Disclaimer - The Mentalist belongs to Bruno Heller and CBS. Not me. Obviously.

A/N- So here arrives another chapter, and reasonably quickly as well! Thank you for all the kind words I received after posting the last instalment. It's a little bit longer this time, but there isn't much action I'm afraid. It's all building though, so please be patient. For now though, enjoy the read!

~ Chapter Six ~

A Troublemaker

Once both he and Liam had been escorted to the restroom – something Jane was eternally grateful for, since he had no desire to live like an animal – they'd been locked back in the dark room once again. At least this time, Jane thought to himself, they'd also been given some food and water. It wasn't much – just a couple of sandwiches that looked like they'd been picked up at a gas station and two bottles of room-temperature water – but to someone who hadn't eaten for almost the entire day, it was heaven. Well, almost...

"I'm not hungry," muttered Liam, looking towards the sandwich Jane was offering him with no small amount of disgust.

"Meh, it's not that bad," Jane decided with a tentative sniff. It wouldn't be the best meal either of them had had, but he knew that they couldn't afford to turn down food while they had it.

He took a cautious bite, with Liam watching on with what looked to be morbid fascination, but even though he'd been nothing short of starving, Jane had to force himself to swallow it.

Jane frowned. "Well, I suppose it is that bad, but…well, I don't think we're going to get a lot of choice…"

He tried to push the other sandwich back towards the boy, but Liam was steadfastly refusing it. Jane didn't know if it was the fear that was taking the child's appetite away, but he did know that he needed to do something about it.

"Don't want it," Liam mumbled stubbornly, although Jane heard the tell-tale sound of a rumbling stomach that said otherwise.

"It's important to keep up your strength, you know," Jane began softly, taking another disgusting bite as he tried to follow his own advice. "We're going to need it for when we escape."

Deep down he knew that he shouldn't be giving the boy false hope, especially when they were in such a dire situation, but a part of him needed to. He needed to cling to the hope that he would get out of here, and that he and Liam would be safe, because he knew that if he gave up now, then the fight was already over.

Of course, Jane didn't know if anyone was listening in, hearing him speak of escape, but his instincts told him they weren't. It wasn't that 'Venom' wasn't intelligent, it was more to do with their resources – or lack of them. By sticking him and Liam in a storage room, it was obvious that they'd either had a last minute change of plans, or they'd been working on a very tight deadline with little money.

If it was indeed the latter - as Jane suspected, since the men reeked of desperation - then it was unlikely that they'd have the equipment to monitor the conversations between him and Liam. Add to that the fact that the 'goons' - as he'd dubbed them – probably wouldn't even think of listening in on them, and Jane thought it was fairly safe to talk freely.

"You think we can escape?" Liam asked, hope flickering in his eyes.

"Of course," Jane replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "There's always a way out. I expect it will take us a little time to find it this time, but I'm sure we will."

"Do you think your friend Teresa will find us?" Liam asked.

Jane pushed the sandwich towards the boy once again, and this time Liam took it. He inspected it closely, but didn't eat it yet, although Jane smiled to himself at the small victory.

"She is very good at finding things," Jane answered with a small smile. "I've lost count of the number of times that she's saved me."

"Do you get into trouble a lot?" Liam asked with a frown as he took a cautious bite of the sandwich. He grimaced at the taste and Jane nodded sympathetically, although he did take another bite of the sandwich, gesturing for Liam to do the same.

"Oh, yes," Jane replied with a grin, swallowing as best he could without tasting. "I get into trouble all the time. It drives her mad."

"If you annoy her, why does she keep saving you?" Liam asked with childish curiosity and innocence.

Jane cringed slightly at the home-truths laced within that brief, innocent question, but forced himself to answer.

"She...likes me, I think," Jane replied quietly. "I hope she likes me. I hope I make her happy sometimes as well annoying her."

"Oh…"

"She's also a cop, so it's her job I suppose," Jane continued, whispering conspiratorially, simultaneously pushing away the self-pitying thoughts that were threatening to rise up. "You definitely shouldn't tell the goons that though. It can be our little secret."

Liam giggled slightly, and Jane felt a grin cross his own face at the sight. God, this boy was brave. He felt his own courage rise slightly in his chest. Maybe they could survive this.

"I don't think you should call them goons," Liam replied, a smile still on his face. "I don't think they'd like it much."

"No, I don't suppose they would."

Jane took another bite of the sandwich, swigging it down with some water as he contemplated his next step. There were two ways he could go with this situation now. On the one hand, Venom and his gang seemed to have bought his spiel about being a psychic, at least for the moment, so he could simply wait it out until Venom decided it was time to make the ransom demand.

Jane did have money, so that wouldn't be a problem. No, the problem with that plan was that, even if by some miracle Venom let him go after getting the money – something that Jane didn't believe for a second – there was still the small matter of the little boy.

They hadn't taken Liam for money, so Jane figured no amount of cash was going to buy the boy a way out. He also suspected that even if Liam's dad, the Judge, did change his decision to save his son, there was no guarantee that the gang would honour the deal. In fact, Jane believed it was much more likely that they'd simply kill them both and run once they'd got what they wanted.

That left one option then, Jane decided. He would have to ruffle up some feathers and see what fell out. At the very least, he needed to find some way to contact Lisbon. Without her, there was no way he was going to be able to get out of this situation without putting Liam in unacceptable danger. No, he needed to call the cavalry and let Lisbon and the team save the day.

"Patrick?"

"Yes, Liam?"

"Do you think they'll hurt us?"

Jane frowned and did his best to look reassuring, even as his heart clenched in fear. "I don't think they'll hurt you – "

"But I don't want you to get hurt either!"

