Follow The Yellow Brick Road (6/11)
Previous Parts: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five
She woke in a cold sweat.
Quickly, she wrung her hands together, as if to get them clean. Then she lifted them up carefully, trying desperately to see what was there, what was wrong. There was nothing there, but Lisbon could have sworn that they were caked in blood. Somebody else’s, not her own. Not someone she had killed, which only happened on very rare occasions in her line of work and was always very regrettable, but some strange woman who was dead before she had even got to the scene. Why she was playing around with blood, regardless of whether or not it was somebody else’s, was disconcerting. It certainly wasn’t something any normal person would ever consider doing.
Carefully, she sat and tried to control her breathing a little. It took a short while, but eventually she was beginning to feel more calm. It was just a dream, it was always just a dream. Or rather, a reoccurring nightmare, based on a memory dredged up from the recesses of her mind. This specific one, she had been trying to forget for years. Everybody had skeletons in the closet, secrets that they didn’t want other people to find out. It was just hers, as an officer of the law, where significantly more detrimental than most other people’s.
She had been the one to paint the very first Red John smiley face.
It was something she had long since tried to forget, naturally.
Had she been the one to push John along the path to becoming a serial killer? Or had he been well on the way towards it before she had given him a calling card, a motif, a modus operandi? Would it have happened if she had not interfered, had just ignored his telephone call instead of rushing over to California to help him out? What would have happened if she had decided to turn him into the authorities instead? Why hadn’t she done so by now?
She quickly tried to dispel the thoughts. They were ones that had taunted her for so long now, that they were practically a habitual part of her existence. The only reason that the questioning and the self-doubt had become more prevalent was because she had just become lead agent of the Serious Crimes Unit. Matthias had opted to move back to his hometown in Georgia, to look after his sick mom shortly after Minelli had started hinting that she was ready for a higher position. He had immediately taken the opportunity to reshuffle the CBI, bringing Wayne Rigsby, an arson specialist, over into the SCU and started advertising for a new rookie agent. As far as she knew, Minelli was very pleased with how the new look Serious Crimes Unit was looking thus far.
And truth be told, so was she.
That was, until she found out that jurisdiction of the Red John case was to be passed over to her newly formed team.
xxx
“I’m Patrick Jane.”
“I know.”
“You do?”
She smirked at her new consultant’s surprise, though she couldn‘t be sure whether or not he was faking it. Of course she knew who he was. For a start, Lisbon had a good memory for faces and besides, back in the day, he had been pretty famous for a psychic. Still, the last time she had seen him, he was still claiming to have connections to the spiritual world. Now, she wasn’t so sure what it was he said he did. That was something Lisbon felt she had to address - and soon. Briefly she pushed the thought aside and instead, she smiled slightly and shook his hand with a firm grasp. When Minelli had informed her that she would be receiving a new consultant, Patrick Jane had been the last person she expected. She didn’t know what to make of his return to the CBI after a good four years disappearance.
Lisbon had heard from the old MCU agents that Jane had been a force to be reckoned with. That he practically attracted trouble, wherever he went. She didn’t even need to take their word for it; she had seen it first-hand based on that disastrous television interview he’d given out. Quietly, she hoped that his time away from the CBI had calmed him down somewhat, that he would now be a little more controllable. However, she was also aware that there was the possibility that that was merely wishful thinking. Still, she counted her blessings that she had had a year to settle down as senior agent before having somebody like Jane foisted upon her. Though, it was a shame that he had to start shortly before she was expecting yet another new rookie. The one who had initially been put under her care had quit spectacularly after realizing he couldn’t cope with facing dead bodies day in, day out.
Without another word, she led the man to her office and was relieved when he willingly followed. Half of her wouldn’t have been surprised if he had disappeared off elsewhere, intrigued by something or other. From what Lisbon could remember, he was the type to do that kind of thing. After she sat down at her desk, she steepled her fingers and stared at Jane appraisingly. He cocked his head to one side and let out a sunny smile. One that was altogether a little too bright, but she disregarded it. It was entirely possible that he just liked smiling, but part of her thought he was just putting on an act. Everyone knew that his family had been brutally murdered by Red John and that they, at the CBI, still hadn’t brought their killer to justice. That simple fact alone had to bring up an awful lot of bad memories for the man.
