Chapter 2
Thank you for the follows and reviews. I really appreciate them. As I said before, this is based on "Annie". It will be different than the movie. I plan to add normal Mentalist mystery to the story and bring in characters we know. Just the basic idea is the same.
Disclaimer:Don't own anything.
Teresa got out of the limousine in front of the Sacramento Girls Home. She really was surprised that Mr. Jane wanted to have a child come live at his house for a couple of weeks. As far as she knew he had never had much of an experience with children, though she had only known him for five years. He never said much about his past at all. She knew he grew up in the carnival and that was about it. He never talked about his family or his life. That little bit of information was all she knew. Mr. Virgil Minelli, the driver closed her door. "Excuse me, Mr. Minelli, I wil be back soon. I will hopefully have a girl with me." The chaueffer nodded and then went back to the driver's side and into the car.
Teresa walked up the small stairway to the door and knocked. The door opened revealing Miss Flynn.
"What do you want? You're not selling anything, are you?" Miss Flynn questioned Teresa looking her over her pantsuit. Teresa was not thrilled with this woman with a skintight dress and heels over dressed to being a director and head of this girls home.
"Miss Flynn, my name is Teresa Lisbon and I called you about an orphan coming to stay with Mr. Jane for the holidays." Teresa explained.
"Oh, that's right. I saw him on TV the other night. Such a handsome man." Miss Flynn stated.
"Yes. May I talk to you for a minute?" Teresa asked. She hoped this woman would be agreeable.
"Come to my office then." Miss Flynn teetered in her high heels over to a room close to the entrance. She went in and sat behind the desk in the room. Teresa seated herself in the chair in front of the desk.
"Why exactly does he want an orphan?" Miss Flynn wondered. Teresa thought it to be a strange question considering this was an orphanage and one of the most obvious things would be prospective parents coming to adopt the children.
"He wants to give an experience to a child who's never experienced a real home. Isn't this what the orphanage is for? For people to adopt the children?" Teresa decided. Patrick Jane had discussed this with her. She knew herself what it was like not to have parents since her mother died in a car accident when she was 12. She took it extremely hard and her father especially took her hard so much he drank himself into oblivian every night. She had to look after her younger brothers for her father. She had to become both parents when her father could not care. At times he would become abusive and when she was 19 he committed suicide. Thinking about the orphans, some of them never knew their parents. At least she was fortunate to have the satisfaction of knowing her own even if it was terrible circumstances at times.
"All the girls here are nothing but brats." Miss Flynn protested. "You wouldn't want any."
Teresa grimaced at the way the woman talked about the orphans. She wondered how she got the job of running the home.
"Miss Flynn, if you don't mind me asking, how did you get this job? You don't seem to really like it, do you?" Teresa asked boldly.
"Oh, it's a long story. I was really the only one available after Miss Johnson died. I used to have a dating service, but that got shut down." Miss Flynn explained.
"Okay. May I see the girls, now?" Teresa asked. The city must have been extremely desperate for them to hire Miss Flynn with no real experience with children and who seemed to despise her job.
"Fine."Miss Flynn answered getting up and went out the room. Teresa got up and followed her.
Charlotte ran through the hall and Samantha was chasing her for the game of tag. She soon no longer saw her behind her. Samantha must have given up since Charlotte was a faster runner. Before she could stop herself, she ran into a small dark haired woman in a black pant suit.
"Oh, sorry." Charlotte apologizing feeling bad about about running in the hall.
"Excuse me." The woman said.
"Get out of here, Charlotte. What are you trying to do? Kill everyone!" Erica shouted by looking back.
"I'm sorry, Miss Flynn. Sam and I were playing tag. I didn't know anybody was here." Charlotte apologized looking at Miss Flynn and then towards the woman in front of her.
"It's really okay, Miss Flynn. I had three brothers that ran all the time." Teresa admitted.
"Okay, if you say so." Miss Flynn said going back in her office but still listened.
Charlotte wondered who this lady was talking to Miss Flynn. Maybe a link to her parents or maybe she was interested in adopting one of the girls. She hoped that was the case. The others would be so excited.
"Your name is Charlotte?" Teresa asked looking at the blonde curly haired girl.
"Yes, I am." Charlotte answered excitedly.
"Would you be interested in staying with Mr. Jane at his house?" Teresa asked.
"You mean the psychic on TV?" Charlotte asked. She assumed it was him. Why would he want a child? She thought he would have been married and had children. She had noticed his ring. Maybe his wife and him were going to adopt? She hoped so.
"Yes, that's him. My name is Teresa Lisbon and I'm his assistant. I arrange all his events." Teresa explained.
"You're not his wife?" Charlotte asked. Even though she just met this woman, she liked her.
"Uh, no. Sorry. I'm just his assistant." Teresa replied surprised this child would think that. "How old are you?"
"11."
"You seem smart. So, do you want to go?" Teresa asked.
"Why not? I'm up to going somewhere different." Charlotte stated.
"Alright, then it is settled. You'll join us." Teresa said.
Charlotte was excited for this adventure to stay at another person's house than the home.
She had been found on the doorstep of the girls home as a baby. She found with the locket she wore all the time. At the time, Miss Johnson was in charge and five years later Miss Flynn took over.
Charlotte followed Teresa out the door. They checked out of the home. The other girls ran to wave goodbye to her. She did feel sorry for them not being able to go as well. She was looking forward of not dealing with Miss Flynn yelling and order her around.
They came out and a limousine was parked outside the home. An older man holding the door open for the back seat. "Are we riding in that?" Charlotte looked at Teresa with a surprised look.
"Yes, we are." Teresa smiled. "Charlotte, this is Mr. Minelli. He's our driver. Mr. Minelli, this is Charlotte.
