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 6 - "It Had To Be You"


Henry watched while Cappadocia Grainger stood with her hand extended as Teresa Lisbon and Archie Marbray stared at her. Slowly each of them raised a hand to shake hers.

"Ms. Grainger, did you want to file a report about the couple your mother observed?"

The woman scrunched up her nose.

"No. My mother saw that couple but I didn't." She chuckled. "Besides, I could care less about what two people are doing in the middle of the night unless I'm one of those two people."

Henry could see the chief and the professor relax their postures.

"Ma'am, am I to understand that you saw the flying metal object last night?" asked Lisbon.

"Yes, I did, and it might be good for you to know my observations."

"Good, because…"

Ms. Grainger interrupted the chief.

"I suppose the first reaction of some people would be to label it a UFO."

"Yes, ma'am, that's…"

"And technically that would be a correct answer for most people, based on the fact that UFO simply stands for Unidentified Flying Object. It doesn't necessarily mean space aliens."

"Yes, ma'am, so if you…"

"In my case, it would be better to term it an IFO, an Identified Flying Object. What I don't know is why it's flying around my mother's neighborhood."

"You say you know what the object is?"

"It's a drone." Ms. Grainger stopped talking to look at the chief's bewildered face. "Yes. A drone. A civilian version of a small surveillance drone that the government uses. I'm guessing the XG-57a or more likely the XG-57b."

"Ms. Grainger, how long have you been in town?"

"A week."

Chief Lisbon crossed her arms.

"That's about how long this object has been flying around."

Ms. Grainger waved her hand to dismiss the chief's intent with the question.

"I'm not the source of your drone, Chief. I work for the government, the Feds; and I'm familiar - quite familiar - with the military version of your drone menace. I've used the XG-58b and XG-58c for some time now. That's why I recognized the shape of the XG-57."

Until this point, the professor had stayed out of the conversation, rubbing his chin as he looked at Ms. Grainger. Henry recognized that gesture as one Marbray fell into while he was evaluating an academic topic - or a suspect. His face brightened as he spoke, another sign to Henry that the professor wanted to steer the conversation his way.

"Sorry, Ms. Grainger, I didn't catch the federal agency you work for."

Ms. Grainger didn't miss a beat.

"You're certainly a keen observer, aren't you, Archie." Then she addressed the chief. "You married a smart one there, didn't you, Teresa? May I call you Teresa and Archie? You can call me Capp."

Henry saw something he rarely saw - someone besides Chief Lisbon who made Professor Marbray shut up.

"How did you know we were married, ma'am? Did your mother tell you about us?"

"No. She had only said that she'd met the police chief when we talked before coming down here. I knew about you before my mother ever came to Cannon River. As a matter of fact, I made it point to find out before I would support Mom's move."

"I don't follow…Capp."

"Teresa, my mother and I are two gals who don't see eye-to-eye on very much, but we both study things a lot. I love her dearly and look out for her. When she told me her intent to move to Cannon River and asked if I approved, I applied my intelligence-gathering skills to your city. Mom had grown up here and had a 'hankering' as she put it to come back. I had to find out if Cannon River was still the 'Paradise of the Pacific Northwest' that she grew up in."

"And what did you find?"

"Only good things, things that reflect well on you. I don't have to tell you that in the time since you've become the police chief, Cannon River's crime rate decreased 23%. That's remarkable for any city of any size. I credit that your leadership."

"Thank you." Henry saw the chief perk up; a compliment affected her like anyone else.

"And since you brought in the professor here as a consultant, your case-closed rate has improved 21%. Again, that's a miracle for any city of any size. No wonder you two married! You were already joined at the hip as it were. You make a good team. Of course for you…"

Lisbon cut off Capp Grainger before she could complete her sentence.

"Getting back to the drone…"

"So you believe me now, Teresa?"

"Let's suppose for a minute that's true."

"And it is, believe me."

Henry saw something snap with the chief. Her eyes darkened. One thing she had a hard time tolerating was when someone else seized control in an interview, and up to this point Capp Grainger had pretty much steered the conversation any which way she wanted. He knew that didn't sit well with Lisbon.

