A/N: It's been so long since I've updated anything I know an apology won't cut it but you have it, anyhow. Thank you for still reading. Also, I am gradually making my way through reading a backlog of stories and updates posted so don't be surprised if you receive a review or two in the next few weeks from an update posted a few months back.

Chapter 36 – Dead Ends

California Correctional Institution, California

Around nine months earlier.

"What do you mean she won't see me?" Jane asked, squinting through the plastic partition as he stood at the sign in sheet at the Prison.

The uniformed officer opposite shrugged her broad shoulders, head cast down as she completed a form on the desk in front of her. Gnawing on the top of a pen, "Her privilege to see who she likes. Told you there was no visitor's order for you on the phone, Mr Jane."

He frowned, surprised Lorelei Martins had not approved his visitor's request as she usually did. He'd came to see her daily in the hospital but she'd become increasingly withdrawn with each visit, preferring to feign sleep than participate in any dialogue with him. He'd put it down to her injuries, medication and general ennui. But now she was back at the Prison it appeared she'd decided to cut off all contact.

"Actually, no, it isn't," he argued.

That statement caught the officer's attention, rolling her eyes as she looked him up and down wearily. Suspiciously, "How do you figure?"

"I work for the CBI and she is a material witness to one of our cases. So, therefore, she can't just refuse to see me."

He preened, pulled his CBI Pass from his vest pocket and slammed it against the Perspex. "So I'd like to see her now," he told her. He put the laminate back into his pocket and stared at the woman opposite him. Condescendingly, "If you wouldn't mind, let's move this along. I don't have all day."

With a deep sigh she pulled out a sheet of paper from a drawer beside her at a snail's pace. Jane fought to stop toe tapping, knowing it would only ensure she moved even slower. "Fine," she drawled. "But you need to fill this out first if you're here in an official capacity." With a smirk, she slid it towards him through the small slit at the bottom of the partition.

Jane rolled his eyes as he grabbed the sheet. "Of course. Why not allow petty bureaucracy to stand in the way of catching killers, huh?"

Lorelei walked into the room Jane sat in as he waited for her, impatient fingers drumming the table. He stopped when he saw her, drew his eyes to her frame as she was shackled to the table and sat opposite him.

"You've lost weight," he started.

"Hospital diet, it's a great regimen, even better than the prison diet," she said without emotion, arms stretched out in front of her, eyes on her fingertips.

He tried a soft approach. "How are you feeling? Need anything?"

No response.

"Lorelei, look at me."

She kept her eyes on her fingers, made no attempt to engage again.

Irritated, "I've come all this way only to be denied access by you, and now you choose ignore me. The very least you can do is look at me, Lorelei."

She did so then, dark eyes regarding him with blatant hostility. "If I wanted to look at you I'd have approved your request to see me, Patrick. But, as usual, you finagled your way in anyway. You didn't understand the memo?"

"Oh, I understood the memo. That was clear enough. What I don't understand is what I've done to you to receive it."

She leaned forward, fight and anger in her eyes. "You're not going to get me out of here, are you? You won't, will you? You could have worked out a plan when I was at the hospital but you didn't, did you? That was my best shot to make it out. We both know that so don't tell me it didn't cross your mind. But instead you came to see me, droned on about this and that instead as I lay there. Talked about meaningless trivia to make me like you. Acted like someone you thought I'd be drawn to or feel sorry for with every stupid anecdote."

"I don't want your pity, Lorelei. And I had no idea my conversational style was quite so mundane. Perhaps if you had better participated-"

She cut in without missing a beat. "So, now you ask me why I don't want to see you anymore? Now? Here it is. Your plan to charm the truth out me didn't work, okay? To make me think you care about me so I'll tell you who he is. You can keep coming here, that's up to you. But I'm done talking to you, done with this charade of a so called friendship."

She breathed out, stared at him for his response.

He regarded her for a long moment. "I do care about you. I think I've proven that-"

"Buying me shampoo and cigarettes isn't caring about someone, Patrick."

"How about talking to you and listening to you week in week out? Apologising for any wrongdoings on my part? Isn't that caring?"

She laughed, "You only listen to me to see what might slip out when my guard's down. And you only talk to me to bring my guard down."

Pithily, "If that's the case then this really is a bang up job I'm doing, isn't it?"

She looked at her hands again and softened her tone. "Look, if you're not going to get me out of here I don't want to see you anymore. So please just go and respect my decision."

He shook his head. "Did Red John get to you in Hospital? Because if he made some threat to my life if you continued to see me then let him come is what I say-"

"Not everything is about him, Patrick, believe or not. And not everything is about you either. And even if he did what makes you think I'd care what happens to you. You mean nothing to me."

