Battlefield (2/15)
Previous parts: Prologue, Part One
“Welcome to the team, Agent Douglas,” Lisbon spoke and she shook the woman’s hand firmly. “I hope you’ll become a valued asset to my team.”
“And I hope I live up to your high expectations,” Douglas replied with a wry smile. “I intend to try my very best.”
Lisbon watched as Douglas tucked her blonde hair back behind her ear. This wasn’t the end of an era; it was the start of a new one, she reminded herself firmly. Just because Wayne Rigsby had left two days previously and Douglas had been now been drafted in, it didn’t mean they wouldn’t remain as a successful unit for the CBI. So, the years of stability were over, but eventually, Douglas would find her niche within the team and things would be fine again. Quietly, Lisbon hoped that Rigsby would find peace and happiness in his decision, just as much as she hoped her team would continue working like a well-oiled machine since the changes that had occurred.
Quickly, she stood and she motioned to Douglas to follow. The young woman did instinctively and Lisbon was pleased. It was time to introduce her to the rest of the team, and of course, to assign her a desk. She was confident that this woman would work well with the others; she seemed eager enough to please and mold around the rest of the team. In a way, it was almost like she was too eager, but Lisbon cast aside those reservations. It was better that somebody had endless enthusiasm, which would inevitably be washed away after a few months or years on the job, than them not caring about it at all.
As she expected, Van Pelt warmed to Douglas immediately and Cho just introduced himself before getting on with his assigned duties. Jane remained standoffish, but that was to be expected. Out of all three of them, Jane was the one who had been most irritated by the change in the staffing, mostly because he had been the principal reason for it happening in the first place. He would just have to learn to get used to it, Lisbon surmised. It wasn’t as if they had any choice in the matter anyway. No amount of begging or pleading would have convinced Rigsby to stay, and besides, he had chosen to leave for honorable reasons and that was for his family. If anyone should have been able to understand that concept, it was Patrick Jane.
“Boss?” Cho said after placing down the receiver on the telephone. “We’re up.”
He quickly followed up with the rest of the scant details that he knew. It was a double homicide, not too far away. Lisbon smiled wryly; there was never really an appropriate time or cause for murder, but she knew this would be a good excuse to drop Lilith Douglas in at the deep end. In a way, this would be the ideal way of training her hard and fast for life as a CBI agent. It was a matter of minutes before she, Cho, Jane and Douglas were all safely within the state issue SUV and on their way to a crime scene. Douglas looked a little perplexed at the speed of the development, but she’d learn. If they didn’t hurry to the scene of the crime, then there was the possibility of vital evidence being lost.
The journey was mercifully quick. Nobody said a word, which meant the atmosphere was a little tense, but it was better than Jane choosing to gaud somebody with no good reason. If he disliked something, he often had a habit of doing that and it irked her considerably. However, given an annoying Jane or a peaceful journey, Lisbon knew that she would always take the latter. On a couple of occasions, Douglas asked one of them a question, and Cho generally took it upon himself to answer her concisely. Still, Lisbon knew that things would only really get interesting once they were at the crime scene. Hopefully then, Jane would actually be distracted by something of more importance and Douglas would be able to see how they really worked as a unit.
LEOs were already at the crime scene and had cordoned off the house and front yard by the time they arrived. Lisbon ignored them and instead, headed straight to the M.E. who shook her hand firmly and led them to the crime scene. She hoped that the LEOs wouldn’t cause any problems when handing the case over to them; with an irritable Jane and a new rookie to deal with, she had enough on her plate at that moment in time. Still, she had already decided that she was going to leave Cho to deal with the bureaucracy for a change. He was unflappable and any aggravation that was caused would easily fly over his head. Kimball Cho did not care what happened, just so long as the job got done and that was why they still worked together so well, even after all these years.
The two bodies - a man and a woman - lay side by side, interlinked only by their two hands entwined together. If it wasn't for the shotgun wounds marring their chests, the naked couple could have appeared to be merely sleeping. Lisbon immediately assumed that they had been killed in their sleep and that they never had a chance to defend themselves. The M.E. filled her in on the details; the names of the individuals, the time of death and the like and Lisbon listened attentively to everything he had to say. Just because Jane regarded this information as being relatively unimportant in the scheme of things, it didn’t mean it actually was. Somewhere behind him she could see Douglas lingering in a corner, with an ashen face and clutching at her necklace. She was doing well considering these were her first dead bodies, but all things considered, they weren't especially grotesque.
