Lisbon and Jane took off shortly after their inflammatory meeting with the Davis PD officers to check out Patricia Matigan's mailing address, a location owned by a Lacey Wells. A testament to her well-trained patience and professionalism, Lisbon walked away from Preciado and Blakely as though nothing in the world bothered her, but the moment she closed herself into her vehicle Ronnie saw her shoulders slump in irritation.
Poor Jane would get the brunt of it from her, most assuredly.
Ronnie pinched her lips together as she watched them drive off, squinting against the sun overhead. "Do you think Lisbon ever snaps?"
Strolling past her towards their vehicle, Cho barely cast her a glance. "She never has before. If she ever does, though, it'll be at Jane, so I don't worry about it."
THE MENTALIST
They got back to the CBI, to-go lunches in hand, and headed upstairs to start writing up the crime scene reports. A few employees at the security checkpoint gave Ronnie some awfully hard stares, which she determinedly ignored.
Once comfortably seated at their desks, Cho and Ronnie dug into their burritos and got to work. The silence was only interrupted a few times by casual inquiries, such as:
"Has forensics sent over the evidence inventory yet?"
"Do you have that first address on file?"
"Can you pass the napkins?"
Nearly finished with her brief report, Ronnie stood to toss her garbage in the trash can, told Cho she was running to the rest room, and left the bullpen to wash her hands from the grease and salsa of the burrito.
The warped, speckled mirror shuddered as the bathroom door swung shut behind her. Ronnie elbowed the faucet on and dunked her hands under the spray, pausing only to collect a handful of soap from the motion dispenser. Shuffling and a small cough to her right told her someone else was in the room occupying a stall.
Blowing stray wisps of hair out of her face, Ronnie shook excess water off her hands and reached for a towel. Her eyes met their own reflection in the mirror, analyzing the dark bags and drawn expression. Sleeping hadn't been an affordable luxury of late. Ever since Cho got cameras installed in her home, she hadn't slept more than an hour at a time.
Tossing and turning night after night had left her weary, grumpy, and in less than combat-ready condition. She yearned for a full night's sleep. The bone-deep ache in her body for rest wore at her joints and left pain in her hips and back.
Somewhere down the line of doors, a stall opened and a woman stepped out, smiling politely as she headed for the sinks. After a swift glance, seeing reddish curls and a slim build, Ronnie stepped out of her way and finished drying her hands, trying to forget the haunted look in her own eyes as she dumped the wet towels in the trash.
Her hand was grasping the door handle when the woman's arm clamped around her throat from behind, closing down on Ronnie's windpipe.
She reeled back instinctively, bowling her attacker over backwards and slamming them both into the wall as hard as she could.
The mirror shuddered again with the impact as the woman grunted.
Ronnie's hands went back over her head to get two thick fistfulls of the woman's hair, arranging her feet around to leverage a toss. Black spots danced before her eyes as the hold on her throat tightened. The blonde could feel her heartbeat pounding frantically in her ears, her face going hot.
The woman was desperately trying to weaken her before she could strike back.
Ronnie felt her attacker's weight shift, about to lift her feet from the ground and hang dead-weight from her throat, and took that moment to make a sharp twist, flipping them both to the ground with the woman hitting the floor first. Gasping, panting for air, Ronnie used her handfulls of hair to beat the woman's head into the ground as hard as she could manage.
It took a number of weak strikes before the grip on her throat let up and she broke away by driving her elbow into the woman's face. In seconds she had her attacker pinned beneath her, eyes watering as oxygen hit her lungs. "Carla sent you? Is that what this is?" She seethed, voice gruff and tight.
The woman's face was turning blue. Ronnie took her own revenge, depriving as much air as she could without preventing speech.
Her attacker smiled blearily, losing focus. "She says she'll see you soon." She croaked, her teeth flashing manically.
Ronnie held her grip until the woman passed out, and then rose and moved away from her desperately. Throwing her weight against the counter, she stared at her face once more in the mirror. That time her eyes, red and buggy, stared back at her surrounded by redness and perspiration.
A series of dry, hacking coughs arose in Ronnie's chest. Dryness stung at the back of her throat and lungs. She blinked away tears from the strangulation and turned back to the woman laying sprawled out on the floor. Nothing about her seemed familiar. Whoever she was, she probably only served as one of Carla's low level lackeys.
Dropping to a squat, Ronnie hefted the woman up over one shoulder in a fireman's carry and stalked out of the bathroom with her assailant hanging limply.
Agents stared in disbelief as Ronnie marched past the bullpen. Cho's eyes lifted from his paperwork at the sudden wave of hushed mumblings, scanning the room for the disturbance. When he caught sight of Ronnie, he bolted up from his chair and moved instantly toward her.
"What happened, Masters, what is this?" He demanded, keeping in stride with her and examining the dangling form of the red-headed attacker.
Ronnie ignored him, too angry and too raw in the throat to form words. She kicked an interview room door open and dumped the woman harshly in a stainless steel chair. When she backed up immediately and wiped her face to compose herself, Cho stepped in and fastened the cuffs on the woman.
