Chapter 21 - Surprised

She knocked back the dregs of the black coffee on her desk, making a face as its bitter coldness hit the back of her throat. She sighed and leaned over her desk again, scribbling on a sheet of paper in front of her. A tap came to her door. Instantly she imagined it was Jane, he seemed to always appear at night time in her office for a post work day chat before they both went back to their respective homes, often with some sugary snack or take out to pass the time.

Then the realisation hit her. Of course it wasn't him, he hadn't stopped by to see her in the fortnight since he'd joined Haffner's team. They'd seen each other around the building a handful of times but had only participated in small talk, seconds long. Each time she saw him fleetingly she wanted to extend those seconds more and more.

She looked up to see Virgil Minelli come through her door and she smiled at him with a nod.

"Hey, boss, what's up? Burning the midnight oil?" she asked with a weary smile.

He gave her one of his looks that she knew well. Concerned but aggrieved. "I hear you've been doing the same lately." He said the words in a question, silently asking for her comment.

She shrugged. "Some tough cases last few days, that's all."

"Yes, I know. You missing Jane?"

Well, that was a question she didn't even want to think about on a personal level. "He's a loss to the team but we're coping. We did okay before he arrived and we're doing okay now. Might take us a little longer to close cases but less paperwork when we do, right?"

"Hmmm. Haffner's been complaining to me about the crapstorms that follow Jane on every case."

Her lips involuntarily curved upwards that she tried to contain. "Oh? That's a shame."

She couldn't hold the same smile back and Minelli shook his head at her. "Play nice, Teresa." Although the old curmudgeon had a twinkle in his eyes as he said it that made her laugh.

"What'd you tell him? Haffner, I mean?" she asked.

"I told him Jane created the crapstorms and it was his job to keep him in line from creating cataclysmic ones." He leaned forward and eyed her closely. "I could always arrange for him to transfer back to Serious Crimes. While Haffner is enjoying the benefit of Jane's unique brand of crime solving in case closures, I'm not sure he's quite enjoying the additional work that goes along with having him as an asset."

She shook her head quickly before the notion had time to gestate and she agreed with him. "No. I...I don't think that would be a good idea. Haffner just needs to learn to be a little more flexible and quit babysitting him, I'll talk to Ray, see if I can smooth the waters."

"Okay. Well, I'd appreciate that." He straightened up again. "Now, I better get home. Damn dog has to be fed."

She smirked, "You were the one who decided getting a puppy was a good idea."

"Actually it was my doctor who recommended it. Said I needed to lose weight by walking it and it's supposed to help with stress levels. Should send the damn mutt over to him, see how his stress levels cope with it chewing on every pick of furniture I own." With a shake of his head he bolted back through the door again. "Get home soon, Lisbon, do you hear me?" he called to her over his shoulder.

She smiled at the thought of Minelli tearing into the puppy. The man was all bluster, she'd seen him carrying bags from pet shops four times since he'd gotten the dog, he was more attached to it every day though he'd deny that to his grave. She laughed and picked up her phone, dialling Haffner's number.

"Teresa!" Haffner smiled as he rose from his chair and waved her over to his table. They had arranged to meet for coffee on the rooftop cafe near the CBI offices the morning after Minelli's visit.

After ordering a coffee she said, "Haffner. Thanks for agreeing to meet me."

He smirked, "Always a pleasure, Teresa, you know that."

She flinched inwardly. He'd never come on to her directly or asked her out but she always came away from conversations with him like he'd undressed her with his eyes as he talked to her. This time was no different.

She came straight to the point. "I wanted to talk to you about Patrick Jane."

He smiled and raised an arrogant eyebrow. "Oh? You here to beg me to release him back to your team? I heard your closure rate is suffering."

She smiled a supercilious fake smile in return. "Still the highest in the CBI, Ray. Not that I care about the statistics. I prefer to catch bad guys than mull over the numbers. Maybe you'd increase yours if you did the same."

He laughed softly. "Point taken. So, Jane?"

"I just came to offer you some free advice about working with him. Who knows, maybe it'll help you out with those numbers you care about so much."

He leaned in further and narrowed his eyes at her. "Advice? Did you learn it from being his former boss or his former girlfriend?"

Her mouth dropped open and he grinned. "Come on, Teresa. You should know by now that news is out there in the rumour mill."

"Of course I know it is. We've never tried to hide we used to date a million years ago. I'm just surprised you'd be so unprofessional to mention it when I'm here to offer you my help." She got up from the table. "Of course, if you don't want my help-"

"Okay, I apologise, really I do," Haffner stammered, nodding to the chair opposite him again.

