Chapter 11
8:44 PM
Lisbon stopped the car a few houses down from the Cunningham residence. Rigsby moved to open the car door, but Jane stopped him.
"Why?" Rigsby questioned, shutting the door carefully.
"We made it here in perfect time." Jane replied.
"You seem to be wide awake now." Lisbon commented, slightly annoyed by Jane's secrecy.
"It's the caffeine kicking in." Jane remarked. They waited in silence for a few minutes until Mrs. Cunningham opened the front door of the house and headed to her car in the driveway. Everyone in the car tensed. Lisbon made no move to follow her and instead just watched her curiously.
"Shouldn't we follow her, boss?" Cho asked from the backseat. Lisbon paused and then looked at Jane for his answer.
"She's innocent." Jane replied, his eyes watching the house intently as if expecting something.
"We're letting her go." Lisbon advised, watching as Susan Cunningham got in her car and drove away. She trusted that Jane knew what he was doing. Well, maybe not completely.
"Where is she going?" Rigsby inquired, a hint of frustration in his voice.
"To post bail for her husband… who was just charged with assault." Jane answered confidently with a clever grin, as if it was a part of his overall plan… and of course it was.
"Wait…" Lisbon frowned, attempting to put the pieces together. "You made us bring in Susan for questioning just to confirm Will's suspicions… and make him hunt down Melony's biological father, Ethan?" Lisbon asked, trying to work through Jane's convoluted plan.
"Pretty much. Luckily, Will didn't bring a gun. I figured he wouldn't, but it was a concern." Jane countered, his eyes trained on the house. Lisbon glared at Jane.
"You used Ethan as bait?" Lisbon questioned, frowning indignantly.
Jane glanced at his boss and quickly added, "Will doesn't have the nerve to kill anyone even if he wanted to. Will was just going in there to rough Ethan up a little and find his daughter." He reasoned, hoping his explanation justified using Ethan Kasper as bait. Lisbon dropped the subject for now and continued sifting through Jane's plan.
"So… you tipped us off to the confrontation between Will and Ethan so we would arrest Will and subsequently lure Susan out of the house… but why?" Lisbon asked, still confused.
"Patience." Jane reasoned, his eyes still focused on the front door.
"You better be right about this." Lisbon directed to Jane.
"I am." He replied confidently. Sure enough, as soon as he said it a second figure left the house and headed toward the remaining car.
"Is that…?" Lisbon started, surprised when she recognized the figure.
The brother, Collin Cunningham, was sneaking out to the remaining car. Lisbon looked over at Jane to read his expression.
"He's careful. He wasn't going to leave the house until his parents were gone." Jane explained, thinking back to how much trouble the kid went through to hide the scent of marijuana on his clothes. The only way to find Melony was to get the parents out of the way.
"Do we stop him?" Cho asked, eager to do something. "I don't think he even has a license." He pointed out, giving them a reason to arrest him. Lisbon shook her head slightly.
"No, we'll just follow him." Lisbon replied, putting the car in drive. "He'll lead us to Melony." She continued, glancing over at Jane with a brief smile.
They had a lead.
Lesalanna, imananthropologist, and ally guessed correctly! Yay for ya'll!
Also, does anyone have any good names for this fic with the word red in it? I don't really like the name "Red Eye." I intended it to be a temporary title until I could think of something better.
The fanfic is not over yet.