The story takes place between episodes 17 and 18 of season five. It's difficult to track
time based on the series, so I set it at two and a half months since Jane's return from
Las Vegas. I also took the creative liberty of reinstating Madeleine Hightower as chief
after clearing her name—because no one else wanted to work with Jane after what
happened to Wainwright.
There's also a special guest appearance by a character I love: Olivia Benson from Law
& Order: SVU.
Chapter one.-
Where is Lisbon?
"It's Lisbon's house. The neighbors reported gunshots, screams, and banging " Cho said
immediately to Rigsby and Van Pelt as they drew their weapons and walked toward the
house's entrance, the front door slightly ajar and the lights on.
"Do we have confirmation that she was home?"
"Her car's still here, and the neighbor said she heard her scream before the shots " Cho
replied, cold and direct, as if it were just another case. His tense expression said what his
voice did not.
Rigsby moved aside to check the perimeter, while Van Pelt and Cho advanced toward the
front door. The tension was palpable, even with the emergency vehicle lights and sirens
approaching. Cho slowly pushed the door open, weapon raised. They entered silently and
began to search the interior. Everything was a disaster.
"Oh my God... What happened here?" Van Pelt whispered, observing the overturned chairs,
the broken glass from the window, papers, pictures, bloodstains on the floor, and finally two
bodies lying near the front door. She sighed with relief upon realizing that neither of them
was Lisbon. "Here, Cho! One shot to the chest, the other to the head."
"Direct and clean shots. Lisbon defended herself " Cho said, cautiously moving closer to
inspect. "Both are armed and wearing hoods."
"No sign of Lisbon, but this was a massacre " Rigsby said, appearing from the kitchen with a
bloodstained knife in his gloved hands.
Van Pelt was about to speak when a vehicle suddenly screeched to a halt outside. It didn't
take a psychic to know who it was. Seconds later, they heard hurried footsteps approaching,
and then they entered the house.
"What do we have?" Hightower asked, stepping into the scene, while Jane stood at the
entrance, observing the state of the living room.
"The neighbor called 911. Just over an hour ago, she heard gunshots, then what sounded
like a fight, more shots, and then the sound of a vehicle driving away. We have two bodies,
one shot in the head and the other in the chest. We suspect Lisbon shot in self-defense.
Neither of them has any cuts, so we can assume Lisbon either wounded another attacker or
she's injured herself."
"No trace of the boss, no signs of robbery. This is likely a kidnapping " Hightower added.
"And it looks like a well-planned one. These men..." Hightower said, approaching the closest
kidnapper's body. "They don't seem like amateurs. They're well-armed and equipped. And
they did it quickly, without caring who saw or heard."
"Jane, any idea who could be behind this?" she asked.
"I... I don't know " Jane replied, snapping out of his daze. He walked aimlessly, not sure
where to begin. Normally, he'd try to learn as much as possible about the victim through the
body and the scene, but now there was no body. And he hoped there wouldn't be one. He
knew this scene too well; he'd been here many times over the years. The cup Lisbon had
served him tea in last time was now shattered on the floor, its contents spilled.
He looked around, and images of what could have happened flooded his mind: Lisbon
shooting, Lisbon struggling with three or four attackers, Lisbon being hit, Lisbon defending
herself, Lisbon injured, Lisbon lifeless in a pool of blood.
His heart began to race. First, a dull thud in his chest, then a rising pressure moving up to
his throat. He took a deep breath, but the air wasn't enough. His fingers were numb.
Rigsby exchanged a quick glance with Hightower and started to walk toward Jane. But as
soon as Jane saw him, his gaze went to the bloodstained knife still in Rigsby's hand.
"You can put that down " Jane asked, taking a hand to his neck and loosening the top button
of his shirt. He needed air.
Without acknowledging the rest of the team, he turned on his heels and walked to the
kitchen, acting on impulse, a reflex he'd done hundreds of times. He filled the kettle with
water and turned on the stove. His shaking hands took a cup, saucer, and a tea bag. When
he went to put the tea bag into the cup, it slipped out of his hand and fell to the floor, but he
didn't notice.
The room kept shrinking around him as he watched the water start to heat up.
"Jane..." Van Pelt entered the kitchen and tried to get his attention, but the fake psychic was
focused on the steam coming from the kettle.
He thought about what could have happened. Red John was the first thing that came to
mind, revenge the second. Lisbon, often unintentionally, had made enemies, and on top of
that, the ones she'd gained just by being his partner made the list even longer. He had to
find her.
Jane closed his eyes tightly. He needed to regain control of himself. He focused on the floor
beneath his feet and his breathing.
One, inhale.
Two, exhale.
Three, an image of Lisbon tied up, fear in her eyes.
One, inhale.
Two, Lisbon lifeless in a pool of blood.
One, inhale.
Two, exhale.
