Chapter 5

This is going to be a crime scene. It came to me. I thought it would be different to have a murder happen on the train.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

The next morning at around 5:00A.M in the train car, a loud scream was heard and awoke the people. "My husband's dead!" A lady yelled.

"Are you thinking what I am thinking?" Lisbon looked at Jane who was still half asleep. His eyes were barely open.

"Yes. Do people have to get murdered so early?" Jane asked with his eyes closed but conscious.

"Get up, Patrick. Get dressed." She started out of the bed and grabbed her bag and pulled out her clothes. She pulled on her pants and shirt.

"Why do we need to go, Teresa? We're not working. We're on vacation. We don't need to look at a body today." Jane complained still in the bed.

"Come on, get dressed, Jane.!" Lisbon ordered. "We need to check it out. Somebody has to."

"Okay, boss. I can't believe someone would get killed on the the train." Jane finally got up and dressed in his clothes.

"It probably happened last would've thought this could have happened here." Lisbon explained.

They left their bedroom and went to check out the scene. A small crowd of people were gathered. Others looked out the roomettes. The hallway was rather narrow. The security guard around was investigating and asking questions. Jane and Lisbon edged through the crowd. The guard then shouted. "Are there any law enforcement in the crowd?" Nobody else in the crowd answered. Lisbon immediately went up to the guard standing in front of the body. Jane followed.

"We are, sir. I'm Agent Teresa Lisbon, FBI." Lisbon stated holding her badge up. "This is consultant, Patrick Jane." She pointed to Jane. The officer shook their hands.

"Hello, I'm Officer Scott Rogers. What is a consultant exactly?" Officer Rogers said turning to Jane.

"I observe people. The agents turn to me to help with details." Jane answered. "You have a grudge against somebody. Your brother most likely . He did something to you. A betrayal." Jane grinned still fighting off sleep.

"What kind of joke is this?"Officer Rogers asked looking angry.

"That's what I do."

"He closes cases." Lisbon stated smiling.

"It doesn't seem like a typical FBI protocal." Officer Rogers confessed. "Who is your superior?"

"Dennis Abbott in Austin, Texas." Lisbon answered.

"We have to figure out who is in charge of this? Said Officer Rogers.

Jane had already knelt down to the dead man. It appeared that the man had been hit on the head with a heavy object. His head was bloodied and bruised. The man had brown hair and around 50 years old. Jane started to reach to touch his hand but was interrupted.

"What are you doing? Don't touch him." The wife exclaimed coming up to Jane over her husband's body. The crowd had left to their rooms to give space but some were still looking out their rooms.

"He's dead. He doesn't care." Jane retorted as he stood back up again.

The woman sneered at him with tears in her eyes. "How can you be so insensitive?"

"Jane, don't!" Lisbon scolded pointing her finger at Jane. Then turned to the woman. "I apologize, m'am. He's cranky because I made him get up so early."

"We can't do anything yet until we find out who is in charge of this investigation. I have to let Amtrak know. We have to follow the correct procedures." Officer Rogers ordered.

"Ah, procedure, smedure." Jane quipped. "We can't wait for some unseen person to decide what to do. Lisbon and I are here. "

"Is this how he is all the time, Agent Lisbon? Not caring about rules. I thought the FBI would be strict on procedures." Officer Rogers questioned.

"Yes, pretty much. I've worked with him a long time. I'm used to him." Lisbon admitted. " He is right though. We can't leave this murder unsolved. We need to get started."

"See! She says I'm right." Jane sneakily smiled at Rogers. Rogers then glared at Jane. Then looked at Lisbon.

"We should call your Agent Abbott and let him know about it." Officer Rogers confessed.

"I will call him, Officer Rogers." Lisbon spoke. "We will start questioning people."

"May I continue observing now. I was in the middle of something." Jane questioned kneeling over the body once again.

"Fine." Officer Rogers said. "Is this okay, m'am." He looked at the brunette on the right, the man's wife.

"Do what you must. I want you to find who did this." The wife begged.

"My partner and I will. We will have to question you." Lisbon said. Now partner had a brand new meaning. Lisbon thought.

"This man has a faint scent of cologne that is two days old." Jane said sniffing the body. Officer Rogers looked at him strangely. The wife looked too.

"M'am, What is your husband's name?" Lisbon turned to the woman and asked. The woman looked at Lisbon.