"Now who's lying? I thought you wanted an honest relationship between us, Lorelei."

Instead of responding she looked over her shoulder and called for a guard to take her back to her cell.

"Lorelei, let's talk about this," he countered with a sigh.

As the door opened behind her she shot him a last look. "Take my advice and get on with your life. It's the only one you get and he's not worth wasting it over, Patrick. Took me long enough to figure that out but there it is."

He sat in his car after leaving the prison, dazed and puzzled. Why was she suddenly pushing him away like this? It had all come much too out of the blue for his liking. Had it really been about him not breaking her out of the Hospital? No. His instincts told him there was more to it than that. But what, exactly? Had Red John threatened his life through her? That was the most reasonable assumption. But that theory somehow felt wrong too and his gut told him there were other factors at play. He ran an index finger over his lips, tapped them as he pondered what could have prompted her decision.

Coming up empty, he chuckled quietly to himself. Maybe he just had a particular penchant to make the women in his life disappear into the ether. His smile faded into weary sadness, the loss of his wife and daughter taking a familiar hold on him. Then he thought of Lisbon. Not lost to him, thankfully. But absent all the same. And battling her own demons, no doubt. If she'd been present she'd have said he was looking for an explanation that wasn't there and that his initial theory was most likely the correct one. Then they'd have bickered over him looking for an elaborate truth than accept what presented itself most likely.

God, he missed her.

Was that why Lorelei's dismissal had hit him hard? Had he attempted friendship with her just so he could get information on Red John or was it also because he missed the most important person in his life? Was he quickly trying to fill the void when Lisbon had left? Was his twisted mind somehow trying to create a similar bond? Well, that was ridiculous. But Lorelei had been a distraction these past months and no one was better than Patrick Jane at distracting himself from focusing on what he'd lost than by throwing himself into another cause.

He was bothered by something else too. Why hadn't he helped her escape? It was probably the best chance he'd get. He could have convinced her to take him to Red John.

Maybe.

But that would have meant trusting her. And, well, as he'd admitted before - he wasn't good at trust.

All the same, he wasn't about to admit defeat just yet on the Lorelei front. He couldn't. If nothing else, she had information he needed and if he had to play the long game with her to get it then he would. He'd do as she had ordered for now. He was confident she would be in contact again as the days trudged on and she realised he was her only hope of any type of retribution. So he'd wait until she came to him. In the meantime he'd focus on his list of Red John names. Maybe he wouldn't need her at all if he could eliminate enough men first. He started the engine with a wry smile.

Another day, another plan, another distraction.

Smith Corner, California

Present Day.

"Go on, say it."

Jane sipped from a tea cup and replied to Lisbon, "Say what?"

They sat at a window booth in a homely diner in Smith Corner in what they imagined was the pre dinner crowd that existed of themselves and another two solitary diners who were eating quietly at a grey formica counter opposite the door.

"We've been asking in businesses and homes all afternoon and we've got no hits on the photofit of Smith. Volker was yanking my chain."

"Hm," Jane responded, his attention caught on a derelict store opposite. "Lots of places closed down here. I counted five properties on the way into town that were foreclosed on."

"So?"

"So, it's quiet."

"Yeah, so? What's your point? Even more reason someone would know if a stranger like Smith ever visited town."

"If he talked to anyone, yeah."

She frowned, "Why would he come here – assuming Volker wasn't lying and there is a connection to Smith that exists here – and not talk to anyone? Doesn't make sense."

He leaned forward so he could talk more quietly as a young waitress peered over at the two strangers who'd been interested in tracking down some guy she didn't recognise. "It does if all he wanted to do is dispose of a body. Drive into town, dispose of it at night time in the back yard of any of the properties I saw today...or in the fields around here or abandoned farms and then drive back to...well, to wherever he lives in California by morning."

"But why here? There are a hundred places between Sacramento and here to dispose of bodies, never mind even talking about the desert. What would make him take the chance to come here?"

"You're right. Which means there must be a connection to him to his place. A connection Volker is aware of."

"Or Volker was lying." She fidgeted with a coffee stirrer. "Why do you believe him now when you didn't before?"

He shrugged, "I don't exactly. But sending you here is pretty specific. And this place is small like you just said. He would have known investigating here wouldn't keep the CBI's interest long. It's not like he sent you to look for a needle in a haystack. If he sent you here then there must be something to find. Otherwise, what's the point? A day here and a dead end? Volker wants to keep you on the hook. If this is a wild goose chase then how is he going to do that? He wants you to find something so you'll go back to him for more. If there's nothing to be found here then you don't."