Three, inhale.
Four, exhale.
"Jane!" Van Pelt's voice brought him back to reality. The sound of the kettle boiling filled the
room. The young agent passed by him and turned off the stove, while he remained standing
there, silent and unmoving.
"We have to find her " Jane said, returning to the living room, leaving the forgotten kettle on
the counter.
"Do you think it could have been Red John?" Rigsby asked as soon as he saw Jane. The
knife was no longer in his hand, but in an evidence bag.
"No. It's not his style. There's no mark here that would indicate he was involved, and so far,
he hasn't worked with others like this. He wouldn't do something like this. His work is more
meticulous, and this... was aggressive, quick. They didn't care who saw or heard."
"We can't rule out Red John entirely. He constantly changes his methods, and we can't rule
out any of his associates " Hightower said, approaching the top of a cabinet she'd been
inspecting earlier. "We have to consider the possibility that this is related to one of the cases,
old or new. Maybe a revenge. When we get back to the office, we'll start going through the
old cases."
"It wasn't him, I'm sure of it " Jane insisted. He didn't know if he was truly sure or if he just
wanted to convince himself. He didn't know which was worse: a sadistic and known serial
killer, or a kidnapper they knew nothing about.
"I didn't know Lisbon had a security camera in her house " Van Pelt said when their boss
finally pulled out the object that had caught her attention on top of the cabinet. "What if she
didn't put it there, and someone was spying on her?"
"Too visible. If Madeleine saw it in five minutes, Lisbon would have noticed it too. If she has
a camera, she should be able to check it from somewhere..." Before she could finish
speaking, Jane ran to Lisbon's room on the second floor. Despite the circumstances, he
couldn't help but feel like a mischievous child, she would never have let him enter her room
and search through her things. "Bingo!"
He ran back to the others and handed Van Pelt Lisbon's laptop. When she turned it on,
understanding what Jane wanted, the screen lit up asking for a password. Jane quickly
typed it in. He didn't use his own computer much, but Lisbon's was another story, and he
assumed that being so practical, she would use the same password for her personal laptop
as she did for her work one.
Grace quickly began to explore the files, looking for the camera footage or anything that
could help them. She couldn't help but feel like she was invading her boss's privacy,
something Lisbon wouldn't want. "We don't talk about personal life here " Lisbon had once
told her. And though that was years ago, and their relationship had changed since then, she
knew Lisbon wouldn't like her digging through her things. But she figured Lisbon would
prefer being angry and embarrassed for her having checked her laptop if it helped find her
alive.
While Van Pelt did her part, the others spread out, doing one last inspection of the place
before the forensics team arrived.
Jane, now controlling his emotions a bit more, looked at the scene again, though he still
couldn't slow down his heart completely. Every minute that passed was one more minute
Teresa was in the hands of some unknown person. He slowly approached the broken
window, examining the bloodstains on the pieces that hadn't moved and the pattern of glass
scattered on the floor.
"The pieces are inside the house, so the window was broken from the outside. But they
couldn't have entered through there, too noisy, and it seems like Lisbon was sleeping on the
couch, so she would've seen them " he said, pointing to the blanket now discarded next to
the furniture.
"It looks more like they threw someone through the window " Cho commented, joining Jane
and pointing at the bloodstains in the middle. No one commented further; they knew that
while Lisbon was strong, it was unlikely she could have thrown a trained mercenary through
that window, which left only one possibility.
"I found the footage from the camera " Van Pelt announced. The team quickly gathered
around her.
Lisbon was asleep on her couch, her weapon lying unsheathed on the table next to her. The
TV was still on, playing what seemed to be an old movie. Two armed men appeared in the
back of the room, walking without making any noise. As they got closer to the couch, the
front door opened, and two more men entered, but they weren't careful. The noise of the
door woke the agent, who quickly grabbed her gun and shot the men in front of her. One
directly in the head, the other in the chest.
"There was no warning, she didn't even hesitate, she shot to kill" Cho commented.
"She knew they were coming for her. If she'd thought they were just thieves, she would've
given them a warning before shooting or shot to incapacitate them " added Hightower.
Back in the video, the bodies hadn't even hit the floor when one of the men behind the couch
lunged at her, trying to subdue her. But with a quick move, one Jane didn't know she was
capable of, Lisbon grabbed the man by the arm and threw him in front of her, into the TV.
The appliance and the man crashed to the ground with a loud bang. From there, everything
happened too fast.
The fourth man managed to disarm her but couldn't capture her. She ran to the other side of
the room, where she tried to grab another weapon. Her fingers barely touched the gun
before the blue flash of a stun gun lit up the screen, and her scream filled the room. Her
body convulsed, collapsing heavily to the floor.
"Goddamn bitch" the man who had knocked her down muttered, before kicking her
mercilessly. He grabbed his phone and made a call. "We've got her."
