Jane followed up with Charlotte for an official report, saying everything there was to say and letting her know that he would be moving his campout from the courthouse to the place where Red John would be executed that night.
What he didn't tell her was that, before the execution, he was waiting for a phone call. No one needed to know that, at least not yet…
~o~
Red John was surprised when, instead of being led back to his cell, his guards began to escort him to the common area.
"I thought I was in solitary confinement?" he said to them.
"Not anymore," one of them replied; "we've been given orders to treat you as a normal criminal."
Mingle with the hoi poloi? Red John thought. Huh…I suppose that's slightly degrading…but really, it's only slightly. What's the true purpose, I wonder? He didn't need to ask whose authority the change had been made under - even in solitary, he was fully aware of just how big a deal his Old Friend had become. If he was honest with himself, it really was impressive. But what was the point of this?
He didn't have to wait long to find out; as soon as he was locked in with the others, a deathly quiet fell over the crowd. A similar thing had happened, he knew, the first time his Old Friend had been in this same position. The thought made him smile in spite of himself.
"Is there a problem?" he asked everyone.
Instead of a verbal response, everyone in the room stood and converged on him. This confused Red John…and, if he was a hundred percent honest with himself, scared him slightly. The fear was quickly banished by anger - fear was for prey, and whatever was about to happen, he would bear it without flinching.
He didn't resist as several thugs held him against the mesh wall, holding his arms out. He heard a guard mutter "Should we break it up?", in reply to which his fellow said "Maybe in a few minutes." The two chuckled. He was alone and helpless. But he wouldn't degrade himself by asking for help; whatever was about to happen, he would bear it.
A certain thug walked through the crowd to stand in front of Red John.
"An old friend of yours wants something from you," he told him.
Red John chuckled. "Besides my life, you mean?" he asked mockingly.
In response, the thug reached into his pocket and took out a glass vial and…a razor blade.
Oh, you brainless piece of scum, Red John thought. I hate you so much.
The thug stepped forward, took the blade, and made a cut on the underside of Red John's forearm - just deep enough to drip blood. Red John didn't flinch, didn't gasp, didn't give any indication that he felt any pain - and really, the pain was so minor, it was easy to dismiss. He was satisfied to see a flicker of fear in several people's eyes at his lack of a response. That's right, he thought; fear me, as well you should. You have no idea what I am.
It took a couple of minutes for the vial to fill with his blood; when it was full, the thug put the stopper in, then nodded to his fellows, and Red John was released. As the crowd moved back and the various inmates returned to whatever they had been doing, Red John remained where he was, maintaining a dignified silence.
Some guards came in, then - his cut needed to be bandaged. Red John coldly met the eyes of the idiot who thought it would be funny to sew the wound shut, without flinching as the needle pierced his skin again and again. When it was done and Red John had given no indication of being in pain, the guards stepped away from him quickly, fearful of something they didn't understand. That was the way it should be, and Red John smirked.
There was just one thing that puzzled him: What on Earth would his Old Friend need a vial of his blood for?
~o~
It was about two o'clock PM when Jane's phone finally rang.
"Hello?" he said.
"I got it."
"No trouble?" he asked.
"He didn't resist - didn't even flinch. He's some kind of freak, I'll tell you that."
Jane chuckled. "I could have told you that," he said. "Alright, I'll be right there." And he got up and left.
~o~
Jane was given the vial of blood and the razor blade as soon as he met with his ally.
"Thank you," he said sincerely.
"So are you going to tell me what this was all about?" the thug asked.
Jane looked around, then leaned in, lowered his voice, and explained what he was going to do.
When he was done, his accomplice blinked. "Why?" he asked.
"To spite him," Jane replied with a shrug.
His friend laughed, shaking his head. "You really hate that son of a bitch," he commented.
"Can you blame me?" Jane asked.
"I guess not." He paused. "You want me to tell him what you're gonna do?"
"Oh, please do," Jane replied, smiling; he knew it would drive Red John mad. He chuckled, then gave his friend a pat on the arm. "Have a nice life," he told him.
"Yeah," the thug said as Jane stood and turned to go. "You too."
Jane glanced back and grinned at him, then left.
~o~
Red John was on the phone when Jane's friend returned to the common area, as he had been for a while. After he finished with his call, he approached Jane's accomplice and asked, "Did my Old Friend tell you what he wants my blood for?"
The thug smirked at him. "He says he's gonna buy you a tombstone and use your blood to paint your signature on it," he replied.
Red John's eyes widened. The ultimate insult.
If you think you can get away with that without retribution just because I'm to die in a few hours, you're sorely mistaken, o foolish old friend of mine, he thought.
~o~
Jane wasn't expecting another phone call, so when his cell phone rang a little after four o'clock, he checked the caller ID with confusion. When he didn't recognize it, he got curious, and he answered.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Old Friend."
Jane's eyes widened, and he leapt to his feet.
"Oh, don't you worry, I'm calling from jail," Red John said, and Jane could almost see him roll his eyes.
"What do you want?" Jane asked.
Red John sighed dramatically. "It's always the same question with you, isn't it?" he said mockingly. He paused, then said, "What I want, Old Friend, is to congratulate you. I am impressed with all you've managed to do."