"Why should we believe that you, an expert on drones, have nothing to do with this one aside from merely visiting across the street from where it appeared. Surely you can understand our skepticism about…"

"Capp!" Cho had rounded the corner from the kitchenette and stood dumbstruck as he looked at the new arrival. She had the same look on her face for a moment but then her in-control demeanor returned.

Capp Grainger pushed - pushed! - her way in between Chief Lisbon and Professor Marbray, knocking them both off-balance to get to Cho.

"Kimball Cho, you randy rascal!" She hugged him then wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Capp, you naughty nymph!" In turn Cho wrapped his arms around her waist. His face clouded for a moment, and Henry could tell he was in thought. "Viola Grainger. Capp…Grainger. Hey, your actual last name is Grainger. I thought you'd just given me a made-up name when we worked together."

"Normally, I do. But in your case I made an exception. Viola is my mother."

Henry heard Wayne whisper to his wife. "Grace, does it feel like the temperature in here just shot up ten degrees?" They exchanged conspiratorial looks.

Shutting off the whole rest of the world including the other people gathered in the office, Cho and Grainger gazed at each other as they stayed locked in their embrace. Henry looked over at the chief and the professor and found their stern expressions had softened.

"Ut-uhm." Chief Lisbon cleared her throat. "Kimball, I take it that the two of you have met before? Capp says she works for the federal government."

"That's right, Teresa." Cho never looked away from Capp Grainger as he replied to the chief. "We worked on an inter-agency mission together a while back."

"Capp says she's knowledgeable about drones, and what we have here in Cannon River is a drone flying around town."

Cho chuckled.

"She's well-versed in those."

"So, you can vouch that she shouldn't be a suspect in this case?"

At last Cho and Grainger released each other.

"Capp is many things, but a suspect in your case is not one of them. I can vouch for her."

Professor Marbray spoke up.

"I didn't catch what the mission was that you two were working on, Kimball."

"You didn't, did you? Smart boy." Now Cho made Marbray shut up. Would wonders never cease?

"Don't be too hard on Archie and Teresa, Kimball. I'm glad they're in Cannon River protecting my mother and the other law-abiding people." Grainger stopped for a moment, looking at Lisbon then Cho. She smiled. "Wait a minute! You told me you worked for the California Bureau of Investigation before you came to the FBI. Now I remember; you worked for Teresa and you worked with…"

Cho gave a quick scan of the room.

"Yeah, I worked with Grace Van Pelt and Wayne Rigsby over here to my left. We've been having a reunion of sorts this week, helping Teresa and her husband Archie move into their new house. It's been good seeing the old gang again. And getting to know Archie Marbray."

"Uhh, yeah. Right." As with so much that surrounded Archie Marbray, something about the conversation between Cho and Grainger seemed a bit off to Henry.

Cho had not taken his gaze away from Grainger, and now he shook his head.

"Of all the police stations in all the towns in all the world you walk in here."

"Aren't you glad I did?" Capp Grainger stroked Cho's shoulder.

Cho grinned at her. Henry had seen - and heard - more emotion from Cho in the last half hour than at any time since he'd met him.

Chief Lisbon tugged on the sleeve of her husband's jacket.

"Arch, what Kimball just said sounds kind of familiar. What is it?"

"He was paraphrasing a quote from Casablanca," Marbray replied.

"Casablanca?"

"Yeah. That old movie with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman."

"Huh? I've never seen it."

Marbray did something in response to Lisbon that Henry often saw Lisbon do to Marbray: he rolled his eyes.

"Really? Reeeaaally?" Marbray shook his head. "Teresa, my dear, we need to get you caught up on pop culture."


To be continued.


Author's notes:

Isham Jones and Gus Kahn published "It Had To Be You" in 1924, and Dooley Wilson performed the song in the movie Casablanca. My favorite version is Ella Fitzgerald's on her album, Twelve Nights In Hollywood.

Up next: "You Do Something To Me"