In the living room, the tension was palpable. The faces of the team reflected worry, fear, and
anger. If the kidnappers on the floor weren't dead, Jane wasn't sure how the team would
have reacted to them.
Lisbon seemed unconscious on the floor. But despite the poor quality of the video, Jane
could tell from her breathing that she was conscious or nearly. He confirmed it when he saw,
almost without moving and making as little noise as possible, the agent slip her hand under
the furniture and pull out a knife she'd hidden under the wide sleeve of her pajama shirt.
"We're leaving" she said before hanging up the call.
"They want her alive, you idiot, you almost killed her!" the second man yelled. "They won't
pay us if she's dead. Take her outside, I'm going to grab some things the boss wants."
Reluctantly, the other man lifted Lisbon from the ground as if she weighed nothing and
carried her out of the house. Before anyone could speak, Jane motioned that he wasn't
finished yet. A loud scream was heard outside the front door, out of camera view. Seconds
later, something crashed through the window into the living room. The action took only a
couple of seconds, but to Jane, it felt like an eternity.
The silence in the room was absolute. No one breathed. The last frame of the video showed
Lisbon lying on the carpet, red stains beginning to spread around her. The knife, now stained
with blood, still gripped in her hand.
Jane was sure he could hear his heart pounding in his chest. He wanted to move, speak, do
something, but all he could do was stare desperately at the spot where Lisbon had been only
moments before.
Someone hit play again. Lisbon twisted slightly on the floor, and they heard the steps of the
other man getting closer.
"What the hell did you do?" he yelled at the other man as he approached the woman to
check her pulse and whether she was still breathing.
"The damn bitch stabbed me" the man replied, entering the house again, clutching what
appeared to be a wound in his back. "At least she won't cause any more problems " he
added with disdain.
While checking her vital signs, he took the knife from her hand and lifted her again, this time
to take her away, followed by the wounded man. The room remained silent and still for
almost an hour. It almost seemed like a photograph.
"Okay, now we can confirm that this wasn't random, neither a robbery nor an attempted
homicide. They wanted Lisbon alive, and someone paid for it. This was planned in
advance..."
"These two..." Jane said, pointing to the bodies of the two men lying a few feet away from
them. "They were decoys. Their loud entrance was intentional, to distract her from the two
who were already inside the house. Not only was it planned, but they knew Lisbon. They
knew she would defend herself."
"The attack was extremely noisy. They knew it would be hard to subdue her without making
noise, so they were prepared to escape. We need to get the vehicle registration to track
them, but if this was meticulously planned, there will be several vehicle and route changes
before reaching their destination."
"Lisbon suspected something like this might happen. She had weapons on hand, shot like
she knew that..." Van Pelt's voice cracked, but she continued, "Like she knew if she didn't,
she'd die."
"For now, we'll issue an alert for a possible stabbing victim. It's unlikely they'll go to a
hospital, but it's better to be prepared. And Lisbon is also injured, so we need to find her
quickly " Hightower said.
"Whoever hired them wanted her alive. That gives us some hope of reaching her."
"Has anyone thought that Volker might be behind this?" Rigsby asked.
"Unlikely " Cho answered before Jane had a chance to. He was relieved not to be the only
one thinking this. "Volker's in prison, so he wouldn't gain anything from kidnapping Lisbon. If
he wanted revenge or to get rid of her, he wouldn't need to kidnap her. They would've just
killed her here."
"Van Pelt, you can go back to the office, review the latest cases, and make a list of possible
suspects. Take the laptop and see if you can find anything. Rigsby and Cho, go interview the
neighbors, especially the one who made the call. As soon as the forensics team arrives, I'll
go see if there are security cameras that might have caught the vehicle they took her in. And
Jane..."
"I'll accompany you to interrogate the neighbor who made the emergency call. There's
something that doesn't add up."
The team split up. Van Pelt went back to the BIC, and Rigsby went to interview the neighbor
on the right. Cho and Jane went to the neighbor who had made the call.
The woman, with gray hair tied up in a tight bun, looked at them with a worried expression.
Jane had seen her a couple of times before when visiting Lisbon, always sweeping the porch
or watering the plants.
"Why did it take so long for you to call? The shots were fired at five in the morning, but the
call didn't come in until almost an hour later. Why?" Jane asked before Cho could speak.
"Oh no! I called as soon as I heard the first shot " she exclaimed, placing a hand on her
chest, offended. "And I said exactly what the young woman told me to say if something
happened at her house: 'There's a disturbance at Agent Teresa Lisbon's house, she needs
immediate backup.'"
"By 'young woman,' do you mean Lisbon?" Cho asked. "Did she tell you where to call if
something happened to her?"
