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 7 – "Blessings in Disguise"

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 )

...

"What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise." – Oscar Wilde

CBI Headquarters

The office had been frantic the last few days. There were a lot of cases going on, but then everything had seemed to stop when Lisbon's social security number and signature had pinged. It wasn't a postcard, but it was definitely something. Hightower had been making sure that it wasn't getting pushed to the bottom of the pile and so in return, Jane had been on his best behavior. He'd even closed a case in just a few hours.

"Do we know where Lisbon apparently was?" Van Pelt asked she they all pretended to look at case files.

"Idaho," Jane said.

"Why aren't we flying there? Haven't there been two clues that she's there?" she asked.

"Our jurisdiction is in California," Cho spoke up.

"The febs would let us work the case too," Rigsby spoke up. "Just like we'd let them work our case if it involved one of their agents being missing."

Jane knew that that was true, but the problem here was that Hightower was there. They'd have already left if Minelli hadn't retired. He noticed Hightower making her way towards them and Jane decided to make it look like they were actually working on the file they all had. "So, I think that we should look into what the wife knows… She knows something."

"You haven't met her yet," Van Pelt pointed out.

"The wife always knows something," Jane told her with a small smile.

"I hope I'm not interrupting," Hightower said. "But I figured you'd all like to look over the tapes from the Target?"

Without another word, they all stood up and were soon following Hightower. Jane was hopeful. The last postcard had come from Idaho. The store cameras there hadn't caught anything useful. Almost all the women looked the same in the low quality footage and it was in black and white.

When he saw the footage, he immediately knew that this would be different. It was high quality and there were different cameras and angles already up. "Have we confirmed that it was Lisbon?" he asked before he got his hopes too high.

"Just got here," the tech spoke up. "I have it a few minutes before her social was run. Ready?"

"Go ahead," Hightower said.

The footage started and Jane watched as a woman with dark hair came into view. Her face couldn't be seen, but he had a feeling that that was because the cameras were mounted in the ceiling. He waited patiently as it soon became her turn at the register. The tech zoomed in and they watched as Lisbon looked around and then put in her information. Her real information. Then Jane realized something. She wasn't alone.

"The girl is with her," Jane pointed out and touched the screen to highlight his point. A moment later, she looked straight up and then she talked to the girl and she looked up as well.

"Freeze that," Hightower said.

And the image stopped. "That's Kaydance Millary…" Jane said. The case that they'd been so desperate to try to solve. The case of the missing girl with the horrible parents. "Why is she with Lisbon?"

"She looks kind of like Lisbon," Van Pelt spoke up. "Maybe they did it on purpose?"

"Lisbon would have put something on her postcard if the child was with her," Jane said.

"He's right," Cho said.

"Maybe it's a new thing?" Rigsby offered.

"Print out that image and then continue," Hightower said.

"That's the end of that section, but they sent us other footage they thought we'd be interested in along with the contents of what was purchased and the name on the card," the tech said as he switched to the camera footage of Lisbon and the girl ordering pretzels and drinks and then sitting and talking. A man soon approached them and talked with them. Before long they were leaving together.

"What's the name on the card?" Hightower asked.

"Simon Evans," the tech said.

The camera changed to the parking lot where they were loading the car and then eventually to where they pulled around to have the Christmas tree put on the top of the vehicle.

"Can we get a license plate?" Hightower asked.

"I'll try to run it," the tech said. "Do you want me to print out their receipt?"

"Please," she said and then turned to the team. "It looks like they've stopped in Idaho. This was in Twin Falls, but the postcard's postmark is from Ketchum."

"How far apart are the two places?" Jane asked.

"A little over eighty miles."

"Does Ketchum have a Target or a Walmart? Or anything similar?"

"I'm not sure, Mr. Jane."

"I'll go look it up," Rigsby immediately volunteered.

"I'll run Simon Evans through the system," Van Pelt said.

Cho spoke up. "Ma'am, if we decide that Lisbon is in either Twin Falls or Ketchum, may we fly to Idaho?"

"I'll have to see what evidence you have first," Hightower said.

Cho nodded and headed off with the others.

"We're coming up on three weeks until Christmas," Jane said. "We have to bring them both home before Christmas." He couldn't bear to think that Lisbon and Kaydance were forced to experience a holiday that was supposed to be joyous in the company of Red John's friends. That was unacceptable.

"We're going to try," Hightower said. "But we have to have the evidence. For now, I'm going to get on the phone and contact the police departments and fax over the picture of Lisbon and Kaydance Millary along with this Simon Evans. Hopefully we'll get something."

…

Cho had said that Lisbon being taken was a blessing in disguise because if they'd chosen anyone else to play house as the mom, they'd never have connected the two cases. Lisbon was smart and she was able to get out clues and pass along information that they desperately needed. He wished he could talk to her, just for a minute.

He'd become unproductive.

