Lisbon approached the front door of the small townhouse in one of the rougher suburbs of Sacramento, home of Jarred McDonald. They had found the connection between all the victims. It was a support website, and while all the victims had been in different support forums, they had all had extensive contact with another account, each victim talking to a man by a different name. Van Pelt had been able to track the different user names and accounts used to speak with each of the victims and found out they had all been created by the same IP address. They showed Jarred's picture to the most recent victim's neighbours and they confirmed he was the "friend" they had seen the victim with before the murder. That's why they were currently covering all the exits of 54 Pennington Lane.
Lisbon knocked hard on the door. "Jarred," she called. "This is the police. We'd like to speak with you regarding a friend you saw last week…Jarred McDonald."
No response for a long moment. Then, a thud from the back of the house and Rigsby yelling. Lisbon ran around the back, seeing Rigsby in pursuit.
"He's heading east, towards the street we parked on. He swung a golf club at me!" Rigsby exclaimed as they chased Jarred.
Jarred rounded the corner, Lisbon and Rigsby almost caught up to him, and ran right into Jane. Both men tumbled to the sidewalk, both letting out surprised yelps. Jarred scrambled to get up, stepping on and pushing Jane as Van Pelt and Cho approached from the other side of the block, slowing to point their guns at Jarred.
Rigsby grabbed Jarred and hauled him up and off of Jane, pushing him against their SUV and holding him as Cho cuffed him, reading Jarred his rights.
Lisbon helped Jane up. "You okay?"
"Just a couple bumps and scrapes. Still in one piece, though." Jane brushed off the front of his suit and inspected his palms for possible bleeding.
"You should rinse that off. We'll get you some Polysporin at the office so it doesn't get infected."
"Sounds good. Looks like I am bleeding a bit, though." Jane jokingly pouted as he help out his palm to show Lisbon the thin line of a scrape in his palm that was bleeding.
"Let me get you to a hospital before you bleed out from that injury." Lisbon chuckled.
"It is a very dire situation, you know. I may need painkillers, too."
"How about a nap on your couch, instead. Would that make you feel better?"
"Better than painkillers." Jane grinned.
Lisbon smirked and shook her head. She turned to her team. "Let's get him in an interview room at the office."
-Mentalist-
Melody and Ellie made their way down the halls toward the side door of the school they always used to leave through at the end of the day.
"I still can't believe that you saw Tammy at the group meet last night." Melody smiled. "I'm glad that she at least considered it enough to go. She hasn't texted me yet. Did she seem like she had fun?"
"She was pretty quiet, but I don't blame her. She did share about a sing she liked this week when we started talking about those. Nothing personal about herself, but she seemed happy while she was talking. Ran out pretty fast after, though. Probably scared someone was going to ask a bunch of personal questions or something. But I think she'll go back."
Melody grinned. "Good. I hope she does." Melody's grin changed to a frown. "She seemed really upset in gym class today. I tried asking her, but she wouldn't talk to me. She didn't even talk to the girls she normally semi-talks to."
"Maybe she flunked a test? Really bad period symptoms and not feeling social?"
The pair made their way across the new football field, then the old one, walking next to the old bleachers.
"Honestly, Ellie, I'm really concerned."
"Melody?"
Ellie and Melody stopped, looking at each other quizzically before looking around for where third voice. Melody pulled back the poster that hung from the top of the old bleachers.
"Tammy?" Melody blinked, seeing Tammy sitting on the ground under the bleachers.
Tammy gave a weak smile, wiping at her wet cheeks and eyes. "Hey."
Ellie leaned to look around Melody. "Are you okay? What are you doing under the bleachers? It's not Gigi, is it?"
Tammy shook her head. "No, I just…needed to be alone. No one ever uses the old bleachers or field so I thought it would work."
"Why didn't you just use your room at home?" Melody asked.
Tammy opened her mouth as if to respond, but then closed it, looking away.
"Did something happen at home? Is everything okay?"
"My parents are just really mad at me right now."
