Author's Note: Hey guys! So here I am with the newest chapter. I hope you guys enjoy it!
"How?" Lisbon sighed. "How are we going to catch this guy?"
Jane looked over the case file on his lap. "We will find a way."
"His victim pool is really specific and hard to track and his M.O. is hardly able to be determined. All his victims left suicide notes written of their own volition. Basically he kills people that are obsessed with a certain serial killer the way the serial killer killed because they asked him to do it. I don't get it."
"Between the first two victims, I think there were other murders we haven't discovered yet. And he does deviate slightly from the killers he's imitating." Jane pointed out.
"Yeah, I know he does. It's the only reason the different murder scenes are connected. What makes you think there were others between the first and second one?"
"Well, the first one as we can tell, he is a little sloppy. It is his first one, of course. But there is a big increase in the certainty of his attacks in the second one that I don't believe came from just one previous attempt. Plus, there is a big gap between the first two murders, which would be longer than most serial killers wait.
Lisbon thought about it. "It is possible. It's worth looking into."
-Mentalist-
"So, what team do you want to go out for?" Ellie asked Melody as they walked to their lockers for their lunch boxes.
"I don't know." Melody admitted. "I was thinking of going out for the soccer team or the track team."
"Track team?"
"Yeah. Teresa was on her high school track team. I thought I should give it a shot. Are you going to go out for any of the sports teams?"
"No. I'm not really very good at sports, Melody. You know that. You should have seen me in gym class last week! I tripped over the soccer ball while I was running with it. You're the sport one. I'm the math one."
"You should go out for the math club." Melody smiled.
"I thought about it, but there's this kid in my science class who is also going to join the math club and he's super weird. I don't want to be judge-y, but he really is weird. His name is Jeff and I have no idea how to act around him."
Melody raised a brow. "Do you have a crush on him?"
"Ew, no! Melody, you have to meet this guy to understand. But he's just such a nerd, but he tries to act like he's super cool and like he's friends with everyone. Seriously! Like, yesterday he tried to make "fo'shizzle mah nizzle" his catch phrase."
Melody snorted in laughter.
"I'm not even sure if that's better or worse than the first week of school when he tried to make "math-tastic" part of the regular slang vocabulary."
Melody was wheezing. "That's math-tastic!"
"Oh my god! I knew it would catch on!" a voice exclaimed from somewhere in the hallway crowd. "Who said that!?"
"Oh, god, that's him." Ellie murmured as Melody leaned against the nearest locker now laughing so hard that no actual sound came out and tears were rolling down her cheeks.
A stubby looking guy in a plaid shirt and khaki pants came up to them, looking very excited. "Guess what Ellie! I knew it would catch on! Didn't you hear it? So cool!"
"Yeah…super…cool." Ellie smiled awkwardly, trying not to be rude.
Melody was now sitting on the ground, back against the locker, laughing but the only sound she made were gasps for air between laughs.
Jeff blinked, looking at Melody and then back at Ellie. "Is your friend okay?"
"Yeah, she just – uh – heard some really stupid joke and thought it was really funny."
"What was the joke?" Jeff asked, his brown eyes curious.
"I don't know." At Jeff's curious gaze, Ellie elaborated. "Uh…She started to tell me it and then just started laughing."
"Oh. Well if she ever tells you, maybe you can tell me in science class. Or maybe even in the math club! You said you wanted to join, right?"
"Yep." Ellie replied tightly. "I did. But I gotta make sure it doesn't, y'know, get in the way of my…cooking class…that I take…after school….uh…sometimes."
Melody sputtered on the floor, kicking into more laughter.
Ellie kicked her friend lightly in the thigh.
"Cooking class, huh? Well that's just super math-tastic! So much math in cooking."
Ellie tried not to cringe at the use of his made up word. "Yup. So much math. It's super…math…tastic."
Melody covered her face in her hands, trying to hold back her laugh so she didn't make any more noise.
"I hope you can make it to the math club! See you later, Ellie!"
"Bye…" Ellie waved, smiling awkwardly and had to stop herself from rolling her eyes and groaning as Jeff did the little gun finger thing and winked at her before hurrying off.
"Oh my god." Melody wheezed, somewhat recovering and getting to her feet. "Oh. My. God. That was probably the funniest thing I've ever seen!"
Ellie shoved Melody with her arm. "It was not. You see what I mean!? You didn't help at all. You made it worse!"
"It was just too funny! If he asks you out, you should totally say yes."
