Chapter 13 - Faire Rosalind
Sleep eluded Jane as he kept mulling over events, any satisfaction in finally being able to put a name to Red John was matched by trepidation about what the days ahead would bring. Teresa nestled closer to him her arm trailing loosely over his chest; he lowered his head muzzling her sleep tousled hair.
So long without comfort or loving and now of all times they had finally come together. He recalled all those long lonely nights in the CBI attic bereft of human contact when he hit the depths of despair unable to get past the image of mutilated bodies and red smiley faces, still inconsolable in his grief. Alone in the darkest nights he would sometimes break down completely; his remorse at what had happened weighing him down, his only motivation for living was his desire for revenge.
Now here Jane was with Teresa more concerned about her safety than his revenge, since they had identified Red John he could not help but feel a twinge of guilt at his returning memories. Jane was surprised how much it unsettled him having confirmation that Mashburn was Red John considering they had all but known that for the last week anyhow.
Jane recalled the hurt look in Teresa's eyes when he stayed up late last night unable to follow her to the bedroom straight away, not able to let himself go to her at that moment in time. Teresa smiled understandingly at him saying that it was alright but she couldn't hide the hurt.
He had joined her later when she was asleep and took comfort from her presence as he lay there contemplating his dilemma. It felt callous to disregard his memories which had come flooding back at this juncture although he knew he loved Teresa with all his heart - he just hoped she would give him some time to comes to terms with it all. It was starting to get light and wanting to avoid the possibility of hurting Teresa further he got up before she woke up.
At this moment in time he had no plan other than to watch Teresa like a hawk, with Red John exposed Teresa was in real danger. Any restraint that Mashburn had put on Blake was likely to be removed, though Jane fancied Mashburn would want to be the instrument of their destruction rather than leave it to anyone else.
Jane heard the sound of Lisbon rising, though she was fragile as a bird she was clumsy and uncoordinated first thing in the morning. He smiled as she stomped to the bathroom before coming down the stairs in her sleep suit all tousled and eyes barely open desperately in need of her morning coffee fix.
"Morning grumpy. I've started the coffee just sit down and I'll bring it over." Jane said smiling as she pulled a distinctly unladylike face and grunted at him. "Very feminine my dear, very feminine." He smiled feeling a bit better already .
Lisbon just sat there inhaling her coffee until it cooled down enough to sip it. She was gathering her thoughts, she knew how badly affected Jane was and she was trying to work with it without being over sensitive but she still found it hard.
"You look tired Patrick - Can't sleep again?" she said rather obviously but trying to get the conversation going.
"No too many things to think about" Jane said.
"Look..." they both started to talk at the same time then stopped.
Jane raised his hand to stop Lisbon "No me first. I'm sorry if I'm being distant but this is a lot to take in - it's nothing to do with you I just need time to process everything. It does not alter in any way how I feel about you - so please just bear with me."
"I know" she sighed, "I was going to suggest that we cool it for a few days until we know what we are doing."
Jane went over to her and slowly drew her to him searching deep into her eyes "You're something special Teresa Lisbon and I don't deserve you." He lifted her chin and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. "We'll work it out just give me time. I couldn't bear to be apart from you again so I hope you're not planning on kicking me out already?"
"Don't worry Patrick, I do understand - maybe our timing was a bit off but there is no way I want to throw this away now." She planted a single kiss on his lips before leaving to get dressed.
Jane was relieved that had gone better than he had hoped, the last thing he wanted to do was upset Lisbon. More than ever they needed to work together, it was no time for either of them to be going off at a tangent.
Lisbon came back down dressed in her running gear and started limbering up to stretch her muscles before she went out.
"You're not seriously thinking of going out running?" Jane said incredulously.
"Jane, I was a trained cop no one is going to attack me" Lisbon insisted.
"It's early morning and there's hardly anyone around and it would just take a few seconds to take you out. You've got no weapon, how could you possibly defend yourself?" Jeez she was a stubborn woman he thought.
"I'm not changing my life and living like a prisoner" she said stubbornly.
"Well at least get a running buddy. I don't want you exposed like this. Cho's around for another couple of days, can't you see if he would come out with you?"
"Then what do I do when he leaves? Besides I want to run today. It's ok I'll be alright."Lisbon assured him.
Jane knew there was no dissuading her when she had her mind set, there was only one thing he could do and that was follow her. Jane was actually fitter than he looked, his indolence was largely a front, he had often exercised at the CBI gym before everyone got in.
