A/N: So glad everyone liked the last one. I have spent a lovely day at the theatre (I'm sure you all care very much), but I'm now in such a good mood that I decided to post the next chapter early. Also, it's one of the more interesting ones and I wanted to post it, so there.
Also, someone asked me if Jane was still wearing his ring in this one. I hadn't really thought. I had no real intention of dealing with the issue of his wife. I suppose in the back of my head I was thinking that (since this takes place at some nebulous time in the future) sometime in either the past year, or previous, he's gotten some closure on that front. The reader is welcome to think what they like.
And without further ado, here we go:
xxxxx
Chapter 6
xxxxx
"Alright, everybody inside," Lisbon ordered the assembled group. Clearly explanations were in order, but she wasn't about to listen to, or make any, standing in the doorway. So she hustled everyone into the living room, which appeared to be just off the front door and had Van Pelt go and get Rigsby and Cho from the back.
When everybody was settled she continued, "Alright, introductions. Like I said, I'm Agent Teresa Lisbon, California Bureau of Investigation. These are Agents Rigsby, Cho and Van Pelt and Sheriff Granger. Already familiar to at least one of you is Patrick Jane, he's consulting on the case," she told them.
"Clara Greenwood," the woman waved timidly.
"Harry Cornish," the other man introduced himself. "I'm an old friend of Patrick's, haven't seen him in years though."
"They actually already knew that," Jane told him cheerfully. "Sophie told them. I'll explain later," he added when Harry just looked confused.
"Alright," Lisbon said, taking control of the conversation again. "I'm sorry Mr. Cornish, but you're going to have to catch up with Jane after we're through here. You three," she said gesturing to her employees. "Why don't you go talk to Mr. Cornish out on the porch," she asked. "Get a statement."
"Sure thing boss," Van Pelt said as she gestured for the man to go first. "After you Mr. Cornish, if you don't mind."
Jane turned to Lisbon, "Uh, Lisbon..."
"Jane, I can't let you question an old friend," she told him quietly. "I'm sure it's probably all a coincidence and he's done nothing wrong. I promise; you can talk to him later. Right now I need you in here."
Surprisingly Jane seemed to accept that. He took a step back towards one of the walls and began examining the objects around them, leaving Lisbon to do the questioning.
She was more than happy to comply. "Sorry for the intrusion Ms. Greenwood," she said softly. "We weren't sure what we'd find."
"Clara," the other woman said. "I understand. Um, would you like to sit?" she asked.
Lisbon and the Sheriff both took a seat along with the previously missing lawyer. Unsurprisingly Jane did not.
"We're also probably going to have to take a look around," Lisbon told her. "We have a warrant."
"That's fine," Clara said with a wave of her hand.
"Alright," Lisbon said, noticing that their potential suspect still looked absolutely terrified, "Let's start with an easy question. How do you know Mr. Cornish?" she asked.
Clara looked surprised. "Harry?" she asked. "He's a friend. He'd dropped by to see how I was."
"Just a friend?" Jane asked.
The woman blushed slightly. "A close friend then," she amended. "It's so hard to classify those things sometimes. Does it matter?"
"No," Lisbon told her. "Did he know the police were looking for you?" she asked.
"Well, I certainly didn't tell him!" Clara exclaimed. "I suppose it's possible he found out on his own, but I don't think he owns a television, so he may not have heard the news."
"Okay," Lisbon said, somewhat relieved. If Jane's friend genuinely knew nothing at all about what was going on it would make her day just that much easier. "Clara, earlier you said you were scared."
"Yes," she confirmed quietly.
"Because both of your law partners were dead," Lisbon added.
"Yes."
"Clara, how did you find out they were dead? You couldn't have heard about it on the news that night. The information was kept quiet news until long after you should have been in the office the next day. Besides, you were gone by the morning." Lisbon pointed out.
Ms. Greenwood paused, took a breath, then looked Lisbon right in the eye. "Because I was there. I saw it," she told them.