Soon enough, they were on their way again. A crowd of neighbors had gathered outside and immediately, Lisbon instructed Cho (who had finished successfully dealing with the LEOs) and Douglas to canvass the people loitering for any information. There was always the possibility that they would get lucky and somebody would know something about the deaths. Meanwhile, she dragged Jane out of the crime scene and back to the car. She wanted to pick his mind on a few things, most notably the case and if he had actually bothered to start warming up to Agent Douglas. Besides, he really came into his own when he questioned people; there was only so much he could read from a crime scene.
“What’s wrong with you today?” Lisbon muttered once they were finally on the road. “You’re quiet, surly, uncommunicative…”
She trailed off. Usually, he was in this frame of mind shortly after Red John had killed and inevitably escaped again. Lisbon was getting sick and tired of telling him that, next time, they would catch the killer as even she was beginning to doubt if that next time would actually ever come. Even so, it was a concern that he was in this kind of mood with no obvious trigger for it. Tentatively, she reached out and touched his forearm with two fingers. He had to know that she was there for him through everything. After all, they had already been through so much together and she hadn’t once thought about deserting him. Still, he remained stubbornly silent and she let out a heavy sigh before trying a different tack.
“What do you think of Douglas? Do you think she’ll fit in with the team?”
“I don’t know.”
ldquo;Please,” she scoffed; she knew he was lying. “I know you, Jane. I know you’re thinking something.”
Jane shrugged noncommittally and Lisbon could almost have predicted his reaction. Considering how supposedly unpredictable he was to other people, she found him remarkably easy to read on occasion. But then, she supposed that was just testament to how long they had spent in one another's company now. Things could easily have been so different if she had ended up giving up on him before now. Still, she wished he wasn't being so stubborn today, she wished he could have been more accepting of the change and she wished he would just talk to her. It wasn't her fault that Rigsby had chosen to leave, nor was it her fault that Sarah Harrigan had given him that ultimatum in the first place. In any working environment, change was inevitable. People ordinarily just didn't stay in the same job for that long anymore. They had been lucky to have that kind of stability, but somehow, he just couldn’t seem to grasp that concept right now.
"Fine,” Lisbon said with a sigh. “Why are you so intent on disliking her when you don't even know her yet?" she asked, desperate to try and get anything out of him.
"There's something I don't like about her; I still haven't been able to get a proper read of her," he grumbled and Lisbon had to stifle a laugh. He sounded so discontent at the fact that somebody had been able to elude his abilities for the first time in a very long while.
"She was the best candidate that applied, Jane. I couldn’t have justified picking anybody else over her."
"Doesn't mean she's necessarily trustworthy, though," he pointed out.
"And you can be wrong, you know. Even your tactics aren't entirely foolproof."
He didn't answer again and almost immediately, Lisbon felt guilty for insulting him. Usually he took her glib comments with good humor or he had some witty comment to say right back at her in response, but today, he seemed to have genuinely taken it to heart. Or at least, he hadn't even dignified her statement with an answer. She hated it when he managed to make her feel like this; technically, she had done nothing wrong. It wasn’t her fault that Jane had taken an instant dislike to the new rookie and thus, was in a foul mood to match his irritation. She shook her head slightly and tried to clear her mind of the problematic thoughts that were beginning to develop. He was just in one of those moods and there was nothing she could do about it.
"Okay then. What about the case? Do you have any thoughts on that?"
"None worth sharing," Jane answered.
"Oh really?" she replied skeptically.
"Except it was a crime of passion," he answered and Lisbon was relieved he had finally offered her an admittedly obvious tidbit. "Sophie Minchin was having an affair. We should find out who her mystery lover was."
The questioning of Minchin’s family went smoothly and swiftly. For once, Jane was on his best behavior and Lisbon could only put it down to the fact that his energies were being spent elsewhere. The family was clearly devastated by the loss of their beloved daughter and sister, and her doting husband. When Jane brought up the theory about the lover, one which Lisbon secretly agreed with, none of them claimed to have a clue about it. There were four possibilities: one of them was lying to protect the memory of Sophie Minchin, one of them was responsible because of said affair, they were all genuinely oblivious to the fact or Jane had actually been wrong for a change. Lisbon suspected that it was most likely that she hadn’t confided in her family about this sordid secret, and thus, they would have to look into it elsewhere. Already, she had Van Pelt looking into the Minchin family’s financial credentials and she hoped that the redhead would have something to show for her hard work soon.