The bell on the door gained his interest as a slim waitress in her fifties walked in dressed in a pale yellow dress and white flats. She tied her mousy blonde hair up with a black elastic band and made small talk with the regulars at the counter before she made her way into the back. She came back a few seconds later wearing a white apron and grabbed the coffee pot on her way to their table.

"Hey, folks, refill?" she asked Lisbon.

Lisbon pushed her cup towards her. "Sure, thanks."

She looked at both of them with a frown as she refilled Lisbon's cup. "Haven't seen you around before, just stopping through?"

"Through?"

She smiled, "Yeah, why else would city people come here?"

"Actually," Lisbon said, shooting Jane a shrug, "we were looking for someone who may have visited here...or lived here or...or had some business here?"

The waitress, called Amy according to her name tag, looked puzzled. "You're looking for someone but you're not sure who they are or what they might be doing here?"

Her response had matched similar replies all day.

"Yes," Jane said, producing the photofit of Smith and handing it to her.

She peered at it for a long moment. "Are you cops or something? she asked, distracted.

"Yes, something like that," Jane replied. With only a laminate from the CBI between them they had found the less information they gave out the better. He followed up quickly, "You know him, don't you?" he said with some excitement.

She shrugged. "Uh...I'm-I'm not sure. Maybe?"

"No, you do. I can see you recognised him."

Lisbon's own excitement grew as she stared at Amy. "You do? How? How do you know him?"

Amy shook her head. "I-I can't really remember. I guess he came in here like you did, grabbed something to eat once. You know, passed through? Or maybe this picture looks like someone else. I'm not sure."

"Yes, you are. When was this?" Jane asked.

She placed the photo back on the table and ran her tongue along her upper lip as she looked out the window. "I think...I don't know, maybe last Summer? I mean...I don't know for sure. If it was him I think he wore a blue shirt." She smiled, laughed a little, "Yeah, yes, he did. That's how I remember him. I complimented him on it, that his eyes matched his shirt. He left me a big tip because he said I was charming or something. Folks don't talk like that around here. Or leave big tips."

"Was he travelling alone?"

"Don't remember anyone else with him so I guess so."

"Did he tell you why he was here or what his name was? Do you remember what he drove?" Lisbon was almost on her feet, the cop in her rushing to the surface.

Amy looked at both of them warily, "Look, what is this all about? No, he didn't say. He just seemed nice, you know. Very polite. Kind. What did he do?"

Jane said with a glance at Lisbon, "Nothing good, Amy. Now, do you remember?-"

A man at the counter called to her for a coffee refill. She called to him, "Just a sec, Harry." She spoke to Jane and Lisbon again, increasingly harried. "Look, I told you what I remember already. Nice shirt, nice eyes, big tipper. That's it."

Two customers came in and she said, "I have to go work or it's my ass, sorry."

Jane caught her wrist, placed a $20 in her palm, "When do you get a break? We need to talk to you some more."

She pocketed the $20 with a surprised frown. "I finish at ten, no break before then. After the dinner crowd. Stop by then. I don't know what else I can tell you though."

With that, she moved on to greet her new patrons.

"You're going to hypnotise her, aren't you?" Lisbon said to Jane as soon as Amy was out of earshot.

"Are you going to try and talk me out of it?"

"No. Just checking unless I had to talk you into it."

He raised his cup in a salute. "My, how times have changed."

To pass the time they took a stroll around the main street after they managed to grab a couple of rooms for the night in a bed and breakfast just outside town. They entered the only bar they could find and grabbed a coke and a sparkling water while they waited for 10pm to arrive. "Volker's visit, you seemed to handle it well," Jane stated.

"This time, you mean?"

He shrugged as he sipped his water.

"Yeah, it was...better, I guess. I mean, it's Volker. So it's hardly going to be pleasant, is it? But, yeah. I felt...less..."

"Panicked?"

"Guess so."

"That's good then, right?"

She sighed, "Yeah, s'pose."

"You don't think so?"

She played with a coaster, spun it for a few cycles with her fingertips. Quietly, "He wouldn't admit what he did to me. I told him I didn't need him to and that I knew he was responsible anyway. But..."

"But it's been bothering you ever since."

She nodded.

"You thought you could play on his ego so that he'd admit the truth."

She scoffed, "I don't know, maybe. And I know it was him. I mean, I know it with every fibre of my being. It's not like I have any doubts."

"But you need to hear him say it."

"Stupid, really, huh?"

"Why so? It's natural to want the person who wronged you to confess to it."

