Battlefield (1/15)
Previous parts: Prologue
Teresa Lisbon sat at her desk with her head held in her hands. She had never envisaged that replacing Wayne Rigsby within her unit would have been such an arduous task. Of course, it had been a long while since she had been in this position; she had been lucky. Not since Hannigan had taken an abject dislike to the concept of working with Patrick Jane had she had to consider hiring a new recruit. For a long while - longer than usual - all three of her subordinates had been completely happy where they were. She'd heard of the staffing nightmares other units had due to people leaving for promotion and the like, and had consequently felt sorry for the leaders of those units. Her team, meanwhile, had been stable for years and she had enjoyed that security. Lisbon had known each and every member of her team inside out and upside down. She knew what their strengths and weaknesses were, and knew she could rely upon them in any given situation. There was a reason she referred to them as her surrogate family, after all.
However, she also entirely understood Rigsby's impetus to leave. He wanted to give it one last shot with Sarah Harrigan, the mother of his only son, Benjamin. Lisbon had been led to believe that Ms. Harrigan had laid down an ultimatum: it was her or the job. Since Patrick Jane had asked Rigsby to fake his death without telling her, Sarah hadn't approved of the unit in its entirety, but Jane specifically as well. Initially Rigsby had opted for the job, just like he had when Lisbon herself had given the ultimatum that he had to choose between Grace and working with the unit. Rigsby had tried to be a single father, but this had never been what he wanted for his young son, having grown up with an unreliable father himself. He realized that, deep down, he still loved Sarah and he wanted her back. How could Lisbon deny him such a thing? So, she had accepted his resignation and promised he would leave with good graces and an excellent reference. If he ever wanted to come back to the CBI, then she vowed there would always be a place for him within her unit.
But that didn't solve her current dilemma. For the past month, Lisbon had been looking for a suitable replacement. They were such an established team with defined roles, so she didn't want somebody who would rock the boat. Equally, though, fresh ideas (and the tolerance to work with a certain Patrick Jane) were always of use. Lisbon was constantly striving for the team to be the best it could possibly be, so she knew she couldn’t just pick the most enthusiastic or most intelligent person fresh from the academy. They had to be just right. That didn't explain why she was finding it so difficult to make the decision. Naturally, she had requested that Cho, Jane and Van Pelt assist her. They would all have to work closely with the new recruit, even closer than she would on occasion. Therefore, it was vital that they approved of the new person too. But every applicant that one liked, another picked holes in and Jane didn't seem to like any of them at all. Time was running out though; Rigsby would be leaving in exactly two weeks and unless she found someone soon, they would be running short staffed.
With a heavy sigh, she looked at the clock. Interviewees would be arriving soon and Lisbon had already decided that this was definitely the worst part of the job. They still had three open cases to work on, and she would have liked to spend some time preparing for the cases she was due to testify in court next week too. However, there were three more individuals who had to be assessed. Out of all the applications, these were the only three people who had ticked most of the boxes. They were the only three that Cho and Van Pelt had agreed could be suitable from their résumés. Jane would just have to learn to get used to whomever she chose out of these individuals. She knew he wasn’t happy about Rigsby’s leaving, and much less about his reasons as to why, but there was nothing she could do about it. Jane was just being difficult for the sake of it; if she could have kept Rigsby over choosing somebody new, then of course, she would have. Instead, Lisbon knew they needed a new rookie and that was that.
After the first man came and went, Lisbon almost felt like banging her head against a brick wall. On paper, he had sounded like a fantastic fit. In reality, he had a nervous tic, no experience whatsoever and no natural people-skills. The fact that he had seemed scared witless of her during the whole process hadn’t helped either. Of course, Lisbon knew she needed somebody who respected her authority as team leader, and would always answer to her over Jane, but she also needed somebody who was actually willing to look her in the eye. When she promised that she would contact the man either way and shook his hand in goodbye, she was glad to see him go. Then, she glanced at her watch and immediately walked towards the kitchenette. If she was going to have to get through two more potentially equally dire interviews, then she needed a strong, hot coffee to do so.
“Hey Lisbon,” Jane said with a warm smile. “How goes the hunt?”
She smiled wryly. “I’ll find somebody.”
“That bad, huh?”
“Never mind that,” she replied as she tore open a sachet of sugar. “How’s the case.”
“Okay. Cho thinks he’s found a break. He and Rigsby are off chasing it up as we speak.”
“And you chose not to go?” Lisbon questioned, surprised by his decision.
