A/N: Sorry for the delay in this chapter. I work retail and I haven't had a day off in several days until yesterday. I'm also guilty of taking two or three hours I could have been working on this to toss off that Christmas OS I posted last night. My bad; but, I couldn't get in the mood to work on this without writing that. As always, thanks for the reviews and for enjoying this story.
Also a belated Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to everyone!~Calla
#
Rooting through her closet, Lisbon couldn't help thinking, "Whoo hoo, on the road again!" She wasn't looking forward to this latest jaunt. Not at all and it wasn't even a road trip. The only positive thing about another cross country flight to view another grizzly murder scene was she got to sit by Jane. With a little luck, Abbott and Fischer would be seated far enough away to be out of sight and out of mind. Having Cho close she could handle; but, not those two. While the Feebs would watch their every move, her ex-Agent would just ignore them in favor of a book like he always did. Yep, Cho's antics she could live with.
Their case might be another matter.
As much as she hated admitting it, that was turning into a doozey. They'd only been at it three weeks and this was the second out of state trip they were taking. Not to mention the two legitimate road trips they'd made in the interim. Fortunately, in all instances, they were viewing old crime scenes, gathering facts, and conducting interviews. However, that would eventually change. She wasn't looking forward to the fresh crime scenes she knew were coming. Whoever this chick was, she had a strong stomach.
The woman believed in overkill and the carnage she left in her wake proved it.
"You need to get a move on." Jane poked his head through her bedroom door. "We're running out of time."
It shouldn't be taking Lisbon this long to toss a few things in a suitcase. They were only going to be gone two or three days, maybe a hair longer. She should have been packed and standing by the door when he arrived. It had taken him a good hour to swing by his place, pack his own bag, and drive back to her town house. He'd been here at least fifteen minutes and she still wasn't ready.
"Stop your grousing." Lisbon said. "I've only been up here a few minutes. You just got bored waiting and didn't want to make another cup of tea."
She'd used most of her time to check her emails and take a relaxing shower. It wasn't like she was running late. They had an hour and a half before they had to be at the airport and at least an hour's wait after that.
"Maybe." Jane agreed. "You're still taking too long."
"Back off, Buster, unless you want to pack for me." Lisbon snarked. "I take that back. You are so not packing for me."
The man wasn't getting anywhere near her underwear drawer. He could get his beady eyes heading in another direction. Some things were meant to remain forever secrets. She'd never asked if he wore boxers or briefs and he certainly wasn't seeing if she wore bikinis, hipsters, or thongs. That so wasn't happening.
"Too late, Lisbon, you've already made the offer." Jane said as nosed between her open closet doors. "Take this one with this blouse." He handed her a rarely worn navy suit with a deep claret dress tee. "And these." Lisbon took the more familiar black suit with the tiny pin stripes and the earthy gold tee matching the slivers of color in the jacket and pants.
"Why are you grabbing everything from the back of my closet?" Lisbon suddenly asked. "What I normally wear is in the front."
For one simple reason: those were the pieces she liked to wear.
"Because you rarely wear any of these and you should." Jane said. "The colors bring out the green in your eyes beautifully."
Lisbon bit back the automatic, "They do?" popping into her head. When had Jane noticed that? He'd never said anything before. Then again, who was she kidding? Those were just words. They didn't mean anything special. Jane noticed everything about everyone including her.
"Here's the last one." Jane handed her a nicely tailored black suit with fancy buttons and an embroidered collar and pockets that would go with everything. "Pack these as well and you're done even if we end up staying a day or two longer than originally planned."
Lisbon took the four dress microfiber tee shirts ranging in color from the purest scarlet to the deepest plum to a rich reddish cinnamon brown and a deep olive green. Reaching into the closet she grabbed her favorite dark bottle green tee to add to the eclectic mix in her hand. Most of the colors weren't what she usually wore; but, they'd caught her eye at some point or they wouldn't be hanging in her closet. She clearly hadn't returned them to the store even if they had the tags still on them.
Surveying Jane's selections, Lisbon determined he'd done a good job with the whole mix and match theme. He'd also picked wrinkle resistant fabrics that would pack well. She could easily get by for eight or ten days without doing a thing beyond rotating her four suits counting the one she was wearing. Quickly shoving the pieces into her garment bag, Lisbon took one last look around her bedroom before closing her closet doors. Silently stowing the dressier black heels that Jane had chosen in her bag, Lisbon decided she was done. She had no idea what Jane was up to with that last suit and those shoes, but she wasn't about to ask.
