Title: The Simple Life…or Is It?

Author: Shannon – shannyfish

Disclaimer: I do not own "The Mentalist" or its characters, Warner Brothers and Bruno Heller do. This is merely for entertainment purposes only.

Rating: G

Summary: The team investigate the murder of a homeless person. (Prompt: Vagabond Life)

Part of the "Red Hot Days" series: a series of different scenes both case and non-case related scenes. This can be read as part of the series or can be read on its own. Different POVs used for different stories. Lisbon/Jane shipping and most likely

Warning: Takes place during season 3, so spoilers during season 3 are fair game. So currently, that's up to "Jolly Red Elf".

Author's Note: #2 in the series

...

Angeles National Forest

Lisbon knew that the only reason that they'd been sent down there was because the body had been found on federal land and quite frankly the locals had already spoken up that they didn't want it. She was sure that was because the body was that of someone that most likely wouldn't be reported missing. Wouldn't be missed. It was sad, but sadder still that she wasn't sure if they'd be able to solve the case and close it.

Their victim was homeless and apparently no one saw anything. The body was found upon the sweep of that section of the forest by a ranger. The rangers hadn't been extremely helpful in anyway over the phone, all she knew was that they'd swept the area the night before and it had been vacant and they were insistent that they didn't allow squatting. The Los Angeles Police Department had been equally unhelpful. If their victim had been a child or someone famous, then every law enforcement agency in the area would be all over it, but since it was someone who wouldn't be missed then it didn't matter.

She didn't like that.

Lisbon liked to think that everyone mattered. After all, everyone was someone's mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter, or friend. Did it really matter their social status? A murder was a murder. The senseless ones were just sadder.

When they arrived on scene, the team already had their duties. She'd noticed, though, that Jane had been more quiet. More distant. On one hand it bothered and worried her, but on another it brought her great peace. She just was too stressed. There was too much to deal with. And quite frankly she enjoyed her job and Hightower had been giving her looks lately…looks that made her feel like Hightower was considering replacing her. She'd worked hard to get where she was and she thought that she made it work. But all the stress was weighing heavily on her and she knew that at this point it was even impacting her at work. She was tired, she wasn't focused, and she was far more irritable.

Lisbon had noticed that Jane wasn't the only one who had distanced himself. Lately, the rest of the team had been doing whatever she asked without any additional banter between them before doing it. They were doing everything at the snap of her fingers. She realized she hadn't remembered hearing the joking or the bantering that she was used to. It wasn't good for them. With this job, you saw the evils of humanity and the ugliness of the world…they needed their coping mechanisms in order to come out of this job sane. She'd have to talk to them all later…try to keep them from walking on eggshells around her. It made her feel guilty. That's how she'd been feeling she was doing with Hightower.

"I'm afraid I wasn't too useful, Lisbon," Jane said.

She looked around for him and then finally settled on him off to the side. His hands were in his pockets and he was looking down. "That's fine," she said. After a moment, she realized that her tone hadn't been as she'd intended. It'd been harsh and angry. She shook her head and rubbed her forehead. "I'm…I'm sorry, Jane," she said quietly. "I didn't mean to snap at you."

"It's okay."

"It's not."

"We need to find out where he lived. That's going to help us get a better understanding of who he was as a person and his day-to-day life," Jane said.

Lisbon gave him a small smile. She was thankful for his quick change of the subject, though she still felt bad for snapping at him. He walked off towards where the vehicles were parked and her smile fell. Lisbon sighed and looked around. It seemed like only Cho and the ranger remained. Great. She was scaring everyone away. That really wasn't a good sign of team leadership as far as she was concerned.

"I think we're done here," Lisbon spoke up and watched as Cho nodded.

…

Motel

They'd spent the day working what leads the local cops had given them as to where the homeless lived in that area, but so far they hadn't gotten anything. Lisbon was pretty sure that the homeless population was even less helpful than the police. She hadn't thought that that was possible until they met with them. She'd stayed back for most of the day and had let the others work the case.

Cho had gone out with Jane and had returned with food. They'd pretty much all agreed that they were done with the current vibe of the area and had opted to ate in their rooms. She sat quietly on the bed as she watched as Van Pelt and Rigsby spoke and every so often they'd speak to her. Cho and Jane weren't far from the other two and were chatting. Okay, so Jane was doing most of the chatting. She couldn't help but feel like she was outside of the room and looking in, but no one could see her.

"I'm sorry," she spoke up. Lisbon looked down at the box of Chinese food in her hand after a moment and then looked up.

"You don't have anything to be sorry for," Rigsby said.

Lisbon nodded. "I've been short with you all… I've been making life difficult…far more difficult than it normally is. That isn't right."

"In all fairness, this comes back to being Jane's fault," Cho said.

"No."

"No," Jane cut in. "Cho's right."

"Hightower's not going to fire you, is she?" Van Pelt asked. "We've closed too many cases together."

"I'll leave before I get put in your position with Jane," Cho told Lisbon and then looked to Jane. "No offense."

"None taken," Jane said slowly.