"Yes..." The woman frowned, remembering. "It was a couple of weeks ago. She came to ask
me for some salt, something she'd never done before. We were chatting, and out of
nowhere, she told me that if anything happened to her, I shouldn't call 911, but call the BIC
directly. She wrote down the number and told me to say that she was a police officer and
that they should come immediately. She said they would recognize her name and get here
faster than if I called emergency services, but that didn't happen."
"When Lisbon told you that..." Jane paused briefly. "How did she look? Did she seem
worried, scared?" Cho tilted his head slightly, observing the woman carefully.
"Normal, she's always... so serious. Do you think she's dead?" The woman covered her
mouth with her hand, her voice trembling. "We should have done something... but my
husband said not to. She's a cop; she'd know how to defend herself." She let out a shaky
sigh and shook her head.
"The kidnapping was quick, no more than seven minutes. Four armed men against one
person... we wouldn't have been able to help either " Cho said harshly. Jane wasn't sure if
he was trying to comfort the woman or if he was saying it to himself.
"You said you called as soon as you heard the shots..." Jane started, but the woman
interrupted him.
"Yes... Here, you can see" she showed him her phone with the call history. "A very nice
woman answered, and she said they'd come right away, but time passed, and they didn't
arrive. So I called again, and this time a man answered, and not long after, you all arrived.
Then more police officers showed up."
"Did you see the vehicle they escaped in?"
"No, we stayed away from the windows, in case a bullet came through. But..." she
whispered, "Carmen, three houses down, has security cameras, but it's a secret. She wants
to know if her husband has a mistress " she added, leaning closer to the agents.
"Thank you, we'll talk to her" Jane said, forcing the most genuine smile he could muster
despite his mood.
"It's Rigsby, he says he found something. I'll tell Van Pelt to check the incoming call records
and see who was answering them."
The three agents found themselves outside Lisbon's house, where there was now much
more activity. The local police had arrived, as well as the forensic teams.
Hightower was talking to the coroner. Jane couldn't hear them, but he assumed the woman
was exerting some kind of pressure to get results as quickly as possible.
"You should talk to Mrs. Carmen, three houses down. She has security cameras " Jane said
as they met up.
"I'll go right away. Grace called, she said she found a heavy file on Lisbon's computer. It can
only be opened with a password, and she hasn't figured it out yet. So, she's hoping you can
do it, Jane."
"I talked to Mrs. McLaren... from next door " Rigsby said, arriving with the small group. "She
thought Lisbon had problems with an ex-boyfriend or a secret lover."
"Secret lover, Lisbon? Impossible " Jane declared, not noticing the curious looks from the
three agents. "Her most stable relationship is with her service weapon."
"She says that a few weeks ago, a man left a huge bouquet of flowers on Lisbon's doorstep.
She remembers it because she thought it would have been nice if her husband did
something like that for her, but when Lisbon arrived and saw them, she looked horrified and
threw them away in a dumpster a couple of houses down."
"Did she see the man's face?"
"No, she said he was a tall man, almost six-foot-three. He was wearing a hoodie, and she
couldn't see his face. But she's sure she's seen him lurking around the area on other
occasions."
"If Lisbon was so horrified that she had to throw the flowers out of her house, they weren't
from a lover. She could've thrown them in her own trash " Jane murmured. Lisbon wasn't the
type of person to be frightened by something like that. He'd never seen her receive flowers,
but he was sure she wouldn't look horrified. Maybe disappointed. She knew who sent them...
and she didn't like it one bit.
"She doesn't remember the exact day, but she said to look for the date because it was the
day her husband had a dentist appointment. If we're lucky, we might get the exact date...
and maybe, with that, find the mysterious man."
"That can't happen, it's a crime scene " a police officer said in the background.
A few meters away, a woman was trying to enter the scene. From a distance, and knowing
nothing about her, Jane could already tell the woman was a cop. Her posture and the way
she responded to the officer screamed "law enforcement."
"I'm Sergeant Olivia Benson, from the U.V.E. of Manhattan " the woman said, showing her
badge.
"What's someone from the U.V.E. doing here?" Rigsby whispered to no one in particular.
"U.V.E.?" Jane asked quietly to Cho, who only gave him a stern look and murmured, "Later."
Madeleine recognized the woman and gestured to the officer to let her pass. The remaining
three agents exchanged looks.
Sergeant Olivia Benson walked towards the group with determined steps. Her presence
commanded respect, and even though she was far from her jurisdiction in New York, her
reputation preceded her for those who knew her.
"Sergeant Benson, you're far from New York. What brings you here?" Hightower asked,
sounding more authoritative than she intended.
Jane observed the interaction with curiosity. Not every day did a Sergeant from New York
show up at their crime scene.
"I traveled to see Agent Lisbon..." she said, looking around, her gaze stopping on the broken,
bloodstained window. "I didn't find out what had happened until I got to Sacramento. Do you
have any suspects?"