“You want to know why I’ve come back, don’t you?” he asked, just as soon as she opened her mouth to speak.
“Excuse me?”
“Oh please, it’s written all over your face.”
“I’m your boss.”
“I know. But that doesn’t change the fact it’s obvious what you’re thinking.”
“Right. Because you’re a psychic,” she answered back sardonically.
“No, just paying attention. I was just pretending to be a psychic. They don’t exist.”
“My mistake,” she said with a steely tone. “Well?”
“Well what?”
“Why have you come back?”
“To find Red John,” he replied simply.
Of course. That was something she should have known without even bothering to ask. She wished that, like Jane, John had remained quiet, had disappeared into the ether. Instead, the bodies kept stacking up - one every six months or so - and she couldn’t help but resent him for that. Since she had taken over, he had killed three more innocent women. Now, there was always something he left behind, a little hint at the crime scene as if he were saying hello to her. Lisbon was fairly certain that John knew she had jurisdiction of his case and going by his innocuous little clues, he seemed to find it pretty amusing too. Unfortunately, as far as she was concerned, he now had a very sick sense of humor. Killing wasn’t something somebody should take pleasure in - really it shouldn’t be done at all - and neither should mocking the law enforcement. However, John was doing both and it rankled with her. More than she would ever have admitted, even to him.
Now, she had someone who claimed to be merely ‘paying attention’ breathing down her neck. Somebody with a vested interest in the Red John case, one which was the polar opposite of her own. And even though he claimed he wasn’t a psychic, he had been exceptionally good at convincing people otherwise. Therefore, it was not surprising that she was uncomfortable with the concept of working with Jane. How long would it be until he worked out her connections to Red John?
She wished that she had asked Minelli who the consultant was going to be before agreeing to work with one. That would have saved her from all of this trouble.
xxx
“How old are you? Seriously?” Lisbon asked as she slumped in the driving seat.
They had a killer in the back of the van, but not the one they should have had. Instead, he was being driven to the state morgue, in a black bag. The man may have been a killer and child rapist, of his own daughter no less, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t feel sorry for his loss of life. The whole Tolliver family had been torn apart by the revelations and the only surviving individual was going to be paying for it by spending the rest of her life in jail. All for what? Little more than petty revenge, no thanks to a little needling from a certain Patrick Jane.
Of course she was going to be more than a little angry with him. In fact, she was finding it highly surprising that the Major Crimes Unit had tolerated Jane for so long during his first stint consulting for the CBI. After all, back then, he hadn’t been tempered by Red John, hadn’t been taught a lesson in humility. Considering she had quickly learned that his ego was still second to none, that had to be saying something. Instead, she pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a heavy sigh. Jane had only been working underneath her for five weeks and already, she was having to suspend him. The PSU were going to have a field day with this one. It wasn’t just going to be Jane’s standards scrutinized, Lisbon knew that she was going to come under their microscope as well.
“What did I do wrong?”
“Really? You have to ask?”
“Okay, so maybe I went a little too far-”
“You got a man killed, Jane.”
“A guilty man. We found the girl’s diary, remember?”
“Doesn’t make a difference.”
“So, if Red John were to be killed by somebody, out of revenge you would feel exactly the same way?” he questioned lightly.
She flinched in response. Red John just had to be his example, didn’t it? Then again, she wasn’t the only one with personal connections to the case. Lisbon was still questioning why Minelli had willingly allowed him to work with her. He was a victim, tied inexorably to one of her cases, he couldn’t deal with it with clear judgment. Nobody could and she knew that from experience. There had been times, when the pressure to find and apprehend Red John had gotten extreme, that she had been tempted to quit, but she resisted. She had no intention of letting John ruin her life and everything she had worked so damn hard for, just as he had threatened to do so by simply calling her all those years ago. Sooner or later, he would pay for what he had done. The question remained how to do it without it damaging herself.
