In Lieu of Retrospection
Disclaimer: Don't own anything.
Rating: T
Spoiler: Six months after 2.22 (Red Letter)
A/N: Thank you for all the reviews on Part IV. I decided to post this part earlier than planned, because it's shorter and focuses more on the case. However, I promise the next part makes up for it, and I definitely have some reflection and J/L planned for after the case. Now that I'm done with the shameless pimping of this story, on with Part V. As always, thanks to Grace and Rach, they know why ;).
xxx
Part V
"Oh hey boss," Rigsby greets as soon as Lisbon reaches her office, "I tracked down Cindy Campbell finally, the ex-dancer."
Rigsby follows her in, sitting down as Lisbon removes her jacket.
"She admitted to coming in and demanding her paycheck from Hughes. Then she said she stayed for a drink and went home to relieve the babysitter. This was around 8:00 pm."
"Babysitter confirmed the story?" Lisbon asks, grabbing a sharpie off the board behind her desk and standing, ready to cross Campbell, C off the suspect list.
"Yup."
Lisbon nods and finally removes Cambpell's name from the board. She steps back to look at their dwindling list of suspects, with both Campbell's name and Rick Royal's crossed off. She did not even bother considering Rebecca Watkins as a possible suspect, but until Cho can confirm her alibi, she must be included.
Hastily, Lisbon writes the Chief of Staff in and snaps the marker shut. It's only then when she turns around that she notices a cup of coffee sitting on the corner of her desk, along with a paper bag with a logo of the coffee shop from down the street.
Lisbon smiles involuntarily, fully aware of who is responsible for her late afternoon snack. She only realizes that she's distracted when Rigsby clears his throat.
She looks back at him and immediately curses her fair skin tone, for she's certain the agent has caught her blushing. However, for all his assumed obliviousness, Rigsby still has an impeccable amount of tact and doesn't say a word.
Instead, when Lisbon peers into the to-go bag to find a strawberry scone, he eyes it hungrily and she breaks off half, offering it to him.
"Thanks boss," His eyes light up like a five year old's on Christmas morning, and Lisbon is forever grateful that his attention has been directed elsewhere. She takes a sip of her latte and hums in approval, before focusing back on the case.
"Okay, so we're ruling out Campbell. I guess being envious of Kyla taking her place wasn't enough motive for her."
Rigsby nods his consent, "unless she had someone do it for her, though it's unlikely, considering we've already decided it was a spontaneous murder."
"Right. Well, I need you to check something out."
She reaches into her jacket pocket and pulls out her note pad. From it, she rips off the top page and hands it to Rigsby, who is busy polishing off the pastry in his hand.
"This is the make and model of the Creggs' alarm system at home. I need you to track down the manufacturer and request a report on recent activity. I'm certain they can track every time the code gets punched in, and that's what we need."
"Okay," Rigsby nods, a little confusion furrowing his eyebrows, and Lisbon realizes that Jane probably didn't let him in on his theory. Frowning, she stands up, picks up her coffee, and ushers Rigsby out of her office.
"Jane has some warped idea that Kyla came back home the night before the murder. Now, Mrs. Cregg has an alibi for Thursday night; she was at a book club meeting. I haven't followed up on that, but it seems legitimate. Mr. Cregg on the other hand claimed to be on a five mile hike at Granite Regional Park that night."
"Alone?" Rigsby raises his eyebrows in suspicion.
"My thoughts exactly." Lisbon nods, as they walk slowly to the bullpen, "I've done hikes up there before, and there are security check points, especially at night. After you check out the security system, take Van Pelt up there; see what you can come up with."
"Sounds good," Rigsby nods, as they enter the bullpen.
Jane is lounging on his couch, eyes closed, but as soon as he hears Lisbon and Rigsby approach, he sits up, swinging his legs onto the floor. He catches Lisbon's eye as she walks in with Rigsby on her tail and smiles brightly at her when he spots the coffee cup secure in her hand.
Their eyes briefly meet, and Jane can see his gesture had the right affect on her. She doesn't exactly smile back, but she's not scowling at him either, and that's a feat all on its own.
On her way over here, Lisbon gave Van Pelt orders to check out the housekeeper's alibi, and so when Jane joins them by the red head's desk, the junior agent is debriefing her boss on what she found.