"Steve Ashmore. I'm Lucy."

"He also plays guitar. I can see the callous marks." Jane looked at the man's hands. Then looked at the man's bashed head. "He was hit with a heavy object. It obviously not a gun or knife. No weapons around the body. The killer must have hidden it."

"Lucy, Where were you yesterday?" Lisbon asked automatically even though it was obvious the woman had been on the train.

"Agent Lisbon, It's obvious I'm on the train." Lucy answered smartly.

"I know, it's just a procedural question. I just need to know where you've been since yesterday starting in the morning."

"In the morning, my husband and I left our hotel at 6:30am." Lucy narrated.

"What hotel?" Lisbon asked.

"Embassy Suites in Miami. My husband had a conference there for optometry. He's an optometrist. He was." Lucy sadly replied with tears in her eyes. "W're coming home to Austin."

"Did your husband recently have surgery?" Jane asked getting up. "There's a fresh scar on his knee." Jane pointed to the man's knee. He was wearing shorts.

"Yes, he had knee surgery a couple months ago. He just recently came back to work.." Lucy answered.

Soon Officer Rogers appeared . "So I called Amtrak headquarters and told them about the incident and they approved the FBI to this case. Did you call your boss yet?"

"Good. No, I haven't. I will call him now." Lisbon answered. "Excuse me, ma'm. I need to stop now. I will have more questions later."

Lisbon went back to the room and grabbed her phone. She would have to call Abbott now. She did not know how this case would play out. He would know what to do. She pushed his name on her contacts list and it dialed still in the room.

"Hello, Teresa. How are you and Jane? It's early." Abbott answered.

"Good with the exception of a murder in our train car. I'm sorry I called early."

"That's unexpected. Do you know where you're at?"

"Amtrak okayed the FBI to investigate since Jane and I are on the train."

"That's good. I will call the main office and tell them. You and Jane go ahead and question people."

"Aren't my papers in D.C.?"

"I forgot they're actually still in Austin. They didn't get sent. I misinformed you."

"I've started questioning the wife and Jane already observed the body. We'll have to continue with the other people."

"That's another thing we can't get forensics there. Share the names of people you interview and Wiley can do checks on them.

"Yes, sir. The victim is Steve Ashmore and his wife is Lucy. They're from Austin."

" If there are relatives and friends of the victim and his wife I will get those names and I will get Cho and Fischer to question them. Keep me informed, Lisbon. Good bye."

"I will,sir. Goodbye." Lisbon hung up the phone. She went back towards the crime scene in the aisle. She saw Jane talking to Lucy.

Meanwhile, Jane was questioning Lucy "Did you kill your husband?"

"What! How can you say that? I loved my husband." Lucy shouted angrily at the accusation. Lisbon shot a look towards Jane

"Well, did you?" Jane kept asking.

"No. Of course not." Lucy answered. "You are so inconsiderate." Lucy glared at Jane.

"Jane, please don't upset her." Lisbon calmly said.

"It's just typical of me to ask." Jane confessed. "I also discovered that the injury on his head has an imprint" Jane explained pointing to the Steve's head.

Lisbon went back up to Lucy. "Lucy, you continue now."

"Well, after we left the hotel we took a cab to the train station and got on the train. We spent time in our room and then ate lunch in the dining room. We have been in our room and the dining car yesterday."

"Any unusual people you may have noticed?" Lisbon asked.

"Well, we talked to somebody at the cafe. A man. He didn't seem unusual though. We just talked about being in Miami."

"Can you describe him?"

"Well, he had a leather jacket on. He had brown hair with a moustache. We never got a name. He seemed normal enough. I didn't know if he was going on the train."

"Anybody wanting to hurt your husband?"

"I highly doubt anybody would know us on the train."

"Anybody in Austin. Anybody you know though."

"No, not that I know of. Steve was very liked everywhere. He didn't say a bad word about anybody and nobody said anything bad about him. My brother and sister in law live there. So does Steve's sister and her husband."

"You had an argument with you husband last night." Jane brought up. "Involving money, I believe."

"We didn't. We just talked. You don't know that, Mr. Jane!"

"You're lying. You have a vein in your neck that bulges."

"Thank you, Lucy. That's all for now. I apologize for my partner." Lisbon finished

"Oh, Agent Lisbon. One more thing A painting was stolen that we bought in Miami."

