A/N: Episode 3 is brought to you by keilfleckbaerbling – A distinguished professor dies on a former off-shore oil rig, leaving the FBI with only five possible suspects. An easy task it seems at first, but soon Lisbon, Jane and the team find themselves in an ocean of lies and accusations.

KALEIDOSCOPE

"Hey, Cho," Lisbon greeted her boss as she walked into the bullpen. He was carrying a pile of folders.

"Morning, Lisbon."

She nodded at the stack of folders in his hands. "Cold cases?" It had been a few days since they finished their last one and after having done all the paperwork, they were running out of work.

"No," Cho said, deposing the folders on a table as his phone started ringing. "Complaints we've got the last weeks."

Lisbon grimaced, very well aware what, or rather who, was responsible for most of them. She felt a tad bad for Cho, but not enough to regret that Jane decided to return part time. She enjoyed working with him far too much and besides…she was sure that Cho deep down was glad to have Jane back too; he just had to get used to being his superior now.

"Sorry," she said, half grinning. Cho gave her one of his rare smiles before he answered the call.

Lisbon immediately sensed that their idle time was over.

"We have a case," Cho said, lowering the phone for a moment. "Missing body on an oil rig out the coast of Corpus Christi. Briefing in 15 minutes, pass it along." The phone back at his ear, he walked into his office, the complaints on the table forgotten for now.

"An oil platform? That sounds like fun!" Wylie was a lot more excited by the prospect of visiting an offshore platform than Lisbon. "Do you think we'll have to fly out there? Oh I hope so."

Lisbon shrugged and sat down at her desk. "Briefing is in ten minutes; I guess we'll know more then."

Tork, similarly to Lisbon, didn't share their youngest agent's enthusiasm.

"I hate helicopters," he murmured, shuddering at the memory of his last flight. Lisbon contorted her face, feeling pity for her colleague. She luckily hadn't been in the machine with him, but from what she'd heard it had turned into a bad experience, not only for him, but for everyone forced to sit close to him.

"It's my turn anyhow," Lisbon said in an attempt to reassure him, even if she wasn't particularly happy about it. Since her return to work she never had to fly anywhere, or even leave Austin for more than a day. That duty always had fallen to one of the other agents, and Lisbon knew very well why. Cho had tried to make it easier for her, but there was no point. This was her job and she wouldn't let others do her share of out-of-the-city cases. Just a day ago, she'd asked Cho to send her out into the field the very next time it would be necessary. She might have reconsidered, had she known that it would involve something offshore. She sighed; no going back now. She made her request, she wouldn't back down, besides…maybe they wouldn't even need to go there.

"Hey Jane!"

She looked up at Wylie's words to see Jane walk towards her desk. He had Liam in his arms and she couldn't but smile at the two of them.

"Hey." He greeted Wylie and Tork and then bent down to peck Lisbon on the lips. No matter how often he'd already kissed her in the office, she still blushed every single time if it happened in front of her colleagues. It was simply adorable. The way both Tork and Wylie looked everywhere but at them was an added bonus. Seriously, those two sometimes were more flustered than a bunch of teenagers.

"Hey little man," Lisbon said happily and took Liam off him.

"Did Cho call you?" Wylie asked, daring to look at them again, now that there was no more danger of public displays of affection.

"Nope. Why?" Jane's interest was awakened. "A new case?"

"Yeah," Lisbon answered, not taking her eyes off Liam. "We don't know much yet, only that it involves an oil-rig."

"Intriguing." Jane leaned back against her desk. "And no, he didn't call me. I'm here to spend a few hours with Liam in the day-care. They've got a new nanny and I thought I have a short chat with her."

"You mean you're planning to interrogate her?" Lisbon rolled her eyes at him. "Don't you think she's been thoroughly checked before they hired her? And I don't think nanny is the appropriate denotation."

Jane grinned at Lisbon. "You never can be careful enough."

Lisbon eyed him warningly, but he answered before she could open her mouth.

"No hypnosis, I promise." He grinned at her.

"So an oil platform," he said the next moment, in an attempt to distract Lisbon from asking any more questions.

"Yeah, it's kind of exciting, isn't it?" Wylie had an eager gleam in his eyes. "Out in the ocean, on a deserted platform."

Lisbon and Tork didn't say a word, both hoping that it wouldn't come to that.

"Ah, my friend," Jane said to Wylie, "It seems your colleagues don't share your excitement." He leaned closer to Wylie and whispered. "Lisbon is afraid of boats. I don't know what Tork's excuse is-"

"I'm not afraid of boats," Lisbon insisted, "I don't like them, there's a difference. Besides," She moved Liam to the other side as he started to play with her hair. "It's a platform, not a boat."

At least that would mean no seasickness, Lisbon thought with relief.

"Unless it's one of these floating platforms," Wylie mused. "They're anchored to the ground of course, but still floating, very much like a boat. It's …" he stopped as he noticed the way Lisbon glared at him.

"But that's very unlikely," he quickly added, his voice high and fast, "they're not that common around here."

Jane chuckled.

Cold wind greeted Lisbon and Wylie as they stepped out of the helicopter. The air was heavy with thousands of small water droplets, leaving a salty taste on their tongues. Wylie grinned at Lisbon and she rolled her eyes. His almost childlike excitement reminded her of Jane, eliciting a smile from her despite their current situation.

A member of the Coast Guard walked towards them.

"Agent Lisbon and Agent Wylie?" he shouted over the soaring rotors of the helicopter that took off again behind them.

"Yes." Lisbon shook the guard's hand.

"Sam Hendriks. I've been expecting you."

They left their bags in a small storage room and immediately walked to the crime scene.

"We were called in this morning," Hendriks explained, as he led them through the platform.