"You were there?" Lisbon repeated. Even Jane looked surprised at that revelation.
"Yes. Well, what happened was Joe had called both of us, Clem and me, the night before and asked us to meet him at the office after hours the next day. He needed to talk to us about something, something important, and that was the soonest the three of us were free."
"Did he say what the meeting was about?" Lisbon asked.
"He said that he'd caught one of the secretaries going through files that they shouldn't have been looking at. Agent Lisbon we share an office, but we all have our own cases and our own secretaries. Don't get me wrong, occasionally one of the other secretaries will lend a hand if someone's particularly swamped, but it doesn't happen all that often."
"Joe caught one of the secretaries in the wrong office so to speak," Lisbon supplied.
"I think so," Clara said with a nod. "I didn't exactly get all the details," she admitted. "We were supposed to talk about it that night. Anyway, obviously whoever it was needed to be fired, but there was also the possibility that some sensitive information from one or more of the case files had already been compromised. That was why Joe thought we'd better meet and come up with some sort of plan of atack."
"Did he tell you which of the secretaries it was?" Lisbon asked.
"No," Clara admitted. "But I think he mentioned he caught them in his office, so I doubt it was Tina. She worked for Joe you know."
"It wasn't her," Jane confirmed. "Rock solid alibi."
"Of course you'd already know that," Clara murmured. "Anyway, I was running late. I knew Joe was planning on spending the night at the office and that Clem was going to meet him there. I let myself in and I didn't bother to turn on the light. I knew the place back to front anyway, could walk through it blindfolded. When I got to the bottom of the stairs I heard something. It was Clem. He was upstairs, and I heard him accuse someone of killing Joe. Next thing I knew Clem had fallen down the stairs and he wasn't moving."
"Then what did you do?" Lisbon asked softly.
"I ran," Clara admitted. "I saw someone moving at the top of the stairs, but before he could get to me I ran out the door and drove away."
"You didn't see who it was?" Lisbon asked.
"Not clearly," she admitted. "Like I said it was dark. All I remember is seeing Clem go down those stairs," she said with a sob.
Lisbon gave the poor woman a moment to collect herself.
"I know running was stupid," Clara added. "I know. I should have gone to the authorities that night. But I wasn't thinking straight. My imagination was running wild. I figured no one would believe my story and they'd think I did it. Then all I could think about were all those stupid movie adaptations of all those John Grisham novels. You know, the ones where the naive, idealistic lawyer gets in over their head and someone tried to kill them. Before I could stop myself I was picturing people tapping my phone and stalking me at my apartment. Then my picture was on the news; and I figured I must have looked so guilty that I'd almost guaranteed no one would believe me. I knew no one from the office knew exactly where my aunt's place was. Besides Joe and Clem of course. And the last name on mailbox is different so it wouldn't have been easy to find. So I just hid. I've barely left the house in three days. All I can think about is whoever it was coming after me, the last remaining partner."
"You weren't kidding about that overactive imagination," Jane told her.
Lisbon glared at him, but surprisingly Clara laughed. "I know it's a bit of a curse," she admitted.
"Alright," Lisbon said. "You said you were running late when you arrived. Late from where? What were you doing immediately before you went to the law firm?"
"I, I was at the movies," Clara told them.
"Is there anyone who can verify that?" Lisbon asked.
"Yes," she said, her eyes lighting up. "Harry! I was with Harry."
"I'm going to need the name of the movie so we can confirm that with him," Lisbon told her.
xxxxx
Ten minutes later Lisbon pulled Jane aside. "Well, their stories match and Harry's confirmed her alibi," she told him.
"Well that's hardly surprising," Jane told her. "They could have come up with the plan together before we got here."
"Could have," Lisbon agreed. "But I don't know. You really think she's lying?"
"Absolutely not," Jane told her. "She's telling the truth. I'm positive."
Lisbon raised her eyebrows.
"I'm 90% sure," he amended.
