Chapter 6
This is a continuation of the murder investigation and arriving in Washington D.C. Pike will be in this chapter. I was not planning on having him but it worked out with Jane and Lisbon stopping at Union Station in D.C. I could not avoid it since the case involves a stolen painting.
Disclaimer:Don't Own Anything
A few minutes later at 6:30 later Jane and Lisbon continued questioning people. They were in
the aisle of the rooms. The body still in the same place. They did not get much out of anybody. Soon they heard a familiar voice. "Richard, there's the lovebirds." The lady they talked at lunch with the day before was coming up to them along with her husband. Lisbon immediately blushed several shades of red. Jane could not help but grin. Lisbon hit him in the arm.
"Stop smiling. We have to be serious. We need to question them too."
"Hello." The lady said coming up closer.
"M'am, did you hear about the murder last night?" Lisbon questioned seriously.
"Of course. It's quite awful. Who would've thought it could happen on the train?" The lady asked.
"Murder can happen anywhere. We will have to ask you questions . My name is Agent Teresa Lisbon." Lisbon introduced herself.
"I'm Patrick Jane. Consultant." Jane introduced himself.
"We're from the FBI." Lisbon admitted.
"Gloria and Richard Smith. Really? I didn't expect that. Of course I can answer the best I can."
"Teresa just loves the attention." Jane smiled. Lisbon rolled her eyes and then gave him a stern look.
"Gloria, did you see anything or anyone unusual yesterday?" Lisbon asked.
"I don't think so. We left our hotel. We've been on vacation in Florida for a few weeks. We decided to take the train because of the slower pace. We are not in a hurry to get back to went on the train. We had lunch and had dinner. We went back to our room and went to bed. We saw other people but the only people we talked with were the two of you." Gloria explained.
"You hadn't seen the victim had all?" Jane asked.
"No, we don't know anybody on the train. Maybe we seen him at some point but not really pay attention to him."Gloria answered but then asked. "Why were you in Miami?"
"We were working on a case." Lisbon admitted.
"We were as well as enjoying the beach." Jane responded.
"What does a consultant for the FBI do?" Gloria asked Jane.
"I observe people and their behavior. I look at the print of the scene and also things that the cops don't notice." Jane explained.
"Hey, I notice things too. Stop bragging, Jane." Lisbon hit him in the arm again. Then she continued. "He does notice things more closely. He has an ability that most people don't have."
"Observe me. What do you see about me?" Gloria asked Jane.
Jane then looked at Gloria and observed very carefully. "You're very happy in your marriage. Your're a Scorpio. You love jazz and you have two children."
"You're a psychic! That's exactly right!" Gloria exclaimed.
"I'm not psychic. Psychics don't exist." Jane affirmed.
"He's showing off now." Lisbon stated.
"You're lucky you have a very observant man." Gloria said to Lisbon. She smiled.
"Yes, I am. He can be a pain at times though." Lisbon smiled looking at Jane.
"I know what you mean." Gloria stated looking at her husband.
"I'm no trouble, Gloria." Richard finally said. He had let Gloria talk.
"Well, it was nice talking to you, Gloria. We have to continue questioning others." Lisbon stated. They shook their hands.
"Nice meeting you." Jane said.
Gloria and her husband then left and went towards their room.
"We're lovebirds." Jane grinned.
"You are enjoying that way too much, Jane. We need to be serious." Lisbon commanded. She moved away from the aisle a little.
"Yes, boss. So, I'm not Patrick now?" Jane said with a disappointed look.
"When we're working you're Jane. We haven't gotten anywhere with any of these people." Lisbon disappointly stated. She was heading towards their room. The train would arrive in D.C. Soon and the FBI team there would help them. There would be a forensics team there as well and so they could get more details for the time and death.
"Of course not. There's not too many places people can go. Basically, it's just their rooms, dining car and the bathrooms. There is a quiet room too, unless I snoop around where the kitchen is. We do need to talk to the employees." Jane explained.
"You're not snooping around. We'll be in D.C. Soon. The D.C. Team will help us. We're supposed to arrive in 30 minutes."
"So we're just going to leave poor Steve Ashmore in the hallway like that." Jane noticed the body in the hall. The security guard had put police tape around him.