"No, he's not even cute and I can't deal with his signature little gun finger and wink thing." Ellie tried to imitate it. "Ugh."
"At least he's nice. But you're right. You could find a guy way cuter."
"Cuter and with a much less cringe-worthy personality."
"Agreed." Melody nodded as they got to their lockers. "But I am going to have so much fun teasing you about this."
"Melody!"
Melody gave Ellie a toothy grin, to which Ellie responded by shaking her head and rolling her eyes.
"Hey." Melody said in a quieter voice.
Ellie looked at her. "What?"
Melody gestured subtly with her chin to Ellie's right and Ellie discreetly looked in the direction out of the corner of her eye.
"Tammy." Ellie whispered.
"Mhm. I only ever see her in gym class, but I never see her in the change room with the rest of her class. It's so weird. But she always has a change of clothes for gym."
"That is weird." Ellie agreed. "What do you think we should do?"
"Go talk to her." Melody said, closing her locker, throwing her backpack over her shoulder and walking over to Tammy before Ellie could protest. "Hey, Tammy." Melody greeted cheerfully, noting that Tammy jumped and looked alarmed at her approach.
"Hi, Melody." Tammy gave a quick smile.
"What're you doing for lunch?"
"Oh, uh. Some friends and I are going to eat outside since it's nice out."
"That sounds like a good idea. Maybe we could join you sometime. Are you going to go out for any sports teams or clubs?"
"Uh, I don't know. Maybe. I've been thinking about it."
"Yeah? Which ones? Ellie is thinking math club. I'm thinking soccer or track."
"I'm not very good at math. But I'm not great at soccer or track, either. I used to…well…"
"You used to what?" Melody prompted, smiling.
"I used to play the trumpet." Tammy told her.
"So maybe you could join the band."
"Yeah, maybe." Tammy nodded. "I should get going. I'm sure your friends will be wondering what's taking you so long. It was nice talking to you. Maybe I'll see you around more. Maybe we can talk in gym."
"I'd like that."
Tammy closed her locker. "Cool. I'll see you in gym."
Melody waved as Tammy left.
"She's not going to sit with us?" Ellie asked.
"No, she said she's meeting up with some friends." Melody explained.
"But who does she hang around with?"
"I've seen her talk to two girls in her gym class. Seems like minimal conversation, but maybe them."
"I guess." Ellie said. "She seems really sad, though. And Gigi Buckingham just picks on her all the time." After the first day of school, they had found out that the name of the mean blond had been Gigi Buckingham and she'd been in Ellie's science class after lunch.
"Why, though?" Melody pondered. "You think Gigi got dumped in middle school because the guy wanted Tammy instead or something."
"Seems really petty."
"Gigi is really petty."
"Truth." Ellie nodded.
"I passed her in the hall yesterday and I think she recognized and gave me cut eye."
"I don't know if she recognizes me because I wasn't in her face on the first day, but sometimes she looks at me really angrily in science."
"It could be worse, I guess. Remember when you told me about how last week Gigi almost made Maggie in your science class cry because she wouldn't leave her alone about her breakout?"
"That was so sad. I'm glad Maggie sits next to me now, she's really nice."
"If Gigi comes by and tries to make fun of Maggie again, tell Gigi to eat it."
"We're not all as bold and brave as you, Melody. I'm no use in a fight, verbal or physical."
"Yeah, I know. Being calm and level headed is your thing. It's good though. Someday, I can't wait for you to bust out some really witty comeback in a fight, though, and shock everyone."
"That'd be a day for the history books!" Ellie smiled as they entered the cafeteria and joined their friends at their table.
-Mentalist-
"Hey, guys!" Melody greeted, walking into the bullpen as the team greeted her in return.
"How's that Anti-bacterial towel working for you after gym class?" Van Pelt asked.
"Really good! I use it at gymnastics, too! One of the girls at my gym wants one."
"I can give you the name of the website I found them on, if you want and she can look it up."
"Yeah, she'd probably love that!" Melody smiled.
"You came here after school pretty fast." Jane said, approaching the bullpen with a steaming cup of tea.
"Yeah," Melody turned to look at him, "I have a question for Teresa."
"She and Cho are out canvasing for clues on our case." Jane told her. "Get started on your homework. I'm sure she'll be back soon."
Melody nodded and headed into Lisbon's office to start her homework.
Jane joined her to help with English, math and Spanish – though his knowledge of math and Spanish was not particularly extensive. Lisbon returned within an hour of Melody's arrival and Melody had completed homework for two of her classes.