"The students went looking for the professor, as he didn't show up for their daily meeting at nine. That's when they found … or rather didn't find him."

They followed Hendriks through only dimly illuminated corridors; metal walls and pipes surrounded them all along the way, creating the impression of being inside a huge machine and not a building. The blueish light was giving Lisbon a headache already.

Wylie's initial excitement had worn off and as they stepped through a metal door, looking exactly like the last five they passed, he nervously whispered to Lisbon, "This place is a maze! I hope Hendriks knows where he's going."

Lisbon grinned, but before she could answer, they finally reached their destination. It was a small room, stuffed with all kinds of diving equipment. The most conspicuous trait of the room though, was the two by two-meter square in the floor, opening into the pitch black ocean beneath them. Not for any money in the world Lisbon would ever climb down there.

Wylie stepped closer to the edge and Lisbon suppressed the urge to pull him back. Ever since she'd had Liam, she felt even more protective about everyone, including her young colleague.

A sole black cable laid on the floor beside the entrance to the water, connected to a scary looking machine that emitted a slight humming sound. Only it wasn't a normal cable, but the air supply for the divers. It had been cut off clean with a knife. For a short moment, no one said a word, they just stared at what once had been Greg Danvers' connection to the surface, providing him with air to breathe; his lifeline. Lisbon shuddered as images uninvitedly filled her mind. The idea of being down there, in the darkness, when suddenly the air flow stopped…

"Is that the murder weapon?" Wylie asked, pointing at the sharp edged knife lying beside the tube.

"It looks like it." Hendriks had stayed back at the door, giving them some space.

He took a small notebook from one of the tech guys and opened it. "You might wanna see this."

A black and white video played on the screen, showing a man of about fifty in a dry suit. He had a diving helmet under his right arm.

"Greg Danvers, I presume." Lisbon looked at the video more closely, swallowing as the man put on the helmet and lowered himself into the black water, disappearing in an instant.

"Yes. That's Professor Danvers."

For a few minutes there was nothing but an empty room to be seen on screen. Hendriks started to fast forward.

"There's nothing else on here. About half an hour after he submerged, the video abruptly ends."

White noise filled the screen, confirming his words.

"A surveillance camera in here?" It seemed odd to Lisbon.

Hendriks nodded, pointing at the left corner of the room. Both Wylie and Lisbon looked at the small camera attached to the wall, close to the ceiling.

"Are there more than one?" Wylie seemed eager to get his hands on the footage.

"Only one in this room, but there's more outside. There used to be cameras all over the platform. Safety measure after some things had been stolen a few years back. They took most of them down since the oil production stopped, there's maybe a handful left. You'll have to talk to Anne Wellington. She's overseeing the dismantling of the station. It was her in the first place that provided us with the footage and told us about the cameras. I'm sure she'll be happy to assist you in any way she can."

Wylie had taken the notebook from Hendriks. "Do you mind?"

"Not at all." Hendriks stepped back. "Do whatever it takes."

"I'll send the video to Cho." Wylie explained, his fingers moving quickly over the keys.

"Did you retrieve the body?" Lisbon asked, again looking at the square of darkness in the middle of the room.

"No, not so far. It might take a while, if they ever find him at all. The water is pretty deep here and there are strong currents. I wouldn't be surprised if he's long gone."

Lisbon hesitated for a moment before she spoke again. "Do we know for sure that he died down there? Could the cable have been cut after he already came back and left the water?"

Hendriks shook his head.

"I'm afraid not." He walked over to the humming machine and pressed a few buttons until a small screen lit up.

"I've done hookah dives myself, the numbers on here speak a clear language. Whoever was connected to this machine is dead."

He pointed at the screen. "A sensor on the outside of the helmet registers the water pressure. The last signal we got, before the air supply and with it the connection to the sensor was interrupted, tells us that he was at a depth of 56 meters. There's no way he made it back alive."

Wylie looked up from the laptop he'd been working on ever since Hendriks gave it to him.

"Shouldn't he be anchored to the station while diving?"

Lisbon stepped closer to the edge, noting the thick metal ring in one of the corners.

"Yeah, he should be. It looks, however, as if his safety leash was decoupled. I guess whoever cut his air supply also didn't want him to be found."

"Tork and I will talk to his assistant," Cho told her. "Keep me posted about your progress with the interviews, or if Wylie finds something useful on the video."

Cho hung up and looked at Tork as he pocketed his phone. "Wylie sent us a video, but I guess if anyone can find something on there, it will be him."

Tork slipped into his jacket and followed Cho to the elevator. They weren't the only ones. Jane was standing close to the elevators, as if he'd had waited for them. Liam was with him.

"Any news?" Jane asked as they approached him.

"Not really. We're heading to the university now. Would you like to join?" Cho looked at Liam, who decided that moment that it was a good idea to try eating his stuffed duck.

"That doesn't look healthy." Cho remarked, but Jane only grinned as he watched his son testing his new teeth on Ducky's beak.

"He'll be fine. Did you hear from Lisbon?"

Cho nodded. "I just talked to her. Didn't you call her?"

"No… we spoke before she boarded the helicopter and we agreed to talk again in the evening."

Cho sensed that there was more to this answer, but he wouldn't ask. This was none of his business. Not that it mattered, because apparently Jane chose to tell him anyhow.

"I'm trying to be professional here and let her do her work, I thought it would be appreciated more by you." Jane almost seemed a tad offended.

"Jane, call her as often as you want. I don't care."

Tork had watched the whole exchange silently, a slight smile tugging at his lips.

"So?" Tork asked. "Are you coming to the university now?"

Jane shook his head. "I'm heading home. Liam needs his nap. I'm sure you can handle the interview on your own. Call me if you need me."