"Thanks," Jane sad guardedly.
"In fact…I think I'll give you a reward of sorts - a gift, from me to you," Red John went on. "Of course, you'll have to get clearance for me to do it."
"What?" Jane asked, still suspicious.
"Kristina," Red John said, and Jane's heart leapt. "She's still in a psychiatric ward, I know. I can revive her, and I will, if you'll let me."
"Why would you do that?" Jane asked.
"As I said, you've earned it," Red John replied. "I give you my word, I will not make any attempts to escape, no one will attempt to retrieve or rescue me, and I will not do any physical harm to anyone, if you let me revive Kristina."
Jane thought for a minute, looking for a loophole. When he couldn't find one, he said, "Okay…I'll make some calls. I'll watch you do it, so don't even think of trying anything."
"I already told you, I won't," Red John said indignantly, and Jane couldn't tell how much of it was genuine indignation and how much was mocking.
With that, they both hung up.
Jane stared at his phone for a second. He wasn't stupid - Red John was planning something, he was fully aware of that. But…Kristina…
Even if I have to pay some sort of price, I can't just leave her to waste away, he thought.
His guilt mounting and overriding his better judgement, he started making calls.
~o~
Lisbon was at HQ with everyone else when her phone rang. Confused, she picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hello, My Dear."
Lisbon's eyes widened. She took a step away from everyone else and lowered her voice. "You are calling me from jail, aren't you?"
"But of course," Red John replied, sounding almost offended that she would suspect otherwise. "I was defeated fairly."
"So what do you want?" Lisbon asked.
Red John gave an exasperated sigh, and Lisbon could almost see him roll his eyes. "Can you people not come up with a more pertinent question?" he asked. "What I want, in this case, is to tell you that my Old Friend is making arrangements so that I can revive Kristina Frye."
Lisbon's gut twisted. "Why are you telling me this?"
"I was hoping you'd come along, lend him some moral support," Red John replied. "I've already given my word, there will be no escape attempts, and no physical harm will be done to anyone. He's going to be present for it, and I thought you might want to join him."
"Is this some elaborate scheme just to see me in person one more time?" Lisbon asked, almost disgustedly.
"If it is, would you refuse one who is about to die?" Red John asked in reply.
You didn't answer my question. "Fine, I'll come," Lisbon said, and she hung up before she could hear his response, already walking to the elevators. She had a bad feeling about this, and if nothing else, she wanted to be there when whatever Jane was going to regret happened - lend moral support, as Red John himself had said.
~o~
Jane and Lisbon were at the mental institution before Red John got there - Red John had to go through a more intricate system, after all.
"Jane, I don't think this is a good idea," Lisbon told Jane.
"You're probably right," Jane replied, "but I can't just leave Kristina here like this."
"Forget your guilt for a second and think about this!" Lisbon hissed. "If Red John wants to wake her up or whatever with you watching, chances are, you're going to regret it!"
"What do you think is going to happen?" Jane demanded.
Lisbon took a breath. "I don't know," she half-lied. "I just don't think you should trust Red John."
"I don't," Jane said, "but I do trust him to keep to his word. Besides, like you said, this whole thing might just be so he can see you in person again." He hesitated, then added, "He really does seem to…love you." The words hurt on the way out, to a surprising degree - Jane wondered at it momentarily, then dismissed it.
Lisbon just shook her head. It was possible that that was Red John's aim, she couldn't deny that, and Kristina was the perfect bargaining chip to that end, but…something about the whole affair bugged her. She had a hunch, but she didn't want to acknowledge it - her subconscious suppressed it, in the hopes that maybe, if she didn't even think it, it wouldn't be true.
Then Red John arrived.
He was escorted by two guards, but he wasn't chained - Jane had made sure of that. He smiled when he saw Lisbon.
"My Dear Little Saint," he greeted fondly, ignoring Jane for the time being. "I half-feared you wouldn't come."
"I don't trust you," Lisbon said as he approached her; "if you're going to do something to Jane, I'm going to be here for it."
Red John chuckled. "You're a lot smarter than he is," he told her. A second too late, Lisbon realized he wasn't going to stop walking, and the next thing she knew, his arms were around her and he was kissing her deeply.
Red John had kissed her many times, but there had always been a cloth mask between them; now, their mouthes pressed together, his lips against hers, with no barrier, no space…Part of her almost wanted to enjoy it. But she only hesitated a moment before pushing him away.
He took a step back and smiled. "Forgive me, My Dear," he said, "but I couldn't go without doing that without a mask between us, just once."
Lisbon glared at him. "The only reason I'm not going to do anything about it is because you're going to be dead in a few hours anyway," she told him.
Jane, meanwhile, felt sick. "Let's just get to why we're here," he said.
Red John smirked at him. "Jealous?" he taunted.
Jane was able to not react to that by reminding himself, as Lisbon had just done, that Red John would be dead in a few hours anyway - there was nothing to be gained from taking offense to anything he said. "You said you'd help Kristina," he said to Red John flatly.
"I said I'd revive Kristina," Red John corrected; "whether or not that will be a positive thing in her eyes remains to be seen."