"Yes. We can't do anything with him. Forensics will have to deal with that when we get to D.C. We need to go back to the room and get packed." heading towards their room at the end of the hall. Jane followed.
Soon the train rolled into the Union Station in Washington D.C. The station was very large and a classic train station station.
"We're here." Lisbon looked out of the window of the car. "This where I would've gone if you hadn't said anything."
"I was just in time." Jane said.
"Yes, I know. Last Minute Jane to the rescue."Lisbon commented.
Immediately they noticed several FBI agents in back suits and sunglasses waiting at the depot. Lisbon looked and see if she could notice Pike among them but did not see him as of yet. Eventually they would see him at some point of the investigation. All the passengers soon unloaded off the train but then were stopped by the FBI agents. Soon a brown haired agent yelled out. "My name is Agent Chris Jones and we have a conference room in the station rented. We need to talk to you about the murder of Steve Ashmore. Everyone follow Agent Wilson." Agent Jones pointed to a dark haired fair skinned woman agent. She led the several passengers out the train depot into the station. Other agents followed. Agent Jones signaled to Jane and Lisbon to come close to him.
"You must be Agent Lisbon." Agent Jones looked at Lisbon. He shook Lisbon's hand."And you are?" He looked at Jane.
"Patrick Jane, consultant." Jane held out his hand. Jones shook it.
The two agents and consultant continued walking out towards the station.
"So this murder happened last night on the train?" Jones asked.
"Yes. Well the body was found early this morning by the victim's wife. She also mentioned a painting she had in her possession was stolen." Lisbon explained.
"Yes, we heard about the painting and called in Agent Pike and the art unit to come in and investigate about the stolen painting. Our boss had talked to your Agent Abbott. They're be here shortly." Agent Jones explained. Lisbon wondered if this agent knew anything about her and Pike's relationship. He did not mention it but of course he was being professional talking about the case instead. She was thankful for that.
"Agent Jones, is there a diner or restaurant nearby? I'm quite peckish?" Jane pointed out.
"Peckish?" Agent Jones asked with a confused look on his face.
"It means I'm starving and need my nutrition." Jane quipped.
"You do realize this is a murder investigation, Mr. Jane. This is not the right time to think of your stomach." Jones stated in the FBI seriousness.
"In order for me to do my job and concentrate I need eggs and a cup of tea. We're not really supposed to be working anyway, Lisbon. Aren't you hungry?" Jane explained.
"Yes, but I need to finish." Lisbon admitted.
"There are several places in the food court but the restaurant that has good breakfast is called Center Cafe Restaurant It's downstairs. Jones confessed.
"Are you coming, Lisbon?" Jane asked again with a hopeful look and puppy dog eyes.
"Let me finish with Agent Jones on explaining what we have so far." Lisbon explained. "I'll meet you in ten minutes." Lisbon admitted.
"Okay. Fine. See you in ten, dear." Jane smiled and turned to walk away.
"Is he always like that?" Agent Jones
"Yes. As long as I've known him."Lisbon said.
They turned and continued walking.
"I don't mean to be rude but I heard in the office that you and Agent Pike had a relationship before he moved to D.C. I'm not really friends with him or anything. It was something I heard. Office gossip type things." Agent Jones inquired.
"Yes, we were, but it didn't work out." Lisbon stated quickly not wanting to continue the conversation. "Let's get back to the case."
"Of course. I apologize. So what did you find out from the wife so far?" Jones asked.
"Well, they were staying at the Embassy Suites in Miami. Mr. Ashmore was at an optometry conference. They left the hotel that morning and went to the train station. Apparently they had talked to a man at the cafe at the train station. She said he had a leather jacket and a moustache and brown hair. She didn't get a name. That person is definitely a suspect. Some of the people on the train gave very vague alibis and were not real willing to give anymore information than what they said." Lisbon explained. They soon came to a room and entered.
Jane continued down the stairs and searched for the Center Cafe resturant. He found the open seating resturant went up to the host station. The host immediately went up to him. "How many, Sir?"
