Well it has been a very long time since I published a new story, but I have the urge to write again. Let's see where this leads us!
Sweet Persuasion
Chapter 1
The End of the Party
The wadded up ball of paper dropped with a thud onto the old wooden floor, its progress followed by three sets of bored eyes. Wayne Rigsby grabbed another sheet of paper and crushed it into a ball, then tried again to bounce it from his hand to his bicep and then, into a waste paper basket beside his desk. Grace and Cho stood by watching in bored fascination. Wayne would not give up this tedious game and they wouldn't give him the satisfaction of joining in with him. Farther down the room Patrick Jane lay stretched out on his well worn leather sofa, basking in the late afternoon sun like a cat on a sidewalk, bemused by Wayne's frustrated attempts to score a win by landing a paper ball in the basket.
A ringing telephone broke Wayne's concentration and his paper ball sailed off into a potted plant across the room. Cho snorted his derision as he made his way over to his desk and picked up the receiver.
"Major Crimes, Cho speaking."
Taking a pen he quickly scribbled down some details and then hung up.
"We're up. Dead body found at the edge of the Morton estate. Mr. Victor Morton himself. Local PD is on scene. Possible suicide".
"Victor Morton? Isn't he that super rich guy who is always in the newspaper rubbing shoulders with local bigwigs?" Wayne asked.
"The same" Cho answered, curious as to why such a man would kill himself.
Jane swung his legs off the sofa and stood up, grabbing his jacket to join Cho, Rigsby and van Pelt as they made their way towards Lisbon's office. "My money is on the housekeeping staff. They will have enough built in resentment against the Morton's to exact their revenge" Jane said wickedly, curling an invisible mustache with his fingertips.
"Pretty harsh Jane" van Pelt murmured as they walked out of the bullpen. He shrugged his shoulders with a grin, loving how easy it was to get a rise out of sweet Grace.
Lisbon had seen Cho take the call and knew they had a new case. By the time her team reached her door she had her jacket and car keys in hand. While she didn't want anyone to die, her team was bored and needed a new crime to solve. With a bit of luck it wouldn't be too complicated.
Jane fell in step with Lisbon, as usual, and sat in the front passenger seat of her black SUV for the drive over to the gated community where the richest of the rich in the city lived. Wayne, Cho and van Pelt followed in another SUV.
The drive was quiet as Jane gazed at the lush neighborhood where Mr. and Mrs. Morton lived. While Jane was used to a well appointed house of his own in Malibu in his old life, the houses here were definitely in a totally different category. Few of the mansions could be seen from the well manicured road. Once they got past the gate, they entered the community of massive houses, set far back from the road on expansive acres of green lawns and perfect gardens. Everywhere Jane and Lisbon looked, landscapers toiled in the yards, clipping stray tendrils of plants, mulching the soil, fertilizing the already perfect mounds of flowers spilling out of the raised flower beds. While beautiful, it was excessive and almost claustrophobic, at least to Jane. The sheer size and perfection of every property soon became boring and predictable. But isn't that what gave these super rich people security? Security in perfection? While Jane mused on this notion, Lisbon found the house they sought and showed her badge to a police officer guarding the gated entrance to the Morton driveway. At a signal from the cop, someone entered a code and the heavy iron gates swung open and Lisbon eased her SUV up the long curving drive.
The front of the house was swarming with uniformed officers and house staff, some of whom were in tears, some in denial, and some completely unaffected by the death of their employer. All of them were being briefly interviewed, in turn.
Finding a parking spot by the front steps of the enormous porch, Lisbon and Jane emerged from the vehicle and waited for Cho to pull in next to their SUV.
"Ok, let's find poor Mr. Morton and then speak to his wife and family. Cho, can you arrange to speak to all of the staff when the locals are done with them, with Rigsby? Van Pelt, come with us" Lisbon said, singling out the startled red-head. Grace was almost never invited to join Lisbon and Jane when they examined the victim. Smiling discreetly, Grace nodded and stepped over to her boss's side, happy to be included in this important step of the investigation. Cho just smirked and turned to enter the house. He knew Grace wanted a larger part in investigations outside of being the office computer expert, and Rigsby had seen his fair share of dead bodies.
"Thanks Boss" Grace said softly as she walked alongside Lisbon.