"How are you, Miss Charlotte? It's very nice to meet you." He shook Charlotte's hand and she shook back.
Charlotte excitedly entered the long black car and Teresa joined her in the closed the door and went to the driver's side. She had never had the chance to travel outside the city. On a rare occasion, Miss Flynn would allow the girls an outing while she got supplies. They had not ventured outside Sacramento.
"What is Mr. Jane like? I saw him on TV."
"He's interesting." Teresa stated not knowing how to describe him. Once in a while he would help the local police when they would have a cofusing case. He had un unusual methods to help solve it.
"He's a good guy." She was not sure how he would react to a child being there. She had not seen him interact with children before. She herself enjoyed children though never had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with them with the exception of caring for her brothers.
"Oh, Ms. Lisbon." Mr. Minelli called out from the driver's seat.
"Yes, Minelli."
"Mr. Jane called and said he'll be late. He's working with the police."
"Thank you for letting us know." Teresa responded.
"Why's he working with the police?" Charlotte asked.
"It's a long story. He sometimes helps them out with tough cases as a consultant." Teresa explained.
" Oh. Using his psychic powers?" Charlotte asked.
"Well, more of his keen observation skills actually." Tersa admitted.
Patrick Jane had just finished with his client in the morning and for lunch he had met with the mayor. For some reason all the politicians wanted to meet with him. He accepted it readily anyway. If they knew of his past, they may not have been so eager. He was looking forward to have a child stay with him. He wanted to share his home for an unlucky orphan He knew what it was like to grow up in unfortunate circumstances. Growing up in a trailer was not certainly not like living in a palace. His mother died when he was young. His father was never a father anyone would call world's greatest dad. He drank and gambled which led to Patrick taking care of things around the trailer. Once he discovered Patrick's observation skills with people he used him as the carnival's psychic, the Boy Wonder. At first it was hard to lie to people but then became easier to think of them as marks. People cheered at his talent and his shows and he enjoyed being the showman.
Now he just finished the case with the SacPD. He helped solve cases with them as they were investigating the death of his wife Angela 11 years ago. All they knew was it was a hit and run accident that never was solved.
"You haven't found anything? It's been 10 years. It was a drunk driver!" Jane exasperately said as he was finishing up with his case with SacPD.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Jane. Cases elude us at times. Your wife's death has."Officer Ron Harris apologized. He was a stocky man with light brown hair and beard.
"So, my services to you have done nothing. You said you would help me with that. I've been working with you 10 years and you still don't have anything!" Jane exclaimed.
"You know, you could use your psychic powers to find the person." Officer Ron said snidley.
"It doesn't work that way." Jane annoyingly said and rolled his eyes. "I'm going now." Jane then went out the door. He knew he had to get back home to meet with Teresa and the new girl that would be joining them.
The car continued the streets through town. Charlotte noticed Christmas lights on the poles and decorated houses. At the home the girls had made paper garland to put around the room. Miss Flynn never made a big deal over Christmas. Santa never came for the girls. He was really just someone that visited children with parents. She wondered if Mr. Jane would decorate. She imagined him to have a large house. Teresa had not talked about his home yet.
"Does Mr. Jane have a Christmas tree and decorations?" Charlotte inquired.
"Well, no not yet. We wanted to wait until you come to decorate his house. We have been very busy so he hasn't had a chance to think about it anyway. Then he announced he wanted to have a child come stay with him."
"Why does he want to have a child? Is he planning to adopt?" Charlotte asked.
"He wants to give an orphan a nice Christmas. As for adopting, I'm not sure." Teresa admitted. "I noticed no decorations in the home."
"Miss Flynn doesn't like to decorate. We have some in the room." Charlotte admitted. "If you're not his wife, are you a couple? You seem to refer to you and him as we a lot?"
Teresa was not sure how to answer this question. It seemed funny why the girl was so interested. She was right about that she used we a lot when it came to Jane and herself. It was true the only man she had in contact with was Patrick Jane. She had not been in a relationship for years. She liked him but did not try to show it. She treated their relationship as a professional one. She knew about what happened to his wife and that her death was never solved. She had not seen him with any other women through the years she knew him and he never expressed any interest in other women.
"No, I just work for him. He has me help with his decisions. You are a curious girl, aren't you?" Teresa asked.
"I'm sorry. People say I ask a lot of questions. The other girls call me Detective Charlotte."
They arrived at a large Victorian house. Mr. Minelli stopped the car and got out of the driver's seat and opened the back door for Teresa and Charlotte. They got out of the car. Charlotte stopped. "Wow, this is a big house!" She excitedly said.
"Well, come on in and I'll give you a tour. You will like it here." Teresa led Charlotte to the door and they entered inside.
"Do you live here too?" Charlotte questioned.
"No, I have my own apartment. It's not quite as big as this though." Teresa admitted. "I'll get the tour started." She started leading Charlotte around the house. She stopped at a large bedroom with a queen bed and large closet and dresser."Charlotte, this is your room." She smiled at the girl clearly surprised at the size of the room.
"This will be my room! Wow, it's so big! In the home I have to share a room with the other girls."
"Yes, it is." Teresa answered. Soon they heard the door open and Teresa brought Charlotte to the den. Teresa knew Mr. Jane had arrived home.
Patrick Jane arrived at the house and he found Teresa and a blonde curly haired girl in the den sitting in the chairs. Teresa and Charlotte instantly got up and went up to him and he grinned at Teresa and the girl.
"Mr. Jane." He looked at Teresa reminding. "I mean Patrick. This is Charlotte." Teresa introduced her. "Well, welcome, Charlotte". He went up to Charlotte and held out his hand, she took it and shook it and she smiled charmfully.
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