Lisbon surveyed the past hour and half's handiwork with satisfaction. Jane had made whopper containers of potato salad and cole slaw while she'd baked the cheddar stuffed jalapenos poppers. Though store bought, the peppers were still good. Especially when accompanied by her homemade Ranch dressing. Dressing made from an old lover's recipe, but Jane didn't have to know that. That fact didn't make it any less good. However, the various party sandwiches, spicy chicken bites, and antipasto platter she'd made with her two competent hands. As odd as it sounded, she'd enjoyed every second of it.
While Lisbon might be more accustomed to holding a gun in her hands, she knew her way around a kitchen fairly well. Jane knew his way even better which was why they took turns cooking most of the time. As for tonight, they'd agreed to supply the Poker Party finger foods since they'd won the last game. She'd not been looking forward to their task being clueless as to what to make. Using common sense, she and Jane had quickly decided on mostly bite sized foods that could be easily eaten with a fork. They'd also decided on the sandwiches which wouldn't be messy to eat. Who wanted to spend the evening trying to keep greasy, nasty playing cards from slipping out of their hands?
Packing yet another full lidded aluminum baking pan in the bag, Lisbon waited for Jane to return from whatever he was doing outside. They'd made the food, Stinky could toss the containers in the trash or not. Probably not as Lisbon had learned enough about the man to know he was far more likely to wash those pans and store them under the cabinet than throw them away. They'd probably see the same silver tins holding sandwiches and chips at a future game. Lisbon couldn't help laughing at all the subtle quirks setting Jane's friends apart from the norm.
No one could say the carneys around her weren't in a class of their own. A very weird class that worked very well from what she could see. And it was one she felt honored to be a part of. That most of them shared Danny's view you were either with the show or a mark didn't bother her as much as it probably should have. The way Lisbon saw it, when you ventured on their turf and played their games you were asking to lose a few bucks. Vice versa was another matter. Then again, she wasn't a cop at the moment so there wasn't a whole lot she could do about it anyway.
While she was waiting for Jane to return, she was going to touch up her make up one last time and make sure Amber was presentable. It was the first time she and Jane were spending any extended time with the guys since their relationship had changed. In spite of Amber and Jack's carrying on for show, the old-timers knew the real deal. She wondered if any of them would be able to spot the change and hoped against hope they couldn't. She wouldn't know what to do if Smokey Joe or Wally publically outed them to everyone around the table. She wouldn't put it past either of those clowns to do just that. Fortunately Sammy and Pete already knew so she wasn't sweating them.
Gazing at her reflection, Lisbon wished for the thousandth time she had her old hair back. She didn't like this whole blonde thing. She didn't like Jane's darker mahogany hair. She didn't like wearing more makeup or flashier clothes. She didn't like Jane in blue jeans and button downs or the occasional tee. It wasn't that he wasn't a hottie. He was.
It was that it wasn't them.
She was supposed to be an understated brunette with striking green eyes wearing understated clothes packing more head than a petite woman should carry. Jane was supposed to be an arrogant blonde wearing three piece suits suffering occasionally from severe bouts of ennui and a monumental case of pain-in-the-buttitis. That was just the way it was and the way it had always been.
Lisbon ignored the voice in her head reminding her just because that was how it had always been didn't mean that was how it was now. In fact, her life now was far from how it had always been. All she had to do was look in the mirror to know that was true.
The woman staring back at her through familiar emerald eyes was very blonde, very bold, and very brazen. From the eye popping hint of cleavage peaking out of her clingy top (thanks to that ridiculous push up bra she'd never wear at work) to the heavily decorated jeans clinging to the rounded curve of her shapely rear to her attractively made up face. She looked exactly like what she was: a woman who meant business and that business was offering enough of a distraction to clean her fellow Texas Hold'em players out. While using such a trick was beneath Teresa Lisbon, it was a very Amber thing to do. Especially an Amber encouraged by Jack.
Shaking her head, Lisbon was glad they checked those two at the door. Those characters were a handful at the best of times. And one, if she was completely honest, she was beginning to enjoy playing. She'd never have believed such an uninhibited creature lurked deep inside her if desperation hadn't forced Amber to the surface out of sheer necessity.
