A/N: Yay migraine of doom. Now I am worried about finishing this again, my migraines are never brief. Dammit.

Thank you to: boutondor, yaba, Frogster, Viktorija, Koezh, dwennie, forthecoast and Famous4it for reviewing part eleven.

x tromana

Part Twelve

Cho was busy questioning the receptionist.

The woman was getting more confused, more flustered by the second.

She'd given them a description of the man who had handed over the note. Elderly, with hypnotizing blue eyes. Had a cane with him, which he tapped incessantly on the ground. Smiled when she eventually agreed to pass the note onto Agent Lisbon, though it seemed like the most pointless message in the world.

How could it be related to a murder? The one that they were here to investigate in the first place?Besides, he seemed far too nice to be able to kill anyone.

At least her manager had supplied them with surveillance tapes and caught her gentleman on camera. That seemed to help them out.

Though they didn't stop with the relentless questions. Didn't seem like they ever would.

"I think that's all we're getting from her," Lisbon murmured to Jane and he nodded in agreement.

"I don't think she saw Red John."

"Neither do I. Somebody who worked for him, probably. Maybe even a relative…"

"A relative? Really, Lisbon…"

"Boss?"Rigsby disturbed their quiet conversation, but neither minded much. The sooner they solved this case, the better. The most recent developments - the location of the missing smiley face had left them all rattled.

Some more so than others, naturally.

"Yes, Rigsby?"

"We've just had an anonymous tip. The car caught on the hotel's surveillance footage? It's been spotted by somebody walking their dog down by the riverside."

"And the man?"

"Nowhere to be seen."

Lisbon nodded and was already pulling on her jacket.

"D'you want me to come with you?"

"No."

"Teresa, it's…"

"Yes, I know. But damn it, Jane. I need space to breathe."

Jane sighed.

He understood.

Of course he did.

She was central to all of this. The threatening notes of various guises, the mock relationship which he'd been throwing his all into… even the girl who had just been killed had a resemblance to her that just couldn't be ignored.

It was little wonder she felt trapped.

But still, he couldn't help but worry. Lisbon breaking out on her own when she was surrounded by death threats felt wrong. Like she was willfully walking into a trap when all she really wanted to do was clear her head a little. Regain focus, set her thoughts straight.

"Take a camera. Please? And a microphone."

She nodded.

It was a compromise. It also meant that if anything suspicious happened, then the others would be able to see exactly what was happening and hopefully get there on time.

The dumping ground for the car wasn't all that far away, in walking distance even. There was no reason for them not to be able to get there swiftly.

Jane watched warily as she pulled out the technology and hooked herself up. She obviously saw it as an unnecessary precaution but was merely doing it to appease him. There was unlikely to be anything there; it had merely been dumped so they couldn't trace it back to the note-deliverer.

"Van Pelt, Cho, I want you to go to the Aunt's house again. The girl's cousin should be home by now; he was the last person to see her alive. Rigsby…"

"Stay here and watch the cameras?"

"Yes."

"And me?"

"Stay here with Rigsby."

Automatically, Jane pulled her into a bone-crushing hug, not giving her a chance to move. Without thinking, he placed a chaste kiss on her lips, barely brushing his skin against hers and was relieved that she didn't pull away. Maybe there was hope for them yet.

"Be careful."

"I'll be fine."

000

The warrant was the first priority, but luckily enough the local judge was feeling compliant. It meant that she could get on her way as soon as feasibly possible and do something useful again.

She knew she was being impulsive (for herself, at least) and taking an unnecessary risk by doing this without company, but frankly, Lisbon didn't care.

It felt good to be on her own, rather than having people glancing at her with concerned gazes and the worried whispers associated with them.

That atmosphere was stifling and made her feel uncomfortable. She needed to get out of it and do something constructive. Okay, so the gentleman was almost certainly long gone and unlikely to return, but they needed to be sure.

Besides, there might just be some crucial piece of evidence left in the vehicle.

Again, unlikely, but it would be unprofessional not to check it.

It didn't take her long to get to the riverside and as she approached the vehicle, for the very first time, she began to think it was a bad idea.

The place was virtually deserted of other life forms, so if anything was to happen to her, there would be no witnesses to help out. Though the team were in walking distance, the base of operations was still a good fifteen minutes away.

A lot could happen in fifteen minutes.

Lisbon shuddered involuntarily.

The sooner she got out of here, the better.

Quickly, she approached the vehicle, pulling on latex gloves out of habit. If nothing else, they might be able to get some fingerprints from somewhere on the car.

She didn't even make it to the vehicle before somebody attacked.

000

When she woke, her first instinct was to kick out.

That was unsuccessful though. All she managed to do was cause the chair to which she had been unceremoniously taped to wobble a little and make her woozy head feel a little worse.

It also attracted the attention of another figure in the dusty building.

With a slight smile, he walked towards her and before she even noticed his facial features, she spotted the knife hanging from his right hand.

Clearly, her captor wasn't intending that she made it out of this alive.

"I think you know who I am."

She nodded.

"It's good to finally meet you in the flesh."

"I wish I could say likewise."

"Now, now. No need to be so testy."

Red John placed the knife, the blade that had already taken so many lives on the floor and approached her. He pulled the leather glove off of his right hand and reached out to gently stroke her cheek.

She flinched.

She was always going to.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"You're not very good at lying, Teresa."

"Neither are you," she spat, trying to sound calm despite the fact her stomach was doing back flips. "You said I'd be your next victim, but I wasn't. Catherine Mayhew was."

"Dear, sweet Catherine? Yes, she was fun. All part of the plan," Red John whispered, creeping ever closer to her. "So really, it's all about semantics isn't it?"

"Not really, no."

Her eyes never left him as he began to circle her, very much trying to ensure that he was the predator and she, the prey.

She was nervous, he could tell, but she was doing a fairly good job at covering her tracks, all things considering.

A minute later, he pulled on his glove once more. For practicality's sake, if nothing else.

He darted away from her and scooped up the knife with ease.

He would have liked to have continued with this game of power play, but didn't really have the time. The others probably weren't far away - they were predictable enough to know that. If he wanted to finish the job, he had to get moving.

For a second time, she tried to kick, but only managed to overturn her chair. Her right arm slammed into the concrete and she winced at the shock of pain.

"You shouldn't have done that, Teresa. You're only making things worse for yourself."

Red John knelt beside her and she swallowed deeply as the sharp edge hovered nearby. Slowly, carefully, it came closer and closer.

She closed her eyes seconds before the knife blade plunged into the exposed skin of her neck.

TBC…