"Hello, Melody." Lisbon walked into her office and kissed Melody on the head, looking at her open homework. "What are you working on?"
Jane sat on the couch in Lisbon's office, sipping his tea.
"I'm finishing up my Spanish homework."
"That's good. What do you have left after?"
"Geography and then I'm done."
"Very good." Lisbon smiled and went to sit at her desk.
Melody cleared her throat. "Uh, Teresa…?"
Lisbon looked at Melody. "Yes?"
Melody looked from her aunt to her homework and then met her aunt's gaze again. "I was hoping…I mean…I want to go out for the school soccer team. And the track team."
Lisbon blinked, a little surprised. "Why track?"
"Well, good for my cardio. Some other girls I know are going to go out for it. Y-well…you were on track in high school. It can help me stay in good shape for soccer."
"What about gymnastics?"
"What about gymnastics? We don't have a team for that."
"I mean," Lisbon elaborated, "won't that take time away from gymnastics? You could overwork yourself with three teams at once."
Melody thought about this for a moment. "Yeah, okay. Maybe just track, then. Less dangerous."
"Melody, you can go out for whatever team you want to go out for. You don't need my blessing, but thank you for letting me know."
"Actually…" Melody took a deep breath. "It's twenty dollars for tryouts and a hundred dollars if I make the team for my uniform and stuff."
Lisbon looked at Melody for a long and silent moment in surprise, lips parted in a slight O shape.
Jane looked between the two women.
"Well." Lisbon finally broke the silence. "We can manage that."
"I know it's kind of expensive." Melody began to babble. "But, I mean, I have some birthday money left and stuff. And it'll look good on college applications, too. And I'll find a way to make it work with gymnastics and – "
"Melody." Lisbon interrupted. "It's okay. You don't have to pay for it. If you want to try out for a team, go ahead. Just keep your grades up and don't let it interfere with your gymnastics, either. It's okay."
"Yeah?"
Lisbon smiled and nodded. "Yeah."
"Thanks." Melody said softly.
"You're welcome. Now get your homework done. Keep your grades up, like I said." Lisbon pointed at Melody's homework with her pen, smiling.
Melody nodded and returned to her homework.
-Mentalist-
Hours later and Lisbon still didn't have much from the leads she'd been given while canvasing. Then again, the leads were pretty thin to begin with. Kendrick Moorefield. Killed in an armed robbery of his home in one of the nearby affluent neighbourhoods. There were three other armed robberies connected to his, but in much less well off neighbourhoods, likely the culprit's attempt to build up experience before hitting a big target. However, Moorefield was the only victim that was murdered. He'd come home early from a gala and interrupted the robber, who was likely spooked and shot Moorefield out of fear. However, all the other robberies by the same man had the victims at home at the time of the robbery, hence why it was an armed robbery. A seemingly meaningless symbol left by the culprit at the crime scenes had been what connected them. Still, they had no idea what the symbol meant. The symbol was an eight with a five point star drawn in the top loop. It was drawn with random things found at the scene: a permanent marker, lipstick, a pen, whatever was there.
"Maybe it's a statement about himself." Jane thought, looking at the picture of the symbol from the Moorefield crime scene, drawn on a very expensive initialed pocket hanky. "Maybe the eight is a religious thing? Probably not…these probably aren't religiously motivated crimes. He's definitely older than eight. The youngest of eight siblings? Mmmmm…no."
"What're you guys staring at?" Melody asked, returning from her trip to the snack machine. She approached Lisbon's desk, tilting her head to look at one of the pictures of the symbols left at one of the murders. "A star inside an infinity sign?" She picked the picture up sideways.
"Infinity sign." Jane snapped his fingers. "It could be an infinity sign."
Melody looked at him, confused. "What else could it have been?"
Lisbon took the picture and returned it to Melody's hand right side up.
"An eight?"
"That's the direction it was drawn at the crime scene." Jane explained.
"Well that's just random." Melody said. "Did he commit eight crimes or something?" Melody reached for the file on Lisbon's desk, but Lisbon placed her hand over it.
"I think that's enough detective work for you."
Melody frowned. "I can help."
Lisbon gave her a pointed look. "I'm not saying you wouldn't be able to, but you really shouldn't be looking at these things."
Knowing this was a battle she wouldn't win, Melody returned the picture she had to Lisbon's desk and huffed as she went to sit on Lisbon's office couch and listen to music.
Jane and Lisbon continued working.
