(A/N: this is a longish chapter, but a lot is revealed about just what happened...)
"Sorry about that, Cho. I was deep in thought there for a moment."
"Don't worry about it, Jane. You've got a lot on your mind." Cho reassured his friend. "I'm only sorry that our questioning didn't shed any light on the kidnapping or Pike's whereabouts."
"I appreciate that, Kimball." Jane answered, still deeply thoughtful, without shifting his eyes from the faraway focus they'd been locked in ever since the interview with Karen Cross had ended without any real answers. "I just can't imagine how he got to them. I told Teresa about the escape last night, so she would have been hyperaware of her surroundings and extra protective of the children. Plus, she has always been overly concerned with Meghan and Brendan's safety and security - in part, I think, because of how I lost Charlotte. With all of her precautions, I just can't imagine this happening…"
"So, let's start there." Cho sat straighter and grabbed a pen and some paper. "What precautions?"
Jane relaxed ever so slightly then (happy to have even the semblance of progress in the investigation), and turned his eyes to Cho. "Since before Meghan was born, there has been an extra alarm on her bedroom window. Same for Brendan."
"Have the security company's info? We can call them to see if anything unusual has happened recently - even if it's something that seems trivial?"
"Yes! I have a card for that." Jane reached into his vest pocket and looked through a small stack of plastic and paper cards, finding the security info on a blue plastic ticket about four cards in. With the weight of importance, he presented the card to Cho, eyes faintly beginning to glimmer with tentative hope.
"Thanks." Cho took a quick moment to get up and peek around the door, summoning Wylie to follow up with the security company.
"Okay, what else?" Cho sat, ready to jot down whatever else Jane could think of.
"Let's see… OH! Her Mustang has GPS tracking. It wasn't at the house, so maybe he's forcing her to drive them somewhere?"
Cho ran out of the room again to update Wylie. He asked that he follow-up immediately on the Mustang's location, leaving the tech pool downstairs to look into the security company's records.
"Okay, anything more?"
Jane thought hard. He'd spent all those years with just him and the children every workday, but since there hadn't been any problems thus far, he'd started to take all of his wife's well-laid plans for granted. Some critical fact was dancing right on the edge of his memory, but he couldn't bring it into focus. "There were so many things that we put in place when each of them was born, but we've been lucky enough to not really have needed them 'til now. So, I'm finding it hard to remember everything…"
"I've seen you walk witnesses through their own thoughts to jog important memories. Why don't you try that yourself right now?"
"Excellent idea, Cho. Okay, so I'm getting myself and the kids ready for a lovely day of sightseeing. I make sure my phone is fully charged, and that my contact info is taped to the inside of each child's shirt. I've called Lisbon and let her know our plans and timeline. I remember that I'm supposed to take a photo of each of them next to the height chart so I'll have a recent picture if one of them wanders off. Lisbon also liked that the pic would have them in the exact clothes they were last wearing." Jane stopped for a moment, smiling at some memory. "Meghan's favorite shoes are always so bright in the photos that it almost blots everything else out!" He chuckled at his little girl's supercharged fashion sense. Then, he lurched forward, both hands smacking the table with sudden recollection. "Meghan's SHOES!" He exclaimed, "THAT'S what I was trying to remember! Lisbon had GPS trackers implanted in both of the kids' shoes! Also, each child has a backup tracker: Meghan's is a shell necklace, and Brendan's is a dinosaur watch.
"Lisbon's a smart woman."
"You've no idea, Cho. I can barely even think right now I'm so petrified, but the one thing I'm gripping, with all my heart, is that, if anyone can keep my family safe during this ordeal, it's Teresa. She is so amazing." His voice broke with emotion on the last sentence. He believed so firmly in his wife's instincts and strength. But thinking about her made him miss her even more desperately.
"Yes, she is - and she's gonna make sure they get back home." Cho hoped with all of his might that that would turn out to be true. "Okay Jane, go and try to rest while we follow up on these leads."
"Absolutely not! I need to be involved!"
"Jane you're a mess right now. You couldn't even hear me in interrogation earlier, and we both know how skewed your accuracy gets when someone you love is involved - and this case involves THREE someones." Cho reasoned.
"Fine. But I am NOT leaving the building."
"Fair." Cho agreed, standing to get back to his office.
