Chapter 28 - Determined

"Ryan?" Jane repeated. A frown developed quickly."Well, that's...that's certainly an interesting development."

"No, it's not," Lisbon stated strongly, "it's a goddamned nightmare."

He nodded with pursed lips. Concerned, "What's happening now?"

"Minelli's approved him being brought in for questioning. He has no choice in the matter. Anything else would look suspicious or some kind of preferential treatment." She sighed. "He wanted me to know first."

"But your team is in charge of the Red John investigation so...?"

"Haffner's going to question him instead. I'm too close to Ryan, obviously, to take any part in the interrogation. And it looks cleaner if my team aren't involved either," she said with an eye roll. She nodded to his jacket. "I'd imagine Ray will want you in there to assist, only a matter of time before he calls once Ryan's been brought into Headquarters."

"Yeah, that won't be awkward at all," Jane said, supplying an eye roll of his own.

She acknowledged his statement with a shrug. Softly, "I'm glad it's you. At least...at least there'll be someone I trust in that room. I imagine that's why Virgil assigned Haffner in the first place."

Jane rubbed her shoulder consolingly. Softly, "Hey, it's going to be okay. I promise."

She shook her head. "I have to talk to him before he's blindsided, Patrick. Maybe I can do something..."

She looked at her watch. "I have time to get to San Francisco...maybe...before the paperwork's been signed off."

At lightning speed she was at the door, swinging it open with force. "Come on, you can take me back to my car at your place and I might just make it."

"What are you planning? The wheels are in motion already, Teresa."

"I'll explain on the way to your apartment."

"Okay, but I have a better idea, I'll drive you to San Francisco instead. Save us going back to fetch your vehicle and, besides that, my car's faster."

She furrowed her brow. "I-I don't know if that's a good idea. He really...I don't know how he'd respond to you coming with me. And if you have to talk to him in a professional capacity after that then..."

"Look, I'll just drive you there. I can wait in the car if you insist. So come on, times a wasting."

She nodded quickly. "Okay, let's go."


She jabbed a button on her Blackberry with a frustrated grunt. "Damn it! That's four messages I've left him! Why won't he pick up?"

Jane calmly weaved through traffic on the Freeway, his Ferrari purring appreciatively as he increased its speed. "You broke up with him the night before last," he reminded her, "unlikely he'll want to talk to you presently."

"Oh god," she said through gritted teeth, "of course he won't."

She placed her phone in her lap and let out a long breath of annoyance. A beat passed in silence. "What were you suggesting earlier?" she asked, recalling their conversation before Minelli had phoned. "About starting at the top or something to bring down this conspiracy?"

"You want to go into all that now?"

She shrugged. "We have time. Like you said Ryan doesn't want to talk to me over the phone quite obviously."

"Very well. Like I said it's quite simple. What you're currently doing is working from the bottom of the pile, people like Hannigan and so on. The people who do the grunt work, most probably. Not planners in this organisation, agreed?"

"Yeah, figured they'd be easier to turn, they've less play in the stakes and maybe some of them even got into this thing before they knew what it actually was. Some might be looking for a way out."

"I daresay you're right. It's how a number of them may have become caught up initially. A slight blurring of the lines here and there to begin with...then, before they know it, they're knee-deep in cover-ups or worse and can't get out."

She nodded. "So, what's your approach if not by approaching those kinds of members? Because you were right before. Even if we find one willing to tell us what they know without it attracting attention there's a bottleneck inbuilt to catch many more of them."

"You believe Red John is a decision maker in this. One of the top dogs. Yes?"

"Yes. He might even be the one in charge of all of it for all I know."

Confidently, "So, we find him first. Take down this organisation top to bottom instead of bottom to top. We know he's one of the main players, so he leads us to the rest. Once the top layers fall then the people at the bottom will scramble. It'd be like shooting fish in a barrel."

She gaped at him and said nothing for a split second. Agog, "Oh, just like that, huh? Why didn't I think of that? We just catch Red John first, perfectly simple then. What have I been thinking all this time?"

He smiled. "No need for sarcasm, my dear. Your next question is how we catch him, I take it?"

She smoothed the screen of her phone with her fingertips slowly to exhaust her annoyance when he used that patronising tone of his. "Yes, that would be really good," she said with a frisson of irritation.

