A/N: Thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far! Especially to the anonymous reviewers who I can't thank individually. It's appreciated. Alright, time for the case. I'm beginning to wonder why on earth I decided on something with quite so many characters in it. And I'm terrible at coming up at names, so forgive me the generic names of all the case-related characters. None of them are going to be particularly imaginative.

xxxxx

Chapter 3

xxxxx

As requested, the entire group gathered bright and early the next morning for the drive. Lisbon was admittedly feeling a little apprehensive about the whole thing, but she hid it well. For his part Jane seemed determined to be decidedly civil to her, if a bit cool. Still, she appreciated the effort. It could have been much, much worse. The evening before she'd decided that if he wanted to move their relationship past the anger into something more passively professional then she certainly wasn't going to be the one to put up any roadblocks.

Even so, it came as something as a surprise when Jane skilfully manoeuvred himself in to the SUV Cho was driving, leaving Rigsby and Van Pelt with Lisbon. He certainly did it subtly; she wasn't even sure anyone else noticed, but the move had definitely been deliberate. Lisbon told herself as she buckled her seatbelt that it was probably for the best. A couple of hours in a car alone with Patrick Jane, perfectly polite or not, had the potential to be unbearably awkward. So what if in the past he'd almost always ridden in her car? That relationship was done. She would have been pleased that he was taking steps to minimize awkwardness and anger if it hadn't felt like such an obvious snub. She knew that she'd basically destroyed their friendship, but the idea that he couldn't stand to be alone in her company for any length of time stung a bit, no matter how responsible his intentions.

Well, she guessed she'd just have to learn to get used to it. From the sounds of it the case was going to be tricky enough. She couldn't afford to get into it with Jane. Besides, she practically had a degree in hiding her feelings and maintaining a professional mask. If he could do it then so could she.

This case could be a good thing, for both of them. A chance for them to clear the air a bit.

As Lisbon pulled out of the driveway she noticed that both of her companions looked a bit uncomfortable. She knew it was early in the morning, but it wasn't that early. She sighed. She'd never told her team all of the details of what'd happened between Jane and herself, but given that he'd left immediately after Red John's death the basic course of events was pretty easy to fill in. While she knew none of her team blamed either her or Jane, both of her agents obviously felt a bit like they were being forced to choose sides. Apparently it wasn't only Jane that she needed to clear the air with.

"So, how was dinner last night?" she asked brightly.

Both Rigsby and Van Pelt started slightly at the question. Lisbon had to hide a smile. It seemed her instincts were still as good as ever, Jane or no Jane.

Van Pelt found her voice first. "Um, fine. Why?" she asked, attempting to sound nonchalant.

Lisbon sighed, "Look guys, it's fine. Don't worry about it. Jane's back. I don't know if you've noticed but he's going to be working with us for at least a couple of days. I'm fine with it and Jane seems to be fine with it too. You don't need to tiptoe around the subject for my sake. I know you guys are friends and I think that's great. You don't need to feel awkward. In fact, I would actually prefer it if you just acted normally. Yes, Jane and I had a falling out, but we're all professionals here. So instead of sitting in awkward silence for the entire drive can we please just talk to each other like normal people?"

Rigsby looked a bit dubious at best, but Van Pelt let out a sigh of relief and sent Lisbon a smile. "Dinner was good. We went for Italian, you know, that little place a few streets down from the CBI?"

"Oh yeah," Lisbon said, trying to keep the conversation going. "They have the best garlic bread."

"They really do," Van Pelt agreed. "So we went there, caught up a bit. Told Jane how things were going. I mean, not that much has changed in the year he was gone, but we shared a couple stories, like that time Cho had to go undercover as a pimp."

Lisbon snorted, that had been one for the record books. Sometimes when she needed a bit of a laugh she called up the image of Cho wearing a bright red button-down with an oversized collar and a black fedora with a band of zebra print just above the brim. That had been a good day. They'd caught the guy too.