Jane blinked, but decided not to attribute any significance to this - surely, Red John was just messing with him. "Let's go," he said bluntly, and he turned and walked inside. Lisbon, Red John, and Red John's guards followed.
Jane abused his status to get a visiting room with only himself, Kristina, Lisbon, and Red John present - even the guards had to wait outside. When the doctors led Kristina in, Jane felt his heart ache. She looked exactly the same as she had the last time he'd seen her - vacant, empty, utterly dead to the world. They sat her down on a couch, then left her alone with the three distinguished individuals.
For a moment, all was still. Red John was looking at Kristina with an expression even Jane couldn't read.
"You stupid girl," Red John said at last, walking over to her, his tone indecipherable. "You stupid, stupid girl." He sighed, then bent over to speak directly in her left ear. "Break! Fall! Shatter! Die!" He said each word sharply, then quickly blew into her ear. Then, before Jane or Lisbon could react, he reached into her ear, and when his fingers came away, he was holding what looked like a small lump of flesh.
He turned to Jane and smiled nastily. "Catch," he said, tossing the thing at him. Jane flinched, but the thing disintegrated in the air, and by the time it reached him, it was nothing but dust.
Red John stood, smirking expectantly at Jane and Lisbon.
"What was that?" Jane asked at last, when it became clear Red John had no intention of speaking first.
"That was how the…ah…" He gestured to himself with both hands. "spirits, used to communicate with her." He smiled wickedly.
Lisbon's eyes widened; Jane's chest constricted.
"Wh…What…?" Jane tried to say.
Red John laughed. "Oh, you really are an idiot," he sneered. "You didn't really think she had your gift, did you, Old Friend? Please. Mother Janice? Uncle Ed? Roll tide?" He laughed again. "Even your gift couldn't provide a person with information like that."
"But…" Jane couldn't think, couldn't breathe. What did this mean? He didn't understand.
But Lisbon did.
"She's Angel," she said softly.
Red John and Jane turned to her, and she shifted her gaze from Kristina to Red John. "Isn't she?" she half-asked him.
Red John chuckled. "Yes," he hissed evilly. "My Sweet Innocent Angel…Kristina Frye." He smirked at Jane. "The woman you thought I abducted was on my side all along."
Jane didn't want to believe it, and it couldn't be true…but against his will, his mind grabbed onto inconsistency after inconsistency: How she had known that the victim of the Red John copycats had died near water; the blatant way she had insulted Red John in the media; her complete lack of fear and confidence that Red John wouldn't come after her; her declaration that Red John had 'punished' Jane for 'lying' about him, and that he might do as she said; Red John's own remark about how fond of Jane she was 'despite their differences'; how she hadn't been killed, even injured, though Red John had abducted her; the amusement in her eyes as she had told him that he credited her with far too much cunning; her excessive laughter when he told her he'd been to jail; the deception he saw every time she spoke to him, which he had attributed to her lying about being psychic, as he himself had done in his time; her description of a peaceful and happy afterlife; how she hadn't even recognized the name 'Red John'…and something else…something his mind still kept hidden from him, to protect him from an even darker secret…
"Let me tell you two a story," Red John said after a minute. "It will make things clearer to both of you."
Jane and Lisbon said nothing, both speechless for different reasons.
"Once upon a time," Red John began mockingly, "there was a girl who was born to a very poor family. Both of her parents had to work two jobs to pay the bills when they only had each other, and when the girl's mother died during childbirth, it was only a few years before she and her father were out on the streets." He smiled. "The girl's father did everything he could for her while he was alive. Sadly, life in the streets of downtown San Francisco is very dangerous, and he was killed by a random thug when the girl was twelve. So she lived alone, not a penny to her name. The only thing she had besides the clothes on her back was a rather large cloth doll her mother had bought for her before she was born."
The doll.
"That doll was her treasure," Red John told them, "her only comfort in a cold, empty world, a world where she had to beg for pennies from complete strangers, just so she could buy clothes that fit her as she went through puberty. She was lucky if she managed to have enough to eat that counted collectively as one meal over the course of an entire week, and more often than not, she went a whole day without food. She was a sweet girl, and would never steal, so she had less than nothing. She was so malnourished that her body matured too slowly, and when she first started bleeding when she was fifteen, she had no idea what to do; no one had ever told her anything about growing up.
"The poor girl lived like this until she was eighteen. She cried, day and night, thinking she would never have a chance at life, wishing she had never been born." He chuckled, and both Jane and Lisbon knew where this was going. "Then, one day, a certain someone just happened to pass her by as he was walking down the street, and when he saw her, he knew, right away, what her life was like. So he reached out his hand to her and told her to come with him. Having nothing to lose, she obeyed." Red John smiled mockingly. "This man took her under his wing and raised her up out of nothing, as though she was his own daughter," he told them. "He put everything she needed first, everything she wanted second, and everything else in his life third, or so it seemed to her. He gave her what she had thought she would never have: a life. What was more, he was her best friend. He was there for her when she needed him for anything, and he was always happy to take time out of his day just to talk to her. He also educated her personally. He was a very brilliant and intelligent person, after all, and the girl was rather bright herself; after only two years, she was just as well-educated as she would have been had she gone through the entire public school system. The man was, as you know, very well-connected as well, so it was easy for him to forge documents of her having gone to school - no one would ever be any the wiser to the fact that she didn't really have a high-school diploma."
