4.7 Blinking Red Light
The red, blinking light of the camera hypnotizes him. He stares at it, lost in time, lost in another world. The past, so long, but never forgotten. How could he? That was the day Patrick Jane, psychic, husband and father died. And it was the day he lost everything, humanity- if he ever had any – included, and rising from those ashes, came a changed man, an avenger in the making, not someone who would put things right, just someone following a dark path of vengeance. His Annie and Charlie, dead because of his words in front of a camera, Kristina Frey, who's lost to herself because she dared to taunt the killer on television, the same mistake he did. And even Dylan, Ruth and Wesley, all dead because they tried to transform him in something he wasn't, isn't, maybe.
Because he is Red John, not the subject of some sordid horror movie. Because he is Red John, not to be used to cover crimes. Because he is Red John, not to be talked about to make money or increase popularity.
And then… then, he turns, slightly, his eyes falling on James Panzer.
James panzer isn't a serial killer in the making. He is a serial killer, they both know it, but he can't prove it. He is good, of course, but not so good. and besides, the real problem, is that he has put himself in the eye of investigation in a way that the Police can't help but follow him, and people can't help but idealize him. And, best thing ever, before that, he was a no-one, well known, but a no one nevertheless. They all knew, know him, but they don't remember him so well. He is there every day but he is never there. He is the guy next door. He can't be a killer. People can't allow to believe such a thing. And the police is too blind to see that. Maybe he could get away with murder again himself…. People is so blind, juries can be so easily influenced… you work for or with the police? You are a good guy, and if you are a good guy, you can't be killer. Add a smile and a normal appearance to the list, and liberty is served.
That's what he knows that Panzer will never be appended for murder. Not by the means of the law, at least. Not of the legal one, the law of humans…. A law he can't follow anymore, for her stopped being human a long time ago, merely existing, not even surviving. But there's another law, a law he got to know too well in his life- honor among thieves, honor among criminals. And whoever breaks the chain… pay the price.
He is talking before he realizes he is actually doing it, words leaving his mouth, close to what he told so many years before, but yet different, same subject, a different landscape this time...
He'd smile when Panzer buys it, but he can't, he can't because the killer… because Panzer says what he once did. He taunts Red John, claiming his "greatness" for himself, and those words, he remembers them, it's almost what he told that day….
….a common sociopath, lazy, sloppy, delusional, an amateur already forgotten….
He keeps looking at the blinking red light on top of the camera, like hypnotized, and when Panzer walks into his trap, he can't smile, because he knows that sooner rather than later he'll got a call, a new body, a signature smile, but this time a male underneath it, and so many questions…
And even the fact that Panzer is a bad man doesn't make him feel better. Because killing is killing, and no matter what, the man's blood is on his hands…. Angela. Charlotte. Frey (sort of). Bosco. Madeline's friend. Grace' innocence. Lisbon's life on the line. Carter. Panzer. Dead or destroyed, hurt, because of him.
He hates having feelings- they'll just get in the way when he'll have other blood on his hands- Red John's – because, when they'll pay the price, he will as well. He'll destroy them, he is doing it even now, but he'll be destroyed as well, the right price to pay for all the sufferance he has inflicted- and will inflict.
The game will be over only when one or both of them will be six feet under.