"Hightower will do what she thinks is right for the unit," Lisbon said slowly. And it was true. She had no doubt that Hightower would fire her in a heartbeat if she believed that that was best. She'd tried her best, that was what mattered. Though she wasn't sure if that was truly enough.

"I'm not going to let Hightower replace you, Lisbon," Jane promised.

She just nodded. "Look, let's just drop the subject. I just don't want you all walking on eggshells around me, got it? I'm not mad at any of you. I just need sleep." Lisbon wanted it clear and she didn't want to dwell on things that they couldn't change.

So, everyone went back to eating and things were quiet. Quieter than before and quieter than the team had ever been. Lisbon glanced over at Jane to see that he was looking at her as well. She wished for him to say something…anything would due at this point. And as if they had some kind of telepathic connection, Jane opened his mouth and started to talk.

"So…we're going out full force tomorrow and talking to people about this John Doe, right?" Jane asked.

"Sure," Cho said.

"Not sure how far we're going to get though," Van Pelt spoke up.

"We're just not thinking like our John Doe. He lived a vagabond life. With no permanent residence, he most likely wandered a lot. We can't even be sure that he's from this area. Think of him like a member of a circus. Circuses travel. You travel from town to town. Vagabonds are much the same except they sleep in boxes or underpasses. They are used to adapting to what life lays out for them. This isn't going to be easy."

"Hopefully someone can tell us if he was a local or not at the very least," Rigsby said.

"Have you tried running his face and description through the missing persons database yet?" Jane asked.

There was a long pause.

"Well?" Lisbon prompted. From the look on Van Pelt's face, she already knew the answer. "He could be in there. Sometimes people go off their medication and run away and end up on the streets."

"I-I thought the locals had already done it," Van Pelt admitted. "That sounds really stupid now that I think about it since they haven't been any help."

"It's fine," Lisbon said. "First thing tomorrow, just get on that."

Van Pelt nodded.

"I brought along a game for us all to play," Jane announced as he got up. "But it's in my room, so I'll be right back."

"What kind of game?" Rigsby asked. "You win at every game."

"This is a game of strategy."

"What's it called?" Cho asked.

"The Mexican Train Game," Jane responded.

"Sounds racist."

Jane shrugged and then disappeared.

"It…could be fun…" Lisbon said with a shrug.

Three hours later, they were still playing Jane's new game. Lisbon had to admit that it was fun even though it was technically pretty easy. Jane had suggested that perhaps they acquire some alcohol a few times. It was basically a game using dominoes.

The game was set up on the table and they'd moved it between the two beds, so that everyone could sit on a bed or in a chair. In the middle of the table with a plastic track piece that held a single domino and then around the bottom were eight slots for tracks to start. Each round started with a double sided number. You started at twelve for the first round and the final round was the double sided blank domino. This time they were on seven. It had taken them a pretty long time the first two rounds to figure things out, but now they'd figured it out and things were faster.

"I have it," Van Pelt announced.

Lisbon watched as she placed the double sided domino in the center. The reason that Jane had said that they could play while drinking was because this set was colored coded. She had been tempted and amused by the idea, but she figured that perhaps it was something to do another day were they weren't on a case. Van Pelt pressed the button that made the train sound and everyone lit up. It was exciting in a small way. So, she looked down at her twelve dominoes in front of her and she found one with a seven on its end and then slowly started to hook her dominoes so that the ends matched each other until she had a pretty good size track start when it was finally her turn. She had four left over, which she thought was pretty good.

Van Pelt started to lie out her track and Lisbon was impressed, she'd managed all but two. So, maybe she'd win. It didn't really matter, it was fun and Lisbon was enjoying herself. Rigsby went next, but only used about half of his dominoes. She waited as Jane put out his tracks, so far Jane hadn't won a round once, which Lisbon thought was good for team morale. She couldn't tell if he was doing it on purpose or if he was truly playing the game out. When it came around to her turn, she laid out her pieces excitedly and then waited for Cho. So far, everyone had started a track. Now was the trickier part.

"So, now you can either add to yours or start a Mexican train," Jane reminded.

The Mexican train was a fun thing. Someone just had to have a domino with the seven on the end to start a new track, but this track could be added onto by everyone at anytime. Everyone else's track was only allowed to be added to by someone else if that person couldn't add to it and it would be 'opened' by the placing of their plastic train piece on their track.

It was her turn and Lisbon only had two pieces left. It would be a perfect move if she could pull it off. She needed to find a spot that needed a two. So far she wasn't seeing any spaces needing a two that were 'open'. She frowned and then pulled a domino from the graveyard. She put it down on her track, which 'closed' it. She removed her red train and waited. She'd keep her eye out for the two. Slowly, the team took their turns and she waited with excitement. Rigsby's track was 'open' and there was currently a two at the end of his track. Jane added to his own track and then it was her turn. Lisbon placed her double sided two so that it made a 'T' on the track and then added the other tile with the two on it to it.

"Done," she announced with excitement.

"Nice!" Jane told her as their eyes met.

Maybe this was what they needed. More team bonding. Of course maybe it helped that it wasn't a game involving cards or something else that Jane always seemed to win. Jane always winning never made anything fun. But this was something where it seemed so far that it could shape up to be something that they could play on a regular basis. Or at least she hoped since it was fun.

