A/N: Apologies for the long delay in finally providing an update to this story. I won't bore you with the details but I am finally ready to get back to this sucker and finish it in the coming weeks. Thank you to everyone still reading & especially those who take the time to review.
Chapter 39 – The Set-Up
Cho and Rigsby took positions at the breakfast counter in the kitchen and sipped coffee as they watched Patridge tune into The Karen Cross Show on television that faced the the couch. Since they'd arrived, conversation had been less than scintillating with Partridge regarding them both warily, snake like eyes trailing them as they'd checked windows and rooms periodically. He'd welcomed them with enthusiasm to begin with but by now, two hours later, his act had waned to the affectation of a nervous odd smile and nod in their direction. His attention finally rapt with the sunny music playing on the screen Rigsby whispered to Cho, "Hope to god this works. Or we're dead meat, man."
"Just stick to the plan," Cho nodded gravely.
"Yeah." Rigsby threw a backwards glance at Partridge. "I'm more concerned with him doing what he's supposed to do, not us. What if he doesn't?"
His slightly raised voice drew a glance from the man on the couch. "Problem, gentlemen?"
Rigsby feigned a good natured smile. "Nah, we're all good." He nodded to the television as Cross appeared on screen. "Looks like the show's starting, eh?"
As Partridge turned towards the television again Rigsby shook his head at Cho. Quietly, "Never a truer word spoken, huh?"
Cross stood up to greet Lisbon and Jane as they walked towards the sofa set on her stage, shaking their hands warmly with her best hungry smile. She reminded Lisbon of a shark all set to swallow its own catch of the day.
"Agent Lisbon, from the CBI, welcome at last!" she enthused. "You've been playing hard to get!"
She grinned at the audience who clapped right on cue as an intern lazily held up a sign with 'Applause' scrawled across it, chewing gum as his other hand was grasped to his phone (most likely looking for another job, Jane supposed. He guessed this role wasn't exactly what this twenty-something had in mind when he went to study Media Relations). As the consultant sat against the couch with one leg graciously crossed over the other, Lisbon, on the other hand, sat uncomfortably at the edge of its edge, every instinct in her body fighting against the 'flight' response as the cameras zoomed in on her.
"Karen," Lisbon squeaked, rolling her eyes at herself before she swallowed thickly in an attempt to moisten her throat.
Jane fetched a pitcher of water from his side and poured a glass from it, passing it to Lisbon silently, his pose relaxed as he smiled at his host. "Karen, pleasure to be here with you this lovely evening," he said smoothly.
"Yes, Mr Jane, I was just getting to you," she said with a smidgen of irritation.
"Sorry," Jane offered. "Please go ahead and introduce me."
She flustered, "Well..."
Jane beamed a smile at the audience. "Folks, what Karen was about to say is that I'm Patrick Jane. And that I'm psychic, most probably. Some of you may have even heard of me."
A few titters in the audience and a squeal from a middle aged woman in the front row followed.
Jane winked in her direction. "You flatter me, young lady," he responded with an eager glint in his eye. The woman flushed redder, her hot flashes and Jane's keen eye a recipe for menopausal disaster that made her withdraw a fan from her handbag.
Karen attempted to take back control of the show. "Mr Jane, do you mind-?"
"Not at all, Karen, where were we?" he replied innocently. His segue had given Lisbon time to collect herself under the scrutiny of the audience and the harsh glare of the lights so much she managed a small smirk.
Karen glared at Jane. "Yes, Mr Jane, like you said you do purport to be a psychic. Tell me, was it your wife's brutal-?"
"No."
Confused, "No?"
"No. I just said that you would introduce me as a psychic. I didn't say that I actually was one."
"So now you're stating that you're not psychic after all these years-?"
"Yes."
"Yes? Yes you are one or no you're now saying you're not."
Jane left a moment of silence before he grinned enigmatically. "Is this really what you want to spend your time on, Karen? I don't mind at all but I thought you were here to get the inside scoop on Red John from Agent Lisbon here." He looked at his watch. "And since we're live..."
Cross rolled her eyes, the producer in her ear telling her to move it along also. She exhaled in annoyance and focused on Lisbon, smoothing her bright blue dress over her knees to expel her annoyance as she turned to speak to the agent. "Fair enough, Mr Jane." She shot him a look of victory as she pounced on his girlfriend. "Agent Lisbon. You have worked for the California Bureau of Investigation now for some time. Correct?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"And so you have to admit that the catalogue of disasters in catching the notorious serial killer Red John lies firmly at your door, do you not?"
