Russian Roulette (10/16)
Previous Parts: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven, Part Eight, Part Nine
Part Ten - Shifts
Lisbon sat patiently beside Minelli’s office door, waiting for him to call her inside. Her legs shook as she did so; an autonomous reaction and a sign of her nerves. Despite having been employed by the CBI for over three years now, she still loathed these yearly evaluations. Just because Minelli had never judged her performance harshly, it didn’t mean he never would. Especially as she had been somewhat distracted of late, what with her recent wedding.
In reality, she knew that she was doing fine, excepting one very specific case. The demon of Red John still cast gloomy shadows over her and thus, she judged her performance as a whole more harshly. Words couldn’t express just how desperately she wanted Red John in her custody. He had killed so many people and he continued to do so on a semi-regular basis. Gemma Appleby was just the most recent in a long string of deaths. Justice had to be served.
This time last year, she had spoken to Jackson and he’d chastised her for overreacting. However, a recent change in company protocol had indicated that one of them needed to leave. Lisbon suspected that they were the ones to trigger the decision, and she was angry at herself for it. Graciously, though, Jackson had decided that her career was far more important than this. Besides, his company was expanding at an exponential rate and the redundancy money would give him extra money to invest in it. As far as he was concerned, it was win/win. He got to focus on his company full time and she would get to continue to bloom and grow as a fine agent within the CBI.
Lisbon shook her head in attempt to clear her mind. She twisted the rings on her finger cautiously before slipping them off. Due to an irrational fear of losing them during fieldwork, she generally left them at home, but in her distracted state that morning, she had forgotten to take them off. With a sigh, she placed them in her jacket pocket and stood up. Minelli had just indicated that he was ready for her.
Her boss smiled warmly and motioned towards the seat opposite him. Lisbon found that she was still shaking like a leaf as she perched on it. Minelli noticed almost immediately and quickly offered her a cup of coffee. They both knew that regular meetings with him didn’t set her so on edge. The only reason she was acting in such a way was because it was her yearly evaluation.
Once she had begun to regain her senses, Minelli started to cover what he needed to. Both her attendance and performance remained excellent, though she had already used most of her vacation days for the year. Still, she remained dedicated to her career. Even the distraction of a new husband hadn’t changed that. Lisbon assured him that that would remain the case, going as far as to tell him that she and Jackson had already decided against having a family. As far as Lisbon was concerned, she’d already been there with her brothers and it wasn’t something she wanted to face again, however much she loved her nieces and nephews.
When he informed her that he was especially pleased with the team’s performance, Lisbon wasn’t surprised. She had already seen that he had started to assign the Serious Crimes Unit more cases during her vacation time. It was then that she seized the opportunity to ask him about the ratio of cases to people working on them and he smiled broadly.
“We have just started advertising for a new junior position,” Minelli assured her quickly. “I’m sure you will be able to train up a new rookie effectively.”
“Yes, boss,” she said, nodding firmly as she did so. “I look forward to the new challenge. Is that all?”
“Not quite,” he replied and her frown deepened. “There is no need for you to be so nervous during these evaluations, Teresa. Believe me, if there ever was a problem, we would deal with it far quicker than this. Not that I ever anticipate you causing me problems. This is just procedure.”
She nodded and apologized once again for her demeanor during the evaluation. Deep down, she had always known what Minelli had said, but it did help her to hear him say it. Then again, as her career was so important to her, she figured that her reaction was unsurprising. Her passionate response to the evaluation was indicative of her passion for fighting crime. She always strove to be the best cop she could be and felt the strong need to impress. Minelli’s approval was of the utmost importance to her.
“Anything else?” she asked as she stood.
“Yes. We have been approached by a member of the public with certain… skills. He would like to offer his services to the CBI.”
“Oh.”
There wasn’t much more she could say in such a situation. Instead, she simply waited for Minelli to elaborate.
“He will be assigned to your team in a consulting position.”
“But I thought you were hiring a rookie for my team?”
“This man has a specific interest in the Red John case. He refused to work with any other team.”
Lisbon sat quickly and she racked her brains for anybody who might have had a special interest in the case. Other cops, perhaps. Ones who had touched upon it earlier in their careers and had since retired. Then again, they probably wanted to get away from law enforcement as fast as possible. Relatives of Red John’s victims seemed like the next most logical answer. On more than one occasion, she’d heard of family of victims professing the desire to seek revenge. It was ridiculous and foolhardy, but none ever got that close.
