Causality (2/19)
Previous Parts: Part One
Part Two
“Remind me why you have to do this now?”
“It all happened so fast, Angela,” he replied as he smoothed back his hair with gel. “I honestly forgot I agreed to it.”
“But this isn’t just you fleecing one vulnerable person, there’s millions of people out there who’ll believe you’re…”
She trailed off, but Jane knew exactly where she was headed. It was all to do with her aversion to secrecy and lies. Just because she wasn’t the victim in this particular scam, it didn’t mean that she felt any less passionate about it. Angela seemed convinced that everybody reacted as violently to being duped as she did. And to make matters worse, if he could lie to complete strangers about the existence of ghosts and the paranormal, then it was just another small step to him lying to her again. It had already happened once, with him concealing the existence of his second job. From there on in, it was just a slippery slope. Somehow, he had to convince her that that specific lie had just been a one-off, that he wouldn’t do it again anytime soon.
“I’m sorry.”
“But you always say that.”
“No I don’t.”
“To me, you do,” she clarified.
He sighed heavily in response. Angela was right, of course she was. There was hardly ever a time when she wasn’t. Jane watched as she shook her head lightly, her blonde curls bouncing as she did so. Though she had been angry about the fact that he had continued practicing as a psychic, she was even more furious about television interview he was about to give. Therefore, when she had reluctantly agreed to accompany him to the station, he had been taken completely off-guard. In all honesty, he was surprised that she had bothered to do that at all. Then again, it was becoming clear why she had done so. She was hoping that one last minute plea to his conscience would stop him from going on stage and doing his thing.
Jane was just relieved that she had calmed down after she first made the connection two days ago. Though she had returned home, after a good three hour walk, she was still angry. She had accused him of building their new home on ‘dirty money’. That she had left the carnival circuit to avoid that, to cleanse her soul. All she had wanted was to make a good, honest living and he had blemished it from the offset in order to impress her. He had immediately vowed to start again, to make sure that each and every item he had bought was replaced. But she had disagreed to that; the damage was already done and nothing he did would be able to rectify it.
As the runner knocked impatiently on the door, he gazed into her honest blue eyes. At least he had stopped lying to her and had started making inroads into gaining her forgiveness. Jane knew that really, she wanted him to quit, but he couldn’t see how he could do so. She was so fixated on the negatives of the job, that she couldn’t see the positives. The hope and joy he brought to others when they thought that some loved one had forgiven them for a dirty secret. The supposed confirmation that there was an afterlife, that people did live on. The gratitude when people realized that the deceased would always be with them, in one way or another.
And of course, there were the benefits to himself. Being a showman was deep inside his blood and Jane honestly didn’t know what he would do otherwise. The cops back in LA had always been impressed by his parlor tricks, but it was never enough. Even the prospect of a new audience in Sacramento wasn’t enough to feed his desire to be the center of attention. Angela had never been honed for a life on stage; she had always worked behind the scenes, looking after the animals, doing the washing and the like. Like any true carnie, she had been bitter and skeptical, it was just that as she grew older, she grew even more so.
“I love you,” he muttered and pressed a kiss to the palm of her hand.
“Yeah, me too,” she answered back.
Jane’s heart sank a little as he followed the now-irate runner out of his dressing room. He understood that she was reluctant to commit, was scared of saying those three little words. But still, they had been together for so long now, they even owned their own home now. He wasn’t about to hurt her any time soon, never mind even consider walking out on her. So, just once, he would have liked to have heard her say ‘I love you too’ instead of ‘me too’. It wouldn’t kill her. And besides, once she said it once, it would only get easier for her to do so from then on.
xxx
“Van Pelt, I want you to look up as much on Patrick Jane as possible.”
“Patrick Jane?”
“Yes,” she answered back, rather snappishly. “It’s not too difficult a task, I hope?”
Van Pelt shrank back when she saw Lisbon’s arched eyebrow and immediately, Lisbon felt a little guilty for taking her temper out on her. Though she had been thrilled with the news about the Red John case, she was slightly unnerved about the concept of receiving a consultant. Her team was only just settling down after Van Pelt had started, the last thing she wanted was the status quo to be unsettled again so soon. It was hard enough trying to reign in Cho and Rigsby at times as it was.