"I can't believe I didn't think of that." Jane shook his head in disbelief.
"But why would the killer draw it like that in the direction it would sit if it were an eight at every crime scene. Sure, one time it was on a piece of paper that could be turned in every direction, but every other crime scene he wrote it like an eight on the wall."
"True." Jane nodded. "That is odd. But the question is then, did he maybe do it to throw us off, or is it really meant to be an eight?"
Lisbon huffed out a sigh and leaned back in her chair, pinching the bridge of her nose. Jane picked up one of the reports from the newest murder and looked it over quizzically as he went to sit at the table in Lisbon's office to think on the information further.
A knock came at Lisbon's door and all three looked up to see Van Pelt standing at the door. Lisbon waved her in.
"News?" Lisbon asked.
Van Pelt nodded. "I got a call back from Moorefield's neighbours, the Paddington's. They said that Moorefield had a friend they met only once one week before the robbery-murder."
Jane and Lisbon shared a look.
"Well, I certainly didn't think that he would meet with them in person, much less meet the victim's friends."
"Or it could have just been a distant family member he's ashamed of. Rich people have a lot of those."
Jane shrugged. "Yeah, but that wouldn't be any fun at all. We better go talk to these neighbours, then."
Lisbon looked over at Melody. Melody met Lisbon's gaze, raising a brow and knowing exactly what this meant. "I'll see if I can stay over at Ellie's." She mumbled, opening up the messenger on her phone. "You guys never let me have any fun."
"Thank you." Lisbon was getting on her jacket, ignoring Melody's last comment. Jane and Lisbon both gave Melody a hug and a kiss before leaving.
-Mentalist-
Patrick will take you to gymnastics, so make sure to go home right after school. Melody read the message as she approached her locker after being released from her gym class. She responded with Okay. She knew that her aunt and uncle were working really hard on the case and that they were probably having a lot of pressure put on them. It happened more often than Melody liked to think about. Ellie wouldn't be with her for the walk home because she had a dentist appointment that had allowed her to escape school after lunch. Melody grabbed all the things she needed for her evening to complete her homework.
"Hey, gurl, hey!"
Melody turned to see Erin heading toward her and smiled brightly. "Hey, gurl, heeeeeyyyy!"
"How was gym class, for my Melody?"
"Good. At the end, we got to play dodgeball."
"I love me some dodgeball."
"Who doesn't? You heading home?"
"Yeah. My mom is picking me up, though. We have an early family dinner thing I have to rush home and get ready for. It's my aunt's birthday."
"Oh, that's fun! Tell your aunt I say happy birthday. Have a slice of cake for me." Melody closed and locked her locker.
"You would want the whole cake."
"Only if it's chocolate. And besides, I'm a growing girl."
Erin patted Melody's head. "I hate to break it to you, but I don't think you're going to grow much more than this, shortstuff."
Melody swatted at her hand and the two headed down the hall. "I will have you know, that my family is proudly short and it doesn't stop us from living our dreams."
"I'm sure it gets in the way of your dreams to be tall."
"The weather is better down here anyway. Birds don't get stuck in my hair."
Erin laughed. "And I will have you know that their feathers a super cute hair accessory."
"I can just buy some. I don't have to pluck them out myself."
Erin pushed the door open for them both. "But that lacks the authenticity."
"Isn't your mom picking you up? Why are you leaving out the back door?"
"My mom is parking on the back end of the block to avoid the chaos of the front of school ending."
"Smart." Melody nodded.
"What's going on over there? Is that Gigi?" Erin stopped and gestured to the bike rack that was mostly empty, but had a group of people around in.
"I don't know. But if Gigi is there, probably nothing good." The pair headed over to the group.
"I'm sick of this!" Tammy yelled, surprising both Melody and Erin. "Leave me alone Gigi!"
"Oh, no." Melody and Erin murmured together. There was a loud slapping noise and then Tammy's head was turned away from them.
"You think because you had a couple of runts come to your rescue one day that you're going to be bold with me!? Next time I'll just have Blake teach you a lesson."
"Hey!" Melody yelled as she and Erin approached. "Leave her alone, Gigi! God, you're such a leech!"
Gigi turned her head. "Aw, your little lesbian friends are here to help you again, Tammy. Too cute."
"Actually, Gigi," Erin puckered her lips. "I'm here because I'm just so in love with you. You and your little skanky little boyfriend are just my type. You know, if I didn't have any standards or self-respect."
