They spent most of the afternoon at Michelle's school, interviewing classmates and teachers. They all said that despite being relatively new to the school, Michelle was friendly, engaged, and well-liked. In other words, she exhibited no signs of an unhappiness deep enough to prompt her to run away. No one at the school had any concrete information they could give them about anyone who might have wanted to take her against her will.
After completing the interviews at the school, they headed back to the CBI. Lisbon shut herself in her office and called Sac PD to let them know the CBI was looking into the case and to get information about what lines of investigation Sac PD was pursuing.
When she emerged, Chris and Daniel had returned from Olivia's house, and Cho, Rigsby, and Van Pelt were all at their desks.
The three Jane brothers were seated on Jane's couch, an image that caused Lisbon to do a double take despite her introduction to the lookalike brothers earlier in the day. Chris sat in the middle, flipping through one of Jane's books of Sudoku puzzles. Daniel sat on the far end, tapping his finger against his lips, and looking off into the distance, clearly preoccupied. Jane himself was seated on the end nearest to the main part of the bullpen, his legs crossed and a cup of tea in his hand, looking very disgruntled about sharing.
"Boss," Cho said, distracting her from her contemplation of the three brothers. "We closed the Carlisle case. Jane was right. It was the cousin."
"Great," Lisbon said. "Nice work."
He jerked his head towards Jane's couch. "You want us to help out with the kidnapping thing?"
"Yes," Lisbon said. "That would be much appreciated."
He leaned back in his chair. "What'd you find out from Sac PD?"
"Olivia was right," Lisbon said. "They think she's a runaway. They think she's gone off to L.A. to meet up with an old boyfriend."
"What about Jake?" Daniel interrupted, vibrating with anxious energy. "Were they able to find him?"
"Sac PD said they confirmed he's in Texas working on an offshore oil rig," Lisbon said. "But they didn't talk to him directly. They don't have cell service out there, and bandwidth for internet calls is patchy. But it seems suspicious to me that he wouldn't have found some way to get in contact if he'd heard his daughter was missing. Cho, I want you to see if you can find a way reach him."
"Sure thing, boss," Cho said.
"Rigsby, I want you to look into Olivia's background," Lisbon instructed.
"Olivia didn't have anything to do with Michelle's disappearance," Daniel said indignantly.
"I know, Daniel," Lisbon said soothingly. "But a kidnapping isn't always about the kid. A lot of times it's aimed at the parent. Someone could have taken Michelle for ransom, or for revenge about some perceived grievance against her mother."
"Oh," Daniel said, his shoulders dropping. "Okay. That makes sense."
"You know Olivia better than anyone," Lisbon said to him. "Can you think of anyone who might want to hurt her by taking her daughter?"
He shrugged helplessly. "No. Maybe someone she'd defeated in court? But I can't think of anyone who would want to hurt her personally."
"Believe me, if he'd had, that person would have spent the rest of their life convinced he was a duck," Chris confirmed.
"You can hypnotize people, too?" Rigsby asked Daniel, impressed.
"We all can," Daniel answered, gesturing to Chris and Jane. "Part of dear old dad's idea of what every young man should know. Chris isn't much good at it, though. Never quite got the hang of it."
"That's not true," Jane said unexpectedly. "He just didn't have the heart to use it to con people. But if someone's hurt, he had no trouble taking someone under so he could help them with the pain."
Chris and Daniel looked at him, surprised.
Jane shifted and busied himself with his tea. "Well, it's true," he muttered.
Lisbon took pity on him. "Van Pelt, you try to contact as many of Michelle's friends from L.A. as you can, see if anyone's heard from her or has any idea about who might have taken her."
Van Pelt nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
"Daniel, can you and Olivia work with Van Pelt, get her a list of names?" Lisbon asked.
"Of course," Daniel said, straightening. "Whatever you need."
"Great." Lisbon looked at her watch and addressed her agents. "It's late. You guys can knock off for the day. We'll get a fresh start in the morning."
The three agents stood and started gathering their things. "So, where are you guys staying?" Van Pelt asked Daniel and Chris.