"One of the two secretaries would make sense. They'd know about Church's diabetes, they'd know where everything was in the office, know who the important clients were," Lisbon added.
"Plus Joe catching someone in his office matches the files that Mrs. Lopez found with pages out of order," Jane told her. "How else would Clara have known the pages were out of order and used it to frame someone if the story wasn't true."
"Well, she'd know about it if she'd done it herself," Lisbon pointed out. "If she worked with him there's no way she didn't know how fastidious Church was about his files."
"But if that's the case then why not make sure to put everything back the right way in the first place?" Jane asked. "Besides, Clara Greenwood hardly looks like she's hard up for money. Why would she risk losing her license selling the stuff?"
"True," Lisbon said. "Okay, so which of the other two secretaries do we think it is?" Lisbon asked. "Mrs. Lopez is in the clear; her alibi's solid, but neither of the other two have alibis to speak of."
"Gotta be Jenkins," Jane told her. "Rigsby said he didn't think Mrs. Lopez liked him."
"Come on Jane," Lisbon told him, "We have to at least consider Agnes Brown. She is the newest employee at the firm."
Jane started to wave her off when he got a look at the set of her jaw. Thinking the better of it he tried a different tack, "Clara," he called across the room suddenly. "What'd you think of Agnes? Think she could be responsible? She was relatively new to the firm after all."
Clara Greenwood looked genuinely shocked by the suggestion. "Agnes?" she asked. "No, I don't believe it. I mean, I guess it's possible... But, no. She may be new to our firm Mr. Jane but she's been a legal secretary for over ten years. Her references were glowing. Besides, Joe's known... well, knew I guess, her personally for at least as long. I don't believe it."
"See?" Jane told Lisbon.
"Now we're arresting people based on gut feelings of those with personal relationships with our suspects are we?" Lisbon asked sarcastically.
"Fine," Jane told her. "Clara," he asked again. "If Agnes hadn't been working for the firm that long, do you know if she knew about Mr. Church's diabetes?"
Clara paused, "I'm not sure. I don't think she did. I mean, it's not like he advertises the fact that he has it. I know I didn't tell her."
"What about the other two?" Jane asked. "Did they know?"
"Well, Tina Lopez, Joe's secretary certainly knew, in case of emergencies. And a couple years ago Richard, that's Clem's secretary, he filled in for Tina for about a month, so I'm sure he knew as well."
Jane turned back to Lisbon. She merely crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows.
"Not good enough? You want more proof then?" Jane asked. "Rigsby!" he called.
"Yeah?" the agent shouted back.
"You interviewed Agnes Brown didn't you?" Jane asked him.
"Yeah," Rigsby confirmed. "Why?"
"Think she could have punched a man in the head hard enough to knock him down the stairs?" Jane asked.
"Agnes?" Rigsby double checked. "Unlikely. The woman was barely five feet tall, and I doubt she weighed more than 110 pounds. I mean, unless she's trained in some sorta weird martial arts..."
"See," Jane told Lisbon, cutting off the rest of Rigsby's theory, "Totally got to be Jenkins."
"Jane, I agree that Jenkins is more likely," Lisbon admitted. "But right now all we have is circumstantial evidence! We can't just go and arrest him. We need to search for some more concrete proof before we move. We'll pull his financials and look for any evidence of bribery. Need I remind you that there is procedure for this sort of thing?
Jane and Lou shared a private look at that, but Lisbon decided to ignore it.
"Alright," Jane said. "What if I could lure Jenkins into confessing to the murder?"
"How?" Lisbon demanded.
"What if Jenkins found out where Clara was and that she was talking?" Jane asked. "Then when he shows up to kill her, we catch him in the act and he confesses."
"Absolutely not!" Lisbon snapped. "We are not using an innocent woman as bait," she told him.
"We'd be here the whole time," Jane insisted. "And Clara wouldn't need to actually..."
"No Jane," Lisbon insisted. "This is already a potential political nightmare. We absolutely cannot afford for this guy to get off on a stupid technicality. We do this the right way, we check his bank statements, search his home. We'll get him; it'll just take longer."