The lead on Lisbon and Kaydance Millary had gone cold. There was no evidence to tell them where in Idaho to look. The name Simon Evans was an alias or he just wasn't in the system at all. Jane didn't think he couldn't be in the DMV. The techs hadn't been able to find a good face shot of him in order to run it through facial recognition, which left them still with no leads. The license plate had been switched; it belonged to some old lady who didn't drive her car anymore.

It'd been over a week now.

He stared up at the calendar. It was about two weeks until Christmas… At this rate, they'd maybe have enough evidence to go and get Lisbon by the next Christmas. He doubted that Lisbon or Kaydance Millary would appreciate having to spend well over a year with whoever was holding them captive. This Simon.

Jane felt a wave of worry wash over him as he thought about Lisbon and how they'd figured that there were two to three other men with her. There had been three, she'd said before. They hadn't seen the other two. He wondered if this was some elaborate sick game of house and if he'd touched Lisbon. Jane felt anger rising as he thought about all the things that could have happened in this time. He knew Lisbon, she could push past things, she'd bury them inside of herself.

"Don't worry, we're going to find her."

Jane looked up to see Van Pelt standing there. "How do you know?"

"We always solve our cases, remember? And plus, it's Lisbon. She's left us this many clues so far."

"What if she can't hold on much longer? We've taken so long as it is," Jane said and then looked down at the floor. "It's my fault anyways," he mumbled.

"Jane-"

"It is! And that's the truth!" he blurted out.

They stared at each other for several silent minutes before he shook his head. If he told her the truth, she'd tell Rigsby and Cho and then what would happen to them all? In one hope, it would keep them distanced from him and possibly out of harm and in another outcome, they may just accept it and move on.

"What do you mean, Jane?" Van Pelt finally asked.

"When we were out there… Red John was there… They had Lisbon and re-opened her side…she was bleeding all over the ground," he said looking down in order to mask the tears. "I didn't have a gun…I couldn't do anything to save her… There were the three men and Red John."

"We all know that," she said gently. "That wasn't your fault."

"He asked me to choose."

"To choose what."

"I could take her and she'd die…and I knew she would…there was so much blood and there was no way to get medical help out there at that hour in time…"

"Or?"

Jane looked up at her. "Or I could choose to save her life by giving her to Red John and he pretty much promised I'd never see her again, but she'd be alive. I couldn't…I couldn't…let her die…"

Van Pelt stared at him for a long time, and Jane knew that she was processing what he'd said and was trying to come up with a response. Some kind of opinion. Something. Now it was out and now he had to live with the consequences, no matter what they were. He could live with the team hating him. He could even live with Lisbon hating him as long as she was alive. That was all that really mattered.

"You love her," Van Pelt said suddenly and quietly.

"What?" Jane asked. "Who?" He knew exactly who the young, naïve Grace Van Pelt meant, but he intended to protect Lisbon even if it were from others knowing how he felt about her. He'd tried to make sure that he hid it well, but Van Pelt was a romantic and things like that were things that she could possibly connect dots with.

"Lisbon," she said. "I don't know why I didn't see it sooner…"

"Grace," Jane said quite seriously. "You've seen the Red John case files. You've seen what he did to my wife and child. Now, why would I be crazy enough to love someone else and put them in that amount of danger again? No, I wouldn't. I feel bad enough having friends…having you, Lisbon, Rigsby, and Cho… I've put you all in danger."

Van Pelt frowned. "You loving her isn't something you can control, Jane," she said quietly before leaving him alone.

And she was right.

Naïve, beautiful, intelligent Grace Van Pelt was right about that. He remembered when she was a bright new agent, first day on the job with the team…she'd come so far. She had a promising future ahead of her, but Jane just hoped that she would allow for love in her life. She deserved it after all. They all did.

…

Half a week passed and all they'd done was track Simon Evans' credit card. No new hits on it, but Van Pelt had suggested that they look at his previous purchases and that perhaps one of the places he bought something at would have a good enough video system placed in the right spots so that they could get the face of Simon Evans. With a picture, they could run it through facial recognition through all their databases and those they were connected to. They had to have a hit somewhere…

It was just going to take time.

He didn't think they had the time. He'd been tempted to fly to Idaho on his own, but he was pretty sure that the minute his name was on a ticket that Hightower would know about it and keep him from going. She was awfully strict when it came to things like that.

Lisbon needed to come home now.

Kaydance Millary needed to come home.

He was still thankful that the missing girl was safe with Lisbon. It gave him some relief. He hated to think that she was still out there and possibly dead. Maybe Cho was right, maybe there was some kind of blessing in disguise going on here…

Jane wanted her home for Christmas…

There was something special about having the people you loved around you for Christmas even if you didn't celebrate it. Just to have them close. There was something comforting about it. There was something about it that made you believe in Christmas miracles. Maybe that's what he needed. Jane didn't believe in miracles…or God…but Teresa Lisbon did. And right now, perhaps he needed to have her faith and her strength of spirit.

A Christmas miracle…

It was all he could hope for…

…

TBC…