"There will be two. My girlfriend is coming in a few minutes." The title for Lisbon just came out of his mouth but it felt good on his lips however it seemed there had to be a better word for his relationship with Lisbon. The host led him to table for two on the outside and placed menus on the table. The host left and then a waitress came up to the table. "Hello, sir, I'm Debbie. I will be taking care of you. Would you like a drink to start off with?
"Tea." Debbie wrote down the order and left. He looked at the menu anyway even though he already knew what he wanted. Jane wondered when they will see Pike. He knew that was inevitable now since the D.C. office were called in for the murder. Agent Jones had mentioned Pike was coming with the art division. It would be soon. He did not expect to be a murder in the first place. Before when he saw the stop was in D.C. He did not worry about the possibility. Now he worried.
The waitress returned with the hot water and a mug along with a variety of tea. "Are you ready to order or do you need a minute?"
"I'm ready. I want the scrambled eggs and bacon." The waitress wrote down the orders and grabbed his menu. "Thank you, sir." She left to the kitchen. Jane searched through the tea packages and chose a raspberry.
Soon he heard a familiar but unwelcome voice. "Well, well, it's Patrick Jane. What are you doing here?" Marcus Pike walked up to the table. Jane's face sank. He then looked up. This is not who he needed to see now. I suppose he expected it but not this soon, after they arrived.
"Teresa and I are on our way back to Austin." Jane admitted. "Unfortunately there was a murder on our train car."
"Why exactly are you on a train? Certainly I thought you would've flown back with Abbott and your team." Pike questioned glaring at Jane.
"I'm on the no fly list." Jane admitted.
"I wonder why?Teresa had mentioned you broke into the plane illegally of course when she broke up with me for you. What a way to con a man out of his fiancee." Pike said coldly with a glare at Jane.
"Ex-financee, Pike." Jane said irritated sipping his tea and put it down. She accepted a proposal? He had teased her about getting married moving to D.C. But he did not realize it was true.
"She doesn't love you. She loves me. Don't you have a painting to find?" Jane continued.
"Shouldn't you help solve a murder? You had all this time and now you decide to want her when she's with a stable man as myself." Pike pointed to himself. "Excuse me, sir." The waitress said to Pike still standing in front of the table. She was carrying Jane's plate of eggs. He moved aside. The waitress brought placed the eggs on the table in front of Jane. "Do you need anything else, sir?"
"No, thank you." Jane said. Then the waitress left. "You know very well why I couldn't say anything." Jane continued referring to Red John.
"You are no good for her. You are a conman" Pike started
Jane interrupted. "Ex-conman"
Pike continued ignoring Jane. "You live in a trailer. You basically wear the same thing everyday. You killed two men. How are you suitable for Teresa?"
Jane hoped Lisbon would get here soon. He tensed up as Pike continued his accusations which were true. He wish Pike would leave.
"Because I love her. That's all she needs. Not fancy dinners or things you think she wants. I know her better than you. I killed a very bad man who killed my wife and child and several other people. Teresa nearly was one of them. So stop with your ranting and leave."
"Marcus, what are you doing here?" Lisbon said as she went up to the table noticing Pike.
"He is disturbing my breakfast." Jane said looking at Lisbon.
"I just so happened to see Jane at the restaurant. Teresa, it's so good to see you." Pike said as he held his arms out to hug her but she refused.
"Is this what it's going to be now, Teresa. Our time together didn't mean anything." Pike asked.
"I need to talk to you alone." Lisbon stated indicating to Pike and then at Jane. "I'll be back" She led Pike over by another restaurant across the room. She stopped. Then continued.
"Of course it meant something. You are a good guy. If anything, Marcus I'm the one you need to be angry at not Jane. I was the one who led you on and lied to you when I loved somebody else. It wasn't right of me. I do care about you. I heard your accusations before. Red John is a sensitive topic with Jane."
"I didn't mention him."
"Yes, you referred to him. He's right. He was a very bad man that deserved to die." Lisbon confessed.
"Fine. So he nearly got you too?" Pike asked.
"He knocked me out and put his mark on my face according to Jane. I had made the mistake of tracking the suspects."
"Jane took you away from me." Pike continued.
