Simple Diversions
A/N: Here is the next chapter! Finally after some SERIOUS writer's block. Please leave a review and let me know what you think! And thank you to GingerCrunchToffee for the wonderful review and for becoming my new pen pal! Please check out her story 'Tears in the Rain' it really is wonderful!
Disclaimer: I don't own the Mentalist or any of the characters or concepts from the show. I also don't own the scene from the season 1 episode where Jane asks the suspects to lift their hands in the air. :)
Chapter 5
"Hey, do you know where Blondie and Mia went?" Lisa asked as she looked around for the two consultants in question.
"I don't know," Alistair replied. "but we better find them."
"Yeah," Lisa agreed as she followed behind Alistair. "Who knows how much trouble they could get into.
Lisa and Alistair were walking down the now busy hallway as they searched for the two consultants.
The shrill ringing of the school bell sounded through the school as students scrambled to get to their diffrent classes.
Amongst the bustle of teens, Alistair caught a glimps of some wild, golden curls and reddish brown hair.
"Gotcha!" he mumbled to himself as he motioned for Lisa to follow him.
As they entered the classroom they saw Mia and Jane go into, they were met with the sight of Jane and Mia up front, busy trying to question the bunch of uninterested teenagers.
"Ah, Detectives how nice of you to join us." Jane said with his megawatt smile in place. "We were just about to start asking some questions."
Alistair and Lisa each gave an awkward wave to the the class in front of them.
"Why don't you guys go and sit down at the back of the classroom?" Mia suggested to the two detectives.
Alistair gave a quick nod and he and Lisa walked to the back of the classroom and each took a seat on one of the empty seats.
"Alright," Jane began loudly. "Why don't we start?"
Jane started walking up and down slowly as Mia leaned against the large wooden desk and observed the students.
"I'm sure you all know by now that one of your classmates has has been murdered recently." Jane began. "My colleague and I believe that it might be someone who attended this very school."
At this everyone in the room gasped.
"Maybe even one of your classmates," Jane said, which made everyone look around suspicioulsy. "Or the person sitting right next to you."
All of the teens started to whisper and murmur frantically amongst each other.
"But there is no need to worry," Jane began. "We intend to find the culprit and bring him, her,or them to justice." The class started to quieten down again as one girl in the back of the class raised her hand.
"Yes?" Jane said as he pointed to the blond girl.
"How are you two going to solve the case?" The girl asked haughtily. "You two don't even look like cops, more like characters from a Sherlock Holmes book."
At this the class all made quite a noise. Some laughed, some whispered and few of the young guys said, "Ooh," altogether.
"Well, we don't look like cops because we aren't cops," Jane began as he slowly started walking towards the girl. "But rather consultants."
The girl scoffed and replied, "Why would the cops need consultants? They have solid police work."
"But a cop wouldn't be able to tell you that you are a spoilt daddy's girl and that the only reason you made the first comment was to be in the spotlight and show off to the air headed muscle guy over there that you've had a crush on since first grade." Jane replied easily with one breath.
His reply left the girl timid and speechless and the class repeated the noises they had made earlier.
"Now, back to the important things." Jane continued loudly.
"Why don't we try a little excercise. I want all of you to stand up and raise your hands above your head like so." Jane raised his hands up above his head and watched as the students stood and did the same.
"Good, now I want the person who killed Stella to drop their right hand." Jane said as he dropped his right hand for demonstration.
He and everyone looked around the classroom and found that no one had dropped either of their hands.
"Well, I guess this means none of you is the killer," Jane said a he dropped his other hand with a confused expression. "So we'll just leave you all to get back to your lesson."
Mia stood and followed Jane out of the door with Lisa and Alistair close behind.
"You didn't think that would actually work did you?" Alistair asked as they all stood in the empty hallway.
"Well, my assistant will enlighten us as to whether it worked or not." Jane replied a he turned to Mia.
"It worked," Mia replied simply.
"No it didn't," Lisa began. "No one dropped their right hand."
"No, but someone almost did." Mia replied with a mischievous grin.
"Really?" Alistair asked incredulously. "Who?"
"The girl that was so cocky and knew so much about police work." Mia replied.
"Well what is her name?" Lisa asked impatiently.
Mia and Jane shared a knowing look before they replied simultaniously, "Avery Lancaster."
xxxxx
"So you guys think a teenager killed someone in her class, just because she hesitated in holding her hands above her head?" Daniel asked somewhat angrily.
They had all driven to CBI instead of SacPD HQ, because Lisbon's entire team were at CBI. Besides, it was just so much easier.
"Yep," Mia replied. "and we're right."
Lisbon and Daniel shared a look and Lisbon spoke up, "Jane tried this once before and the results were very much the same, but we still caught the killer."
"But we need solid evidence," Daniel replied angrily. "not slight tremors of the hand."