"Hm."

They drank in silence for a few moments. Then, Lisbon licked her lips. "Red John," she began, her eyes flicking to Jane's immediately for a reaction.

He gave her none, just kept his eyes on hers until she finished her question.

"Was that something you thought about?" she continued. "Was that important to you too? For him to admit what he did to your family, to actually hear that acknowledgement?"

"Of course."

"Right. Yeah, yeah, of course it must have been. I-I don't even know why I asked."

She sipped some coke, eyes narrowed in thought.

Jane said, "Did he confess to what he did before he died? Is that what you want to know, Lisbon?"

Flushed, she nodded.

He looked into his drink. "Wish I'd ordered something stronger than water for this conversation."

"You don't have to tell me. It's not really any of my business-"

"No," he replied, looking up at her again. "He didn't." He leaned back, wrapped one arm over a wooden chair beside him. "And now he never will."

"How do you deal, knowing that?"

With a faint smile, "I just have to, don't I? What other choice do I have?"

"That night..." She moved in her seat, uncomfortable, "that night he was killed..."

"Just ask your question, Lisbon."

"I read about what happened to him on the news and in the papers. Did it really happen the way they said it did?"

"Depends. What did you read?"

His cell vibrated, abruptly interrupting their conversation. He fished it out of his pocket, glanced at the display. "Sorry, it's Cho."

"Go ahead, answer it."

"Cho," he said as he put it to his ear. "How are things back in civilisation?"

He listened for a few moments, nodded once or twice. "Okay," he said, "well, that's that then." He looked at his watch. "Yeah, we're due to meet her in ten minutes so I'll call and update you afterwards." He smiled devilishly and winked at Lisbon. "Cho, I'm offended. Lisbon's with me, she'll keep me on the straight and narrow, you know that."

He chuckled at Cho's response. "Hey, before you go, how's Grace doing with expanding the missing persons search? Hm, okay. Yeah, I'll let Lisbon know. Talk to you later. Bye."

He flipped his phone shut and put it back in his vest pocket.

"What's the update?" Lisbon asked.

"John Lanson, owner of the property the tape was found at?"

"Yeah, the guy who lives in Europe now."

"Lived. Apparently he died three years ago."

"Damn it. So, a dead end."

"Probably. He lived in Paris alone at the time of his death. He left no Will but a sizeable fortune and properties both here and in Europe. Will's being contested by some distant cousins as to who should get what since his death."

"Is Smith one of those cousins, do you think?"

"It's a possibility. Because there must be a link to him at that property."

"Someone's talking to his lawyer in Paris so we can find out their names and try and match one of them to the photofit we have of Smith?"

"Trying to, but we have no jurisdiction there, obviously, plus the language barrier, plus privacy laws-"

"-Plus all we have is a pretty thin lead to even ask for that type of information never mind someone actually giving it to us. A lead much too thin to go to Interpol with, too."

"Precisely."

She rolled her eyes. "Just when we think we might be getting closer."

He drained his water, nodded to the exit. "Well, let's see if Amy gives us anything we can actually work on, shall we?"

As they walked outside into the fresh night air Lisbon said, "And in more good news, I take it Grace hasn't found anyone in the Missing Persons register yet?"

"Not so far, no. No one who could be thought of as significantly like you, anyway. She's expanding the search, left a program running overnight so she'll assess any other cases further afield come morning."

They strolled onwards towards the diner. "Cho thinks I'm as bad an influence on you now as you were on me once, huh?" she added.

His teeth shone in the moonlight. "Something like that."

She stopped to look at him. "It's not funny, Jane."

He smiled again, "Come on, it kind of is, Lisbon. Ironic, even."

"I don't...you're supposed to be the one keeping me from going over the line, remember? Not allowing me to influence you to dance across it?"

Amused, "Dance? What kind of dance do you mean? If you meant the Waltz, for example, well that's really just an easy slow step across the line. Now, if you meant the Tango or something else more dramatic or fast paced then-"

"Jane. I'm serious."

He brought his face down to her level. Sincerely, "I know you are. And I haven't forgotten what I promised you in the attic when you first came back. I won't allow you to take a turn down a path you can't return from. Trust me, Lisbon. But hypnotising Amy isn't that. We need her. We need to find out all we can from her. It's a harmless one foot hop over the line, nothing more. Then we hop right back."

She shook her head with a sigh. "That's how it starts, Jane. Like it's nothing. And then, before you know it-"

The once familiar lecture made him feel both irrepressibly happy and irritated. She's still in there, his adorable little firecracker. Right after, he thought she'd murder him one handed if he knew he thought of her like that on occasion. His head filled with that picture of the team on his bedroom wall again and part of him just wanted to hug her.

