Thanks so much for the lovely reviews, followings and personal messages about this story!

When I started writing it, I had no idea where it would be going and now it's all becoming very clear. Hope you enjoy the next chapter, I hope to be posting daily as I've finished six chapters so far. Again, thanks a lot! Reviews are very welcome as well as feedback.

Chapter three

Patrick Jane had spent his entire weekend reading lazily in bed or sleeping, unable to even come out to fetch some food. The headaches had gotten worse, sometimes it felt like his head would explode. Then they would suddenly be better and he would think that whatever bug he had, had gone away, casting hope and then crushing it when they returned with a vengeance.

That Monday morning, he actually felt a bit fitter and ready to dive into work and so he left the attic he had made his own little private space to go downstairs and join the others.

Lisbon was already there, dark rings underneath her eyes as if she had barely slept. He hesitated to ask about it but decided against it.

"Good morning," he said cheerily. "How was your weekend?"

"Okay," she replied. "Been catching up on paperwork. How was yours?"

Debating whether to tell her or not, he decided to go for the less feeling sorry for himself approach and just smiled. "Fine. Been catching up on reading."

"Good."

As the bullpen filled up with people, Jane walked into the kitchen and came back with a cup of coffee for Lisbon and a cup of tea for himself, nodding politely at the agents present there. There was a comrade atmosphere lingering about as people spoke of their weekends and their families. Here was where Jane didn't feel so lonely and he liked it.

But then it all went to hell.

Exactly two seconds later, the phone on Gale Bertram's desk rang. A minute later, a very pale Bertram, head of the CBI, entered the bullpen and stared in shock at Teresa Lisbon who instantly caught his eye.

"Sir?" she asked cautiously, rising from her chair as Grace Van Pelt, Wayne Rigsby, Kimball Cho and Patrick Jane looked up. "What's going on?"

He scraped his throat. "It's Kate Lomax. She's dead."

Instantly the bullpen became very quiet as they stared at their Director. "What? How?" Lisbon uttered.

"Apparently it was a heart attack. Her husband found her dead in bed. She died in her sleep."

More silence. It was Jane who said it aloud. "Just like Janet Gray."

Gale Bertram nodded quietly. "Just like Gray."

It was those words that set the entire department in a stir. Two young women dying in a few weeks' time in the exact same manner?

The fact that, behind them, veteran Agent Tom Peterson suddenly collapsed to the ground didn't help either. Gasping for air, clutching his chest, Peterson couldn't breathe at all as he lay crumbled to the ground. Instantly surrounded by his co-workers, he was resuscitated. Paramedics were called. He went into cardiac arrest twice before they even loaded him into an ambulance.

Later they learned that he died before they reached the hospital. Every effort to save him, was useless. Just like Janet Gray and Kate Lomax before him, he died a quick death. In his case, one could even argue about the heart attack, as he had been a bulky man with a notorious appetite for sweets.

Patrick Jane, just like Teresa Lisbon, couldn't help but think: It's Red John. Red John. It's Red John!

Gale Bertram walked with strong and quick pace through the bullpen, barking orders at anyone who was in and not working on urgent cases. He was panicking and in his panic he became a forceful entity to deal with. Before his time, when there were others like Minelli leading the CBI, Red John had been able to come in and kill off agents. He would make sure that this would not happen again. Yet it was already being done. Three people died in the course of a short period of time and who knows how many others might follow?

"Lisbon. My office. Now!"

Teresa Lisbon shared a glance with Jane, beckoning him with a curt headshake to go with her. Jane, usually the one able to lighten the mood, was calm, quiet and serious as he followed her. He had that Red John-glare in his eyes, that strange mood she knew referred to the man they had been searching for so many years now.

But something inside of her – and she knew Jane felt the same – didn't speak of Red John. This was not the way he performed his tricks. His kills were bloody, gory. These were strange deaths, almost natural deaths. Had they not occurred within weeks from each other, no one would have thought better of them.

Bertram hardly looked up when they entered his office. Both of them sat down quietly, shocked by the three deaths happening in such a short time.

"We have a situation," Bertram spoke quietly. "And it's one that we need to solve now. I just got word back from the coroner's office. He's examining the bodies of Tom Peterson and Kate Lomax right now."

"And?" Teresa leaned forward.

"They both died of a heart attack. He is running toxicology screens and tissue samples through every test possible. It might take days before we have all the results but he's running emergency procedures."