Jane let Lisbon get ahead then followed her from a distance as she pounded out the miles, Jane was starting to feel the heat as he was hardly attired for running, he soon broke out into an unfashionable sweat. Lisbon put on a spurt as she rounded the corner and much to Jane's chagrin he had lost sight of her when he rounded the bend. Looking frantically round he jumped out of his skin when he felt something pressed into his side and someone whispered "Lost something have we?"
"Oh yes very funny Lisbon, very droll. Trying to give me a heart attack are you? Is it not enough that I am covered in dust after following you, just look at the state of my shoes. This is not exactly my idea of a good time and yet you mock me. I'm wounded, deeply wounded." Jane grumbled.
"More like winded than wounded I'd say, come and sit on the wall and get your breath back." Lisbon retorted.
"How did you know I was following?"Jane thought he had been discrete.
"Call it a hunch Jane, I know you better than you think. Anyhow a bit of exercise won't do you any harm, we need to keep in shape." she smirked.
"So you've deliberately been leading me on this wild goose chase? Very clever Lisbon. Do you always run this far or was this for my benefit?" Jane was secretly quite amused.
She shrugged noncommittally but there was a glint in her eyes.
"Very well my dear Lisbon, be warned my turn will come." Jane said with mock severity. "I suppose you want to race back now?"
"Please, my street cred! I don't want to run with a man in a three piece suit." She set off at speed with Jane in pursuit, they both knew his long legs could soon overtake hers but he let her have the last laugh - this time at any rate.
In a strange way it had shaken Jane out of his melancholy - Lisbon knew how to handle him rather than pandering to his depression she had given him something different to worry about to bring him round. He smiled in acknowledgement of the method in her madness, it was nice to be understood by someone who could read your moods, no one had been able to do that since Angela.
Lisbon opened the post box as they arrived home, there was a picture postcard inside showing the Spreckles Temple of Music in the Golden Gate Park.
The card ostentatiously said:-
"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts."
Lisbon looked puzzled and passed the card to Jane, who after a few moments said "Hmm. Very aptly chosen, it's from As You Like it, the heroine of the play is called Rosalind. Teresa, you lived in San Francisco tell me what you know about this place."
"Well, every Sunday during the season they have an open air concert free for all – they have all sorts of music, classics, jazz, all American songbooks – it reaches out to make music accessible to all." She recalled many a relaxed afternoon sitting in the park enjoying the music.
" So there would be a concert today – what time does it start?" Jane asked.
Lisbon checked her computer, 1pm they would be hard pushed to get there for the start but would contact Abbott and Cho to see if they could get someone to look out for Rosalind while they travelled there. After a quick change they set off, Lisbon driving so she could drop Jane off at the park while she found a parking spot.
Jane raced over to find Rosalind, relieved she had not been harmed but knowing things would not be as they appeared. The local PD had been keeping an eye out and had located Rosalind in a seat in the front row of the concert, they had been asked to observe but not approach her. Cho had made it there before Jane and alerted the PD as soon as Jane arrived that he was one of them. This could be a trap, no one could know for sure what was happening.
Jane approached slowly, watching Rosalind's face rapt in the music, she looked calm and happy as she swayed in time with the Jazz music.
Jane stood alongside her not wishing to cause her to jump and at the end of the piece just softly said "Hello Rosalind, remember me it's Patrick?"
She turned her head then brightly said "I've been expecting you Patrick, I'm sorry I didn't save you a seat – are you alright standing?"
The next piece started and her head followed the direction of the music. Patrick gently put his hand on her shoulder enjoying the soft lilting music but knowing he would have to disturb her at the next interlude.
"We have to go now Rosalind" he said softly. "Do you remember Agent Lisbon, she is here with me we need to talk to you."
Abbott had arranged for Cho to formally take custody of Rosalind and it was agreed they would question her at Friedman's facility rather than take her back to headquarters, Abbott did not particularly want his connections with Lisbon and Jane to be public yet. They had also arranged for her to stay at Dr Friedman's facility in protective custody, as she clearly had no recollection of events.
The CCTV footage revealed that Rosalind had been delivered to the park by taxi and that the taxi driver had escorted her to her seat. The booking had been made by phone and he had picked her up from a nearby motel, all payments had been made by cash. Similarly there was no evidence at the motel, it was a cash transaction and the CCTV had mysteriously been disabled so there was no trail.
Abbot, Lisbon and Friedman watched on as Jane started to gently question Rosalind.
"Rosalind do you remember me visiting a few days ago when I was with Roy ?"
Her eyes flickered as if something had been triggered in her brain "Roy? She said curiously. "I don't know anyone called Roy?"
Jane smiled wryly; he had expected as much when he had noted the faraway look in her face, she was luckier than Kristina Frye who had been shut down completely by Red John. There was no point putting her under duress so he chatted calmly to her putting her at ease then passed her over to Friedman's care.
