Chapter 8
This is more of the investigation and the revealing of the weapon. I included a flashback as well and some talk of memories. I feel like I did better on this chapter than the last one.
Again thanks for all the follows, reviews and favorites.
Disclaim: Don't own anything.
Continuing on in the kitchen Lisbon and Jane located the blood trail that went right to the back door and trailed down the stairs. They figured out that the killer escaped out the kitchen door.
"See the blood is going out the door. So the killer escaped through here." Lisbon observed pointing to the back kitchen door.
"I can't believe forensics didn't notice this in these cars. I will go ahead and share the information with them so they can take the DNA and check on it." Jones said.
Soon Lisbon's phone rang again. Lisbon took her phone out and saw Fischer's name.
"Hello,Fischer."
"Hello, Lisbon. We just came from talking to Tim Schmidt, Steve's brother in law."
"Okay, what did you find out?" Lisbon turned on speaker phone. Jane and Jones came close to listen.
"We got more info and from him than his wife." Fischer stated. "They had a reunion a couple of weeks ago in Houston." Fischer paused a sec and then continued."Tim and Steve disagreed on the selling of the farm. He said Steve had a temper."
Jane listened intently. "I got from Lucy Ashmore they fought about money. She lied of course." Jane confessed.
"Yes, it seemed Tim's argument with Steve was about money . He talked about an auction of the estate and that some things were stolen." Fischer continued explaining.
"Ah, sounds like a murder suspect." Jane declared pointing his finger up.
"We still need to talk to some of the relatives that attended the reunion. Tim did mention he has a son in D.C. Jason Schmidt. He's a lawyer."
"That is great information, Fischer. Thank you." Lisbon pointed out.
"We will let you know if we get more." Fischer. "Good bye."
"Good bye." Lisbon finished and put her phone back in her pocket.
"The brother in law seems a likely suspect." Jane said.
"How? He was in Austin." Jones asked
"He could have hired someone." Lisbon said.
"We need to talk to Lucy again." Jane replied.
"Let me talk to her. You may not be her favorite person." Lisbon admitted.
"Okay, boss."
Jane and Lisbon continued back through the cars. Jones followed but went to talk to forensics to tell them about the other cars. Jane and Lisbon continued on their way back to the conference room. They found Lucy Ashmore again.
"Did you find my husband's killer yet? And we need to get his body back to Austin so we can plan a funeral." Lucy asked worriedly through her brows.
"We haven't yet. The coroner will talk to your soon." Lisbon conveyed "That's out of our control." Lisbon stated.
"Of course, I understand." Lucy commented.
"We need to ask you some more questions." Lisbon said.
"Of course. I will do my best." Lucy said.
"Our colleagues in Austin talked to you brother in law and sister in law. They said you were at a family reunion?"
"Yes, a couple of weeks ago in Houston." Lucy admitted.
"Your brother in law mentioned conflict with the selling of the farm." Lisbon questioned.
"Is that why Steve and you were fighting over money?" Jane piped in.
"We weren't fighting, Mr. Jane! I told you." Lucy exclaimed frustrated.
"Yes, you were. You are lying again." Jane accused.
"Lucy, we need the truth." Lisbon looked at her with a serious face.
"Fine, we were fighting about having trouble with keeping up with the bills. That's why Steve and Tim were arguing about the farm."
"Was there any other conflict?" Lisbon asked.
"There had been some with the selling of the estate but nothing too serious."
"Do you know the nature of your husband's fight with Tim?" Lisbon asked.
"I just know there was a fight between them. Steve never elaborated the details." Lucy confessed looking closely at Lisbon.
"You don't know anything?" Jane asked.
"No." Lucy answered.
"Thank you. You mentioned before a painting was stolen from your room." Lisbon reminded.
"Yes. It was a valuable painting. I talked to an Agent Pike earlier about it."
"A family heirloom or a valuable painting that could be sold.?"
"I wouldn't call it that."
"Thank you for your for time. We may need to talk to you later." Lisbon finished her interview with Lucy. Jane and Lisbon went out of the room.
"We need to go back to the dining car and kitchen." Jane announced.
"We looked there, Jane." Lisbon reminded him looking at him confusedly. "I want to stay here and interview the conductor." Lisbon then stated.
"I have a feeling there's something we missed." He looked at her. " We haven't found the murder weapon yet."
"Okay. Then go. I'll be here. Call me if you find anything." Lisbon said.