Lisbon just smiled and nodded. Grace was a great cop, and would be even better at her job if she got more experience out in the field. Today would be good for her. The walk around the house to the back lawn leading to the crime scene was long, as the property was huge, but the gardens were incredible. A large white tent stood in the middle of the lawn, still filled with tables and chairs, even a wooden dance floor. Apparently a special event had recently taken place here. Even though Jane, Lisbon and van Pelt were walking to view a dead man, they couldn't help but enjoy the outing in such lovely surroundings. As usual, Jane wandered off and left Lisbon and van Pelt to reach the victim first. Eventually they arrived at a busy crime scene, surrounded by garish yellow police tape flapping in the breeze. A woman in a bathrobe sat sobbing on a small bench, surrounded by police officers. An ambulance stood nearby and as Lisbon watched, Jane was stopped by a junior cop, who tried to prevent Jane from proceeding towards the dead man. Jane just waved his hands at the cop, pointed at Lisbon and ducked under the crime scene tape as the poor officer tried to stop the blond man from despoiling the crime scene. Shaking her head at the way Jane always pissed off someone as soon as they arrived, Lisbon flashed her badge and pushed past the inexperienced young man.
"He's with me, Consultant" she said in explanation, then ignored the cop as she became engrossed with the job ahead of her. Jane smirked as he pointed to himself and Lisbon while the young cop fumed.
Victor Morton was sitting at the base of a large tree, dressed in an expensive suit, a champagne glass in his cold left hand, a gun in his right. A bloody hole in his temple attested to suicide. Jane circled the body and got down on his haunches, to better study the man's calm face. There was no sign of panic, or last minute regret. If a dead man could look at peace with himself, Victor Morton was that man. Except for the large hole in his head, he seemed content. Lisbon examined the body but also watched Jane work. He sniffed the corpse, earning a few glares from the cops nearby, and spent a lot of time appraising the man's clothing, noting the flower in the buttonhole on his suit. Then Jane studied Morton's shoes. Shoes told so much about a person, what they did, where they went, how much value they put on comfort above fashion, what they had walked in or on, if they were well maintained or treated badly. Yes, shoes told Jane so much about Mr. Morton.
Grace examined the dead man as well, keeping out of Jane's way, and felt sorry for a man who had so much but felt he needed to kill himself anyway. Why? Why wasn't this fantastic life enough for Victor Morton?
After they had spent enough time with the deceased, Lisbon allowed the coroner to take the body away for an autopsy, even though the cause of death was evident. They wanted to speak to Mrs. Morton, but it could wait, for a while anyway. She was too distraught at the moment to be of much use.
As they walked back towards the house Grace looked confused.
"Spit it out Grace. What's got you so perplexed?" Jane asked the young woman.
Grace turned and looked back at the place where the body had been found.
"He had so much, everything...but he still killed himself. I...I just don't get it" she mumbled.
Jane bit back a sarcastic remark. Grace was so kind, undamaged by life so far, and so willing to believe that good things happened to good people, so he understood that she would assume that Victor Morton should have been happy with his life. Killing himself just didn't compute for Grace.
"Time will tell Grace. Time will tell…" he answered, knowing full well that soon, any ghosts in Victor's closet would all come tumbling out.
During the walk back to the main house, Jane wandered off when Cho and Rigsby found Lisbon and discussed what they had discovered so far. Grace watched him go and wondered if she should let her Boss know Jane was on the move. She decided against it and listened as Wayne and Cho continued to speak. For his part, Jane was bored and needed to get inside the mansion and see how Victor Morton had lived his final days. While the front porch of the mansion was a beehive of activity, and the edge of the property was teaming with cops, no one was watching the large glass doors that led from the patio into the cool dark interior of the house.
Jane stepped inside and gazed around the opulent room before him. Thick oriental rugs lay across the mahogany floors, leather sofas and plush armchairs surrounded a handmade coffee table inlaid with marble and gold leaf. This room could easily accomodate 20 or 30 people. An ornate fireplace anchored the room and the mantle was decorated with framed photos of Victor, his wife and kids, and other family members. Jane noted too, photos of Victor with the Mayor and other local celebrities. He rubbed shoulders with the powerful as well as the rich. He walked around the room, taking in everything, missing nothing. On his way to the dining room he was stopped by a blond young woman, perhaps 16 years old, and a younger boy, both holding hands and showing signs that they had recently been crying.
"May I help you Sir?" the young woman said politely. "Did my mother let you in the house?"
Jane smiled and offered his hand, extending his index finger to feel the young woman's pulse point. It was racing.
"Ah...no. I'm with the CBI, the police. See?" he said, showing the woman his ID card. "Patrick Jane. Your mother is very upset. I didn't want to bother her yet" he added. "And you are?"
"I'm Katy, actually, Katherine Morton. My dad, he just…" she tried to explain, but her tears began to flow once again.
"I'm sorry Katy. I'm going to find out what happened. I want to help you and, your brother?" he asked, turning to face the young boy.
"Thanks. Yes, this is Owen. He's pretty shaken up and doesn't talk much, but he knows what's going on."
Jane got down on one knee. "Nice to meet you Owen. I hope you and your sister take good care of each other, and your mother too. Can you do that?" Jane said soothingly. Owen shook his head slightly and grasped Katy's hand tighter.
