Battlefield (3/15)
Previous parts: Prologue, Part One, Part Two
Two weeks later and Lisbon had finally been able to close the Minchin case. What had initially seemed like a simple affair had quickly gotten out of control. The number of suspects had increased exponentially once they discovered that Sophie Minchin had been acting as an escort in a vain attempt to drag her family out of spiraling debt. After what felt like countless interviews over the space of a week and a half, Jane had realized that one client had reacted differently to the rest. A woman named Jessica Capshaw had genuinely believed that the boundary between client and escort had been crossed and she had fallen in love with Sophie. She had killed both the woman and her husband in a jealous rage and as a consequence, was going to spend the rest of her life in a prison cell or psychiatric institution, if she claimed insanity instead.
Lisbon couldn't help but feel sorry for both the victim and Jessica. A couple of fateful errors had led to this tragedy and now multiple lives had essentially been destroyed. But then, that was often the case when it came to investigating murders. Sometimes, the bleakness of her job really dragged her down, but for the most part, Lisbon realized the benefits of upholding the law. Just because she couldn't bring loved ones back from the dead, it didn't mean she couldn't offer them some sort of closure from this sorry situation. And it was a vain attempt to send out a statement too: that it just wasn’t worth killing, that if you did, one day, you would be caught and tried for your crimes. However, death and destruction never did seem to stop, but if for some unexplainable reason it did, then Lisbon knew she would have been out of a job.
At least the case seemed to have really brought the team together, in spite of all the difficulties it had thrown up along the way. Lisbon was secretly thrilled when Van Pelt immediately took Douglas under her wing and the two women were enjoying their fledgling friendship now. Cho, though clearly disappointed at the loss of his partner, had thrown himself into work and grown closer to Lisbon once more. Even Jane had begun to mellow to Douglas now he'd had the chance to try and get a proper read of her. Part of her believed he would never be rid of that initial suspiciousness but she figured that came down to his inability to trust the vast majority of people. In reality, she knew that he only really trusted her and to a lesser extent, Rigsby, Van Pelt and Cho. The change in staffing had knocked him more than he would ever have cared to admit.
But at least he had been willing to join them for their closed case celebrations. Van Pelt had insisted that they go out for a proper meal instead of just pizza or donuts. She'd justified it by saying that it was the first case they'd closed since Douglas had started and therefore, it was that little more special than usual. Reluctantly, Lisbon had agreed with this sentiment; she also hoped that such an event would end up being a morale booster as everybody was still trying to find their place. Lisbon knew that they all needed to feel like they knew Douglas inside out, and vice versa. Implicit trust was a necessity in this line of work. However good Douglas had looked on paper - and however well she had presented herself during the interviewing process - the employment could still just not work. There was a reason they had a mandatory trial period, after all. But it wasn’t all down to Lilith Douglas to make it work, though. As team leader, she had to make this transition period as easy as possible.
Van Pelt had clearly thought this evening through. She’d booked them a table at a nice restaurant and had already told them it would be followed by drinks at a bar nearby. All Lisbon hoped now was that everybody remained sensible enough throughout the evening; she was still expecting them in work bright and early in the morning. Having learned from her father’s mistakes at a very young age - and having almost fallen off the straight and narrow in recent years - Lisbon knew how to moderate her intake of alcohol. That was why she was currently nursing her first and only glass of cabernet sauvignon. Once they moved onto the bar, she had already made plans for her escape. After all, she had a reputation to uphold.
“You okay?” Jane asked and it jolted Lisbon out of her reverie. “You’re a little quiet.”
Lisbon shrugged. “You can talk.”
“Well, if I recall correctly, I’d already said I would have preferred to stay at the office and look over my notes. You were the one who insisted I came along.”
“Van Pelt would have been disappointed if you hadn’t,” she replied in a hushed breath.
“I get the feeling that she wouldn’t have been the only one.”
He was right, and inevitably so. It wasn’t just that she enjoyed his company more than the others, mostly out of a warm sense of familiarity. It was also because she knew they all had to work hard to make Douglas feel welcome and she could sense that Jane would be the sticking point in the whole operation. During his very first case with her, he had already scared off one of her agents for good, but in that situation she had almost been grateful for it. After all, Hannigan had been stuck in the old ways and resented having a younger, female boss. Being able to part company with him, on his terms, had been a blessing in disguise. And besides, Van Pelt, his replacement, had been a valuable asset to the team. She was determined that the newest employee would fit in just as well as Van Pelt had all those years ago.
And she was still slightly apprehensive about the concept of Jane hiding himself away from her again. Their trust for one another had been put to the test time and time again, and Lisbon didn’t want it to be irreconcilably broken over something she literally had no control over. Besides, as Sarah Harrigan had pointed out, she’d owed her. The very least she could have done for the woman was let Rigsby leave with good graces. Now, she just had to work on making it all easier on Jane. Briefly, she glanced across the table to where Cho, Van Pelt and Douglas were deep in conversation and Lisbon smiled slightly. It hadn’t taken them long to form a bond and she was grateful for that.
“She’s not a bad person, Jane. None of us wanted Rigsby to leave, but it was his choice,” she said simply. “You of all people should understand the importance of family.”