"Thanks for your help." Lisbon said quietly as she turned off the bathroom light. "Fifteen minutes, one small carry on, a garment bag, and we're done."
"I suppose we are." Jane agreed. "I hope you have a shirt or two in there in case they lose your luggage between here and Newark."
Jane pointed to the smaller carry on case.
"What do you think?" Lisbon asked as she slid the strap over her shoulder. "This isn't my first out-of-stater."
There was a reason she was wearing another plain black suit with a cobalt top and it wasn't because the colors brought out her eyes. It was because the suit would go with everything she had in her carry on if her luggage went missing. She'd learned that lesson the hard way and packed accordingly.
Her carry on contained cosmetics, toiletries, clean underwear, and three wrinkle free tees similar to the ones Jane had given her to put in her garment bag as well. Enough stuff to get her through the duration of the trip as long as they weren't detained any more than the two or three days everyone expected without making use of the hotel laundry. It had only taken losing her luggage once to learn her lesson about always being prepared. Fortunately, that debacle had taken place long before her career in law enforcement really began. She'd been a rookie headed to her first forensics seminar and gotten stuck wearing the same outfit for two days before her luggage was finally "found."
"I guess it isn't." Jane glanced at his watch. "If we get a move on, we have time to make a quick sandwich and raid that bag of chips you keep in the pantry."
"We do, do we?" Lisbon fixed him with a glare knowing she wouldn't be at all surprised if he'd already made those sandwiches. "What about stopping by a burger joint instead?"
"It's better to use what you have here so it doesn't go bad." Jane reminded her. "We may be detained longer than we expect. There's no telling with these things. You know that."
Yes, she did, and Jane was unfortunately right.
"I'm betting you already have those sandwiches made and a big pile of chips on our plates." Lisbon's brow rose at his answering smirk. Jane really was getting too familiar with her home to suit her. Not that she really expected anything different. He'd never been that great with personal boundaries in the first place. Not where she was involved. "You're too much, you know that?"
"I know you love my sandwiches." Jane reminded her. "I'll take your bag downstairs while you get whatever you want to drink. The food is already on the table."
At her breakfast bar was more likely; but, she wasn't correcting him. Mumbling under her breath, Lisbon watched Jane grab her garment bag before following him down the stairs. Handing off her carry on, she ambled into the kitchen to pour a glass of tea. She might as well just suck it up. Jane wasn't changing any time soon. She'd learned a long time ago to take the good with the bad where her Mentalist was concerned.
She'd go insane if she didn't.
Carrying her glass over to where their plates were waiting at the bar, Lisbon was mildly surprised to see that Jane had stopped en route to grab a container of one of her favorite homemade soups from the local deli. She hadn't expected that. The neatly overstuffed half an enormous roast beef sandwich slathered with horseradish, mustard, and mayo accompanied by a generous heap of potato chips filling each plate were a given. The steaming cups of Broccoli Cheddar soup were unexpected; but welcome. Taking her seat, Lisbon waited patiently for Jane to join her.
"We aren't getting anywhere with the case are we?" She more observed than asked before nibbling a chip. "Nowhere fast anyway."
"We will." Jane took a sip of tea. "This is only the fourth murder in three different states in the past year. The local PD's have just connected the dots enough to realize their cases are interrelated. We've only been involved a few weeks. As much as I hate to say it, we need a fresh kill that hasn't been contaminated by incompetence before we'll start getting anywhere."
"As much as I hate to say it, I agree." Lisbon carried a spoon of soup to her lips. "While I don't think the local PD's have been incompetent, most of them don't have a lot of experience with serial killers."
"I rest my case." Jane stared at his sandwich. "They're incompetent."
"Inexperienced." Lisbon corrected. "That's two different things."
"Whether it's inexperience or incompetence doesn't change the fact we're working with botched crime scenes and shoddy forensics." Jane reminded her. "Those subtle little nuances that would tell me so much have been disturbed or trampled away by well meaning professionals. Those are things we can never get back."
Knowing he was right, Lisbon didn't say a thing.