"Agata Espejo lives with her younger sister Mariel at a duplex over on Broadway. I called to make sure she was in before going over there, but it was actually her boyfriend who picked up. On weekends, Mariel works as a babysitter for a wealthy family in Antioch, so she will be back tomorrow morning. Should we drive over there?"
Lisbon stands for a moment, contemplating. She needs Rigsby on the security camera, Cho is tracking down Watkins, and she desperately needs to finish the left over paperwork from their last two cases before court on Tuesday.
"Don't think too hard," Jane teases good-naturedly as he stands besides her. He's actually teetering on his heels a little, excited to show Lisbon what he came up with, so he nudges her after some time.
Her head snaps up and she gives him a playfully menacing stare before turning to Van Pelt.
"We'll go to her house first thing tomorrow morning. Do you have anything new on the boyfriend?"
"Nope. I'm working with the CHP though. We assume he's on his bike since that's what he took off on when he left the club, so all rest stops and highway patrol has been notified from here down to 101." Van Pelt shakes her head, thick locks of auburn hair falling in her face.
Out of the corner of his eye, Jane spots Rigsby staring wistfully at the redhead, but he doesn't goad the heartbroken agent, allowing him a few moments of indulgent ogling.
"Okay, well keep working on that. After Rigsby's done with the security system, you guys go up to Granite Regional Park. I'll work on Mrs. Cregg's alibi."
"Yes, boss." Van Pelt nods, eyes drifting momentarily to Rigsby's desk, where he's busy on the phone. The look also doesn't go unnoticed by Jane, but he just smiles to himself. It's so painfully obvious that neither agent is over what happened between them. A little part of him, the one that loves a good romantic ending to every love story, is a little disappointed by Hightower's decision.
A tap on the shoulder breaks Jane out of his reverie.
"Now you," Lisbon tilts her coffee cup towards him, "have a lot of explaining to do."
There's a glint in her eye and even though she's probably exhausted, there's an air of vitality around her. He smiles gleefully at Lisbon before escorting her to the conference table.
He pulls out a chair for her, and Lisbon sits down while Jane walks over to the screen and picks up the remote.
"So the Creggs did four press conferences after Kyla's disappearance. Two in July and October of last year, one this January, and another one just a month ago."
"Okay," Lisbon nods, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Yes, so I'm assuming under the advice of one Cregg's PR people, they filmed the last one inside their home, in a very vain attempt to exude sympathy from the public in case Kyla was in fact kidnapped, even though I don't think either of them believed it. Anyway, the point is when I was in Kyla's bedroom this morning, I noticed she had quite the stuffed toy collection, but since there were no pictures in the house of her bedroom, I couldn't confirm my suspicions, until-…"
His voice trails off and he depresses the "play" button on the remote, letting the scene play out until it stops at his desired spot. Jane pauses it there and Lisbon raises her eyebrow at him in slight impatience.
She appreciates him not keeping her in the dark, but his desire to put on a show both amuses and annoys her. Most people would just get to the point, but with Jane, it's always a production, revealing his discoveries at his own pace and out of his own volition.
"Okay, here. You see the arrangement of her animals?" He reaches up to the screen, using the remote as a pointer to direct Lisbon's attention to Kyla's bed.
"Yes," Lisbon nods, and when Jane looks at her, he sees no recognition in her eye and frowns for a moment.
"C'mon Lisbon, tell me what you see." He urges her on and Lisbon scans the toy menagerie a few times, before fixing him with an annoyed glare, "If this is some game you're playing, I swear to God-…"
But she doesn't finish her sentence, because out of the corner of her eye she sees the box full of things from Kyla's dressing room sitting on the table, and it's only when she spots the stuffed head of Mr. Potato Head sticking out from the top, that it dawns on her.
She looks back at the screen just to double check that she's not seeing things, and when she meets Jane's gaze again, not even the slightly smug expression on his face can quell her excitement.
"She did go home." Lisbon says in almost a quiet marvel.
Jane smiles at her, definitely pleased with himself, as he sits down besides her.