Red John finds people who have nothing and gives them everything.
"When she was twenty, it was time for her to decide what she wanted to do with her life," Red John continued. "But she didn't know. The whole world was still so new to her that she had no idea what she wanted to be. The man told her that that was perfectly understandable, and that she could stay with him as long as she needed to. After all he'd already done for her, the fact that he was willing to continue to support her was almost too much for her to bear. She thought she would never be able to repay him." Red John's voice dripped with mockery.
He laughed. Jane felt sick, and even Lisbon was hardly able to breathe.
"One day, about two months after she had reached the point where she had everything she needed to make it on her own, he came home with a very serious look on his face," Red John went on. "She knew right away that something was wrong, because he had never worn anything but a smile in her presence. For a moment she was fearful, afraid that she had done something wrong." Red John chuckled. "The man knew this, and immediately assured her that it had nothing to do with her…well, not really. He asked her to sit down, and he sat down with her. Then, he sighed, so sadly that all the girl wanted was to be able to help him.
"That was the day he told her he had a…terrible secret."
He laughed, the expressions on Jane and Lisbon's faces truly priceless to him. He even found he was able to enjoy Lisbon's shock - after all, it wasn't easy to shock her anymore.
"I told her very gently," Red John went on after a minute. "I said to her, 'You've been like a daughter to me, the daughter I never had, and I've tried my best to make you happy.' She immediately told me I had, and I said, 'I know, but I can't go on like this, making you think I'm just…'" Red John laughed. "'…just a good samaritan,'" he finished nastily.
"She was confused, but I didn't give her time to ask any questions before I said, 'I have a terrible secret, one I can hardly bear. I've told others, but this burden is just so horrible that I need to share it with as many people as I can, just to go on.'" He repeated his own words mockingly, evil laughter spilling into his voice. "'Can I trust you to keep it a secret, no matter what it may be?' I asked her desperately; and she said, 'Yes, of course!' It was the least she could do for me, she thought, after I had given her everything." He chuckled. "So I asked her, 'Have you heard of the serial killer called Red John?' I knew she had - I'd made sure of it - but I pretended to be unaware. She told me she had, and I said to her, 'What if I told you that that was me? That I am Red John?' 'I wouldn't believe you,' she answered right away." Red John repeated her words in a mocking, childlike tone. "'You are the kindest, gentlest man in the world. You would never hurt anyone!' And to her, I seemed to grow sad at this, as though her words brought me pain, and it slowly started to dawn on her what my horrible secret was, even before I said, 'I am he. I am Red John.'" Red John laughed at the memory
"But first and foremost to her, in her mind, I was her savior, so she was eager to believe any explanation I gave her, just like all the others," he went on at last. "I told her about my demon - you know the story." He paused, taking a moment to reflect. "It never ceases to amaze me, no matter how many times I managed to pull it off, that anyone could possibly be naïve enough to buy something as ridiculous as the story I give them, but like all the others, she believed it - believed that I would save the world someday."
"Then, I told her to come with me, just as I had the day I met her, and brought her to a gathering of all my friends, one of the several I hold every week." Lisbon nodded, recalling what others had told her about this event. "They welcomed her, as always, but she was the youngest friend who ever joined my network, and at first, she was very timid and shy.
His amusement vanished. "Then, two days after she joined my inner circle, you first heard my name, Old Friend," he said. "Less than three days after she joined me, you were a part of the hunt." He paused, struggling with a wave of fury.
Lisbon and Jane couldn't respond, couldn't ask him to stop, even though they knew what was coming.
"I told my friends about this, and we all laughed about it together - but none so much as she," he went on, malice rising in his voice. "After all, the police must really have been desperate, if they would accept help from someone like you. All my friends know that there's no such thing as psychics, Old Friend, so we all laughed with the knowledge that you were an arrogant, greedy fraud." His expression darkened, his voice growing harsh with wrath. "But then…you had the gall…to slander me in the media," he snarled through gritted teeth. "All my friends saw you do it, and that night, the phone lines across the state were jammed as they all called one another, needing someone to vent to; how dare you say those things about me?! What gave you the nerve to think you could talk about me like that - at all, never mind on television?!"
"Eventually, they all managed to gather at our usual meeting place. I was unaware of this, as I was…handling things my own way." He gave a dark, humorless laugh as he remembered how he had killed Jane's wife and daughter. "But they all gathered that night," Red John went on, "and they all raged to one another at just how stupid and arrogant you were, and at what an outrage you had committed. I didn't find this out until a few weeks later, but apparently no one was angrier than she. I'm told she raged around like a firestorm, roaring with all her might the fury that filled her." Red John chuckled. "I never saw that side of her, and I must say, I still can't quite picture it. Apparently her wrath was frightening, it was so intense.