"Yeah, Jane was sorry he missed that," Rigsby added, speaking for the first time. "Well, that and the time that Grace tackled that housewife trying to escape arrest with her shopping cart."

"Anyway," Van Pelt interrupted quickly. "We caught up on each other's lives. We told stories, Jane told stories about... Well, you've probably heard most of them on the news anyway."

"Probably," Lisbon agreed.

"Then Jane started trying to give Cho advice on his love life," Van Pelt added. "It was nice to see him."

"Yeah, he looks good. Freelancing must be agreeing with him," Lisbon said absently, trying not to feel too left out. It'd been her choice not to go with them after all.

"He does," Van Pelt agreed. "He doesn't like Rigsby's haircut though. Thinks it's too short," she informed her boss.

Lisbon grinned slightly. Rigsby's haircut was too short. Everyone thought so, though few people had actually told the agent that to his face.

"He thought Cho looked exactly the same," Rigsby informed her, interrupting her thoughts. "He thought you looked different though boss."

Lisbon barely suppressed her flinch. "Well, we're all growing older," she said evenly.

Van Pelt shot Rigsby a dirty look, "I'm sure that's not what he meant Lisbon," she insisted. "I'm sure he just thought your hair looked different or something."

"Probably," Lisbon agreed, brushing the thought aside and forcing herself not to run a hand self-consciously through her aforementioned hair. "It doesn't matter anyway. Alright, I guess we'd better go over what we know about this case." And with that she steered the conversation to something a little safer. Still, she was quite pleased with herself. Not only had she managed to break the awkwardness, but hopefully Rigsby and Van Pelt would stop acting so skittish whenever the topic of Jane came up. In fact, she figured she nearly had them convinced of her own indifference.

xxxxx

Both cars arrived at the crime scene at roughly the same time. Lisbon got out of the car and stretched. She could see the yellow tape was still all in place and a local officer was standing near the porch, presumably to keep curious passers-by from contaminating the scene. Lisbon had gotten Van Pelt to call her friend, Sheriff Granger while they were still half an hour away so the sheriff could meet them at the scene. The presence of the second police car in the driveway meant that the woman was probably already inside.

That suited Lisbon just fine. She hated waiting once she started in on a case. She nodded to Jane and Cho as they stepped out of their own vehicle. "Everyone okay?" she'd asked, mainly as a formality. It'd seemed like she should say something. When she saw their answering nods, Lisbon squared her shoulders and started walking down the path, confident that her team plus one temporary consultant would follow.

She was almost at the porch when the front door swung open and the woman she could only assume was the local sheriff walked out. "Agent Lisbon?" the woman guessed with a smile.

Lisbon returned it easily, "That's right," she said as she held out a hand.

"Sheriff Louisa Granger," the woman said, shaking it. "But please, call me Lou." Lisbon couldn't help subtly sizing her up. The handshake was firm, but not an attempt to intimidate, which was always a good sign. The woman was about Van Pelt's age, maybe a couple of years older. Her eyes were friendly and welcoming, though Lisbon would bet they were usually more playful than they appeared at the moment due to their proximity to the crime scene. She was blond, but her hair was tied back so it was out of the way, and her clothing was feminine but professional. Her attitude was confident, though Lisbon could see the nerves underneath, probably due to inexperience. Still, Sheriff Granger was clearly determined to succeed, and was probably more than a little ambitious if she'd already made Sheriff at her age. She also looked like she was used to having her own way, and knew how to get it. Lisbon decided she'd probably like this woman, as long as she didn't get in their way. She hoped that nothing happened to make them butt heads, especially given the sheriff's pre-existing friendship with Van Pelt.

Turning behind her, Lisbon began making introductions. "These are Agents Rigsby and Cho," she told Lou, who nodded in acknowledgement. "And you already know Van Pelt." Van Pelt sent the other woman a grin. Then Lisbon turned the final member of the group, "And this, as you also probably already know, is..."

"Patrick Jane," Jane said, smoothly interrupting her to take the sheriff's hand. "Lou did you say?" he asked, sending her his brightest smile. When she nodded he continued, "Lovely to meet you. I'll be consulting on the case."

