"Minelli will make sure Lisbon knows." Cho said, one hand on the steering wheel, eyes on the road. The sky had gone dark, only the other cars on the road and the city lights illuminating the drive.

Ronnie had told him as soon as they got in their car after van Pelt found a lead on the money. She shrugged one shoulder, frowning. "I mean, yeah, but he's not going to give her the case. He's going to want to keep me as far away from it as possible. I think he's worried about my mental state regressing. If you think Jane hypnotizes people to get mind control, you should meet my mother."

Carla Masters had never hypnotized her, strictly speaking, but her ability to manipulate and control fear as an incentive felt like brainwashing. There had been times that Ronnie truly believed her actions were morally justified, only to sit back hours later and realize what she'd done.

He glanced at her, thinking. "What is Chiles?"

A terrible dread filing her chest, like the time she'd checked her bank statements and realized she wouldn't have enough money to make the month's rent, Ronnie put her arm up on the sill and watched the city fly by in the dark.

Van Pelt had pointed them to Sausalito, an address that belonged to a Happy Landings paper company. Lisbon and Jane had taken the CBI van and followed close behind Cho.

"Simon Chiles was one of my mom's runners. Except he didn't just work for my mom, he was also an undercover cop. Once he had info on Carla, he filed his report with his supervisors and left the case. We saw it as a runner losing contact. My mom tracked him down, found out what happened, and showed up at his house one night. They found his body two days later." Ronnie pursed her lips, her mom's anger returning to mind as the memories unfolded once more.

The week that Chiles had been killed had been one of the worst that Ronnie could remember. Carla finding out that she'd been had by a cop put her in a furious mood, and everyone around her paid for it, starting with Ronnie. Being at the other end of that anger still haunted her nightmares, even after six years.

Cho held his silence for a long time. Even though he had his own rough background, the sheer difference between their pasts made it difficult for him to comprehend everything she'd suffered through. He could never claim to have been used and tortured by his own mother.

When at last he did speak, he sighed deeply and grimaced a little. "Make sure to lock your doors at night."

THE MENTALIST

The air smelled like sea water. A dock lay before them, made of old, rotted wood boards. A wrought-iron gate divided the concrete sidewalk from the dock. "Huh. Doesn't look like a copy paper business, does it?" Cho mused, the CBI agents approaching a boat dock.

Jane smirked, gazing around appreciatively. "Uh, no."

Lisbon pulled open the gate, exhausted. "This is it. You coming aboard?" She looked to Jane questioningly as Cho and Ronnie passed through the gate before her.

Jane shrugged. "Why not?"

Up ahead, the other two headed for the boat tied up at the moor. "If Sands lied about this, what else did he cover up?" Cho wondered, hand on the grip of his sidearm.

Ronnie peered over the side of the dock into the black water, shivering as she imagined being pushed in, struggling in the depths. "Maybe he's got a bank full of money in Switzerland. That's the new big thing, right?" She wondered if her mother planned on drowning her.

The three CBI agents and the consultant board the boat, observing the dark surroundings hesitantly.

"The place is trashed." Lisbon murmured, staring around the ransacked boat in the dim light. She nodded for Cho to go up to the deck and look around. At Ronnie's hesitation, she gestured for her to follow him.

Ronnie climbed the stairs after Cho, her sidearm in low-ready position. Just before she breached the top deck and open air, she caught a whiff of strong, expensive-smelling perfume. "Cho, what are you wearing?" She muttered under her breath.

"What?"

"Nothing."

They swept the deck, checking the cabin and every nook of the top level before reconvening near the stairs and glancing out over the dock. "Do you think someone's out there watching?" Cho wondered, staring out into the dark.

"You mean like God or a sniper?" Ronnie mused, checking a small cabinet.

When she turned around, Cho wasn't amused.

THE MENTALIST

Jane and Lisbon found a woman named Adrianna in the boat and hauled her back to CBI in their vehicle. When the team returned to the office, Lisbon had Cho and Ronnie go looking into her background while she and Jane interviewed Adrianna.

Cho sat at his desk, digging into records, ignoring the exhaustion pulling at his eyes and shoulders. As the woman didn't have a criminal record and therefore no additional files for Ronnie to go through, she went to the kitchen to make them both coffee. Long past dinner time, the night stretched on and showed no sign of ending. If Adrianna didn't yield any useful information, Lisbon would have them up all night until they found something.