He glanced at her quickly with another smile before he faced ahead again. "When did you take over the Red John investigation? Right after Bosco was killed?"

"Yes." Her tone was measurably softer at the mention of her old friend and mentor.

"We start with the cases you dealt with directly after that," he said, his voice matching hers.

"Why? What do they matter?"

"Because you'd just become the lead detective in his investigation. Red John would have wanted to meet you in some capacity, see what you're made of. Assess your mettle, your threat level to him. And as we've agreed he works around law enforcement somewhere, most likely that would be on a case you worked."

Shocked, "You-you think I've met him?"

He squinted ahead. Equally surprised, "You think you haven't?"

"I-I've never really thought about it."

"Then I suggest you start."

A line formed between her eyes. "I'd need to look back at the case files but...but this is thin as a theory, Patrick. That's why you want the team involved now too, I take it?"

"They worked those cases too. Many heads are better than one as they say."

"I-I still don't know-"

"You got a better idea? Right now you're just scratching the surface of this organisation and simultaneously hoping he'll screw up. Let's try an offensive approach."

"What about Partridge? He knows plenty if he's willing to fabricate evidence like he has. Believe me, I could make that worm talk."

He chuckled. "I have no doubt about that. If he is the worm he purports to be. But if he's not...if his public face is just a clever persona-"

"Then he'll lead me wherever he wants me to go," she finished for him.

"Precisely. And even if you did start interrogating him or questioning his methods right out of the gate you're showing more of your hand to Red John than you need to right now. Perhaps it's exactly what he wants you to do. Perhaps he's not sure of what you know or who you've investigated thus far – if you go after Partridge he'll know you're up to your neck in this."

"I don't much care at this instant what the hell he suspects," she snapped.

He sighed. "Patience. You need to allow this to play out. For now. See where he's heading with this."

She raised her voice. "We know where he's heading with this! Framing Ryan!"

"Even with the evidence against him, there's no way any charges can stick for long. Red John killed many women, Teresa. What are the chances Ryan doesn't have an alibi for most if not all of those murders? It must be a ploy or a test for you instead. It's the only thing that makes sense to me."

She sighed. "It would still take some time to corroborate those alibis."

"I know," he said quietly.

"So until then we just allow him to get detained?"

He looked sideways at her. "Unless you have a better proposal."

She nibbled her lower lip in silence for a few seconds. "I think I just might."

"Oh?"


They made it to Ryan's hotel in San Francisco in less than an hour. As Lisbon unbuckled her seatbelt with a comment that she might have sustained whiplash he put a hand on her arm before she got out. "Look, don't shoot the messenger but...but I've been thinking some more on the way here. Are you quite sure-?"

"Ryan is not Red John, Patrick," she cut in. "You were the one who agreed Partridge was helping Red John set someone up in the first place!"

"Yes...yes, I did. And-"

"What?! Because Ryan vaguely fits your profile of Red John now you've changed your mind?"

"No...At least I don't think so. I just...I just want to make sure that you've thought this through before you go talk to him. Were there any signs that he could be-?"

"No."

He let out an exasperated sigh. "Think before you answer, Teresa. Please. It's important you look at this objectively."

She exhaled loudly and said nothing for a second or two. She shook her head. "There were no warning signs, Patrick. He's a good man. He's not Red John," she enunciated clearly.

He nodded. "Okay. I believe you. Be careful just in case. This could be a trap of some kind. I'm sorry but where Red John is concerned I might have a tendency to freak out where you're concerned."

She brushed his lips with her own briefly. "I'll be fine. I'll be back soon. Stay here, don't get into any trouble."

As she opened the car door he asked, "You think he'll agree to your plan?"

She put her hand on the gun at her hip. "If he doesn't I know a way of making him."


After flashing her badge to the receptionist she found Ryan's room in the midpriced hotel chain he was staying in. So far she was the first cop who'd requested to see him. But it wouldn't be long before others showed up.

She knocked twice. When there was no response she called through the door. "Ryan? It's Teresa. Open up. It's important."

She hoped he hadn't gone to the coffee shop she'd noticed around the corner for breakfast. Just as she was in two minds to call Jane and check for her she heard movement from inside followed by the loud clank of the door hinge and a heavy lock being turned.

