A/N: The usual huge thanks to those that are reading and reviewing. I really, really do appreciate it!
Hope you enjoy this chapter...
CHAPTER 5
Jane let out a weary sigh as he dipped his teabag the correct number of times before dumping it in the trash and carrying his newly acquired cup and saucer back towards the bullpen. It was the first time the whole team had been back in the office together for five days. Ever since that first call had come in about the murder with the bloody, smiley face daubed on the wall, there had been four more just like it from different towns all over California. Blue Lake, Porterville, Gridley, Plymouth and Willow Creek. Out of the five murders so far, three of the killers had committed suicide and one had been shot trying to evade capture, the fifth from Willow Creek was still at large.
As he entered the bullpen, he lifted his cup to take a sip of tea but paused when he saw Cho, Rigsby and Van Pelt all staring back at him. They were lined up leaning against the female agents desk, arms folded and looking stern.
He slowly lowered his cup and tried for a smile. He'd known some kind of confrontation was coming and couldn't really blame them. He'd been deliberately not talking about Lisbon and although he knew they cared for her too, he really hadn't wanted to share anything with them until he'd got something more concrete to offer. It seemed as though that wasn't going to be the case.
"Spill", ordered Cho, breaking the silence.
Jane briefly spread his arms apart slightly and looked down at himself in studied concern. "Really? I don't see anything," he replied, being deliberately obtuse as he looked back up at them.
"Just tell us what you know," Cho tried again, ignoring the other man's facetiousness.
"About what, exactly? I know a lot of things," the consultant hedged. He took a sip of his tea, noticing the way Cho's lips pressed together slightly showing his aggravation.
Jane took a step towards his couch but Cho unfolded his arms and placed them on his hips as he took a step away from the desk, blocking the blonds' path. "About Lisbon and these copycat murders. What's the link?"
Jane looked at all three team members as he took another sip of tea then placed his cup back on the saucer and set it down on a nearby empty desk. In truth he was sick and tired of keeping his idea's to himself. He'd gotten used to opening up to Lisbon more and not being able to do that any longer was proving more of a strain than he'd supposed. Shoving his hands in his pockets he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, wondering where to start.
"I don't know anything," he began, ignoring the noises of disapproval that emitted from the rest of the team. "I only have theories and guess work. I wanted to get something firm before I said anything to you all."
"You actually wanted evidence first?" Van Pelt queried with a snort. "That makes a change."
Jane smiled briefly and rolled his eyes in acknowledgement of her barb. "Thank you, Grace," he replied wryly. "I felt that in light of my being wrong about the mental institutions, I should check out some things first before sharing."
"So what have you got so far?" Cho prompted, his stance still on the aggressive side.
Jane looked back at him and shrugged. "Once I figured out that Lisbon wasn't going to turn up at a hospital, I took a step back and had a rethink. I kept going over and over what Red John said and realised that that night I'd been a little too…" He paused as his mind flashed back to that evening and all the feelings it dredged back up with it. Pain, shock, agony, grief, desolation. "…discomposed to be thinking logically," he concluded a trifle self-consciously.
Cho raised an eyebrow at his understatement but relaxed slightly and nodded. "Understandable."
Jane gave a wry smile, knowing Cho could see right through him. And, judging by the knowing look Rigsby and Van Pelt shared, they could too. Apparently when it came to Lisbon, Jane was exceptionally bad at keeping his true feelings hidden…to the team at least.
"So, going over the facts logically, I believe that Lisbon has, more than likely, been put under some kind of suggestion. That would explain why she's not contacted us."
"Suggestion? What, like hypnotised?" asked Van Pelt dubiously before dismissing glibly, "Lisbon's too strong willed for that."
A reminiscent smile tugged at the consultant's lips and he shook his head. "Not if he weakened her defences first."
"Taser? Drugs?" asked Cho.
"Probably. Probably both knowing how Lisbon would've defied him. She wouldn't be a willing subject and therein lies the flaw," Jane explained, his smile getting wider now, his arms waving expansively as he added, "There'll be bits of Lisbon and her past popping up all over the place which means she'll be easier for me to reach when we do find her."
"Huh," grunted Cho as he quickly thought over this new supposition. "I wondered why you never said anything when I officially handed her case over to Missing Persons the other day."
"Meh, I doubt they'll get a hit. But I did persuade their rookie, Sophie, if she would spread the net a little wider for us, just in case," Jane told them with a grin. "Nice girl."