"If they grounded you for something, you should probably hurry home or they'll add time." Ellie said.
"I'm not grounded."
Ellie's eyes went wide with alarm. "They…they didn't kick you out, did they? That's not legal or morally acceptable."
"No. I just don't want to go home right now."
"…Well, you can come with us." Melody offered.
Ellie and Tammy both looked at Melody, surprised.
"I don't have gymnastics today. Ellie's coming over so we can do our homework and watch some movies and just hang out. Ellie's good at math, if you need help with it, like I do. It'll be fun."
Ellie smiled. "Math isn't that hard, you just need to know the formulas. And after, I was thinking Disney marathon."
"What do you say?" Melody held out her hand to Tammy.
"Thank you. I just…don't want to intrude."
"You wouldn't." Melody assured her. "Besides, my uncle Patrick will be cooking tonight and he loves when he can show off his cooking to new people. He may also attempt to perform magic tricks…We're an odd family."
"Thank you, really. I'll just probably make everything terrible like I always do."
"How would you make it terrible? If you think you make things terrible, you should hear some of the stories about my uncle Patrick working cases. That is a person making situations terrible."
"I've already ruined three of the best relationships in my life with who I am, Melody, and I don't want to ruin anymore." Tammy choked out.
"Which ones?" Ellie asked, barely audible.
"My parents hate me and my best friend hates me and it's all my fault." Tammy sobbed. "Why can't I just be normal?"
Melody and Ellie looked at each other, confused and concerned, unsure of what to do now.
Melody looked at Tammy for a moment, sitting there on the ground sobbing. "Are you a murderer?"
Tammy looked up at her, thrown off by the question. "No, of course not!"
"Have you committed a felony?"
"No!"
"Do you enjoy torturing puppies, kittens and other small and adorable creatures?"
"No, Melody!"
"Then what could possibly be so wrong with you that it would ruin those relationships?" Melody held Tammy's tear-filled gaze, returning Tammy's sadness with compassion.
"Promise I won't freak you out?"
"Promise." Melody and Ellie said in unison.
"I…I'm a lesbian." Tammy flinched back, as if expecting some sort of attack.
Melody and Ellie just looked at her.
"Okay." Ellie said.
"And?" Melody added.
Tammy's mouth dropped open at their lack of reaction. "There's no and. I know it's gross and whatever, but-"
"What's gross about it?" Melody asked. "Seems reasonable. Girls are pretty. Have you seen how many ugly boys there are in this world? I'm pretty sure most of them are at this school."
"You guys really don't care?"
Ellie shook her head. "Why would we? It doesn't make you a bad person. You remember Steph from the group last night? She's bisexual. She's a really cool person. She enjoys math, like I do. There's also Jake who is transgender, he wasn't at last night's group, though. He said he had a poetry club thing. That's what Terrance told me, anyway."
"See? There's nothing wrong with you. And we can promise good food as well as homework completed to a satisfactory level for a teacher to grade!"
"What if your uncle and aunt don't like me?"
"You mean, what if they don't like that you're a lesbian? I'm just going to throw it out there that when I was four, my aunt and uncle took me to a drag show because they are friends of the drag queen that runs it. Now, I ask you, does that sound like a couple that would be upset about my friend being a lesbian?"
"You're lying." Tammy shook her head in disbelief.
"I'll take you some time to prove it. The leader is Glennda Snow. Google it." Melody winked.
"You know what's better than drag, though?" Ellie asked. "The cookies Patrick makes. And if Melody didn't eat them all last night, there should be enough for you and me, Tammy. I urge you to act fast because I just reminded Melody of them and I can't run fast enough to beat her to her house to eat them before she does."
"There are cookies left, but if you're going to call me a pig, Ellie, I won't give you any!" Melody nudged her best friend playfully.
A smile pulled at the corner of Tammy's lips. "Yeah. I guess I can go and hang out for a bit."
Melody helped Tammy up and pointed at the sidewalk, "onward!"