Lou cleared her throat, clearly already a bit smitten with the handsome consultant. Lisbon resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Mr. Jane," the Sheriff said, finally finding her voice. "Your reputation precedes you. So pleased to have you helping us out. I didn't know you'd all be arriving together."

"It seemed easiest," Jane told her with a grin. Then, putting his hands in his pockets abruptly, he turned to glance at Lisbon, before turning his attention back to the sheriff, "So, shall we take a look at the crime scene."

Lisbon watched as Lou's eyes snapped back to business, "Of course, if you'll follow me. Everything's as it was, though the bodies of course were moved for the autopsies."

"Do we have the results yet?" Lisbon asked.

"No, not yet," Sheriff Granger admitted. "Although I've been promised that the final results will be released tomorrow morning at the latest. I'm hoping for earlier. I can tell you that there were no obvious signs of foul play, though as you know, circumstances are certainly suspicious." She led the agents into a large central room. It was immediately obvious that the lower level of the house had been renovated to accommodate the law firm. The Sheriff gestured around her. "The firm really only has six employees. This area is where the three legal secretaries worked, a Ms. Agnes Brown, Mrs. Tina Lopez and a Mr. Richard Jenkins. There are doors as you can see which lead to the offices of the three lawyers, as well as a waiting room and a bathroom around the corner. The stairs to the second floor are through the far door to the left along with a back entrance. Upstairs we've got three bedrooms, the world's smallest kitchen, a second bathroom and some storage. Back door appears to have been forced open and only one of the office doors was tampered with, the one belonging to one of our victims, Joseph Church. His assistant, Mrs. Lopez couldn't see anything missing when we took her statement though."

"We'll need to take another look anyway," Lisbon informed the other woman.

"Of course," Lou agreed immediately. "I've already told all three secretaries to be expecting a call. I'll just show you where the bodies were found and then you can decide what you want to do first."

Lisbon shared a look with the rest of her team, surprised by the easy cooperation. The Sheriff caught it and grinned, "Look Agent Lisbon, I'm not trying to get in your way here," she explained. "I knew what I was getting into when I called Grace for help. Like you said when we spoke on the phone, CBI's lead agency on this. I get it, and quite frankly I don't even know if this is a murder case yet. I'm happy for the help I can get." All of which was perfectly true. Louisa Granger wanted this case solved. If the CBI were the ones to do it so be it. She was more than happy to invite them. She was admittedly, a little impatient and occasionally a little impulsive, mainly because she almost always thought doing something was better than doing nothing. And while she understood Agent Lisbon was in charge, she also had no intention of fading into the woodwork entirely. This was still her town, so they were going to keep her in the loop. Plus, ever since she'd first seen his charming smile on television, Lou'd wanted to see Patrick Jane at work.

Whatever the Sheriff's motives, Lisbon was just glad the entire case didn't look like it'd be a turf war. "Sorry," she said with a self-deprecating smile. "We're not always used to people being so cooperative."

The other woman just laughed. "I can imagine. Come on, first body was found over here." Assuming they would follow, Lou led them through the tastefully decorated office area to a large wooden door.

"It's not usually locked?" Rigsby asked.

"I'm told it's usually locked during business hours," the sheriff explained. "Or if no one was upstairs. But apparently when one of the partners decided to spend the night the door was often left unlocked. I guess they figured with all the outer doors secured..."

"So it wasn't locked the night the two men died then," Van Pelt summarized.

"No," Lou confirmed. "It wasn't. I assume you've all seen the crime scene photos?" Receiving a round of nods all around she continued, "Alright, the first body, Clem Golding was found here, at the bottom of the stairs. Given the placement of the body it's nearly impossible to determine whether the fall was an accident, whether he was pushed or whether he was struck in the head at the top of the stairs and then fell."

"You don't know if any injuries pre-date the fall then," Lisbon surmised.

"No," the Sheriff agreed.

"Oh he was pushed," Jane piped up.