"I'm tougher than I look," Jane replied gently. And it was true. Wearing a waistcoat, he knew, often made him look like he wouldn't be out of place at an English garden party, but Jane had been in enough fights in his life to know that he could take care of himself. Oh, he'd never be able to take out someone who'd been trained to fight, but you didn't survive pissing off as many people as he had without being able to take a bit of pain.

"Trust me, Liam," Jane continued softly. "I know it's hard, and I know you're scared. I'm scared too, but we've got to stick together, you and me. They might hurt me, but I promise, I won't let them hurt you and I especially won't let them kill either of us. We'll get out of here, Liam. We will."

"I…I trust you, Patrick," Liam began, his head bowed slightly. "You're the nicest man I've ever met…"

Jane frowned. "What about your dad?"

Liam just shrugged, although Jane detected a small amount of hurt in the boy's eyes. "I don't see him much."

"Is he busy a lot?" Jane guessed.

"Yeah," mumbled Liam. "He's always at work now. He used to come home a lot more when I was little but then mom died and well…"

"Ah," Jane said quietly, frowning slightly. "Well, I'm sure he loves you very much. Sometimes, when people lose loved ones, they find it difficult to cope…"

What an understatement that was, Jane thought wryly. He'd been a mess after he'd lost his wife and child. He still was actually...

"Doesn't matter," Liam mumbled, although Jane could tell that it mattered very much. He felt his heart break at the boy's desolate expression, and he found himself wanted to wipe it away.

"My dad was no great shakes either," Jane admitted softly. Another understatement, but there was no way for the kid to know that.

"Did you not see him much either?"

"Ah, no," Jane replied quickly. "I saw a little too much of him actually. He wasn't a very good dad."

"Did he not love you?" Liam asked with a frown.

"I'm not sure," Jane admitted, as he thought about the question. Certainly, his father had never said those words to his face. Jane's relationship with his father had always been more than a little fraught, to say the least. They'd always butted heads more than they'd got on, and for most of his childhood, Jane had rather wished he hadn't had a father at all.

Jane's mother had died when he'd only been a young child however, so he hadn't had much choice of course. The other folks in the carnival looked out for him well enough, so it hadn't been all bad, but the relationship between him and his father had always made life infinitely more difficult. It didn't help that the man had been an insufferable, degenerate, sinking any money they made into whores and gambling. Being poor certainly hadn't helped them get on.

But had his father loved him, despite all that? Jane supposed he would never know for sure now…

"My dad loves me," Liam said suddenly, although there was a brief flicker of doubt in the young boy's gaze. "He said so."

"Then it must be true," Jane said softly, believing every word.

He really hoped that things between Liam and his dad were different. Jane wouldn't wish what he'd gone through on anyone, least of all the bright, innocent child beside him. Liam deserved better than that, Jane decided. He only hoped that once the man started to move past his grief, he'd realise was a wonderful treasure he still had in his life.

Jane glanced down at the young boy and saw Liam's eyes struggle to stay open. Despite the nap that afternoon, it was clear that the kid was reaching the edge of his endurance. It was late, they'd been fed, and truthfully, it was time they both got some rest.

"Come on," Jane began gently, picking up the empty plastic sandwich containers and throwing them to the other end of the room. "It's time we went to sleep. It's way past my bedtime."

Liam smiled but seemed too tired in truth to do much else. Quickly, Jane shrugged off his waistcoat and bundled it up to make a makeshift pillow for the boy.

"Why don't you lie down here," Jane suggested, letting Liam lie beside him. "I'll be right here."

"You should get some sleep too, Patrick," Liam said sleepily as he lay his head on the ground. "We're gonna need our strength remember…"

"I remember kiddo," Jane replied softly. With a quick shuffle, Jane shifted so that his back and head were rested against the wall. His head was still a bit fuzzy and his chest and ribs ached terribly, but he was relatively comfortable.

Slowly, as Liam's breathing evened out, Jane allowed his eyes to close. One way or another, tomorrow was going to be a big day. Liam was right; he was going to need every bit of strength he had.

"Boss, I've got something."

Lisbon made her way over to Grace, hope barely flickering in her chest.

"What is it, Van Pelt?" she asked quickly, trying to work out from her agent's body language alone whether or not she had good news.

"I've been cross-checking Jane's client list with our criminal database like you asked, but so far I haven't had much luck. Then I had a thought, so I checked the list with the two victims and the witnesses we've found of the van driving away. It seemed a good idea…you know, after last time.

Lisbon knew exactly where she was coming from, and she only wished she'd thought of it. Thank God for her team...

"Anything?" she asked, heart thudding loudly in her chest. They desperately needed a lead. Jane had apparently disappeared without a trace, and apart from the panicked phone call that morning, they'd had no contact from him. They didn't know if he was okay, if he was hurt, or if he was even alive...

"No," Van Pelt replied apologetically, and Lisbon's heart dropped. Damn.

"Oh," Lisbon replied, trying to school her features so that they didn't betray her disappointment.

"There was something odd though, with one of the victims." Van Pelt brought up a picture of the female victim. "It's Jenny Harvey. I know we think that the two victims were only killed because they were witnesses, but as I was checking her out, I noticed something a bit...well, strange. She's listed as a nanny in full-time employment, but we found nothing to suggest that at the scene. I called her employers and they said that she was supposed to be looking after their son Liam on the day in question."

"Oh, shit," Lisbon muttered, eyes widening in realisation as she caught on. "Where's the kid?"

A/N - So what did you think? I would love some feedback on this chapter. I'm a little nervous about the interaction between Jane and Liam to be honest, because Jane is really good with kids in the show and I really wanted to build on that foundation in this story. I hope I've achieved that, at least to some extent. Please let me know!