"Thank you, Lucy for the information. We will look for that."

Meanwhile in Austin, Abbott arrived at the FBI building in the morning. He had called in the homicide team which included Fischer and Cho as well as Wiley. "We have an unusual case. The investigation is of Steve Ashmore's murder of Austin. He and his wife, Lucy were travelling on the Miami to Austin Amtrak train. It's the same train Lisbon and Jane are travelling on. We've never had something like this. Amtrak wants the FBI to head this case since Jane and Lisbon are on the train anyway. We've never had something like this before."

"What do you want us to do?" Fischer asked standing up.

"You and Cho will question any family and friends here in Austin. I will get details from Lisbon when she calls. She's questioning the wife now. Wylie, research anything on Steve Ashmore and his wife."

"Okay." Wylie said. Wylie was surprised that Lisbon was coming back. The other day she was saying goodbye to everyone. She was going to work in Washington D.C.. Something must have happened. So he decided he would find out from Cho. He knew that Cho had worked with Lisbon and Jane for a long time at the CBI in California.

"Hey, Cho." Wiley said coming up to Cho and looking at him. "So, Lisbon is not going to D.C.?" He asked.

That is correct, she's not going." Cho admitted.

"What happened?" Wylie asked. He wondered if she changed her mind.

"You don't know yet? Abbott didn't tell you." Cho responded.

"I haven't heard. This is the first time I've seen Abbott since he got back from Miami" Wylie said.

"She was heading to D.C.a couple of days ago. I guess she got mad at Jane and went on the plane. Jane barged into the plane and told her he loved her."

"I knew it! They do feel something for each other." Wylie announced.

"You did?" Cho asked.

"I noticed them together at the beginning and assumed they were. I also saw how sad Jane was when he saw Lisbon with Pike. I felt bad for him. Jane's a cool guy. He has us do fun things to solve a case. I enjoyed being a dead body and driving the taxi."

"Well, Jane causes problems though. He got on the no fly list. We couldn't leave right away because of Abbott getting him out. That's why they are on the train." Cho said.

"It was my fault. I made the mistake and told Pike there was nothing between them at the art heist. I feel bad about that now." Wylie confessed.

"Don't feel bad. Well, there wasn't anything with them offically at the time." Cho admitted. He was still surprised at the recent turn of events with Jane and Lisbon.

"Oh."Wylie stated.

"Jane just took a long time to say anything. He's worse than Rigsby who pined for his wife five years. I have always thought they acted like brother and sister. I didn't realize they felt more than just friendship. I guess they hid it well." Cho admitted.

"I'm glad Lisbon decided to come back to Austin. I'm happy for them." Wylie smiled.

Abbott came in soon and saw the guys talking. He then turned to them. "We just got a call from main office and said they are bringing in team from D.C. as soon as the train arrives there. I just noticed their first stop."

"That's something that their train is coming to D.C. Lisbon almost went there on the plane." Cho noticed

"Yeah, I know. Pike is in D.C. I'm going to go tell Lisbon now and give her a heads up." Abbott stated looking concerned. He soon left to go to his office. He took out his phone and dialed Lisbon's number.

"Hello. Lisbon here." Lisbon answered.

"Teresa, I have to tell you something. I didn't realize when I booked the train your first stop is D.C. The main office is sending the team there to help with questioning. I know you and Jane can't do it all alone."

"I understand. Jane saw the ticket. Apparently, there's a painting stolen as well. The wife told me. I haven't gotten all the details yet." Lisbon stated calmly. Inside she was not. She was as nervous as can be. She may have to see Pike again since he may be involved considering there was stolen art. She needed to keep Jane away. It would not be a good scenario if they crossed paths again. She wanted it to be a clean breakup with no did not know what Pike would do if he saw Jane. She will have to see what will happen.

"Well, I wanted to let you and Jane know. Just so there's no surprises." Abbott stated.

"Thank you,sir. Oh, the wife has a brother and sister in law and Steve's sister is there too in Austin." Lisbon added.

"Thank you. I will talk to you later. Bye."

"Bye"

"Jane," Lisbon turned to Jane. "We are going to have company in D.C. when we arrive."

"Company's nice." Jane quipped grinning.

"It's the FBI team from D.C." Lisbon announced with a worried look.

"Oh, that will be interesting." Jane responded.

Reviews are appreciated. Next will be continuation of the investigation and a surprise visit.