"Five people?" Lisbon asked incredulously. "You are telling me there were only five people on the station last night?"

Hendriks nodded. "Well, six if you count the unfortunate professor."

"But the oil-rig is huge!" Wylie said. "How can there only be five people?"

Hendriks shrugged. "They stopped production over a year ago. Most of it has already been dismantled from what I heard. Anne Wellington and her assistant are the last two people employed by the oil company that are still stationed here. And then there's the bunch of researchers and that's it." He shook his head. "I was here a few times when the rig was still up and running. What a difference! They had a shop, a bar, everything; it must have been close to a thousand people working and living on the platform."

That explained the size at least, Lisbon thought.

"Well," she said, "I guess it should be easier to identify the murderer if it's one out of five than out of a thousand."

Hendriks chuckled. "I guess you could say that."

"And there's really no way someone else could have arrived at the rig last night and left already?"

"No," Hendriks affirmed. "It's almost impossible to enter the oil platform by boat… unless through one of the large boats that deliver supplies, but believe me, we from the Coast Guard would have noticed one of those ships. We patrol the waters around all oil-rigs regularly. The same is true for the airspace. A helicopter wouldn't have landed unnoticed."

Wylie looked at Lisbon. "That means the murderer is in there?" He pointed at the closed door in front of them. He seemed a tad uneasy and Lisbon sympathized. While it would definitely help to advance their investigation, it was a weird feeling to know that one of the people behind that door was a murderer. Wylie was even less used to that idea, because he only rarely took part in interviews with suspects. Another reason why Lisbon thought it had been a good idea to take him along, and not only because he'd been so excited about the oil-rig.

"Why don't you take the lead when we go in there, Wylie?" she asked him.

"Me?" He seemed surprised, almost shocked at the idea.

Lisbon nodded. "Yeah."

He nervously fiddled with his hands.

"I'll be with you in the room, there's no reason to be worried." She smiled at him reassuringly.

"Okay," he finally said, taking a deep breath.

"I have to get back to my people," Hendriks said at that moment. "You have my number if you need anything."

"Thank you for your help." Lisbon turned towards the door as the coast guardsman walked away, his footsteps echoing loudly off the metal floor as he disappeared around a corner.

"Come on, Wylie. Let's do this." She clapped her young colleague on the shoulder.

Everyone looked at them as they entered the room. It was very obvious that they were dealing with two distinct groups. On one side of the room that seemed to be an odd mixture between a kitchen and a living room, three young people sat on a couch. Two men, and a woman. Lisbon estimated them to be in their twenties. They all looked shaken; the young woman was fiddling around with a paper tissue, her eyes red and puffy.

What a contrast to the two people on the other side of the room. A woman in her mid-forties was on the phone, talking quickly, while she at the same time flipped through some pages on the table. Everything about her screamed efficiency; she only spared the incoming agents a short glance before she focused again on her call. The man sitting beside her was a few years older than her, but there was no doubt that she was the one in charge. She slid the papers across to him and made a waving gesture with her hand. He quickly started going through them until he found a particular one and offered it back to her. She tore it out of his hands without a word of thanks.

Lisbon softly nudged Wylie with her shoulder, reminding him to say something. The young agent cleared his throat.

"I'm Agent Wylie," he said and four heads turned around to look at him. "And this is Agent Lisbon. We're with the FBI and have a few question for you."

"Have you found him?" the young woman asked, her voice shaky.

"No," Wylie said apologetically, "I'm afraid not."

He had to speak loudly to be heard over the continuous talking of the woman at the table. Lisbon narrowed her eyes and focused on her, trying to remember the name Hendriks had told them.

"Miss Wellington." Hearing her name made her finally look up.

"I'm kind of busy, here," she said. "I'll need another five minutes."

Lisbon shook her head. "Whatever you're doing, I'm afraid it has to wait."

The woman already didn't seem to be listening any longer.

"Hey!" Lisbon spoke louder this time, making everyone in the room flinch. "This is a murder investigation. I have to ask you to put your phone down - now!"

The tone of Lisbon's voice was unmistakable, and the woman disconnected her call grudgingly, but not without throwing an angry glance in Lisbon's direction.

Wylie addressed the group of young people on the couch. "You were the ones that went looking for Professor Danvers?"

They all nodded and the one to the right spoke.

"He didn't show up to our meeting, which was very unlike him. Greg was never late." He looked at his two fellow students and then back to Wylie.

"I'm Dave and this is Laura and Rob. We're… we've been Greg's… I mean Professor Danvers' PhD students."

Wylie nodded and scribbled something down on his small black notepad. It looked suspiciously similar to the one Cho always used, and Lisbon had to suppress a grin. It seemed Wylie tried to learn from the best. He hadn't yet managed Cho's deadpan stare though.

"Which one of you checked the diving room?" Lisbon asked.

"That was me." Rob said, his voice quiet but steady. Lisbon noted, however, that his hands were trembling slightly.

"Greg used to dive early in the mornings, so I went there." He looked at his hands, speaking very softly now. "We've always told him that it's too dangerous to dive alone-"

"And against every security protocol there is," Dave added, "But he just wouldn't listen."

"What did you do next?" Lisbon asked.

Rob took a deep breath. "I… I first thought he might have disconnected the air supply after he came back." He swallowed. "So I checked Deep thought and that's…"

"You checked what?" Lisbon asked, confused.

A condescending huff came from the other side of the room. "That's the name they gave to the diving machine…how very mature of them."

Wylie grinned and Lisbon presumed that he got the reference, whatever it was.

"You checked the machine…" she encouraged him to continue.