Lisbon whipped her head around. "How do you know?" she asked him.

"Well come on Lisbon," he told her. "One partner dead upstairs, another one downstairs. Seems like quite a coincidence to me if it's not murder," Jane told her with a shrug.

Lisbon mentally counted back from five. She'd forgotten how annoying Jane could be. "I know that Jane," she told him. "I agree that something strange probably happened here, but it is also possible that Mr. Golding found the body of his friend, turned and ran for help, but because of the shock he miscalculated and fell down the stairs."

"Well, yes," Jane agreed grudgingly. "That's possible. But it seems unlikely. Look at him, he's wearing shoes, he's still got his coat on and he's carrying a bag and an umbrella."

"So?" she asked.

"So," Jane explained, his tone patronizing, "He'd just arrived. He wasn't staying late after a long day's work. He was meeting someone here. Probably his dead partner. Someone else probably found out about the meeting, didn't like it and killed him."

"Oh you're good," the sheriff told him appreciatively.

"And he knows it," Lisbon muttered under her breath.

"I don't suppose you could save us all a lot of trouble and tell us who he was meeting so we can arrest them and go home," Cho asked dryly.

Jane turned to his old friend. "Not yet," he admitted. "But hopefully soon."

"Well, until then why don't we continue with the crime scene," Lisbon suggested. "Sheriff?"

"Lou," the woman corrected absently, still watching Jane. Suddenly she turned and walked up the stairs. "Like I said, there are three bedrooms up here. The first one on the right was where we found Joseph Church. He was just lying on the bed like he was sleeping. No obvious cause of death as you know. This one could be natural causes. Far as we can tell none of the other bedrooms were touched."

"You dust for prints?" Cho asked.

The Sheriff nodded. "Yeah, but we didn't find any in any of the bedrooms that didn't belong to one of the three lawyers. There was the odd print from one of the secretaries in the upstairs hall, a couple from the employees of a cleaning service they use. Nothing particularly useful, which means..."

"Either the killer worked here or he wore gloves," Van Pelt surmised.

"Exactly," Lou replied with a sigh.

"I assume you've got people looking through the client list," Lisbon told her. "Seeing if anyone was particularly unhappy with their representation."

The sheriff nodded, "I've got officers going through past clients. That and any recent court cases, see if anybody lost big on the other side. But Agent Lisbon, most of the stuff is pretty run of the mill, a couple of nasty divorces sure, but not anything that warrants killing a man over. The secretaries gave us a couple of angry letters as well, but like I said, nothing that was too concerning."

"Still, we'll need to go through it all," Lisbon told her.

"I know," the sheriff agreed. "It's just going to take time."

Lisbon didn't bother to reply. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Jane began his usual process of looking in every nook and cranny of the room, apparently ignoring everyone around him. The visual brought back a string of memories that she ruthlessly shot down. Luckily the sheriff started speaking again, distracting her.

"Well, I'll just leave you to it then I guess," Lou told the assembled group.

Lisbon turned to the other woman. "Yes, thank you Sheriff. But before you go, we're going to need that list of contact information for the secretaries, and the cleaning staff if you have it."

Lou nodded, "Yeah, it's just downstairs."

"Good," Lisbon said before turning to Rigsby and Van Pelt, "Why don't you two grab the list and re-interview all the secretaries, and the cleaning staff," she suggested.

"Sure thing boss," Van Pelt agreed immediately.

"Oh," Lisbon said suddenly. "Have we heard anything about the whereabouts of the third partner?" she asked hopefully.

Lou shook her head, "Not yet. I've got a BOLO out at all the nearby airports and the train stations and she hasn't been home."

"I can get on that," Cho offered.

Lisbon nodded, trying not to dwell on the obvious implications, that Cho's absence would leave her and Jane alone at the crime scene. "While you're at it, why don't you take a look at those threatening letters the sheriff mentioned?"

"Sure boss," Cho replied.

Lou nodded as well, "I can give you a ride back to the station," she told him. "We've got a room set up for you, just like you asked and I'll get you copies of the letters."

