A/N: Apologies for the delay in updating but the good news is that I should be back to more regular updates from now on, for this story at least. This isn't a long chapter and mostly dialogue based (but fact packed) but following chapters have been planned out so won't be too long before I update again, just didn't want to wait another day without posting something. And I'd like to thank everyone who is reading this and especially those who take the time to review, they really do make my day. And have made this my most reviewed story ever, I'm absolutely gobsmacked and incredibly flattered. And believe me, there is plenty more to come, both good and bad!

This chapter is dedicated to French Pumpkin, happy belated birthday, my dear!

Chapter 32 – Confessional Part 2

"Well...that's fantastic, isn't it? A definitive way of identifying him. Assuming it was Red John who killed her. You're sure it was him, not one of his operatives?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I considered that, of course, but I'm sure it was him, Lisbon. The look in her eyes as she took her last breath, I saw it...the regret she didn't tell me sooner, the terror in them. It was him."

"You know it might not have been a birthmark, could have been a bullet wound-"

"Or a tattoo. I know."

"So that's what you've been doing, visiting her clients and checking their arms."

"Where I could. In addition to reading them, of course. But most of those I interviewed wore shirts, T shirts, etcetera so it hasn't exactly been easy in the majority of cases."

"You don't want to advertise you're checking them for that in case it tips him off that you know about it," she confirmed.

"Precisely."

"Also, just because they might have a mark it doesn't necessarily mean it's him, Jane. Lots of people might have some kind of mark on their arms for any number of reasons."

He nodded, his eyes flitting to her arm automatically where a small bullet wound scar still remained due to O'Laughlin's near miss. "I know that too," he said softly.

"How far have you got?"

"I've been able to discount some. Others based on their physique. Some appeared too weak or had health issues when I met them in person to be him. Also, I was able to eliminate some of those who weren't in San Francisco that night by checking their alibis. But there are still too many to call them in for any kind of line up, though, if that's what you're thinking."

She sighed heavily as she sat back in the chair again, a crease appearing between her eyes as she thought of their next move.

"What about Mashburn?" Jane asked, interrupting her thoughts.

The crease deepened. "Walter?"

"Hmm. Does he have a mark of some kind on his left shoulder? I'm guessing he's not the type of man to have sex and keep his shirt on."

She flushed immediately. Stuttering, "Wh-at? You suspect Walter could be Red John? You...You can't be serious, Jane."

"Why not? He has money, the need for adventure in his life, the need to outwit those around him, arrogant, narcissistic. Has a certain...charm, some might say, that could attract followers. He knew Janet. He arrived back in your life just when I did. I've thought about it recently and he makes quite an excellent candidate."

She gaped at him for a few moments. "Jane, I'd know if he was Red John. He isn't. And we already eliminated him; he had an alibi for her murder."

"He could have faked it."

"Now you're just being ridiculous."

He held her gaze solemnly until she added, "Fine. No, he doesn't have any type of mark on his arms or on the rest of him, come to that. No tattoos, nothing at all. Happy now?"

He nodded slowly. "Okay. I just wanted confirmation. I'd suspected it was unlikely when he showed up at the CBI the morning after those murders in Florida. Even with a private jet it would have been difficult for him to make the timings according to the time of deaths. Anyhow, that's another one off the list. Quite a significant one."

She got up from the table and threw her tea down the sink, turning on the coffee pot instead as she shook her head. "I can't believe you thought it could be Walter," she muttered.

His back to her, "I didn't want it to be him, Lisbon. Of course I didn't. But the way he was pursuing you-"

"So because he wanted to date me he had to be Red John! Gee, thanks for the confidence boost."

He moved from his seat to face her. "That came out wrong. I didn't mean to imply that, you know that."

"Forget about it," she uttered with a look that would turn milk sour.

He smiled and approached her. "Have you spoken to him since we got back from Florida by the way?"

Frowning as she tapped a sugar packet, "We just got back today, of course not."

He smirked and placed his hands in his pockets, "Well...you'll need to tell him you're off the market when you do, that's all. Now that we're a couple once again."

She rolled her eyes. "Jealousy really isn't an attractive look on you, you know. And had more to do with your sudden suspicion of him than any other legitimate reasons. And I'd hazard a guess you probably only considered him likely when you heard he took me to the ballet."

"You might be right about that. But I'm afraid I can't seem to help it where you're concerned," he came back with quickly.

She reddened, surprised at his swift and honest reaction. She washed her cup out to avoid his eyes. "So, is that everything or is there more? Why were you checking the Red John files? And what has Henry Jacobs got to do with all this?"

"I was checking the Red John files just in case I'd missed something in interviews carried out before I came to work at the CBI. Checking backgrounds on people your team and Sac PD interviewed. Ascertain if any of them had incurred some kind of injury that might have left a mark. Thought they might have used fake identities if Red John had been one of them so wanted to check the faces against those I'd met from the client list. Came up blank as I thought I would. Like you said, I know those files inside out but I'd started second guessing myself."