"I have a friend who said we could crash at his house," Chris told her. "He's in Bali at the moment, so he isn't using the place anyway."
"That's nice," Van Pelt said. "Jane, are you going over there with them? You must have so much to catch up on."
Jane froze and avoided looking at his brothers. "We, ah, haven't really discussed it," he mumbled into his teacup.
Reading his discomfort, Lisbon broke in. "Tell you what—why don't we all go down to O'Shea's Tavern and grab a bite to eat. We can talk about the case, and Daniel and Chris can tell us embarrassing stories about Jane when he was a kid."
"That sounds great," Chris said, beaming. "We'd love to go." He elbowed Daniel in the ribs. "Wouldn't we, Daniel?"
"What? Oh, yeah," Daniel said, rubbing his side. "Sounds great."
"I'm in," Cho said. "Be nice to have some blackmail material on Jane for a change."
Van Pelt and Rigsby professed their willingness to go along, too.
Lisbon looked at her consultant. "Jane?"
Jane, seeing no escape, sighed. "Very well."
Xxx
When the seven of them arrived at O'Shea's Tavern, Jane spoke to the hostess and commandeered a booth large enough to seat the whole party. When they reached the booth, Lisbon felt the familiar, light touch of his hand at the small of her back. The next thing she knew, he'd maneuvered her into a corner seat up against the wall, with himself next to her, physically cordoning her off from his brothers on the opposite side. She shot him an exasperated look, but he pretended not to notice and she didn't call him on it.
"So," Cho said, all business, once they were seated and all had a beer in hand. "Most embarrassing childhood story about Jane you can think of. Go."
"Hm, where to begin," Chris said, stroking his chin in mock thoughtfulness. "Well, Patrick was always the best at all of Dad's 'classes.' Bit of a teacher's pet, really."
"I'll say," Daniel muttered, taking a sip of his beer.
"But there was this one time…well – did he ever tell you about Old Nikki?"
"She was a pickpocket at the carnival, right?" Lisbon said, remembering a story from an exasperated Van Pelt.
"Pickpocket isn't the right word," Daniel said, shaking his head.
Chris nodded seriously. "Nikki is an artiste. Her front is as a fortune teller."
"Crystal ball, mystical starry backdrop in her booth," Daniel said. "The whole nine yards."
"When we were about ten, Patrick decided to 'borrow' her crystal ball, to see if he could really see into the future," Chris went on.
"Nikki found out about it," Daniel said. "And she's much faster than she looks."
"I'll never forget the look on Patrick's face," Chris said with a grin.
"Pure terror," Daniel agreed. "Never seen him run so fast in his life."
"All through the carnival," Chris confirmed. "Knocked over Big Terry's slushie cart and was covered in red slushie. Then when he was running from Big Terry, he tried to cut through by the ferris wheel and somehow tripped over the belt drive and got it tangled up somehow. People were stuck up on the ride for over an hour while they sorted it out."
"Took longer than it should have because by this point, Tiny Bob was after him, too," Daniel explained. "He ran the ferris wheel."
"And Tiny Bob…well, he wasn't so tiny," Chris said.
"Size of an ox," Daniel said. "Quick, though."
"Go on," Cho said.
"So now Patrick is really panicked, and decides to cut through the big tent," Chris continued. "He'd lost track of what time it was and didn't realize they were in the middle of a show. So he ducks under the tent and goes streaking through the middle of the center ring just as Grady O'Connell let out the lions for the big finale. And the lions—"
"Basically big tabbies, but the audience didn't know that," Daniel put in.
"The lions were spooked by the sight of this little slushie-covered blur speeding through the middle of their act, and they got a little too close to the edge of the ring. They started roaring and batting at the boundary to the ring, right in front of this big family with about eight little kids."
"Pandemonium," Daniel said, shaking his head.
"Everybody in the audience starts screaming and running out of the tent," Chris said. "Mass chaos. People demanding their money back. Patrick's long gone by then, ducked out the other side of the tent."
"So now he's got everybody in the whole show after him with blood in their eyes," Daniel said.
