr. Jane?" He asked, his voice mocking Jane once more as if he was incapable of such a thing.
"I'm certainly going to try." Jane said, his finger remaining as still as possible, he wanted to do this properly, either they both went down together or Red John went down alone, that was the way this was going to work.
"Good." Red John said, the hint of a smirk forming on his deformed face, "Good, I like a challenge." The smirk became more prominent and Jane stared him down. His eyes never leaving Red Johns. That minute felt so long as Jane waited for the perfect moment, surveying the things going on in his enemy's eyes. Those eyes were cold and dead, there were no emotions in them but Jane could see the precise and logical thinking, the concentration, the determination, the excitement of finally finishing the job he had started years ago. When a cold need to kill flashed through Red John's eyes Jane knew and he pulled his finger down over the trigger, as the bullet left the gun in slow motion Jane closed his eyes and listened intently to every single sound around him just in case it was the last time he would ever hear them.
Two shots echoed around the chapel and drifted up through the rafters into the early morning night sky, and then, all was silent.
To Be Continued!
DON'T HATE ME! :'(