That was something she was still working on.
“Of course,” she answered eventually, attempting to keep her tone even. “Everyone deserves to be tried in a court of law - even a serial killer such as Red John.”
Jane placed a contemplative finger across his lips and let out an indistinct humming noise.
“Right. I’m glad we had this conversation. I’ve learned a lot.”
“Good for you. Just so long as you’re happy,” she answered back in response. “By the way, you’re on suspension.”
xxx
She felt a gentle hand on the small of her back and froze instantaneously.
“Have you caught the killer yet?”
“What?” she asked, before realizing exactly who was speaking to her. “John?”
“Who else?”
“What the hell are you doing here?” she hissed.
“I followed Patrick Jane,” he explained, with a brief smile. “He’s a character, don’t you think?”
Quietly, she ushered him towards her hotel room. The bar was far too public a place to talk. If anybody asked who he was, if Van Pelt, the new rookie, saw them, she had already decided to fob her off with some kind of pitiful excuse. What that would be, she wasn’t quite sure, but she secretly hoped that it wouldn’t come to that. Anyway, it was worth the risk. She had a feeling that this wasn’t going to be a conversation she wanted people to overhear. Lisbon was grateful when they reached her hotel room unnoticed and soon slammed the door behind her, glaring at him.
“That’s how you got here, not why.”
“You didn’t ask why.”
“Don’t you dare start playing mind games with me,” she growled and he chuckled a little. “I get enough of that from Jane.”
“So he hasn’t learned a thing then? That’s sad.”
“John…”
She allowed her words to die in the air. He genuinely appeared to be disappointed that Jane still willingly manipulated people for a living. Automatically, Lisbon reached out and touched his elbow lightly with two fingers. John flinched in response, clearly unused to displays of affection. He shied away from her, almost as if he didn’t deserve to have anyone feeling remotely sorry for him. Considering what most people thought of him, they would assume it was probably accurate. However, Lisbon knew there was a man behind the smiley face, somebody who very much had thoughts and feelings and flaws. Yes, he had committed heinous crimes, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t human. And with regards to Red John, that was what so many people failed to comprehend. He wasn’t the devil, or a monster. He was just a man who had very much lost his way.
It seemed like he had genuinely hoped that Jane had learned something from the death of his family. John had always had his own strict set of morals; it was just a case that sometimes, they didn’t quite fit in with the rest of the world’s. That was when the problems arose. It was why she was spending her life trying to track him down and make him pay for what he had done to so many innocent people. It hurt her, having to do that, but she didn’t have much of a choice. She was duty bound to do so. Besides, as far as most people were concerned, she had more of a reason to than most. He had, after all, nearly killed her in the past.
She knew that one day, she would have to place handcuffs around his wrists and inevitably lead him to his death. There was no way Red John would escape the death penalty, it was a forgone conclusion. One day, she would have undeniable evidence in her hand and would have to carry it out. And even though she told herself she had come to terms with the concept, deep down, it still hurt like hell. Lisbon knew that it would be akin to arresting one of her own brothers, he had been that close to her as a child.
“He does regret it, you know,” she eventually said, “or I think he does. Why else would he be working with me, us, the CBI?”
John shrugged slightly. They both knew the real reason that Jane was working with the CBI, but neither wanted to vocalize it. After all, it meant admitting that John’s actions had caused a man to seek revenge for something he’d done. Realistically, that was hardly surprising given the fact he had already killed so many innocent people but that didn’t matter. The point was, it was tangible and would have obvious effects on Lisbon. Especially so given she was working in close confines with Patrick Jane.
“So, are you going to answer my question?”
“What question?”
“John!”
“Oh. Yeah. I wanted to see you again.”
“Despite the fact I asked you not to? Repeatedly?”
“Yes, and I needed to know if I need to do your job for you.”
“We’ll catch the man responsible,” she answered, sounding more confident than she actually felt.