“Why would I when I get the chance to psychoanalyze your interviewees as they come and go? It’s much more interesting getting the first glimpse of the potential new members of our illustrious team than chasing up a break which might be a waste of time.”
She snorted derisively. Of course Jane would see it like that. Lisbon also briefly wondered if Jane had done something to set the first man on edge before he had even stepped into her office. Naturally, she wouldn’t have put it past him. By doing that, it was probably his way of getting some control as to who would next join the unit. Sometimes, she wondered if he even realized she was still technically his boss. Just because he didn’t answer to her, or even listen to the vast majority of what she told him, it didn’t change that simple fact. Half of her then wondered if she should have included Jane in the interviewing process too, but she had chosen against it for a reason. She knew from past experience that being interviewed for a job could be terrifying. Having Jane in the room would only make it worse, as he’d ask inappropriate questions and even his smile was enough to set people off-guard.
Instead, she told him to go and get on with some work, instead of wasting time napping or bothering Van Pelt. Lisbon knew full well that he wouldn’t listen to either of those instructions, but she wasn’t about to waste time on a lost cause. Instead, she knew she had to read up on the notes of the people due to visit her next. She sighed; the sooner this was over and done with, and she knew what direction her team was taking, the better. Then, she would be able to get on with some real work instead. While she prepped for the interview, Jane disturbed her twice: once to confirm that Rigsby and Cho’s lead had been a red herring and once because he was obviously bored.
When the second interviewee turned up, obviously late, Lisbon was immediately unimpressed. The rest of the interview wasn’t that much better either, although he was more relaxed than the previous one. Lisbon suspected that this was partially because Jane hadn’t had a chance to get at him yet. Once again, by the end of the interview, she was glad to say goodbye to this man. She’d already decided he was definitely unsuitable; he was overqualified and overconfident. In the space of ten minutes, he’d already questioned her authority twice and he didn’t even have the job yet. Then there were the gaps in his résumé which he had refused to fill in for her. She knew why from a little research prior to his arrival; he had been suspended in his previous position in Iowa for punching a civilian, but he hadn’t even tried to justify the actions. If he’d had a good reason for it - self-defense, for example - then maybe, he’d have had a chance. Instead, Lisbon found herself pinning her hopes onto the last interviewee. Otherwise, she was going to have to take a look at the next intake of academy students and hope that one of them would be suitable instead.
There was a knock at her door and a blonde haired woman slipped through the gap. Lisbon placed her coffee down and smiled slightly; she recognized Lilith Douglas from the picture that had been attached to her résumé almost immediately. The woman was early, with warm hazel eyes and was well-presented. She smiled slightly at Lisbon, and seemed almost relieved that she had asked her to enter instead of turning her away. Lisbon motioned to the seat opposite her, and Douglas took to it immediately. She placed her file down on the desk and put forward a hand, which Lisbon shook firmly.
“I hope I’m not too early?” she enquired gently.
“Not at all,” Lisbon assured her; it was far better to be early than late. “Thank you for coming.”
Douglas was the youngest of the applicants which Lisbon had chosen to interview, having just graduated from the academy two months ago. Lisbon had been a little apprehensive about her; at least the other two had had some prior experience walking the beat in different state police departments. However, by this stage, Douglas was the only one to have made a positive impression on her. She answered the questions concisely, asked intelligent ones of her own and seemed very keen to learn. Douglas seemed to have a wise head on her young shoulders which also helped.
“Why do you want to work for the CBI, specifically?” Lisbon enquired towards the end of the interview.
“It’s a premier law enforcement agency,” Douglas answered and Lisbon suppressed a sigh. That was a very clichéd answer and she had expected better from the young woman.
“We’ve had a lot of bad press lately.”
“All generated by Patrick Jane. I’ve kept an eye on it.”
“You would be working with him in close quarters, you know?” Lisbon pushed.
“Yes, I know. I could manage that.”
“What makes you think that?”
“From the little I know about him already - from old newspaper reports from when he used to masquerade as a psychic, and more recent ones about his exploits with the CBI - he reminds me of my brother.”
“Oh?”
“He had disabilities, but he always came up with crazy plans. A crazy plan too far is what killed him.”
“I’m very sorry for your loss,” Lisbon replied softly.
“Don’t be,” Douglas said firmly. “If it wasn’t for him, I’d never have decided to become a cop. I want to do right, as I couldn’t save him.”
“I understand. Thank you for your time, Ms. Douglas. I’ll be in touch soon.”
