Chapter 27 - The Photograph

Before Julia arrived back at the office Jane went over to Wylie's desk.

'Wylie, are there any photographs of Julia and her family I can get a look at?'

Wylie was a little startled as he had been engrossed in his screen. 'Um, yeah, I think so.' He tapped a few keys and brought up a Christmas holiday photograph. 'Found this online, it was an e-card sent out by Julia's mother Eva last Christmas. It must have been just before they had to put Mr Myles in a care home.' Jane didn't have a clue what an e-card was nor did he care as his eyes were drawn to the picture. A happy scene was in front of him, Jason was sitting dressed in a Christmas sweater with cloth reindeer horns on his head, Julia putting a decoration on the tree and Julia's mother sitting on the couch beside Jason sipping what looked to be a glass of eggnog. Jane's eyes were transfixed on the mother realising he had met her once before.

After getting a printout of the photograph he raced over to Lisbon.

'We need to talk before Julia comes back in.'

'Why, what is it? What's that you're holding?' she asked, her eyes merely glancing up at him from her paperwork.

He came closer and put the photograph in front of her, staring at her intently.

She looked at the photograph and then at Jane. 'What's this about?'

He crouched down beside her, tapping the older woman in the photograph. 'Do you recognise this woman?'

She looked at him still confused, then stared at the woman in the photograph again and shook her head. 'No, Jane, I've never seen her in my life, why, who is she?'

Jane stood up quickly, looking around the room and rolling on his heels, his mind in overdrive.

'Jane, who is she?' Lisbon asked again.

He looked down at her and answered through pursed lips, 'I'll explain but we need to bring Abbott in on this too.'

As they arrived at his office, Jane was fidgeting on the now non-existent ring on his left hand. Lisbon became more worried as this was a sure sign he was feeling stressed.

Abbott looked up as they sat down. Jane placed the photograph in front of him as he had done with Lisbon and asked him if he knew her. Like Lisbon, Abbott had never seen the woman before in his life.

'So what's this about?' Abbott asked. 'I presume this is Julia's mother so what now, don't tell she's involved in this too?'

Jane fidgeted some more. 'Yes and no. Well I mean, I don't think she has anything to do with Kerry's death directly but I met that woman once before.'

'When?' Lisbon and Abbott asked in unison.

'The day I killed McAllister.'

Jane continued, 'I had shot McAllister in the church but he was still alive. I was about to finish him off when this woman, that woman, came into the church.' He leaned over the desk, tapping her photograph again. 'At first I thought she was just a visitor to the church who hadn't a clue about what was happening. I told her to leave and that I was with the police but she kept walking up to me. All of a sudden she pulled a knife on me. I sprang back from her and grabbed a candle I think and hit her with it. By that stage McAllister was crawling out of the church so I left her there and chased after him.' He took a breath and continued, 'I thought she was unconscious so would have been found along with Bertram's body but you're telling me she wasn't?'

Abbott looked back down at the photograph and shook his head 'No, there was no woman in the church that day when we found the other bodies.'

'Why didn't you mention her before now?' Lisbon asked.

Jane shrugged and rolled his eyes. 'Well, I had other priorities that day if you recall, I honestly have barely thought about her since then. I presumed she was part of the Blake Association so would have been picked up either that day or another along with the others.'

'So she's not on your list of names that Bertram left?' Abbott asked.

Jane and Lisbon exchanged furtive glances, Lisbon turning her eyes to the floor.

Jane answered 'No, she wasn't.'

Abbott studied Lisbon's body language then leaned back in his chair. 'The list is bogus, isn't it?' he announced.

Jane shrugged, knowing he was found out. 'Not really, I mean there was a flash drive that Bertram left but we weren't able to decrypt the names on it.' He smiled, shrugged again and added, 'Sorry.'

'Sorry? That's all you've got to say, and I assume from your posture you knew about this too Agent Lisbon?' Abbott said, his voice getting louder.

Lisbon looked up but Jane interjected, 'She knew nothing about it, I swear, it was all my doing. I had to find a way for you to give into my demands. You left me no choice really.'

Abbott widened his eyes. 'Oh, so it was all my fault was it?'

Jane replied, moving forward in his chair, getting into his stride, 'Well, frankly yes, if you hadn't lied to me to get me off the island and then been so stubborn and pig headed once I got here I never would have had to resort to making up a fake list in the first place.'

Lisbon interrupted, 'Jane, stop it, that's enough.'

Abbott sat back and sighed as Jane sat back in the chair again. Abbott finally spoke again. 'Okay, so we're all here now anyway so we'll leave talking about that matter to another time. And how stupid do you think I am that I don't know Lisbon was in on it too? But for now let's focus on this case, I'll see if I can get a search warrant for the house in Fairfield and have local FBI question her to see where she was at the time of Kerry's death. After that I'll see if I can get her here to question her about McAllister.'

'Okay, good' Jane replied.

As they left the office Lisbon pulled Jane into an observation room.

Jane smiled and went to put his arms around her, pretending he got the wrong idea of why she pulled him into the room.

'Are you crazy?' she exclaimed, pushing his arms away. 'What the hell are we going to do? Abbott can put you in prison and god knows what he can do to me.'

Jane grinned at her. 'Will you relax woman? Abbott's not going to tell a soul about the fake list.'

'And why not?'

Jane rolled his eyes. 'Because the thing Abbott hates more than anything else is being outfoxed. You think he's going to tell his superiors he was duped? No chance. Also, he knows what a great team we make so why on earth would he want to change that? Out of spite? Again no, he's too much of a pragmatist to let his ego get in the way of good results.' Jane leant back on the wall. 'I'm glad he knows the truth, it's better for everyone in the long run.'

Lisbon sighed and finally relaxed her shoulders. 'So, what about this woman, then? What made you want to see a photo of her anyway?'

'Well, like you said, there are not too many people who can bluff me so I thought there may be more to it than a McAllister connection to Julia alone. If it's taken her over two years since his death to kill someone, her training could have been continued by someone else where he left off. It was just a hunch, really, to look at family members first.'

'Julia may have killed before now, though, we just don't know about it.'

Jane nodded. 'Maybe, it's possible.'

'You think the mother will crack?'

Jane shrugged. 'Probably not. She was in the church that day, she was evidently his back up. He must have trusted her completely for her to be there. Thinking about it now, I don't think she was just another disciple to him, she was much more important than that.'

'So what does that mean to us now?'

'Well, if she was important to him then she must be pretty powerful in herself for him to see her more than just a plaything to be used when needed like Lorelei or any his other followers. If she has picked up where he left off and continued to influence Julia's behaviour over the last couple of years then she is the one person that is Julia's Achilles' heel. She is the one chink in her armour. I just have to find a way to exploit that.'

'You think you can do that?'

Jane grinned in response.