"Yeah," Rob said. "I checked the monitor and when I saw…" he had to stop and start again. "When I saw what had happened, I called Laura and Dave."

"Why didn't you call the police immediately?" Wylie asked.

"But we did," Laura said, "the moment we arrived in the diving room." She took a shaky breath herself. "I can't believe he's dead." She dabbed at her eyes, wiping away some fresh tears.

Wylie looked at her, full of compassion, and Lisbon took it on her to ask the next question.

"I know this is difficult, but I have to know where all of you were at twenty past eight this morning."

Laura gasped. "You…you think one of us did this?"

Dave shook his head. "Well, it doesn't take a lot to figure that out, does it?" He looked at his fellow students, who stared back at him in shock.

"There's only the five of us, isn't there? It must have been someone in this room. There's no other way."

Rob laughed, a harsh laugh. "And it doesn't take much to know who."

He stood up in one swift movement, accusingly pointing at the two oil company employees. "You wanted us gone for weeks," he shouted at Wellington.

"You accuse me? Are you out of your mind?!" she laughed. "Why would I need to kill anybody for that? Your project is dead - we all knew it. It's just a matter of a few weeks until you'll have to leave. We've finished dismantling everything of importance. They'll break down the platform before the year is over."

"Liar!" Laura cried.

"Stop it," Lisbon shouted. "All of you!" She pointed at Rob. "You - sit back down."

She looked at each one of them in turn. "You need to calm down and then tell us where exactly you were at the time of the murder and whether anyone can testify to your whereabouts."

It took Lisbon and Wylie over two hours to collect the individual statements and a lot longer trying to make any sense out of them. They'd set up a small workstation in Professor Danvers' former office, where they could talk without being overheard by anyone.

"What a mess," Wylie said, as he looked over their notes for the third time. "It doesn't make any sense."

Lisbon buried her face in her hands for a moment. "It has to. We're just missing something."

Wylie went back to the video footage. They got recordings from all the remaining cameras, but they didn't help. The oil platform was huge, and for each path covered by a camera, there were three others that allowed someone to slip by unnoticed.

Wylie sighed. "The videos are of no use. We have to rely on their statements."

"Which say that no one was even near the diving room at the time of the murder. And of course they're all each other's alibis. The three students were together and the same for Wellington and her assistant Daniels."

To make it even better, Lisbon got a text from Cho that moment. She skimmed over it.

"The tech guys are finished with the crime scene. No usable prints on the murder weapon." She threw her phone on the table. The sky outside had long turned dark, and they were no closer to solving this case than they'd been when they arrived on the oil-rig.

Normally she would now put Liam to bed and enjoy a few hours of quiet with Jane before their little man got hungry again. Lisbon closed her eyes and sighed.

"It's getting late, Wylie." She stood up and stretched. "Let's leave it for today. We have to talk to all of them again tomorrow, at least one of them is lying and we have to find out who."

Wylie yawned and nodded. "Sounds like a plan. I'll collect everything we have so far and send it to Cho. Maybe he and Tork will have more luck."

Morning…

The next morning didn't start any more successfully than the evening before.

"Tell me you have something," Lisbon said to Cho as he called them.

"Not really. At least not any evidence that could help us." It was obvious over the phone that Cho was equally frustrated as her, which was a bad sign. If it reached the point where she could hear this in Cho's voice, it was pretty bad.

"However, there's help on the way to you. We'll see whether he'll be of any use."

Lisbon's heart rate sped up. "Help?" She didn't believe Cho would send Tork their way, not considering his last helicopter flight.

"Jane is coming?"

"Yes. He thinks it's a very intriguing situation. Five suspects on a remote platform."

"I bet he does," Lisbon murmured, but she couldn't hide how happy she was about this new turn of events.

"He should be there any moment. Last time I called him, he had boarded the helicopter in Corpus Christi."

Jane hadn't called her, which was so typical for him. She smiled - he never could resist an opportunity to surprise her. Well this time Cho had ruined it, not that it mattered.

"Thanks, Cho."

"I just hope he doesn't make it worse."

He had a fair point, and Lisbon felt slightly worried all of a sudden. The tension on the platform was high enough without Jane playing them off against each other, and that's something she could very well see him doing.

She said goodbye to Cho and hung up before turning to Wylie, who was again brooding over the video footage.

"Reinforcements are on their way," she informed him. "Cho is sending Jane in the hope that he might be able to stir something up."

"That's great!" Wylie was sincerely relieved. They were at an impasse, and a new pair of eyes was exactly what they needed, even more so if they belonged to Jane.

Lisbon stood up. "He should be here any moment. I think I'll go outside and wait for him. Why don't you try to get everyone into the kitchen, so that Jane can meet them all at once?"

Wylie grimaced at the prospect of convincing everyone to meet in one room again, but he complied. "Sure."

Lisbon put her hands in her pockets and stared up to the sky. She hadn't thought about putting her jacket on and was now slightly shivering in the cold. Her face lit up as she saw a helicopter in the distance. It was almost ridiculous how much she'd missed him after only having been apart from him a day. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of admitting that…well not unless he did the same. She grinned at the thought. She also very much missed her son, but maybe with Jane's help there was a chance that she'd be able to see him sooner.

She stepped back, using her arms to shield her face as the helicopter landed on the platform and the wind lashed water droplets towards her.

Jane stepped out, smiling as he jogged towards her. He looked as handsome as ever, despite the wind in his hair. Sometimes it was almost annoying how good he could look in any situation.

"Hey," he greeted her, his body shielding her from the wind as the helicopter took off again.

"Hey you," Lisbon replied, stepping on her toes to kiss him.

Jane pulled her against him for a moment. "I missed you," he said. He felt her smile against his skin, as she pressed a kiss to his neck.