"We need to leave or we're going to be late. You know how the guys hate to be kept waiting." Coming up behind her, Jane placed both hands on her shoulders. "You look good enough to eat."
"Hopefully, I look good enough to distract Stinky and Smokey Joe enough they're off their cheating game. If we knock those two out, the rest will be a piece of cake." Lisbon said as she turned in his arms knowing she'd yet to apply her lip liner and gloss for a reason.
"Spoken like a true conwoman. I didn't think you had it in you." Dropping a light kiss on her lips, Jane fully expected the growl he received before deciding to give Lisbon what she truly wanted.
Well, maybe not what she truly wanted, but enough of a kiss to hold her over until the evening was over. He needed her concentrating on the game. Not fantasizing about all the delicious things they'd be doing later. One of them needed to attend to the task at hand as he was sure it wasn't going to be him. Not given the way she looked tonight. Amber was going above and beyond the call of duty in providing a little distraction. Her machinations might already be working a little too well on the one person they shouldn't be affecting at all.
"That's more like it." Lisbon's tongue whispered across his bottom lip in one final promise as she stepped back. "Give me a minute and we can go." Turning back to the mirror, she hastily lined her lips and slicked a glossy cayenne lipstick across her mouth.
Watching her every move, Jane waited for her in the hall. Turning off the light and closing the bathroom door behind her, Lisbon followed him into the kitchen where the packed bags were waiting. Since they'd be carrying two bags each, there wouldn't be any cuddling or hand holding as there usually was.
"Let's go clean house." Lisbon said as she grabbed her bags and led the way out the door confident Jane was following her.
"Let's go clean house." Jane agreed as they made short work of crossing the distance from their trailer to the rest of camp. "Hey, guys, open the door."
Walking through the open door, Lisbon set her bags on the floor and began unloading her stash on the small kitchen counter. Jane did the same. Quarters were tight, but they'd make it work as they always did. Stinky didn't have the permanent dining booth as they did in his travel trailer so he had more room to set up the large folding table and folding chairs in his living area. All in all, it was a pretty comfortable set up. Finishing the last of her task, Lisbon turned to face the guys already seated around the poker table.
"Soups on." She quipped as she made her way to her seat well aware all eyes were on her and Jane.
As much as she'd hoped otherwise, it was readily apparent the guys had taken in every faint touch, nuzzle, and imaginary kiss between them as they'd laid out their offerings…exactly as Jane intended. Forget his overt caveman marking of his territory at the first poker game. The nuances between them tonight conveyed something entirely different. To those who'd known him before as they all had, it was shades of Angela…but more. As Jane was more than he'd been due to the influences of the woman sitting among them. Catching his attention, Lisbon mouthed a silent, "Thanks, Buddy." followed by an equally silent, "Bite me." in response to his equally silent, smart butted, "You're very welcome." comment.
"If you guys are ready to begin, Jakie can deal." Stinky shot them a grouchy look for delaying the proceedings with personal matters.
"Yeah, Stinks, we're done." Jane took a sip of the whiskey already waiting at his place.
Poker wasn't poker without starting the game with that solitary finger of the aged single malt Stinky kept locked away for special occasions. Their games were about as special as it got. They'd switch to coffee, tea, and soda as soon as their lone drinks were gone. A poker table full of drunks wasn't any fun; but, tradition was tradition after all and that's how all their games began.
Taking a sip of whiskey as she glanced around the table, Lisbon wasn't all that surprised to see almost every eye staring back. Sammy was seated by Pete offering moral support as Lisbon was only the second woman they'd ever invited to join the game. Though welcome to watch, Sammy wasn't allowed to play. The only other woman they'd deemed worthy of joining the Old Boy's Club had been a hard drinking, cigar smoking, blue streak cussing ruby red haired gal named Jimmie Blu who'd joined them for a several weeks before she'd taken up with the local Sheriff of a podunk South Dakota town and left the circuit.
The last anyone heard of Jimmie she'd married her Sheriff and settled down with her husband, two kids, a pot bellied pig, and three hunting dogs. Not that any of the carneys could blame old Steve. That Jimmie had been a handsome woman who could shoot as well as any man. Maybe that was why they liked the little woman across from them. She might not drink all that much from what they'd seen, she certainly didn't smoke, and while they were sure she cussed, she wasn't a Jimmie Blu. But, from what Jane had said, she didn't mess around when it came to the firepower and she wasn't afraid to tackle a bad guy twice her size. Added to that, she could handle Patrick Jane. They'd say those were pretty high recommendations in their circle. She was clearly a bad-assed lady cop.