"What can you do for us? My Dad killed himself. What else is there to figure out?" Katy blurted out. Jane stood and faced the broken hearted girl. She deserved answers. The whole family did.
"I'm not sure Katy. But if there is more to learn, I will do my best to give you the answers you and your family need. For now I think Owen needs a glass of milk and a cookie. Can you get that for him, Katy?" Jane suggested, hoping the young woman would take his advice and distract the young boy, for a while anyway.
"Ok. Sure…" she said, then led the trusting boy towards the kitchen at the far side of the house. As Jane watched them go, he wondered why the CBI was here. Why had they been called in for what appeared to be an obvious suicide? He decided to take a quick glance around the house then find Lisbon and ask just what was going on.
By the time Jane had finished studying the main body of the house and everything in it, Mrs. Morton came back inside, accompanied by Lisbon. Cho and the rest of the team were finishing up their interviews of the staff and groundskeepers and would soon return to the office to write their reports. As Mrs. Morton disappeared into a small room off the main hallway, Lisbon found Jane skulking against an ornate pillar, watching the new widow with interest.
"So, what did you find in your search of the house?" Lisbon asked, not bothering with any sort of lead up to the main question. She knew Jane's methods by now.
Jane straightened up and gazed towards the kitchen, seeing the shadows of the two young people in there as they came to grips with the death of their father.
"I met the kids, Owen and Katy. Nice kids, shocked, confused. I want to help them."
"We will Jane. That's what we do" Lisbon began to say, but Jane cut her off mid-sentence.
"So why are we here? Why answer a call that the local PD could have handled? If this is a simple suicide, we don't need to be here" Jane said, stating the obvious.
Lisbon wandered into the living room, eyeing the lush furnishings. Jane was close behind.
"Well, yes, normally we wouldn't be called, but Victor Morton was part of the city's inner circle, friends with the Mayor and anyone and everyone who made decisions about Sacramento's future. The Governor personally intervened and asked us to help with the investigation."
"Same as it ever was…" Jane muttered, having encountered the interference of politics into their cases too many times in the past. Was Victor Morton a good guy who just decided to off himself on a cool summer evening? Was Victor Morton a bad guy who had his entire family and friends fooled? Something didn't add up.
"Did you speak to Victor's wife?" Jane asked.
"For a bit, yes. She's in shock. Can't understand what happened. She said they had just celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary last night with a big outdoor party. Her husband was still dressed in the clothes he wore at the party when he died. She says they were very happy together and that he had spent months planning the party. None of it makes sense."
Jane looked behind him and saw the widow drift aimlessly across the hallway and up a long winding staircase, her eyes glazed over in grief and sadness, unseeing and unfocussed. He knew absolutely how she felt.
"I think we have enough information to go on for now, let's head back to the office and compare notes with the team" Lisbon suggested, breaking into Jane's maudlin thoughts. A quick nod of the head indicated he had heard her and he turned to walk back outside via the patio doors.
6 Months Later
Rigsby strode into the bullpen holding two large boxes of donuts, grinning from ear to ear in anticipation of the impending sugar rush.
"Closed case donuts! I've got dibs on the chocolate dipped pecan creams" he warned Grace and Cho, who already knew his favorite treats by now.
"Oh hush Wayne, as if you don't get enough sugar on a daily basis" Grace teased him as she took a raspberry filled confection covered in powdered sugar.
"I thought the Grayden case would never end" Cho said as he reached into the box of treats. "Jane? Better grab a donut before Wayne takes them all" Cho called to a napping Jane.
Jane shrugged himself into some semblance of alertness and sat upright, running a hand through his already tousled hair. The Grayden case had been weighing on the team for weeks, one of their toughest in a long time, and they were glad to be rid of it, seeing the crime family go to the prison cells they so richly deserved. Lisbon ran into the room, reaching past Wayne to grab a long, cream filled donut drizzled in chocolate.
"I needed this" she smiled, savoring the sweet cream filling as it oozed out of the donut on her first bite.
Jane smiled as he watched her face light up in pleasure. For the briefest of moments, he had the urge to reach over to her face and wipe the excess cream off her chin and put his finger into his mouth. When Lisbon turned to offer the box of donuts to him, he wiped the smirk off his face and rearranged his expression to look as if choosing the right donut would be his hardest task of the morning.
"Thanks Wayne. Much appreciated" he muttered as he took a deep bite of an apple fritter.
"Goodbye Graydens!" Wayne toasted, hoisting his donut into the air, joined by his team mates as they all agreed with a hearty "Hear hear!"
The convivial atmosphere didn't last long. Just before Wayne could reach for his third donut, the phone on Cho's desk rang and he took the call. A moment later, he was wiping off his hands and reaching for his gun.
"We're up. Caught a case."
The box of donuts was quickly put away as the team cleaned themselves up and headed for the elevator. Reprieves from their work never lasted long.