"Well at least it looks like Mashburn hasn't harmed her but he has hypnotised her to remove all her memories of him. I suppose we ought to be thankful that she is safe." Jane said.
"What can we do about that? Without her evidence it is hard to take this forward." Abbott enquired.
"We do nothing. Unless we know the trigger there is nothing we can do just let her live in safety until such time as we take down Mashburn." Jane was just relieved that Rosalind had not been harmed, it made no material difference to Jane that she had no memories, he knew Mashburn was Red John even if they could not categorically prove it to the outside world.
It did however show a side of Red John he had not expected, it was obvious that Rosalind triggered some feelings in him and that he had artfully ensured her safety.
Lisbon recalled the little girl Jane had hypnotised to keep her safe just before the time of his fake breakdown – he would make compromises to protect the innocents and he clearly regarded Rosalind as an innocent bystander.
Abbott continued "So what next for Mashburn, we cannot pull him in on this evidence alone."
"Mashburn will continue as normal, maybe spending more time out of the country. He can run his business interests from anywhere. Mashburn will have an escape route planned, if he wants to go you will never catch him however he will not want to leave unfinished business. Teresa is particularly at risk, he will have identified her as the means of getting to me and has a fascination with her." Jane deliberately chose to disclose no further details of Lisbon's relations with either Mashburn or Jane to Abbott.
Lisbon acknowledged that gratefully with a quick look across at him, she hated her private life being an open book.
Abbott said "So you are suggesting we do nothing?"
"Well surveillance is useful knowing his comings and goings but I have not got a firm plan as yet. We just need to be ready in case he acts first. I think he intends to keep taunting us until he makes his final move."
Lisbon & Jane made their way home; they ordered their usual pizza before settling together on the sofa to watch some TV.
"Interesting Mashburn let Rosalind go don't you think?" Lisbon observed.
"Mashburn's a complex character not the archetypal serial killer for sure, something triggered him off down this route – he has a definite soft spot for Rosalind's innocence. Might be worth finding out a bit more about his mother see if we can get some more clues as to what makes him tick. Whilst he has no compunction about killing he doesn't have a particular bloodlust, he seems dispassionate about it." Jane reflected with remarkable detachment.
"He's going to come after us isn't he?"Lisbon said
Jane looked down frowning ."Undoubtedly" he murmured not wanting to look at her.
She squeezed his hand "It's OK Patrick we'll deal with it, just don't shut me out we need to be honest with each other. It's impossible to be completely safe, we have to go about our lives as normal without taking unnecessary risks. If he sets his mind to take us, he will – there's not a lot we can do about that but don't let him rule our lives in the meantime."
"That's easier said than done" Jane said holding her protectively in his arms.
Over the next few days Lisbon restricted herself to sparring practice, it was impractical if not incongruous to be tagged by Jane every time she went for a run but she still insisted on going out on errands by herself. They would go stir crazy if they lived in each other's pockets for too long.
In addition to the usual guns she carried a pocket sized taser as an additional defence, figuring that she would be the first one to be targeted. She was getting uncharacteristically jumpy, if anyone got in her space at the mall she would feel claustrophobic and was always looking over her shoulder in car parks. She avoided going out after dark and paid extra attention to the security in her home sweeping for bugs most days. It was hard not to be paranoid when you were just waiting to be picked off.
It was much to her surprise that it was Jane that was targeted first. Jane had gone to visit Friedman to check on Rosalind who had settled in well despite her lack of memory about Mashburn, she was calm and content. At Jane's suggestion they had given her access to the piano and she played for the patients in the shared dayroom. Jane could see that Friedman was enchanted by her, he got quite misty eyed as she played Debussy's Clare de Lune. Jane suspected this had some deeper meaning for Friedman but he knew better than to pry.
It transpired that Rosalind had not played any Bach since her arrival, presumably this was also part of the programming. On Friedman's advice Jane did not talk to her, a reminder of the past was not considered helpful at this time.
It was eight o'clock and Lisbon had still heard nothing from Jane, he was not answering his phone and Friedman said that Jane had left hours ago. She phoned Abbott to ask if there had been any accidents reported, Jane's distinctive car would be easy to trace. Her next call was to Grace who she asked to trace his phone she tracked it to the Alexandra cemetery. Oh Crap Lisbon thought; either Jane was having a meltdown or this was a trap. Cho had already left for Quantico so she had no backup, she sent Abbott a quick text to let him know what was going on, in the event it was a trap at least he would have some idea where to start looking.