"Sergeant Benson, from Manhattan? That's quite a trip just to see Lisbon. Why?" Jane
asked.
Olivia held Jane's gaze for a moment, as if weighing how to respond. Finally, she took a step
towards him, offering her hand.
"Patrick Jane, right? Teresa has told me a lot about you " her tone softer than it had been
with Hightower. "And yes, a lot of it was complaints about making her work extra hours."
"That sounds like Lisbon " Madeleine said. "These are Agents Cho and Rigsby. They're all
from Lisbon's unit. Are you going to tell us what brings you here? We're in a bit of a rush."
"Lisbon and I were working on a case, in... an unofficial capacity " she explained, without
going into further details.
"I wasn't informed that one of my agents was collaborating with another unit " Hightower
frowned, not liking the direction this was taking. When it came to Jane and his plans, Lisbon
could be pretty flexible with the rules, but now it didn't seem like he was involved at all.
"I think I misspoke, Lisbon wasn't collaborating with me or my unit. Lisbon is the victim " she
explained softly. Cho and Rigsby exchanged puzzled glances, but before they could say
anything, Jane interrupted.
"Victim of what...?" Jane asked. This unit business and its abbreviations had never been his
strong suit. Bureaucracy behind police departments wasn't his thing.
"U.V.E. is a unit for special victims..." Rigsby commented quietly, as though that would
prevent the women from hearing them. "They handle... sensitive cases."
"They deal with sexual crimes " Cho finished, still not looking at him, his face even more
serious than before.
Jane went blank. Lisbon, a victim of that kind of assault? It wasn't something he could easily
imagine. God, that woman had a gun stuck to her hip all the time, guns in her car and at
home, training to defend herself physically.
He couldn't conceive the idea of seeing her subdued like that... but the image of Lisbon lying
on the floor while an armed man kicked her came to his mind.
"Lisbon wasn't raped if that's what you're thinking " Benson clarified gently but directly,
noticing Jane's tense expression. "Abuse covers a very broad spectrum."
"Is that supposed to be better? Oh, what a relief. She was just a victim of a lesser crime
within a whole spectrum of possible abuses. That makes me feel so much better " Jane said
sarcastically, flinging his arms in the air.
"We could talk somewhere more private and exchange information " Sergeant Benson
suggested, ignoring Jane's irony.
"We can go back to the BIC " Hightower said after a moment. "Cho, Rigsby, go check the
cameras and interview the remaining neighbors. I'll see if they've identified the two dead
kidnappers yet."
Reluctantly, both nodded and walked away. Hightower escorted Benson to her car, with Jane
right on their heels. Before either of them could get in, Jane was already seated in the back.
"Didn't you drive your own car?" Hightower asked, eyeing him suspiciously. In response,
Jane merely waved his hand dismissively. He wasn't going to waste a minute of this
conversation.
The drive was filled with awkward silence until Hightower began summarizing the case out
loud, to no one in particular.
Jane couldn't tell how fast they were going, but he knew it wasn't fast enough. It had been
two hours since Lisbon's abduction, they were rushing as much as possible, but he couldn't
shake the feeling that they were wasting time. If the call had been made properly, they
could've tracked the vehicle, but with an hour's delay, it was already too far. All they could do
now was hope a camera had captured the license plate or model, that they'd find the
abandoned vehicle, or identify the two kidnappers.
The Sergeant didn't seem to have anything that could help them find her immediately, she
wouldn't have waited until they got to the office to share it. Any cop knew that the first hours
were crucial in a kidnapping… Lisbon, he reminded himself, alive.
What he knew so far was that Lisbon had been the victim of some crime that led her to seek
help from someone outside the BIC. She wasn't the type to be easily intimidated, so she
would've tried to solve it on her own first, but it had gotten out of hand. Asking for help had
been her last resort.
He wondered if when Lisbon asked him for help with Volker, unconsciously her request had
been for something more than just the case. How long had Lisbon been dealing with
whatever was going on? She was the most transparent person he knew. Saint Teresa was a
terrible liar. But he had to admit that lying and omitting weren't the same thing.
Lisbon had acted normally all this time, except for the weeks after returning from Las Vegas,
but he hadn't found it strange. He had let her go, and she didn't return his calls, came back
with an absurd plan that almost cost them their careers... and their lives. She brought along
a prisoner, with whom he had to admit things had gotten a bit out of hand. After that, her
obsession with Martins' death had clouded his judgment… Maybe he hadn't paid enough
attention to his partner, and by the time he did, she had already closed herself off.
Something inside him broke when he realized his friend had been afraid. She had asked for
help from someone thousands of miles away. And he hadn't noticed.
The arrival at the office wasn't as fast as they had hoped, several agents, including
Berthram, stopped Madeleine on the way to ask about the case. Lisbon was a respected
agent, so something like this happening set off all the alarms.