"But..." Jane interrupted.
"No," Lisbon told him firmly before walking away.
Jane sighed.
Lou walked up to him from where she'd been surreptitiously listening to their conversation. "So," she asked him. "If we were going to do that, what would we need?"
Jane's face lit up like a Christmas tree.
xxxxx
Lisbon watched as Clara Greenwood rolled away in the back of a squad car. The woman was going back to the city to give a statement then she'd remain under police supervision for the next few days. After all, either she was lying, in which case she was in on the murders, or she was telling the truth, in which case her life was probably in danger. Lisbon had also stressed to both officers and to Clara herself the importance of laying low. If no one knew where she was then Jenkins wouldn't be able to find her. She'd be back at her aunt's house the next day.
The rest of the team was planning on spending the evening by the sea. Jane really wanted to catch up with his old friend and Lisbon felt bad about saying no. Besides, they were again waiting for yet another warrant, along with phone records and bank statements for Richard Jenkins.
As a result the six of them plus one were at a local pub for dinner. The place was packed, though the hostess promised them a table in ten minutes tops. The group decided to wait for her by the bar. As promised the hostess came back for them about five minutes later, and the seven of them tried to follow her as she weaved around the tables and the other patrons. Rigsby, in what Lisbon figured was a not so subtle attempt to grab a seat next to Van Pelt, managed to trip over an empty chair. This forced Lisbon, in an attempt to avoid tripping over Rigsby, to spin rapidly in the other direction. Unfortunately she spun a little too rapidly and completely lost her balance. Before she could hit the floor (or another table) Lisbon felt someone grab her arms and help her back on her feet. Looking up she saw a pair of warm dark eyes.
"Oops," the stranger said to her. "Careful now."
"Thanks," she stuttered in confusion.
He smiled, "No problem. Couldn't let a pretty woman like you end up on the floor. I hope you enjoy your dinner." Then he gave her a half a wave, and before she knew it he was gone.
Lisbon sat down at the table quickly, and when Van Pelt asked she laughed off the encounter then abruptly changed the subject by asking Rigsby if he was alright. When she glanced around the table seconds later Lisbon noticed Jane watching her from across the table, a strange expression on his face. She looked away confused without meeting his eyes.
Lisbon didn't know why she was so flustered by the whole thing anyway. She'd already scanned the restaurant, and the stranger, whoever he was, was gone.
Despite the kerfuffle at the start, the meal itself went smoothly. Everyone's mood seemed to have improved now that a potential solution to the case was in sight. Plus Jane's friend Harry turned out to be quite the storyteller. He had the six of them laughing more than once. At the moment he and Jane were deep in discussion about the pros and cons of different types of boats, with occasional input from Cho. Lou was listening with interest, sometimes turning to add her two cents to Rigsby and Van Pelt's conversation about football. For the most part Lisbon was content to just sit back and soak it all in. She answered questions when they were directed to her, but seeing her people relaxed and happy soothed her. It was her own little moment of calm.
As if on cue, her phone rang.
Sighing she fished it out of her pocket.
She groaned when she saw the caller ID.
"Something wrong boss?" Cho asked her.
She shook her head, "Nah, just Hightower interrupting dinner," she told him. "I've got to take this, excuse me."
Then with a hand over one ear and her phone at the other she made her way to the door. "Ma'am?" she said. "I see you got my message. I may have good news."
xxxxx
When she returned to the table about fifteen minutes later she found it rather more subdued and short a few people.
"Where'd everybody go?" she asked as she sat back down.
"Harry's at the bar," Van Pelt told her. "Jane and Lou both disappeared separately about ten minutes ago. We haven't seen either of them since."
"Maybe they've gone for another walk," Rigsby suggested.
Cho sniggered and Van Pelt rolled her eyes.
"Oh come on," Rigsby said. "It's obvious. And I totally saw Lou catch his eye when she got up to leave," he added.
