A/N: Thanks again for everyone enjoying this, your comments mean the world to me. This one is mostly case centred but some more cute Jisbon next chapter. Also, Jane's thoughts on who the killer is too so please keep reading.

Chapter 17- Jake & Michael

Jake Henderson sat in the interview room, looking agitated and hung over. He had longish brown wavy hair, brown eyes, chiselled features and wore a skinny black t-shirt, motorcycle jacket and blue jeans. As Lisbon saw him through the glass she imagined Jane would call him your typical bad boy.

When Lisbon and Fischer walked in he stood up and shouted, 'I didn't do this, I would never have harmed Kerry!'

Fischer told him to sit back down as they took their seats.

'So, you're a hard man to find.'

'Didn't know it was a crime now to go out and get wasted when you've just heard your ex has been murdered.'

'When was the last time you saw Kerry?' Lisbon asked.

He calmed a little and moved back in his chair. 'Last week, I went to see her to see if she'd reconsider breaking up with me, told her I'd change for her, that I'd do anything for her', looking down at his lap.

'And she wouldn't', Lisbon replied. 'Why did she break up with you anyway?'

He sighed heavily. 'She said she wanted to focus on college, didn't want to get into anything too serious.'

'Did you believe her?' Fischer asked.

Jake shrugged. 'Dunno, I guess so but maybe she was trying to let me down easy. I was really into her and maybe it scared her off. I'm a mechanic, I was lucky she even went out with me in the first place, I was never going to be good enough for her anyway, I was surprised she didn't dump me sooner' he replied, crestfallen.

'That must have made you angry' Fisher said.

He looked up, cross again at the implication. 'No, it didn't.' He looked back down again and said quietly, 'It just made me sad.'

After they left the room Lisbon said, 'I don't think he did it.'

Fischer nodded. 'Me neither.'

Fischer went back to her desk to look at the statements gathered from other classmates to see if she could find any other leads.

Lisbon called Jane. 'Hey' she said as cheerfully as she could muster, rubbing her temples again.

'Hey. I take it from your tone the ex-boyfriend is a bust.'

'Yeah, he's much too heartbroken for him to have done this. I thought he was a good lead, you know, especially the way she was killed, strangulation is normally a crime of passion.'

'Yes, normally, but not always.' He paused for a second and added, 'Well he could be heartbroken because he did it, if course.'

'Yeah, maybe, but I don't think so in this case.'

'Okay, I trust your instincts.'

'You sound tired' he said quietly.

'I'm okay, sorry about cutting you off before.'

'Well, it's hardly the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last that you hang up on me.' He smiled when he heard a small laugh on the other end.

'So, how are things at your end, any joy?', back in agent mode again.

He conveyed the conversation he had with Laura to her. Lisbon wanted to go back to interview the professor immediately but Jane told her that he wanted to talk to Michael and Julia first and would call her after he'd done that.

'Do you want me to come up there to question them with you?'

'No, there's no need, Cho's here if I get myself into any trouble.'

'Okay, I'll help Fischer with the statements from the other classmates then until you get back, hopefully we'll have the autopsy results by then too, see you then.'

'Okay, I love you' he whispered.

Lisbon blushed and answered, 'I know, me too' then added, 'Now get back to work.'

Jane hung up the phone, happy that she sounded less stressed by the end of the call. He would have liked her to come to the college but knew she was much safer at the office.

He turned round to Cho who was looking at him with raised eyebrows and a deadpan expression, obvious that he had heard the last few words.

'What?' Jane asked him.

'You're looking more like Rigsby every day. Same puppy dog expression.' Shaking his head, he walked off. 'Come on, Michael's room is this way.'

Jane smiled to himself and shrugged, he could hardly argue with the man.

When they reached the room, Cho knocked loudly. 'FBI.'

An athletic young man with black hair at least six foot tall answered the door, looking at Cho first who was showing his badge then noticing Jane behind him.

'Mr Jane' he said nervously.

Jane smiled. 'Hey Michael, mind if we come in?' entering the room without waiting for a response.

Michael nodded and sat back down on the bed.