"It's one of ours. We'll use all the resources at our disposal to find her. I'll authorize all the
overtime necessary until we do " the Director said solemnly.
Jane noticed the lack of genuine concern in his words. Even Hightower, when she first
assumed her position as chief, though she had threatened Lisbon, Rigsby, and Van Pelt's
jobs, still conveyed more concern for her agents. The Director, on the other hand, saw his
agents as just a number or a trophy to boast about.
"Nice speech, Gale. Almost sounds like you really care " Jane said with sarcasm.
Reactions were varied, Hightower told him to shut up, but without much conviction, Benson
looked at him with curiosity, as if she'd been expecting this part from him, the rest of the
agents only stared, shocked but used to it.
"Chief! We've identified the two dead kidnappers " Van Pelt said, rushing towards them and
breaking the tension, causing the group around the newcomers to scatter.
"What do we have?"
"John and Mark Showalter, former FBI agents. They were dishonorably discharged a year
ago. After that, they returned to Tucson with their families and…" She paused when she
noticed Sergeant Benson hadn't moved and was still listening along with Jane and
Hightower.
"I'm Sergeant Benson, from the U.V.E. of Manhattan. I'm… " she introduced herself kindly.
"You could say I'm a friend of Teresa's."
"I know…" She looked at Hightower and Jane, waiting for confirmation on whether she
should continue or not.
"Go on " the BIC chief nodded.
"I've been looking into their finances. Three weeks ago, each of them received a payment of
$33,000. During the night, each got an additional $37,000, and an hour ago, another
$30,000."
"One hundred thousand dollars each " Benson interrupted, frowning. "That's a lot. Why in
three payments? Normally, ransom is paid at the start and the end of the job."
"That's also a huge amount for a kidnapping. It tells us that whoever is behind this has the
means to pay extra. We should reconsider Volker as a suspect."
"I think the extra was more for their availability " Jane explained, signaling to the three
women to move to Hightower's office, the most private one. "The first payment to seal the
deal, the second to indicate when it should be done, and the third when they handed over
Lisbon."
"Plus, he paid, even though both of them were dead." Van Pelt frowned.
"Looking at it that way, he almost seems like a man of his word " Benson joked.
"Well, that's a relief. Nothing more reassuring than a kidnapper with principles."
"Now, Sergeant Benson, skip the protocol and tell us what you know about Lisbon that we
don't " Jane asked bluntly.
"I'll share what I can, but many details are personal to Teresa and I…"
"You'll share everything " Hightower interrupted firmly. "Lisbon's hurt and in the hands of a
psychopath. Any detail could help."
"We'll deal with an angry Lisbon for knowing her most embarrassing secrets " Jane said
without trying to be polite. "But believe me, Sergeant, I can handle an angry, embarrassed
Lisbon who wants to shoot me. It wouldn't be the first time someone's pointed a gun at me.
But not a dead Lisbon. So tell me, why did she trust you instead of her team to ask for help?"
"Actually, she didn't ask me for help. I offered it to her and was a bit… insistent about it "
Benson clarified, but before she could continue, Van Pelt interrupted, pointing at her phone
where Rigsby's incoming call was visible.
"I'll put it on speaker. They're in the car, so no one else will hear."
Benson sighed, crossing her arms as if organizing her thoughts before speaking. Apparently,
she had a lot to say.
"It's very common for women in Lisbon's position not to report things like this, whether due to
shame or pride. They tend to downplay it or think they can handle it on their own."
Jane almost asked if that was something she knew from experience, but he chose to stay
silent.
"We met at a seminar in Denver. Something about leadership… you know, one of those talks
no one really listens to. We went to lunch at a place nearby. We were talking about how
boring the talks were when a woman came in with a huge bouquet of flowers for Teresa. It
was a bouquet with large, bright red flowers, very elegant-looking. It didn't fit her personality.
Lisbon didn't seem happy or surprised… she was tense and refused to take the flowers, but
the seller insisted she accept them because it had been a huge job, and if she didn't take
them, they wouldn't get paid. After the woman left, she threw them away."
Flowers again, Jane thought.
"After that, she didn't want to eat. I asked if something was up with the person who sent the
flowers, if it was an ex or something, and she said it was nothing, just a silly thing. She didn't
bring it up again. Later that evening, we went to a bar with other agents. At some point,
Lisbon went out for air, then sent me a message saying she was heading back to the hotel. I
caught up with her at the entrance. She didn't look well at all, and she was in obvious
shock… I work with victims right after an attack, I know how it looks."
Jane didn't like where this was heading, the flowers, Lisbon's precautions, her asking for
help from someone outside… It hadn't just been an attack; this had been going on for a
while.
Teresa Lisbon had been dealing with a stalker, the harassment had started long before those
flowers were sent, that's why she hadn't been surprised. It probably started with innocent
messages, and she didn't pay them much attention, but the harassment escalated, and by
the time she realized how serious it was, she didn't know how to ask for help. But there was
something more... something was missing, and he didn't know what.