Van Pelt started arguing that they really had no proof at all that Lou and Jane were even together. And if they were, it really could be something innocent.
Lisbon ignored them; something was niggling at the back of her mind and wouldn't stop. Jane and Lou had been sharing significant looks all evening. She'd originally thought it was just a continuation of whatever flirtation the two of them had going on, but for some reason now she wasn't so sure. It'd started not long after they'd left Clara's house. Right after Jane had come up with his insane scheme. She froze. And Lou had been very eager to see Jane in action for the entire case. Plus, Lisbon had accidentally overheard the sheriff's opinions on protocol herself. "Oh God," she said suddenly, praying that she was wrong.
That got everybody's attention. "Boss," Rigsby asked in concern. "Is something wrong?"
Lisbon snapped back to life immediately. "Jane and Lou, they're trying to lure out Jenkins," she told them.
"What?" Van Pelt asked. "Boss, you don't..."
"I know it sounds insane," Lisbon interrupted. "But think about it, they both disappear, they've been acting all chummy and secretive for the last few hours. Jane had a plan earlier, to use Clara as bait to catch Jenkins. I shot it down, but we've all seen what Lou thinks of any idea of Jane's!" The more she thought about it the more she was sure she was right. "We've got to get back to that house," she exclaimed.
"Lisbon," Van Pelt tried again, "I know it looks bad, but are you really sure?"
"Look," Lisbon told her, "If I'm wrong, we go over and check it out, no harm no foul, but if I'm right and we do nothing someone could end up getting hurt."
"You're right," Cho told her. "They're definitely up to something. If it was just sex why wait until Lisbon left the table to sneak off?"
"Right," Lisbon said, "Cho you're with me, you two stay here," she told Rigsby and Van Pelt.
"Shouldn't we all go?" Rigsby asked.
Lisbon shook her head. "No, I need you two to get a hold of the deputies who took Clara home. We need to make sure she's alright. And I also need you to see if you can get a hold of Jenkins. We need to try and figure out where he is. Oh, and try Jane and Lou just in case they pick up. See if you can talk them out of this. And I also need you to stay here, on the off chance I'm wrong and they come wandering back in ten minutes. Hopefully we'll be back soon," she told them.
Suddenly Lisbon heard a voice behind her. "I'm coming with you," Harry told her.
Lisbon was about to refuse when he cut her off. "Look Agent Lisbon, you seem like a perfectly nice woman, but I was friends with Patrick Jane for years. Do you really think ordering me to stay put is going to have any effect whatsoever? And you know if there's trouble to get into in a five mile radius Patrick'll find it. I'd rather that one of my oldest friends didn't get himself hurt or worse, the first day I see him in five years. Besides, you might need my help, I know the area."
Lisbon hesitated, "Fine." She told him. "You can come, but only if you do exactly what I say when we get there. And you're staying in the car."
"Agreed," he told her. "I can show you a back way to Clara's place if you want."
"I do. Let's go," she told him. "See you guys soon," she told Rigsby and Van Pelt..
"Good luck," Van Pelt called after her.
"I'm hoping we won't need it," Lisbon muttered to herself. If Jane was doing what she thought he was doing she was going to kill him herself when she found him. Very slowly.
xxxxx
Meanwhile, Jane and Lou were indeed hiding on opposite sides of Clara Greenwood's porch. They had their cell phones of course, but Jane was beginning to feel just the slightest bit uneasy. Usually whenever he and Lisbon had done something this they'd had back-up. And if they hadn't, well, it was Lisbon. Still, the familiar rush of a well-played con was running through his veins, so he ignored his misgivings.
He felt his cell phone vibrate in his hand. He double checked the caller ID to make sure it was Lou. Van Pelt had called a few minutes ago, no doubt to try and find out where he was. Jane hadn't answered. "Hey," he whispered into the phone. "You see anything yet?"
"No," she told him. "You?"
"No," Jane replied. "Maybe he's not gonna show."