"And Janet Gray?" Jane asked slowly.

"Unfortunately she was cremated. There is no way of finding out now what has happened to her."

"But you think she was murdered, don't you?" Jane interrupted.

Bertram looked at his consultant wearily. "That's the conclusion we have to draw."

"How?" Lisbon asked concerned. "What can cause cardiac arrest just like that?"

"That, we need to find out and we need to do it asap. I've got big guns breathing down my neck. I can't afford another agent to die on me just like that."

"Sir, are you assuming Red John is behind this?" Lisbon asked tensely.

"That's for you to find out, Agent Lisbon. But if it's him, he has another person working on the inside of the CBI. Image the scandal if this gets leaked. Who's going to trust an Agency that can't even protect its own? Lisbon … Teresa … I'm putting you in charge of the investigation. Drop everything you've been doing and find out who is doing this to us."

Lisbon nodded. "Yes, sir."

She rose slightly, waiting for Jane to do the same. But Jane remained seated in his chair, folded his hands together and seemed to be away in thought.

"Jane?" Lisbon looked at him more intensely. "Are you alright?"

Jane slowly looked up. "It wasn't Red John. He wouldn't do this without giving us a sign. I don't feel him around. It's definitely not him. So that means we've got another major enemy to reckon with."

"The first thing we need to find out is what Janet Gray, Kate Lomax and Tom Peterson had in common," Lisbon said. "That's our starting point. It's the only lead we've got."

Bertram nodded. "Lisbon," he ended seriously. "I don't want upset and fear within the Agency. We need to do this right. Make sure the troops are calm and continue the investigation professionally and thoroughly."

"Yes, sir."

Lisbon turned to leave, watching Jane rise from his chair. He followed her outside as she walked back to the bullpen, scraped her throat and drew the attention of the other agents.

"Everyone," she spoke with loud but firm voice. "I know that all of you are in shock. So am I. But we have work to do. Despite our feelings of what has happened here, we need to figure out what has happened to Kate Lomax and Tom Peterson as quickly as possible. If you have anything on either of them, things they might have said, enemies they might have had, come to me and tell me. If you need it to be confident, let me know. We are going to do everything we can to make sure that this is solved quickly."

One of the agents came closer, her voice upset and trembling. "So they were murdered?" she asked.

Lisbon looked at the young woman who adjusted her glasses. "We don't know that yet," she replied. "But it cannot be a coincidence that two agents both died within a few hours from each other with the same symptoms. So yes, I'm afraid we have to assume they were murdered."

"And Janet Gray?" another woman asked. "Aren't we forgetting her?"

Lisbon empathically shook her head lightly. "Now, we are not forgetting about Janet. And yes, we must assume that she might have fallen victim too. Unfortunately we cannot prove that as no autopsy was done and she was cremated. We are considering opening a file on her death too. So if you have something that might help us, let us know."

With that, Lisbon returned to her desk, grabbed her car keys and beckoned Jane and Cho to go with her. As they walked to her car, Lisbon spoke for only them to hear. "Let's hope the Coroner has found something," she said. "That's our first lead. At least then we'll know what we're dealing with."

"It's not the what that troubles me," Jane replied, "but the how and the who."

"I know, Jane." Lisbon started her car and left her parking space. "The who might be linked to the how."

"Well," Jane spoke slowly. "I do know something Gray, Lomax and Peterson had in common."

Lisbon looked up shocked, staring at Jane in her rearview mirror. "What, Jane?"

Jane's voice was very quiet as he said, "They were my friends."

Lisbon opened her mouth to retort, stopped by Cho's glare. Instantly her mind started to grasp the minor details of these three people. Janet Gray, being the motherly figure to Jane's early grief. Kate Lomax' coffee fetching always coinciding with Jane's trips to the kitchen. And then there was Peterson. Suddenly Lisbon remembered Peterson's chats with Jane about football and baseball games. They were brief chats, like men did when they had a common interest, but they were chats nonetheless.

"Jane," she spoke slowly. "You said you were feeling off a few weeks ago. Please tell me that you are okay now."

Jane hesitated to lie, only to realize that he couldn't. He just shrugged and said nothing, as a cold fear grasped Lisbon's heart.

Jane, sitting in the backseat, looked outside at the CBI-building he was so familiar with. Suddenly it looked hostile. Filled with possible enemies. "Trust no one," he whispered as he turned and looked out of the front window.

Lisbon and Cho could only confirm that feeling.