Besides, there was the simple fact that he was supposedly a psychic. While she didn’t completely brush the concept aside, she was still somewhat skeptical. There was something about the supernatural that made her feel uncomfortable and therefore, she was more than happy to simply brush it aside, given the opportunity. She didn’t like being essentially forced to deal with someone who happily claimed to have such a connection to the afterlife. She avoided thinking about it, for the most part, because that always meant thinking directly about her parents. Besides, Lisbon was certain that ninety nine percent of the people who made such claims were charlatans, looking to make a quick buck by preying on the vulnerable and needy. It was just a simple case that somehow their line of work was apparently legitimate and therefore, she had no grounds to arrest them.
“You mean Patrick Jane, as in the psychic?”
She turned on her heels to face Van Pelt. The young redhead almost cowered in response.
“You’ve heard of him?”
“Yes, ma’am… I mean boss,” Van Pelt stuttered, “he’s going to be on TV in half an hour.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, he’s really good. It’s amazing, the work he does,” she said, gaining confidence as she spoke. “Why?”
“He may be doing a little work with us, that’s all.”
“Wow,” Van Pelt breathed as Rigsby groaned in response. “That’s fantastic.”
Lisbon ignored Van Pelt’s enthusiasm and turned to face her boys. Cho appeared to look like he knew what was coming, whereas Rigsby had buried his face in his hands. He had obviously heard something about Jane to make him feel so violently about working with him. She took two steps closer to them, smiling slightly. Part of her hoped they would be thrilled with what she was about to say. The other part was sure they’d also feel somewhat intimidated by the fact.
“And I’d like you two to go round up all the Red John case files and have a read.”
“Red John?” Rigsby said, suddenly looking alert.
“What, do all three of you require hearing tests, or something?” she quipped and he flushed in response. “Yes, Red John.”
“He’s ours?”
“As of now, yes.”
There was a mixture of shock and excitement on her team’s faces, including the usually unflappable Cho. He immediately stood up and whisked past her, heading straight to the archives. Clearly, he was glad that he finally had something to sink his teeth into and that relieved Lisbon somewhat. Rigsby merely remained looking dumbstruck as Lisbon walked by. This was the first case involving a serial killer that he was going to work on and she understood the feeling. After all, this was the first serial killer case that she was going to be in charge of the investigation of. It was understandable to be at least a little apprehensive of the work. Red John was proving to be a menace and they all knew that this wasn’t going to be an easy case to tackle. The more research they could do, the better.
She soon settled down in her office and it wasn’t long until Lisbon found herself watching a stream of Jane’s interview. Van Pelt had been right; his act was relatively impressive. Or at least, the audience appeared to be lapping it up. Lisbon had a feeling that just how effective it was would be hard to gauge unless you were actually present. However, it didn’t go far to swaying her preconceived thoughts either. Mr. Jane was either a charlatan who was very good at his performance or legitimately gifted. And regardless of which one was accurate, she could tell he had an ego to match. That much was obvious from his demeanor.
Especially so when he was asked about his work with the police and he mentioned Red John. She choked on her coffee slightly when he started describing his aura. Just before the interview had started, Van Pelt had informed her that Jane had previously offered his services to another branch. However, she didn’t think he’d had anything to do with the Red John case yet. Even though he was going to be working with them on it, it was all too presumptuous. He hadn’t even met them and already, he was acting as if he had practically solved the case on their behalf.
Lisbon scowled slightly as she closed the window on her computer down. She had a feeling that Jane was going to be practically intolerable to work with.
xxx
The moment that the production staff announced ‘it’s a wrap,’ Jane visibly relaxed. Briefly, he watched the audience milling about, before he turned and headed straight to the exit. He didn’t want to see the people he’d just conned any longer; he wanted to get offstage, to find Angela and to go home. She’d promised him that she would wait backstage for him, in his dressing room. That was as close to the performance as she was willing to get and Jane had to admit that it was a fair compromise. If he knew he could afford to balance the books without the television shows, without the theater appearances, then he would do it in a heartbeat. Not because he wouldn’t miss the attention, but because he was sick of seeing the disappointment in her eyes.
She had only found out that he had started it up again recently and already, he was getting a little sick of that look. When he’d put on his show suit, she had looked almost repulsed by it. It didn’t matter that it was just a costume, something he wore to fit the part, she still hated it.
When he had washed and dressed, she smiled slightly at the sight of him. Even Jane himself had to admit to feeling more comfortable in his casual vest and suit number. Angela pecked him gently on the cheek before looping her arm with his. Wordlessly, they left the studios and headed straight towards the waiting cab. It felt good to be free, to be out of the harsh lights and away from the desperate faces, looking for solace. It felt even better to be with the woman he loved, knowing that he was slowly beginning to make amends with her. Jane knew it was all about compromise and that sooner or later, they would both be happy with how their life was.