Meanwhile, Lisbon had already decided that their next port of call was going to be Sophie Minchin’s workplace. It seemed like the next logical step, especially as her brother had mentioned that she had been having some trouble with co-workers off-handedly. Seemingly for once in the day, Jane had no complaints about that either and Lisbon was pleasantly relieved with that. While on their way to Minchin’s workplace, Cho called to say that he and Douglas had finished interviewing the witnesses and they were already heading back to CBI headquarters. For the most part, the neighbors only confirmed what the M.E. had already told them, which was unfortunate. However, one person witnessed a car leaving the area very shortly after the shots were fired and got a partial plate, but that was it.
At the workplace, Minchin’s colleagues were a little more forthcoming with information. Apparently, the woman had been seen with a string of individuals - both women and men - who weren’t her husband, in recent months. Dutifully, Lisbon noted down the list of names while Jane pawed his way through Minchin’s desk. Nobody bothered to argue with what he was doing; they simply didn’t seem to care. However, they were very interested in the fact their colleague had been murdered. Lisbon suspected that Sophie Minchin had supplied them with plentiful gossip in recent months and though they were impressed with her spectacular demise, they would soon miss the individual who had once single-handedly fueled their rumor mill.
Jane was a little more talkative on the journey back to the headquarters. He’d found some interesting items in Minchin’s desk and was beginning to sink his teeth into the case. Lisbon was relieved; it was better than having him sulking, after all. However, once she got back to the headquarters she was glad that she could disappear into her office without having him disturb her once again. That was until she found she couldn’t log into her network account on the computer. She tried several times, but to no avail.
Immediately, she found herself wondering what was going on. She was certain that she was typing her username and password correctly. Automatically, she wondered whether or not the network had been having downtime issues, though none of the rest of the team had reported any problems to her. Then, she considered the possibility of somebody hacking into her account. Lisbon immediately dismissed that thought; she trusted her team, partially because she had to, but mostly because as far as she was concerned, they were trustworthy individuals.
But Douglas was new. She hadn’t even been with the team for twenty-four hours yet. Ergo, she didn’t really know the girl at all.
Lisbon shook her head firmly. She had been spending far too long in Jane’s company if she was going to get suspicious of members of her team over something which was most likely just a glitch in the system.
To Part Three
“Welcome to the team, Agent Douglas,” Lisbon spoke and she shook the woman’s hand firmly. “I hope you’ll become a valued asset to my team.”
“And I hope I live up to your high expectations,” Douglas replied with a wry smile. “I intend to try my very best.”
Lisbon watched as Douglas tucked her blonde hair back behind her ear. This wasn’t the end of an era; it was the start of a new one, she reminded herself firmly. Just because Wayne Rigsby had left two days previously and Douglas had been now been drafted in, it didn’t mean they wouldn’t remain as a successful unit for the CBI. So, the years of stability were over, but eventually, Douglas would find her niche within the team and things would be fine again. Quietly, Lisbon hoped that Rigsby would find peace and happiness in his decision, just as much as she hoped her team would continue working like a well-oiled machine since the changes that had occurred.
Quickly, she stood and she motioned to Douglas to follow. The young woman did instinctively and Lisbon was pleased. It was time to introduce her to the rest of the team, and of course, to assign her a desk. She was confident that this woman would work well with the others; she seemed eager enough to please and mold around the rest of the team. In a way, it was almost like she was too eager, but Lisbon cast aside those reservations. It was better that somebody had endless enthusiasm, which would inevitably be washed away after a few months or years on the job, than them not caring about it at all.
As she expected, Van Pelt warmed to Douglas immediately and Cho just introduced himself before getting on with his assigned duties. Jane remained standoffish, but that was to be expected. Out of all three of them, Jane was the one who had been most irritated by the change in the staffing, mostly because he had been the principal reason for it happening in the first place. He would just have to learn to get used to it, Lisbon surmised. It wasn’t as if they had any choice in the matter anyway. No amount of begging or pleading would have convinced Rigsby to stay, and besides, he had chosen to leave for honorable reasons and that was for his family. If anyone should have been able to understand that concept, it was Patrick Jane.
“Boss?” Cho said after placing down the receiver on the telephone. “We’re up.”