"I missed you too."

He let go of her and she stepped back, looking up at him.

"How's Liam?" She played with the cross, ring and family charm on her necklace, obviously nervous.

"He's perfectly fine, Teresa. He seemed to like the new nanny at the daycare when I brought him this morning." He took her hands in his, to stop her from fidgeting.

Lisbon took a deep breath. "Good." She closed her eyes for a moment. "I can't wait to see him again."

Jane tightened his grip around her hands. "And I'm sure he feels the same."

He grinned at her. "You don't wanna know how I am?"

She opened her eyes, an amused twinkle in them. "Well, considering that I trusted you with our son, I hope you can cope one night without me."

Jane sighed theatrically. "It wasn't easy; I can tell you that."

She softly elbowed him in the ribs. "Let's get to work. The sooner we're done here, the sooner I'll be able to come home."

"I couldn't have said it better."

He followed Lisbon through a metal door into one of the large metal buildings on the platform. She threw a glance back at him.

"You did okay last night, didn't you?" She eyed him, slightly worried. His insomnia had become increasingly better over time, which also could be because, thanks to Liam, they hardly got enough sleep on a regular basis, so that even Jane's body used every chance for rest it could get.

"Don't worry, Lisbon. I slept like a baby." Just not in his bed, but there was no point admitting this to her, was there? It would remain his and Liam's little secret, that he'd slept in the rocking chair in his son's bedroom.

Lisbon didn't seem fully convinced, but for now she let it go.

"So," Jane began, "what exactly should I expect?"

"A war zone," Lisbon huffed in exasperation. "Seriously, the moment those five are together in a room, they start accusing each other."

Jane tapped his finger against his lips. "What's your take?"

Lisbon stopped and looked at him. "Honestly… I have no idea. I just can't picture any of them as a murderer. Especially not cutting someone's air supply." She shuddered - it seemed such a cruel way to die.

"Sounds like an intriguing mystery. I can't wait to meet them."

"If Wylie was successful, they're all in the kitchen now, waiting to see you." Lisbon tilted her head to the side. "Unless they've killed each other."

Jane chuckled at her frustration. It was a tiny bit amusing.

"I have to admit," he said with a smirk on his face. "I was a tad surprised you didn't crack the case already."

"What?" Her voice was quite a bit higher than normal - he had to be careful.

"I just mean… it's only five people. Isn't that every detective's dream?"

She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "What are you implying?"

"Nothing," Jane tried to sound innocent, but he couldn't stop grinning.

She murmured something under her breath. Oh, how he'd missed her.

"Sorry," he said, "I don't think I got that, could you maybe repeat it?"

"Just wait until you talk to them. Let's see whether you're still smirking then."

Jane hated to admit it, but maybe Lisbon had had a point. After half an hour with all five suspects, he was feeling a sense of frustration - and annoyance.

"That's it!" he said, standing up abruptly. "I've had enough of this nonsense."

They all stared at him in shock. With the exception of Lisbon, who looked rather smug. Well, he probably deserved that.

What he needed was a change of strategy. He needed to tackle this from a different angle, meaning he had to start with the two weakest links in the chain. Laura and of course Daniels, the almost invisible assistant of Anne Wellington. He'd hardly spoken a word since Jane had entered the room.

"Nonsense?" Anne asked indignantly. "I'm wasting my time here, on your orders, and you have the impudence of calling it nonsense?"

Jane looked at her. "Yes, I do. I've had enough of your lies. Seriously, I don't know what's wrong with you people in general and especially you Miss. Maybe it's the isolation, maybe the oil vapors in the air, but you clearly have a problem. A man died and all you're talking about is time and money."

"What!" she proclaimed. "You just insulted me."

"And I'd be happy to do it again."

"Jane!" Lisbon had stood up and was now slowly positioning herself in between him and Anne Wellington.

"I'm very sorry. He didn't mean it that way."

"I surely did. She's cold and insensible… and it doesn't seem very intelligent to me. A professor was killed on your platform, more specifically a professor that spent his whole career showing the devastating effects your industry has on wildlife. The media will love this story. If anyone should have an interest to solve this case quickly, it's your company - ergo you."

"Jane, that's enough." Lisbon caught his eye, and he knew that he had to stop.

"You're right." He straightened his vest. "I think I'd like to have a word in private with some of you." He turned around and focused on Laura. "Why don't you come with me?"

She seemed startled. "Me?" She looked at her fellow students, as if for support.

"Yeah, you and maybe…" his eyes found Daniels, "what about you? Let's step outside this door for a moment and have a chat."

As soon as they left the kitchen behind them, Jane suggested that the two of them show him the crime scene. He didn't say a single word while they walked to the diving room. He wanted to give them a false sense of security and allow them to relax. That was the only reason why he suggested to visit the murder scene in the first place - to give them some time.

With each step they came closer to their destination, Laura became increasingly more agitated.

"Is that the room?" Jane asked as she stopped in front of a door. She nodded, not looking at him. She was shaking now.

"Is everything alright?" Daniels asked - he had noted her tremor too.

"Yes, I guess," She took a shaky breath. "It's just…I don't wanna go in there again. Knowing what happened…"

"That's alright, "Jane said softly, "you don't have to. I'm sorry, I didn't consider how difficult this might be for you."

She looked at him, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

"Were you close to him? To your professor?"

She sniffed. "He was such a great person."

She used the back of her hand to wipe a few tears away. "I'm sorry," she apologized, but Jane shook his head. "It's okay," he said, encouraging her to go on.

"He loved his work and what he did was amazing. He was the best boss I ever had. He always had time to help us students - it didn't matter how busy he was."

Jane studied her carefully. "And outside of work?"