-Mentalist-
By late afternoon, Lisbon and Jane got their confession. Jarred claimed no wrongdoing. The people he had murdered had consented. He'd even told them he'd had contracts. Jarred claimed he was doing the work of god and being kind to those people that had so desperately wanted to die, but were unable to take the step themselves. He hadn't even taken money in return, so he was basically a saint. So he said, anyway. When Jane questioned about the symbol left, Jarred explained it represented the eternal life they would have and the light they would live in for that eternity.
"I know I won't go to prison." Jarred said to Jane and Lisbon and Cho and Rigsby waited for the elevator to take him down to the holding cell. "God knows that what I did was right and kind, so he won't let anything happen to me."
Lisbon was silent, not trusting herself to respond with anything professional.
"Good luck." Was Jane's choice of words, earning him a glare from Lisbon. When the elevator arrived Jane and Lisbon headed back to Lisbon's office, Lisbon pulling out her phone to check the text message Melody had sent her:
Hey, I invited one more friend over after school. She's pretty shy so Ellie and I thought she could use some new friends. I think she's staying for dinner. Table for 5, tonight.
Lisbon hit the call button next to Melody's name, listening to the phone ring as she sat down at her desk, Jane taking his place on her office couch.
"Hey." Melody answered on the third ring, Lisbon could hear the TV playing in the background, the noise growing fainter as Melody walked away from it.
"Hello. So, you invited a second friend over."
"Yeah. She's having a bit of a hard time. I thought she could use a fun day."
"That's not an excuse to not get your homework done." Lisbon could almost hear Melody's eye roll in her response.
"I know, Teresa. We did our homework. We're watching Disney movies now."
"Okay. What's your new friend's name?"
"Tammy."
"Patrick and I were going to make spaghetti for dinner tonight. Does she have any dietary restrictions?"
"I don't think so, hold on." Lisbon could hear Melody call over to Tammy, asking her the question and then a quiet response. "No, she said she has none."
"Alright. Are you guys having a good time, then?"
"Yeah! We got through both Little Mermaids, Mulan, Beauty and the Beast, and right now we're watching Aladdin."
"You don't mess around with your Disney movies." Lisbon smiled.
"Definitely not…Hey, Teresa?"
"Yes, Melody?"
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For being so cool with, um, everything. Like, I know you'll always support me."
"You're welcome. Is this to do with your friend?"
"Yeah." Melody spoke very softly. "She came out as a lesbian to her parents last night and she thinks they hate her now because they seemed really upset with the news. I can't imagine how bad that must hurt to feel like who you are is disappointing to your parents. Well, I mean…not in that way really. And her old best friend that she told before is giving her a hard time at school about it and I just know I'm lucky to know my family isn't judgemental about that stuff."
"I'm sorry to hear that about your friend. If she needs to spend the night or anything, she can. And you're welcome. I'm sure she's glad to have friends like you and Ellie. If any of you guys need anything, let us know."
"Will do. Thank you, Teresa. I love you."
""I love you, too." With that, they both hung up.
-Mentalist-
Melody rejoined Tammy and Ellie on the couch after hanging up with her aunt. "Spaghetti for dinner tonight, guys."
"You're sure it's okay that I stay for dinner?" Tammy asked.
"Of course! Teresa even said it's cool if you guys wanted to stay over. But you have a thing tomorrow morning right, Ellie? Or was it the day after tomorrow?"
"It's tomorrow morning. It's family breakfast morning. My mom wants to do it once a month. We basically pick a day and get up early and make a nice big family breakfast to eat before we start our day."
"Everything about that seems awesome except for the getting up early part." Melody said.
Tammy laughed. "I guess you're not a morning person."
"You should see her the mornings she has to get up for gymnastics competitions." Ellie informed her. "All grumbles and mumbles."
"Hey!" Melody lightly smacked Ellie and they all returned their attention to the movie playing.
Lisbon and Jane arrived home a few hours later.
"Hello, ladies." Lisbon greeted.
"Hi, Teresa! Hi, Patrick!" Melody and Ellie greeted them.
Tammy gave them a smile and a polite wave.