"Then we'll find solid evidence." Cho replied plainly. "We all know and trust Jane's crazy methods and we always catch the bad guy."
Van Pelt and Rigsby mumbled in agreement at Cho's words.
"Alright," Daniel replied with a sigh. "Let's say it was Avery, how do we get a confession out of her?"
"We have to find her weakness." Jane replied.
"How do we do that?" Lisa asked curiously.
"Maybe we can go by her house and Jane and Mia can see if they can find out more about her." Rigsby suggested.
"That isn't such a bad idea." David Flood said as he stood from his seat.
"Alright, we'll get her address, pay her a visit, and meet you back here." Lisbon said to Daniel.
"Alright, for now we'll see if solid police work can get us anywhere." Daniel replied as he motioned for all of his team, apart from Mia, to follow him.
"Alright, Jane, Mia, and I will head over to the Lancaster house, you guys see what else you can find." Lisbon commanded as she led the way out of the bull pen.
"Let's prove Lisbon and Daniel wrong." Jane said as he held his hand up in a high five to Mia.
"Let's do this!" Mia replied as she gave Jane a high five.
xxxxx
They arrived at the Lancaster estate in the richer regions of Sacramento.
The SUV pulled up to a house that looked like a mansion with a rounded drive way.
"Here we are." Lisbon announced as she turned the engine of the car off.
"Show time." Jane said as he opened his door and climbed out of the black car.
"Alright," Lisbon began as she, Jane, and Mia started walking up the huge stairs. "You guys look around and see what you can find. In the meantime I'll talk to Avery and her father and see what I can find out."
"Sure thing Lisbon." Jane replied as he winked at Mia.
Lisbon walked up to the huge, wooden doors that made up the front entrance and rung the little door bell that sat on the wall.
The chorus for 'Hollywood' by Michael Bublé rung through the house and Jane murmured to Mia, "Not ostentatious at all, is it."
One of the giant doors swung open to reveal a man in his fifties with a fancy suit and grey hair that was slicked back neatly.
"How may I help you?" The man asked in a gravelly British accent.
"Hi, I am Special Agent Teresa Lisbon with the CBI and these are my consultants Patrick Jane and Mia Black. We were wondering if we could speak to Mr Lancaster?"
The old man turned around and seemed to be looking down the hallway as he replied, "Mr Lancaster is very busy at the moment."
"Well we need to talk to him on official police business." Mia said kindly with her most charming smile.
"I'll see if I can persuade Mr Lancaster to see guests." The butler went inside briefly and returned with a smile.
"It seems Mr Lancaster has cleared his schedule and will see you now." The little, old man said as he moved out of the door way and motioned for the three people in front of him to enter.
"Thank you." Mia said with another wonderful smile as she passed by the old man.
Mr Lancaster was speaking on his fancy smart phone when Jane, Lisbon and Mia walked into his well-furnished study.
"That is my final decision." Mr Lancaster said as he motioned for Jane, Lisbon and Mia to take come inside. "I will not pay that much money on something so useless! Why doesn't she have her wonderful boyfriend buy it for her? I'll talk to you later, bye."
Mr Lancaster put his phone down on the table and turned to face his guests with a sigh.
"Sorry, that was my lawyer," Mr Lancaster said as he sat down behind his large desk. "Divorce is a living hell."
Lisbon gave a curt nod and sat down in the chair in front of Mr Lancaster's desk. Jane motioned for Mia to take the seat instead, as he was trying to be a gentleman.
"Mr Lancaster," Lisbon began, but was cut off.
"Please, call me Peter." Mr Lancaster said.
"Alright, Peter" Lisbon replied. "We just wanted to know whether you knew about the murder of a sixteen year old girl named Stella Brand? She attended the same school your daughter did."
"Well, I heard about it from one of the other parents." Peter replied with a devastated look. "I just didn't think it was true."
"Well it is," Jane said as he turned to Peter. "We were just wondering if maybe you knew who could've done it."
"Of course not," Peter began. "I didn't even know this girl."
"What about your daughter, Avery?" Mia asked.
"Not as far as I know," Peter replied with a confused expression. "I mean, she never mentioned anyone named Stella."
"What about a boy named Zavier," Lisbon asked as she showed Peter a picture of Zavier. "Did your daughter ever mention him?"
Peter seemed to study the picture before replying, "This boy did come around here once, but Avery said that she was just being helped with her homework by this boy."
Jane gave a brief nod and announced, "I will be right back; I left something in the car."
"Why don't I come with you?" Mia asked as she stood and followed Jane out of the room.
Jane and Mia walked quietly down the long hallway.
"What are we looking for?" Mia whispered to Jane.
"We're looking for a bedroom that looks like it could belong to a sixteen year old girl." Jane whispered back.