He fell silent briefly, and Lisbon felt a little guilty for playing that specific card. It was a low blow, but sometimes that kind of thing was needed just to make Jane see sense. When he smiled sadly back at her and shook his head, she was almost relieved that he had seemingly thrown away the tension of the moment so easily. Gently, he reached out and touched her arm with two fingers and she was surprised that he was the one offering her comfort instead of vice versa. But then, he had probably read her expression like a pro and realized that she felt like she had stepped over the line on this occasion.
“It shouldn’t have come to that though.”
“But it did,” she asserted, remembering not to remind Jane that it was partially (and if not, mostly) his fault that Rigsby had left at all. “And I’m sure we’ll be fine with Agent Douglas on the team.”
“She and Van Pelt seem to be getting along like a house on fire,” Jane murmured and nodded his head in their direction.
“Yeah,” Lisbon said in agreement. “Van Pelt’s probably pleased that she is no longer technically the rookie anymore.”
The rest of the meal passed without any consequence. Lisbon noted that Jane barely touched his food or his drink, but he did seem to relax at least. She was glad that he had finally decided to put some effort into socializing with the others, but she made a mental note to ensure that she thrust him into the situation a little more during cases. Perhaps if he actually worked with Douglas one to one for a bit, then he would realize exactly why she had chosen to hire her. The woman was confident and competent and was making every effort within the workplace. The very least she could expect was that her colleagues would do the same. And Van Pelt seemed to have taken it upon herself to ensure that Douglas was comfortable. Lisbon briefly wondered if that had anything to do with the fact that she was missing Rigsby. In spite of their romantic relationship ending a long while ago, it was still clear that the redhead held a candle for Wayne Rigsby and Lisbon couldn’t blame her for that. It was difficult to get over first loves. There were times when even she wondered what would have happened if she had gone through with the marriage to Greg. However, Lisbon knew that she had ultimately made the right decision. This job was what she had been made for.
Before they even made it to the bar, Jane drifted off without even bothering to make an excuse to anyone but her. Lisbon knew Jane; he was probably going to bury his head in the Red John case files once again; it was something he often did when he was maudlin. His leaving didn’t surprise her, but she could tell that Van Pelt was more than a little bit disappointed by his sudden disappearing act. She wanted to make her excuses too, but felt compelled to stay a little longer. She partially wanted to leave because she wanted to look through some case notes for their remaining open cases; just because they were celebrating the closure of one, it didn’t stop there from being other things to focus on. But also, she was feeling the events of the day catching up with her; Jane’s tricks always stretched her physically and emotionally. It wasn’t something that Lisbon dared to admit to Jane, but it didn’t stop it from having an affect either.
“You okay, boss?” Van Pelt asked quietly.
“Huh? Oh I’m fine.”
“Can I get you another drink?”
Lisbon glanced down at her soda water. The glass was half empty - or half full, depending on your point of view - and she didn’t really have any intention of finishing it either. She shook her head, but thanked Van Pelt for her consideration. Slowly, Lisbon stood up and picked up her jacket and purse. She had been here for a good hour now, and figured that she had at least respected Van Pelt and her meticulous plans now. It wasn’t going to be too rude of her to leave now. And besides, she didn’t always attend the team’s closed case celebrations anyway. ‘The price of power’ was what she called it. Sometimes, she had to make the sacrifices in her social life, just to make the team work. They were all well aware of it and Van Pelt had been pleased that she had agreed to come in the first place anyway.
“I’m going. Thank you, Grace. It’s been… nice,” Lisbon said carefully. “You’re good at organizing these things.”
“No, thank you for coming,” Van Pelt replied quickly and briefly touched her on the arm. “I didn’t think you would.”
“I’ll see you in the morning. No excuses, okay?”
“Okay. Have you seen Lilith anywhere? I was meant to be giving her a ride home…”
She shook her head and slipped out of the room. Briefly, she closed her eyes. Lisbon could feel a headache beginning to develop in the back of her head, but she decided that it wouldn’t trouble her anyway. She was going to be in bed soon, and a good night’s sleep always managed to get rid of them for her. Vaguely, she considered whether or not she actually had the energy to go into work again, as she had initially planned. Lisbon shook her head; the cases could wait until morning. She decided immediately that she would merely set her alarm earlier and get an extra hour or so in before the rest of the team arrived. Besides, she was half expecting them to arrive late anyway. Excepting Jane, the others had already had a relatively substantial amount to drink. They had barely noticed that she had spent most the night on soft drinks, apart from that one glass of wine. But naturally, that was a good thing.
The drive home was uneventful and she was glad when she finally parked up in front of her home. Heading straight home was definitely the right decision; she could already feel her head getting worse. When she walked through her front door, she almost slipped on something. Frowning, Lisbon leant down and picked it up. In between her thumb and forefinger, she rolled a little red glass bead and frowned. The last time she had heard any significance to them had been a couple of years ago, with Jane fabricating a story about Red John’s followers carrying one on them at all times. Quickly, she shook her head and placed it on the side. Last year, Annabeth had given her a necklace and bracelet set with multicolored beads for her birthday and it was probably from that. There was nothing suspicious about it at all. Instead, Lisbon promptly headed up to bed.
What she didn’t notice was that her safe had been tampered with, never mind what somebody had placed inside of it.
To Part Four