Instead of going home, Jane insisted that the driver dropped them off at Angela’s favorite Indian restaurant. While he wasn’t particularly bothered by spicy food either way, she would have happily lived off of it if she could. She looked slightly confused when he did so; he hadn’t told her about the reservation as he had wanted to make it a surprise. Still, it was a white lie that she found far more acceptable than the ones about him continuing to practice as a psychic. After all, it was something that was nice and they always enjoyed. Besides, having just received his pay check for the show, he had the money to spoil her rotten. She did have the patience of a saint, even if she didn’t always show it.
“No more television shows?” she asked hopefully over their starter.
“No more television shows,” he confirmed.
“But you’re still…”
“There’s a couple of live shows left and that’s it.”
“What about your clients?” she asked with a stilted tone. “Will you still be seeing them?”
“I can’t let them down.”
“Why not?”
“They need hope. Most of them know it’s all lies, it’s the hope they’re after,” he assured her.
“I guess.”
She fell silent and poked listlessly at her onion bhaji. That was the closest he had ever got to her admitting that what he was saying made sense. Jane knew that most of his clients weren’t fools and deep down, so did Angela. They just wanted company and for somebody to say that things weren’t always as bad as they first appeared. Real answers didn’t always exist, so they found solace in the hope that Jane could offer them. It was simply the kind of emotional healing that somebody could pay for and usually, pay very well. If he didn’t do it, then Jane knew that there were plenty of other people queuing up behind him to take their money. And they both knew that he would treat them with as much respect as feasibly possible, unlike some of the conmen around.
“I love you Angela.”
“Me too.”
“There you go again,” he snapped back, “why can’t you say it? It’s just three words.”
“You know why,” she answered back with narrowed eyes.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Instead of answering, Angela glanced to one side, obviously feeling very uncomfortable. Immediately, Jane fumbled in his left pocket. It didn’t take long for him to find what he was looking for. He had already put this off once before and now was as good a time as any. And besides, it would prove his point. He was completely committed to her, had no intentions of ever deserting her. If it took a ring on her finger to make her believe that, to help her let go of her commitment issues, then that was what he was going to do.
“I’m not,” he assured her and opened up the velvet box. “Will you marry me?”
To Part Three
Part Two
“Remind me why you have to do this now?”
“It all happened so fast, Angela,” he replied as he smoothed back his hair with gel. “I honestly forgot I agreed to it.”
“But this isn’t just you fleecing one vulnerable person, there’s millions of people out there who’ll believe you’re…”
She trailed off, but Jane knew exactly where she was headed. It was all to do with her aversion to secrecy and lies. Just because she wasn’t the victim in this particular scam, it didn’t mean that she felt any less passionate about it. Angela seemed convinced that everybody reacted as violently to being duped as she did. And to make matters worse, if he could lie to complete strangers about the existence of ghosts and the paranormal, then it was just another small step to him lying to her again. It had already happened once, with him concealing the existence of his second job. From there on in, it was just a slippery slope. Somehow, he had to convince her that that specific lie had just been a one-off, that he wouldn’t do it again anytime soon.
“I’m sorry.”
“But you always say that.”
“No I don’t.”
“To me, you do,” she clarified.
He sighed heavily in response. Angela was right, of course she was. There was hardly ever a time when she wasn’t. Jane watched as she shook her head lightly, her blonde curls bouncing as she did so. Though she had been angry about the fact that he had continued practicing as a psychic, she was even more furious about television interview he was about to give. Therefore, when she had reluctantly agreed to accompany him to the station, he had been taken completely off-guard. In all honesty, he was surprised that she had bothered to do that at all. Then again, it was becoming clear why she had done so. She was hoping that one last minute plea to his conscience would stop him from going on stage and doing his thing.
Jane was just relieved that she had calmed down after she first made the connection two days ago. Though she had returned home, after a good three hour walk, she was still angry. She had accused him of building their new home on ‘dirty money’. That she had left the carnival circuit to avoid that, to cleanse her soul. All she had wanted was to make a good, honest living and he had blemished it from the offset in order to impress her. He had immediately vowed to start again, to make sure that each and every item he had bought was replaced. But she had disagreed to that; the damage was already done and nothing he did would be able to rectify it.