"Then morning came, and a few of my friends decided to see what news there was to be had from the previous night. I never had to tell them what I did; they knew before I even knew they were all together. I'm amazed I couldn't hear the cheer that erupted from that place, as everyone found out what I had done - many of my friends said that it must have been audible for miles, it was so loud and heartfelt." Red John chuckled as Lisbon fought the urge to gag (Jane was far beyond that). "Many, many people were very happy to find out that your wife and child had been brutally murdered," Red John told Jane softly, tauntingly.
"And then you had your breakdown," he went on, his voice mocking once more. "Many of my friends hoped you would just give in…kick the bucket…" He laughed darkly. "I had to explain to them that that wasn't the best outcome - that if you died, you couldn't suffer…" Another chuckle. "You finally pulled yourself together," he continued. "And then you did something that surprised all of us, myself included: You quit the psychic business, right then and there."
Lisbon's breath started coming a bit easier; the worst of the story was over now, at least, or so she thought.
"Most of my friends were pleased by this, as your decision only made it easier for me to torment you," Red John went on. "But she couldn't rejoice with the rest of them, because something was bothering her: your clients." He smirked. "She felt bad for all those people you were leaving behind," he told Jane, "and as you'd been recommended to so many…she just thought it was awful, how all of those poor people you could have given inner peace were going to have to go on carrying the burdens your lies lifted off of so many shoulders." Red John chuckled wickedly.
"And that's when she decided what she wanted to do with her life," he told them at last: "She wanted to be you."
Lisbon felt like she had been punched in the gut; Jane's guts had already turned inside out inside of him.
"She wanted to make people happy and give them hope and inner peace." He chuckled. "That was how she earned the nickname, 'My Sweet Innocent Angel', though I will admit that she quickly became anything but. She didn't have your gift, Old Friend, so she couldn't replace you on her own; but she had me, and I can get almost any information there is to be had about anyone. So, I gave her what she wanted. Thus, Kristina the psychic.
"That's the story, of My Sweet Innocent Angel…Kristina Frye." He smirked at Lisbon. "You always wondered, My Dear," he taunted; "now you know."
Several minutes passed in silence, as Jane and Lisbon struggled to come to terms with all of this. Lisbon knew he was telling the truth, and she berated herself silently for not thinking of it - it was so obvious now that it had been spelled out, and she should have guessed it!
Jane, on the other hand, tried to tell himself that Red John was lying. Most of the story might be true enough, but it wasn't about Kristina - it couldn't be!
Wait a minute…it couldn't be…
"You're lying," Jane said. "Kristina can't be one of your friends."
"Why?" Red John asked mockingly. "Because you dated her?"
"Yes," Jane replied.
Red John threw his head back and laughed, hard. Lisbon had a feeling she knew what was coming, but there was nothing she could do, nothing she could say now that would make it hurt Jane any less.
At last, Red John spoke.
"Did it not strike you as an odd coincidence that, of all psychics, you just happened to keep running into her?" he sneered. "Did it not seem strange that she kept insisting she was psychic, when both you and she knew she wasn't? She told you you credited her with far too much cunning; did you not listen? And did she not seem just a little too friendly to you, all things considered? Did she not seem just a little too perfect?"
"What are you saying?" Jane asked.
"I'm saying you're an idiot, and that I sent her to seduce you, you moron!" Red John jeered.
Lisbon closed her eyes. Yes, it was as bad as she had thought. She wished there was something she could say to help Jane, but there wasn't, and Red John was far from done.
"Wh…Why?" Jane asked, confused.
Red John shrugged. "Mainly to take a rain check on you," he replied, "see how badly you were still hurting. I will say this: I was very disappointed in you. I had thought she and I would have to work you for at least a few days before you would even consider dating her - you always seem so dedicated to your family, after all - but no, two cases in total and you ask her out. We were all disappointed in you, you disgusting hypocrite."
Jane's mouth was open, but he couldn't speak.
"Of course, you weren't completely hopeless," Red John went on; "before your meals even came, you excused yourself - you felt unwell and needed a minute. I saw the way you held your wedding ring, the look on your face as you walked out of the bathroom to tell her that you couldn't do it…but just before you could end things, a couple of idiots decided they wanted to make a movie about me." To Lisbon's surprise, Red John chuckled. "I didn't expect that, I'll confess that much, but what a stroke of luck for us! Just in time to save my plans, someone imitated me and boasted to the world about it. That's why I let them live for so long."
"There was more to seducing Jane than that, though," Lisbon said. "Wasn't there?"
Red John smiled at her. "You really are the brains in all this," he said. "Yes…seducing my Old Friend was only stage one of the plan. Stage two was salvaged by Dillon and Ruth." He turned to Jane. "And it was: Make you look in the mirror," he hissed.
Jane blinked.
"Did you really not find it a bit convenient that Kristina, who was in no way a part of my case, and who happened to have just been out on a date with you, just happened to get a TV interview about me, and that the screen facing you in the restaurant you and your team just happened to be meeting at just happened to be playing that channel, and that she just happened to make your mistake, immediately after your attention centered on her?" Red John laughed. "I know you believe in coincidences, Old Friend, but really now, didn't you think that was a bit much?"
Jane was shaking now. Now that it was laid out like this…yes, it was strange. How had he missed it?