But instead he said, "You'd rather we didn't talk to her again? That I don't hypnotise her? Because we can leave right now if that's what you really want, Lisbon."

She huffed, resumed walking, "You know damn well I can't do that either. Let's go and talk to her. But I'm not allowing you to do it without asking her permission first."

"What? Why on earth would she allow a stranger to hypnotise her? She'll say no if we ask. Better to seek forgiveness than ask permission-"

"No, it isn't. We do this my way or not at all, do you hear me?"

"And how do you suggest we get her to agree to this?"

She shrugged, "We'll figure it out."

Amy was there in the diner as promised, stacking chairs on tables when they knocked on the locked glass front door. She opened the door, gestured for them to enter then locked the door behind him and drew the blind.

"I've been thinking about this since you left," she said with no preamble, "and I really don't know what else I can tell you about this guy."

"You'd be surprised what you might recall," Jane responded. He glanced at Lisbon briefly, "There are a couple of exercises we can use to discover if you remember more than you think."

"Exercises? Like what?"

Lisbon cut in, "Well, one is called a cognitive interview. They're quite effective in police investigations nowadays and allow witnesses to recall all sorts of information they didn't realise they knew."

Amy responded, "Okay, I guess. Worth a shot. What do I do?"

"Just take a seat, close your eyes and take a deep breath."

She eyed them both. "You know, you didn't show me your credentials earlier. Can I see your badges first? I kinda feel vulnerable here to be honest."

Jane fished his CBI laminate from his vest and gave it to her. Confidently, "Okay?"

She frowned, "This looks like it was printed from the internet or something. Where's your badge?"

"Uh, well, the thing is I'm a consultant with the CBI, not a cop per se. But I can call my supervisor Agent Kimball Cho-"

"Who could be anybody," Amy finished for him.

She nodded to Lisbon, "I suppose you don't have a badge either."

"I-I...uh, no. No, I don't."

She slapped the card back in Jane's hand. "I'm sorry but I don't think I should do this. Maybe you are who you say you are and maybe you're not. Maybe you're...I don't know. Maybe you're the criminals and the guy I saw is the good guy in all of this. He really seemed nice-"

"He's not," Lisbon defended brusquely.

Amy crossed her arms. "Bring someone here with a badge and I'll answer whatever questions they have, okay? Until then, I'm sorry. I think you both should leave."

"We don't have time for that," Jane said roughly. "Right now this man is either in the process of or already has kidnapped an innocent woman and will torture her until she dies. You want that to be on your conscience, Amy? Do you?"

Amy gazed at him wide-eyed. "You-you're threatening me? What kind of cop does that? Get the hell out of here!"

Lisbon stepped in. Calmly, "No, he's not." She turned to Jane. "Take five."

"Lisbon, this irritating woman is-"

She repeated through gritted teeth, "Take five, Jane." She nodded to the counter. "Go and make yourself some tea or something, cool down."

He glared at Amy and then at Lisbon but acquiesced without another word.

"I'm sorry," Lisbon told Amy quietly. She looked sideways at Jane before she focused on Amy. "He's...uh...look, that's not important but this is. And what my colleague said was true, I'm afraid. We can get our boss here by morning but I'm not lying when I tell you that every second counts right now. And we really do need your help."

Amy licked her lips. "I-I just don't know."

"Please," Lisbon said softly. She swallowed, softened her tone further, "This man you met. The man you consider a kind man - a nice man - isn't that. He's as far from that as you can imagine." Her eyes flooded with tears. "Amy, he-he hurt me. Badly. And I'm terrified someone else is going to be hurt just as bad as I was. Please help us. Please help me find him and make sure he can't put someone else through the hell he put me through."

Amy blinked, surprised, and replied in the same tone, "You? What happened? What did he do to you?"

Lisbon, aware Jane's tea making noises had quietened considerably and he was listening in, whispered to her quietly, "Something I will never fully recover from. A darkness that's part of me now. Something I can never rid myself of fully. Something I'll feel ashamed of every day for the rest of my life. Even if I know there was nothing I could have done to prevent it it's there, that shame inside. You see, it's part of me now. Something's broken inside I'll never be able to fix. He did that to me. That man you said was kind."

Amy's eyes turned to saucers as Lisbon continued, "If he'd killed me I'd have considered it a blessing at the time. Some days I still do."

The waitress nodded with wide teary eyes. A beat passed as she gazed at Lisbon in wordless understanding. Gently, "Okay. Then tell me what I can do to help you catch him."