When You're the Target
Chapter Eight
Patrick Jane's face was a study in conflict. There was shock, disgust, fear and several unmentionable flashes that changed too rapidly to be identifiable. He face locked into a grim visage of what it normally was. "We knew he'd show up again, sooner or later, didn't we," he asked rhetorically.
"Damn," Lisbon spat, reaching for the phone. She dialed furiously, tapping her foot impatiently. "Yes, Hello. This is special agent Lisbon, CBI. You have a John Doe in the prison ward, admitted this afternoon. I need you to check on the patient, immediately. Yes. Yes. OK, I'll hold." Lisbon put the call on speaker phone, so all could hear as she waited.
"What are you doing," Grace asked, her puzzlement obvious.
That's when the screams could be heard over the speaker phone, coming from the hospital. The could hear running and doors slamming. Someone finally picked up the phone. "You need to get here, right away! It's it's. Just get here, OK?"
"We're on our way." Lisbon picked up and replaced the receiver, severing the connection. "Rigsby, you're driving," she said, grabbing her gun and heading towards the door, the team trailing after her.
oOo
The prison wing of the hospital was in chaos. Lisbon stepped in and assumed control, barking orders right and left. Within minutes the confusion had subsided and there was relative calm. "Now," she said, "tell me why we're here."
One of the doctor's stepped forward. "The prisoner that had been admitted this afternoon has been murdered and the room has been vandalized. Please come this way and I'll show you. Once I determined that he was dead, I locked the room and posted security outside the door."
They been walking as the doctor spoke and as he finished they arrived at the locked door, where a very nervous rent-a-cop was posted.
"You can go back to your regular post, now, Son," Lisbon said.
The guard looked at the doctor as if to ask if it was OK to leave. The doctor smiled and nodded. "Thank you Ma'am," the guard said. He scurried off as if something was after him.
The doctor turned to Lisbon. "I served a couple of tours in combat, and what's inside is gruesome even by those standards. "
"We'll handle it," Lisbon replied. "This is our job."
"I know it is, I just wanted to give you a heads up. I've found it helps to be prepared."
Lisbon nodded. "Thank you, Doctor. We'll take it from here."
Entering the room the first thing visible was the big red smiley face drawn in blood, over the bed. They all crowded into the small room and mutely stared, apprehension and dread filling all of them. Red John's signature had never been more clear.
The pulled back the sheet that the doctor had pulled over the body, revealing more horror. Grace turned pale, gagged and ran from the room. Rigsby choked, turned pale and turned his back. Cho, face still impassive, stared at the ceiling. Jane his an expletive. Only Lisbon seemed unaffected and in complete control. The sight that was so affecting them all was the total evisceration of the body. An incision had been made from just below the sternum, down to the pubic bone. Then, two long vertical slashes had been made, one below the sternum and one just above the pelvic arch. The stomach wall had been peeled back and the intestines carefully arrange to form an obscene red and blue flower of sorts.
The smell of the violated abdominal cavity contributed to the horror facing them. Lisbon waved her hand in front of her face, as if to fan away the odor. "I guess that's the real reason for covering the body." She made a disgusted face.
Grace returned to the room, wiping her mouth and dabbing the corners of her watering eyes. "We might as well get started, people. This is what they pay us for," Lisbon said, trying not to breath too deeply until she acclimate to the smell.
They examination of the room and cadaver proceeded slowly. They were all distracted by the gruesome 'evidence' on the bed and all were being very methodical to insure that they missed nothing. Finally, figuring that it could no longer be avoided, Lisbon stepped to the body and began a careful examination, starting at the head.
She started at the skull, examining very closely the scalp and face, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Patrick finally joined her, and once he was into 'examination' mode, he forgot the smell and horror and was all business. They complimented each other well. They were both wearing glove, so they felt free to touch and prod as necessary.
When they reached the exposed intestines, they looked at each other and shrugged. Lisbon traced a bloody gloved finger across the sternum cut. "See, that? There's not a trace of even a nick on the intestines. Whoever did this knew exactly how to open this guy up and not make a real mess.
Jane nodded and pointed to the head. "Look at the expression on the face. See how the mouth is distorted and the tendons in the neck seem pronounced. I'm betting that this was done while he was still alive. I hope for his sake the was still unconscious." He looked at the oven abdominal cavity. "Lisbon, would this kill you? I mean there is almost no blood loss, here. It's surgical. Would this be fatal?"
"I doubt that it would be instantly or even necessarily fatal," she replied. "Maybe the shock would kill, but I doubt it." She paused. "Wait a minute! Jane, look at the throat, right here," she said point to a red dot on the throat. "What does that look like to you?"
The entire team stared at the indicated blemish. Cho was the first to speak. "Entry wound. Maybe an ice pick." He leaned forward to inspect closer. He wasn't wearing gloves, so he didn't want to touch the body. "This guy's strapped in, as all prisoners are. You stab him here," he indicated the mark, "and you paralyze the throat and the victim will slowly drown on his own blood." He stared at the body. "That'll take several minutes, because it's a small wound. In the mean time, open him up like a Christmas goose and make art work out of his guts. He'll have a very interesting few minutes. If he was conscious, he welcomed death."
They paused for a moment, considering what Cho had said. Grace broke the silence. "What's that," she asked, pointing to a glint of reflected light low in the intestines.
Everyone started at the indicated spot. Lisbon, with a gloved hand, very gingerly touched the area, and then grabbed something and pulled. She extracted a plastic card holder containing a piece of paper. She frowned and wiped te blood from the face of it with a gloved finger. She angled it so the light didn't reflect on it and read: "I have left you a pretty flower, when will you find the rest of the pretty flowers? They are still alive." It was signed with a smiley face and the letters RJ.
"He has hostages," Patrick whispered, his face a study in horror.
oOOo
A/N: Thanks to all who have reviewed! This is getting more convoluted that I'd expected. Red John does that, doesn't he?
Please keep the reviews coming!