And only one of them had anything that could be remotely described as a specific skill. There was one person who lost more than most to Red John. It was the case where Red John had gone wildly off M.O. and shocked everybody within the CBI. That was the reason she remembered this particular person so well. From what Minelli had already said, it also made sense.
“Does this person have a name?”
“Patrick Jane,” he answered and her heart sank.
Of course it was going to be him.
xxx
“What are you doing?”
Red John was startled when he saw Lisbon typing furiously at his own personal laptop when he arrived home. She barely glanced up at him, offered a weak smile before returning to her task, not even bothering to answer his question. He needed to get her off the device and fast. This was the one he used to do his business dealings in and if she clicked on the wrong files, then that would have been the end of everything. With his heart racing, he walked behind the couch, stood behind her and slowly started stroking the back of her head. She closed her eyes and hummed a little in response. All too quickly, she regained her senses and returned her attentions to the document in front of her.
“Teresa…”
“A little research,” she answered, but didn’t turn to face him. “For work.”
“Why not use your own computer?”
“Yeah, I’m having problems with it,” she said flippantly and he sighed. “D’you think you can fix it for me?”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
He leaned down and placed a kiss on the top of her head, taking a look at the screen. She was only on the internet, which was safer than any other alternative she could have been using. Unless she decided to take a look at his bookmarked pages, of course and then, that could unravel all manner of secrets. Red John was not as concerned as he was when he’d walked through the door though; when Lisbon got a bit in her teeth, she wasn’t one to let go of it. She seemed more than fixated on her current task in hand and that was researching a certain Patrick Jane.
Naturally, Red John knew more than enough about the fake psychic. Ever since he had killed his family, Red John had kept the man on his radar. He’d known about the stint in a mental institution, he’d known that the man had just started to turn his life around in the past six months. He also knew that Jane had sworn revenge. That Jane wanted to cut him open and watch him bleed, the way he had done so to Jane’s wife and child.
If the thought hadn’t been quite so laughable, then Red John might have been a little bit scared.
However, that didn’t explain why his wife was using his computer to research the man in more depth. She was familiar with him, of course. Lisbon knew a little about all the relatives of Red John’s previous victims. That didn’t explain why she wanted to know more about Patrick Jane at this very specific moment though.
“Patrick Jane?” he asked lightly and she sighed.
“He’s going to work with my unit,” she admitted and sounded more than a little irritated at the concept. “I need to know what I’m dealing with before he starts.”
“Oh.”
Red John continued his ministrations, hoping that sooner or later, it would distract Lisbon. He wanted her off the computer as soon as feasibly possible. By the looks of it, she seemed like she had nearly finished her task and he could feel that she was slowly becoming more and more receptive to his touch. Still, he remained as fixated on her as she was on the outdated and inaccurate webpage on Patrick Jane. It wasn’t until she shut down the device and turned around on her knees to face him that he breathed a sigh of relief.
She grabbed his jacket by the lapels and pulled him down for a crushing kiss. Red John reciprocated it eagerly and soon found his fingers running through her hair again. He liked what she had done with it, it was different, new. If she kept it in this style, then he knew he would find himself having quite the fetish over it. However, her silky hair didn’t entirely distract him from her devilish tongue. People may have called him a monster, but Lisbon could be quite the evil, teasing thing as well. It was just that most people didn’t get to see that very specific side of her.
When she pulled away, he pouted. All thoughts of her finding out his true identity had been completely eradicated from his mind. Now, all he wanted to do was take her up to the bedroom, strip her of her clothing slowly and carefully and tease her body until she was screaming out his name for more. Now, he decided that was preferable to having her screaming out in fear, with her blood dripping from his hands. One day, he knew that he would get bored of the monotony of married life and then, he would set his plans back in motion. For now, he was having too much fun with her living by his side. Lisbon, however, smiled a wicked grin before she hopped off the couch and started heading towards the kitchen.
“I was thinking of making pasta for dinner, what do you think?”
He hurried to catch up with her, encircled one wrist with his hand to stop her from moving away. Lisbon turned on her heels, cocked her head to one side and waited for him to answer. The look in her eyes suggested that she knew precisely what he was going to say next, but he didn’t let that stop him.
“I’d rather have you,” he answered coyly.
The wicked grin returned to her features once more and she happily followed him as he led her upstairs.
A cop and a serial killer, they were an odd couple. But somehow, he knew that it worked.