When the door opened she was met with her ex-boyfriend, eyes like pinpricks as he scanned her blurrily. He had thick two-day stubble and was wearing only black boxers. "Teresa? What are you doing here?"

His breath smelled of stale whisky and for a brief second, she was reminded of her father when she woke up each day in her teenage years. Her stomach tightened of its own accord.

"We need to talk," she said, brushing past him quickly. The unmade bed and blackout blinds made her swallow. Ryan was an early riser normally. But obviously not when heartbroken. She forced the guilt she felt deep down inside and opened the blinds to draw in some light.

"Christ, Teresa!" he exclaimed, squinting as the sun burned through his bloodshot retinas. He wiped his eyes as he sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Get dressed," she said. "We need to talk."

"So you've said already," he yawned, staring at his toes as he stretched them. Suddenly his eyes flew to hers. "Have you-have you changed your mind about us?"

The hope in his expression made another wave of guilt course through her like wildfire. "No," she said sadly. "I'm sorry...no, I-I haven't changed my mind about that," she added gently.

His shoulders sagged. Dejectedly, "Right, of course, you haven't."

He got off the bed with a long sigh and began to make the bed haphazardly to busy himself. "What's so important then?"

"You're about to be arrested."

He laughed as his hands stopped moving on fixing a sheet momentarily. "Oh? What for? Certainly wasn't for stealing your heart, was it?" he said as he stood up again with his hands on his hips.

"Ryan, please, this is serious."

"So definitely not about us, then," he suggested with a thin smile, his voice laced with sarcasm.

"Damn it, Ryan! There's evidence that you're Red John!"

He gasped, "What?! What are you talking about?"

Speedily, she explained the evidence Partridge had planted/found. "This is crazy," he concluded, shaking his head. "I'm not...I'm not Red John, Teresa." He slumped back down on the bed again.

"I know you're not," she said softly as she came to sit beside him. "Ryan, did you ever meet Laura Cole? Would there be any legitimate reason why your DNA would be in her room?"

"No. I'd never heard of her until I heard about her murder the other day," he said with an abject shake of his head.

"Where were you the night she was murdered?"

He waved a hand around the hotel room. "Here, either working or sleeping, where else?"

"Is there anyone who could corroborate that for you?"

"I had dinner with Osvaldo around eight, he was down here helping me with my prep. Called you...uh...about ten or so, something like that?"

She nodded. "Yeah, that call can be traced, it'll help."

"But the murder was a few hours after that."

"Yes."

He shook his head. "Then I have no alibi. Went to sleep straight after that. Didn't receive or make any other calls or see anyone until the next morning." Abruptly, "Hang on, is this an interrogation?"

"Of course it isn't. I'm just trying to find another explanation for your DNA or a quick way out of this for you. Grasping at straws, I guess."

They locked eyes, brown meeting green worriedly. "Partridge is involved in this? Can't you discredit him or something? If anyone has skeletons in his closet it's that freak of nature."

"Not without raising suspicions further when there's no evidence he's done anything that hasn't been by the book. But don't think I won't be looking into him off the books."

He snorted. "So I just get hung me out to dry instead? Is that the plan?"

"No," she said, placing a hand on his. "I'm not going to allow that to happen either."

He looked down at their hands, her small one placed on top of his. He rubbed a thumb over hers before he got off the bed with a long sigh. "This is connected to the work you've been doing, isn't it? Red John or someone connected to him is trying to get to you through me? Set me up like this so you'll back off?"

"I don't know why this happening. But yes, it could be. I don't know what the end game is, Ryan. But this is Red John so whatever it is-"

"Jesus, Teresa! How could you allow this to happen? I thought you were being careful with those investigations?!"

She raised her voice too. "I have been, Ryan!"

"Obviously not careful enough. You've got his attention, that's for damn sure now!" He took a calming breath. "I'm not just afraid for myself but for you too. If he's taken some kind of personal interest in you-"

"I always knew that was a possibility the more I investigated. I'm just so sorry he's gone after you instead of making some kind of point directly to me."

Dourly, "Well, I'd rather he came after me than you if that's the choice we're facing."