Upon opening his door, Cho was surprised to see a familiar face looking back at him. It was his one-time mission partner, Danny Ruskin.
"I want in on this action." Danny's eyes didn't flinch.
"Hi Ruskin. I guess we're partnering up again." Cho said with equal parts relief and resignation. Danny was inexperienced in law enforcement, but had been raised in roughly the same environment that Jane had. Cho knew no one could replace his friend and favorite consultant, but as far as emergency understudies went, it would be hard to beat Danny.
As fate would have it, Jane was walking from his couch to get a cup of tea at the exact moment when Karen Cross was exiting to the elevator. His eyes battled between fury and betrayal as they bore a hole into the stretch of hallway in front of him. It took every ounce of his finely-honed self-control to ignore the disgraceful woman as she passed by.
Cross, though, couldn't let him go without trying to explain her actions, with one whiny excuse after another. She had only just signed her contract with the national news network, and this whole mess was reflecting badly on her new bosses. She was desperate to smooth things over with Jane - not because she felt any remorse, mind you, but because she hoped it would save her own skin. "Mr Jane, I'm so sorry for how this has turned out. I'm sure you can appreciate my position as an entertainment professional though. I had no choice, really." She smiled that wooden smile that people wear when they feign sincerity but don't even find themselves believable.
Her cheap attempt to correct things, for the sake of appearances, when his whole heart was God-knows-where right now (were they even alive?!), caused Jane's fragile controls to shatter. In a flash, he lunged at her, eyes blazing and hands squeezed tightly into fists at the ends of his arms (which were pushing straight down, as hard as they could, against the air between his knuckles and the floor). His movement caused Cross to pin herself against the nearest wall, flinching in alarm. Jane leaned in, as close as he could without actually making physical contact. His threateningly quiet voice hissed like a pressure cooker through his clenched teeth with a barely-controlled fury.
"If anything, happens to my wife and children, you will regret it for every remaining minute of your short, pitiable life!"
Cho immediately backed him up, with authority. "Ms. Cross, is it your intention to add harassment to the impending fraud and wiretapping charges against you?!"
Karen answered, with all the over-dramatics of a high school thespian, "Absolutely not! I'm so sorry if I came across that way just now! I only want to make things right!"
"Leave that to us, and just LEAVE!" He commanded. As Cross recoiled, quickly making for the exit, Cho called out: "but don't leave town."
Amped up though he was, Jane couldn't help but nod in sincere thanks and support at his friend, as he shouted those final barbs at Cross. He even managed a quick 'raise the roof' hand gesture once the dreadful conniver was out of sight (which garnered a minute eyeroll from Cho as he turned to get back to his desk).
Eventually, Jane did make it back to the house. His FBI colleagues had ensured that, after their investigations were complete, every shred of crime scene tape, and all evidence of their presence (and the dreadful Red John style note), had been thoroughly cleaned out, leaving the house spotless, and exactly as they imagined he'd left it that morning.
After lingering in the front doorway for what seemed like hours, rather than minutes, Jane slowly began putting one foot in front of the other, surveying his own home the way he had nosed around so many others' houses during crime scene investigations. He struggled against emotion at every turn, because unlike the homes of all of those victims to whom he'd helped bring justice, this house wasn't just full of clues, or just full of things. It was full of meaning. Full of his love for Teresa and their beautiful children. Full of their love for him. Full of his own tender memories. That wasn't just a kitchen chair there, it was Brendan's rocket ship to space. And that over there wasn't just a bedsheet, it was Meghan's magic cape. Hanging on the wall wasn't just a framed landscape scene, it was a photo of the Pacific beach overlook that had changed his life for the better. And that wad of paper on the table wasn't just a wad of paper, it was —
He couldn't hold back the tears at the sight of the origami frog. Every single year since the wedding, Teresa had honored that 'first clue' in his scavenger-hunt-style marriage proposal by making it into a kitchen table centerpiece on their anniversary. He hadn't even noticed it this morning, focused as he was on honoring her, today. Lisbon usually found a humorous way to pose the frog. (The year she was pregnant with Brendan, the frog was hanging in a sling, held in the beak of a plastic stork.) Jane was puzzled by this year's placement, though. The frog seemed to be scaling an obelisk of some kind? They had traveled extensively before the kids were born, but had never gotten to Egypt. And though Teresa would probably love a chance to go rock climbing or rappelling, that had never been of interest to him. "What in the world, my love?" He pondered to himself, with temporary amusement.
