Chapter 6.
"I couldn't see anything," Jane says to Lisbon.
"But he spoke to you?"
They sit on the sofa in her office, with all the blinds drawn for privacy; Jane looks visibly shaken from the experience, his cup of tea rattles ever so slightly on the saucer in his hand and his eyes keep darting from Lisbon towards the door.
"Hey," she places her hand on his, "you're safe here."
He smiles at her, looking more like himself by the second, he knows that she is trying her best to comfort him, but he just can't shake it off just yet.
"When you're ready, just tell me what happened," Lisbon tells him.
He takes a sip of his tea and then a deep breath. He goes on to explain what happened; walking away from the crime scene; the smell of chloroform; the stench of the warehouse basement and then finally, coming too to find her arms around him.
"I'm going to take you home," she stands, still holding his hand, hoping that he will follow her lead.
"I'm okay, Teresa," he smiles, more to convince himself than her, "he told me that there is going to be another victim. He's going to kill someone else."
"Did he specify who?" she returns to her seat beside him.
"No, he only said that the men that he kills deserve it because they beat their own wives," he informs her, "how he found out about the other two victims, I'm not sure yet."
"The other three can deal with that," Lisbon replies, "at the moment, you are my first priority."
"Lisbon," he begins, but she interrupts him before he can make a valid case.
"No Jane, the guy used animal tranquiliser to knock you out; Johnson says that it won't do any damage to you, but better safe than sorry."
"Animal tranquiliser?"
"Yeah, and before you say it, yes we have been doing background checks on animal shop owners."
"How's that going?"
"None so far, we'll be checking the employees next. With only 10 stores to check, it shouldn't take long until we have a suspect list."
"What about the next victim?"
"If the wife isn't willing to admit to being abused, as the wives of our vics are, then there's little we can do. On one hand, if they admit to domestic abuse, but on the other hand, they are in danger of falling victim to this crazy guy."
"He thinks that he is doing a good job," Jane comments.
"Well, the guy is delusional. He murders wife beaters and wears a mask to hide his identity," Lisbon sighs.
"Did the witnesses help?"
"Not really," she gets up to retrieve a piece of paper from her desk and passes it to him.
Before he takes a long look, he places his cup on the table beside him. The mask is very similar to that of Marvel's Spiderman, but it has a few differences; the eyes are larger and are a fluorescent yellow colour with a black line down the middle as the pupil. The rest of the mask is jet black, with little details added on to make it look like a snake's head.
"Well, he definitely thinks that he's a snake," Jane observes.
"What I don't get is why does he have such a narrow profile for his victims?"
"Maybe he uses snake logic," Jane pauses in thought," "if that's a real thing."
"What are you going on about?" Lisbon asks him, a confused look on her face, "maybe Johnson was wrong about that stuff Venom gave you."
"Oh ha ha, I mean, a snake only strikes if it is provoked," he points out.
"Yeah, but snakes also use their venom to kill their prey, and I doubt that the next victim will have a missing body part."
"Hey Jane," Rigsby opens the door, and then knocks, "how are you feeling?"
"Not too bad," Jane replies.
There is a shout for Lisbon from the bullpen, she gets up and excuses herself from their company. Wayne takes her seat beside Jane, and waits for the door to close before engaging in conversation.
"So, you and the boss eh?"
"Pardon?"
"How did she react when you told her?" Rigsby settles down, ready to hear the details. Having known that the pair had some kind of connection for years, he is looking forward to hearing how the strong minded Lisbon took her consultant's declaration of love.
"Errm, well, at first she... well, she didn't say anything, we didn't speak for a few days," Jane is not sure how far he has dug himself into a hole, so he keeps it vague, knowing that Teresa would kill him if she found out, "how's it going with Grace?"
Wayne isn't sure how much he should tell Jane, if he is with Lisbon, can he trust him to not tell her.
"I won't tell Lisbon," Jane assures him, as if he had read his mind,
"We're…good, hell, we're great even," he smiles.
Knowing that he is holding back, Jane adjusts his position on the sofa to face the agent fully.
"This has to stay private," Rigsby tells him, his voice almost a whisper.
Jane nods, acknowledging the importance of his discretion.
"I proposed," the agent reveals.
"Wow, Wayne, that's great, good for you," Jane smiles, "when is it?"
"Ah, we've not planned that much ahead; we wanted to sort out our career paths before deciding on a date, you remember what happened last time."
"My lips are sealed," Jane reassures him, "congrats."
"Thanks, man," Wayne appreciates Jane not telling the boss just yet, "so, how're you holding up? That stuff must've been pretty strong to knock you out for 5 hours straight."
"I was out that long?"
"Yeah, it's almost 8pm."
"Today seems to have lasted forever," Jane sighs exhaustedly.
"How about I take you home?" Rigsby offers.
"Thanks Wayne, if it's not too much trouble," he replies.
"Not at all, c'mon, let's get you out of here."
As the pair walk out Lisbon's office, Jane manages to catch a quick look at the developing murder board. A plethora of information has been added since he last saw it, including the sketch of the mask, the addresses where Jane was taken from and then found, and times. They obviously are going to check close by CCTV cameras, as well as combing the streets to find any witnesses. But Jane didn't care about that right now, all he wants to do now is to soak in the bath and let all his worries just float away and disappear down the drain.