She blushed at his chivalry. "Like I said, I don't know for sure why this is happening but it is. But I have a plan to fix it. Or...at least, for now, to make sure things don't escalate any further."

"How could you manage that? You said they're coming for me. You can't stop it, Teresa."

"Come with me now. I'll get you somewhere you'll be safe until I can figure out what his next move is or I can alibi you out for the previous Red John murders."

"How do you mean?"

"We don't let them put you in custody. He has friends in law enforcement. I may not be able to protect you if you get detained."

"You want me to go into hiding?"

"Just for now. Just until-"

"No," he interrupted. Firmly, "I'm not going to do that."

"Ryan-"

"Teresa, I'm not running." His determined features met hers.

She got off the bed and stormed up to him. "Damn it, Ryan! Didn't you hear what I said? Anything could happen to you when you get to the CBI! And if you're arrested and put into holding-"

"I'll take my chance."

She shook her head. "Why on earth would you do that?"

He smiled sadly at her. "Because I believe in the justice system. I'm not Red John and it'll be proven I'm not Red John. I have faith in that. Partridge's evidence will be proven to be planted in due course. Besides which, have you considered that this is what Red John wants? To have you make me run? All it would do is put further credence behind this abominable accusation if I did."

"That's all very noble and I wish I had the trust in the system you do but I don't. Not where he's involved. And maybe you're right. Maybe Red John wants you to run. But I don't care what he wants because at least you'll be safe if you do."

Softly, "I'm going to be fine. Now...now you should go. It's going to look suspicious if you're here when they come pick me up."

Beseechingly, "Ryan, please-"

Firmly, "I've made my decision, Teresa. Now go. And you don't have to worry, I'm not going to spill any beans on what you've been up to either. I'm going to tell myself what I used to tell my clients when I was a public defender – keep your mouth closed and admit nothing without a lawyer present. I have a good one I can call. Thanks for the heads up."

"I don't..." Exasperated, "Please, Ryan-"

He moved closer and ran his fingers down her cheek. Softly, "Thank you for trying to protect me. Now let me return the favour."


She walked back to Jane's car, her strides slow and measured, defeat in her posture. He shot her a look of consolation, a paper cup of tea in his hand as he leant against the driver's door, his face tilted towards the sun until he'd seen her.

"I feared you'd need this," he said as she came to face him, stooping down to fetch a cappuccino from the inside of his car through the open window.

She took the coffee with a thankful smile and drank a sip. "He wouldn't listen to me. He's dead set on facing this head on."

He nodded to her Glock. "You decided not to persuade him to disappear via gunpoint, then?" He was only half joking.

"Maybe I should have. But no...his mind was clearly set. But maybe...maybe if we'd still been together he would have - even just to make me happy-"

"You can't blame yourself for his decisions, Teresa. Even if his determination to face this head on is admirable but also incredibly naive."

She drank from the cup again then straightened her shoulders. "Yeah, maybe. I don't know anymore. Let's get back to Sacramento. There's nothing more we can do here," she sighed.


Ryan watched the street from his hotel room window four floors up as Jane placed a gentle kiss on Lisbon's forehead, his lips lingering just a little longer than would denote friendship alone. His eyes narrowed as he watched the blond take an empty coffee cup from her and throw it and his own into a waste bin situated near the front bumper of his car. He saw her dimples as she smiled shyly at her former consultant as she moved to the passenger door of his Ferrari, a new and shared intimacy in their postures as they glanced at each other in passing on the pavement below.

He quickly recalled how she'd smelt as she'd sat beside him minutes before, something different about her he hadn't properly processed. It wasn't her usual soap he knew now. It was his, presumably.

Only one thought permeated his thoughts. And it wasn't his imminent arrest.

Just how long had she been making a fool out of him?


A/N: Thank you for your patience. Struggling writing both inspiration wise and time wise lately. Apologies for not responding to reviews either, but please know that I appreciate every single one. I'll try to do much better with that next year.

And thanks again for all your lovely words of support in general both here and via Twitter over the past year, they really do mean the world to me and some stories may well have been left unfinished if it weren't for them.

And to those who read my recent Christmas one-shot, Blue Christmas, thank you also.

I'm a little behind in catching up with fic reading myself lately but will attend to that next week when life returns to normal.

Have a great New Year and I'll see you back here in 2017.