Lilith Douglas nodded her thanks and swiftly vacated the room. She was quickly replaced by Patrick Jane and Lisbon wasn’t surprised in the slightest. Instead, she steepled her fingers and eyed her consultant seriously. Through the venetian blinds, she had seen him listening into the conversation and she hadn’t been surprised in the slightest. What had surprised her was that he hadn’t decided to interrupt and share his insight anyway. He usually did that kind of thing. And she was willing to bet a substantial amount that he would have loved to have been able to cold-read properly, instead of from painful glimpses between the gaps in her blinds.
“Well?” she asked.
“Rigsby and Cho are back. They want to update you on the case.”
“If they wanted to update me on the case, it would be them in here, not you,” Lisbon answered back smoothly.
“What is it that you want, specifically, Jane?”
“I like her. Or at least, she’s the best of a bad bunch.”
“Really? I thought you didn’t like any of the applicants based on their résumés?”
“Ah, but a piece of paper can say any amount of lies. It’s different when you meet somebody in the flesh.”
“True,” she conceded. “I still haven’t made my decision though.”
“Please,” Jane said with a smirk. “You made your decision halfway through interviewing Lilith Douglas. When does she start?”
“One, I haven’t offered her the job yet, two she hasn’t accepted it and three…”
“You don’t really have a three.”
“I might have preferred one of the other two candidates,” she answered stiffly.
Jane stood and went to head for the door. Lisbon shook her head slightly and instead, went to check her e-mails. She hadn’t had a chance to do so sooner, what with the coming and going of people needing to be interviewed for Rigsby’s old job. When he got to the door frame, she noticed that Jane had stopped and turned on his heels to look at her once more. Obviously, he had expected her to follow without question, much like she usually did. However, she had work to do, and as he had already pointed out, she did want to catch up with the developments that had happened in her cases while she had been otherwise engaged.
“I think we should go out for lunch. You’ve been cooped up in her all morning and it’s made you tense. C’mon.”
“Jane.”
“What?”
“Fine,” she answered, not bothering to come up with a proper defense. “But you’re paying.”
“I never said I wasn’t. But Lisbon, one more thing…”
“What?”
“Don’t leave it too long before you offer Lilith a place. Otherwise, she might end up elsewhere…”
To Part Two
Teresa Lisbon sat at her desk with her head held in her hands. She had never envisaged that replacing Wayne Rigsby within her unit would have been such an arduous task. Of course, it had been a long while since she had been in this position; she had been lucky. Not since Hannigan had taken an abject dislike to the concept of working with Patrick Jane had she had to consider hiring a new recruit. For a long while - longer than usual - all three of her subordinates had been completely happy where they were. She'd heard of the staffing nightmares other units had due to people leaving for promotion and the like, and had consequently felt sorry for the leaders of those units. Her team, meanwhile, had been stable for years and she had enjoyed that security. Lisbon had known each and every member of her team inside out and upside down. She knew what their strengths and weaknesses were, and knew she could rely upon them in any given situation. There was a reason she referred to them as her surrogate family, after all.
However, she also entirely understood Rigsby's impetus to leave. He wanted to give it one last shot with Sarah Harrigan, the mother of his only son, Benjamin. Lisbon had been led to believe that Ms. Harrigan had laid down an ultimatum: it was her or the job. Since Patrick Jane had asked Rigsby to fake his death without telling her, Sarah hadn't approved of the unit in its entirety, but Jane specifically as well. Initially Rigsby had opted for the job, just like he had when Lisbon herself had given the ultimatum that he had to choose between Grace and working with the unit. Rigsby had tried to be a single father, but this had never been what he wanted for his young son, having grown up with an unreliable father himself. He realized that, deep down, he still loved Sarah and he wanted her back. How could Lisbon deny him such a thing? So, she had accepted his resignation and promised he would leave with good graces and an excellent reference. If he ever wanted to come back to the CBI, then she vowed there would always be a place for him within her unit.
But that didn't solve her current dilemma. For the past month, Lisbon had been looking for a suitable replacement. They were such an established team with defined roles, so she didn't want somebody who would rock the boat. Equally, though, fresh ideas (and the tolerance to work with a certain Patrick Jane) were always of use. Lisbon was constantly striving for the team to be the best it could possibly be, so she knew she couldn’t just pick the most enthusiastic or most intelligent person fresh from the academy. They had to be just right. That didn't explain why she was finding it so difficult to make the decision. Naturally, she had requested that Cho, Jane and Van Pelt assist her. They would all have to work closely with the new recruit, even closer than she would on occasion. Therefore, it was vital that they approved of the new person too. But every applicant that one liked, another picked holes in and Jane didn't seem to like any of them at all. Time was running out though; Rigsby would be leaving in exactly two weeks and unless she found someone soon, they would be running short staffed.
