Author's notes:
Thank you to two great writers and friends, make-mine-a-kiaora and Sue Shay, for their help. Be sure to check out their stories - I have favorited them in my profile for easy access.
I do not own the TV show The Mentalist and get no compensation from it. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes only.
Chapter 5 - "Hell On Heels"
The next morning…
Curiosity ate at Henry as he approached the police station for his shift. How had the stakeout gone? Had the chief and the professor found out anything? Did the object even appear?
Pulling his car into the parking lot, he saw Officers Michaela Hinks and Warrick Albury carrying bouquets of flowers into the station. Henry knew what that meant.
Oh, no! What did Professor Marbray do to upset Chief Lisbon now?
As he walked across the pavement, Michaela called out to him.
"There's one more flower arrangement in the professor's car. Bring it in with you."
Henry grabbed the last vase, one with a mix of red, yellow, and white roses, and made his way to the chief's office. As he came to the door, Michaela and Warrick passed by him outbound at a quick pace. They had deposited their handfuls of flowers as fast as possible and turned tail.
That's not good.
Once inside the office, Henry saw a familiar sight - the Three Musketeers staring at Lisbon and Marbray. Now though the three mimicked their old boss' pose - all had their arms crossed as they frowned at Professor Marbray. In contrast, the professor stood with his arms outstretched, palms up in supplication as he spoke.
"Please, Teresa. Please forgive me. I know I got into a pickle."
"A pickle? A pickle is forgetting to pay a utility bill. You almost died last night."
"But I didn't. You rescued me. Again." The professor's attempt at a smile got drowned out by his wife's scowl.
"The worst part is you were reckless. It was your own fault. That's not the way our lives are supposed to be now."
"I know. I wasn't thinking."
"That's right. You weren't thinking. But now you've got a wife and a son who love you and need you. I don't want to hurt like I did before. You and Charlie are the best things to ever come into my life."
The chief teared up. In response, the professor pulled out a handkerchief and began to tamp the tears away from her eyes. As he did so, Marbray began to sob as well.
"Please don't cry, Teresa. I know I made a mistake. I do all sorts of shenanigans. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. But I love you and Charlie and I would never do anything intentionally to jeopardize our life together. Is there any way that you can forgive me?"
"I…I…" The chief couldn't complete her thought.
"The truth is, I've loved you ever since I've known you. And that's what makes the stupid thing I did that much worse. The only saving grace was that you were there to save me. That sums up my entire life when you think about it - you saved me. Please don't shut me out."
The couple embraced. Lisbon's fingers gripped the fabric of Marbray's jacket like a vice. After a sigh she took the handkerchief from her husband, wiped the last moisture from her eyes, and spoke.
"I love you. I forgive you. Just please be more careful. We've built a good life together, and I don't want to lose you again."
Even a year ago, Henry would have left the room, not daring to speak up. Now he had been around the chief and the professor long enough to embolden him. He cleared his throat.
"What happened at the apartment last night?"
Neither Lisbon nor Marbray answered him. They had gone off into their own little world as they hugged each other. Instead Grace Van Pelt piped up.
"According to Teresa, that object you and Annabelle saw came back. She and Archie had left the kitchen window open. While they were looking at it, Archie lunged for it."
"He tried to grab it?"
"Yeah. Only it moved away from him and left Archie sliding out your kitchen window. At the last second, Teresa gripped his leg and pulled him back inside."
Henry shook his head in disbelief.
"No wonder the chief is mad at him."
"Wayne and Kimball and I, we're all mad at J-er-Archie too. It's just like him to do a stunt like that."
The professor looked up.
"Do I need to apologize to you guys too?"
"It wouldn't hurt," said Grace.
"Then I apologize to you as well."
In unison the three nodded.
"What hurts us the most is that you hurt Teresa. You should know better by now than to do that," said Wayne.
Henry stared at the group. The chief had said she didn't want to hurt like she did "before." Grace had started to call the professor a "J" word like when the chief called him "Jane." And Wayne had just told Marbray that he should know better "by now." What was going on among these people? Certain facets of Lisbon and Marbray's life always puzzled Henry, and the arrival of the three friends deepened the mystery. These people bewildered him. Would he and Annabelle be like that when they got that old?
A sudden movement by the doorway got everyone's attention. Officer Warrick Albury stuck his head in.
"Chief? There's a woman here who insists on seeing you. She says…"
That's all he got out of his mouth before a gray-haired dervish of motion swept past him into the office, a woman Henry guessed to be in her late sixties.
