Authors Note: This one's even shorter than the last, but this was all that was needed I think. Thanks for lgmtreader for her beta on this, and to everyone who reviewed.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
When I thought about it later, it wasn't the seconds that I was staring down the barrel of a gun that I thought of. It wasn't the moment I realized that it was Jane – Jane! – that had been the one to put a bullet in the man who would have taken out as many cops as he needed that gave me pause. No, it was the look on Jane's face, that utter look of disbelief when he realized what had happened, what he had done, that was frozen in my mind forever. I will never forget that look.
I thought he had looked hopeless earlier when I had arrested Hardy and we realized that Red John had not only been in the house with us, but that he had gotten away, again. How close had we been to catching that monster? I think it would have been easier if Jane had been furious, had he gone into a rage and started to shout and carry on.
No, instead he had looked up at me with that look of resignation and despair. We had both known that we weren't going to get any information out of Hardy, though I knew that we would at least try. But Jane had just given up. I didn't think he could get anymore hopeless than that moment in that little room when Jane saw that camera and realized just how close we had come.
But it was that look, that look as Hardy laughed with his last breaths, that will never leave my mind. That will haunt me until the day I die. Pain and anger, and just a hint of insanity.