Van Pelt rolled her eyes and gave him a glare but he merely shrugged his shoulders. He refused to feel guilty about using a little of his charm to get what he wanted, however innocent the woman; he'd do a lot more to ensure Lisbon's safe return.
"So what has the boss being under the influence got to do with these murders?" suddenly asked Rigsby in confusion.
Jane immediately sobered and put his hands back in his pockets as he briefly glanced down before looking up at them again with a small frown. "Honestly? I'm not completely certain. Did the killings start because Red John dying was the trigger and he had all this in place anyway? Or are they a part of his long con? Just a smokescreen, something to keep us busy and stop us looking too hard for her." He turned and picked up his tea. With a slightly shaking hand, he held the cup to his lips and took a long swallow before methodically placing it back on the saucer and adding in a low tone, "Either way, if we don't find her first the outcome will always be the same; one day, we walk into a bedroom and there she'll be…the next victim."
xTheMentalistx
"When's Meyer back?" Jack Harding, a slightly greying, fifty something veteran of the force asked a couple of his fellow officers.
"Not for a another week," replied Guy Jenkins, a young, dark haired, good-looking cop. "He took the kids camping in the national park."
"That's right," Harding said, suddenly remembering. "Wanted to spend some quality time with them."
"Well, ever since he and Marie split up, he doesn't get to see them so often," chimed in Pete Thurley, a softly spoken, slightly overweight man of middle age.
The other two murmured their agreement before going back to their tasks. Harding's computer dinged with a new message and he opened it up to find the daily catalogue of missing people to add to his list. There were four, including Lisbon's picture.
"They got an Agent missing," he commented as he printed off the photo's before showing them to the other men.
"She'll be long dead," Thurley surmised matter-of-factly as he shook his head to say he hadn't seen any of the four missing people.
"Shame, she's pretty," Jenkins added as, he too, confirmed he hadn't seen anyone in the pictures.
Harding nodded his agreement then took them over to Meyer's desk and dropped them on top of an ever growing pile of files that the policeman would have to wade through upon his return.
xTheMentalistx
It had been just over two and a half weeks since Lisbon had disappeared. Jane's stitches had been removed and although the wound was still looking a little sore, he was assured there wouldn't be much of a scar.
Lisbon's apartment had been released as a crime scene and he'd gone there with Cho. He'd hesitated briefly at the threshold, just as he had on that fateful night, then forced himself to go in. It was as though nothing had happened there. Betram had sent out a clean-up detail and the apartment felt fresh and clean. The carpets upstairs no longer had any trace of blood nor did the bedroom with its neatly made up bed.
They'd gone back downstairs and Jane had asked Cho for the key. The agent had been reluctant at first but Jane had explained that he just wanted to keep an eye on things until they got her back. Cho had stared at him intently until the consultant had finally admitted that he felt closer to her there.
With a curt, "Don't go through her stuff," Cho had handed over the key and left. From that day on, Jane had taken to spending either part or all of the night at her apartment whenever he could.
He'd also taken a trip to Danville twice now. He couldn't shake the feeling that Lisbon was there or somewhere nearby. He'd spoken to Laura Taylor's parents and any friends that she had in the hope of garnering at least one tiny crumb of a lead. Apart from Laura having a passing resemblance to Lisbon, he hadn't been able to come up with anything new. Once, he'd even stood on a street corner in the middle of the town for hours just looking at people as if by some miracle he'd catch sight of Lisbon or somehow get a feel for where she was. But, nothing.
Always nothing.
The murders kept on happening and each time a call came the trepidation in the office was palpable in case it turned out to be Lisbon. It hadn't, but Jane felt the worry and fear settling heavy in his gut and taking up permanent residence as the days went on. There were now three disciples, as Jane had called them, who were still free. The consultant knew it had to mean something and he and the team had decided to concentrate on them, leaving the other murders to be dealt with at a local level.
He sat at the meeting table with crime scene photo's strewn across the top and sipped at his tea as he carefully rechecked each one in case he'd missed something. He could literally feel the time slipping away from him and with it any chance of getting Lisbon back…alive at any rate. They needed to catch a break and quick.
"I think I've got something," said Van Pelt suddenly, her voice carrying an urgent note of hope. She was stood in front of a board with a map of California taped to it. Each murder had been marked off with a pin. In her hands she held a notebook and she was scribbling things down as she checked some open files that lay on the desk next to her.