"Boys, are we going to sit around staring at each other or are we going to play." Lisbon broke the oppressive silence before watching Wally toss his first card on the table.
It was time to stop lollygagging and get down to business.
Momma needed a new pair of jeans.
#
"Well, we did it again." Lisbon laughed evilly thinking that while it hadn't been as easy as the first time around, they'd prevailed in the end.
"Did you honestly doubt we would? For such a lousy liar, you play a wicked hand." Jane laughed at Stinky's face as they'd cashed in their chips amidst threats of another game looming over their heads.
"I guess I do. You're not so bad yourself." Lisbon reached out to grab his hand as they walked across the expanse separating their travel trailer from the rest.
"They expect underhanded tricks from me just as I do from them. But, you're a straight shooter and you shouldn't be able to win." Jane complimented her.
"Yeah?" Lisbon slanted him a sideways look smirking at the backhanded compliment. "Says who?"
"Me and every other man seated around that table. Why do you think they keep inviting you back? They think it's a fluke. It has to fail as beginners luck doesn't last. I know differently." Jane admitted.
"You do, huh?" Lisbon matched her stride to his.
"I know it isn't beginners luck. What's your secret?" As if he didn't already know.
"Stinky deals from the bottom of the deck. Wally might be nuttier than a squirrel hiding nuts but he does some funky slight of hand that's hard to explain. Jake spent half the night staring down my shirt, but other than that, he's a master at counting cards just like you. You know Smokey Joe deals from the middle of the deck and he marks certain cards. They all have cheats they've mastered and they all have tells. What more do I need to say?
Oh, nothing, except you're the hardest to beat as you have an eclectic mix of tricks from slight of hand to counting cards. I'm glad we're working together instead of against each other." Lisbon turned to wrap her arms around his neck. "I hate being on the losing team." That was why she had a room full of field and track trophies, ribbons, and medals overflowing her spare bedroom.
"Is that what we're doing? Working together?" Jane asked as he answered her wordless invitation dropping a kiss on her pouty lips.
"Among other things I enjoy every much." Lisbon stood on her toes to press her lips against his again. That first kiss had left much to be desired.
"Is that so?" Jane asked resting his forehead against hers a few minutes later.
Lisbon had definitely let him know exactly the direction in which her thoughts lay by that ravishing kiss sucking the very air from his lungs. If that wasn't enough to convey the message, the hand brazenly cupping a very personal part of his anatomy did. Gazing into deceptively wide emerald eyes, Jane smirked at her forwardness. When Lisbon decided to make a play, she certainly wasn't shy about it. She went for broke in no uncertain terms and he didn't mind at all…as long as she saved the unrepentant hussy act for him from now on. He wasn't one to share. Never had and never would.
"Yep, that's so." Lisbon said as she took his hand reassuming the lead she'd never surrendered in the first place once again.
"I guess there's just something about you quiet Catholic girls." Jane teased.
"Maybe some of us quiet Catholic girls who've been celibate much too long. I'd say we're smart enough to know when we've found a good thing." Lisbon stopped on the first step and turned around to look over Jane's shoulder. "I think the boys have their noses pressed against Smokey Joe's windows watching us. What do you say to giving them something to talk about?"
"I didn't think you did things like that." Jane brushed the hair from her cheek.
"But Amber does." Lisbon said with a twinkle in her eyes. "Besides, they shouldn't be spying on us trying to see what they shouldn't see. If eavesdroppers never hear anything nice about themselves what does that say about a bunch of old pervs?"
"That they should get to see exactly what they're hoping because they are a bunch of old pervs?" Jane asked not at all surprised when Lisbon leaned into him.
"I wouldn't go that far. But that doesn't mean we can't tease them for being a bunch of nosey old lechers." Lisbon giggled as her only answer was Jane's lips pressing against hers as he scooped her up in his arms and stepped inside.