As the runner knocked impatiently on the door, he gazed into her honest blue eyes. At least he had stopped lying to her and had started making inroads into gaining her forgiveness. Jane knew that really, she wanted him to quit, but he couldn’t see how he could do so. She was so fixated on the negatives of the job, that she couldn’t see the positives. The hope and joy he brought to others when they thought that some loved one had forgiven them for a dirty secret. The supposed confirmation that there was an afterlife, that people did live on. The gratitude when people realized that the deceased would always be with them, in one way or another.
And of course, there were the benefits to himself. Being a showman was deep inside his blood and Jane honestly didn’t know what he would do otherwise. The cops back in LA had always been impressed by his parlor tricks, but it was never enough. Even the prospect of a new audience in Sacramento wasn’t enough to feed his desire to be the center of attention. Angela had never been honed for a life on stage; she had always worked behind the scenes, looking after the animals, doing the washing and the like. Like any true carnie, she had been bitter and skeptical, it was just that as she grew older, she grew even more so.
“I love you,” he muttered and pressed a kiss to the palm of her hand.
“Yeah, me too,” she answered back.
Jane’s heart sank a little as he followed the now-irate runner out of his dressing room. He understood that she was reluctant to commit, was scared of saying those three little words. But still, they had been together for so long now, they even owned their own home now. He wasn’t about to hurt her any time soon, never mind even consider walking out on her. So, just once, he would have liked to have heard her say ‘I love you too’ instead of ‘me too’. It wouldn’t kill her. And besides, once she said it once, it would only get easier for her to do so from then on.
xxx
“Van Pelt, I want you to look up as much on Patrick Jane as possible.”
“Patrick Jane?”
“Yes,” she answered back, rather snappishly. “It’s not too difficult a task, I hope?”
Van Pelt shrank back when she saw Lisbon’s arched eyebrow and immediately, Lisbon felt a little guilty for taking her temper out on her. Though she had been thrilled with the news about the Red John case, she was slightly unnerved about the concept of receiving a consultant. Her team was only just settling down after Van Pelt had started, the last thing she wanted was the status quo to be unsettled again so soon. It was hard enough trying to reign in Cho and Rigsby at times as it was.
Besides, there was the simple fact that he was supposedly a psychic. While she didn’t completely brush the concept aside, she was still somewhat skeptical. There was something about the supernatural that made her feel uncomfortable and therefore, she was more than happy to simply brush it aside, given the opportunity. She didn’t like being essentially forced to deal with someone who happily claimed to have such a connection to the afterlife. She avoided thinking about it, for the most part, because that always meant thinking directly about her parents. Besides, Lisbon was certain that ninety nine percent of the people who made such claims were charlatans, looking to make a quick buck by preying on the vulnerable and needy. It was just a simple case that somehow their line of work was apparently legitimate and therefore, she had no grounds to arrest them.
“You mean Patrick Jane, as in the psychic?”
She turned on her heels to face Van Pelt. The young redhead almost cowered in response.
“You’ve heard of him?”
“Yes, ma’am… I mean boss,” Van Pelt stuttered, “he’s going to be on TV in half an hour.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, he’s really good. It’s amazing, the work he does,” she said, gaining confidence as she spoke. “Why?”
“He may be doing a little work with us, that’s all.”
“Wow,” Van Pelt breathed as Rigsby groaned in response. “That’s fantastic.”
Lisbon ignored Van Pelt’s enthusiasm and turned to face her boys. Cho appeared to look like he knew what was coming, whereas Rigsby had buried his face in his hands. He had obviously heard something about Jane to make him feel so violently about working with him. She took two steps closer to them, smiling slightly. Part of her hoped they would be thrilled with what she was about to say. The other part was sure they’d also feel somewhat intimidated by the fact.
“And I’d like you two to go round up all the Red John case files and have a read.”
“Red John?” Rigsby said, suddenly looking alert.
“What, do all three of you require hearing tests, or something?” she quipped and he flushed in response. “Yes, Red John.”
“He’s ours?”
“As of now, yes.”
There was a mixture of shock and excitement on her team’s faces, including the usually unflappable Cho. He immediately stood up and whisked past her, heading straight to the archives. Clearly, he was glad that he finally had something to sink his teeth into and that relieved Lisbon somewhat. Rigsby merely remained looking dumbstruck as Lisbon walked by. This was the first case involving a serial killer that he was going to work on and she understood the feeling. After all, this was the first serial killer case that she was going to be in charge of the investigation of. It was understandable to be at least a little apprehensive of the work. Red John was proving to be a menace and they all knew that this wasn’t going to be an easy case to tackle. The more research they could do, the better.