Jane smiled as he roamed around the room. Lisbon hadn't mentioned Michael's build or exactly what she said to him but she must have given him one hell of a death stare and a blatant threat for this athlete to become tongue tied in his presence. He would have loved to have witnessed it, he was normally the one on the end of one of her stares.

Cho asked him more questions about Kerry and what he thought of the professor. He said that he had noticed the professor taking more of an interest in her but just thought that it was because she was in the middle of her thesis and may have needed some help.

Jane eventually turned round to look at him squarely in the eyes. 'So, Michael, I believe you have some questions for me.'

Michael looked at Cho and then at Jane, a slight panic coming over him before he answered. 'Well, no, I mean, I thought I wasn't allowed to talk to you about any of that.'

'Oh, don't worry about that, Michael, Agent Lisbon was just in a bad mood, she hadn't slept much the night before, always makes her grumpy' he said cheerfully, looking at Cho at the end of the sentence. He faced Michael again and said, 'What do you want to know?'

Cho looked away and shifted uncomfortably. The last thing he wanted to hear about was Jane and Lisbon's sex life and supposed that was Jane's way of getting him back for his puppy dog comment earlier.

Michael shifted again before answering softly, 'Well I guess I wanted to know how you felt about him now that he's dead?'

Jane looked up to the ceiling and sighed. 'Why is that important to you, Michael? Is there someone you would like to see dead, someone who took someone important from you?'

Michael looked at him, shocked and said, 'You've studied my background, know what happened to my sister?'

Jane smiled again and looked at Cho. 'Nah, I don't normally read all that boring stuff, I leave that to the FBI agents to muddle their way through.'

'So, how did you know? I thought you weren't a real psychic.'

Jane leaned back and waved his hand across the room before speaking. 'It's pretty obvious you've lost a sister, a younger one. You have two photos here, one with you and your parents taken at your high school graduation. It's supposed to be a happy occasion, right? But there are sad tears in your mother's eyes and your father's arm is round her shoulder protectively, a tissue just peaking out of his hand. You're smiling but there's no happiness there, just a vacant expression. The other photo is a happy girl about sixteen years old. Now, if there was some nefarious reason you had a photo like that you certainly wouldn't have it on display so I'm assuming it's your sister, she probably died a short time before your graduation. She doesn't look ill so she was taken from you all suddenly. Also, people who want to pursue a career in law enforcement sometimes do so because of a traumatic event that happened to them in their own life, perhaps hoping they can prevent others from feeling the same as they do. The fact you are interested in my feelings for the man who killed people I loved and who is now dead too makes it obvious that she was murdered and the perpetrator was never brought to justice.'

Michael sat back, fascinated and nodded. 'She got hooked on drugs when she was sixteen, just after that photo was taken, overdosed at seventeen.' He breathed heavily, 'I didn't even realise at the time, I was too busy running around with my own friends, I should have taken care of her.'

Jane nodded and said softly, staring in his eyes, 'You think by killing those responsible for getting her hooked is going to help? Believe me, it's not, it's just going to break your parents hearts all over again. Take it from me, Michael, it's not worth it. The best way to cherish her memory is to move on with your life and make it mean something.'

Michael held his head in his hands and nodded.

As they went outside Cho looked sideways at Jane. 'What you said in there, it was all bull, wasn't it? That's not what you believe, you just said it to stop him wrecking his life.'

Jane nodded. 'Of course.'

They went to Julia's room next but couldn't find her there. Jane went to pick the lock when Cho said, 'You can't do that, we'll have to come back to question her anyway, what's the point?'

'I just want to get a little look first.' Cho nodded. 'Okay, but be quick about it and don't touch anything, I'll wait here.'

Jane entered and glanced round the room for a few minutes before coming back out.

'So?' Cho asked.

Jane shrugged. 'I'm getting tired, need a nap, let's go back to the office, we'll talk to her another time.'

'Don't you want to talk to the professor again today?'

'No, let's get him to the office tomorrow, shall we? Might shake the professor up a bit being questioned in a big scary FBI building' he yawned.