"Look he came on that plane to tell me how he felt. He needed to say something I deserved to hear. You haven't said that to me and you proposed. He was willing to let me go if that was the case and come to D.C. To be with you. He wanted to be happy. I felt too much pressure from you. You were moving too fast for me to catch up."
"I wasn't trying to pressure you. I just realized I really did feel something for you. I enjoyed being with you, Teresa."
"I know. I enjoyed being with you too.I then realized I was lying to myself and you and like I said it wouldn't be fair to you if you married a woman not completely devoted to you. You're a great guy. I was lucky to know you and your future wife will be a lucky woman to meet you. I'll have to go back to the resturant."
"Alright, Teresa. Make sure Jane treats you good. Good luck. See you." Pike said as he started walking towards the stairs to the conference room where the FBI agents are.
"He's already started. See you later. We are on the case together." Lisbon said as she walked back towards the Center Cafe Resturant and then found Jane's table and sat across from him.
"How's your eggs?"
"Good. So is he gone?"
"We'll see him again later for the case. Yes, he left."
The waitress came "Hello,, may I get you something to drink?" she asked Lisbon.
"Coffee."
"Do I ever need some coffee?" Lisbon said "I'm sorry Pike came up to you."
"I suppose I wouldn't blame him being mad at me. I thought he would've punched me in the nose. He didn't. I did take you from him."
"So what did he say?"
"He basically interrogated me on why I was here and ranting about why you shouldn't be with me. The reasons are true. He called you his fiancee."
"Oh, I heard the last part as I was walking up to the table. He did propose to me before he left for D.C. I have to admit I did call him and said yes when I was angry at you and leaving in the cab. After that I felt guilty."
"Maybe you should have continued on the plane. Pike's a good man for you."
"After I left the plane and stayed at the airport I really had to think. Marcus pressured me making huge decisions. Stop that with the Pike's a good man for you. You are a good man too."
The waitress brought the coffee to Lisbon. "Would you want something to eat?"
"Cranberry muffin." Lisbon stated. The waitress then left.
"I kind of did the same thing when I wanted you to work with me at the FBI."
"Yes, but I had time to think. I decided I wanted to come and work with you again. I missed you. I made my own decision. Pike pressured me into making decisions now. He was rushing into those life steps before I could think about what I really wanted." Lisbon confessed.
"And I was slow. So what's going on with the case?"
"I basically told him what we found out. I have good and bad news."
"What's the good news first?"
"It's both. The FBI team thinks the case will take longer than the time we are supposed to be here. It may take some time. They may put us in a hotel if we don't solve it right away. Unless you think we can solve it before we leave."
" I don't know. We will have to review the crime scene again. I would need to look at it againOkay. It doesn't sound like the worse thing. Will it be one or two rooms?" He figured they would probably do two rooms since they did not know their relationship.
"Two rooms. They're next to each other thought. Before I could say anymore about us Agent Jones left to his team."
"What did you say to Pike? You don't have to say."
"I'm going to be honest. I just told him he should be angry at me and not you. Let's not talk talk about Pike anymore."
"Agreed."
Soon the waitress came and brought Lisbon her muffin. She started picking at it.
"So Agent Jones didn't figure out we were together."
"I don't know."
A couple of minutes later they paid the bill and left the resturant.
Meanwhile in Austin Abott was having Wylie research about Steve Ashmore on the computer.
"What do we have on the victim?" Abbott asked walking up to Wylie who was sitting behind the computer. Cho and Fischer were there too waiting for their assigment.
"It seems he is an optometrist. He has a practice here in Austin. His wife, Lucy works as a hair stylist at a hair salon. There is a sister, Nancy and husband Tim Schmidt who own a ranch outside of Austin. It says here that that Steve's parents owned the ranch and sold it to the brother in law to take over." Wylie described as he looked at his computer.
"Great job, Wylie." Abbott said. "Cho and Fischer, you go question the sister and brother-in-law. Wylie has the address." He looked at Fischer and Cho.
"Alright, boss. We will do it." Cho volunteered.
"I'm ready." Fischer responded. They both headed out the door and out the building. "So, Cho, what do you think about Jane and Lisbon?"