"Patrick had to hide out in the elephant stables for a week," Chris concluded. "When he finally dared show his face again, nobody would go near him, though."
"If you've ever spent any significant time in close proximity to elephant dung, you'd understand why," Daniel said meaningfully.
"Took him a while to live that one down," Chris said with a grin.
"Not sure he ever really did," Daniel said. "That one will be passed down in carnie lore as a story for the ages."
Cho looked at Jane. "That true?"
"It's not…untrue," Jane said, with what dignity he could muster.
Lisbon smiled into her drink, thinking of a much younger Jane, not so debonair but just as prone to landing himself in the most ridiculous scrapes.
"I like you guys," Cho declared, and Chris and Daniel grinned.
Jane looked like he had a sore tooth.
"What about the Patrick Jane teenage years?" Rigsby asked. "I'm sure there are at least some embarrassing haircuts to share, right?"
"Don't have too many stories from that time, I'm afraid," Daniel said. "Our parents split when we were thirteen, you see, and Patrick went to live with Dad. Me and Chris went with Mom. We didn't see each other much after that."
"That's an unusual custody arrangement," Lisbon said with a frown. "Splitting up siblings like that."
Daniel shrugged. "During the custody hearing, Patrick told the judge he wanted to stay with Dad. The judge granted his request."
Next to Lisbon, Jane had gone rigid. She glanced at him. His jaw was tight, and his gaze was fixed on his beer bottle with an unnatural level of attention. She shifted a little, nudging her leg against his, and she heard him let out a slow breath.
"But surely you got to visit each other," Van Pelt said.
"Not much," Daniel said. "Me and Chris stayed in L.A. with Mom. Patrick and Dad were always traveling the country with the show, so it wasn't exactly like they could pop over every other weekend. We saw them when the show was in town. That was pretty much it."
"Dad was a real bastard about it," Chris confirmed. "He was pissed when Mom decided enough was enough and told him she was leaving. He made it a point to make things as difficult for her as possible from there on out."
"How'd your parents meet in the first place?" Van Pelt asked, fascinated.
"Mom was a trick rider for the show," Chris told her. "She was really beautiful, a bit of a wild child. You put her on a horse and she could do absolutely anything. Dad took one look at her when he joined the show and threw everything he had into charming her. I think they really loved each other, but she didn't like Dad conning everything that moved. And she really didn't like him teaching us to do it. That was the breaking point, in the end."
"But what about when Jane moved back to L.A.?" Rigsby asked. "You must have seen each other a lot more then, right?"
There was an awkward pause. Lisbon risked another glance at Jane. He looked thoroughly miserable.
Chris cleared his throat. "Ah, well—our Mom died when we were eighteen. Cancer. It was—it was a difficult time for all of us."
Lisbon was silent. Jane had never mentioned his mother, and she'd never dared ask. Now, she couldn't decide which was harder to believe, that Jane had never told her about his mom, or that she'd been such a poor friend that she'd never bothered to find out more about this part of his life. Even now—she wanted so badly to take his hand, to squeeze it as a gesture of assurance that she cared about this piece of him that had gone so long unacknowledged, that she was sorry for his loss, that she was there for him. But she and Jane—well, they didn't have that kind of relationship. So she simply sat next to him and ached.
Chris shifted uncomfortably. "Anyway, then—well. Patrick and Angela were busy with their own lives."
"Too busy carving out a name for himself as the greatest psychic on the West Coast, you mean," Daniel said, scowling into his beer.
Lisbon felt Jane flinch against her, but he offered no rebuttal.
Daniel, perhaps realizing that his bitter tone was inappropriate in light of the fact that Jane was doing him a big favor, grudgingly added, "He did seem to have a change of heart after Charlotte was born, though." His expression softened. "It drove Angela crazy, the way the three of us would spoil her."
"But then when Angela and Charlotte died—" Chris stopped abruptly. "Well, then Patrick moved up here, didn't he? And I guess you lot keep him pretty busy solving murders, don't you?"