She shrugged. "I don't think he had a life outside of work. All he talked about was work," she smiled, "and his plans to change the world."

She was visibly upset by his death, but everything she said seemed sincere. She wasn't trying to hide anything, and there was nothing indicating that her relationship with her former professor had been more than just professional.

"Sounds like a great man," Jane said, gently patting her on the shoulder.

"He was. It's the only reason I'm still here." She took another deep breath. "After…after we learned what happened, I just wanted to leave this horrible place, but then I remembered. Our work meant that much to him, I can't just leave it unfinished." She stood more upright, visibly composing herself.

"Laura, why don't you wait here for a moment, while Daniels and I have a look inside?" Jane suggested and she nodded.

A slight humming was the first thing Jane noted as he entered the room, and of course the opening into the water.

"Do you dive?" he asked Daniels.

"God no." The man shuddered. He had his hands in his pockets and stayed close to the door. "But you would know how to temporarily rig a camera?"

"I guess so." He sounded nervous. "Why?"

Jane pointed at the camera in one of the corners.

"It stopped recording during the time of the murder, but you knew that, didn't you?"

"What? No…" Daniels stammered. "I had no idea. I told your colleagues, I was in an early morning meeting with Wellington."

Jane dismissively waved his hand. "Yeah, I heard that story. But back to the camera, you know how to manipulate one, don't you?"

"No, I mean…yeah I guess. They're pretty simple, everyone can turn them off. I know that because I was the one taking most of the cameras down, but I didn't touch that one. Wellington wanted it up and running. You have to believe me!"

That was interesting. Daniels' eyes had flickered to the side as he mentioned taking down the cameras; he was hiding something, but Jane didn't think it had anything to do with the murder, at least not directly.

This man was a coward in every sense; he would never dare to cut someone's air supply, not even if he was ordered to do it.

They both turned around as they heard quick footsteps outside. Jane would have recognized those steps everywhere.

"Lisbon," he said as she entered the room. She seemed relieved to find him, which was odd.

"Jane, a word?"

He apologetically smiled at Daniels and Laura who watched them from the door, without stepping inside.

"I think we're done here anyhow. Thank you for your time."

He followed Lisbon back through the corridor. She was tense, and the moment they were out of earshot of two suspects, she rounded on him.

"You can't just bring them down here without back-up. What if one of them is the murderer?"

Jane stared at her in disbelief. "Seriously?"

Lisbon crossed her arms in front of her chest: a bad sign.

"They didn't do it. I was perfectly safe, Lisbon."

"You didn't know that when you decided to take them for a walk."

He smiled at her in an attempt to loosen the tension. "What about Wylie? You left him alone with the rest of them. Isn't that equally dangerous?"

"Wylie is a trained and armed FBI agent; you're not."

It was pointless to try and argue with her about this. Jane knew when he had lost.

"I'm sorry," he said instead. "It won't happen again. I promise."

"I'll make sure about that," Lisbon said, still frowning at him. "I won't let you out of my sight ever."

He grinned at her. "Is that a threat or a promise?"

The comment finally rewarded him with a faint smile.

"How did you even find me?"

She shrugged. "I had a hunch."

He eyed her suspiciously. "You had Wylie check the cameras?"

She didn't answer, but he could see that he was right.

"So you did come all the way down here to save me? I'm flattered."

The line between her eyes was back instantly.

"Too early for jokes? I see."

She rolled her eyes at him, but he knew that she'd forgiven him.

"Did you at least learn something useful?" she asked as they continued their way upwards.

"Nope."

Lisbon huffed in frustration.

"Except maybe…" he said, "Daniels got a bit edgy when he talked about the cameras. I think he was hiding something. Maybe Wylie can have another look at them."

"He won't be happy; he must have watched those videos a hundred times by now."

Jane shook his head slowly. "No, not the videos, I'm sure he would have found anything suspicious on them. He should examine the actual cameras."

"Okay…" Lisbon seemed skeptical. "I'll tell him to have a look. What should we do next?"

"I'd like to talk to Wellington."

"Forget it," Lisbon said immediately. "She's not gonna say another word without her lawyer. You managed to piss her off for good. She's currently pulling some strings to get us all thrown off the platform. If we don't solve the case in the next few hours, it might very well be that we'll have to do it from Austin."

"Just because of what I said?" It seemed like an overreaction, even for a woman like Wellington.

"Partly," Lisbon admitted. "It might also have something to do with your prediction coming true. The media got wind of the story; it's all over the news."

Jane grinned. "Well, I can't say I'm sorry about that. I hope it makes her day a nightmare."

"You know this makes our investigation more difficult too."

"Maybe…maybe not. Who profits most from this? Clearly not Wellington. If we find out which bird sung to the media, we might be a step closer to solving the case."

Wylie took a sip of his coffee and grimaced. It was cold. Disgusted, he put the mug down and focused on the task at hand again. The numbers…something about them didn't seem right. He narrowed his eyes, his nose almost touching the screen, and that was when he saw it. Excitement rushed through him. He rolled his chair to the table behind him and ruffled through the plans of the oil-platform Wellington had given him. Where had camera 43 been…. his eyes skimmed over the maps, and he froze when he found what he'd been looking for.

He stood up and left the room, dialing Lisbon's number in the process.

"Lisbon, where are you?" he asked.

"On the way back to you, why?"

"The cameras," Wylie said excitedly. "Jane was right. There's something we've missed, or rather something that was hidden from us. I can't believe I didn't see it earlier."

"Wylie, what is it?" The impatience in Lisbon's voice was obvious.

"There's one camera more, one we didn't get the footage of. Wellington kept it to herself on purpose."

"What's going on?" Wylie heard Jane's voice in the background.