"What about them? They're together. I'm happy for them. That's it. I didn't expect it but I'm happy." Cho responded plainly.
"You've worked with them for a long time. You didn't notice anything between them?" Fischer kept asking.
"I noticed their friendship and partnership more than anything else. I didn't pay attention. I had enough to worry about with Rigsby's love life than them."
"Certainly you noticed them. I noticed them when they first came here. Jane was so adamant to have Lisbon work with him again. He sent letters to her all that time. That's how we found him." Fischer elaborated as she went to the driver's side and opened the door and got behind the wheel. Cho went to the passenger side.
"When I worked with Jane before he was focused on his mission to hunt Red John. I knew he was close to Lisbon but I didn't think romantically. Friendship is what I saw and he had her help him with his hunt." Cho admitted.
"I suppose that makes sense. Obviously, those feelings developed over time." Fischer finally finished.
"I guess so. What am I? A love guru? An expert at everyone's relationships. I'm done with this conversation." Cho responded.
"Fine." They stayed silent the rest of the way. Fischer soon pulled up to the driveway in front of a large white farmhouse and parked. On the other side of it was a red barn with a fence containing horses. They both got out of the car and walked to the door of the house and knocked.
Soon a middle aged brown medium length hair woman opened the door. "May I help you?" She asked looking at the two agents.
"I'm Agent Cho."
"I'm Agent Fischer and we're from the FBI." They both held up their badges and then put them away.
"Is there a problem?" The woman said still standing in the door.
"Are you Nancy Schmidt, sister of Steve Ashmore?" Cho asked.
"Yes, I am." Nancy said. "Come in." Nancy replied as she led them to the living room and to the couch. She sat in the chair across. Cho and Fischer sat down on the couch.
"We are sorry to tell you your brother was killed last night." Cho confessed..
"Oh, my goodness! That's terrible!" Nancy exclaimed shocked. "He was on the train." She burst into tears.
"Yes. Our colleagues were on the same train. His wife found him murdered this morning. The train stopped in D.C. and our collegues are working with the D.C. Team investigating." Fischer explained.
"Oh, dear. Poor Lucy. They are going to find out who did this, right?" Nancy asked.
"Of course. They are working on it. Is your husband here?" Cho asked.
"No, he's at a cattle auction."
"Do you know anybody who might want to hurt Steve?" Fischer asked.
"No, Steve was well liked by everyone. His patients really liked him. His employees respected him. All his acquaintances liked him." Nancy continued. "Nobody would want to hurt him that I know of."
"Has this house been in the family a long time?" Cho asked.
"Yes, this is where I grew up. My father ran the ranch. What does the house have to do with Steve's murder?" Nancy asked.
"We are wondering because of possible conflict between the family. Was there any hard feelings about the ranch sale?" Fischer asked.
"No, it was a mutual decision that we buy the ranch. We bought it a five years ago." Nancy admitted.
"So you were getting along with Steve before he left." Cho stated.
"Yes, of course." Nancy replied coldly obviously getting frustrated with the questions.
"Steve never wanted to farm. He wanted to be a doctor. Of course, the sell of the farm was mutual." Nancy explained.
"Thank you. That's all for now. We will need to talk to your husband. What's the address of where the auction is?" Cho asked.
Nancy shared the address . "Thank you. We will let you know if we have anymore questions."Fischer started getting up. Cho followed.. They left the house and got back in the car.
"What do you think about Nancy?" Fischer asked.
"She didn't seem too upset." Cho responded.
"I think she lied about everyone liking him well. There has to be somebody that didn't like him otherwise he wouldn't have been murdered. It seems to good to true that he was this perfect guy that everyone liked. The selling of the ranch had to have caused some hard feelings. I know that happened with my grandmother's house." Fischer stated.
" I will report to Jane and Lisbon." Cho confessed.
Soon they were on their way back to the office.
Reviews are apprieciated. I was not sure how well I wrote Pike. I just imagine him being mad especially at Jane. On the show they did not really show him mad. They show him as a nice guy. I am pretty sure he would not understand right away like Lisbon said in the finale. Lisbon breaking up with Pike is in my story Case Closed: Love Revealed. In this one she does it in person instead of a phone call.