To Part Eleven
Part Ten - Shifts
Lisbon sat patiently beside Minelli’s office door, waiting for him to call her inside. Her legs shook as she did so; an autonomous reaction and a sign of her nerves. Despite having been employed by the CBI for over three years now, she still loathed these yearly evaluations. Just because Minelli had never judged her performance harshly, it didn’t mean he never would. Especially as she had been somewhat distracted of late, what with her recent wedding.
In reality, she knew that she was doing fine, excepting one very specific case. The demon of Red John still cast gloomy shadows over her and thus, she judged her performance as a whole more harshly. Words couldn’t express just how desperately she wanted Red John in her custody. He had killed so many people and he continued to do so on a semi-regular basis. Gemma Appleby was just the most recent in a long string of deaths. Justice had to be served.
This time last year, she had spoken to Jackson and he’d chastised her for overreacting. However, a recent change in company protocol had indicated that one of them needed to leave. Lisbon suspected that they were the ones to trigger the decision, and she was angry at herself for it. Graciously, though, Jackson had decided that her career was far more important than this. Besides, his company was expanding at an exponential rate and the redundancy money would give him extra money to invest in it. As far as he was concerned, it was win/win. He got to focus on his company full time and she would get to continue to bloom and grow as a fine agent within the CBI.
Lisbon shook her head in attempt to clear her mind. She twisted the rings on her finger cautiously before slipping them off. Due to an irrational fear of losing them during fieldwork, she generally left them at home, but in her distracted state that morning, she had forgotten to take them off. With a sigh, she placed them in her jacket pocket and stood up. Minelli had just indicated that he was ready for her.
Her boss smiled warmly and motioned towards the seat opposite him. Lisbon found that she was still shaking like a leaf as she perched on it. Minelli noticed almost immediately and quickly offered her a cup of coffee. They both knew that regular meetings with him didn’t set her so on edge. The only reason she was acting in such a way was because it was her yearly evaluation.
Once she had begun to regain her senses, Minelli started to cover what he needed to. Both her attendance and performance remained excellent, though she had already used most of her vacation days for the year. Still, she remained dedicated to her career. Even the distraction of a new husband hadn’t changed that. Lisbon assured him that that would remain the case, going as far as to tell him that she and Jackson had already decided against having a family. As far as Lisbon was concerned, she’d already been there with her brothers and it wasn’t something she wanted to face again, however much she loved her nieces and nephews.
When he informed her that he was especially pleased with the team’s performance, Lisbon wasn’t surprised. She had already seen that he had started to assign the Serious Crimes Unit more cases during her vacation time. It was then that she seized the opportunity to ask him about the ratio of cases to people working on them and he smiled broadly.
“We have just started advertising for a new junior position,” Minelli assured her quickly. “I’m sure you will be able to train up a new rookie effectively.”
“Yes, boss,” she said, nodding firmly as she did so. “I look forward to the new challenge. Is that all?”
“Not quite,” he replied and her frown deepened. “There is no need for you to be so nervous during these evaluations, Teresa. Believe me, if there ever was a problem, we would deal with it far quicker than this. Not that I ever anticipate you causing me problems. This is just procedure.”
She nodded and apologized once again for her demeanor during the evaluation. Deep down, she had always known what Minelli had said, but it did help her to hear him say it. Then again, as her career was so important to her, she figured that her reaction was unsurprising. Her passionate response to the evaluation was indicative of her passion for fighting crime. She always strove to be the best cop she could be and felt the strong need to impress. Minelli’s approval was of the utmost importance to her.
“Anything else?” she asked as she stood.
“Yes. We have been approached by a member of the public with certain… skills. He would like to offer his services to the CBI.”
“Oh.”
There wasn’t much more she could say in such a situation. Instead, she simply waited for Minelli to elaborate.
“He will be assigned to your team in a consulting position.”
“But I thought you were hiring a rookie for my team?”
“This man has a specific interest in the Red John case. He refused to work with any other team.”
Lisbon sat quickly and she racked her brains for anybody who might have had a special interest in the case. Other cops, perhaps. Ones who had touched upon it earlier in their careers and had since retired. Then again, they probably wanted to get away from law enforcement as fast as possible. Relatives of Red John’s victims seemed like the next most logical answer. On more than one occasion, she’d heard of family of victims professing the desire to seek revenge. It was ridiculous and foolhardy, but none ever got that close.