"How's the movies?" Jane asked.
"Good." Melody said. "We watched all the Disney movies we have so we were going to play a videogame."
"Which one?" Jane wandered into the living room as Lisbon headed to the kitchen.
"Probably Mario Party."
"That's a good one." Jane nodded, cheerily.
"You're terrible at Mario Party." Melody reminded him.
"That doesn't mean I can't like it. But I can see no one will want me on their team here so I'll just go help Teresa make dinner."
"We don't get split into teams." Melody informed him.
"No, no. It's fine. You don't have to make me feel better about it. I'll just give you the smaller garlic bread pieces." Jane teased as he left the living room.
"No fair! The garlic bread is my favourite part!" Melody called after him, then looked at Ellie and Tammy. "He's totally not giving me the small garlic bread pieces. And if he does, you both have to help me when I rebel because of it."
"Viva la France!" Ellie replied in a terrible French accent.
Tammy snorted with laughter next to her.
Melody inserted the game into the console and pushed the power button, grabbing the controllers to distribute to her friends.
After the first map was completed, Melody took herself out of the game to help set the table for dinner as she normally did, calling Tammy and Ellie to eat once the food was finished.
Melody let Ellie and Tammy take plates to serve themselves before she grabbed hers.
"I hope you like homemade spaghetti sauce, Tammy." Lisbon said. "Patrick refuses to use store bought and has been prepping all the ingredients for a week now."
"My grandma always made homemade spaghetti sauce and it was really good." Tammy smiled.
"Take as much as you want. We always make extra for leftovers." Lisbon encouraged.
"I actually added something new this time." Jane told them excitedly, taking his plate and sitting down at the table.
"If you put something gross in it, I'm going to be really upset." Melody gave Jane a look.
"As if I would ruin my perfectly cultivated spaghetti sauce for a prank I thought of on a whim. Also, I like being known by your friends as the best cook of all their parents."
"But you're not my parent."
"Pseudo-parent counts."
Melody just rolled her eyes and shook her head with a small smile as she joined everyone at the table.
"How was school today?" Lisbon spoke to start the conversation as she frequently did.
"It was good. In gym class I did the most push ups and so now I have the record for push ups in our class. My name went on the record board."
"Becky said she heard you are in gymnastics and that you were good so she wants you to try out for cheerleading. She thinks she's going to be the cheer captain and she thinks you'll be good at some of the harder flips and stuff. I heard her tell Tiffany that she looked you up on YouTube."
"People look me up on YouTube!?"
"Becky said she did."
"You are qualifying for nationals." Jane reminded Melody. "I'm sure there's been recordings of your other competitions on the internet."
"I'm, like, almost a celebrity!"
"Don't let it go to your head, Melody." Ellie nudged her playfully.
"No, no. Of course not." Melody flipped her hair over her should. "I'm just, like, so totally down to earth all the time."
"Careful, Melody. I already see your ego showing." Lisbon teased.
"Listen, I got this." Melody scooped a forkful of spaghetti into her mouth.
They made small talk about school and possible days to make plans before cleaning up dinner and Ellie got picked up by her dad, extending an offer for a ride home to Tammy, which as accepted after much encouragement.
"I am going to get into my pyjamas. I am tired." Melody told Lisbon and Jane after her friends had left. "Being a host is fun but tiring."
"Okay." Lisbon smiled. "We have the day off tomorrow, so I'll drive you to school. You can sleep in a bit, then. How about that."
"Awesome. Good night, Teresa." Melody gave her aunt a hug.
"Good night, Melody."
Melody then gave Jane a hug. "Good night, Patrick."
"Good night, Melody."
Author's Note: Hello all! I know it's been a while since I updated, but here we are! I know I have another ongoing story, but my goal is to finish this one before continuing on with that one. I got a few more things up my sleeve for this one, but we are nearing the end of it. I've been working more on some original stories of mine and reading and I've just been working a lot in general, so thank you for your patience. As always, I hope you enjoyed and that you leave a review. :)