A/N: Thanks again for all your kind reviews, this one is a little heavy going, hope you keep reading, the humour will pick up again, I promise.

Chapter 12 – Similarities

Lisbon arrived at the room where Kerry's friends were gathered. Michael Foster and Julia Myles were both in her criminology class and had found her body along with Laura Summers, who lived in the room next to Kerry's, who gave them the spare key she had.

They all still looked a little shaken so Lisbon began gently.

'You guys okay to talk now, about Kerry?' she said softly.

'Yes, we're okay, we just want to find out who did this terrible thing to her' Julia said, blankly looking ahead. The others nodded.

'Thanks.'

She then asked them all the routine questions she normally asked witnesses including what time they found her, if they moved anything in the room, where they were beforehand and if there was anybody they could think of that might do this to do and so on. Michael mentioned an ex-boyfriend she had broken up with a few weeks prior named Jake Henderson, Lisbon taking a note of his name to talk to later.

'Can you tell me anything about her family?'

Laura spoke first. 'Her family? I don't really know much about them to be honest. She didn't really talk about them much.' The others shook their heads too and shrugged their shoulders.

'Anything you remember her telling you might be useful' Lisbon said, trying to coax a reply.

Laura spoke again. 'Well, her parents are both dead, her mother died when she had just turned a teenager and her father a couple of years ago as far as I know. She didn't really speak about them. I got the impression that things hadn't been great between her and her father before he died.'

'What about brothers and sisters?'

'She has two younger brothers, I think. Will someone tell them what's happened?'

Lisbon nodded. 'Yes, don't worry, we're taking care of that.'

Lisbon began to feel a little uncomfortable, the similar background she had to Kerry a little unnerving for her.

'Did she ever tell you what you wanted to be, you know, after graduating?' she asked the room.

Julia replied, smiling a little now, 'All she ever wanted to be was a cop, that's the only thing she talked about. She was a straight A student, I always told her she could be anything, but her mind was set.' She realised her faux pas and said to Lisbon, 'Sorry, no offence intended.'

Lisbon nodded and smiled, continuing to write, a cold shiver going up her spine.

She continued questioning them for a little longer, finally giving them her card and telling them to call her should they remember anything else.

She turned to leave when Michael spoke. 'Do you mind if I ask you something?'

Lisbon turned back. 'Sure, what is it?'

'Did you really meet Red John, I mean Thomas McAllister?'

The others turned around. 'Michael!' Julia hissed.

Lisbon was taken aback by the question but then recovered, obvious anger in her face. 'Frankly, that's none of your business.'

Michael was shocked by her icy stare and fidgeted in the seat. 'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause offence, it's just that we study about him in class and, well, you and Mr Jane have come up a few times in discussions. Well, Mr Jane mainly but I know your name too. I heard he was here as well today, I would have liked to have met him too, you know, to ask him about his feelings about him now he's dead, that type of thing' he said hurriedly.

Lisbon stood glaring at him. 'Let's be clear, Michael. Thomas McAllister was a monster the world is better off without, not some type of anti-hero you seem to think he was.'

Michael sat back in his chair, shaken but Lisbon wasn't finished with him yet. 'And if I hear you asking Mr Jane any of that crap, believe me, you'll be sorry.' Michael nodded feebly.

She went to leave then on a whim turned around again. 'Where can I find the criminology professor?'

'He should be just finishing another class now, lecture hall B' Julia replied.

Lisbon walked into the corridor and began to shake a little. She breathed out and went to see if Jane was still in Kerry's room.

Jane was walking back down the corridor as Lisbon was coming towards him. His smile turned to worry as he saw her anxious demeanour. 'I was just heading back to the office. I thought I was going to see you there? What's wrong?' he asked, his hand on her arm.

She relayed the exchange about McAllister to Jane, who kept his head down and nodded throughout.

'I want you to talk with the criminology professor with me, he must be the one filling their minds with this crap' she said angrily.

Jane looked up, seemingly unaffected and said almost cheerily, 'Okay, let's go.'

As they began to walk he stopped and looked at her. 'Hang on. What did they say about her family?'

Lisbon again relayed the information. This time, he looked straight at her then looked away, a distant look on his face.

'What is it Jane?'

Her turned back to her and replied, 'Probably nothing at all', hunching his shoulders.

He went to walk away again until she put her hand on his arm to stop him. 'Jane, tell me.'

He stopped and looked towards the floor again, rocking on his heels, trying to find the right words.

Lisbon spoke first, her own fear after meeting the students coming to the surface now. 'Do you think this case has anything to do with me, I mean personally? As far as we know at the moment, Kerry was pretty much the same person as me when I was her age, same background, same desire to be a cop, do you think she was murdered because of me somehow?', she asked him blatantly.

He turned to face her, a worried look on his face now. His words came out slowly as first, gaining speed as the concern behind them overtook him. 'I don't know Teresa, honestly. On its own I would have said no but with the Red John mark stuffed in her mouth and the way she died it all seems like too big a coincidence for it not to mean something too.'

Lisbon paused, thought for a second and said to him, 'The same way you killed McAllister.' It was the first time she had acknowledged to him what he had done that day. He never mentioned it in his letters to her and they had never directly discussed it since he returned.

He looked at her and simply nodded, his face giving nothing away.

'Did you leave his eyes open?' she asked quietly.

Jane nodded, breathed out and looked around the corridor, trying to avoid her eyes. 'Teresa, can we talk about this another time, this really isn't the place, is it?'

She nodded in return, glancing down, almost grateful that the conversation would have to wait as it was a subject she knew she would find almost as painful to talk about as Jane.