"I hate to think someone else has to die before we make any headway." Lisbon dragged her spoon through her soup like a ten year old. "We need a break and we need one soon."
"I hate it, too." Jane reached over to halt the hand idly playing with her food. "Maybe we'll get lucky at this last crime scene. Maybe it won't come to another murder or two. No one can predict these things. You know that."
"What I know is she's being very careful." Lisbon said. "I also know these people are all scientists which could be a link if they weren't all working on different projects. I know she only kills her target and not their families. I know she slaughters them at home since the office would be too risky. I also know she has to spend time observing each of her victims and their habits. She wouldn't be able to strike when they were alone otherwise. I know she's cruel to let their families come home to such a horrendous sight."
"You also know vital pieces of information are being kept from us." Jane said quietly. "In fact, the very pieces that would let us solve this case."
"What do you mean?" Lisbon asked. "I don't know any such thing."
"You're very good at what you do." Jane gently reminded her. "One of the best I'd say so stop playing games with yourself. You've already figured out the victims aren't quite what they seem and those so called 'miracle cures' they were supposedly working on were fabricated.
The truth is relatively simple. Our victims were all working on one of those hazy, government related, "need to know" projects that no one has deemed us worthy of needing to know just yet. While losing four of their scientists is a blow, these guys were all lower level grunts not crucial to achieving their overall goal. I'd also say their more important assets are probably well guarded by now. We won't be seeing another murder any time soon unless someone slips up on the protection detail."
"I think you're probably right." Lisbon agreed. "So, what's our next move?"
"You're still in contact with Rigsby and Van Pelt?" Jane already knew the answer.
"What do you think?" Lisbon asked. "I'm Maddy's godmother."
"More importantly, you're still close friends." Jane said.
"Yes, we are." Lisbon agreed. "I might not see them anymore; but, we stay in touch."
"Good." Jane carried their empty plates over to the sink for a quick wash and dry before putting them away. "Call Grace and tell her we need her help. Get her cracking on finding out anything she can about covert government projects any of our victims might have been involved in. If anyone can find a connection, she can. Tell her to keep track of her billable hours. She'll be compensated for her time."
"I don't know about that." Lisbon said watching Jane settle back in his seat. "I'm not sure that's such a smart move. What if they get caught?"
"Oh, come on, Lisbon, those two live for this kind of thing." Jane reminded her. "I'm not asking Grace to do anything more than she used to do at the CBI. I don't expect her to hack into secret government databases. All I'm asking her to do is some judicious snooping like she used to do. To discover that illusive needle in the haystack we will probably find on our own eventually that she can find faster. "
"I guess you aren't." Lisbon agreed. "But what about this whole billable hours thing? Do you intend to pay her or are you planning on passing the expense on to the FBI in some underhanded way?"
"I honestly don't know." Jane said. "We'll have to wait and see; but, I assure you that Grace will get paid one way or another."
"That's what I'm afraid of." Lisbon rolled her eyes. "You're going to stick it to the FBI."
"Probably." Jane agreed. "The only two things that really matter are we need Grace's help and she needs to get paid for her services. Let me worry about the how. I'll take care of everything."
"Again, that's what I'm afraid of." Lisbon smirked around her glass as she drank the last of her tea. "We need to get a move on if we don't want to be late."
"We still have a few minutes." Jane said taking her glass and his empty cup. "I'll finish washing up while you finish whatever you need to do. We'll leave when you're ready."
"You know that's not much of an incentive to hurry." Lisbon said as she rose to her feet. "Not when I don't really want to go."
The truth was, she didn't mind the trip at all. She just wasn't looking forward to the crime scene and seeing blood everywhere. There was something about this woman's murders that made her stomach churn. Mostly that she was female and she was capable of such gruesome kills.
"Then you need to look at it the way I do." Jane said as he put the clean glass away. "The sooner we leave, the sooner we can return home."
"On second thought, that might do the trick." Lisbon said as she headed for the guest bathroom. "I'll be right back."
"I'll still be here." Jane said as he watched her leave fully understanding Lisbon's reluctance to view yet another crime scene.