Because you don't think straight when Red John's part of the picture, said a voice at the back of his mind. And it was true, he knew it was.
Red John smirked. "You should have seen the look on your face," he taunted. "And the way you raged at her afterwards - 'What the hell are you thinking?! Don't you know who you're dealing with?!'" Red John's voice was cruelly mocking, and he was half laughing as he spoke. "She told you she did, and you said, 'No, you don't, clearly you don't!'" Red John stopped to laugh. "That whole conversation was priceless," he managed through his hysterics; "it wasn't easy for her to keep a straight face during that conversation, Old Friend, but when I met her at her home later and replayed it for her, she and I both laughed so hard…I wish I could describe in words just how much we laughed at you behind your back…!" He couldn't keep talking then; he was practically doubled over with laughter. The look on Jane's face just then probably didn't help, either.
"Why did you kill Jacqueline, if Kristina only said what you told her to say?" Lisbon asked for Jane, who couldn't speak.
Red John took a moment to collect himself, then answered, "Well, I couldn't let the statement stand publicly - if I didn't react at all to what she said, what would people think of me? They might think she was even the tiniest bit right! I couldn't let my image be soiled like that, My Dear; surely you of all people understand."
Lisbon nodded; she had only asked for Jane's sake.
"For the record, I didn't tell her that part of my plan," Red John told them; "the fear and shock you saw in her eyes when she heard what I had done was very real. I didn't want to have to burden her with the knowledge that she was getting someone killed beforehand. She called me immediately after you two left, asking for an explanation, and I told her the truth."
"So what happened?" Lisbon asked.
Red John chuckled. "You know what happened, My Dear," he said; "the Angel Plague happened. That's what we named it, because she was the first to suffer from it: When someone I sent to seduce someone else - for whatever purpose - ends up genuinely falling for the person I sent them to seduce. Craig was the second victim of this."
"So she started to care for Jane?" Lisbon asked.
Red John sighed, then turned to Jane. "When you returned to her that night, Old Friend," he said, "you were broken. Your facade of confidence, of carefreeness, of being at all okay, was gone, leaving nothing but who you really are deep down - the depths of your soul, laid bare for the world to see…and in that state, you told Kristina that you would do whatever you had to to protect her." Red John tilted his head. "And she just thought that was the sweetest thing she'd ever heard," he said, his tone indecipherable even for Jane.
There was silence for a minute.
"Why do you think she demanded that you go away as soon as you said that, Old Friend?" Red John asked. "Did you think you had offended her? No…she sent you away because all of a sudden, she wanted to stop causing you pain. She wanted to tell you the truth, the whole truth - that I had sent her, that it was all a trick, possibly even my real name, everything you would need to catch me! She told me it took every amount of self-control she had to not throw herself at your feet and weep, tell you everything and beg for your forgiveness." Red John shook his head disgustedly. "Stupid girl," he spat.
"So she called you as soon as Jane left…"
"…in a panic, and told me this, yes," Red John finished for Lisbon. "She told me I had to 'pull the plug', that she needed out, didn't trust herself to even speak with my Old Friend anymore. I told her to calmly, subtly gather her things, wait until morning, then ask to take a nap so she would be left alone; at that point, I would be outside her window, on the Nightrider, and she could simply take her things and jump out, and I would take her away." Red John chuckled. "I didn't abduct her, Old Friend, and she wasn't running from me," he told him; "she was running from you."
Jane's eyes were wide.
"Oh, and you were so scared for her," Red John taunted. "You were so very worried, so fearful for her life…" He chuckled. "Sweet, but dumb - very, very dumb."
Then he sighed.
"The hope was that, if she just spent time away from you, her feelings for you would fade," he told Jane. "Unfortunately, things didn't work out that way - if anything, she got worse. She always begged me to tell her how you were doing, and, well, the truth was, you were falling apart. She knew that being away from you caused you pain, that not knowing that she was safe or where she was was torture to you…and she didn't want to be an instrument of your torture." He shook his head. "She begged me to kill her - she figured that her guilt would end, you would be devastated, I would get to hurt you, and she wouldn't be a burden to me anymore, so we'd all win - but I don't hurt my friends. So, at last, we had to come up with a plan B."
"B for brainwashing," Lisbon said.
Red John rolled his eyes. "She's a in trance," he said exasperatedly; "a drug-aided trance, which only I can call her out of*…which brings us to why we're here today." He smiled nastily. "I'm going to die in a few hours, and you, Old Friend, are responsible," he said; "what's more, you're a big celebrity hero for it, and everyone knows I'm a monster, though all my friends will deny it. All of my friends are in danger, too - the general public would burn any of them at the stake if they revealed themselves. How do you think she'll feel, awakening to this reality? How do you think she'll react?" He laughed. "I think it's safe to say that at the very least, she'll be cured of her affection for you," he sneered.
All was silent for a moment. Then, Lisbon managed to find her voice.
"I hate you," she told Red John.
Red John smiled. "I know you do," he replied fondly, "and I wouldn't have it any other way."
Thus rendering Lisbon as frozen as Jane, Red John turned around, crouched down in front of Kristina, and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "Return, My Sweet," he said as he did so.