“We’ll see,” he replied with a steely tone. “Don’t you know there’s a serial killer hounding California? Isn’t it your responsibility to be catching him?”
“That’s not funny.”
“It wasn’t meant to be.”
The fire alarm filled the room and John looked momentarily stunned. He gently pushed Lisbon aside and opened the door a little. Before he exited he turned to face her. Lisbon wished they hadn’t been interrupted, that she had been able to at least finish this conversation with him. She had felt like they were slowly getting somewhere, though in reality she knew deep down that he had said everything he needed to say. Still, it had almost been like old times, bickering with an old friend about nothing in particular. Except, what they had discussed was serious, it had real repercussions. It wasn’t just about where to find a magnifying glass to fry some ants or whether or not Mr. Peters would catch them throwing pebbles at his cat again.
“I’m still sorry, by the way.”
“For what?”
“You know,” he replied.
His eyes lingered briefly on her abdomen. Automatically, Lisbon raised a hand and allowed it to rest where the scar was. Now, it seemed pretty insubstantial, one of many battle wounds she had gathered while on the job. However, that didn’t mean she had forgotten the sheer horror, the shock of her first major injury as a cop. Not least because it had been caused by one of the people she had least expected to hurt her.
“I have to go,” he said, as if he had suddenly remembered the fire alarm going off around them.
“Well, obviously.”
“I mean I won’t be here after all this has calmed down,“ he clarified and she nodded slightly. “Be well, Teresa.”
“John?”
“Yes?”
“Why do you do it?”
He shook his head. She should have known that she would never get an answer to that specific question. John probably didn’t even know why he did it himself, so therefore there was nothing to stay. Lisbon watched as he slipped out of the door and disappeared into the throng of people exiting the hotel. The alarm was still blaring; she had to escape too. The mass confusion indicated that nobody really knew if it was a drill, a hoax or a legitimate fire. Still, she headed outside and soon found the rest of the team. That didn’t stop her eyes from scouring the crowd, trying desperately to pick out John. Of course, he was true to his word and he had long since gone.
To Part Seven
She woke in a cold sweat.
Quickly, she wrung her hands together, as if to get them clean. Then she lifted them up carefully, trying desperately to see what was there, what was wrong. There was nothing there, but Lisbon could have sworn that they were caked in blood. Somebody else’s, not her own. Not someone she had killed, which only happened on very rare occasions in her line of work and was always very regrettable, but some strange woman who was dead before she had even got to the scene. Why she was playing around with blood, regardless of whether or not it was somebody else’s, was disconcerting. It certainly wasn’t something any normal person would ever consider doing.
Carefully, she sat and tried to control her breathing a little. It took a short while, but eventually she was beginning to feel more calm. It was just a dream, it was always just a dream. Or rather, a reoccurring nightmare, based on a memory dredged up from the recesses of her mind. This specific one, she had been trying to forget for years. Everybody had skeletons in the closet, secrets that they didn’t want other people to find out. It was just hers, as an officer of the law, where significantly more detrimental than most other people’s.
She had been the one to paint the very first Red John smiley face.
It was something she had long since tried to forget, naturally.
Had she been the one to push John along the path to becoming a serial killer? Or had he been well on the way towards it before she had given him a calling card, a motif, a modus operandi? Would it have happened if she had not interfered, had just ignored his telephone call instead of rushing over to California to help him out? What would have happened if she had decided to turn him into the authorities instead? Why hadn’t she done so by now?
She quickly tried to dispel the thoughts. They were ones that had taunted her for so long now, that they were practically a habitual part of her existence. The only reason that the questioning and the self-doubt had become more prevalent was because she had just become lead agent of the Serious Crimes Unit. Matthias had opted to move back to his hometown in Georgia, to look after his sick mom shortly after Minelli had started hinting that she was ready for a higher position. He had immediately taken the opportunity to reshuffle the CBI, bringing Wayne Rigsby, an arson specialist, over into the SCU and started advertising for a new rookie agent. As far as she knew, Minelli was very pleased with how the new look Serious Crimes Unit was looking thus far.