She glared at him for a second before she sat down again.

He repeated, "I'm sorry, okay? Of course I could do with your help." He breathed out. "I-I don't know what the hell he's thinking sometimes. He tells me one thing then does the complete opposite, withholds information until the very last minute then it's everything the team and I can do to catch up with whatever plan he's set in motion. He seems to take some kind of childish glee in humiliating me. If he didn't get such good results I swear I'd knock the pompous jerk out and sling his ass off my team."

She had to admit to feeling some childish glee herself in hearing Haffner's troubles with the wayward consultant. Maybe being left mortified a few times more would assist in knocking his own pomposity down a peg or two.

"I-I can't imagine why you'd ever have dated someone like him," he added with a shake of his head. "He's smart but...jeez, Teresa. He's a prick."

She sipped on her coffee that had just arrived, allowing her time to formulate her response. She wasn't about to discuss her dating choices with Ray Haffner of all people.

Before she had time to respond, he asked, "So, this advice you have for me on how to deal with him?"

"Yes. Uh...I was just going to say that if you extend your leash on Jane by just a little, you'll likely get better results. You need to trust him to get the job done, not get bogged down in the details so much."

He nodded thoughtfully. "I guess I can try that. If you think it'll help. Guess my background in security makes it difficult to trust people I've just met, especially those that like to yank my chains every chance they get. But...but I trust you, Teresa. So...okay, I'll give it a go. But if it comes back to bite me in the ass-"

"Feel free to blame me for the bad advice," she smiled.

He chuckled. "I will."

As they settled into silently sipping their beverages, he remarked as he looked out across the view of Sacramento to his side, "I really can't imagine you two dating. You're like chalk and cheese." He sighed, "Although I've seen him flirt with women, he's damn good at it when he wants to charm them, I'll admit that. Agent Connors certainly was smitten as soon as they started dating so guess there's no accounting for taste sometimes. And she's a helluva woman just like yourself. Just thankful she's not on my team. I'd watch out for Narcotics solve rate to drop if she doesn't regain some focus soon."

Lisbon's lips faltered over her coffee cup a fraction long enough to scald them with the hot liquid. Fortunately, Haffner was looking over the balcony and hadn't noticed her shock on learning that Jane was dating someone.

She knew the woman in question. Long blonde hair with legs that went on forever. But behind the good looks lay a sassy and intelligent woman who'd taken down two drug lords. Lisbon's stomach somersaulted. She told herself he had a right to date whomever he chose, naturally. He was a free agent. It was absolutely none of her business. She'd ran from his advances without a real explanation. He, in turn, was doing whatever he needed to do to move on in the here and now than live in the past. As he advised her he would. She was supposed to be happy for him. He'd selected a very nice woman, too. Someone Lisbon liked and admired. She should be happy for him, she told herself again. But as the pit grew larger in her stomach she exhaled loudly, gaining Haffner's attention back to her again.

He frowned. "Teresa? You feeling okay? You look...pale."

She set her cup down with a loud clank against the saucer. "Sorry, yeah. Too much caffeine, I guess."

"Tell me about it. A cop's burden to bear, huh?" he laughed.

"Yeah," she smiled, gaining control of herself again.

She digested the news of Patrick Jane's new paramour over the following two days. She'd casually mentioned it to Van Pelt who'd been happy to fill her in on the latest water cooler talk of the new romance around the CBI. It had indeed sounded like her former lover and Elise Connors had hit it off remarkably well, often seen going out for lunch and coffee together. There had even been talk of them attending the opera together the day Haffner had unwittingly dropped the bombshell on her.

Luckily, a case that took her and her team out of town had meant she hadn't seen him around the CBI since she'd heard. But it was only a matter of time before their paths crossed. She was concerned that perhaps he was moving too quickly in his new relationship but was she meant to tell him that? Would he read it as sour grapes? Some form of jealousy on her part? She had to admit the green eyed monster might be colouring her version of his new entanglement, even if she had no legitimate right to feel that emotion.

"Hey, how's the case going?" Lisbon asked as she finally lay in her own bed the following night and talked to Ryan on the phone.

He'd barely been back to Sacramento as the biggest case of his life had been gaining more and more media attention, only adding to the pressure on him to gain a conviction.