Lisbon appeared to ponder the question. "Well, I wouldn't say-"
"You wouldn't? Well, wasn't your own boyfriend-"
"My boyfriend was murdered," Lisbon stated firmly. "He was an innocent man. And I'll do everything in my power to get justice for him."
"That all sounds very passionate and riveting, Agent Lisbon. We're supposed to take you at your word on that, are we?"
"That's a bit harsh, isn't it, Karen?" Jane piped up. "Agent Lisbon is grieving, currently, after all."
"Grieving,huh? Well, of course, I am sorry for her loss if Mr Hastings was indeed an innocent but no, I wouldn't say it is too harsh, Mr Jane," Cross responded eagerly. "We need answers. And can you please allow Agent Lisbon to speak for herself?! Just because you and she are now-"
"We are here to speak about Red John, Karen," Lisbon interjected loudly. "I've come here to assure the public that we have made significant progress in that investigation."
Cross responded, "Which is?"
"We have a person of interest in custody we are confident is Red John."
A smattering of interest from the audience followed her revelation.
Cross was not as easily impressed. "Really? So you are in a position to name him at this time?"
Lisbon licked her lips. "I-I'm not in a position to state exactly who he is-"
"Well, Agent Lisbon, this is the second time in a number of weeks where we've heard this rumour. You'll have to excuse my scepticism on the matter. The public is owed more, don't you think? You work for us, don't you, as a public servant?"
As Lisbon wavered, her blush increasing as her mouth opened and closed like a goldfish Jane spoke up.
"Oh, come on, Lisbon," he sighed with an exaggerated eye roll. "You have to give her more than that old tired line. I'm not exactly a fan of Ms Cross' love of torrid headline grabbing misinformed reporting personally but we're here to make an announcement, aren't we? What's the point in being here at all if all we give her is a half truth?"
Cross nodded then shook her head. "Thank you, Mr Jane. Hang on, what did you say?-"
Lisbon snapped her head to glare at him. "Mr Jane, would you mind-"
Cross ate up the apparent discord between the pair with a spoon. "He's right, Agent Lisbon. Mr Jane, you have an inside line to this investigation, quite obviously. You must have more to add. Please, don't be afraid, this is your right as a citizen to keep us informed. It's your duty, in fact."
"Jane," Lisbon warned.
Jane looked between the two women, adding a lengthy pause and a torn expression to increase anticipation. The audience leaned forward in silence, practically salivating at the anticipated announcement from the rogue consultant. I have missed this, Jane mused inwardly. That addictive feeling of having the audience in the palm of my hand. He glanced at Lisbon out of the corner of his eye. But being with her is better than any of that, his heart told him. It always has been since the day I met her.
He cleared his throat to turn his reflection back to his current role. He looked softly at Lisbon. "I'm sorry but I need to do this, Teresa. The people watching deserve the truth." He nodded to Karen seriously. "I cannot name the man in custody – to do so would do him an injustice of a fair trial and may also perhaps lead to his acquittal - but I can tell you that we are confident DNA evidence has been found that will lead to his conviction."
Cross' shoulders slumped. "Hm. Just how confident are you?"
"His last victim, Pat Holland. She was a coroner as you're probably aware so skilled in the capture of DNA evidence. Well, she was able to retrieve his DNA while he tortured her to death. First time he made a mistake like that so it's quite something."
"Really? And it has been matched to the man you have in custody?"
Jane hummed, "Well, no, not quite yet. I'm no scientist and there are further tests to be concluded, apparently. But preliminary results show a match to a Caucasian male of North American descent. Those results are in line with the man we have in custody." Before she interrupted he smiled smoothly, "Now, I know you're going to say that that matches a great many million of people but that's not what matters. We have someone we are confident will match that sample once all testing has been carried out on it in the coming day or two."
"I see. You had this man in custody before this sample was tested? So you already had some evidence he is Red John before it?"
"Precisely. See, we also have a sworn statement from one of his followers along with videotape evidence-"
"Jane," Lisbon cut in, right on cue. "That's enough. We can't trial this man on television like this."
"You don't think it's important to mention the tape we have, Lisbon? I mean, it's securely locked up, isn't it, what's the harm?"
"Of course it is. But no, I don't. That tape will be viewed at trial. We shouldn't talk about that video before then." Lisbon turned her attention to Cross. Irritated, "Please excuse my colleague, Karen. He does not speak for the CBI in any professional capacity."
"But this tape Mr Jane mentions-"
"I won't discuss the tape, Karen." She looked pointedly at Jane. "And Mr Jane will no longer mention the video or any others that may be found upon further inspection either."