And truth be told, so was she.
That was, until she found out that jurisdiction of the Red John case was to be passed over to her newly formed team.
xxx
“I’m Patrick Jane.”
“I know.”
“You do?”
She smirked at her new consultant’s surprise, though she couldn‘t be sure whether or not he was faking it. Of course she knew who he was. For a start, Lisbon had a good memory for faces and besides, back in the day, he had been pretty famous for a psychic. Still, the last time she had seen him, he was still claiming to have connections to the spiritual world. Now, she wasn’t so sure what it was he said he did. That was something Lisbon felt she had to address - and soon. Briefly she pushed the thought aside and instead, she smiled slightly and shook his hand with a firm grasp. When Minelli had informed her that she would be receiving a new consultant, Patrick Jane had been the last person she expected. She didn’t know what to make of his return to the CBI after a good four years disappearance.
Lisbon had heard from the old MCU agents that Jane had been a force to be reckoned with. That he practically attracted trouble, wherever he went. She didn’t even need to take their word for it; she had seen it first-hand based on that disastrous television interview he’d given out. Quietly, she hoped that his time away from the CBI had calmed him down somewhat, that he would now be a little more controllable. However, she was also aware that there was the possibility that that was merely wishful thinking. Still, she counted her blessings that she had had a year to settle down as senior agent before having somebody like Jane foisted upon her. Though, it was a shame that he had to start shortly before she was expecting yet another new rookie. The one who had initially been put under her care had quit spectacularly after realizing he couldn’t cope with facing dead bodies day in, day out.
Without another word, she led the man to her office and was relieved when he willingly followed. Half of her wouldn’t have been surprised if he had disappeared off elsewhere, intrigued by something or other. From what Lisbon could remember, he was the type to do that kind of thing. After she sat down at her desk, she steepled her fingers and stared at Jane appraisingly. He cocked his head to one side and let out a sunny smile. One that was altogether a little too bright, but she disregarded it. It was entirely possible that he just liked smiling, but part of her thought he was just putting on an act. Everyone knew that his family had been brutally murdered by Red John and that they, at the CBI, still hadn’t brought their killer to justice. That simple fact alone had to bring up an awful lot of bad memories for the man.
“You want to know why I’ve come back, don’t you?” he asked, just as soon as she opened her mouth to speak.
“Excuse me?”
“Oh please, it’s written all over your face.”
“I’m your boss.”
“I know. But that doesn’t change the fact it’s obvious what you’re thinking.”
“Right. Because you’re a psychic,” she answered back sardonically.
“No, just paying attention. I was just pretending to be a psychic. They don’t exist.”
“My mistake,” she said with a steely tone. “Well?”
“Well what?”
“Why have you come back?”
“To find Red John,” he replied simply.
Of course. That was something she should have known without even bothering to ask. She wished that, like Jane, John had remained quiet, had disappeared into the ether. Instead, the bodies kept stacking up - one every six months or so - and she couldn’t help but resent him for that. Since she had taken over, he had killed three more innocent women. Now, there was always something he left behind, a little hint at the crime scene as if he were saying hello to her. Lisbon was fairly certain that John knew she had jurisdiction of his case and going by his innocuous little clues, he seemed to find it pretty amusing too. Unfortunately, as far as she was concerned, he now had a very sick sense of humor. Killing wasn’t something somebody should take pleasure in - really it shouldn’t be done at all - and neither should mocking the law enforcement. However, John was doing both and it rankled with her. More than she would ever have admitted, even to him.
Now, she had someone who claimed to be merely ‘paying attention’ breathing down her neck. Somebody with a vested interest in the Red John case, one which was the polar opposite of her own. And even though he claimed he wasn’t a psychic, he had been exceptionally good at convincing people otherwise. Therefore, it was not surprising that she was uncomfortable with the concept of working with Jane. How long would it be until he worked out her connections to Red John?