He quickly followed up with the rest of the scant details that he knew. It was a double homicide, not too far away. Lisbon smiled wryly; there was never really an appropriate time or cause for murder, but she knew this would be a good excuse to drop Lilith Douglas in at the deep end. In a way, this would be the ideal way of training her hard and fast for life as a CBI agent. It was a matter of minutes before she, Cho, Jane and Douglas were all safely within the state issue SUV and on their way to a crime scene. Douglas looked a little perplexed at the speed of the development, but she’d learn. If they didn’t hurry to the scene of the crime, then there was the possibility of vital evidence being lost.
The journey was mercifully quick. Nobody said a word, which meant the atmosphere was a little tense, but it was better than Jane choosing to gaud somebody with no good reason. If he disliked something, he often had a habit of doing that and it irked her considerably. However, given an annoying Jane or a peaceful journey, Lisbon knew that she would always take the latter. On a couple of occasions, Douglas asked one of them a question, and Cho generally took it upon himself to answer her concisely. Still, Lisbon knew that things would only really get interesting once they were at the crime scene. Hopefully then, Jane would actually be distracted by something of more importance and Douglas would be able to see how they really worked as a unit.
LEOs were already at the crime scene and had cordoned off the house and front yard by the time they arrived. Lisbon ignored them and instead, headed straight to the M.E. who shook her hand firmly and led them to the crime scene. She hoped that the LEOs wouldn’t cause any problems when handing the case over to them; with an irritable Jane and a new rookie to deal with, she had enough on her plate at that moment in time. Still, she had already decided that she was going to leave Cho to deal with the bureaucracy for a change. He was unflappable and any aggravation that was caused would easily fly over his head. Kimball Cho did not care what happened, just so long as the job got done and that was why they still worked together so well, even after all these years.
The two bodies - a man and a woman - lay side by side, interlinked only by their two hands entwined together. If it wasn't for the shotgun wounds marring their chests, the naked couple could have appeared to be merely sleeping. Lisbon immediately assumed that they had been killed in their sleep and that they never had a chance to defend themselves. The M.E. filled her in on the details; the names of the individuals, the time of death and the like and Lisbon listened attentively to everything he had to say. Just because Jane regarded this information as being relatively unimportant in the scheme of things, it didn’t mean it actually was. Somewhere behind him she could see Douglas lingering in a corner, with an ashen face and clutching at her necklace. She was doing well considering these were her first dead bodies, but all things considered, they weren't especially grotesque.
Soon enough, they were on their way again. A crowd of neighbors had gathered outside and immediately, Lisbon instructed Cho (who had finished successfully dealing with the LEOs) and Douglas to canvass the people loitering for any information. There was always the possibility that they would get lucky and somebody would know something about the deaths. Meanwhile, she dragged Jane out of the crime scene and back to the car. She wanted to pick his mind on a few things, most notably the case and if he had actually bothered to start warming up to Agent Douglas. Besides, he really came into his own when he questioned people; there was only so much he could read from a crime scene.
“What’s wrong with you today?” Lisbon muttered once they were finally on the road. “You’re quiet, surly, uncommunicative…”
She trailed off. Usually, he was in this frame of mind shortly after Red John had killed and inevitably escaped again. Lisbon was getting sick and tired of telling him that, next time, they would catch the killer as even she was beginning to doubt if that next time would actually ever come. Even so, it was a concern that he was in this kind of mood with no obvious trigger for it. Tentatively, she reached out and touched his forearm with two fingers. He had to know that she was there for him through everything. After all, they had already been through so much together and she hadn’t once thought about deserting him. Still, he remained stubbornly silent and she let out a heavy sigh before trying a different tack.
“What do you think of Douglas? Do you think she’ll fit in with the team?”
“I don’t know.”
ldquo;Please,” she scoffed; she knew he was lying. “I know you, Jane. I know you’re thinking something.”
Jane shrugged noncommittally and Lisbon could almost have predicted his reaction. Considering how supposedly unpredictable he was to other people, she found him remarkably easy to read on occasion. But then, she supposed that was just testament to how long they had spent in one another's company now. Things could easily have been so different if she had ended up giving up on him before now. Still, she wished he wasn't being so stubborn today, she wished he could have been more accepting of the change and she wished he would just talk to her. It wasn't her fault that Rigsby had chosen to leave, nor was it her fault that Sarah Harrigan had given him that ultimatum in the first place. In any working environment, change was inevitable. People ordinarily just didn't stay in the same job for that long anymore. They had been lucky to have that kind of stability, but somehow, he just couldn’t seem to grasp that concept right now.
"Fine,” Lisbon said with a sigh. “Why are you so intent on disliking her when you don't even know her yet?" she asked, desperate to try and get anything out of him.
