Chapter 8.
Jane has been staring at the bedroom ceiling now for about an hour; unlike Lisbon, who is sleeping soundly beside him, he cannot close his eyes without being reminded of the warehouse basement; the foul odour still haunts him and every time that he closes his eyes, he imagines himself returning to that awful place. He had been taken before, even held captive by Red John, why is he so bothered this time? It is something that he cannot put his finger on. Unable to cope much more in the silence, he gently lifts Teresa's arm off his chest and shuffles away from her, grimacing with the pain from his shoulder, as the effect of the pain relief has faded away with every hour that has ticked by. Remembering the mess that they had left in the kitchen, he returns to the kitchen to find the dishes awaiting their fate by the sink. Ignoring them for the moment, he grabs a tumbler glass from the overhead cabinet and pours himself a glass of water. His choice of beverage manages to quench his thirst but does little to calm him down. To preoccupy himself, he fills the washing up bowl with hot soapy water and begins to clean the dishes, being as quiet as possible.
"Hey," Lisbon surprises him, "what are you doing up so late?"
"Errm, I couldn't sleep," he puts on his brave face, but his defence doesn't fool is partner.
"Is this about what happened earlier?"
Helplessly, he nods.
"It's okay to admit that you're still a little shaken by it all," Lisbon tells him, joining him beside the sink.
"I know," he sighs, tears beginning to sting his eyes, "it's just that…" he trails off when Teresa wraps her arms around him.
"You're safe here," she whispers in his ear.
"I know," he repeats.
"Hey," she pulls away and wipes his falling tears away, "look at me."
When he look at her, she sees a terrified you boy; in the ten or so years that she has known him, she has never seen him so scared.
"If you want to stay up, I'll stay up with you," she offers.
"Thank you, but I'll be okay," he bravely replies.
Teresa nods and empties the washing up bowl behind him.
"Come on," she takes his hand and gently coaxes him back into the bedroom.
She waits until he is fast asleep in her arms before allowing herself to relax; Jane has defiantly scared her tonight, having never seen him in such a state. Something is different this time; he's been kidnapped numerous times before, she even joined him on one occasion, and when he returned, he seemed a little worse for wear, but he was back to his usual annoying self within hours; something has changed. Trying to get Jane to open up about his feelings is like trying to get an elephant to jump; it's an extremely unlikely event, and as far as she can remember, this event has only occurred once: that was only a couple of days ago. Gently, she runs her fingers soothingly through his blonde curls as he soundly sleeps, hoping that one day, he would be able to tell her his deepest, darkest secrets. But for now, she is content for the love that he gives her, as we'll as the roof over her head and the food in his fridge.
The next morning, Lisbon goes into CBI headquarters early, leaving an exhausted Jane in bed. She is pleasantly surprised to find Van Pelt at her desk, along with Rigsby.
"I didn't expect to see you two in here so early," she smokes at them.
"Hi Boss," Van Pelt cheerily greets.
"You seem awfully chirpy," Lisbon replies.
"Venom hasn't struck again overnight," Grace informs her.
"Good, are the suspects being brought in?"
"Uniforms are on their way," Van Pelt reports, "they'll be in our custody within the hour."
"Where's Jane?" Rigsby abruptly changes the subject.
"He is still in bed," Lisbon replies, "when I checked on him last," she adds hastily.
"Yesterday must've really taken it out of him," Rigsby comments.
"Yeah," Teresa agrees, "so if Cho takes Kingston in interview room one, will you take Jennings into room two."
"Sure," Wayne nods.
"Oh," Van Pelt exclaims, "lab results came back on the venom used in the murders; it's from the Black Mamba."
"That's quite an impressive snake," Cho appears at the door, "so much so that they're banned in this state," he pauses to look around, "where's Jane?"
Lisbon is about to explain, when two men appear at the entrance to the bull pen accompanied by four officers. Rigsby stands and approaches them.
"Mr Jennings?" He asks.
The slightly weedier man steps forward looking slightly confused, "that's me," he replies.
"Come with me please," Wayne turns and is followed by Carl Jennings, the two officers that brought him in trail behind.
Teresa approaches the two officers in charge of Joey Kingston and asks them to take him to interview room one, whilst she briefs Cho on the latest developments.
Obeying orders, they take the stockier of the two suspects into the other room.
A few hours later, the two suspects are released; the team has no physical evidence to hold them, besides, Lisbon has managed to find some officers who are going to keep tabs on the whereabouts on the suspects. If the final victim hasn't been…killed, then the chances are that they will do so tonight, it's a matter of time. The details on both suspects will, in theory, keep the next victim safe.
That took bloody ages, the agent was nice and all, but two hours in an interrogation room? Answering pretty much the same questions over and over again, each time just phrasing it differently. They're getting onto me, if I'm going to get my last target, I'd better be quick, and crafty, no doubt I'll have someone tailing me. Dammit, if it wasn't for that guy last night, I would have admitted everything and ended it there and then. Tonight… tonight it'll all be over.