"Chief Lisbon! Uhh, I mean Teresa! I'm so glad I caught you. I must talk with you." The woman glanced around the room then smiled when she saw the professor. "Oh! And your husband is with you. I'm glad you're here too, Professor Marbray. Ahmmm, Archie. I remember you both told me to call you by your first names."
The woman reached out with both hands to grasp the chief and the professor at the same time. Henry could tell that Lisbon had recognized the woman but was fumbling for a name. Leave it to her husband to handle that. Marbray spoke up.
"Viola Grainger. It's so good to see you again. It's been what, a couple of months since the Alumni Dinner over at Deverell College? We were seated next to you, weren't we?"
Viola grinned.
"It was so good to have dinner with you both. I'm thankful the two of you are here in Cannon River. We're a better community because of you. And Deverell is certainly a better school with you being there, Mr. Professor-Of-The-Year."
Once again, that odd relationship that the Three Musketeers had with Marbray surfaced. The mouths of all three of them dropped open.
"Wait a minute. Ma'am, you said the professor here got an award?" asked Wayne.
Viola looked over at Wayne Rigsby as if he had descended from another planet.
"You must not be from around here. It was a big story; it got written up in the Cannon River Digest. The Deverell student body president presented Archie with this year's Professor of the Year award." She looked back at Marbray again. "Or should I use that nickname he said all the students call you, 'Dr. Truth'?"
Grace Van Pelt clutched her husband's arm as she inhaled a deep breath. Both hers and Wayne's lips began to twitch as their eyes squinted closed. Their faces reddened and at the same time a pair of snorts burst out of their mouths.
Kimball Cho, whom Henry had regarded as the stoic one of the trio, inhaled a deep breath too. With his voice cracking, he tapped Wayne on the shoulder.
"Gotta excuse myself a minute." Kimball sucked in another big gulp of air. "Gotta go get a coffee."
With that, he walked around the corner of a partition into the chief's kitchenette area. A fraction of a second later, the loudest guffaw Henry had ever heard vibrated off the walls.
Grace had more or less gotten herself back under control until she looked over at Professor Marbray. Then she burst out laughing. Crossing his arms, the professor scowled at her.
"You got a problem with that, Grace? It's a pet name the students gave me."
Wayne came to the aid of his wife.
"So you got the professor of the year award? You know you're gonna have to tell us all about it, Dr. Truth."
Viola waved her hands in the air to get everyone's attention.
"Sorry to say this isn't a social call. I need to talk with the chief about a matter of great urgency. It concerns the welfare of this city."
That got the attention of everyone, particularly Lisbon.
At that moment Kimball Cho returned from the kitchenette to stand beside Wayne Rigsby again. Oddly, he did not have a cup of coffee in his hands.
"What is it Viola?" asked Chief Lisbon.
"I live across the street from the River Manor Apartments and saw something early this morning. It was still dark so I couldn't make out much about what was going on. But I've got a good idea."
"Was it some kind of metallic object?" asked Lisbon.
Viola waved her hand in a dismissive way.
"No, it wasn't that. Much worse."
"What was it? Some other object?" asked Marbray.
"No, it was a man. Hanging out of a third floor window."
The professor and the chief glanced at each other.
"Did you get a good look at the man? Could you identify him?"
"No, Archie. It was too dark to see his face." Henry heard two sighs of relief come from Lisbon and Marbray. "But I did see he was nekkid," said Viola.
Now Henry along the the Three Musketeers stared at the professor.
"Naked?" Marbray's voice cracked as he spoke.
The woman nodded her head for emphasis.
"Yes. 'Nekkid as a jay bird' as the old saying goes." At that instant, Viola looked over at Henry and the Three Musketeers with her brow knotted. "I'm not sure how much I should be saying in front of these folks."
Grace Van Pelt spoke up.
"Oh, don't mind us, we're all friends of Teresa and Archie's. And we all work with law enforcement. You can tell us everything you tell them. So he was as naked as a jaybird? We'd like to hear about this too."
"It wasn't just Nekkid Boy I saw; I saw someone else too."
"Oh, you have to tell us, Viola."
"Coming out after him was a woman. And she was nekkid too."
"Let me get this straight. There were a man and a woman, both naked as you say, fooling around outside the third floor window?" asked Henry. His and Annabelle's third floor window!
"Yes. Only I would say they were cavorting up there, out in public for the whole world to see their sinning."
"Did you get a good look at the woman, Viola?" Chief Lisbon's voice trembled.
"Again, I couldn't see her face, just that she was nekkid too."
"Oh." The chief breathed a sigh of relief.
