Title: Red Window

Author: Shannon – shannyfish

Disclaimer: I do not own "The Mentalist" or its characters, Warner Brothers and Bruno Heller do. This is merely for entertainment purposes only.

Rating: R (to be safe)

Summary: Sequel to "Suffering is the Best Punishment". With Lisbon gone, Jane leaves CBI to set out to find her and to kill Red John. He won't let Red John kill his family again.

Warning: adult themes

Chapter 3 – "Behind the Façade"

Author's Note: Trailer for "Suffering is the Best Punishment"…not sure how I'd make one for this one, but I shall think on it!

http: / www. mega video. com/ ?v = Q581AW2H

(take out the spaces for )

I'd also suggest maybe youtube-ing the song I'm using for the quote. It's sort of relevant to Red John, but also Lisbon and what Jane's going to be watching. I guess it really sort of goes to everyone in their own ways.

...

"There's a face that we hide

Till the nighttime appears,

And what's hiding inside,

Behind all of our fears,

Is our true self,

Locked inside the façade!"

- "Façade" from Jekyll & Hyde the Musical

CBI Headquarters

She kept looking. Jane sighed in frustration. He didn't know how many times he'd watched the surveillance tapes from the gas station. There were only two views. One of the cameras was mounted behind the cash register and the other was at the other end of the store. There wasn't any camera that faced out to the actual outside of the station. But from what he saw, Lisbon was acting like nothing was wrong.

"How many times are you going to watch this?" Hightower asked.

"As many as I need to," Jane responded as he zoomed in on Lisbon's face. He'd watch her carefully gather things through the store, but it was the time she spent at the cash register that most interested him. She'd smile towards the doors every once in a while and then he watched as she made out the postcard to him. She was calm and Jane wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

Lisbon had to have a plan was all he could think of.

He wasn't sure what the plan was, but he was hoping that Lisbon knew what she was doing. Jane was happy that she looked well. He'd still been worrying even with the postcard that she was lying in some field somewhere decomposing. But this was proof of life. They had to have had her see someone in order for her to be up and walking and looking just normal.

"She looks alive at least," Hightower commented

Jane nodded. At least. "They didn't get a license plate or anything?" Jane asked.

Hightower shook her head at him. "Just what you have there. She paid in cash. She wasn't accompanied in by anyone. She wrote the postcard covertly while in the store. That's all we know."

"Well, she has three coffees and a water. I'm going to assume that she was with three others," Jane said. "Also look at the snack choices. Flaming Hot Cheetos, a roll of plain Donettes, Honey Roasted Peanuts, and a Snickers bar," he pointed out.

Hightower shrugged. "Sounds like road trip food to me…and there could be two others with Lisbon. "

"It's obvious she's got the water. She took her time to select the Crystal Light to put in it and then she didn't make any of the coffees the way she takes it," Jane told her. He was sure that he was right. There were three others with Lisbon, which was probably why she didn't make a break for it. If it had been just one, then she wouldn't have hesitated. "She's looking for a way to escape, but she might be stuck…" Jane rambled and then shot a look straight at Hightower. "We have to find her."

"Finding Teresa Lisbon isn't the sole priority of the CBI, Mr. Jane," Hightower said. "We will continue to pursue any leads that we get, but we can't just go house to house in the state of California looking for her. We have to have some place to look. The woman who mailed the postcard said that Lisbon had said that they were just stopping in for the gas. They were driving through. She could be practically anywhere by now."

He watched as Hightower left. She was right; of course, the postmark alone on the postcard told them that they were at least a day behind…which really meant two days. They had no way for sure to be able to track them. Rigsby and Cho were working to see if any of the traffic cameras at the time around that area had a vehicle that went through that looked like Lisbon was in. Yes, it was a long shot, but it was something…and with any luck they'd at least get a vehicle color, type, and model if not the license plate number as well.

He could hope anyways.

He had a feeling that the whole team was hoping.

Jane felt his heart break on the inside. He had almost told Van Pelt that he'd been the one to tell Red John to take Lisbon. It had been his decision. Of course, his decision had been right. Lisbon was alive. Now they just had to search the world to find her and get her back.

…

CBI Headquarters

A week.

Jane started to do the math in his head. Lisbon had been missing now for over fourteen days, Jane was pretty sure that it was more like seventeen days. That was nearly a month. They had had no more leads. None of the traffic camera research had panned out. They just had the postcard and the surveillance video to go off of. That wasn't enough.

He was staring at the ceiling as he lay on his couch. Hightower had ordered them to go investigate a murder, but Jane hadn't moved. They'd already been brought up to speed that it appeared to be a Red John case. Jane really didn't want to deal with Red John unless there was a clue to Lisbon in it for him. He knew that he was selfish but that was how it was going to be. He would be selfish and childish.

He closed his eyes as the memory of Lisbon yelling flooded his memory. "Can't you see there's people who care about you, who need you? You're being selfish and childish. And I want you to stop it!" Lisbon had insisted when they'd been so close to Red John before. They'd lost him because Lisbon hadn't waited, she didn't want to risk it. They found the girl safe, but Jane had been forced to shoot their only hope of finding out who Red John was when Dumar tried to shoot Lisbon.

Maybe he just couldn't do it without her.

He needed Lisbon.

He needed her especially there.

He loved her.

Jane sighed and rubbed his face. He couldn't do this without Lisbon. She kept him in line; he could still easily manipulate Cho, Rigsby, and Van Pelt. Which was fine, but sometimes he needed someone there to keep him in check. He needed Lisbon.

"Jane, it's time to go," Van Pelt said.

"I'm not going," Jane told her evenly.

"Jane," Van Pelt said. "You heard Hightower before… This is a Red John case, we need you there…"

"No you don't."

"What if it's a copycat again?"

A valid point. But at the same time he knew that it was invalid as well. He'd been training them enough to be able to spot the inconsistencies if it were just a copycat. After all, they'd all three been together through their fair share of Red John cases. He had faith in them. They could do it without him.

"Please," Van Pelt said. "I know this sounds stupid, but I'd feel better with you there."

He opened his eyes to study her. She was standing not more than three feet away from him. He looked at her eyes, she looked worried. He didn't know why she'd be worried. It was a crime scene; she'd been to lots of those. He finally nodded and sat up. She needed him there even if he knew that they could do it without him. Maybe it was just his presence that comforted her. Whatever it was, he'd be there for her now.

And since he was going, he'd hope for a clue.

…

TBC…