#
Dropping an apologetic kiss on Jane's cheek for interrupting their post-coital snuggles, Lisbon slipped out of bed and walked into the kitchen aware masculine eyes were glued to her naked backside. Grabbing his discarded t-shirt from where she'd dropped it on the dinette bench she pulled the garment over her head. While Jane certainly wouldn't mind her parading around naked, they didn't need any distractions from the necessary conversation they were about to have. The one he knew nothing about. The one she would force if she had to. Reaching into the pantry to grab a bag of chips, she then reached into the refrigerator for a bottle of soda which she divided between two glasses and a couple of leftover party sandwiches. Walking back into the bedroom she offered Jane the plate, chips, and his glass.
"What's all of this?" He questioned clearly divining there was more than a snack break going on.
"We need to talk." Lisbon said as she meandered back into the kitchen for napkins and the paper she'd left abandoned on the counter top when he'd carried her inside a couple of hours ago.
"About what?" Jane asked around the crunch of a crispy nacho flavored triangle. As far as he knew, everything was fine.
"About this." Lisbon offered him the paper as she slid under the covers reaching for a chip of her own.
"I suppose you want me to read this?" Jane took in the headline on the Topeka based newspaper and decided maybe he needed to read the article…even if he didn't want to.
"I think you should." Lisbon agreed taking a sip of clear soda lamenting the fact it was caffeine free.
As much as she could use a caffeine jolt, neither of them needed to be up the rest of the night. She knew they'd more than likely have a few things to do tomorrow. Something unexpected was always coming up. That was part of the fun of the carney lifestyle. Besides, she knew she would have a couple of hours of activity whether Jane did or not. Nothing all that early; but, she'd probably be needed by about mid-day. Daisy would need her walk and Punkin her cuddles if nothing else. More than likely she'd end up giving her furry munchkins their sweet smelling baths before the day was over.
"I swiped that at Smokey Joe's. Actually, he let me have it." Lisbon said as she watched Jane skimming the first page article she'd stuffed in her rear jean's pocket.
She silently cursed the moment she'd noticed the abandoned newspaper in passing. What was she doing paying attention to anything but the poker game anyway? Such distractions could have cost them everything. It hadn't, but it could have.
"Interesting." Jane crammed another chip in his mouth followed by a sip of the bubbly concoction in his glass.
"Well, do you think he killed him?" Lisbon asked the question weighing most heavily on her mind as she absently nibbled on her ham and turkey sandwich.
"What do you think?" Jane continued reading the article.
"Not a direct kill. More shades of Todd Johnson I think." Lisbon continued knowing she could very well be wrong. She wasn't all that great at reading Red John. "No bloody smiley face."
"I'd say you're right. It's clear that Wilkerson wasn't the only tool Red John had in the area." Jane said as he finished the article.
"Probably not considering law enforcement officers transfer all the time." Lisbon didn't like the idea there was more than one dirty cop in the same precinct.
"Add the local FBI to the mix as well. Red John has a fertile pool from which to pick and choose." Jane reminded her. "Teresa, there's really no way to know who got to Wilkerson or who actually did the deed beyond it not being the Master himself. There would have been the familiar red smiley face if he had." Jane confirmed her suspicions.
"But why? It's not like we could do anything to him. We're all but powerless at the moment." Red John had to know they wouldn't do anything to risk blowing their cover. They'd come much too far to end up in jail at this point in the game.
"Why do you think?" Lisbon needed to learn to think like their crazed serial killer. She'd certainly had long enough to learn: over a full decade and counting.
To be honest, even after the whole Rafferty incident, the woman by his side was still much too good to willingly venture that far into the dark side. He didn't want her to. Roaming the shadows changed a person and his Lisbon was perfect just the way she was.
"I don't know." She honestly didn't know what Wilkenson had done to deserve such a violent end. She'd been racking her brain trying to figure it out.
"Think. What always sets Red John off?" Jane asked curious if she was seeing what was right in front of her face. Lisbon was much too smart not to.
"Disrespect." That was the one constant in every killing she'd seen over the years.
Or a certain serial killers twisted definition of the word was.
"Exactly. Wilkerson died because of a perceived disrespect. One he was clearly guilty of by his actions." Jane continued studying the photograph of the slain officer deciding every bit of the man's weak character was apparent in his weasely face.