Jane immediately put down his tea and got up to join her where she stood. "What is it?" he asked.
Cho and Rigsby came to join them as Van Pelt turned with a half smile. "I've been going through all the murders and cross-referencing family and friends statements with the dates of the killings and I think I've worked out a pattern," she explained. She pointed to the board with its many pins and continued, "The red pins are the murders where we know that the disciples are dead. The blue are the one's where they're still loose but there's no common factor either between the victims or the town where they happened. They seem more like opportunistic killings. Wrong time, wrong place."
The three men stared at the board, all eyes suddenly drawn to four green pins starting at Sacramento and heading downwards.
"And what are those?" asked Rigsby, gesturing towards the green pins.
Van Pelt's smile grew as did the excitement in her voice at the thought of what she'd put together. "I think those are the acts of just one disciple. In each case friends spoke of a new man that the victim had recently started seeing and when I checked I realised that they all seem to describe the same person. Around 5'10, overly long brown hair, brown eyes and a goatee with a tribal tattoo on his left wrist. And look," she said pointing at the board again before adding, "…he started at Willow Creek then went to Dixon, Suisun City and finally Martinez. He's hitting fairly big towns and seems to be heading down towards…"
"Danville," Jane supplied, a smile slowly forming on his face; the evidence pointed to his hunch being right after all.
"There's just one thing, he seems to be only targeting redheads," she revealed, looking a little deflated.
Jane shook his head dismissively. "That doesn't matter. He's following a pattern that's leading straight to the town where Laura was abducted. Maybe his preference is for redheads but I'd stake my life on Lisbon being the ultimate goal. He's clever enough to evade capture and is moving quickly so he knows where she is and I'd guess Red John probably even set him a timeframe to kill her in. That's our guy. Good work, Grace."
Van Pelt smiled at the praise and Cho nodded his approval at finally having a break in the case. Rigsby excused himself as the phone behind him rang but shot his one time love a smile before he turned away.
"We need to get a facial composite of this guy done and a better idea of what that tattoo looks like," said Cho.
"On it," said Van Pelt as she hurried over to her desk.
"We've got another one," said Rigsby as he replaced the receiver. "Body's just been discovered in Walnut Creek but it looks as though it happened last night. The town fits in with Grace's theory. After Martinez but before Danville. Sounds like it could be the same guy."
Cho turned to Van Pelt. "Arrange for the sketch artist to meet you and Rigsby at Walnut Creek PD." He looked back at Jane. "I'll call Danville and let them know to expect us. Then we all go home and get packed. Enough for a few days. Meet back here in an hour, that way we should get there by this evening."
The others nodded and headed off to do as he said.
xTheMentalistx
The bar was noisy and Sarah had to lean forward to catch what her new friend, Andrea, had just said.
"What was that?"
"I said, hot guy to your left checking you out. Nice ass," the blonde repeated with a laugh.
Sarah grinned and raised her glass to her lips while surreptitiously glancing over to see whom Andrea was talking about. The man in question caught her eye and smiled. She quickly looked away and put down her drink. He was cute but not really her type. His overly long hair was brown and straight whereas she preferred guys with short blonde, wavy hair. And his eyes were too dark. Eyes the colour of the ocean were what she looked for in a man. And as for the goatee…really?
Her thoughts wandered to the object of her now vivid nightly dreams and she felt the familiar ache begin in her head. Every night she dreamt of him, his features becoming clearer and clearer to her as time went on. Sometimes there were other images or sounds present. A flash of red, a monotone voice, a laugh. But mainly it was just him reaching out to her and every time he almost touched, she woke up. She didn't recognise him, hadn't a clue who he was and yet she couldn't deny the feeling of utter warmth and complete trust that seemed to stay with her long after she awoke.
She just wished it wouldn't bring on such damnable headaches. She would have to see a doctor if they continued.
She'd been so wrapped up in her musings that she was surprised to see the young man that had smiled at her, now sitting on the stool beside her. She glanced around the bar and spied Andrea holding up her glass in a salute and mouthing, 'You're welcome.'
Sarah held back a grimace and looked back at the man beside her, giving him a wan smile.
"Tyler," he introduced, holding out his hand.
"Sarah," she replied, giving it a half-hearted shake.
"I've been watching you," he told her, as his gaze slowly slid down her tiny frame then back up again to her face and, more particularly, her long, dark auburn locks. "And I have to tell you, I really love your hair."
END CHAPTER 5