He quietly continued his rounds in the house, trying to keep his emotions at bay, to make room for clearheaded observations. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary or out of place. He wondered if anything had come of Wylie's chats with the security company or with the Mustang's GPS locator. Moving up the stairs to the bedrooms, he nearly tripped on Brendan's tape recorder.
"That's odd. He's usually so protective of this contraption." Jane mused aloud. Then, suddenly desperate to hear his son's sweet voice, he pushed 'play.'
Brendan was singing a song about how much he loved soup. Jane burst into a mix of joyous laughter and despairing tears as he listened to the preschooler's endearingly quirky lyrics. Then, feeling tentatively comforted by the sounds of his son's voice, he decided to keep the tape playing as he checked the upstairs rooms (carrying the recorder with him as he did).
He did a fairly quick check of the kids' rooms. Then, seeing nothing of concern, he forced himself to walk into his own bedroom. It smelled like cinnamon, as usual. Tears welled again as he felt the pull in his heart for Teresa. The tugging became even more persistent when he found a red lace teddy on his side of the bed, with a 'happy anniversary' message attached. For a few moments, he laid in the bed, embracing the lingerie, and breathing-in the cinnamon scent.
He was interrupted when the tape player abruptly skipped from Brendan singing to some sort of commotion. He sat up straight, listening intently to the broken bits of conversation and clatter. Was that Teresa? What did she say right there? He rewound the tape a couple of times, careful to not accidentally record over anything. It seemed like she had just been getting the kids ready for the day, and calling out to them that it was time to go. Then came a sudden crash, followed by a thump. "Bet he dropped the tape recorder right there," Jane whispered to himself. "That first crash must've scared him." He suddenly longed to hold his youngest child. He wished he'd been there to comfort him.
But what had caused the crash? He listened to that section more closely. With additional study, the picture became more clear. The crashing sound was the front door being forced open, apparently knocking something to the floor. After the subsequent thump of the tape recorder hitting the ground, the voices became more muffled. It must've fallen with the microphone side against the carpet. He deduced. Wait, was that a man's voice shouting? Was that PIKE?! Jane instantly boiled with fury at the possibility.
He quickly dialed his phone. "Hi Wylie. I know it's late, but if I brought in an old-school cassette tape, do you think you could work some audio magic that would let us hear it more clearly?"
"Absolutely!" Jason exclaimed, totally thrilled to be of help in finding Lisbon and the kids.
"Okay - I'll be right over."
Lisbon had been dreaming about Jane and the island before she was awakened by the sound of crying. She quickly realized the tears were coming from the child sleeping to her left. (Since their capture, even though Pike's makeshift 'home' for them had bedrooms for each of his 'family members,' Teresa and the children were sleeping in the same bed. The children were scared - and Lisbon felt better knowing they were within reach as she slept).
"Brendan, love… what's making you sad?"
"I want to sing a song for Daddy, but I left my tape corder at home!" He blurted out through tears and sobs.
"Aw, I'm so sorry, dear. Why don't you softly sing it to me, then we can both remember it the next time we see him?"
With another sniffle or two, Brendan agreed, and Lisbon found herself being serenaded about all the ways her sweet boy missed his Daddy. Heavy-duty biofeedback kicked in, then, to avoid her alarming the child with her own pain and longing. God, she so missed Jane, too. She also missed her car. (Pike had forced her to drive the Mustang - as Jane had speculated - but had abandoned it halfway to his DC house in favor of a windowless, white van.)
Teresa had been getting the children ready for school that day. She had been a bit on-edge after hearing about Pike's escape from jail, so had made sure the kids wore their 'special shoes,' and their top secret 'magic jewelry.'
Pike had done his research. He had accessed FBI records before his forced departure, and had downloaded a copy of the original Red John letter. It was so satisfying, knowing that Patrick Jane's smile would be knocked off his smug face at the sight of this facsimile. "The better man, my ass!" Marcus mumbled to himself, re-watching the same segment of the Karen Cross show that he'd been obsessing over since yesterday.
His plan after his escape had been to leave the country. But, when one of his few remaining friends sent him a link to the Cross episode, he changed plans to allow for some games. Jane of all people should appreciate that, right? He snickered under his breath, and grabbed the vase of flowers from his 'borrowed' delivery van.