"In what way?" Surely Wilkerson had only been following orders when he'd tried to run them off the road. He'd certainly been following orders when he'd slipped in to leave that nasty surprise on their table.
"He deviated from the plan. It's as simple as that." Jane tossed the newspaper on his bedside table. That was the one thing Lorelei had in her favor. She'd not deviated from the plan. She'd been more than willing to snip his finger right off starting with his left ring finger. Wriggling the bare digit, Jane decided he'd much preferred taking his own ring off thank you very much. "Wilkenson probably thought he would make Red John happy doing more than he asked never realizing he was signing his own death warrant."
"I suppose." Lisbon replied wondering why such a fun evening had to end so crappily.
Why did she have to notice that discarded bit newspaper? Smokey Joe should have just tossed it in the can when he was done like any civilized person would do. He'd have saved her a lot of aggravation.
"Red John has his rules for a reason. If Wilkenson hadn't tried to run us off the road that night, we wouldn't have figured out who left that smiley face napkin behind. We may not have figured out anyone was watching us for quite a while and I doubt you would have noticed him up in the trees. Or if you had, we wouldn't have had proof he was Red John's man. For all we knew, he could have been part of the police force maintaining security around the fair. That's a common practice in every state.
I'm not saying either of us would have believed that; but, I seriously doubt we'd have put the pieces together as quickly as we did. You probably wouldn't have looked at that man close enough in passing to recognize him and realize you used to work together. He was in an unmarked police car surveying the grounds. You would have figured he was doing his job. For all I know, you may have walked over and talked to him. I'm sure he'd have spun you some cock and bull story you'd have found plausible before you led Daisy back to camp.
As it was, thanks to Wilkerson's ad libbing, we figured out we were being watched. More than that, we figured out the connection between our stalker and the CBI among other things. All of that is knowledge Red John didn't want us to have. He also had no way of knowing we wouldn't have Wilkenson picked up. That's something we could easily arrange through the team." Jane reminded her.
"Simply put, Wilkenson proved a weak link so he had to go. Don't let it bother you too much. The man was living on borrowed time from the moment he signed on with that psycho." Jane wasn't sympathetic all. As far as he was concerned, it was one less nut job to procreate and one less future criminal to put away.
"I guess so. It looks like a pretty clean kill which doesn't really make sense under the circumstances." Lisbon voiced the very thing she'd been wondering about. While undeniably messy, especially gut and head shots, two bullets left less carnage than Red John's typical butchering. There hadn't even been a bloody smiley face.
"Hardly clean, Lisbon. You cops leave a lot of details out at press conferences making it much more difficult for my kind to read between the lines." Jane said.
"What do you mean? It says Wilkenson was shot in the abdomen and in the head." Lisbon said.
"You clearly didn't read the whole article. The kill shot was to put him out of his misery once his tormentor decided Wilkenson had suffered enough. Or it appears that way. Actually, it was to ensure the man had no hope of surviving his injuries to give up any of their dirty little secrets." Jane looked at Lisbon knowing she was deliberately refusing to read between the lines as he already had. "Stop denying it, Lisbon. That you knew the guy personally doesn't change the fact he was sliced and diced to the point he was praying to whatever god he believed in for death long before he was given that release. Red John had a point to make and he had a sadistic tool in the area perfectly happy to make it for him. The point is pretty simple too: You do as you're told or you pay the consequences."
"Nothing in that article indicates torture." Lisbon corrected him.
"Sure it does. He was both shot and cut. They just make it sound like defensive wounds received over the course of fending off his attacker. In reality, those cuts were anything but defensive and they came after that first debilitating gut shot took the fight right out of him. His tormenter knew exactly what he was doing from the bullet through the intestines to that final shot right between the eyes. Oh, and everything happening in between. He probably has some kind of Special Forces military background.
Trust me when I say Wilkenson was a bloody mess by the time they found him. Every bit as bad as a Red John kill if not worse." Jane told her.
"How do you know that?" Lisbon asked still not totally convinced.