"Oh he'll be here," Lou told him. "His curiosity'll get the better of him. And he thinks Clara's here."
"I tried to tell Lisbon that we wouldn't need to actually use Clara as bait; we just needed to pretend, but she wouldn't let me," Jane muttered petulantly.
Lou shrugged, though he couldn't see it. "Like you said before, Agent Lisbon's hardly the type to go along with something like this."
A fact that Jane hardly found comforting at the moment. Before he could reply he heard Lou speak again. "Good thing you got the idea to call Jenkins early, then call her boss and tell her what time Lisbon would be available to talk as a distraction. I feel kinda bad for her," Lou added, "Having to answer to all those people all the time. You must love being out of that world."
"Yeah, well," Jane started to reply, "It had it's advantages..."
Suddenly Lou interrupted him, "Wait, did you hear that?" she asked.
"No, what?" he whispered.
"Hold on," she told him. "I'm gonna go and check it out."
"Wait!" Jane told her; he had a really bad feeling about this now.
But she'd hung up the phone. Jane strained to hear, and tried to move towards where she'd been. Suddenly he heard the sound of a scuffle, followed by a man's yell. Jane rounded the corner of the house in time to see Lou fall to the ground and Jenkins pull a gun from behind him, "I've already killed two people, what's one more?" he asked. Then he raised the weapon and fired. Half a second later a second shot rang out. In shock, Jane saw Jenkins fall; Lisbon, of all people, was running towards him, Cho close behind.
"Check Jenkins," Lisbon ordered Cho quickly.
"I got him covered," Cho told her, his gun trained on the killer. "You help the Sheriff."
Lisbon holstered her own weapon and dropped to her knees, relieved to see that Lou was still breathing. She took off her coat and applied pressure to the wound. "Hi Sheriff, don't you worry. We're gonna get you out of here. Just stay awake okay." Lou nodded. Giving the woman a terse smile Lisbon looked around her. "Jane!" she called. "You alright? You want to give me a hand here?"
Jane turned towards her, but he couldn't seem to make himself move.
"Jane!" she tried again, determined to keep her wits about her, "I need you to call for help," she said. She didn't want to take the pressure off the wound and Cho was busy making sure Jenkins was no longer a threat. She knew Jane was probably in shock, but he was the only one left able to make the call.
Jane stared at the phone in his hand.
"Jane!" she yelled again, "If you can't call for help then I need you to go get Harry. We left him in the car..."
At that moment Harry ran up. "I know you told me to stay in the car," he said, "But I heard the shots and, Oh god..."
"Harry!" Lisbon told him calmly, taking control of the situation. "I need you to call 911. Tell them we're with the CBI. We've got two gunshot victims, one of whom was shot in the lower abdomen on the left side. She's lost some blood, but she's conscious and I've got pressure on the wound. The other," she said, pausing to look at Cho.
"A doctor's not going to help him boss," Cho told her.
Lisbon nodded, refusing to focus on the fact that she'd killed yet another person. Instead she let the sound of Harry speaking to the paramedics wash over her.
About a minute later she heard him behind her. "They're on their way," he told her. "But it'll probably take them a while to get here, unless we're lucky and there was an ambulance in the area. Nearest ER's over half an hour away," he told her. "But Doc Reynolds lives just down the street. He's retired, but he knows his stuff and he's here for the summer."
"Call him," Lisbon told him. "Then come and help me with this."
"I got it," Cho told her as he placed his hands over hers. "Nothing anybody can do for Jenkins at the moment anyway. Go talk to Jane," he told her, gesturing towards the still-frozen consultant. "I'll keep Lou company for a while."
"You sure?" Lisbon asked.
Cho nodded, then he turned to the woman. "Some night," he said to her. "But we're going to get you out of here. Don't you worry, Lisbon's got it covered. She won't let you die."
"What can I do," Harry asked her as he hung up the phone again.
"Do you have a key to Clara's place?" Lisbon asked him.
"I know where the spare's hidden," he told her.