"There's something I don't like about her; I still haven't been able to get a proper read of her," he grumbled and Lisbon had to stifle a laugh. He sounded so discontent at the fact that somebody had been able to elude his abilities for the first time in a very long while.
"She was the best candidate that applied, Jane. I couldn’t have justified picking anybody else over her."
"Doesn't mean she's necessarily trustworthy, though," he pointed out.
"And you can be wrong, you know. Even your tactics aren't entirely foolproof."
He didn't answer again and almost immediately, Lisbon felt guilty for insulting him. Usually he took her glib comments with good humor or he had some witty comment to say right back at her in response, but today, he seemed to have genuinely taken it to heart. Or at least, he hadn't even dignified her statement with an answer. She hated it when he managed to make her feel like this; technically, she had done nothing wrong. It wasn’t her fault that Jane had taken an instant dislike to the new rookie and thus, was in a foul mood to match his irritation. She shook her head slightly and tried to clear her mind of the problematic thoughts that were beginning to develop. He was just in one of those moods and there was nothing she could do about it.
"Okay then. What about the case? Do you have any thoughts on that?"
"None worth sharing," Jane answered.
"Oh really?" she replied skeptically.
"Except it was a crime of passion," he answered and Lisbon was relieved he had finally offered her an admittedly obvious tidbit. "Sophie Minchin was having an affair. We should find out who her mystery lover was."
The questioning of Minchin’s family went smoothly and swiftly. For once, Jane was on his best behavior and Lisbon could only put it down to the fact that his energies were being spent elsewhere. The family was clearly devastated by the loss of their beloved daughter and sister, and her doting husband. When Jane brought up the theory about the lover, one which Lisbon secretly agreed with, none of them claimed to have a clue about it. There were four possibilities: one of them was lying to protect the memory of Sophie Minchin, one of them was responsible because of said affair, they were all genuinely oblivious to the fact or Jane had actually been wrong for a change. Lisbon suspected that it was most likely that she hadn’t confided in her family about this sordid secret, and thus, they would have to look into it elsewhere. Already, she had Van Pelt looking into the Minchin family’s financial credentials and she hoped that the redhead would have something to show for her hard work soon.
Meanwhile, Lisbon had already decided that their next port of call was going to be Sophie Minchin’s workplace. It seemed like the next logical step, especially as her brother had mentioned that she had been having some trouble with co-workers off-handedly. Seemingly for once in the day, Jane had no complaints about that either and Lisbon was pleasantly relieved with that. While on their way to Minchin’s workplace, Cho called to say that he and Douglas had finished interviewing the witnesses and they were already heading back to CBI headquarters. For the most part, the neighbors only confirmed what the M.E. had already told them, which was unfortunate. However, one person witnessed a car leaving the area very shortly after the shots were fired and got a partial plate, but that was it.
At the workplace, Minchin’s colleagues were a little more forthcoming with information. Apparently, the woman had been seen with a string of individuals - both women and men - who weren’t her husband, in recent months. Dutifully, Lisbon noted down the list of names while Jane pawed his way through Minchin’s desk. Nobody bothered to argue with what he was doing; they simply didn’t seem to care. However, they were very interested in the fact their colleague had been murdered. Lisbon suspected that Sophie Minchin had supplied them with plentiful gossip in recent months and though they were impressed with her spectacular demise, they would soon miss the individual who had once single-handedly fueled their rumor mill.
Jane was a little more talkative on the journey back to the headquarters. He’d found some interesting items in Minchin’s desk and was beginning to sink his teeth into the case. Lisbon was relieved; it was better than having him sulking, after all. However, once she got back to the headquarters she was glad that she could disappear into her office without having him disturb her once again. That was until she found she couldn’t log into her network account on the computer. She tried several times, but to no avail.
Immediately, she found herself wondering what was going on. She was certain that she was typing her username and password correctly. Automatically, she wondered whether or not the network had been having downtime issues, though none of the rest of the team had reported any problems to her. Then, she considered the possibility of somebody hacking into her account. Lisbon immediately dismissed that thought; she trusted her team, partially because she had to, but mostly because as far as she was concerned, they were trustworthy individuals.
But Douglas was new. She hadn’t even been with the team for twenty-four hours yet. Ergo, she didn’t really know the girl at all.
Lisbon shook her head firmly. She had been spending far too long in Jane’s company if she was going to get suspicious of members of her team over something which was most likely just a glitch in the system.
To Part Three