"Great," Lisbon told her. "Thank you again Sheriff, for everything."

"Just doing my job," Lou said with a shrug. "If you need anything else don't hesitate to ask, any of you."

Lisbon watched the rest of them as they shuffled off downstairs, part of her wishing she was going with them. Instead she gave herself a mental shake, steeled herself up and turned back towards Jane, who now seemed to be inordinately interested in the victim's closet. "See anything in there that would suggest this was murder?" she asked.

"Oh, this one was definitely murder too," he told her. "I didn't have to look in the closet to know that."

Lisbon closed her eyes for the briefest of seconds. Was Jane being more annoying than before or had she just forgotten? "And how do you know that?" she asked him. "Besides the big fat coincidence of course."

"Of course," Jane agreed with a smirk. Then he turned back towards her, "Come on Lisbon, you've seen the crime scene photos."

"Yeah," she agreed. "So? He was lying on the bed."

"Lying on his back with his arms precisely at his sides and his legs straight out in front of him," Jane specified.

Lisbon shrugged her shoulders, "And?"

"And," Jane continued, "Who do you know that actually sleeps like that? I mean that perfectly? No one, that's who. Everyone I've ever met either sleeps on their side, or their stomach, or at the very least one limb is bent in some way. No one's that perfect."

"Yeah, it's suspicious, but it's also possible that our second victim found him somewhere else and placed him on the bed," Lisbon pointed out. "It's been known to happen."

"Nah," Jane told her with a wave of his hand. "I need to check the other bedrooms," he told her before abruptly leaving the room.

"Why?" Lisbon called after him. "Have you found something?"

She found him in the second room, again rummaging through the closet. "Jane?" she asked again. "Have you..."

"Would you wait one minute woman?" he practically growled. "I just need to check something. I promise I will explain everything to you after. Could you possibly just trust me for five minutes?"

They both froze. Jane immediately turned back to the closet he'd been rummaging through. Lisbon glanced desperately around the room, "Okay, I'll check the third bedroom. Give me a shout if you find something" she said quickly before practically fleeing the room.

She opened the remaining bedroom door and stepping inside. Shutting it behind her, Lisbon leaned back against it and closed her eyes, willing herself to regain her composure. She'd known being alone with him was a bad idea; she'd known he was still angry. Then she shook her head to clear it. He could be angry all he wanted. When it came right down to it she was the one who was in charge. She promised herself there was only so much of his crap he'd put up with. Besides, now that he'd accidentally taken a shot at her (and she did believe it was an accident) they both knew where they stood and they could be more careful. She wouldn't let him get to her anymore.

With a definitive nod of her head Lisbon snapped on a pair of latex gloves and started going through the third bedroom.

A few minutes later she heard a knock on the door, "Come on in," she called over her shoulder.

Jane opened the door tentatively, unsure of his reception. He hadn't meant to snap at her. He hadn't meant to allude to the past in any way and he was determined not to do it again. "Find anything?" he asked her.

"Maybe," Lisbon told him holding up a photo of their missing lawyer with an older couple, probably her parents. "Looks like this could be a summer home," she told him. "We should check it out, see if that's where our missing lawyer's hiding out"

Jane glanced at it and nodded, "Sounds good."

"You?" she asked casually, her eyes downcast as she pretended to search through the drawer in the bedside table.

"Maybe," Jane told her. She looked confused so he continued. "Might not have anything to do with anything, but it's probably worth talking about."

When he paused again Lisbon began counting down from twenty, determined not to press him for information a second time. Jane seemed to realize that, so he gestured her out the door, "Come on," he told her.

Wordlessly Lisbon followed. Jane turned into the second bedroom, "Okay, what's different between this room and the first room we were in?" he asked her.

Lisbon glanced around, "I don't know, it's bigger, there's more stuff in it?" she guessed.

"A lot more stuff," Jane confirmed.

"Okay, but Jane that's probably just differences in personality," Lisbon replied.