Kristina blinked a few times in rapid succession, her eyes clearing and focusing. "Mmmf," she groaned, as though waking from a deep sleep, rubbing her eyes with her hands.
"Welcome back, My Sweet Innocent Angel," Red John said.
Kristina opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was Red John's face. At once, her expression lit up.
"RJ!" she exclaimed joyfully, lunging forward to hug him. "RJ, I'm so glad to see you! You're finally here!"
Red John hugged her back. "Yes, I'm here," he said, and even to Jane and Lisbon, he sounded sad and remorseful.
Kristina sat back, looking at Red John. "What's wrong, RJ?" she asked. "You've completed your great work, haven't you?"
Red John sighed heavily. "No," he told Kristina, "nor will I ever."
"But…" Kristina's face twisted with confusion.
"I lost, My Sweet," Red John told her. "We played one too many games…and I have been defeated. I die at midnight tonight."
"What? But how…Who…?" Kristina looked up, and only then did she see Jane and Lisbon standing behind Red John.
Her eyes widened. "No," she breathed.
"I'm afraid so, My Sweet," Red John said, standing. "But I couldn't leave you here to waste away - you have a life to live. So I brought you back."
Kristina got to her feet. "No!" she cried, tears in her eyes. "RJ, you can't let them do this-!" She shouldered past him to approach Jane and Lisbon. "You don't understand what you're doing!" she exclaimed at them. "Patrick, I'm sorry, but you don't understand, he's not-!"
"They know the story, My Sweet," Red John said, walking over and placing a hand on her shoulder. "They do not believe me."
She turned to him, her eyes wide with distress and confusion.
"A great deal has happened since you went under," Red John told her; "more than I have time to tell. Dove will explain everything to you - she's in charge now, and I trust her to lead you all as I would, great work and murders notwithstanding."
"RJ, you…you can't…you can't die," Kristina whimpered, crying.
"There, there," Red John said, and he hugged her. She hugged back tightly, beginning to sob now. "It cannot be helped. I was defeated fairly; again, Dove will explain." He ran a hand up and down her back consolingly, his tone sad and gentle…but his eyes danced with merriment at the sight of Jane and Lisbon's faces, and he smirked at them, almost laughing.
Jane had never felt so betrayed, or so stupid, as he did then. Everything he had thought he knew about Kristina, everything he had thought they might have - all of it was lies, all of it orchestrated by Red John to hurt him. This was worse - so much worse - than Lisbon's betrayal, and not even the knowledge that Red John would be dead soon helped him now. His head spun, his breath came hard, and he felt very, very sick.
Lisbon looked at Jane, and she saw all of this in his face. He looked crumpled, destroyed, not unlike the way Red John had looked earlier that day in the face of Jane's triumph. I knew something like this would happen, she thought, and that's why I came. But is there anything I can do…?
Suddenly, she thought of something. She walked to the door and knocked on it. "Guards!" she called.
The two police escorts came in.
"Get him out of here," she told them, gesturing to Red John, "and take Jane with you. I want to be alone with Kristina for a minute."
They hesitated - after all, she wasn't Patrick Jane - but she was still a Senior Agent, and at last, they complied. Kristina wept as Red John was led away, and Lisbon had to physically hold her back from running after him. Jane left with them much more readily than Lisbon had anticipated, and she had to call after him, "Jane! Wait outside for me!"
He raised a hand to show he had heard, and then Lisbon and Kristina were alone.
"Kristina," she murmured.
Kristina turned to her. "You can't do this," she whispered tearfully.
"I know what he told you," Lisbon told her. "I know about the symbiotic-relationship-with-a-demon crap."
"It's not crap!" Kristina practically shouted.
"Yes it is," Lisbon said firmly, "and he's the one who told me so."
"Who?" Kristina asked, her voice shaking.
"Red John," Lisbon replied. "He told me himself, it's all nonsense - he laughs at you, all of you, behind your backs for believing him. Yes, I know about his network of friends, and I know about his pets and zombies, too," she added, seeing the look on Kristina's face. "And what's more, I know Red John, a lot more than I wish I did." Her expression hardened. "I have something to show you," she told Kristina, and before Kristina could respond, she took off her jacket.
Quickly, Lisbon stripped down to her undergarments, revealing the numerous keloid scars that covered her body.
"You see these?" she asked Kristina. "He gave them to me. He tortured me for three weeks - I'm sure Dove will explain in more detail. But, Kristina, he didn't just cut me; he told me things, things about himself that even I didn't want to believe. But they were true. And do you know what he told me?"
She pulled her clothes back on as Kristina stared at her in shock.
"He told me," Lisbon said, when she was fully dressed again, "that he is a monster, and that he is proud of it. He loves torturing and killing, it's fun for him. There is no good side, no Jekyll/Hyde human-demon relationship thing, there is only Red John, and he is more evil than you can imagine."
Kristina shook her head. "No…" she said softly. "He…he's not evil…His demon was the one who said those things to you, it wasn't him."
Lisbon rolled her eyes. "Kristina, he thinks you and all of his friends are stupid for believing his demon thing, and he has literally laughed at you all, when you aren't there to hear him. To him, you are gullible, somewhat-amusing, very useful tools."