"Don't tell me that…" Van Pelt said, unable to finish the sentence, while on the phone,
Rigsby's voice could be heard saying, "Lisbon would never allow it " and Cho's voice adding,
"He wouldn't leave there alive."
"No " Sergeant Benson clarified immediately. "It took a while for her to open up to me, she
insisted nothing had happened, that she just tripped and fell… but part of her back and arm
were dirty, which was more consistent with having been shoved against a wall. It took a long
time for her to finally tell me what happened."
"She said she went outside to get some air, was talking to another agent when she went
back in and was alone… " Olivia paused to think about her next words, considering
summarizing the details, but as a cop, she knew they'd want every detail. Sometimes,
insignificant things could lead to identifying the attacker. "She only felt when someone stood
behind her and put a gun to her back, with the other hand, he drew Lisbon's weapon, and
just stood there for a few seconds, smelling and caressing her hair. He hugged her. He
stayed there for a few minutes, not doing anything. Then he tried to push her into an alley
next to the bar. That's when Lisbon reacted, tried to break free, and kicked him. That
enraged him, and he shoved her against the wall. The blow to the head wasn't hard, but she
was already in shock, so it took her a few seconds to react when he started running. She
chased him for a few blocks, but at some point, she lost him, and found his gun lying on the
ground halfway."
"Did she file a report?"
"No, she felt embarrassed for letting him disarm her like that. She had no suspects and
doubted they'd take her seriously, even with the many messages and emails he'd sent her
by then."
"Aren't you a specialist in these kinds of crimes?" Cho asked on the phone. "At least you
could've contacted someone from her team to let us know what happened."
"I can advise, guide, and even insist that victims report it, but I can't force them. I tried to
convince her that she had more than enough evidence for an investigation, but she's also a
cop and knows how the system works. I convinced her to at least leave a record of the
attack with the Denver police. I told her she didn't have to mention the stalking, just that she
had been attacked. But then, the BIC called, and she had to return immediately to
Sacramento…"
"Because Lorelei Martin had escaped from federal prison " Jane finished for her, pressing his
lips together as if it pained him to say that.
That was what he hadn't remembered about the seminar; he'd planned his "rescue" on the
first day Lisbon would be out of state. He knew once they heard about Lorelei's escape,
they'd bring her back immediately, but that gave him time to make the second part of his
plan "her kidnapping" believable. Had she been here, he would've gone to get her as soon
as he heard about Lorelei's escape, which wouldn't have allowed for the kidnapping to be
faked. Instead, his plan was that by the time she arrived, he would already be out of contact
due to the "kidnapping."
And now he learned Lisbon had been assaulted that same night, that she was emotionally
vulnerable and probably physically hurt. And instead of doing something for herself, she'd
had to take an emergency flight to help with the "rescue" and capture of her supposed
kidnapper.
He had to admit she was really good at hiding it, none of his team noticed anything different
about her, and by the time he saw her again, she had already put the "everything's fine"
mask back on, and not even he could see through it.
The silence in the room felt as dense as his own stupidity. No one said anything, but he
could feel the eyes on him. Of course, Patrick Jane, the genius of observation, the master of
deception... unable to see what was right in front of him.
"Then the boss had a stalker. Why didn't she come to us? We could've helped " Rigsby said.
"Yeah, right, because when Lisbon loses control of something or feels threatened, the first
thing she does is gather the team and announce it loudly. Come on, Rigsby, think about it for
a second " Jane said, more aggressively than he intended.
"Stalkers aren't always like in the movies. They don't come with a sign telling you you're
being stalked. It starts gradually, with messages, emails, subtle encounters. At first, you think
it's just a coincidence, a person who wants to be friendly, maybe a little too clingy. Then you
start to feel uncomfortable, you doubt if you're exaggerating, probably even your own people
or surroundings confirm the theory that you're exaggerating, that you're paranoid. When the
stalking escalates to something worse, you don't know what to do. If you report it, they won't
believe you or they'll ask why you didn't report it earlier, or you feel embarrassed or guilty for
letting it get this far " Hightower explained.
Jane imagined what Lisbon must have felt, and he didn't like it. He wanted to go house by
house if necessary and take her back from whoever had her. Then, he would never leave
her alone again.
"How long did this go on?"
"Before the Denver attack, he had been sending her messages, emails, and a gift now and
then for months. She thought it was just someone trying to cheer her up, since it all started
right after Mr. Jane was fired and disappeared from Sacramento."
"That was almost seven months ago " said Hightower.
"The messages were innocent, half-joking, and not frequent, arriving once every week or
two. Four months after the first message, the first flowers arrived at her office..."