Jane left and walked towards the depot. He came to the dining car. He walked through the aisle passed the tables and into the kitchen. He observed the metal cabinets. He bent down to search the cabinets with the pots and pans. He looked to the right and above the sinks and saw the tea cups hanging , grabbed one and placed it on the large sink counter. He found the kettle on the stove then put the kettle under the faucet and turned it on and poured the water in the kettle. He searched the cabinets and found the teabags. He continued looking around and saw the closet. Soon the kettle spouted and he immediately poured the hot water into the cup and put a tea bag in. He let the tea brew and then looked in the closet and saw a broom and then saw a glint of red on another long object. He grabbed with a napkin hearing Lisbon's voice in his head "don't let your hands touch the evidence" and grabbed it and discovered it was an umbrella with a parrot handle and on it was a blood. He put the umbrella back in the closet.
He immediately took out his phone and pushed Lisbon's number.
"Hello, Jane. What's going on?" Lisbon answered.
"I found the murder weapon."
"Really? That's great. What is it?"
"An umbrella with a parrot handle."
"Get a bag from forensics."
"I will. I'm coming back"
"See you "
Jane put the phone back in his pocket and went out the car and down the stairs. He immediately saw the forensics people and Jones.
"I need a bag that would fit a long umbrella." Jane wondered.
"Okay. We're not sure we have one like that. Why?"
"The murder weapon is an umbrella. I found it in a closet in the kitchen." Jane described.
The forensics person looked in their cloth bag of plasic bags. And found one that might fit an umbrella. It was a fairly long bag. "Here." He grabbed gloves. "Put these on."
Jane put the gloves on and took the bag from the forensic tech and then he went back in the train's dining car and back to the kitchen and tried to put the umbrella in the bag but the handle was too long. The parrot handle looked familiar then it hit him. He remembered the memory of watching Mary Poppins with Charlotte in which the nanny used a parrot umbrella to fly in at the beginning of the movie. It was one of the good memories with his wife and daughter.
"So, what movie do you want to watch for movie night, Charlotte?" Angela asked her little blonde daughter sitting on the couch on a Saturday night. Charlotte excitedly goes to the shelf under the TV. She grabs the DVD Mary Poppins, "This one, Mommy." She smiles a wide grin at both her mom and dad's faces.
"Okay, sweetie." Angela smiled.
"Honey, you've seen it so many times, since I bought it." Patrick whined sitting on the couch.
"But daddy, I like it. It's fun." Charlotte begged looking at Patrick with puppy dog eyes with a cute pout.
"Oh, Patrick, just let her watch it. You've seen it less than I have." Angela reminded. She was sitting on the couch. "Put it in for her, please!" Angela begged to her husband.
Charlotte gave the DVD to Patrick. He went to the shelf with the DVD player, pushed the open button, set the disc in the tray and pushed close and then sat back down by Charlotte with Angela on the other side. The movie started playing.
Charlotte watch wide eyed at the screen laughing and smiling at every scene. When the scene came where Mary Poppins pulls the different objects, especially the parrot-topped umbrella out of her carpenter bag, Charlotte excitedly claps. "Daddy, she does magic tricks just like you show me."
Patrick smiled at his daughter, "I know."
"She does, honey." Angela smiles.
Eventually towards the end of the movie, Charlotte falls asleep, head laying on his stomach. Angela stops the movie and gets up. She carefully moves Charlotte to the side letting Patrick get up. Then he carefully picks Charlotte up from the couch and carries her into her room. Angela follows and she pulls the covers down on the bed and then Patrick places Charlotte in the bed and covers her up with the sheets and comforter. She wakes up barely and looks at Patrick then to Angela.
"Love you, daddy and mommy."
"Love you." Angela says.
"Love you, Charlotte. You are safe, you are loved, you are night, honey." Patrick says softly.
"Good night"
Jane came back from the memory and realizing he was holding the unfortunate murder weapon. He put a towel over the handle and carefully put another large towel around the bag. Feeling the pricks of tears on his face, he realized that once again his mask was now uncovered. The memory was both happy and sad-the one he long wore during the Red John era to hide any aspect of emotion he felt. Ever since his plane confession, the years of pented up emotion came pouring down. His mask broke suddenly at the words that came spilling out of his mouth of the love he had for Lisbon that he had denied feeling for so many years.
He missed Charlotte and Angela and sometimes the pain of losing them was still there but now he knew he had a second chance at love again and never expected he would have again. One he did not want to fail. One that he was glad he did not pull the trigger to the gun to miss out after killing Red John. Teresa saved him in more ways than she could know.
He came back to the present and set the umbrella down and found another napkin and wiped his face. He took a sip of tea from the cup. He took the umbrella again.