Nice ride! He thought as he approached the door, catching a glimpse of the shiny red sports car in the driveway. He knew they would be home this morning. He'd hacked into the (painfully insecure) preschool website to glean what information he could about Brendan Jane's schedule. He noticed the pattern of his parental drop offs, so knew which mornings he'd find Lisbon and the kids home alone. It was a pure stroke of luck that one of those days was on the anniversary of the Janes' sham wedding. He still couldn't believe she'd run off with that carnival freak instead of following through on her promise to come to DC with him. Well, he'd see to it that they became a family after all, he thought - a crazy grin taking over his evil face.
"It's almost time to go, you two! Grab your backpacks and jackets!" Teresa called from the kitchen. She had placed her favorite paper frog on the table, still not sure which pose to use this year. She had a couple of ideas, but wanted to think on them a bit more today. Like every year, she wanted the anniversary centerpiece to be perfect. She estimated that there would be time before dinner tonight to get things set up properly. As she got her own bag squared away for a day in the field, she noticed yesterday's mail on a nearby counter.
"Oh! I forgot to show him this!" She chastised herself, but with forgiveness too. She knew the news about Pike had knocked most of the other thoughts out of her brain last night. Along with the typical number of bills and junk mail, yesterday's post had delivered a package from an old friend. She hadn't recognized the return address, so had opened the smallish box with great curiosity. When she pulled out the twelve-inch-tall replica of the Washington Monument, she'd been puzzled. But when she read the enclosed 'missing you' card, her face lit up with a reciprocating smile. It was a gift for her and Jane from the Abbotts! The two couples had kept in touch over the past few years via text and occasional video chat. But to receive a surprise from them in the mail was a delightful change of pace. She laughed out loud as she read Dennis's comment: "The new job has really grown on me! Although, I do find myself a bit bored without Jane's antics - and I haven't yet found ways to fill all of the free time I have now, since my paperwork has lessened to such a degree!"
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
"Who could that be, so early this morning?" Teresa whispered to herself. She really didn't have time for disruptions to the morning's schedule. With a hand on her sidearm (thoughts of fugitive Pike ever on her mind), she looked through the peephole. "Aw, Jane! You didn't have to do that, love!" She relaxed with a smile. It was a flower delivery. (At least it was made to look like one.)
She quickly opened the door and took the gorgeous vase of assorted blooms (that was so large it had blocked the poor delivery guy's whole face). "Thank you so much!" She gushed, her eyes taking in all of the colors and varieties in the bouquet. As she asked "do I need to sign anything?" and turned her attention to the delivery driver, she gasped, recognizing Marcus Pike beneath the 'Flowers for Now' ball cap.
The next moments went by at high speed. She went to slam the door with one of her booted feet, but Pike kicked it back open, pushing her into the house and causing the vase of flowers to shatter on the floor. After restraining Teresa, he grabbed the two children (who'd come running to see what had made all that noise) by the wrists and marched them to the Mustang, telling them this was all a surprise for Daddy and they should be quiet so it would stay a surprise. Lisbon thought she was going to be sick, seeing his hands on her beautiful children, - Patrick's beautiful children! - and hearing him manipulate them with lies just as he'd done to her years ago. "I'm so glad I never ended up in DC with you." She grumbled to herself before he returned from the car.
DC!
She suddenly thought of the Abbotts' gift. With some effort, she was able to reach the miniature monument and move it to the center of the table she was currently tied to. Jane might see this and understand, she thought to herself as she leaned the frog against it. He'll have no other explanation, for sure! She smiled, knowing that he'd lock into detective mode once he saw this year's centerpiece. There were absolutely no personal references he'd be able to draw from it, she knew, so he would surely (eventually, after tea, she chuckled) recognize it as an intentional clue left by her. She had total faith that he would figure out that they had been taken by Pike, and that she'd suspected they were headed to the Capitol city.
Lisbon swallowed the growing lump in her throat as she realized that Pike's DC house was quite possibly the one he'd bought for the two of them to share (before she'd come to her senses, with the help of her sleeping, subconscious mind). Was he crazy enough to try and brainwash them all into believing they were actually HIS family? Her nausea was back, as she thought about the possibility.
"Time to go, Babe! Kids are all buckled in!"
Her stomach lurched as the psychopath Pike untied her and guided her out to the car.