"I'll put you on speaker, Wylie," Lisbon said, a loud crack following her words.

"Where's the camera, Wylie?" Lisbon sounded equally excited.

"The office - the camera is in Professor Danvers' office."

A moment of silence followed his words. Then Jane spoke.

"Do the cameras record sound?"

Wylie nodded. "Yes, not all of them, but this particular one does, at least if the plans I got are correct."

"Great," Jane said, and Wylie could hear the smile in his voice. "Exactly what we need. Wylie, I want you to go back into the office and call Cho. Tell him that you found a discrepancy with the cameras and that you suspect one might still be hidden somewhere."

"That could work," Lisbon said quietly. Apparently she had already caught up with Jane's plan.

"As soon as that's done you leave the office. Meet us in the storage room just beside it; make sure no one sees you enter."

A trap. A grin lit up Wylie's face as he understood what Jane was talking about. They were setting a trap.

A single light bulb was the only source of light in the storage room. Wylie sat on a wooden box, nervously staring at the screen of his phone. They used the webcam of his laptop to keep an eye on the office next door. Lisbon had been talking to Cho on her phone, but now she disconnected the call and looked up.

"Cho and Tork are on their way. They're going to take the killer back with them."

Jane stood up from his own wooden box and stretched his legs. It was more than an hour that they'd been cramped into the small storage room.

"That's optimistic. What if our plan fails? Or we catch someone but it isn't the killer."

Lisbon shrugged. "Then they'll help with the investigation. We're running out of time. Cho got a call; we all have to leave the platform by 7 PM."

Wylie looked up. "But that's in five hours!"

Both Jane and Lisbon flinched at his loud voice.

"Sorry," Wylie immediately whispered, checking his screen again.

"If we don't manage to finish this by tonight, it will be a jurisdictional nightmare," Lisbon said quietly. "Wellington is trying to get us off the case, arguing that this falls into the jurisdiction of the police of Corpus Christi. The only reason they haven't interfered yet is because they don't wanna bother flying out here."

"Someone's coming," Wylie whispered, and Lisbon lapsed into silence. Faint footsteps could be heard through the heavy metal door, and they all held their breath as they waited. Lisbon very quietly opened the clasp of her holster, her hand on the weapon.

"He's inside," Wylie whispered. "It's Daniels!"

Lisbon moved to the door, but Jane put a hand on her back. "Wait! We have to be sure that he's after the camera."

They all looked at the small screen again. Luckily the camera was above the door, hidden in the air ventilation, which meant that it was in full view of Wylie's webcam. The moment the small black object was in Daniels' hand, Lisbon moved.

The door to the office was flung wide-open, catching Daniels in plain sight.

"Don't move!" Lisbon shouted, and he let the camera fall to the floor.

"Don't shoot!" He raised his hands in the air; he was unarmed. Lisbon put her gun away and took out her handcuffs. She cuffed his hands behind his back and as he was safely secured, Jane and Wylie stepped out of the storage room.

"How nice of you to show up," Jane said with a grin.

Cho opened his notebook and wrote something down. Daniels nervously played with the glass of water before him, his eyes following every movement of Cho's pen.

"It seems we have a problem here," Cho finally said as he looked up. "Or rather you have a problem. Obstruction of an FBI investigation, as a starter…. very likely murder too."

"No!" Daniels gasped. "I didn't kill him, I swear."

"Why did you hide the existence of that camera?" Tork asked and Daniels' eyes flickered to him.

"She told me to. It was kind of illegal what we did, leaving the camera in Danvers' office, without him knowing."

Cho scribbled something down again.

"Why leave it there in the first place?"

Daniels swallowed. "You'll have to ask her. She probably wanted to keep tabs on him. But I doubt she ever looked at the footage."

"While we're talking, one of our agents is going through the videos, if there's something on there that could incriminate you, it would be a good idea to speak up now. District attorneys have a soft spot for people that cooperate." Cho didn't even blink as he spoke.

"I told you, I did nothing. I haven't been in his office in weeks."

Cho's phone beeped, and after a short glance at it, he stood up. "We'll take you back to Austin in a moment. I'd start looking for a good lawyer if I were you."

Cho and Tork left a miserable Daniels in his impromptu cell and locked the door.

"Lisbon just texted me," Cho explained to Tork. "They found something on the video."

"What is it?" he asked the moment they joined their colleagues.

Lisbon shook her head in disbelief. "See for yourself," she said with Jane standing behind her, a wide grin on his face. Wylie fast forwarded the video, and both Cho and Tork couldn't believe what played in front of them on the screen.

"That can't be true," Tork said incredulously.

"What are you grinning about?" Cho asked Jane.

Jane sobered instantly. "It's incredibly sad I don't deny that, but you have to admit, that's for sure a twist we didn't see coming."

Lisbon took a deep breath. "What do you think - was it only one of them, or were all three in on it?"

"There's only one way to find the truth," Jane said, an eager gleam in his eyes. "Let's go and ask them."

Jane had suggested to gather the students into the kitchen under the pretense of informing them about Daniels' arrest. Only Lisbon and Wylie were there with him from the team. They all agreed that the students probably were more likely to talk to people they'd met before.

"You sure Daniels did it?" Dave asked. "He seemed like such a harmless guy."

"Only time will tell," Lisbon said ominously. "We're taking him to Austin as we speak."

"What led you to him?" Laura asked, while she prepared a cup of the tea at the counter.

"I'm afraid we're not at liberty to tell you that."

Lisbon looked at Jane, wondering what he was waiting for.

"The milk is empty!" Laura complained and slammed the empty bottle on the table, making Lisbon jump slightly. Jane bit back a chuckle.