The two were quietly walking down the hallway when they heard footsteps. Jane pointed to another room and pulled Mia in behind him.
The two consultants held their breath as Jane watched through the little crack in the door.
Jane saw the butler walk past with a tray piled with cake and tea.
Once the footsteps died away, Jane motioned for Mia to follow him out and grabbed her hand and quickly pulled her up the spiral stair case with him.
Once upstairs, they found that there were about five more rooms, some of which had closed doors.
They walked up to a door with a sign that read 'Avery' and was decorated with rinestones and stickers.
Jane put his hand on the doorknob and was about to turn it when Mia spoke up, "You can't just open the door! What if she's in there?"
"She won't be here, because she's probably still at school." Jane replied reassuringly as he swung the door open.
The walls were decorated with plenty of pictures and a few expensive, antique paintings scattered here and there.
*"Hey look," Jane began as he walked over to a particularly large poster. "There's that so called 'Heartthrob' that all the girls are going crazy about. What was his name? Something 'Beaver'?"
Mia gave a little giggle as she shook her head and replied, "No, his name is Justin Bieber. Besides, he's not what we're looking for."
"Right," Jane replied. "I'll look over there and you check her dresser."
Mia gave a nod and the two split up. Jane started rummaging through draws, while keeping them surprisingly neat, and Mia looked through the cabinets of Avery's dresser.
After a while, Mia shouted triumphantly, "I think I found something that could prove that Avery and Zavier were dating."
Jane came over to Mia and looked at the little photograph in her hands. It was a picture of Zavier with his arms around Avery's shoulders in a hug. The two teens were both laughing and were clearly having fun.
"That's proof alright." Jane said as he took the photograph from Mia.
Suddenly they heard voices coming up the hall and both panicked.
"What do we do?!" Mia whispered to Jane.
Jane looked around quickly and pulled Mia towards a rather large closet.
"Let's hide in here." Jane said as he pushed Mia into the dark cupboard.
Jane closed the door enough so that they wouldn't be seen, but so that he could still see out.
The bedroom door opened and in walked none other than Zavier and Avery. The two teenagers walked in and Avery shut the door.
Zavier pulled Avery into a warm embrace as he let out a sigh. The two stood for a while before Avery pulled away and Zavier tucked a stray piece of her hair behind her ear.
"I'm sorry about your sister." Avery said as she held both of Zavier's hands.
"I guess it's OK," Zavier replied. He had a surprisingly deep voice Jane noted. "I'll still miss her, but I'm sure the ops will catch the scumbag who did it."
"I'm sure they will." Avery replied as she put her arms around Zavier and hugged him tightly.
"That's not guilty behavior, but signs of typical grieving." Mia whispered to Jane as she pushed up against his chest to see through the rack in the door.
"You're right," Jane whispered back. "I guess we were both wrong."
Mia gave a nod, but Jane was too captivated by her eyes to concentrate on the two other people in the other room.
Mia looked back into his eyes and couldn't help noticing that he was staring in a more than simply admiring way.
The two started leaning in subconsciously when they suddenly heard a loud bang. They quickly turned to look through the crack at where the sound had come from.
It seems that either Zavier or Avery had dropped one of the many large, heavy text books they used for school.
There came a knock at the door and a voice that sounded like it could be Peter asked, "Avery? Are you here?"
"Yeah Dad," Avery replied. "Zavier and I are just studying."
There was a brief pause before Peter spoke up again, "Could you and Zavier come down stairs please? There is someone here asking questions about Stella, Zavier's sister."
There seemed to be some mumbling as the two teens debated whether they should go downstairs or not before Avery replied, "Sure Dad, we'll be right there."
Jane and Mia watched as the two teenagers walked out of the room and left the door wide open, which was exactly what Jane and Mia wanted.
The two consultants quietly came out of the dark closet and walked over to the door, waiting a while before walking down the stairs.
Jane and Mia went to the study where they found Lisbon, Peter, Zavier, and Avery.
Everyone turned around as they saw the two consultants enter.
"Wait a minute," Avery said with a confused expression. "Weren't you two at our school today?"
"Uh, yes we were." Jane replied shyly. "We were just here to ask your dad if he knew anything, but we have everything we need, so we'll be going now."
Lisbon looked a little confused as Jane motioned for her to follow him out.
"Thank you for your time Mr Lancaster." Jane said as he pulled Lisbon out with him and Mia.
"What was that all about?" Lisbon asked as they climbed into the black SUV.
"I'll tell you when we get back to CBI." Jane replied. "But the answer will be very insightful, trust me."
Please leave a review! Lara:))))))
Don't forgot to check out 'Tears in the Rain' by GingerCrunchToffee :))))))
*I was listening to Justin Bieber's new album 'Believe' when I wrote this chapter, so that's where the JB poster cam from :)