She soon settled down in her office and it wasn’t long until Lisbon found herself watching a stream of Jane’s interview. Van Pelt had been right; his act was relatively impressive. Or at least, the audience appeared to be lapping it up. Lisbon had a feeling that just how effective it was would be hard to gauge unless you were actually present. However, it didn’t go far to swaying her preconceived thoughts either. Mr. Jane was either a charlatan who was very good at his performance or legitimately gifted. And regardless of which one was accurate, she could tell he had an ego to match. That much was obvious from his demeanor.
Especially so when he was asked about his work with the police and he mentioned Red John. She choked on her coffee slightly when he started describing his aura. Just before the interview had started, Van Pelt had informed her that Jane had previously offered his services to another branch. However, she didn’t think he’d had anything to do with the Red John case yet. Even though he was going to be working with them on it, it was all too presumptuous. He hadn’t even met them and already, he was acting as if he had practically solved the case on their behalf.
Lisbon scowled slightly as she closed the window on her computer down. She had a feeling that Jane was going to be practically intolerable to work with.
xxx
The moment that the production staff announced ‘it’s a wrap,’ Jane visibly relaxed. Briefly, he watched the audience milling about, before he turned and headed straight to the exit. He didn’t want to see the people he’d just conned any longer; he wanted to get offstage, to find Angela and to go home. She’d promised him that she would wait backstage for him, in his dressing room. That was as close to the performance as she was willing to get and Jane had to admit that it was a fair compromise. If he knew he could afford to balance the books without the television shows, without the theater appearances, then he would do it in a heartbeat. Not because he wouldn’t miss the attention, but because he was sick of seeing the disappointment in her eyes.
She had only found out that he had started it up again recently and already, he was getting a little sick of that look. When he’d put on his show suit, she had looked almost repulsed by it. It didn’t matter that it was just a costume, something he wore to fit the part, she still hated it.
When he had washed and dressed, she smiled slightly at the sight of him. Even Jane himself had to admit to feeling more comfortable in his casual vest and suit number. Angela pecked him gently on the cheek before looping her arm with his. Wordlessly, they left the studios and headed straight towards the waiting cab. It felt good to be free, to be out of the harsh lights and away from the desperate faces, looking for solace. It felt even better to be with the woman he loved, knowing that he was slowly beginning to make amends with her. Jane knew it was all about compromise and that sooner or later, they would both be happy with how their life was.
Instead of going home, Jane insisted that the driver dropped them off at Angela’s favorite Indian restaurant. While he wasn’t particularly bothered by spicy food either way, she would have happily lived off of it if she could. She looked slightly confused when he did so; he hadn’t told her about the reservation as he had wanted to make it a surprise. Still, it was a white lie that she found far more acceptable than the ones about him continuing to practice as a psychic. After all, it was something that was nice and they always enjoyed. Besides, having just received his pay check for the show, he had the money to spoil her rotten. She did have the patience of a saint, even if she didn’t always show it.
“No more television shows?” she asked hopefully over their starter.
“No more television shows,” he confirmed.
“But you’re still…”
“There’s a couple of live shows left and that’s it.”
“What about your clients?” she asked with a stilted tone. “Will you still be seeing them?”
“I can’t let them down.”
“Why not?”
“They need hope. Most of them know it’s all lies, it’s the hope they’re after,” he assured her.
“I guess.”
She fell silent and poked listlessly at her onion bhaji. That was the closest he had ever got to her admitting that what he was saying made sense. Jane knew that most of his clients weren’t fools and deep down, so did Angela. They just wanted company and for somebody to say that things weren’t always as bad as they first appeared. Real answers didn’t always exist, so they found solace in the hope that Jane could offer them. It was simply the kind of emotional healing that somebody could pay for and usually, pay very well. If he didn’t do it, then Jane knew that there were plenty of other people queuing up behind him to take their money. And they both knew that he would treat them with as much respect as feasibly possible, unlike some of the conmen around.
“I love you Angela.”
“Me too.”
“There you go again,” he snapped back, “why can’t you say it? It’s just three words.”
“You know why,” she answered back with narrowed eyes.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Instead of answering, Angela glanced to one side, obviously feeling very uncomfortable. Immediately, Jane fumbled in his left pocket. It didn’t take long for him to find what he was looking for. He had already put this off once before and now was as good a time as any. And besides, it would prove his point. He was completely committed to her, had no intentions of ever deserting her. If it took a ring on her finger to make her believe that, to help her let go of her commitment issues, then that was what he was going to do.
“I’m not,” he assured her and opened up the velvet box. “Will you marry me?”
To Part Three