"I remember " interrupted Van Pelt, who was the only one present at that time. "They were
beautiful, and they were red. When Lisbon saw them, she was surprised. I think she thought
someone else sent them " she said, glancing at Jane, "but... when she saw the card, her
expression completely changed. She didn't look angry or scared, but she took them out of
view and never mentioned them again. When I asked who sent them, she said no one
important. I thought she was just upset because someone had sent flowers to her work, and
it would look unprofessional."
"After that, she apologized for the flowers in the office, and the messages continued. Lisbon
tried to find out who the phone belonged to, but there were no results. She blocked the
number, but then he wrote from another number. He used more than thirty different numbers.
She contacted flower shops to see if they had a record of who sent them, but they were paid
in cash, and he used third parties to buy them. Just over two months ago, the messages
began to escalate in aggression and frequency..."
"Two months ago?" asked Van Pelt. "That's when Jane came back from Las Vegas."
"That's something Teresa noticed. Jane seems to be the trigger that makes this guy more
aggressive. The harassment began when you disappeared from the scene, and with your
return, it escalated " said Benson, placing a stack of papers on the table. "However, along
with the increase in aggression, Lisbon also started to ignore him. Despite being more
aggressive, it affected her less."
"He's built an entire image in his head where Lisbon reciprocates his feelings. My presence
breaks that illusion; he saw that she wasn't responding to his attention as he expected, and
instead of admitting that it was always like that, he blames me."
"Lisbon started to seem less affected because she was under a heavy workload. First,
Jane's plan to fake his death, then all the arguments with the feds over Martins, the overload
of cases, Martin's escape, the Volker case. Jane solves cases like no one else, but with that
comes a lot of paperwork " Hightower began listing off, knowing because a lot of that also fell
on her. On her first day back at work, she had to deal with a Patrick Jane kidnapped by a
federal fugitive. She wasn't happy, but she was excited to return to work.
"So Lisbon 'ignores' him, he feels like I'm taking her away from him, and his fury grows."
"Yes, his first physical attack in Denver..."
"First attack?"
"Five days ago, he attacked Lisbon again, this time with much more violence. In a place she
thought was safe. It was a premeditated act; he knew where she would be, what she would
be doing, and the exact moment to find her alone. But the level of violence was impulsive."
"Something made him lose control" Jane said, without mentioning that, unlike the description
of the first attack, which was precise, just as he had heard from Lisbon, this time he didn't go
into details.
Jane tried to remember what had happened the previous week that might have triggered the
stalker. During those days, they had finally caught Volker. Lisbon had asked for his help after
her suspect was killed in a shootout. He had stayed at Lisbon's house three times.
The first night was when she asked for help with Volker; he accompanied her home, and
they talked until they both fell asleep on the couch, only sleeping for two hours. The second
night was when they caught him, Lisbon invited him for a cup of tea, and the third was after
finding the Red John symbol at the farm. That night, he planned to continue with his suspect
list, as he did every day, but he couldn't focus. He found himself knocking on Lisbon's door
at midnight, telling himself he didn't want to be alone with his mind.
Lisbon invited him to stay the night, and he couldn't refuse.
Then came a couple of cases, and just a few days ago, Lorelei reappeared. He had felt
Lisbon tense since then, but assumed it was because of the argument they had about his
relationship with Lorelei. At times, the look Lisbon gave him when she found him sitting on
that couch came back to his mind.
"We were working on potential suspects. The two physical attacks initially allowed us to rule
out a couple of people, as they weren't in the area at the time" Benson explained, looking for
something on her phone. "And based on how he attacked, we know he has police or military
training. For now, what we have is that he is or was a law enforcement officer. Someone with
contacts inside the FBI and BIC..."
"Or someone with enough money to pay those contacts."
"Walter Mashburn was Lisbon's main suspect for a while. She even spoke to him directly, but
after the escalation in aggression, she ruled him out. But we're still keeping an eye on him."
"Mashburn is used to getting what he wants, but he goes straight to the point. He wouldn't
hide in the shadows like a coward and wouldn't attack Lisbon."
"If he's in love with Lisbon, that's good, right?" said Rigsby, entering the office followed by
Cho, still holding his phone. "It's unlikely that he wants to kill her... at least for now."
Jane exchanged a look with Sergeant Benson, knowing it wasn't like that. Lisbon's life
depended on how long the fantasy in the stalker's mind lasted.
He looked at the stack of documents on the table. Letters. Messages. Call logs.
Seven months. Seven damn months.
And Lisbon never said a word.
If you made it this far, please let me know what you think. Did you like it? Who do you
think the stalker is? This was supposed to be a one-shot, but it got too long—there's
still a lot left to tell, so it will have three chapters. Coming up next: Lisbon's point of
view and the development of the case.
And, of course, we'll also have some Jane and Lisbon scenes—because they have a
lot to talk about.