Gigi looked thoroughly insulted. "Who are you calling skanky, you slut?"
Erin looked over at Melody. "Why is that horse talking to me? It's not magical enough to be a talking unicorn."
Gigi took a step towards them. "Blake, these two we will need to teach a lesson."
The boy next to Gigi clenched his fists.
"As much as I would love to win in that little fist fight," Melody said, "I'm doing really well in the not getting into fights part of my agenda so…" Melody took a deep breath, looking Blake right in the face as he headed for her and let out the loudest and longest scream she could manage. This threw everyone off guard and they just stared at her in surprise.
"What's going on out there!?" They heard a staff member call from one of the open second floor windows.
"Gigi just broke a nail by accident." Melody called back, staring hard at Gigi. "She needs to hurry home to fix it. She's very upset."
Erin stared at Melody in impressed shock.
"This isn't over." Gigi hissed at Melody. "You'll regret messing with me."
"I already regret having to see your face today."
Gigi went red in the face but turned on her heel and stormed off, Blake following behind her.
"Damn, Melody! That was tactful A.F." Erin gave Melody a little applause.
Melody did a little bow. "Thank you. When you see a bear you need to make a lot of noise to scare it off."
"Love it!" Erin's phone began to ring. "Crap, it's my mom."
"You go. I got this."
Erin looked at Tammy, who was trying to hurriedly unlock her bike, face obscured by her hair. "I hope you're okay, Tammy!" With that, Erin hurried off.
"You okay?" Melody asked Tammy when Erin was gone.
"Yeah. Thank you, Melody."
Melody stepped closer to Tammy. "Can I see? She didn't bruise you, did she?"
"No, it's fine."
"You know you shouldn't let them treat you like that. You're better than that. Just because they treat you like you're not important doesn't mean that you're not important. It just means they're terrible people."
Tammy looked over at Melody. "Thanks. I'm just trying not to make it worse. Usually standing up to them makes it worse. I don't want them to start harassing you and your friends."
"Harassment." Melody repeated. "You know, now that you put it that way, you could even sue them. My aunt is a detective and she knows lawyers to help you sue."
Tammy blushed a bit behind her hair. "I'll think about it."
"Okay. So, uh, while you're thinking about that…" Melody took off her backpack, placing it on the ground, opening it and taking out a piece of paper as well as a pen. She jotted down her name and number and then another number that she copied from her phone. Standing, Melody handed the paper out to Tammy. "Here. It's my phone number. Also…uh…I don't want to be, like, assuming anything or pushy or anything, but it's the number for this organization I know of."
Tammy looked at the paper quizzically.
"It's for kids" Melody took a deep breath. "It's for kids who are harassed by other kids. Or kids that are feeling stressed or conflicted about stuff. It's basically for teens to go and talk about life when they're having a hard time. You know? They have group meetings weekly and I volunteer there sometimes when I'm able to fit it in. My gym did a fundraiser for them so we went and hung out with some of the kids there. They're pretty cool. Ellie volunteers, too. You can check it out. I think you'd like it. You can join, like, volunteer or go to a group if you ever need a place to vent. Up to you."
Tammy fully turned towards Melody, looking at the paper and Melody kept her mouth shut about the bruise forming on Tammy's cheek. Tammy took the paper and met Melody's gaze. "Thanks." She gave a small but genuine smile.
"You'll think about it, right?" Melody asked. "You won't chuck it in the first garbage bin you see?"
"No, I won't chuck it. I'll think about it."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
"Okay. And if you are shy and don't want to go alone, I can go with you. Or Ellie. Ellie actually goes by herself some weeks. She was a little shy at first, but I think she's opened up."
"That sounds nice."
"Some weeks they do like music week and everyone brings in their new favourite song for that week and we listen to them and talk about them. Or you can talk about a book you read if you like reading. Basically like a show and tell kind of thing to talk about stuff we all enjoy and share it with each other. It's fun. I promise. I think you'd like. Right, I said that already. Anyway. I gotta run or I'll be late for my gymnastics practice. But you can text me if you want. I can't respond at practice, but I can after. If you've got any questions about school or the group or if you just want to talk."
Tammy's smile widened a bit. "Sure. Sounds good. I'll let you know. I'll see you later."
"Mhm." Melody nodded with a cheery smile. "I'll see you around. Talk to you soon!" Melody waved over her shoulder as she headed home. She really hoped Tammy took her up on her offer. Tammy never really smiled and Melody thought that was a shame because Tammy seemed very nice.