"I need you to go inside and get some blankets. We need to keep her warm. And if you could find something better to help stop the bleeding. Oh, and after that I need you to call Rigsby and Van Pelt and tell them what happened. Tell them there's nothing they can do here, but we may need the second vehicle later. And one of them will have to call Hightower."
"Okay," he told her as he ran towards the house.
Lisbon squared her shoulders and walked towards Jane. "Hey Jane," she said, touching his arm.
He flinched then turned towards her. "Lisbon," he croaked. "I... We..."
"Jane," she said gently. He was white as a sheet. She was worried he'd start hyperventilating, or collapse, and that was the last thing she needed. "You're in shock. I'm gonna need you to sit down and put your head between your knees. Can you do that for me?"
Jane blinked at her a couple of times before doing as she said.
"Okay," she told him, "Now I need you take nice deep breaths."
Jane nodded. "Help her," he told her.
"Help's on the way," she told him soothingly. "Cho's with her now. She's gonna be fine."
"I'll be okay Lisbon," he told her. She was relieved to hear his voice sounded stronger. "Please, just go and help..."
"Okay," she agreed. "But only if you promise to stay here and keep breathing."
Jane nodded into his knees.
Lisbon put her hand on his shoulder briefly before jogging back over to Cho. "How is she?" she asked.
"I'm worried she's going to lose consciousness," Cho told her
Lisbon took the other woman's hand. "Hey Lou, look at me, look at me. It's Agent Lisbon, remember?"
"You called me Lou," she said surprised.
Lisbon grinned, taking that as a good sign. "I thought it seemed appropriate under the circumstances," she told the sheriff.
"Agent Lisbon... I's stupid." Lou slurred.
"Don't worry about it right now," Lisbon told her. "You were just trying to solve the case okay? Everyone will understand that. All you need to worry about is staying awake. "
"Still..." Lou whispered. "I went over your head, and you tol' me not to."
"Shh..." Lisbon hushed her. "Don't worry about it."
"Was still stupid..." Lou replied.
"Hey come on," Lisbon said. "You couldn't have known. And it took me a few cases before I learned that you never say yes to Jane's first scheme. Second one's always much safer. Plus you hit some bad luck. We had no idea Jenkins even owned a gun. This was nobody's fault."
"Okay," Lou said her eyes closing slightly.
"Look at me Lou," Lisbon ordered. "You ever been shot before?"
"No."
"Hurts like a bitch doesn't it?" Lisbon told her. "But don't you worry, we've called the paramedics and they're on your way. And when you get to the hospital they'll give you the good drugs."
"Really?" Lou asked, trying to keep up with the conversation.
"That's right." Lisbon said. "Look at me Lou, focus. There we go. How long you been Sheriff?"
"Be six months next Tuesday."
"Well that's exciting," Lisbon replied. "Can't miss that anniversary can you?"
"Guess not," Lou whispered.
"No," Lisbon agreed.
How she managed to keep up the conversation until the paramedics arrived Lisbon never quite knew. The retired doctor Harry'd called arrived a few minutes before the ambulance and managed to help Cho to slow the blood loss. Between the three of them they managed to keep Lou conscious until the paramedics got there.
Then Lisbon had to give a statement and deal with the rest of it. She eventually told Cho to head back to the hotel with Rigsby and Van Pelt. Lisbon knew she was going to have to be the one to force Jane to go to the hospital. The idiot was still arguing with the paramedics.
"Jane!" she barked. "You're going to the hospital and that's final," she ordered.
"Lisbon I'm fine," he started to say.
"Jane!" she repeated, fully prepared to badger him into it. Then she noticed how lost he looked and she sighed. He may have decided to end their friendship, but that had never been her choice. Seeing him vulnerable and alone, all the old affection came rushing back. "I can go with you if you want," she offered softly.
Jane stared at her for a minute. Lisbon began to worry he wouldn't respond at all; then finally, he nodded once.
xxxxx
TBC
Next one's up tomorrow!