…

San Fernando, California

The closest city to the drop site was the likely place to start. Lisbon had tried to talk to the locals again. They'd at least given her some basic information. She knew that there were places were homeless would squat but she wanted to know if there were places that were specific to the area. They'd given her a few places to look: a list of abandoned buildings, bus stations, train stations, and along the freeways. This wasn't a short list, but at least it was something to go off of.

"You seem to enjoy this too much," Lisbon noted.

He turned to her looking a bit surprised. "What?"

"You have this lifestyle of our John Doe so romanticized," she told him. "This vagabond life that he apparently led."

"Well, Van Pelt hasn't had any hits yet on missing persons, yet, right?"

"Right," she said slowly. "So?"

"So? Why can't it be romanticized? After all, sometimes this is the easiest life, the life they lead."

"I don't see how it's easy," Lisbon said. "No shelter, no food, no water, no clean clothes—"

"They learn how to survive. They make it work and they never have to worry about house payments or car payments or what new toy they should buy," Jane told her. "It's probably the closest thing we have to mountain men but in the city."

"You just seriously made them seem creepier," Lisbon told him.

"What? Why?"

"Did you see that special on TV?" she asked. When he shook his head, she explained. "There was this girl running…I forget where…some foresty area. She was running this trail with her boyfriend and these two mountain men came out and shot the boyfriend and then kidnapped her. They decided that the one needed a wife. Apparently they don't have many social events," Lisbon told him. "They managed to save the woman and her boyfriend lived, but seriously creepy…"

"And messed up," Jane agreed. "But it's not like we have reports of homeless people grabbing random people off the streets for some ulterior motives."

"At least that we don't know of," she joked with a slightly smile.

He smiled and they headed towards the Mission City Transit station. There was a main station and that's where they were going. It was one of the few places in town that sold bus passes and such in person. Lisbon had already called ahead so that they knew that they were coming. They waited in line patiently. There was only one person manning the booth and Lisbon figured that if they got in line it would be easier, plus Jane seemed to be entertained by the transit map.

"Do you know that they also partner with Metrolink?"

"No," Lisbon answered.

"They do," Jane said. "Do you know how many trains Metrolink runs?"

"No."

"Eight if you count the Amtrak line that runs there."

"Good to know."

"Can we go ride one of them?"

Lisbon turned around to look at him. "Why?"

"It could be fun," he said with a shrug. "We could also survey how many vagabonds we happen to see along that route."

"Perhaps," she said. It was finally their turn at the booth and she stepped forward. Lisbon held up her badge. "I'm Teresa Lisbon with CBI, we talked on the phone. This is Patrick Jane," she said as she motioned to him.

"Right," the woman said.

…

The Green Line

Jane was practically skipping as they made their way into the train station. The woman at the Mission City Transit booth had given them both a pass for the train, which Lisbon was pretty sure had made Jane's day. There was one line that ran through San Fernando through Metrolink and it was the Green Line that serviced the Antelope Valley. It went from Union Station in Los Angeles and went all the way to Lancaster. The station in San Fernando was the fourth station from Union Station, which meant that they'd be riding the train all day. Jane, she'd noticed, had already figured this out and had brought along lunches and snacks.

"So, we take the train to Lancaster and to Union Station and then back again?" Jane asked her.

"I guess so," Lisbon said. She wasn't thrilled about sitting on the train all day long, but she figured that at least she wasn't by herself and it would help the case or at least she hoped it would. The rest of the team was tracking down other leads with locations.

"So…an hour and a half to Lancaster. Two hours to Union Station and about forty minutes to get back here."

"So, we're riding this damn train for over four hours?" Lisbon asked feeling more and more irritated that she'd agreed to this.

"Pretty much," Jane said. "But when we get to Lancaster and Union Station we'll have some time in between trains. There's like a ten minute break in Lancaster and at least a thirty minute one at Union Station."

"Good to know you've planned ahead," Lisbon said as their train approached.

"Chip?" Jane asked as he held up his bag.

She took a chip and shook her head before putting it in her mouth. She and Jane boarded together. The train was packed and there was standing room only in their section. So, they stood together and held onto a pole. At least there was a pole. Lisbon though was grateful for the ability to stand for a while; it would help balance out the day.

…

Union Station

"You have to admit that today has been fun," Jane said.

"You have a sick definition of fun," she commented.

"I have learned a lot about the vagabond lifestyle," he offered.

"Jane, we had to break up a knife fight, we were probably exposed to all kinds of illness, that lady's baby almost threw up all over us…and that was only in our car and only from San Fernando to Lancaster."

"There were also a few drug deals that went on," Jane said.

"What? I didn't see anything."

Jane shrugged. "I didn't tell you because then the whole car would end up being handcuffed. I honestly didn't think you came prepared with more than two sets."

"I didn't, but-"

"C'mon, it was part of the ambiance of it all. You should have Rigsby go through our John Doe's personal effects again. If he was a vagabond, I bet he used the train and bus systems," Jane said. "I would have."

"I'll know where to look for you then if you decide to live the simple life."

…