As her car pulled into CBI HQ parking lot, Teresa Lisbon's cell rang and she half expected it to be either Cho or Rigsby with a lead on Brenda Thatcher, but instead, much to her dread it was the Seattle Marshall's office. As soon as she answered Lisbon muttered, "What did he do?" As she started to unbuckle her eyes widened in surprise and she shouted, "What?!"
Stepping out of the elevator she was in a foul mood as Cho walked up and stated, "We managed to find the clip Brenda Thatcher did on Red John, but as far as I can tell it was for a regional broadcasting station."
"Not really the issue right now, I just got off the phone with Seattle. Jane escaped custody," Lisbon muttered to which Rigsby whistled and said, "Wow, didn't know he had the guts to do that." "Ok so what's our next move?" Kimball asked as they walked into the main lounge and she stared at the couch where Jane often lay.
"They think he's heading back here to California to find Zoey Salvador. Of course the Marshalls are convinced he is planning to murder her, but I'm more afraid he's getting himself way in over his head," Lisbon explained with a sigh. "We need to track his movements then, didn't they put him on an ankle bracelet?" Grace asked to which their boss explained, "He managed to slip out. But they want us to keep an eye on our faux Salvador's house. They're positive that's the first place he'll go."
"To see if she'll reveal who hired her," Wayne realized. "Right so I'm open to any suggestions. He's one of us, and I don't care where the evidence leads; Patrick Jane is innocent. So what do we do?" Lisbon asked looking about at all of them.
"Jane must think that there is some connection here, so maybe we should let him question the fake, see where it leads?" Rigsby remarked. "That's going to put us in deep water with the Marshall's," Cho stated to which she sighed and said, "Right now I don't care. He's getting reckless and I don't want him to do something he can't get himself out of. Somehow he's got in his head this connects to Red John and you know he doesn't think straight about that."
"Speaking of which, do you recall how I mentioned this broadcast was only regional?" Kimball asked passing her the tape and stating, "I'm not sure what the link is, but this murder was in Florida in the same area where Demar was operating eight years ago." "That isn't possible, Red John has never killed on the east coast," Lisbon muttered as she walked to her private office and found a TV with a a VCR.
Sliding the video into the player, she stood back and watched as it began, first revealing the bright brunette looking rather grim for the camera as she proclaimed, "Good evening viewers and welcome to the Naples evening news, where tragedy has struck the home of Marlene Sanders, a 23 year old stay at home mom who breathed her last just hours ago. The killer is still at large, and is one of the most heinous ever seen in my career. Viewer discretion is advised."
"Why have we never seen this before?" Lisbon asked pausing the video as Cho and Van Pelt entered the room. "It's a fake," Grace explained passing her a file and adding, "I called up a friend in the FBI and confirmed it; this was a fraud. Apparently Thatcher was an aspiring reporter and had seen a spot on Red John on the national news and thought trying to copy that story in Naples would be a good idea."
"Yet our database said that it was a real Red John case?" Lisbon asked as she watched the grisly images. "Only thing we can figure is wires got crossed eight years ago," Cho responded to which she said, "No, there aren't any mistakes when it comes to Red John. We've dealt with him long enough to know that. Something about this fraud is important."
"For one thing what happened to her?" Van Pelt agreed with a sigh as she finished watching the skit and Teresa muttered, "What happened here? Does she have any next of kin still living?" "Sister died around the same time, parents live in South Carolina," Cho responded passing some pictures to her. "Another dead end," she mumbled as she flipped thru the pictures and froze. "Something about this looks familar," she muttered. "What is it?" Van Pelt asked leaning closer. "From a certain angle... That look like..." she began and then called out, "Cho, get Seattle back on the phone."