He continued down to the conference room. He came inside and saw Lisbon talk to the conductor. Lisbon saw Jane and went up to him with a long object. They both went out of the room.
"That's the weapon?" Lisbon asked looking at Jane remove the towel from the top. She noticed the heavy umbrella top.
"Oh, wow, that reminds me of my childhood." Lisbon gazed at the parrot umbrella. "Mary Poppins." She looked at Jane's face and the red around his eyes. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Teresa." Jane admitted not wanting to admit the emotion he felt at the memory.
"Have you been crying?" Lisbon asked with a concerned look looking at his face again.
"Well..." Jane hesitated. Why was he nervous telling Lisbon about the memory? He needed to be honest. Why was it easier before? He felt a little guilt thinking of the memory. He continued with some hestitation. "Seeing it triggered a memory.", referring to the umbrella.
"Of Charlotte." Lisbon responded realizing his memory was of his daughter. He had not spoken of her or Angela since he came back. He seemed hestitant and nervous to share. That worried her then.
"Yes. And Angela. I remembered watching the movie with them." Jane finally admitted gaining his composture.
"It's okay to remember them. You don't need to feel guilty." Lisbon remarked. She knew he would always feel the guilt of thinking he caused their deaths.
"I know." Jane responded wanting to talk later. "Let's see if anyone recognizes the umbrella." Jane said. They went back inside the room.
The conductor came up to them and noticed the umbrella. "There was a person dressed up like Mary Poppins. I believe it was a man, talking to kids. They had that umbrella." The conductor explained.
"Did he/she seem suspicious?" Lisbon asked.
"Not really. They liked kids." The conductor noted.
"Did he come to the sleeping car? The one we were on?" Jane asked.
"He/she was in the first car of the train. It is not the sleeping car." The conductor explained.
"He must have traveled through the cars." Lisbon stated.
"Yes." The conductor answered.
"Thank you for the information. If there are other questions, we'll let you know." The conductor soon left.
"So, the imposter Mary Poppins escaped the train when we stopped and most likely changed clothes." Jane reasoned.
"But that would mean he was a passenger."Lisbon notioned.
"Maybe. But not one with a ticket. He wasn't in the room earlier. Everyone was confused when I asked them the question." Jane explained.
"Who would've thought someone would kill someone with an umbrella especially the Mary Poppins one." Lisbon wondered. "You need to take that back to forensics for fingerprints. Did they ask about that?"
"No, they let me take it. We shall go there." Jane said. They continued slowly to the depot. "So, Mary Poppins was a childhood memory."
"Yes, I saw it. We had it when it was VHS came out. I really enjoyed. I love Julie Andrews movies." Lisbon remembered with a smile.
"I didn't see it until Charlotte saw it. And she really watched it." Jane narrated. He was feeling more comfortable sharing. Why should he not be? It was Lisbon. He wanted to be more open with her because he loved her.
"Really? She liked it. It's an older movie." Lisbon asked how his daughter saw it.
"She saw it at a friend's house and loved it and wanted it. I bought it for her and she watched it so many times. She kept say she liked it because Mary Poppins did magic tricks like me."
Lisbon smiled at him hearing about his memory of Charlotte. It was nice he was sharing a good memory of his daughter. He had not shared any memories like this during the CBI days and during his hunt for Red John. The only memory that took over was when he found his family dead.
"I really enjoy hearing about your memory."Lisbon noted smiling. "I would love to hear more, if you don't mind. I will share some of my memories."
"Yes, I will. I'm sorry I was a little nervous at first. The memory caught me off guard. It's just recently that I started remembering the good memories of them during the last couple of years. Before it was the nightmares of finding them." Jane confessed. He was happy she wanted to hear memories. He would try to share more of his past as well.
"I'm glad." Lisbon smiled.
The two of them finally came to the depot. Forensics were still there. Jane brought the umbrella to them. "Can you get fingerprints from this?"
"Of course." The forensics person stated as he took the bagged umbrella.
Jane immediately went towards the dining car and up the stairs. Lisbon followed.
"What are you doing? Is there more to look at?" Lisbon asked Jane.
"I need to get my tea. I left it there." Jane admitted.
"You made tea in the kitchen?" Lisbon asked following him. They both went inside and Jane went towards the kitchen. They came inside. He saw his tea cup. He took another sip and then saw the microwave and put it in to reheat it. He took it out again and let it cool a little. Finally he took a sip of it again. "Ah, my tea!"
Lisbon rolled her eyes at him. "You just randomly make tea everywhere you go."
"Of course. I've been doing that for years." Jane smiled.
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