"By the open horror seasoned cops expressed through their word choices in the article. It would take far more than a couple of gun shots and some defensive wounds to cause all of that. Unless the reporter has chosen to make her statements more lurid than they originally were and I don't think that's true in this case. This murder is too high profile for the local PD to allow that kind of thing." There were a few other ways he knew of what he was speaking; but, Jane wasn't about to divulge them. He'd maintained there was no such thing as psychics for years and he wasn't about to change his story. Even to Lisbon. It would only creep her out as it did him at times. "More than likely Wilkenson's unseeing eyes were open and focused in the direction of his killer while his mouth was frozen in that last soundless scream he never got to utter. As horrible as the experience he'd just gone through was, he didn't want to die. He didn't want to face whatever he believed was waiting for him on the other side. In truth, he'd never thought he would have to. His mind would have still been much too clouded by shock and disbelief to realize what was going on until the last. Until his murderer told him his death was a present from Red John as his life light ebbed from his eyes. His last coherent thought was he'd been betrayed for a job well done."
"Maybe you have a point. Or maybe there's more you haven't told me." Lisbon said choosing to ignore the more unsettling parts of his explanation.
"Maybe there is. I've seen this kind of thing on a case or two before in the past. Mostly gang related; but, still, more familiar than I want to admit. It's a variation on an Oriental torture that was outlawed over a century ago. Those cuts are meant to cause excruciating pain through the vastness of their number. I'm sure large chunks of skin were filleted away before the executioner was done. The whole thing is gruesome and inhumane by anyone's standards. Wilkerson was probably pleading for that bullet between the eyes long before he got it whether he really wanted it or not.
If you don't believe me, have Cho check it out. I'm confident we'll find I'm right." Jane resealed the bag of chips as neither of them seemed to have much appetite any more.
"I might do that to appease my curiosity. He can make discrete inquiries without tipping our hand." Lisbon took a sip of soda.
"Actually, even though I suggested it, that wouldn't be a good idea. If Red John's still hacked into the CBI, he'll know why such inquiries are being made. And he'll know who made the initial query. While I'm positive he already suspects we're in touch with the team, I'm not sure we want to reveal our hand to the point of providing him with that proof." Jane reached over to entwine his fingers through Lisbon's.
"You may be right." Lisbon agreed.
"I am." Jane said. "Just trust I know what talking about. Besides, it doesn't really matter anymore. We're in Kansas now and all of that happened in Oklahoma. I'd say it's game over point to Red John. As I'd also say a new one has already begun."
"I hate it when you say things like that." Lisbon unrolled the bag of chips and sealed them back.
She really wasn't hungry any more. Jane's descriptions had painted mental images that were much too graphic in her head. Besides, just because she still had a few pounds to regain didn't mean she needed to stress eat. That was a hard habit to break once it got started.
"So do I. Especially when it happens to be true." Jane agreed leaning back and closing his eyes.
"Are you tired?" They hadn't gotten a lot of sleep since the night Wilkerson tried to run them off the road. Jane had to be exhausted. Lisbon knew she was.
"I'm fine. I just have a headache coming on." Jane said as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Then I'd say we don't need to talk about this any more." Gazing over at her, Jane silently seconded her opinion.
"There isn't any reason to give Wilkerson a second thought. He's responsible for his fate and we're safe for now. Trust that you'll be the first to know if I feel any of that has changed." Jane promised.
"I do." Lisbon sat their plate and the chips on her bedside table clearing the bed.
Tugging his hand gently, she pulled Jane over to lay his head on her lap. Placing her fingers on either side of his head, she began gently massaging his temples. That used to help her mother get rid of headaches a long time ago. Maybe it would work for Jane. Whether it did or not, he certainly seemed to be enjoying the feel of her fingers against his skin. Lisbon couldn't resist the urge to run her hands lightly over his chest. There was something about being in Jane's presence that excited her whether she touched him or not. Leaning over, she dropped a kiss on his lips before resuming her gentle message of his temples.
"While that certainly feels good, I can think of better ways to cure a headache." Jane said as he suddenly sat up and pulled his shirt over her head.
"I just bet you can." Lisbon laughed out loud as he lifted her over to straddle him joining their bodies in one smooth thrust.
There were much better things to do with their night than discussing unpleasant events they could do nothing about. While Wilkerson was dead and Red John was beyond their reach as long as they were here and he was there, that didn't mean he wouldn't eventually pay. Both Lisbon and Jane intended doing everything in their power to see that he did just that.
In the meantime, they were going to live their lives as best they could and enjoy every precious moment they spent together.