While he kept reminding Lisbon their perp was desperate, she was also ruthless and twisted. She clearly felt justified in toying with her victims before she put them out of their misery. Not unlike Lorelei on her last rampage only worse. This woman made several strategically painful injuries in her victims before mercifully ending their suffering by blowing their faces off. Jane was sure there was some nasty psychological twist in there that would make perfect sense when they unraveled her motives. At the moment, he didn't want to think about it.
There were too many unpleasant possibilities he didn't want in his head that could all be wrong.
#
Walking through the front door, Lisbon glanced over her shoulder to make sure Jane was following. Cho and the rest of the team were milling about other places which meant she and Jane were being left to their own devices. They'd elected to come here instead of tagging along with everyone else. Right now all she wanted to do was check over the crime scene, take a few photographs sans bodies and gore, make a few notes, and head back to their borrowed offices. With any luck Abbott would cut them loose early so they could get a fresh start in the morning. She was already beginning to lag from the flight.
"Are you sure she's a woman?" Lisbon asked gazing at the dried blood splatter and organic tissue smeared across the wall. She hoped to goodness she wasn't staring at dried bits of brain matter and had every idea she was. "She's vicious if she is."
"Threatened." Jane corrected again. "Feeling that way tends to lead one towards desperate measures."
Like choking the life out a man with your bare hands….
"So you're still convinced?" Lisbon asked again. "Though Abbott and Fischer both believe otherwise?"
"What do they know?" Jane asked. "Yes, I still think she's a woman. The evidence hasn't given me any reason to change my mind."
"Then she's a woman." Lisbon agreed. "Cho thinks so, too."
"What about you?" Jane asked softly. "Which side do you fall down on?"
"The one that's right." Lisbon said. "I've already said I'm with you and Cho even if a part of me rebels at the thought a woman could leave this behind." She gestured to the blood soaked carpet and splatter covered walls. "Their deaths were so violent."
"Several high caliber bullets strategically placed tend to rip a person apart bit by bit." Jane commented casually. "It doesn't matter whether it's a man or a woman doing the shooting. However, in this case, I'm sure it's a woman for the reasons I've already stated."
"I don't disagree." Lisbon said. "You were right. The little bit of forensics we have supports that theory. There's that one hair we found in the second victim's house that didn't belong to his wife or his daughters. It definitely belongs to a female. Unfortunately, it was recently dyed and the DNA extracted from the follicle isn't in any of the criminal databases. So, it could or couldn't belong to our killer."
"We both know it probably does." Jane commented. "If a twin shows up at any of the other crimes scenes we'll know it does."
"That's all fine and dandy; but, it's not going to help us until we solve the case." Lisbon reminded him. "We need a useful break to help us find her, not identify her after the fact."
They already had plenty of identifiers…like she was left handed and probably about Lisbon's height and size.
"When we do find her, that hair will put the final nail in her coffin." Jane ignored the rest of Lisbon's rant. "So, it's still a valuable piece of the puzzle. It also tells us we're looking for a blonde unless she dyes her hair again."
"I'd say under the circumstances that's highly likely if she hasn't already." Lisbon said following Jane into the home office. "Unless we get another hair with a follicle it's basically useless anyway."
"Let's don't look for trouble before we have it." Jane said softly as he nosed around the floor to ceiling bookshelves. "I know they have the computer hard drives in custody already; but, I'll bet no one bothered to look here."
"What are you expecting to find?" Lisbon walked over the stand beside Jane somewhat surprised when he pulled her over to stand in front of him with his hands on her shoulders. "There's nothing here but a bunch of work related science books."
"Isn't there?" Jane asked. "Look again."
"Wait a minute." Lisbon pointed towards one of thinner books that didn't seem so out of place given there was several of them spaced between the scientific tomes; but, definitely was when she took in the subject matter. "Those coffee table books are out of place."
"I'd say they are." Jane agreed. "Not to the average person since there's more than one or two of them scattered throughout; but, between you and me, I'd say they definitely are." Reaching out, Jane removed a volume on rose gardening and flipped through the pages commenting every now and then on the beautiful pictures.
"There's nothing there." Lisbon's tone was disappointed.
"No, there isn't." Jane agreed as he reached for a second book on medieval castles. "That doesn't mean there won't be something here."
