When You're the Target
Chapter Seven
Cho took a deep breath and opened the door to the CBI complex. Going to the evidence room, which was manned 24/7, he offered a quick greeting to Jed, the unfortunate soul with night duty on Saturday. "Have you cataloged the evidence from the picnic, yet?"
Jed nodded. "Got done some time ago. I guess you're going to be putting in some overtime." Cho grunted as Jed vanished into the depths of the evidence storage area. A few moments later he reappeared, bearing a large box and a rifle that was wrapped in protective plastic. "You want this, too?" He hefted the rifle.
Cho nodded. "Everything. Who knows what can be important."
Jed nodded. "That's what I thought you'd say. You are thorough."
Cho smiled at the compliment, tucked the rifle under his arm, and picked up the box and headed out of the evidence room and towards the CBI office.
"I see you had the same idea as I," Cho heard Rigsby say. "Here, let me relieve you of the box; you bring the rifle."
As Rigsby took the box, Cho cradled the rifle in a more secure manner. They continued towards the elevator. As they approached, the could see the door closing. "Hold that door," Rigsby shouted.
The doors reversed direction, opening to reveal Van Pelt. "Well, look who's doing the heavy work for me. Thank you two. If you keep being this efficient, I'll consider putting you on the payroll."
Cho looked at her. "Third floor, Ma'am," he said dead pan.
Wayne and Grace laughed, probably a little more than the comment warranted, but it did help break the tension. "Yes, Sir. Right away, Sir," she replied as soon as she stopped laughing.
Entering the office, they saw Patrick Taking off his coat, and hanging it up. "I was wondering when you guys were going to show up. It's always good to have people to bounce ideas off of and discuss the evidence. And you know how I hate carrying dusty, dirty, heavy boxes. Thank you, Wayne." He smiled. "Let's see what we have here."
"What we have here," Lisbon, standing the now open doorway to her office, said, "is a group of people who do not know how to go home and relax. I thought I told you all to go home and have a good Sunday and to be here Monday!"
"Yes indeed, that's what you said," replied Patrick. "But you have to realize that it's still Saturday, and we'll have a lot more pleasant Sunday, if we go over this evidence, now, and get a feel for what's is going on."
Wayne nodded. "He's right. I just couldn't rest knowing there was all this nice evidence I could be examining."
"Yes, and... and..." Grace paused. "Hey, you're here too, and I bet you didn't come her just to check on us!"
Jane turned and pointed at Lisbon. "You're busted! You're here for the same reason we are."
Lisbon looked at the ceiling and shook her head. She sighed. "Ok, let's see what we have here. You get things sorted out," she said addressing no one in particular, "and I'll make coffee.
oOo
It was getting late, but everyone was still working. They'd gone through the contents of the bloody clothing that had been stripped from the assailants body, Grace making a face at some of the red stains on some of it. Cho had found a small address book that contained some cryptic notes. He'd quickly passed to Jane, figuring that if it was code, or even some personal shorthand, he'd be the best one to figure that one out.
Jane had taken it, and in a few minutes, handed Grace a note with an URL written on it. "This was in the note book," he said. "See what you can do with it." Patrick still did not like computers, and Grace was master of the beast, as Patrick called them. People made far more sense to him than computers. People had tells. Computers just sat there, cursor blinking, giving up nothing.
See was staring intently at the screen and typing furiously. She'd pause, read a little and resume typing. Finally she paused and her eyes widened. "Patrick, I'm sending you a link. You have to read this. He was keeping a blog marked as friends only, but he has no friends. That means no one can read it."
"Then how..." Jane started.
"I cracked his password, Silly. How else?" Grace laughed. "But you really do have to read this. I'm sure that you'll make more out of it than I am, and I'm getting rather disturbed at what I'm seeing."
oOo
Jane spent a long twenty minutes reading the blog entries and tapping on the keyboard. He finally groaned and stood up to stretch. He sat down, stared at the ceiling, before taking a sip of tea. "We have a real situation, here," he finally said. This guy was a milquetoast nobody and suddenly he changed. He went into work a couple of months ago, and broke all of the computers with a tire iron. He assaulted there responding security, who quickly subdued him. No charges were pressed since he made restitution, but he was fired."
"What caused the change," Van Pelt and Rigsby asked at the same time.
Jane shook his head. I'm still working on some of his phrasings. He keeps referring to things he knows and aren't in the blog, or I haven't found them yet. I get the impression that he met someone, he does mention this special friend, Roger, and Roger seems to have incited him to acting this way."
"Wait! I read a name on another page," Grace said. She tapped on the keyboard furiously. "Yes, her it is." Her eyes got very large and she whispered, "Roger Jane."
Everyone stared at her, but it was Patrick that spoke first. "Roger Jane, Jane, as in my name. R.J." He hesitated. "As in Red John."
oOOOo
A/N: OK, another chapter. Let me know what you think. Reviews keep me going!