Lisbon noted the omission of the six months Jane had been off the radar, the majority of which he'd spent in the mental institution under the care of Sophie Miller. But as the team didn't know about that time in Jane's life, she wasn't about to bring it up. She quickly said, "That's right. Jane's been a huge help to the unit. We've had the highest case closure rate in the Bureau ever since he joined the team."
Daniel shook his head. "Never thought I'd see Patrick working with cops, that's for sure."
"Don't worry, it's not like he plays things by the book," Rigsby assured him. "The number of times he's tainted evidence, compromised testimony—" he shook his head. "It's a miracle he hasn't been arrested more often, really."
Chris raised his eyebrows. "Arrested more often?" he asked with a grin. "Just how many times are we talking, here?"
"Oh, well—" and Rigsby launched into the story of Jane's arrest by Bosco and his subsequent escape.
Once Rigsby had concluded his story, Lisbon turned to Chris and Daniel, ardently curious about the lives of Jane's brothers. "What about you two? Have you both lived in L.A. since you moved there with your mom when you were kids?"
"I have, more or less," Daniel said. "Aside from a couple brief stints in New York and San Francisco when I was younger. Chris—well, I guess L.A. has always been a kind of home base for him, but he's, well—"
"Still a bit of a nomad, huh?" Jane asked unexpectedly.
"I guess so," Chris said with a bashful grin.
"Always roaming the world so he can spend time with the latest, greatest waves or the latest, greatest girl, or following his bliss, or whatever," Daniel said, rolling his eyes.
"Chris is an artist," Jane told the rest of them. "And an excellent surfer."
"You don't do so badly out on the waves yourself, big brother," Chris said with a smile.
Lisbon turned to Jane, amazed. "You surf?"
Jane shrugged. "It's been a long time."
"I taught him," Chris said, pride evident in his voice. "We used to go a lot, after Charlotte was born."
"What kind of art do you do?" Van Pelt asked Chris.
"A lot of painting, a fair amount of pottery," Chris said with a shrug. "Occasional sculpture."
"His stuff is beautiful," Jane said. "You should check it out, Grace. You'd really like it."
"Thanks, Patrick," Chris said, clearly touched.
Jane, emboldened, asked Chris, "Are you still traveling a lot?"
"Not so much these days," Chris said. "Not since I came back to help Daniel with the campaign."
Lisbon raised her eyebrows. "The campaign?"
"Daniel's running for a seat in the California State Assembly," Chris informed them.
"A Jane in politics?" Cho said, draining his beer. "God help us all."
Lisbon privately shared this opinion, but was too polite to share her thoughts on the matter.
Daniel only shrugged. "Might as well put the conning skills to good use."
"He's doing it to impress Olivia," Chris told them. "She thinks he'll never settle down and give up the lying and cheating. He's trying to prove to her that he can be the steady, stable sort."
"At least this way I can turn the lying and cheating to an honest purpose, right?" Daniel said, unruffled.
Jane relaxed somewhat over the course of the meal, but Lisbon could still feel his tension, and she wasn't surprised when he seemed relieved when the group decided to call it a night.
They all trooped out to the parking lot and waved off Chris and Daniel as they headed out in Daniel's Audi. The rest of the team said their goodnights and drove off as well, but as Lisbon was about to turn to get into her car, Jane's voice stopped her.
"Lisbon." Jane shifted from foot to foot, uncharacteristically ill at ease.
Lisbon watched him. "Yeah?"
"I just, uh. Wanted to thank you. For helping out with the case. And for making tonight—" he gestured vaguely. "Anyway. Thanks. It, ah, it means a lot to me."
And suddenly, even though they didn't have that kind of relationship—she'd reached out and squeezed his hand after all. "You're welcome," she said softly.
Jane looked down at their joined hands and took a deep breath. He took half a step closer to her. "Lisbon, I—"
She looked up at him. "Yes?"
He stared at her for a moment, then blew out a breath and let go of her hand abruptly. "Uh. Have a good night," he said, looking away.
"Good night," she said, deflated. And got in her car to go home and spend the rest of the night not thinking about how he'd just been looking at her. And to also certainly, most definitely not think about how right his hand had felt in hers.