She wished that she had asked Minelli who the consultant was going to be before agreeing to work with one. That would have saved her from all of this trouble.
xxx
“How old are you? Seriously?” Lisbon asked as she slumped in the driving seat.
They had a killer in the back of the van, but not the one they should have had. Instead, he was being driven to the state morgue, in a black bag. The man may have been a killer and child rapist, of his own daughter no less, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t feel sorry for his loss of life. The whole Tolliver family had been torn apart by the revelations and the only surviving individual was going to be paying for it by spending the rest of her life in jail. All for what? Little more than petty revenge, no thanks to a little needling from a certain Patrick Jane.
Of course she was going to be more than a little angry with him. In fact, she was finding it highly surprising that the Major Crimes Unit had tolerated Jane for so long during his first stint consulting for the CBI. After all, back then, he hadn’t been tempered by Red John, hadn’t been taught a lesson in humility. Considering she had quickly learned that his ego was still second to none, that had to be saying something. Instead, she pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a heavy sigh. Jane had only been working underneath her for five weeks and already, she was having to suspend him. The PSU were going to have a field day with this one. It wasn’t just going to be Jane’s standards scrutinized, Lisbon knew that she was going to come under their microscope as well.
“What did I do wrong?”
“Really? You have to ask?”
“Okay, so maybe I went a little too far-”
“You got a man killed, Jane.”
“A guilty man. We found the girl’s diary, remember?”
“Doesn’t make a difference.”
“So, if Red John were to be killed by somebody, out of revenge you would feel exactly the same way?” he questioned lightly.
She flinched in response. Red John just had to be his example, didn’t it? Then again, she wasn’t the only one with personal connections to the case. Lisbon was still questioning why Minelli had willingly allowed him to work with her. He was a victim, tied inexorably to one of her cases, he couldn’t deal with it with clear judgment. Nobody could and she knew that from experience. There had been times, when the pressure to find and apprehend Red John had gotten extreme, that she had been tempted to quit, but she resisted. She had no intention of letting John ruin her life and everything she had worked so damn hard for, just as he had threatened to do so by simply calling her all those years ago. Sooner or later, he would pay for what he had done. The question remained how to do it without it damaging herself.
That was something she was still working on.
“Of course,” she answered eventually, attempting to keep her tone even. “Everyone deserves to be tried in a court of law - even a serial killer such as Red John.”
Jane placed a contemplative finger across his lips and let out an indistinct humming noise.
“Right. I’m glad we had this conversation. I’ve learned a lot.”
“Good for you. Just so long as you’re happy,” she answered back in response. “By the way, you’re on suspension.”
xxx
She felt a gentle hand on the small of her back and froze instantaneously.
“Have you caught the killer yet?”
“What?” she asked, before realizing exactly who was speaking to her. “John?”
“Who else?”
“What the hell are you doing here?” she hissed.
“I followed Patrick Jane,” he explained, with a brief smile. “He’s a character, don’t you think?”
Quietly, she ushered him towards her hotel room. The bar was far too public a place to talk. If anybody asked who he was, if Van Pelt, the new rookie, saw them, she had already decided to fob her off with some kind of pitiful excuse. What that would be, she wasn’t quite sure, but she secretly hoped that it wouldn’t come to that. Anyway, it was worth the risk. She had a feeling that this wasn’t going to be a conversation she wanted people to overhear. Lisbon was grateful when they reached her hotel room unnoticed and soon slammed the door behind her, glaring at him.
“That’s how you got here, not why.”
“You didn’t ask why.”
“Don’t you dare start playing mind games with me,” she growled and he chuckled a little. “I get enough of that from Jane.”
“So he hasn’t learned a thing then? That’s sad.”
“John…”
She allowed her words to die in the air. He genuinely appeared to be disappointed that Jane still willingly manipulated people for a living. Automatically, Lisbon reached out and touched his elbow lightly with two fingers. John flinched in response, clearly unused to displays of affection. He shied away from her, almost as if he didn’t deserve to have anyone feeling remotely sorry for him. Considering what most people thought of him, they would assume it was probably accurate. However, Lisbon knew there was a man behind the smiley face, somebody who very much had thoughts and feelings and flaws. Yes, he had committed heinous crimes, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t human. And with regards to Red John, that was what so many people failed to comprehend. He wasn’t the devil, or a monster. He was just a man who had very much lost his way.
