Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with The Mentalist in any way and make no money from fanfiction.
With thanks to Sue Shay and Cumberland River Relic for their friendship, support and insight. Particular thanks to Cumberland river relic for critiquing an early version of this chapter.
8.25am the next day
Abbott drains his mug and puts it down at the edge of his desk. Having fortified himself with his morning caffeine fix, he picks up the Richard Haibach file once more. On top of this, he stacks resources pulled from the California archives. There are tapes of the various SacPD interviews with Richard Haibach and of the ones carried out at the CBI. And reports of the incident with Robert Kirkland, where Benjamin Marks was killed and Haibach and Jane were both taken prisoner.
Not for the first time, Abbott marvels at the tendency with which Jane attracts trouble. If it weren't for Lisbon and her CBI team, he'd be dead many times over. Though he did do the FBI a favour by insisting that his 'guardian angel' join the unit. She's proven to be a first rate cop.
Returning to the files, Abbott runs over the connections in his mind. Lisbon and van Pelt were the first to suspect pedophilia, and to arrest Haibach, but they didn't find the entry to the basement. It must have been well hidden. Or they'd ruled Haibach out as the San Joachin Killer sufficiently early to make a thorough search unlawful - given that the photographs weren't illegal and there was no suspicious history of any other wrongdoing on file.
Haibach was then released after his particularly obnoxious lawyer threatens to sue. So no change there. Different attorney but same MO.
Then Kirkland abducts Richard, acting out the Agent's Red John revenge fantasies, and Haibach loses his thumb. Kirkland must have hidden it somewhere because it's never reunited with its owner and therefore can't be reattached. Kirkland is taken into custody by FBI Agent Reede Smith. Smith later admits to Jane and Lisbon that he is a member of the Blake Association, and that Kirkland was gunned down en route to prison for getting too close to the truth about the existence of the Association.
What an unholy mess.
Meanwhile, it is Cho and Rigsby who discover that Haibach has been abducted when they visit his house to warn him that he may be in danger, and find streaked blood and matted hair samples instead. They quickly search the building, noting the cellar vault, which is open, and report this to SacPD to follow up on. They continue with the search for Haibach's whereabouts, and subsequently for Jane's. The Kirkland case takes precedence.
According to Cho, he filed a report with the CBI authorities to say that Haibach was a person of interest in illegal activities and to request an initial follow up by SacPD. This was sent by e-mail, with a copy also being provided to SacPD, as was procedure. Both these e-mails appear to have vanished. Either Cho forgot to do this, which is unlikely, or this is looking fishy.
Time to gather the troops and to find out exactly what Cho, Lisbon and Jane do remember about these events. And to ask Wiley to search for the missing report.
Three hours later, Abbott is back at his desk, ruminating over the discussions in the conference room. Based on everything that has been said, it seems that the safest way is to treat the Haibach case as potentially relating to the Blake Association corruption. And to comb back through the lists of Californian officers, drawn from the FBI, CBI or local PDs, who were proven to be part of the Blake conspiracy, looking for any links from them to Richard Haibach.
Will the Blake Association ever truly be laid to rest? Two years on and it's still causing trouble.
Even with Wiley's expert computer work, it's going to be a painstaking process. Not to mention that Wiley's also working on cracking some of Haibach's alibis. Whilst the murderer is dead, it's important to understand his reach and the methods that he was able to use.
At least the one for Grace's abduction is now explained. And it's all very clever. Richard Haibach was a far smarter cookie than anyone had realised, even Jane.
Abbott pauses for a moment as he recalls Wiley's initial garbled explanation and then the more concise version as translated by Cho.
A number of e-mail accounts have been identified based on Haibach's known addresses and those of his sister. From the information obtained on one of them, using Jane's expertise to guess the password, it can be seen than Haibach did a lot of hacking but at a fairly basic level. For the more complex stuff, like bugging FBI agents, he must have had outside help. Though where from is still unknown.
Richard Haibach hacked the ticket office for the bus route. He must have identified people who travelled daily, and who therefore were unlikely to differentiate one day from another. Using the ID pictures on the electronic copies of their season tickets, he then selected suitable 'witnesses' for different parts of the journey. Afterwards, he undertook the bus ride himself, gathering all the corroborating evidence but a week earlier, giving him time to be in Austin for Grace's abduction. Then, with a little computer knowhow, he obtained a new ticket and photoshopped onto this an updated ticket stamp to give himself an alibi.
Smart.
And whilst they hadn't proved it yet, it was likely that Haibach had one or more false passports, which had allowed him to travel between Chicago, San Francisco, Denver and Austin, without being identified.
Sighing, Abbott rubs his thumbs over his temples as he tries to make sense of things. Wiley is going to have his work cut out, without a doubt, and it's not something that the others can really help him with. Though Jane's experience with slipping the country after murdering McAllister might prove useful in teasing Haibach's approaches apart. If Jane would share that information.
Not for the first time, Abbott wishes that they'd managed to get Grace van Pelt on board. She and Rigsby had been put on temporary one month contracts when they arrived in Austin, so there was some framework for asking her to assist. But she was at her husband's bedside in a Taos hospital and wasn't likely to have much time for work in the near future… At least they'd been affiliated long enough for both Grace and Wayne to be covered by the Bureau's health insurance.
4pm
This case was turning into a monster. Or rather a big black hole able to munch everything in sight. Time. Money. Personnel. Patience. As good for morale as a winter north of the Arctic Circle.
And Abbott still had one important job to do for the day. A preliminary interview with Hazel Haibach.
Tossing things over in his head, Abbott wondered what best to do. Perhaps he and Fischer should take the interview, with Jane, Cho and Lisbon in the observation room? Jane was too personally involved to be part of the interrogation, but his insights were needed. And Cho was likely to cause grievous harm to someone who had been involved in the abduction of a former colleague and the shooting of his former work partner. Whilst Lisbon's emotions undoubtedly also ran strong, she was the best bet for controlling the other two and getting them to listen.
4.30pm
That was a total waste of time. The one person who could provide concrete evidence about Richard Haibach's activities was refusing to talk. After a 20 minute interview, during which the suspect had not said a word, Abbott and Fischer had both had enough.
Still, tomorrow was another day. Time to finish some paperwork and then go home and sleep on things.