"But I could tell that she was one of those kinky girls I've read about."
"Kinky girls?" asked Grace.
"Absolutely. I've read about how women like that are taking over big cities like Seattle and Portland, but I'd never expected one to come to Cannon River to flaunt her debauchery here."
"Ma'am, you must tell us everything you saw. Don't spare any details. We're old enough to handle it," Grace said.
Viola looked at the Three Musketeers and Henry.
"Oh, I know you said you all worked with law enforcement, but some things are so sordid it's hard to say out loud."
"Try, please do try. It'll be good to unburden yourself and share your distress with us," Grace said.
"Well, that kinky girl had grabbed the nekkid boy's leg and wrapped her arms around it. I'm convinced it was some sort of deviant sexual maneuver. They were wiggling and twisting back and forth. Nekkid Boy was screaming but she wouldn't let go."
"This sounds so disgusting. Tell us more," said Wayne.
"Actually, I feel kind of sorry for Nekkid Boy," said Viola.
"You do?" Marbray asked.
"Yes, I think he was actually trying to get away from Kinky Girl, but she wouldn't let him go. He was flailing his arms around in the air." Viola stretched out her arms above her head in a circling motion. "But Kinky Girl wasn't having any of that. She was hauling him back into that apartment for more of who knows what kind of depravity. That poor man, getting dragged against his will into that den of iniquity. Do you think he survived?"
Kimball piped up.
"Huh. I forgot my coffee. Excuse me. I gotta go back to the kitchenette." After he did so an even louder guffaw thundered off the walls.
Silence fell over the group of people as glances darted among them. Everyone ended up looking at Teresa Lisbon and Archie Marbray. Just when the quiet in the room was about to move from uncomfortable to excruciating, Professor Marbray waggled his eyebrows at his wife and answered Viola.
"Viola, I don't think I'm breaking any confidences by sharing this with you. Nekkid Boy came to the police station this morning."
"He did? So he's still alive."
"He is. Furthermore, he said he didn't want to be rescued from Kinky Girl, and believe me if you heard some of the things that Kinky Girl did to him you'd…" Marbray didn't finish his statement because Lisbon slapped his arm. He looked at her then resumed. "My dear wife just reminded me that we do have to maintain confidentiality so I won't go into any more details. Let's leave it that Nekkid Boy has made clear that he never wants to leave or hurt or make trouble for Kinky Girl. That guy is gob-smacked in love with her…and apparently the feeling is mutual."
"That's the impression I get too," said Teresa as she rubbed her husband's arm.
"After we had our discussion in this office, Nekkid Boy agreed to curtail public scenes like the ones he and Kinky Girl put on last night. They'll keep their tomfoolery private from now on." Marbray shot a quick look over at Lisbon then back to Viola.
"Well, at least you got them to do that. Their licentiousness won't be on display for the whole world to see."
"I agree. Let's just be thankful for that, Viola," said Marbray as he patted her shoulder.
"Viola, did you happen to see anything else last night?" asked Lisbon.
"You mean like that metal object?"
"Yes."
"Oh, I did. My daughter is in town visiting so I woke her up to take a look at Nekkid Boy and Kinky Girl, but when we got to the window they were gone. My daughter and I did see the metal object though."
"Both of you witnessed it?"
"Yes, but my daughter got a better look than I did. She's out in the lobby, would you like for me to have her come in?"
"Yes, ma'am. We'd like to talk with her," said Lisbon.
Before she turned around to leave, Viola reached out to clasp Lisbon and Marbray again.
"Thank you for listening to an old woman like me ramble on. Despite what I saw last night, I rest easier knowing that two people like you are in the world and especially here in Cannon River. Thank you for being who you are." Viola looked over at Henry, Grace, and Wayne. "You know, you youngsters can learn a lot from this fine couple."
"You are so right, ma'am. We learn new things every day," said Wayne.
"I'll send my daughter in to see you." With that, Viola Grainger walked out the door.
Before anyone had a chance to catch their breath, a blond in her thirties strode in, preceded a good three paces by her air of confidence. First spending a moment to take the measure of each person in the room as if she had X-ray vision, the woman focused on the chief and the professor. Then she stuck out her hand in greeting.
"Chief Teresa Lisbon of the Cannon River Police Department and Professor Archibald Marbray of Deverell College, I'm pleased to finally meet the two of you. I'm Cappadocia Grainger."
To be continued.
Author's notes:
Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe, and Angaleena Presley wrote "Hell On Heels," and they recorded it as the vocal group Pistol Annies on their 2011 album of the same name.
Up next: "It Had To Be You"