Someone had left the coffee pot empty.

As Ronnie went about brewing more, she found her mind wandering to her mother's note. Chiles had been found dead in his home. Carla Masters or one of her lackeys had broken into Simon Chiles' home and killed him. Stronger than the average woman, Ronnie had only sheer force and stamina to protect her. She had no advanced fighting skills, no sure chance against a skilled hitman. Nothing would stop her from being shot through her own window.

The metal coffee scoop fell from her grasp, clattering against the countertop.

She didn't reach for it immediately, still clearing her mind of the fog.

"You okay?"

A hand touched her arm, a thrill of adrenaline racing through her the moment she felt the contact. Ronnie gripped the hand in her own, driving her elbow towards the person's midsection.

Rigsby, grunting in surprise and pain, caught her elbow before she could knock the breath out of him, and took as many steps back as he could with his hand trapped. "Masters, Masters—what?"

Hearing his voice, she dropped his hand, flinching. "Rigsby, I'm sorry." She went for the coffee scoop, shoulders tight. "You want coffee?" Her heart wouldn't slow. All she'd thought was that he had been after her, that he had caught her. The paranoia had set in before she'd realized it.

Rigsby stared at her, looking concerned. "Masters?"

She shook her head. "I'm okay, Rigsby. Just tense. It's been a long day, right?" She poured water into the reservoir and started the machine. "I need sleep, not coffee."

Rigsby gave a quick laugh. "Ain't that the truth."

THE MENTALIST

"Dieter and Carter—started out as college DJs. Nightlife impresarios is what they say they are. They own clubs, restaurants, boutique hotels up and down the west coast. Drugs and prostitution started as a natural sideline, then became their core business." Cho reported, having scrounged up information on names mentioned by Adrianna during the interview.

Lisbon accepted a cup of coffee from Ronnie. "Did we find 'em?"

"These guys like to glide under the radar. According to official records, they own no property and live nowhere. Their only address is a P.O. Box. Working with San Francisco and Oakland P.D. As we speak." Cho answered.

Ronnie perched on the edge of his desk, sipping at her own cup. "Do any of those people sleep?

The team ignored her. "You're letting her go?" Rigsby demanded, watching Adrianna Jonavic leave the interview room and head for the door.

Lisbon shrugged. "She gave us Dieter and Carter. I could charge her with waving a gun at Jane, but what for?" She shot a teasing smirk to Jane which bordered on flirtatious.

He shot it right back to her.

Ronnie's eyebrows lifted her slurping becoming slightly louder in response to the subliminal flirting that Cho didn't seem to notice.

"I don't know, boss. If ever I saw a woman who could use pliers and a lit cigar on a man, that's her." Rigsby muttered. His eyes were on the woman, watching her movements through the glass walls of the bullpen.

Ronnie smirked. "Are you scared of the little dancer, Rigsby?"

Just then, as though possessed, Jane jumped up and ran after Adrianna, called back momentarily by Lisbon before continuing after her once more. His strange behavior, though noted by the team, was put aside for the time being, none of them bothering to ask fruitless questions when he'd only reveal his methods later.

Cho glanced at Ronnie, mentally counting the cups of coffee she'd consumed that day. "Have you taken a nap yet?"

She shook her head. "I'm thinking about knocking back a scoop of pre-workout though."

"Just go sleep on Jane's couch."

"Are you kidding me? He'll give me kicked puppy looks for the rest of the week." Ronnie fixed her posture, feeling weariness seep into her back. "I'm not too tired anyway." Apart from being unable to justify going all the way home just to sleep for three hours, she didn't feel comfortable returning to her apartment and letting down her guard. She had no doubt that Carla knew where she lived.

Jane swept quickly back into the room and grabbed his jacket, forcing his arms through the sleeves in a rush.

"So love and affection, huh?" Rigsby teased.

Lisbon and van Pelt looked up, confused. They glanced between Jane and Rigsby, and then to Ronnie, hoping for answers. She merely shrugged, refusing to be the one to explain that one. If anyone planned on confessing to that scheme, it had to be Jane. He got the team into the stupid situations, the least he could do is take credit for it.