"And my team's work before you began working with us by the sound of it," Lisbon remarked. "So, Henry Jacobs? What you said, about him being Red John, was that true?"

"I think it's an alias he uses so yes, I think it's him. I think he used it with Janet. That that was the name she knew him by."

"So...even if she had told you who he was..."

"She wouldn't have been able to tell me his real name, no. I know that now and considered it at the time. But I'd have had the correct information on him, at least. I was planning on pumping her about his physical appearance if she told me his name. Then I'd have known what he looked like, would have gotten me a hell of a lot closer to finding him. May even have been able to persuade Janet to engineer some kind of chance meeting between us."

Lisbon nodded as she dried her hands on her jeans, "The information we have on Jacobs, the DMV record-"

"Faked. Van Pelt checked the photo and found it matched a dead man when she delved a little deeper. Red John just took his name and the address on file."

"And Janet's client list is just that, a list of names. No photographic evidence of what any of them looked like."

"Well it's not like they're working for a company where you'd need that."

"How can you be so sure it's him?"

He hesitated for a few moments before he sighed and retrieved a piece of paper from the inside pocket of his jacket that lay on the bed. He glanced at it briefly, his expression tense, before handing it over to her.

She frowned as she began reading it, her brow deepening after a few moments as she continued. Finally, "This is a letter from Visualize, thanking Henry Jacobs for his donation." Her eyes darted to his face, consternation still filling hers. "What does it mean and where did you get it?"

"I lifted it from Henry Jacobs' house-"

"Van Pelt said you found nothing there."

"She didn't know I took it. But it's not just a letter from Visualize, Lisbon. It's a letter from Stiles. He wrote it and signed it personally. And check the date."

Lisbon looked at the letter in her hands again. "It's dated the day after Red John gave me the cure." She paused, her eyes searching his face for confirmation of her thoughts. "Stiles isn't thanking him for a donation, is he? He's thanking him for saving your life."

Jane nodded, "That's one theory, yes."

Lisbon's eyebrows hit her forehead. She stammered, "But...why? I mean I know you and Stiles have some kind of...I don't know...grudging respect for each other in some kind of weird way but why would he..." Her words trailed off as another realisation hit her squarely. "He knows who Red John is," she said, the words spilling out of her mouth frantically. "We've always suspected he knows him but this is proof he does. He gave you the location of Krystina Frye after all so we knew there was a connection between them but...Jane, what does this all mean? Have you talked to Stiles? And why would he address him as Jacobs? He surely must know his real name, not this new alias. And why would Red John, if he is this man called Jacobs, leave evidence hanging around an abandoned property that would lead us to Stiles if the two of them are close?"

Jane shook his head. "I haven't been able to get in touch with Stiles since I found the letter. He's out of the country, apparently. Left messages for him almost every day and have visited Visualize. Nada on that front so far. They've closed ranks for the moment."

Lisbon postulated another theory. "Have you considered that this could be a misdirect from Stiles? Leaving evidence in that house to point you in a different direction to Red John's identity when in fact he's actually Red John?"

Jane smiled at her, impressed by her quick take on the facts displayed and her intelligent thinking. "It's crossed my mind and entirely possible. Certainly have not ruled it out, far from it. That this Henry Jacobs is actually Brett Stiles himself. That he's Red John. Another very good candidate. Charismatic certainly, abundance of money and friends in high places including Law Enforcement."

"And he certainly knows how to rattle you." Lisbon looked at the letter again. "He could have faked the date, written it and left it in that property after Janet was murdered and you came back to the CBI, knowing that eventually we'd latch on to this Henry Jacobs character and investigate. All he'd have to do is slip in, leave the letter and go out the back door. Or get one of his lackeys to do it. I still don't get why, though. Why point us in Visualize's direction at all if he did do that?"

"I don't know. If he is Red John. And that is still a very big if then perhaps just to taunt us, to see if we pick up on it and come looking just so he can toy with us. There's nothing in that letter that indicates anything more than Stiles thanking someone for a donation. No proof of any real link to Red John."

"Since when do you care about proof?"

"I don't but I need to be able to have the courage of my convictions that I've found Red John, Lisbon. I'm not willing to go through another Timothy Carter fiasco. I need to know for certain. And, at the moment, I don't. I don't know if he's Stiles. It could just as easily be Red John trying to set Stiles up for some reason. Of course, why he would do that...I don't know either. Perhaps some internal feud between them."

"So basically we need to wait until Stiles gets in touch. That's what you're saying, right?"

Jane nodded, "I don't see any other way forward at the moment."

"So for now we're at an impasse."

Jane pointed between the two of them. "Well perhaps us becoming a couple will break it."