Simple Diversions

A/N: Thanks to the wonderful reviews I received, I decided to put up this chapter. I am busy writing ahead and am already on chapter 5, but updates might take longer for a while as I have Tendosynovitis and have to wear a brace on my left hand... so typing is difficult :(

I will try and update as often as possible, but prayer and patience would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you to TheBrokenHeartedLamb and TheMentalistGirl for your lovely reviews! I am so glad you are enjoying this story!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Mentalist or any of the characters or concepts from the show. Sadly... :(

Chapter 3

It was three hours later and Jane was lying on his couch when Lisbon walked in and asked angrily, "Jane, are you actually going to help with this case or are you going to sleep on your couch all day?"

"I was actually solving the case, not sleeping Lisbon." Jane replied quietly.

"Were you now?" Lisbon asked sarcastically as she sat down next to Jane's couch. "Then do tell who the killer is."

"It's the brother's girlfriend." Jane replied plainly without opening his eyes.

"How do you figure that?" Lisbon asked angrily. "Zavier Brand doesn't have a girlfriend."

"Is that what he told you?" Jane asked.

"Yes," Lisbon began slowly. "Why?"

"What a liar," Jane began. "He obviously has a secret girlfriend."

"Oh really, how do you know?" Lisbon asked.

"I went inside the house and found some evidence that will prove my theory." Jane replied.

"What else says the girlfriend did it?" Lisbon asked. "Besides, why would he keep his girlfriend a secret?"

"Because his girlfriend has a very rich, powerful, and scary father." Jane replied.

Lisbon snorted at Jane's answer but listened as he continued, "Plus, it would be very embarrassing if daddy's little girl admitted to dating a 'commoner'." Jane used air quotes around the word commoner.

"So you think the girlfriend did it?" Lisbon asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Yes." Jane replied easily.

"Why?" Lisbon asked.

"Well, obviously little sister found out about the secret relationship and threatened to tell. So girlfriend got rid of the problem." Jane replied as he sat up and stretched out his arms.

"But who is the girlfriend?" Lisbon asked.

"I still have to figure that part out." Jane said.

"Brilliant," Lisbon replied with sarcasm dripping from her voice. "Detective Reese wanted to meet up and discuss the case."

"You can go Lisbon, I'll just wait here." Jane replied as he got up and started heading towards the kitchen.

"Fine, but I'm sure Mia will be there." Lisbon replied coaxingly.

Jane stopped in his tracks when he heard what Lisbon had said.

"Maybe I could give some insight into the case." Jane said as he turned around to get his jacket.

Lisbon followed him out to the elevator with a smirk on her face.

xxxxx

Jane and Lisbon had arrived at the Sacramento Police Department. Lisbon flashed her badge and the two of them walked up to the front desk.

"Hi, I'm Agent Teresa Lisbon and this is Patrick Jane," Lisbon said to a middle-aged woman behind the desk. "We're here to see Detective Reese."

"I'll just let him know you're here." The woman replied as she picked up the phone on her desk.

Lisbon was standing, waiting for anymore news when she suddenly noticed the Jane was nowhere to be found.

"Jane?" Lisbon asked as she started looking around. "Not again." Lisbon sighed.

xxxxx

Jane was standing next to Lisbon as the plump woman behind the desk said, "I'll just let him know you're here." Jane saw, out of the corner of his eye, a ponytail of familiar reddish-brown hair.

Jane silently walked over to the owner of the hair and tugged on the end of her ponytail.

"Hey!" said the owner of the hair and turned around with an angry glare. She was about to speak when blue eyes met hazel.

"You were saying?" Jane asked with a smile after a minute or two of silence.

"What are you doing here?" Mia asked curiously as she stood in front of Jane.

"Hello to you too." Jane replied sarcastically.

Mia just stared cheekily at Jane and waited for his answer.

Jane sighed and said, "Lisbon and I are here to discuss the case with Daniel."

"Oh, well where is Lisbon?" Mia asked with confusion.

"I left her at the front desk." Jane replied.

"You left her there without saying where you were going, didn't you?" Mia asked with a smirk.

"Maybe," Jane replied. "Maybe not."

"Let's go before you get into trouble." Mia said as she started walking in the opposite direction from where Jane had come from.

"The front desk is that way." Jane pointed towards the other end of the hall.

"Yeah, but we can wait in Daniel's office." Mia replied with a know-all smirk.

"Ah," Jane replied with a smile. "Makes sense."

xxxxx

Lisbon was standing by the front desk, cursing at Jane under her breath.

Daniel came up behind her and said, "Agent Lisbon, I'm glad you could come."

Lisbon spun around quickly, looking a little like the cat who ate the canary.

"Of course," Lisbon replied. "Anything to help solve the case."

Daniel motioned for Lisbon to follow him and with one last glance around the room, Lisbon followed.

xxxxx

Daniel and Lisbon rounded the last corner on the way to Daniel's office. Daniel walked up to a door with a sign that read, Detective Daniel Reese.

Daniel opened the door and motioned for Lisbon to walk in. Lisbon walked into the dimly lit office and as soon as Daniel hit the light switch, they noticed the two figures sitting in the office.

Mia was sitting at Daniel's desk, typing on his laptop. Jane was leaning over Mia and reading over her shoulder.

The two culprits looked up and realized that they had been caught.

"Uh oh," Mia said as she stopped typing. "Busted!"

Jane quickly stood up straight and Mia shot up from where she was sitting as if the seat burned her.

"What were you doing on my laptop?" Daniel asked angrily, yet curiously as he came over to his desk.

"Nothing." Mia replied quickly as she moved out from behind Daniel's desk.

Daniel was looking at his screen and couldn't believe what he was seeing. Mia had successfully managed to hack into his computer, read all of his e-mail, and mess up his desktop by moving things and changing his background from Sacramento Police Department, to a picture from his high school days.

Where did she even get the picture? Daniel wondered to himself.

"How did you crack my password?" Daniel asked incredulously.

"It wasn't that hard," Mia replied easily with a mischievous grin. "It was the name of your first crush."

"How did you know who that was?" Daniel asked.

"Easy," Mia replied as she looked to Jane. "We just opened the right files."

"We are going to have a serious talk about this later." Daniel said angrily.

Lisbon had been standing just inside of Daniel's office, listening to the whole conversation and silently smiling to herself. Jane, on the other hand, had been showing off his grin proudly.

"Now, maybe we can start with what we actually came here for." Daniel said as he sat down at his desk and motioned for Lisbon to do the same. Jane and Mia simply shared the couch.

"So, do you have anything new on the case Detective Reese?" Lisbon asked with a small smirk.

"Well, it appears the girl was shot at close range with a handgun of some sort." Daniel replied as he started reading from a file that was sitting in front of him. "We also found some glitter on the body."

"Glitter?" Lisbon repeated.

"Yes," Daniel replied. "Body-glitter to be exact."

"Where would the body glitter have come from?" Lisbon asked.

"The girlfriend." Jane and Mia both said at the same time.

Ooh! Here is my kinda lame attempt at a cliffie... Please leave a review and brighten up my day! (Even if it's constructive criticism... that's works too) :P