With a heavy sigh, she looked at the clock. Interviewees would be arriving soon and Lisbon had already decided that this was definitely the worst part of the job. They still had three open cases to work on, and she would have liked to spend some time preparing for the cases she was due to testify in court next week too. However, there were three more individuals who had to be assessed. Out of all the applications, these were the only three people who had ticked most of the boxes. They were the only three that Cho and Van Pelt had agreed could be suitable from their résumés. Jane would just have to learn to get used to whomever she chose out of these individuals. She knew he wasn’t happy about Rigsby’s leaving, and much less about his reasons as to why, but there was nothing she could do about it. Jane was just being difficult for the sake of it; if she could have kept Rigsby over choosing somebody new, then of course, she would have. Instead, Lisbon knew they needed a new rookie and that was that.
After the first man came and went, Lisbon almost felt like banging her head against a brick wall. On paper, he had sounded like a fantastic fit. In reality, he had a nervous tic, no experience whatsoever and no natural people-skills. The fact that he had seemed scared witless of her during the whole process hadn’t helped either. Of course, Lisbon knew she needed somebody who respected her authority as team leader, and would always answer to her over Jane, but she also needed somebody who was actually willing to look her in the eye. When she promised that she would contact the man either way and shook his hand in goodbye, she was glad to see him go. Then, she glanced at her watch and immediately walked towards the kitchenette. If she was going to have to get through two more potentially equally dire interviews, then she needed a strong, hot coffee to do so.
“Hey Lisbon,” Jane said with a warm smile. “How goes the hunt?”
She smiled wryly. “I’ll find somebody.”
“That bad, huh?”
“Never mind that,” she replied as she tore open a sachet of sugar. “How’s the case.”
“Okay. Cho thinks he’s found a break. He and Rigsby are off chasing it up as we speak.”
“And you chose not to go?” Lisbon questioned, surprised by his decision.
“Why would I when I get the chance to psychoanalyze your interviewees as they come and go? It’s much more interesting getting the first glimpse of the potential new members of our illustrious team than chasing up a break which might be a waste of time.”
She snorted derisively. Of course Jane would see it like that. Lisbon also briefly wondered if Jane had done something to set the first man on edge before he had even stepped into her office. Naturally, she wouldn’t have put it past him. By doing that, it was probably his way of getting some control as to who would next join the unit. Sometimes, she wondered if he even realized she was still technically his boss. Just because he didn’t answer to her, or even listen to the vast majority of what she told him, it didn’t change that simple fact. Half of her then wondered if she should have included Jane in the interviewing process too, but she had chosen against it for a reason. She knew from past experience that being interviewed for a job could be terrifying. Having Jane in the room would only make it worse, as he’d ask inappropriate questions and even his smile was enough to set people off-guard.
Instead, she told him to go and get on with some work, instead of wasting time napping or bothering Van Pelt. Lisbon knew full well that he wouldn’t listen to either of those instructions, but she wasn’t about to waste time on a lost cause. Instead, she knew she had to read up on the notes of the people due to visit her next. She sighed; the sooner this was over and done with, and she knew what direction her team was taking, the better. Then, she would be able to get on with some real work instead. While she prepped for the interview, Jane disturbed her twice: once to confirm that Rigsby and Cho’s lead had been a red herring and once because he was obviously bored.
When the second interviewee turned up, obviously late, Lisbon was immediately unimpressed. The rest of the interview wasn’t that much better either, although he was more relaxed than the previous one. Lisbon suspected that this was partially because Jane hadn’t had a chance to get at him yet. Once again, by the end of the interview, she was glad to say goodbye to this man. She’d already decided he was definitely unsuitable; he was overqualified and overconfident. In the space of ten minutes, he’d already questioned her authority twice and he didn’t even have the job yet. Then there were the gaps in his résumé which he had refused to fill in for her. She knew why from a little research prior to his arrival; he had been suspended in his previous position in Iowa for punching a civilian, but he hadn’t even tried to justify the actions. If he’d had a good reason for it - self-defense, for example - then maybe, he’d have had a chance. Instead, Lisbon found herself pinning her hopes onto the last interviewee. Otherwise, she was going to have to take a look at the next intake of academy students and hope that one of them would be suitable instead.