Jane opened the closet door. "Except that there are two different sizes of pants in this closet," he told her. "One of which matches the size of pants down the hall. Same with the shirts and jackets."

Lisbon looked puzzled for a minute before she realized what he was getting at, "Wait a minute, are you saying that..."

"I think two of our lawyers were in a relationship," Jane confirmed. "And when they were both here overnight they tended to stay in this room and not the other, hence the general increase of stuff, along with the two sizes of clothing."

Lisbon nodded, "You're right. It might be nothing, but we should still look into it. It might have bothered some people."

"People can be idiots," Jane remarked.

"Well yes, that's universal," Lisbon agreed.

"But it's not only that," Jane told her. "If they often spent the night in this room..."

Then what was the body doing in the other one if he was taking a nap?" Lisbon finished. "Alright, I see your point, but we still have to wait for the autopsy results to definitively assign the death a murder. You done here?" she asked.

"For now," Jane confirmed.

"Alright, why don't we get a hold of Rigsby and Van Pelt, see if any of the secretaries knew about the relationship? Then we should head back to the station, see if Cho's found anything out about our missing partner and check into the possibility of a summer house," she told him.

"Sounds good," Jane told her quickly. "I just want to take a quick look into the office that was broken into, maybe see if I see anything."

Lisbon nodded. "You do that. I'll call Rigsby and Van Pelt and meet you outside." With that she headed down the stairs relieved. She could deal with Jane when he stuck to professional topics.

When he met her outside ten minutes later, she was hanging up her phone. "Change of plans," she told him. "I called Cho about looking up this summer house but, in the meantime we have to get to the morgue. Apparently the coroner's found something he thinks we should see."

"Okay," Jane said quickly as he climbed into the passenger seat. "It also wouldn't be a bad idea to drop by our two victim's houses, try and confirm the relationship."

Lisbon nodded, "Later." She put the keys in the ignition and started the car. "Morgue first."

xxxxxx

By unspoken agreement after finishing up at the morgue the pair immediately turned towards the station. Not only had the trip taken longer than expected, but what they'd learned was important enough that the needed to talk it over with the team as soon as possible.

"So they were probably both murdered," Lisbon said softly, breaking the silence.

"Told you," Jane replied.

Lisbon managed to stop herself from smacking him. Just.

Instead she decided to run through what the coroner had told them. Cause of death of Clem Golding the stairway victim was, as everyone had already suspected, the fall down the stairs. He'd hit his head numerous times on the way down, and had been killed almost instantly. Though the coroner couldn't be 100% sure, he'd showed Lisbon a blow to the side of the head that looked like it'd could've been made by a fist. It wasn't fatal in and of itself, but the punch to the head could have caused Mr. Golding to fall down the stairs to his death. Mr. Church's story was even more interesting. It turned out the man was diabetic but his blood sugar had been near zero. Working on a hunch the coroner had found a small puncture wound near his wrist. It looked like the killer had injected high doses of insulin (probably from the victim's own supply) into his bloodstream along with a mild sedative, causing Joseph Church to slip into a diabetic coma.

Lisbon sighed. The confirmation of double murder destroyed any remnant of faint hope that she'd had that the case would turn out to be one of the easy ones. She'd called Hightower earlier only to be informed by her boss that two congressman, both of whom were represented by the local firm, had also called to ensure that the case was being dealt with as quickly and as quietly as possible. Lisbon was tactful, but she'd really wanted to slam her head against the wall. She could only hope that there was no reason for Jane to come into contact with either politician. That was the last thing she needed.

Still, at least the confirmation of murder and the mode of killing told them one thing, Mr. Golding's death may have been an accident or at least unplanned, but Mr. Church's murder was definitely pre-meditated. And it was committed by someone who knew the deceased well enough to be familiar with his medical history.

She wasn't exactly sure yet what they were dealing with, but this definitely wasn't a run of the mill robbery.

xxxxx

TBC

I know this one was pretty case heavy, but the case figures pretty prominently, and the next chapter has almost nothing, so I'm sure it evens out.