And only one of them had anything that could be remotely described as a specific skill. There was one person who lost more than most to Red John. It was the case where Red John had gone wildly off M.O. and shocked everybody within the CBI. That was the reason she remembered this particular person so well. From what Minelli had already said, it also made sense.
“Does this person have a name?”
“Patrick Jane,” he answered and her heart sank.
Of course it was going to be him.
xxx
“What are you doing?”
Red John was startled when he saw Lisbon typing furiously at his own personal laptop when he arrived home. She barely glanced up at him, offered a weak smile before returning to her task, not even bothering to answer his question. He needed to get her off the device and fast. This was the one he used to do his business dealings in and if she clicked on the wrong files, then that would have been the end of everything. With his heart racing, he walked behind the couch, stood behind her and slowly started stroking the back of her head. She closed her eyes and hummed a little in response. All too quickly, she regained her senses and returned her attentions to the document in front of her.
“Teresa…”
“A little research,” she answered, but didn’t turn to face him. “For work.”
“Why not use your own computer?”
“Yeah, I’m having problems with it,” she said flippantly and he sighed. “D’you think you can fix it for me?”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
He leaned down and placed a kiss on the top of her head, taking a look at the screen. She was only on the internet, which was safer than any other alternative she could have been using. Unless she decided to take a look at his bookmarked pages, of course and then, that could unravel all manner of secrets. Red John was not as concerned as he was when he’d walked through the door though; when Lisbon got a bit in her teeth, she wasn’t one to let go of it. She seemed more than fixated on her current task in hand and that was researching a certain Patrick Jane.
Naturally, Red John knew more than enough about the fake psychic. Ever since he had killed his family, Red John had kept the man on his radar. He’d known about the stint in a mental institution, he’d known that the man had just started to turn his life around in the past six months. He also knew that Jane had sworn revenge. That Jane wanted to cut him open and watch him bleed, the way he had done so to Jane’s wife and child.
If the thought hadn’t been quite so laughable, then Red John might have been a little bit scared.
However, that didn’t explain why his wife was using his computer to research the man in more depth. She was familiar with him, of course. Lisbon knew a little about all the relatives of Red John’s previous victims. That didn’t explain why she wanted to know more about Patrick Jane at this very specific moment though.
“Patrick Jane?” he asked lightly and she sighed.
“He’s going to work with my unit,” she admitted and sounded more than a little irritated at the concept. “I need to know what I’m dealing with before he starts.”
“Oh.”
Red John continued his ministrations, hoping that sooner or later, it would distract Lisbon. He wanted her off the computer as soon as feasibly possible. By the looks of it, she seemed like she had nearly finished her task and he could feel that she was slowly becoming more and more receptive to his touch. Still, he remained as fixated on her as she was on the outdated and inaccurate webpage on Patrick Jane. It wasn’t until she shut down the device and turned around on her knees to face him that he breathed a sigh of relief.
She grabbed his jacket by the lapels and pulled him down for a crushing kiss. Red John reciprocated it eagerly and soon found his fingers running through her hair again. He liked what she had done with it, it was different, new. If she kept it in this style, then he knew he would find himself having quite the fetish over it. However, her silky hair didn’t entirely distract him from her devilish tongue. People may have called him a monster, but Lisbon could be quite the evil, teasing thing as well. It was just that most people didn’t get to see that very specific side of her.
When she pulled away, he pouted. All thoughts of her finding out his true identity had been completely eradicated from his mind. Now, all he wanted to do was take her up to the bedroom, strip her of her clothing slowly and carefully and tease her body until she was screaming out his name for more. Now, he decided that was preferable to having her screaming out in fear, with her blood dripping from his hands. One day, he knew that he would get bored of the monotony of married life and then, he would set his plans back in motion. For now, he was having too much fun with her living by his side. Lisbon, however, smiled a wicked grin before she hopped off the couch and started heading towards the kitchen.
“I was thinking of making pasta for dinner, what do you think?”
He hurried to catch up with her, encircled one wrist with his hand to stop her from moving away. Lisbon turned on her heels, cocked her head to one side and waited for him to answer. The look in her eyes suggested that she knew precisely what he was going to say next, but he didn’t let that stop him.
“I’d rather have you,” he answered coyly.
The wicked grin returned to her features once more and she happily followed him as he led her upstairs.
A cop and a serial killer, they were an odd couple. But somehow, he knew that it worked.
To Part Eleven