But instead of offering any sort of explanation, Jane just gestured to him approvingly. "That's it."

"Where you going?"

"To speak to the widow."

Lisbon looked up, surprised. "Oh, yeah?"

"I want to know if she knows about the mistress."

THE MENTALIST

The next morning, Rigsby and van Pelt went to get the two DJs that Adrianna mentioned; since nothing could be done before Carter and Dieter were ready to be interviewed, Ronnie stayed in and slept until well past ten in the morning. They hadn't gone home until after midnight the night before, and the whole team had bags under their eyes.

During cases, Cho and Ronnie couldn't go to the gym in the mornings. They had to spend too much time thinking about leads and suspects, they didn't have time to shower between gym and work, and it would be a media nightmare if someone saw the serious crimes unit working out in the gym instead of cracking down on a murder investigation.

So she got up, took a shower, and fixed herself breakfast leisurely. Flipping through a powerlifting magazine while she waited for her toast to pop, she hummed along to the music streaming softly from her speakers, Ronnie moved to the fridge to get a couple of eggs. As soon as she opened the door, a stack of photographs sitting on top of her fruit drawer caught her eye, turning her blood to ice.

With shaking hands, the young woman reached in and took the pictures, pausing only momentarily to make sure nothing else was waiting for her in the fridge before letting the door swing shut. Looking searchingly around her apartment for anything out of place, a face in the window, a body behind the curtains—anything that shouldn't have been there—she felt her heartrate spike fearfully.

When at last she felt comfortable knowing that no one else was in her home, that nothing had been rigged to catch or kill her, she stood in the kitchen and looked through the pictures. As each picture passed her eyes, Ronnie felt the blood drain from her face. Images of her sleeping; of her eating; of her cooking; a foggy bathroom mirror and shower curtain, herself presumably behind it; her getting in her car; her empty apartment; a shot from the sidewalk outside the gym, showing her and Cho within, working at the squat rack.

Ronnie shoved the photographs in her backpack, yanked the plug on the toaster, grabbed her keys and fled the apartment.

THE MENTALIST

"Oh, hey. We got Dieter and Carter in here, but they're not saying anything." Cho entered the bullpen, dropping a file on his desk and turning to talk to Ronnie, crossing his arms comfortably over his chest. "What's wrong with you? You're pale."

She pulled the pictures out of her backpack and tossed them on his desk. "She was in my apartment."

He reached for the stack of photographs without hesitation.

"Or someone was." Ronnie shrugged. "I don't know who was in my apartment, but they left that freakin' stack of creepy pictures in my frikken fridge, Cho. In my refrigerator. They've contaminated my fruit." She dropped into her chair heavily, ignoring the plastic squeal of protest beneath her. She'd forgotten to eat. All that, and she hadn't even eaten.

Cho shuffled through the images, expression darkening at each image.

Ronnie sat up suddenly, remembering the shot of the two of them in the gym. "Oh."

"Oh?" He looked up. "Is there more?"

She got up to stand beside him, flipping through the pictures that he held until she found the one. "She knows about you, too. Look." She showed him, running a hand over her face. "She knows about you now, Cho." Ronnie turned away, sighing angrily. "As if all this wasn't enough, now you could be on her list as well. Cho, I'm sorry."

Cho put the photo at the bottom of the stack and kept looking through them. "She already knew about me, Masters. We work together and she's clearly been here; or one of her informants has." After a few long minutes, he put the stack on his desk and looked up to find her pacing, still stuck in a dark haze of thought. "Ronnie."

She stopped, spinning to face him. "What?"

He stared at her silently for a few long seconds until she was breathing normally again. "Are you okay?"

She rubbed one hand over her bicep. "I'm--" Ronnie moved closer, back towards her desk. "I'm fine, okay? But if she comes after you or the team, so help me I'll--"

"Masters."

She stopped ranting, eyes landing on the stack of pictures. "I'll kill her if I can get the shot in, Cho."

THE MENTALIST

Ronnie spent the afternoon filing a report with Minelli about the apparent break-in and the resulting pile of invasive pictures, letting the rest of the team go about looking into Jennifer Sands' missing daughter, who had vanished from the property after she talked to Cho.