Jane made a locking sign on his lips. "Guess I'm keeping anything else I have to say on the matter in the vault as they say, as it were. Sorry, Karen."
Lisbon rose from the couch and glowered at Jane. "We're so done here." She pulled off her microphone and stomped off the stage.
Jane made a face as he shrugged to Karen. "Oopsy. Better go after her."
Karen Cross gaped, "But we're-we're in the middle of a recording-"
"Sorry, Karen, duty calls," he smiled, "it was a pleasure meeting you and chatting, though." As he bent down to kiss her cheek he whispered in her ear, "Put a rerun on or something to fill the time. I promise I'll be in touch with the best exclusive of your life very soon if you do."
As they made their way to the car Lisbon exhaled loudly. "Well, that was just about the most embarrassing thing I've ever done in my whole life."
"Really?" he smirked, "You really haven't lived much in the time we've been apart, have you, my dear?"
"You think it worked?"
Jane placed a hand on the small of her back as he caught up with her. "Certainly performed enough to get his attention. We did our part. He just has to take the bait. Good news about the DNA evidence, huh?"
"How do you mean? We didn't find any DNA. Or at least not enough to give us any kind of an ID on anyone. There are no further tests. We discovered that right before we went on air if you recall."
"Well, we know that but Partridge doesn't. Still ingenious to use it as a bluff into making him react, don't you think? He thinks his game is up soon so he'll need to move quickly."
"God, I hope you're right. Just hope he does what you think he will next."
"Well, we dropped enough suggestions on how he should react into our conversation just now. I doubt he'll be able to leave town without his most prized possession."
Minelli called Lisbon as they got back to the SUV. "Tell Jane he's a ham," he started. "But well done to you both, I suppose."
She smiled as she put him on loudspeaker, "Just tell me I never have to appear on television ever ever again."
He harrumphed a laugh back. "If you ever want to sit in my seat it comes with the job, I'm afraid. But anyway, Jane confident he'll go after his tapes?"
"Around 70 per cent, Virgil," he responded. "You mentioned the search for more video evidence earlier when you spoke to him, correct?"
"Yes, like you suggested. You really think those damn videos will be worth that much to him? That he'll risk his escape just so he can retrieve them?"
Jane nodded. "Absolutely. Knew it when all he would give us as evidence to implicate McAllister was the first few frames of one of them. Knew there had to be more, much more footage that he would have recorded. Red John doesn't take from his kills. At least nothing that physically belongs to them. But he's a serial killer, be unusual for him not to take something so he can relive the moment of every kill time and time again. My feeling is that he'd have to take a trophy of some kind. Only possibility based on what he gave us before is of further videos of him killing these women instead. But they're his trophies – only meant for his eyes. He didn't want to share them even if it meant firmly framing McAllister. Well, either that or he speaks on them and gives himself up in the process, nails himself instead of his target. Upshot is he wants them for himself. Now we've all planted the suggestion of videos, tapes, vaults, safes, etc. all during today he'll feel even more strongly that he needs them before he vanishes. And not just because he needs them but also because he doesn't want anyone else to view them but him."
"Is LaRoche with Shettrick?" Lisbon asked. "Partridge will likely want to confirm with her that all we've said is true."
"Yes, he took her into custody quietly before the airing. As you suspected she's willing to deal and tell Partridge exactly what we want her to if and when he calls."
"Of course she is," Jane smiled.
"We could just arrest him now," Lisbon stated. "With her testimony and what she knows about him-"
"Getting our hands on those tapes will be better. And on his person better still," Minelli commented. "I'd rather have hard evidence than base charges on someone else's say so. Especially one of his people-"
"Who he might arrange to have disposed of while he's awaiting trial," Lisbon finished for him. "Yeah, you're right."
"Jeez, Lisbon is going to kill him," Rigsby sniggered as he and Cho stood behind the couch Partridge sat on after the first section of The Karen Cross show had abruptly ended. "What the hell was Jane thinking going off like that on televison?"
"Is it true?" Partridge said solemnly, turning around to face the two agents. "About the DNA evidence?"
Cho and Rigsby looked at each other and shrugged in unison. Rigsby said, "Well, yeah. But we wanted to keep it under wraps, you know. Keep it safe until we're able to fully ID McAllister from it." Cho said, "Don't worry about it. It'll stack up along with your testimony so he won't be able to wriggle out of this so easily or turn the blame back on you. It's a good thing."
"Right," Partridge replied, less than enthusiastically.
As he went back to watching television distractedly Cho and Rigsby raised eyebrows to each other in a silent toast.
The plan was working.
Now to Phase 2 where the small matter of being murdered by Red John awaited them.