It seemed like he had genuinely hoped that Jane had learned something from the death of his family. John had always had his own strict set of morals; it was just a case that sometimes, they didn’t quite fit in with the rest of the world’s. That was when the problems arose. It was why she was spending her life trying to track him down and make him pay for what he had done to so many innocent people. It hurt her, having to do that, but she didn’t have much of a choice. She was duty bound to do so. Besides, as far as most people were concerned, she had more of a reason to than most. He had, after all, nearly killed her in the past.
She knew that one day, she would have to place handcuffs around his wrists and inevitably lead him to his death. There was no way Red John would escape the death penalty, it was a forgone conclusion. One day, she would have undeniable evidence in her hand and would have to carry it out. And even though she told herself she had come to terms with the concept, deep down, it still hurt like hell. Lisbon knew that it would be akin to arresting one of her own brothers, he had been that close to her as a child.
“He does regret it, you know,” she eventually said, “or I think he does. Why else would he be working with me, us, the CBI?”
John shrugged slightly. They both knew the real reason that Jane was working with the CBI, but neither wanted to vocalize it. After all, it meant admitting that John’s actions had caused a man to seek revenge for something he’d done. Realistically, that was hardly surprising given the fact he had already killed so many innocent people but that didn’t matter. The point was, it was tangible and would have obvious effects on Lisbon. Especially so given she was working in close confines with Patrick Jane.
“So, are you going to answer my question?”
“What question?”
“John!”
“Oh. Yeah. I wanted to see you again.”
“Despite the fact I asked you not to? Repeatedly?”
“Yes, and I needed to know if I need to do your job for you.”
“We’ll catch the man responsible,” she answered, sounding more confident than she actually felt.
“We’ll see,” he replied with a steely tone. “Don’t you know there’s a serial killer hounding California? Isn’t it your responsibility to be catching him?”
“That’s not funny.”
“It wasn’t meant to be.”
The fire alarm filled the room and John looked momentarily stunned. He gently pushed Lisbon aside and opened the door a little. Before he exited he turned to face her. Lisbon wished they hadn’t been interrupted, that she had been able to at least finish this conversation with him. She had felt like they were slowly getting somewhere, though in reality she knew deep down that he had said everything he needed to say. Still, it had almost been like old times, bickering with an old friend about nothing in particular. Except, what they had discussed was serious, it had real repercussions. It wasn’t just about where to find a magnifying glass to fry some ants or whether or not Mr. Peters would catch them throwing pebbles at his cat again.
“I’m still sorry, by the way.”
“For what?”
“You know,” he replied.
His eyes lingered briefly on her abdomen. Automatically, Lisbon raised a hand and allowed it to rest where the scar was. Now, it seemed pretty insubstantial, one of many battle wounds she had gathered while on the job. However, that didn’t mean she had forgotten the sheer horror, the shock of her first major injury as a cop. Not least because it had been caused by one of the people she had least expected to hurt her.
“I have to go,” he said, as if he had suddenly remembered the fire alarm going off around them.
“Well, obviously.”
“I mean I won’t be here after all this has calmed down,“ he clarified and she nodded slightly. “Be well, Teresa.”
“John?”
“Yes?”
“Why do you do it?”
He shook his head. She should have known that she would never get an answer to that specific question. John probably didn’t even know why he did it himself, so therefore there was nothing to stay. Lisbon watched as he slipped out of the door and disappeared into the throng of people exiting the hotel. The alarm was still blaring; she had to escape too. The mass confusion indicated that nobody really knew if it was a drill, a hoax or a legitimate fire. Still, she headed outside and soon found the rest of the team. That didn’t stop her eyes from scouring the crowd, trying desperately to pick out John. Of course, he was true to his word and he had long since gone.
To Part Seven