Kevin Nichols, a low income warehouse worker aged forty six, was being charged with three counts of murder against prostitutes in San Francisco. The case, already complex enough, had been further complicated by a change in the trial lawyer for the defendant. A well known, brilliant and normally extremely expensive defense attorney called Adam Newell had jumped on board to defend Nichols and was trying the case pro bono. He'd agreed to represent Nichols for no fee in the hope he would win and thus secure further prospective paying clients in the future with the press attention he would receive in doing so. He was highly regarded and a bulldog in the courtroom.

"It's tough, Teresa. I-I just hope I can win it. Newell has swamped us in discovery."

"Then there must be something in there for you to find. He's trying to hide whatever it is by sending you everything."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I have people on it."

"You'll do great, Ryan."

"I hope so. I miss you."

She closed her eyes briefly and shook her head. "Yeah, me too."

"How's Stan doing?"

"Much better, he's home and even Jimmy has hung around to help out with the kids. Actually, he's been pretty great with them. Stan's accident seems to have brought him back down to earth." She laughed, "For now, anyway. No doubt he'll be applying to go into space in a few days time."

Ryan laughed. "No doubt. And how are you coping without Jane in your team?"

She'd told him that Jane had wanted to try different departments to see where he might fit in within law enforcement. There was no mistaking the relief in her boyfriend's tone when she'd broken that news to him.

"Okay, the team miss him, though. But apart from that it's fine. I heard he was causing trouble as usual but I gave Haffner some tips on how to deal with him the other day. Haven't heard how that's worked out yet for both of them." She chuckled, "Probably a recipe for disaster, still."

"Does it sound terrible for me to say that I'm glad you two aren't seeing each other every day anymore? Especially when I'm stuck here."

As she went to talk she saw an incoming call flash up on her phone. "Sorry, I have another call coming in, must be a case this time of night. I'll call you tomorrow?"

"Sure, no problem, sweetheart. I love you. Be careful. Talk soon."

"Bye," she said quickly, disconnecting the call and picking up the other one. "Lisbon."

Minelli's voice came through the receiver. "Lisbon. I need you at a crime scene immediately."

For the second time in days her stomach swirled as her rate rate picked up. This time it was for a very different reason. She knew that serious tone Minelli reserved for one explanation alone.

"Red John," she stated.

She heard him huff in response. "Yes, the bastard has killed a student in the campus of the State University."

She was off the bed already and finding clothes to wear as she turned the phone to loudspeaker. "You sure it's him?"

"Sounds like it. Partridge and his techs are assessing. You tell me when you get there if it's him. I'm en route at the moment."

"Okay, I'll get my team to meet us there."

As she went to disconnect, Minelli added, "I called Jane in on this too. I want him to work the scene along with you and your team."

She stopped dressing immediately. "What? Why? He doesn't work in Serious Crimes anymore."

"That pain in the ass is still the best asset we've ever had. No time for departmental boundaries on this one. Haffner will have to live with it. It's Red John, Lisbon. Maybe he can see something we haven't now he's been working at the CBI for a while. Fresh set of eyes can't hurt."

She took a breath and nodded. "Yeah...yeah, you're right, of course. All right, I'll see you there."

She stared up at the red face on the wall, barely aware of the techs milling around her.

It was him. She could feel it before she even looked at the body of the nineteen year old brunette in the bed. Another woman dead when she was the agent in charge of the investigation. Another failure on her watch.

"It's him again, then," a voice said softly behind her.

She nodded, still staring at the gruesome art. She swallowed thickly to control her cadence into nonchalance. "Yeah. I heard Minelli called you in."

"Hmm," Jane said at her ear. "You okay with that?"

She turned to face him, caught offguard by the intensity of his eyes on her. Reading her response, naturally, and not the words she used. "Of course," she replied evenly. "I hope it wasn't a bad night for him to call you," she added, kicking herself for that statement a millisecond later.

He narrowed his eyes in cusiosity and then nodded. A slight smile washed over his lips. "It's an important case for you, so of course I answered the call no matter what other plans I had this evening."

"Minelli would appreciate your insight. Now you...now you know what you're doing in law enforcement." She tagged on, "Most of the time, anyway."

He smirked. "Such flattery. Watch out, you might inflate my ego with such words, Agent Lisbon," he responded with a smile. As she blushed slightly and went to move past him he touched her arm then whispered in her ear. "And just so you know, I'm not here because the case is important to Minelli or the CBI. I'm here because it's important to you."

Startled, she drew her gaze quickly to him.

He continued, "I have no idea why, Teresa. But I'll do whatever I can to help you catch him. I promise you that "