"You're wrong," Kristina said, her voice coming more strongly now.
Lisbon sighed. "Kristina, I know what he did for you," she told her; "I know you had nothing and he gave you everything, that he was kind and supportive and stuff, but I am telling you, all of that was so that you would be unshakably loyal to him, and not because he gives a damn about you, or ever has."
"RJ treats us like family," Kristina said.
"I know he does," Lisbon said; "I've seen, and I've heard, and even I have to admit, the act is convincing…but I know what he really is…and…" She bit her lip. "Kristina…after everything you've put Jane through…if you really care about him, at least try to listen to me."
Kristina swallowed hard. "I…I…" She hesitated, and Lisbon allowed herself to feel a tiny spark of hope. But then Kristina shook her head and said, "RJ is a good man. He's given me everything. I would die for him. And he did so much to help me when I started caring about…about Patrick…" Her voice did catch at this, but she went on, "It would have been so easy for him to just kill me - I wanted him to, by the end, even begged him to - but he went out of his way to make sure no one was hurt permanently. It was a lot of work for him, and a huge drain on resources, but he did it for me, and he would do the same for any of us. So I…I'm sorry, for what happened to you, but…I won't turn on RJ. Not ever."
Lisbon sighed but nodded; she'd expected as much. Still, it had been worth trying. "Come with me, then," she said, heading for the door; "we'll take you home."
Kristina followed.
~o~
Red John was sent back to jail on his own with his two guards and a driver. Nothing else of note happened to him the rest of his life.
Lisbon rode with Jane back to the place where Red John was going to be executed, to spend the rest of the wait with him. He needed the company, the 'moral support', just as Red John had said.
Jane was very quiet. He had thought that, hours before death, there was nothing Red John could do to hurt him, but he had been wrong, so wrong…and Kristina…He had trusted her, cared for her, cried for her! Oh, he must have looked so stupid to her; he could imagine, now, just how much she had laughed at him. He thought back on the things he'd said to her in agony, his new viewpoint changing everything…Yes, he had been very, very stupid. Maybe he was just a complete and utter moron with a gift, after all.
And Kristina herself was driven away by a single cop, who had orders to take her back to her house. Halfway there, however, another car crashed into his from the side, placed just right to kill him but not badly injure Kristina. Kristina knew what was happening, even though she hadn't been told, and she quickly got in the car with the fellow Friend of Red John who had come to retrieve her. It would be several years before anyone ever saw her again.
~o~
"You're not stupid, you know."
Jane was sitting outside the building, his back against the wall. Lisbon was sitting beside him. He turned to her.
"What makes you say that?" he asked.
"He knew you wouldn't see it," she said. "I'm guessing you saw in her eyes that she was lying most of the time she talked to you, but you thought it was the obvious lie - the lie that she was psychic, when you know there's no such thing. Right?"
Jane closed his eyes and nodded.
"That's what he does," Lisbon said. "She had him whispering in her ear the whole time - she had a comeback for everything you might have said…and he knows you, he made a point of knowing you." She put her hand over his. "But you're not a moron," she told him. "There's no shame in being tricked by Red John - literally hundreds of people have built their lives around some stupid Jekyll/Hyde story he's told them."
"Would you have fallen for it?" Jane asked her. "If you had my…my gift?"
"Probably," Lisbon replied. "She knew what to say, when to say it, and how to say it; you had no reason to distrust her apart from not believing she was psychic."
"I should have thought there was something weird about that interview," Jane said. "How did I not see it? Not only did she make my mistake, she had just been out with me - I was on her mind, or should have been! It's so obvious now…How else could she have said those things, except on purpose?"
"You know what Red John does to you," Lisbon said calmly, "especially when you think of your family. You saw yourself on the TV that night, and it was all you could think of, just like he knew you would. It's okay."
Jane shook his head. "Maybe I'm not smart enough to join the BAU," he said in a hollow voice. "Maybe I am stupid, and my gift just lets me pretend I'm not. What if we're chasing some killer and I'm too stupid to see something important-?"
"Jane," Lisbon said firmly.
He looked at her.
"You're not stupid," she told him, "and you're certainly not too stupid to be in the BAU. I told you before, I'll say it again: They would be lucky to have you. Will be. There's…no telling how much good you'll be able to do in the world by joining them."
"I'm not sure I'm going to, though," Jane said.
"Well, you should," Lisbon forced herself to say. "There's no reason for you not to."
"Not even you?" Jane asked.
Lisbon blinked, recognizing this conversation - she'd just had it with Charlotte the previous day.
"Jane," she said at last, "you've been a good friend to me, and…I would miss you if you left. But…I have my sister back in my life, now, and we're already working out ways to never get separated again, in spite of our jobs. I'll have a friend. I won't be alone. So…there's no reason for you not to go."
Jane said nothing.
"You should go," Lisbon repeated after a minute.
Jane made an uncommitted noise, but nothing more, and they sat together in silence until Charlotte, her camera crew, and the other people eager to see the execution started to gather.
*See my fanfic "The Angel Plague" for more on this.