"Yeah. I checked the Velvet Kittens' itinerary and they were doing a bunch of shows down in Southern California this past month, so Kyla couldn't have come back here at any other time besides when they arrived in Sacramento. That's when she took Mr. Potato Head here, which is why he's still in her room when they filmed this a month ago but not when I was in her bedroom today."
Lisbon nods, still obviously processing the information, but secretly very pleased with Jane's work. She looks over at him, a fondness in her eyes that Jane's not used to, and that fluttering feeling is back. He ignores it yet again, breaking her gaze and standing up to retrieve the video tape.
"How'd you know to check the tapes?" Lisbon asks, eager to understand his motives.
"There were two items that stood out to me on her dressing table; the picture of her and Beatts, and this toy." He explains, picking it up and looking at it fondly.
"Wait a second, did you say you checked the show's itinerary yourself?" Lisbon picks up her coffee to take a sip while Jane stares blankly at her.
"Uh yes? Why?"
"You mean to tell me that you, Patrick Jane, willingly used the Internet to confirm a lead?"
"Well Van Pelt was busy. What was I supposed to do?"
He shrugs and pouts, staring back at Lisbon like the child he can be sometimes. In turn, she just rolls her eyes, pushing off the chair and taking her coffee with her.
"Jeff Cregg said they hadn't changed the code on the alarm system, so if Kyla did go home, records will show that."
"Yes," Jane says somewhat excitedly, "and I am almost certain that whoever killed her had either seen her enter the house or was there when she came, otherwise how would he or she have known she was back? Up until last night, Kyla Cregg was still just a dancer, not a politician's missing daughter."
"True." Lisbon nods contemplatively, taking a sip from her cup, "but that's if you're operating under the assumption that whoever killed her wasn't someone she knew as Kyla Knight. We need to follow all possible leads, Jane."
"Lisbon c'mon, there's no motive for anyone from the show or the club to kill her. There's no suggestion that anyone discovered her real identity, and if you're going to say the boyfriend did it and fled, I'm going to have to disagree."
"And why is that?" Lisbon counters, setting her latte aside and fixing him with a pointed stare.
"Because, they really were in love." Jane answers as if it's the most obvious explanation, but Lisbon just smirks at him.
"So does that automatically exclude him from our list of suspects? Jane, the guy ran off as soon as they found the body, doesn't that seem suspicious to you?"
"He also has prior drug convictions and a DUI, which likely means he's doing something shady on the side now and didn't want cops to snoop around his personal records."
"So he runs off, placing even more suspicion on himself?" Lisbon shakes her head in disbelief, "that's got to be the stupidest thing anyone can do in this situation."
Jane lets out a laugh, leaning lazily against the table. "No one ever said this boy was smart, my dear."
Lisbon stands for a moment in deep thought, obviously mulling over Jane's words in her head, but eventually she concedes, body relaxing just slightly against the filing cabinet she's leaning on.
"Alright, I see your point. Either way, we can't do anything until we get the alarm code records. Until then, I want you to stay put, and I mean it Jane. No hassling the Creggs, even though I know you so badly want to."
Jane looks at her with mock hurt, although it's evident that she preemptively halted his plans, "I'm wounded that you would think I'd go to their residence without your knowledge. Seriously, Lisbon, that's upsetting."
She can't help her lip curving up anymore than she can help rolling her eyes. "Yeah right, because I have no prior experience with you disobeying my orders right?"
"Well you don't have to be so harsh about it."
This time, Lisbon doesn't conceal her laugh, openly chuckling at Jane's offended expression.
"I mean it, Jane. I've got paperwork, but I'll be watching you."
The blond suddenly perks up, straightening up, "Oooh, that sounds promising." He wiggles his eyebrows for affect, but Lisbon just shakes her head.
"Seriously, I have a ton of paperwork to do. I'd appreciate if I didn't have to babysit you."
"Nah," Jane shakes his head, already walking back towards his couch, "apparently that's Grace's job, isn't it?"
He winks at the junior agent, who looks up momentarily from her computer screen before rolling her eyes.
For a moment, as Lisbon watches Jane lie down on the couch in his customary pose, she wonders if this is too easy, but ultimately decides to take advantage of Jane's rare good behavior and start on the mountain of work waiting for her in the office.
At least, she has some caffeine in her system.
TBC…