Without a word, the two agents left the room, leaving the woman slumped over the table, to wake up in her own time.
Ronnie jabbed a finger back towards the door. "So I just got attacked in the bathroom. Carla sent her as a joke."
Cho's gaze was already assessing the red scuff-like scratch marks showing up on his partner's throat. His shoulders tightened the longer he looked, watching her pull her disheveled hair down and fasten it up in a new, neater pony tail. "A joke? You call this a joke?" He demanded blankly, gesturing to her as she had to tuck her shirt in again and brush the wrinkles out of her sleeves.
"Trust me. She didn't send her to kill me. I'd be dead before I got out of the car. She didn't send her to hurt me. She would have been armed. Carla sent her to tease me. Let me know that she can touch me whenever she wants to. To get under my skin." Ronnie touched her throat gingerly and winced. "Do we still have tea in the breakroom? I feel like I swallowed knives."
The young blonde was halfway down the hall before Cho processed her words. Taking long strides to catch up, he remained silent until they were in the break room and she was putting water on to boil. "Are you okay, Masters?"
She cast him a sideways glance and nodded, sniffling quietly. "I'm good. She got the jump on me, that's all."
He didn't seem convinced. "And your throat?"
"It'll be tender tomorrow, but it's fine." Ronnie rifled through the cabinets for tea, finally settling on an old wrinkly packet of chamomile.
Pondering something, Cho glanced away from her for a second. After chewing on his question, he finally looked back. "What did you do to her?" He questioned carefully.
The girl shrugged. "Had to throw her a bit. Yanked some hair out. Concussed her on the floor. A few times."
Cho ran a hand over his face, sighing. "If she decides to make trouble by pressing charges you're going to have a hard time getting out of it. No cameras to back up your story."
Ronnie set her mug down a little harder than necessary. "I don't care about charges, Cho. Whether or not I end up going away for life isn't going to matter if Carla kills me before I get the chance to serve a life sentence. I don't care. Let's just find her."
Her friend silenced her with a sharp glance. "We both know you don't want to spend life in prison. So let's be smart about this and take care of things properly, from the get go. Alright?"
She nodded meekly. Her eyes focused on the kettle and didn't move away.
She felt Cho's hand on her shoulder for a second and then fall away. "I'll go wait for her to wake up."
He was gone a second later.
THE MENTALIST
The woman hadn't said a word by three pm, which was when Lisbon sent Ronnie and Cho over to an address to bust Rick Carris. They met Rigsby there and popped the hatch on the CBI SUV to gear up. Lisbon had ordered them to wait for her arrival and to coordinate with the Davis PD when they showed up.
"It's too hot to wear this." Rigsby complained, strapping on his vest.
"That's alright champ, you can take it off." Ronnie offered.
Rigsby sneered mockingly back at her and pointedly slapped the velcro down on his kevlar.
Cho was hiding a smirk when Ronnie turned back to him. She seized him by the arm holes of his vest and shook it aggressively. "All strapped in, boss?"
He shoved her lightly back and undid one of her velcro pieces. "Are you?"
As Ronnie was fixing her gear, another SUV sped up and out stepped Preciado and Blakely, armed and geared and marching steadily towards the house.
Alarmed, Rigsby called after them, "Hey! Where you going?"
Charming as ever, Preciado half-turned. "To make the bust. What do you think?" He scoffed. "Cover the back."
Cho and Ronnie shared a glance, and then swept the street to check for Lisbon's arrival. No vehicle in sight yet.
"Wait," Rigsby protested, confused.
"What? Oh, you guys wanna help or you gonna stand there and pick your nose?" He shot a wink to Ronnie.
Realizing he was trying to be an ass, she merely winked back at him.
He hadn't expected that.
The burly agent was still trying to make everybody play by the rules. "Come on, guy. Play nice, this is a joint operation. We go in together when our boss and the entry team gets here."
Preciado was having a field day showing off to Rigsby. "Uh uh. This is our arrest. Always has been, and we got no time to wait for your mommy."
"Hey, there's always time, alright? Let's do this right. Go in too quickly, and someone will get hurt." Cho called, backing Rigsby.
Ronnie didn't care to interject at all and remained silent. She could always count on Cho to try to bring it back to the playbook.
The Davis officer all but laughed in his face. "This is real police work, sonny. People get hurt. Nails get broken." He jabbed a finger at Ronnie, who enthusiastically checked her nails. "Go push some paper."
"Real police work?" Rigsby shot back. "You mean like protecting a state's witness?"
Triggered by the ego shot, Preciado wheeled around aggressively, the two men squaring up to each other like they were gonna deck it out in the middle of the street while waiting to take down a criminal. Ronnie and Cho both swooped in to hold Rigsby back, Ronnie putting her back to him and keeping an eye on Preciado. She'd been socked in the back of the head before while holding off the wrong guy.