She spent what felt like hours detailing a report and allowing permission for a team of CSI to go into her apartment and look for any evidence of the intruder. Minelli took the pictures from her, promising to get copies of them to Lisbon to keep her appraised of the situation.

He told her he'd assigned a team to tracking down Carla and attempting to bring her in before she could get close to her daughter, but he seemed shaken by the fact that her apartment had already been breached. He also promised to station a few uniforms outside her apartment at all times, not only watching for an intruder but also to ensure that she was safe while she was inside.

When at last Ronnie returned to the team and the case at hand, Adrianna had met with Jane in an attempt to retrieve Jason Sands' missing diamonds--which was a trap on Jane's part—and had subsequently led them to the location where the kidnappers arranged to swap the kid for the diamonds.

Ronnie showed up just in time to join the task force to apprehend the kidnappers and retrieve the Sands child.

She waited, poised, on the opposite side of the door to Cho as Adrianne mounted the steps of the porch and knocked on the door. As soon as they heard footsteps approaching, Rigsby reached out from behind her and grabbed the woman by the arm, pulling her out of the way.

At the base of the stairs, van Pelt nodded to Cho, who announced himself and kicked the door in, rushing in with Ronnie on his heels. "Police!"

Van Pelt and Rigsby were just behind them, hollering the same herald, sweeping the room with their sidearms. Jennifer Sands' attorney, the threatening man at the funeral, had jumped back at their entrance and stood before them then, his own gun out and waving between the agents wildly.

"Freeze!" Cho snapped.

Ronnie's attention flashed to the staircase, where the Sands girl came crawling down the stairs, expression horrified. She repositioned her body carefully to make sure that if she had to discharge her weapon, a round wouldn't accidentally land anywhere near the child.

Rigsby pressed in closer to the lawyer. "Drop the weapon! Drop the gun!"

The guy was panicked, face going pale. His eyes shot around, trying to keep Rigsby and Cho in his vision while watching Ronnie and van Pelt where they edged in around his sides.

Cho didn't give him time to think about it too much. "Drop it right now!"

"Put down the weapon!" Van Pelt snapped, her own panic rising as she noticed the Sands girl.

Ronnie glanced at Cho, waiting for a signal. He met her gaze for a second, hesitating.

"Watch the kid!" Van Pelt snapped.

Her words made the lawyer look over his shoulder, realizing that Julie Sands was on the stairs behind him, dangerously close to crawling her way out of his capture.

The second he became distracted, Cho nodded to Ronnie. She slammed her gun down into her holster and lunged at the lawyer, arms extended to catch around her throat and shoulders.

The lawyer caught her movement out of the corner of his eye and swung around, pistol focusing on the rapidly approaching agent.

A gunshot exploded through the room, and the lawyer dropped his gun just as Ronnie landed on him, tackling him to the ground. She felt blood beneath her, felt the lack of resistance as she moved to restrain the man. When she realized he wasn't moving, her eyes lifted to Cho, wide with surprise.

He holstered his weapon. "Van Pelt, get the paramedics here."

THE MENTALIST

Ronnie and Cho stood in the waiting room of the hospital, hovering near the vending machines. Adrianna stood against the other wall, already having been briefed on the state of the lawyer and Julie.

"You gave the pictures to Minelli?" Cho questioned, glancing toward the door as Jennifer Sands approached.

Ronnie nodded distractedly. "Yeah. He's set up a team to track down Carla and he's putting a watch on my apartment."

"Good."

Jennifer Sands marched in, curls bouncing as she headed straight for the two agents. "Where is she? Where is she? Is she okay?"

Ronnie all but gagged on her strong perfume, trying instead to remain sensitive of the situation. "She's a little in shock, but physically she's fine. We saw her ourselves. Doctors just want to make sure."

The woman seemed to sag with relief, pressing a hand to her mouth and furrowing her brow.

Before she could respond, Adrianna slunk out of the corner she'd been standing in. "Hello, Jennifer."

Jennifer looked up, demeanor changing immediately. "Adrianna? This is a surprise." Her head snapped around to look at Ronnie, her hair whipping around her face. " What's she doing here? Shouldn't she be in jail?"