There was a knock at her door and a blonde haired woman slipped through the gap. Lisbon placed her coffee down and smiled slightly; she recognized Lilith Douglas from the picture that had been attached to her résumé almost immediately. The woman was early, with warm hazel eyes and was well-presented. She smiled slightly at Lisbon, and seemed almost relieved that she had asked her to enter instead of turning her away. Lisbon motioned to the seat opposite her, and Douglas took to it immediately. She placed her file down on the desk and put forward a hand, which Lisbon shook firmly.
“I hope I’m not too early?” she enquired gently.
“Not at all,” Lisbon assured her; it was far better to be early than late. “Thank you for coming.”
Douglas was the youngest of the applicants which Lisbon had chosen to interview, having just graduated from the academy two months ago. Lisbon had been a little apprehensive about her; at least the other two had had some prior experience walking the beat in different state police departments. However, by this stage, Douglas was the only one to have made a positive impression on her. She answered the questions concisely, asked intelligent ones of her own and seemed very keen to learn. Douglas seemed to have a wise head on her young shoulders which also helped.
“Why do you want to work for the CBI, specifically?” Lisbon enquired towards the end of the interview.
“It’s a premier law enforcement agency,” Douglas answered and Lisbon suppressed a sigh. That was a very clichéd answer and she had expected better from the young woman.
“We’ve had a lot of bad press lately.”
“All generated by Patrick Jane. I’ve kept an eye on it.”
“You would be working with him in close quarters, you know?” Lisbon pushed.
“Yes, I know. I could manage that.”
“What makes you think that?”
“From the little I know about him already - from old newspaper reports from when he used to masquerade as a psychic, and more recent ones about his exploits with the CBI - he reminds me of my brother.”
“Oh?”
“He had disabilities, but he always came up with crazy plans. A crazy plan too far is what killed him.”
“I’m very sorry for your loss,” Lisbon replied softly.
“Don’t be,” Douglas said firmly. “If it wasn’t for him, I’d never have decided to become a cop. I want to do right, as I couldn’t save him.”
“I understand. Thank you for your time, Ms. Douglas. I’ll be in touch soon.”
Lilith Douglas nodded her thanks and swiftly vacated the room. She was quickly replaced by Patrick Jane and Lisbon wasn’t surprised in the slightest. Instead, she steepled her fingers and eyed her consultant seriously. Through the venetian blinds, she had seen him listening into the conversation and she hadn’t been surprised in the slightest. What had surprised her was that he hadn’t decided to interrupt and share his insight anyway. He usually did that kind of thing. And she was willing to bet a substantial amount that he would have loved to have been able to cold-read properly, instead of from painful glimpses between the gaps in her blinds.
“Well?” she asked.
“Rigsby and Cho are back. They want to update you on the case.”
“If they wanted to update me on the case, it would be them in here, not you,” Lisbon answered back smoothly.
“What is it that you want, specifically, Jane?”
“I like her. Or at least, she’s the best of a bad bunch.”
“Really? I thought you didn’t like any of the applicants based on their résumés?”
“Ah, but a piece of paper can say any amount of lies. It’s different when you meet somebody in the flesh.”
“True,” she conceded. “I still haven’t made my decision though.”
“Please,” Jane said with a smirk. “You made your decision halfway through interviewing Lilith Douglas. When does she start?”
“One, I haven’t offered her the job yet, two she hasn’t accepted it and three…”
“You don’t really have a three.”
“I might have preferred one of the other two candidates,” she answered stiffly.
Jane stood and went to head for the door. Lisbon shook her head slightly and instead, went to check her e-mails. She hadn’t had a chance to do so sooner, what with the coming and going of people needing to be interviewed for Rigsby’s old job. When he got to the door frame, she noticed that Jane had stopped and turned on his heels to look at her once more. Obviously, he had expected her to follow without question, much like she usually did. However, she had work to do, and as he had already pointed out, she did want to catch up with the developments that had happened in her cases while she had been otherwise engaged.
“I think we should go out for lunch. You’ve been cooped up in her all morning and it’s made you tense. C’mon.”
“Jane.”
“What?”
“Fine,” she answered, not bothering to come up with a proper defense. “But you’re paying.”
“I never said I wasn’t. But Lisbon, one more thing…”
“What?”
“Don’t leave it too long before you offer Lilith a place. Otherwise, she might end up elsewhere…”
To Part Two