When Rigsby tried to escape their defense, Cho grabbed his vest. "Walk away. Walk away. Alright? We told 'em not to go in. If this goes south now, it's their necks. We don't want to be involved in any way. Be smart. Let it go."
Preciado licked his lips piggishly at Ronnie and then he and Blakely disappeared inside just as Lisbon and Jane pulled up.
Their boss descended from her vehicle like a force, eyes assessing the scene. "What's going on? What are they doing?"
Butthurt, Rigsby gestured to the house. "Blakely and Preciado wouldn't wait for the entry team. Tried to talk to them. They wouldn't listen." He sounded like a kid telling on his siblings, but Ronnie didn't dare mention it.
"They're out for blood." Cho added.
THE MENTALIST
When Rick Carris found himself in CBI custody rather than Davis PD custody, he seemed to slink down in his chair with the slightest air of discomfort. Ronnie stood in the observation room, not sure if he would recognize her; not sure if she was ready to be recognized.
"Hey," Lisbon greeted, stepping into the room.
Ronnie nodded back, keeping her eyes on Cho and Carris.
As the boss came to stand next to her, she felt tension rise in the room. "So who's the girl in the other room?"
"I don't know. She hasn't said anything yet." Ronnie said lowly, hearing Cho get some introductory questions out of the way.
Lisbon paused. "But why is she here?"
Surprised that Cho hadn't immediately called her, Ronnie shot her a look. "Cho didn't tell you?"
Lisbon blinked at her cluelessly. "Tell me what? What happened?"
"That crazy lady attacked me in the bathroom. Carla sent her. She's toying with me." Ronnie tugged the collar of her shirt down to show the marks that had turned into bruising.
Lisbon went very quiet.
A few minutes ticked by in awkward silence.
Finally, when Cho was getting down to business, Lisbon turned towards the door. "File a report with Minelli. Get your throat checked out. I'm sorry, Ronnie." With that she was gone, ducking out to join Cho in the interview room.
Touched by her moment of softness, Ronnie cleared her throat. Immediately the abrasions flared up and she winced, pressing her hand to her collarbone.
Carris seemed to be holding to the story that, while he was glad Purcell was dead, he hadn't been responsible for the murder. Even when Cho addressed a death threat that had been left on Purcell's answering machine by Carris, the drug dealing scum only shrugged it off. Even his alibi was half-baked: he'd been in his own bar at the time of the murder, with an employee to back up his story.
By the time the guy lawyered up and Lisbon was forced to hand him over to Davis PD, they'd gotten nowhere but in circles with Carris' smug attitude.
In the bullpen, Jane swept in with pizza boxes, proclaiming the arrival of food.
Van Pelt was the first to check it out, immediately pulling a face. "Hawaiian? Cho hates pineapple."
Ronnie was too distracted to respond. Leaning in the doorway, arms crossed, her eyes were pinned on the door to the interview room where she'd left the woman from the restroom. What was the point of playing a game if the little henchmen didn't tell a story? Her silence wasn't making sense.
"He can pick the pineapple off, can't he?" Jane returned carelessly.
Seconds away from marching back into that room and demanding answers one more time, Ronnie blew out a pent-up breath. Her arms twitched with the impulse to get up and go, but she held herself still. She could feel her stomach grumbling, and the playful banter between Van Pelt and Jane sounded more enjoyable to be around than the eerie silence of Carla's little soldier.
"You ok?" Cho came up behind her from walking Carris down to processing. "Is that the food?"
Ronnie nodded towards the pizza boxes. "Food's here." She repeated distractedly.
Cho pinched her elbow between two fingers. "Let's go eat. Take your mind off it. We'll get down to it, don't worry."
When she agreed and dropped her arms, he headed over to the pizza boxes, Ronnie hot on his tail. Flipping up the top and grabbing a plate, Cho's face instantly fell. "It's got pineapple on it."
"Bummer, dude." Ronnie snaked her arm around his obstructing form and snagged a piece.
"You can take it off." Van Pelt returned with new confidence.
Like a kicked puppy, Cho shot her a look, and then one to Ronnie. "I'll know it's been there."
Ronnie slung her pizza-free arm over his shoulders and leaned into him dramatically. "Yes, the pineapple lingers. And you know what? It should. Because yesterday you ordered me a burger with onions on it, and told me to take them off. And you know what? I could still taste the onion."Cho elbowed her off. "I hate pineapple."
Shrugging, Ronnie took a bite of her pizza. It nearly burned her tongue. She wished it were cold. Refrigerated pizza would forever be the best pizza. "I hate onions."
Cho reluctantly scraped two pieces onto his plate.
When she mimicked a crying expression, he just shouldered her aside. "Oh get over yourself, Masters, you're just upset I keep shooting better."
"In your dreams, Kim."
THE END OF EPISODE 8Sorry it took me so long to update. Hope you like this chapter. I didn't wrap up this episode to the credits scene because I couldn't find a script that goes all the way to the end and they recently took the show off of Amazon Prime so I couldn't cross reference. Hope you enjoy!