Simple Diversions

A/N: Another chapter! It took awhile, because I've had some writer's block, but I hope you guys enjoy it! XD

Disclaimer: I don't own the Mentalist or any of the characters or ideas.

Chapter 30

"Hi," Jane said as he walked into the interrogation room. "I'm Patrick."

Jane held his hand out to the boy who hesitated before shaking his hand firmly.

"There we go," Jane said happily as he sat down at the desk. "I obviously have a gentleman in front of me."

Zac was silent as he leaned back in his chair as watched Jane silently.

Jane pulled out a bag of potato chips and a pack of cards, causing Zac to sit up straight in his chair with a spark of interest in his eyes.

"Ah, now I have your attention." Jane said before sorting the salty chips out easily. "Tell me Zac, have you ever played poker before?"

"Maybe once or twice," Zac mumbled as he watched Jane deal the cards out. "I played poker with the boys and almost beat Big D once."

"Big D huh?" Jane said, handing Zac his cards and putting some of his chips in the middle of the table.

"Yeah, he's the leader of our group." Zac replied before putting some of his own chips in the middle. "His name is really Damian, but the thought that 'Big D' sounded cool."

"Hmm… I'm guessing he's more of the 'brawn over brain' type." Jane said as he purposefully made a bad move.

"Yeah, he's pretty much dumb as a brick." Zac said with a small chuckle as he added some more of his potato chips to the pile in the middle of the table. "But I would never tell him that to his face."

"Why? Is he really big?" Jane asked as he decided to make a good move. "Or does he have stuff on you?"

"Nah, he's got nothin' on me, he just has biceps called pain and suffering." Zac said before throwing his cards down. "I win."

"Really? Pain and Suffering?" Jane asked as he re-dealt the cards and rearranged his potato chips.

"Yep, he thought he was genius of the week just 'cause he came up with them." Zac replied.

"What about you?" Jane asked. "Are you smarter than the majority of the gang?"

"I guess I am," Zac replied with uncertainty. "But it doesn't take much to me smarter than Viper and Big D."

"Hmm…" Jane replied as he pretended to concentrate on the cards in his hand. "Does the gang deal drugs?"

"No way man," Zac replied. "At least, not as much as some of the other guys. We used to deal marawana, but we tamped it down a bit when Big D almost got arrested."

"Do you personally deal any of the drugs?" Jane asked as he added the last of his chips to the pile.

"Nah, I refused man." Zac replied. "I was like 'No way am I gettin' caught with drugs on me.' So I just let them deal it out and I scope spots for deals."

"They must trust you if they let you pick the dealing spots." Jane said as he watched Zac closely to see the boy's reaction.

"I guess." Zac said as he played a card. "But it was never s'posed to be this way."

"Be what way?" Jane asked as he focused fully on Zac and forgot about the cards in his hand.

"We just wanted to have a crew, y'know?" Zac said. "It was never meant to become a drug gang or anything bad."

Jane lay his cards face down on the table as he chose his words wisely.

"Do you think one of your 'crew' might've killed Harry Garcia?" Jane asked slowly.

"No way! None of my guys would do that!" Zac yelled angrily. "We deal drugs, but we never killed nobody!"

"Are you sure?" Jane asked again. "Maybe it could've been Big D who accidently introduced Garcia to Pain and Suffering."

"No!" Zac was standing now, arms crossed over his chest in defense. "They didn't know Garcia enough to kill 'im."

"Are you sure?" Jane asked calmly as he tried to read Zac's body language.

"Yeah!" Zac replied. "They only came to the store when they really needed me. They never spoke to Garcia or anything."

"Ok," Jane replied. "Well, thank you for the poker game and the lovely chat."

Jane laid his cards on the table and slowly walked out.

Just as Jane made it out of the doorway, he heard Zac yell, "No way! Straight flush!"

Jane chuckled to himself as he made his way towards where Lisbon was hiding behind a file.

"You can let Zac go." Jane said simply as he sat on the edge of Lisbon's desk.

"Why?" Lisbon asked somewhat sarcastically.

"He told me that he didn't kill Garcia and he told me about his 'crew' and all it cost me was a dollar for a bag of chips." Jane replied, using air quotes on the word crew.

"What? How did you get him to talk?" Lisbon asked incredulously.

"We played poker and he told me everything." Jane replied.

"And you believe him?" Lisbon asked, watching Jane carefully.

"Yep," Jane replied. "So you can just let him go."

"No, I want to keep him a little longer so that Cho can talk to him some more." Lisbon said as she started scribbling on some paper work.

"That won't go very far, but maybe if I ask Zac where his crew hang out, we can talk to them." Jane said as he stood and started towards the interrogation rooms.

"Whatever," Lisbon mumbled before calling Cho over.

xxxxx

"This place gives me the creeps." Rigsby said as he and Jane walked down the dirty alleyway, looking for Zac's crew.

"It's not that bad." Jane said with a shrug as they came to a moldy wooden door that had music blasting from inside. "I guess this is the place."

Rigsby knocked on the door and waited until a boy who looked to be about nineteen swung the door open slowly.

"Can I help you?" The boy asked as he looked Jane and Rigsby up and down with suspicion.

"We're with CBI," Rigsby said as he flashed his badge. "We need to talk to Big D."

The boy gave one last skeptical glance before closing the door again.

Jane and Rigsby shared as glance as they tried to hear what was going on inside.

Suddenly the loud rap music stopped and there was a scraping of chairs.

Rigsby unclipped his holster and rested his hand on his weapon and he knocked on the door loudly.

"CBI! Open up!" Rigsby yelled.

The door swung open and a meaty teenager appeared. He had a cap the sat askew on his head and a snake tattoo that ran from the tip of his middle finger all the way up to his left ear. A wafting cloud of smoke was almost visible as all Jane and Rigsby smelled was marawana.

"Are you Big D?" Rigsby asked as he subtly tried not to breathe.

"Who's asking?" The teen asked as he wobbled from side to side.

"Wayne Rigsby and Patrick Jane," Rigsby replied as he pulled his badge out again. "We're from CBI."

"CB what?" The teen asked with confusion before running his hand over his face.

"California Bureau of Investigation." Rigsby explained with a sigh. "Now, I'm not going to ask again; are you Big D?"

"Yeah," Damian replied. "Why you asking?"

"We're investigating the murder of Harry Garcia." Jane said.

"Who's that?" Damian asked as he leaned against the door frame.

"He owns the grocery store that Zac works at." Jane answered.

"I don't know him." Big D said and slowly turned around to the darkened room. "Anybody know Harry Garcia?"

A chorus of 'no' could be heard coming from inside of the smoky room.

"Nah, nobody knows him here, so we couldn't have killed him." Big D said as he turned to Jane and Rigsby. "You wanna ask anything else?"

Rigsby was about to reply when Jane spoke up and said, "No, that's all for now thanks." and started pulling Rigsby away from the door.

"Why are we leaving?" Rigsby asked. "He could've told us more."

"I'm glad you think so," Jane scoffed. "That kid is higher than a kite! When the fumes are so thick that you can't see anything, I suggest it's a good time to move on."

"But maybe one of his goons killed Garcia." Rigsby said.

"Please, I don't think any of those guys has been sober for months." Jane replied.

"So what do we do now?" Rigsby asked. "We have no other suspects."

"Why don't we delve into Jose's past a little bit more?" Jane said as he started walking towards the van. "It might be worth a shot."

"Whatever," Rigsby said to himself with a sigh as he pulled out his phone. "I better call Lisbon."

Please leave a review! Lara xx