"She's out on bond, ma'am." Ronnie shot Cho a slighted look, unhappy with having to do all the talking.

"So quickly?" Jennifer demanded.

"I screw better lawyers than you." Adrianna sniped primly.

Jennifer took the modest, hurt housewife approach, looking down at the taller woman. "You've obviously led a very sad and difficult life to be so twisted. Truly, Adrianna, you have my sympathy."\

Close to lunging down her throat, Adrianna's expression tighened. "You stupid cow..."

Having heard enough, Ronnie headed for the door. "Cho, let's move."

Cho followed, and then paused by the door. "Oh, hey. What was that name again?" He asked earnestly, the first uncomfortable indication that his ploy was insincere.

"What name?" Ronnie wondered.

"The one that Jane thought was so important."

Ronnie lifted her chin with enlightenment, and then responded, "Wendy."

"Right, Wendy." Cho turned back to the two women before they could start a cat fight. "Do either of you know a woman named Wendy?"

Neither of them showed any sign of recognition, both denying the inquiry.

"No? Shame. She'd be worth knowing." Cho grinned, uttering a lighthearted laugh that freaked Ronnie out a little.

She gave him a chiding look. "Cho."

His smile fell. "What?"

Rolling her eyes and dragging him out of the room by the sleeve, Ronnie turned back to Jennifer Sands. "Excuse his levity, ma'am."

Adrianna stepped up quickly, catching her attention before she could leave. "This Wendy person—she has the diamonds?"

"It's a possibility."

"Diamonds?" Jennifer repeated, her wide eyes narrowing just slightly.

Ronnie felt a very strong fight-or-flight response building in her chest. She pushed it down with an affirming nod, and then smiled at Jennifer. "By the way, your friend Mr. Bennett is coming along nicely. I expect we'll be talking to him shortly. So if there's anything you want to pass along..."

Adrianna frowned in confusion. "But this other police said that he was a dead man."

Jennifer nodded, agreeing with the woman beside her. "Yeah, they said he was dying."

Ronnie shook her head innocently. "No. No, he'll live." She turned on her heel, following Cho down the hall into a supply closet where Lisbon, Jane, Rigsby, and van Pelt stood waiting for them.

"How'd it go?" Lisbon demanded somewhat anxiously.

Ronnie shrugged. "I think we sold it."

"Are you kidding? We killed." He raised his hand, catching hers in a high-five, and then clapped her shoulder proudly. "And you say I can't act."

"Cho, my dear friend, you have the emotional range of a potato."

THE MENTALIST

"When did you first suspect it was her?" Lisbon wondered, staring down the driveway as Jennifer Sands was hauled off her own residence by the police hours later.

Beside her, Jane shrugged a little. "Oh, I had an idea at the funeral service."

Ronnie rolled her eyes.

"No, you did not."

"I did." Jane returned indignantly. "I did. She was looking way too good. No wife should glow at her husband's funeral."

Ronnie shook her head and shared a look with the boss. "I told you she was all eyes and eyebrows."

Hiding a laugh, Lisbon went back to jeering at Jane. "So you made that bet with Rigsby that you could seduce her with the deliberate intention of snaring her?"

"I wanted to win the bet, too, and, uh...I couldn't." Jane admitted somewhat forlornly.

Lisbon sighed heavily and headed down the driveway towards the cars, done listening to the arrogant man she couldn't seem to get away from.

Jane looked over at Rigsby. "Just because I lost doesn't mean you shouldn't take my advice."

Immediately blushing, Rigsby did all he could to avoid van Pelt's confused stare. "Yeah, yeah, hush."

Jane snickered. "I'm serious, man. Go for it." He put an arm around Ronnie's shoulders. "So, tell me, dear, have any of us won that bet yet?" He nodded for Cho to follow along, and then the three of them left Rigsby and van Pelt standing alone.

Ronnie elbowed him in the ribs. "Fat chance, Jane." She ducked away from his arm and leaned in to Cho, who replaced Jane's arm with his own. No amount of shrugging dramatically could dislodge his heavy limb, so she quickly gave up. "There's no bet until I see actual, cold hard cash."

"Hear that, Cho?" Jane ribbed. "Cough it up."

"Bite me, Jane."

end of episode four