Chapter 1: Murderer on Spree

'Agent Crawford,' said a man in the hallway of Homeland Security to Alice Crawford, a high level FBI agent who was invited to a top secret meeting. The man was Ed Walker, a man in his late 40s, with an unshaved face and triangular jaw, indicating his strong will.

'I'm Ed Walker,' said Walker as he shook Crawford's hand. 'Please come this way. Our team is waiting in room 35.'

Room 35 had no windows. The AC was on. One of the light bulbs had a slight flicker to it and there was a round table with 13 seats.

'Are we playing poker?' joked a man who was already seated.

'Very funny, Carlson,' said Agent Walker. 'Have you checked the room?'

'No, bugs.'

'Excellent,' said Walker. 'Please have a seat, Agent Crawford.'

Crawford took a seat facing Agent Carlson. The man was much older than Walker, yet his face was more childish. Walker positioned himself in a manner to have Crowford and Carlson in his visual range.

'Agent Crawford, you have worked on a number of serious cases, am I right?' asked Carlson.

'I have,' replied Crawford curtly.

'And your supervisor, Luis McCrane, was exposed by you as a member of the Blake Association?'

'He was,' she replied again, this time eying Crawford inquisitively.

'This is not an interrogation, Crawford,' said Walker. 'This is in fact an interview.'

'To join Homeland Security?'

'To join an investigation,' said Carlson. 'Say how much do you know about Red John.'

'Well, Red John was a notorious serial killer who mainly operated in California. He had also created a corrupt web of cops who even managed to infiltrate the FBI and the highest ranks of the CBI. Three CIA agents were confirmed to have his tattoo. Red John was revealed to be Thomas McAllister and apprehended and allegedly put to death by Patrick Jane, who used to but no longer does work with the FBI.'

'And we have all his men,' said Carlson with a smile. Then he shot an amused look at Walker who in return smirked.

'I wonder if you can see any holes in that narrative?' asked Carlson.

'All the evidence points at this narrative,' said Crawford and then she paused a few seconds before continuing. 'However, I never could get my head around McAllister being Red John. He –'

'Doesn't fit the profile,' Walker finished her sentence solemnly. 'We have confessions of the inner ring of Red John's group and they all said McAllister was him. Doesn't that make you suspicious?'

'Actually, no,' said Crawford, seeing the trap laid for her. 'And of course you already knew that McAlistair fit the profile perfectly. He was male, roughly the same age Red John should have been and unmarried. He was also a Sheriff; It gave him enough free time.'

'But –' said Carlson eagerly.

'He had the tattoo,' said Crawford.

'Alice, you are the third to notice this,' said Carlson gleefully. 'I was the first and Walker was the second.'

'It's imperative that this conversation stays between us,' said Walker. His grumpy face was the opposite of Carlson's merry visage.

'But it's just a suspicion,' said Crawford.

'Yes, and we cannot prove anything,' said Carlson, his smile fading away. 'But it's a start.'

'Do you want to tell her?' asked Walker.

'Yes,' said Carlson. 'Would you like to start.'

'Yes,' replied Walker with a shallow sigh. He walked to one of the two glass boards installed on the walls and wrote 'Red John' with large capital letters in red. Crawford wasn't sure if she had seen Walker carrying a marker.

'Red John loves misdirections,' he said calmly as if he was explaining the benefit of carrots. 'Even his name is a misdirection and the pronouns we use to describe her.'

'Her?' Crawford was surprised. Did Walker think Red John was a woman?

'But all the evidence and witnesses –'

'Say otherwise.' said Walker without turning around. 'Red John likes to drive people to commit murder.'

'All kinds of crime really,' said Carlson.

'Yes. She is an orchestrator,' said Crawford as he finally returned. 'And she commissioned certain crimes instead of committing them. She simply made sure those are ones we discover and attribute to him.'

'Like Timothy Carter,' said Crawford as she remembered the fake Red John.

'Yes, a trick that worked once and would work twice,' said Carlson. 'Mr. Jane did a very good job of tracking her down. But he never expected his knowledge of the killer was impaired so he killed McAllister, who we guess is not Red John.'

'But how do you know Red John is a woman?' said Crawford.

'It occurred to me when I spoke to Patrick Jane's previous boss, Abbot,' said Carlson. 'He spoke of a case they had handled. The culprit was called Mr. X and they were having a hard time finding him until Jane realized that Mr. X had to be a woman.'

'So –'

'Red John lacks the ego to show herself to Jane,' said Walker. 'She's probably too smart to gloat that way. She's smarter than Jane and seems to be able to understand him better than most people.'

'There is a narrow list of suspects,' said Carlson. 'Number one is FBI agent, Kim Fischer. Knew McAllister. Her career is clean.'

'Too clean it you ask me,' said Walker.

'I guess number two should be Grace Van Pelt,' said Crawford.

'Correct, albeit my bet is not on her,' said Carlson cheerfully. 'The third suspect is my favorite. Erica Flynn. She is smart enough to pull it off.'

'She escaped again,' said Walker. Had he swallowed something extremely sour? He looked like it.

'Madeleine Hightower is another option,' said Carlson, but he didn't seem very confident. 'I knew Madeleine, so I don't think it's very likely.'

'That leaves us with our prime suspect,' said Walker. He and Carlson looked at each other and then stared at Crawford.

'Me?'

'No,' chuckled Walker for the first time. 'It would be very sad if it turns out to be the case.'

'No, but our prime suspect can be as equally impossible, Crawford,' said Carlson.

'Who is it?'

'Teresa Lisbon.'

Author Note: Does it show any promise guys? Would you like me to continue?