A/N: All characters, cases, and locations belong to Bruno Heller, CBS, and affiliates. Merry Christmas everyone! A chapter for the holiday season. I had reconstructive knee surgery and have been really busy and a little bit of writer's block with this story recently. Please review and let me know what you think of the newest chapter.
"I hate zoos," Rigsby said as they walked towards the Sacramento aquarium building.
"You hate zoos? Who hates zoos?" Cho said, an eyebrow raised. Cho carried two large loaves of white, freshly made bread.
"Jane is this is just some stupid excuse to go to a petting zoo, I swear to God I'm going to kill you," Lisbon grumbled, following everyone into the brick building.
The dimmed lights set off the blue and green LED lights and glowing tanks. "5,567," Jane said looking at them as he led the way towards the back of the building, swinging the large butterfly net like a cane and he was Charlie Chaplin. "The Artist's clue for his next victim, who we suspect he already has."
Cho and Rigsby exchange a glance. "Okay, I'm going to bite, what are you talking about," Rigsby said, tapping one of the fishing tanks as the fish scattered.
"Come with me and all will be revealed," Jane said confidently.
They caught some attention, especially from school groups (one youngster asked Cho if he had ever shot anyone) as Jane led to them to a rounded, tall tank in the corner.
"Oh god, is it—is that an ear?"
Stuck on one of the tall seaweed plant was a cut off woman's ear, bloated and bloody among the four large box jellyfish, complete with a silver, long earring attached.
"It is indeed and viola, I give you the next clue. The box jellyfish killed 5,567 last year, making it one of the most deadly animals in the world." Jane held up the butterfly net, dripping with water, the ear situated in the net.
Lisbon snapped on her gloves. "Get these kids out of here, Cho," she called behind her shoulder. "Looks like he left us a recording," she said, bending down to pick up a rudimentary black recording device in the crevice next to the tank.
She pressed play on the side of the recorder and a scrambled voice began to speak.
"Hello Agent Lisbon. It's been a long time since our last encounter. I've missed our little chats. I see you've found me next clue. Congratulations to you and Mister Jane, as I'm sure he's not too far away. I look forward to working with his brilliant mind, as I'm sure the great Red John has."
Jane's hands automatically clinched at his sides and Lisbon's eyes flew up to his face. Her look seemed to soothe him.
"My absence has made my hunger for the game intensify like nothing else has. I think you'll find the chase even more invigorating this time. I really must go, the cake in the oven's almost done and our mutual friend must be getting lonely without me. Ta ta, Agent Lisbon. I'll be waiting. Goodbye, Mister Jane. I'm sure we'll have the pleasure of meeting."
"How long do we have?" Cho said tensely.
"Less than a day," Lisbon said, bagging the evidence as a swarm of CSU personnel came into the small building. The corner led.
"Is this the ear?" she asked, reaching out to take the butterfly net from Jane. She clucked distastefully at the net, but Jane just whistled and walked around, looking at all the fish.
"Judging by the amount of tissue damage and blood loss, I'd say it was cut off premortum, your victim is female, most likely early twenties, white, around five foot ten."
Lisbon nodded, scribbing the notes down as the flashes of CSU's cameras lit up the room. "Thank you Doctor, let us know when you get the DNA back and put a rush on it. We're on a time limit here."
She joined Cho near the exit "We need to get a rush on the prints and talk to the rest of the witnesses for the first murder. All of the other victims were connected in some way. Jane, hurry up we're heading back to the office."
"I'll get Rigsby," Cho said, leading towards the entry, but stopped short and held up the two bags of bread. "Hey Jane, what's the bread for anyways?"
"For the petting zoo, of course."
*The Mentalist*
Grace looked up from running the names of witnesses to see a man standing in the doorway, looking around the bull pen expectantly.
He was tall and thin with light brown hair and freckles sprinkled on his cheeks. She immediately recognized him from the video of the three Lisbon brothers.
"Can I help you, sir?"
He turned to look at her and she noticed a small child holding onto his hand. She was young, maybe three or four. Her brown hair was much darker than her father's and her green eyes looked just like someone else's Van Pelt knew.
"Oh, hey. Yeah, I'm looking for Teresa Lisbon," he said smoothly with a small smile. "I'm her brother, Andrew. Do you know where she is?"
Grace offered him a smile. "She's out in the field right now, but I can call her and see when they're coming back."
"Oh, no that's all right. I don't want to bother her," he said, picking the little girl up from the ground. "Do you mind … would it be all right if I wait for her to come back? There's just something I need to talk to her about."
"Of course," she said with a smile. "No one sits at that desk over there. Feel free to use it. I have some stuff that your daughter can use to color if you want."
The girl looked over to her at her mention and gave Grace a small smile. She wore a light purple dress and tiny white shoes. She had freckles sprinkled on her nose and pale skin that made her emeralds of eyes grow.
As Grace got them settled, she heard the bing of the computer, printing her results. She settled back in her chair and emailed them to the team's phones.
"She's beautiful," Van Pelt said, looking at the very concentrated little girl.
"Thank you," Andrew said with a small smile. "Her name is Piper. Piper how old are you?"
The little girl looked up with a frown at being interrupted. "Piper be three," she said confidently and then continued coloring.
"Aw, she's so cute. She looks just like Lisbon," Grace said with a smile.
Andrew's mouth quirked up as his daughter continued to color on the paper Grace had handed to him. "Yeah, she and Teresa both are carbon copies of our mother, Piper's grandmother."
He brushed a curl out of the little girl's face. A soft sadness came over his face at the mention of his passed mother. Grace felt pity pang in her heart. Her own mother was alive and well in Iowa with her father and two sisters.
"I'm sorry. I know she died in a car accident, drunk driver."
Andrew's eyes filled with moisture, but he blinked it away. "It happened a long time ago."
"Daddy, where Aunt Reese?"
He smiled down at the girl. "She'll be here soon, baby."
Grace's phone rang on the desk. "There she is now," she announced. "Hi, Boss. Your brother is here. Uh huh. Okay, okay, will do. Thanks." Grace turned to look at Andrew. "She said they're parking now and should be up in just a few minutes."
He smiled and nodded. They made small talk until Piper spotted Lisbon and the rest of the team.
"Aunt Reese!" the girl shouted, rushing towards Lisbon happily. Lisbon laughed and crouched down to pick her up.
"Hello, Piper," she said, pecking the little girl on the cheek with a smile as she settled on Lisbon's hip. "Where your daddy?"
"In office," she said, squirming to be set down and taking her aunt's hand and leading back to the bull pen. "Daddy, found Aunt Reese!"
Andrew rose up from his chair to hug his sister for quite a few minutes. "Hey, Reese, got a second to talk?"
"Yeah, let's go to my office. Hey Piper, you wanna hang out with Jane here for a little while. He knows magic tricks."
Piper turned to looked at Jane suspiciously. "You do?"
Jane smiled gently at the miniature Lisbon. "I do indeed."
"Truth?" she said with frown.
Jane heard Rigsby chortle and Grace giggle.
"Truth, on my honor," he said sincerely.
"'kay," she said indifferently, allowing Jane to lead her back to his coach without further incident.
"Cho, Rigs, help Grace get the rest of the witnesses in here and call CSU. Come on, Drew," she said with a smile, moving towards her office.
She pushed opened the glass doors to her office and Andrew followed her. She turned to sit down to find Andrew's feverish pacing in her office space.
"Reese, I think I saw dad," he whispered desperately.