"I guess it doesn't." Lisbon agreed as she thumbed through the book she'd pulled from the shelf. "Hey, Jane, look at this." She removed several books before reaching under the shelf. "I think this might be what we're looking for." Holding out her hand, she opened the small envelope to dump the clear pink USB Flash Drive into her hand. "That's a pretty nifty trick staining the envelope to match the shelf it was taped to and using the coffee table books to mark the location. I bet we'll find more of these if we check out the rest of those."
She motioned towards the other books.
"I bet we will." Jane agreed. "Good job, Lisbon, now give me that."
"That's evidence, Jane." Lisbon's voice took on the familiar warning tone. "We have to turn it in."
"Yes, we do." Jane said. "After we see what's on it. If we turn it in now, we'll never know what's on there and more people will die before someone decides we really can't do our jobs in the dark. I give you my word we'll do the right thing once we get that break we need."
"You promise." Lisbon's tone was dubious.
"Cross my heart." Jane vowed fully intending to keep his vow unless a good reason not to presented itself. "You know we can't make evidence disappear." But, they could delay its coming to light until they had their copy in hand.
"What are you going to do?" Lisbon asked. "Walk up to Abbott and give him the Flash Drive tomorrow?"
"Hardly." Jane said. "I think we'll let Cho discover this nifty little envelope later today."
"I'm not going to ask how you're going to do that." Lisbon said quietly as she removed another book and felt under the shelf only to return the book to its former position when nothing of interest turned up. "I don't think I want to know."
"It's not that difficult." Jane said as he pulled out a book of his own and removed the small envelope from beneath the shelf. "Here's the second one." He tipped the envelope into Lisbon's palm. "All we have to do is come up with some cockamamie reason to drag Cho back out here like I suddenly remembered something I forgot to check out earlier. You keep him occupied upstairs for a few moments while I return these little beauties. When you come back downstairs, I'll mention something about one of the books looking out of place. Cho will snort at me like I'm crazy before he walks over to remove the book and nose around just to prove how totally lame my latest theory is when he'll suddenly find this." Jane held out the small bit of purple plastic.
"It sounds much too easy." Lisbon said. "That's usually when your plans go terribly wrong."
"It's never as easy as it sounds, Lisbon, you know that." Jane said. "But, it will work and Cho can be the hero for a change."
"You're hardly a hero." Lisbon snorted as she removed yet a third device from beneath the shelf. "I think we've found them all."
"I think you're right." Jane agreed slipping the last device in his pocket. "If you aren't, Abbott will find the rest by the time they tear this place apart after Cho makes his discovery."
"You honestly don't think Abbott or Fischer will find that whole scheme with Cho fishy?" Lisbon asked as she stepped back to make sure they were leaving everything exactly as they found it. "I do."
"It doesn't matter if they think it's fishy, My Dear." Jane stepped back taking one last perusal of their handiwork. "All that matters is they can't prove it. I'd say it's safe to go now. We still have a lot of work to do."
"I guess we do." Lisbon said as she followed Jane out the front door. "You do know that data is probably encrypted."
"That's why we have Grace and her billable hours." Jane said as though that was the least of his trouble. "The main worry we have the moment is the best way to purchase several flash devices without leaving a trail behind."
"That's going to be hard to do." Lisbon said. "Even if we use cash, there are always the security cameras to get around."
"On second thought, it's not a problem." Jane pulled his phone from his pocket, made a call, and hit the end button before Lisbon fully realized what was happening. "It's all taken care of."
"It's all taken care of?" Lisbon asked. "You can't be serious."
"Sure, I am." Jane reassured her. "I just called in a favor from a friend of a friend that owes me a big one. What we need will be waiting in our hotel room in an hour."
"I don't want to know anything about this do I?" Lisbon asked as she slid into the driver's seat. "It's more of the same old same old isn't it?"
"Probably not and I'd say so." Jane agreed. "Trust me, Lisbon, everything will be all right."
"Fine." Lisbon said as she turned the key in the ignition. "Just don't make me regret it like I usually do."
Jane's only response was that familiar roguish grin saying the game was afoot. Lisbon hoped they were finally making a winning move. If they weren't, all hell was about to break loose. She wasn't feeling all that secure in Jane's latest play. On the one hand, tampering with evidence could blow up in their faces big time. On the other, it could break the case wide open. What was a girl supposed to do in a situation like this?
As usual, she'd take her chances with Jane.