"Not that again," Dave rolled his eyes. "For the 100th time, Laura, we didn't drink your stupid milk."

"Don't look at me," Rob added. "I didn't touch it. You know I don't eat or drink dairy products." He took a sip of his black coffee.

"It must be one of you! I always thought…" she stopped, the anger gone from her voice. Lisbon observed her carefully; the young student looked downright miserable suddenly.

Laura swallowed and sat down, pushing the empty milk bottle to the side.

"I always thought it was Greg…"

They all said nothing after that. Jane noted that Wylie's foot twitched nervously. He looked at Lisbon, and her faint grin told him that she'd noted it too. It seemed the milk thief had been revealed. Jane caught the young agent's eyes and shook his head slightly. This new development would make their plan work even better, assuming that Wylie kept silent and didn't confess his misdeed.

"Well," Jane said in a sincere voice, getting everyone's attention. "There's something else we have to tell you." He looked at Laura. "It's probably better if you sit down."

The atmosphere in the room changed immediately, and the three students stared at him anxiously. Jane could feel Lisbon move slightly beside him. He knew she didn't like what he was going to do next and he could very well understand why. If not all of the students were part of the scheme, his little ruse would be painful. There was nothing worse than raising false hope just to crush it moments later.

"A more thorough analysis of your hookah diving machine revealed that it had been tampered with." He made a dramatic pause at the end of the sentence, giving them time to come to terms with his words. They all seemed utterly confused; so far so good.

"What…what's that supposed to mean?" Rob was the one breaking the silence first.

"We have good evidence that Professor Danvers didn't die that night."

Laura gasped audibly, but Jane continued as if he hadn't heard her.

"We believe that he's still on the platform; hiding."

"The milk…that explains the milk," Laura cried, and Jane felt a twinge of pain as he saw her sincere relief. She was clearly innocent; those feelings were real.

"But… that's not possible," Dave said, completely stunned. "Why would he do that?"

"We think it's a last attempt to keep your project from being stopped. Blaming the oil company of committing a murder gives your research station the publicity and the public's sympathy it so desperately needs to get more funding."

"Oh god, I'm so relieved. Are you sure, he's really alive?" Laura asked and not only she, but also Dave looked at them with so much hope; Jane felt horrible.

"No…no," Rob shook his head. "Stop! Why are you doing this?" he asked desperately. "It's not true. He's dead, you know that. He couldn't have survived."

His breathing became erratic. "He's dead. Do you hear me? Dead." His eyes filled with tears. "I… I cut the cable, but he was dead already. He's gone."

He looked at his colleagues, who were frozen in shock.

"What have you done?" Dave asked, his voice hardly a whisper.

"He was ill," Rob sobbed. "He didn't have much time left." He wiped at his eyes, looking at the table in front of him and not his colleagues.

"He asked me for help. He said if he had to die, he wanted it to happen on his terms. Let's use it for something, let's not waste my death - that's what he said to me."

Lisbon looked at Rob, full of compassion. "That's why you helped him to stage his suicide in a way that looked like murder?"

"Yes," Rob admitted. "He cut the air supply from his helmet at 8:20, like the sensor told you. That's when he died." The young student was shaking now.

"I volunteered to check the diving room and the moment I entered, I cut the cable to make it seem as if it happened here on the surface, exactly as he told me to." He looked apologetically at his colleagues. "Then I called you."

He buried his face in his hands "I'm so sorry."

They all lapsed into silence after that.

A few hours later…

The water was very calm that evening, moving slowly under the last rays of sunshine. A rainbow of colors shimmered on the water's surface. Red, green, yellow…the colors whirled with the waves, changing their shape, slowly morphing into each other. A kaleidoscope of colors.

"It looks beautiful," Lisbon said to Jane, standing beside him at the edge of the platform, staring into the water.

He nodded, his hand on the railing touching hers. They were waiting for the helicopter to arrive. Wylie was talking to one of the tech guys in the background.

"It's poisonous." They both turned around at the voice behind them. It was Dave. He seemed ready to leave the platform, a small duffle bag at his feet.

"It's residual oil," he explained, stepping forward and glancing down at the water meters below them.

"In all its beauty, it's nothing but oil, slowly killing everything living here in the ocean."

He looked up at them.

"They're closing the research station?" It was more a statement than a question by Jane. Dave nodded; he seemed surprisingly calm about it.

"Yeah, they're flying us out tonight; we'll get the helicopter after you. The FBI gets priority, of course."

"I'm sorry," Lisbon said, "I knew the research meant a lot to you… and your former professor."

He shrugged, not looking at her or Jane, but his eyes fixed on the horizon.

"He was obsessed about it…in the end. But it's just a research station, one of many." He smiled at them.

"Don't misunderstand me, I think it was great what he did, what we did here…but in contrast to him, or the others, I didn't think I could save the word with my work. There's so much beauty in this world, so many things we don't understand… that is what drives me. If I help to save the planet at the same time; great news, but it's not what keeps me going." He leaned against the railing. "Research will go on. Maybe not here, maybe not by us… but you can't stop it. As long as there are humans, there's curiosity. I think he forgot that in the end, which makes me sad. It might have given him some comfort."

He visibly pulled himself together and smiled at them. "Besides, I have enough data to wrap up my thesis."

Jane grinned and shook Dave's hand. "It was nice meeting you," he said.

"Enjoy the beauty a while longer. It might be destructive, but it can still be beautiful."

He walked away and Lisbon looked again into the whirling colors. She felt Jane's hand slip into hers. They both had learned to see beauty and happiness in everything, to look on the bright side, no matter what. She leaned her head against his shoulder, closing her eyes for a moment. She couldn't wait to go home again; to their son.

FIN

A/N: Next up Alabaster Plaster.