Armed to the hilt she made her way to the cemetery. It was dark now and despite her no nonsense approach she would not choose to be wandering round a cemetery after dark. She pulled up as close as she could to Angela and Charlotte's stones and cautiously made her way towards them. She could see an outline on the floor and as she approached, she heard some whimpering and the flashlight revealed Jane bound and gagged trying to warn her of impending danger. She quickly dimmed the light and took evasive action darting to the side, she caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure coming towards her. Nimbly darting between stones and keeping out of sight she saw two figures over by Jane, keeping her wits about her she just texted the word Help to Grace in the hope she would alert someone.
She watched as the two shadowy figures started to move methodically around, she weighed her options up she couldn't hide for ever but if she could separate them for long enough she may be able to deal with them one at a time. Using the oldest trick in the book she threw some stones as far away as she could creating a distraction for the more lightly built figure, it was just enough to get his attention it could have been an animal but he went over to investigate. She positioned herself ready to attack checking the other figure was some distance away. As he returned she leapt out at him tasering him to incapacitate him then twisting his arm behind him with a struggle, a second jolt with the taser was enough to disable him sufficiently for her to cuff him then she got to her feet gun at the ready leaving him writhing on the floor. The second figure had not come to rescue his colleague but stopped at Jane. Pulling Jane to his feet and placing a gun to his head he waited for Teresa to approach.
"Put your gun down or Blondie buys it" he shouted.
Jane was shaking his head trying to tell her to ignore him, she continued to advance gun aimed straight at Jane's captor.
"Seems I lose all ways I may as well take you out with me" she said, coolly gambling Mashburn did not want either of them dead just yet. She held his stare noticing the first signs of indecision "So what's it to be – guess your boss won't be too happy you wasting his prize asset?" She jerked her head in Jane's direction. She was surprising herself with her coolness.
"Just drop the gun or I'll shoot." He responded.
Lisbon noticed Jane starting to get agitated and struggling with his captor, too late she realised he was trying to warn her. She heard a noise behind her as the first assailant tried to charge her down, she nimbly tried to skip out of the way but it was too late as he tangled with her legs and brought her down. He was still cuffed so couldn't do that much but Jane's captor now stood over her pointing his gun at her. "We had been told you were a live wire."
Seeing some lights approaching in the distance and still gambling on them not wanting to shoot her she drew herself up "Well you will also have been told I don't give up easily. I may as well die quickly here as slowly later but that's not what you boss wants is it? If you want me you're going to have to come and get me."
He gave a derisory laugh "You want to take me on – are you nuts?"
The lights were getting closer now she needed to keep playing for time. She purposefully looked in the direction of the lights causing her assailant to follow her eyes then she quickly kicked the gun out of his hands – she knew all that training had not been in vain. He lunged at her angrily cuffing her cheek, she rebounded in pain but kept her balance not fancying her chances against this brute of a man but if she could only just hold out for a bit longer.
"I may have been told not to shoot you but you're sure going to pay for that little missy, guess you may be a bit battered by time the boss gets you."
Jane knew what she was doing, he had also seen the car lights and had seen two figures dropped off and slowly making their way round. He also knew she could not match this hulk of a man in combat, her kicks and flicks would just bounce off him she just had to use her speed and lightness of foot to stretch it out as long as possible.
Lisbon placed a well aimed kick high up the man's side then backed off, he just advanced seemingly unbothered by her attack. She felt a crack on her jaw and she fell to her knees on the ground, two more slaps to the face followed she felt her nose bleeding, he grabbed her hair and dragged her to the floor then placed some well aimed kicks before reigning himself in.
"Better not spoil all the bosses fun, I'm sure he has great plans for you" he chortled before getting her handcuff keys and releasing the other thug. Resistance was futile she just had to rely on help arriving, Mashburn's men started to drag them towards the car then they heard Abbott's voice. "This is the FBI. You are surrounded put down your weapons." The men immediately ran for it before being felled by some well aimed shots to the legs.
Abbott rushed over to Jane and Lisbon shouting at his man to release Jane while he attended to Lisbon. She was groggy and in pain and would need to see a doctor but at first assessment she did not seem in any danger. Free of his shackles Jane rushed over to her rocking her gently in his arms; the irony of their location passing him by as he was consumed by his concerns for Lisbon. As soon as she could talk she asked Abbott to let Grace know she was ok then clung onto Jane for all she was worth while she was waiting for the ambulance to come.
"You're one crazy woman Teresa Lisbon – have I told you I love you?"Jane said holding her face and looking her straight in the eyes.
"Someone has to look out for you jackass." She hissed in between the pain.
Abbott turned away leaving them to their privacy, well if that wasn't love he did not know what was.