Fic: Legendary part 3
Part 1 here, part 2 here
“Anyone seen the boss?” I asked, looking around the bull pen.
“Sorry, Cho, she’s not in her office. I don’t think she’s been in at all.” Rigsby answered, looking around.
“Her car’s not in the parking lot” Grace said, coming back to her desk from the break room. On my look she defended her statement “What? I noticed when I came in this morning. It’s a habit, looking for cars I recognize and that might be out of place.”
I didn’t question her paranoia. It made sense after all that she’d been through. Jane didn’t say anything; he just lay on his couch. I decided to ask him directly. I walked up to him and stood there, arms crossed hoping that he would open his eyes and stop pretending not to notice I was there.
“Jane, have you heard form Lisbon this morning?”
The man opened his eyes and looked at me as if surprised that I was there. “Cho! I didn’t see you there.”
“Yeah, right.” I huffed. “Have you heard form Lisbon?”
“No, I haven’t. I’m sure she has a perfectly good reason for being late.”
“Maybe.” I shrugged and went back to my desk. It wasn’t like her to be late, and I was a bit worried, though I did my best to hide it. It wasn’t hard. I sat there for a few more minutes and was about to pick up my phone and call her when the phone rang.
“Cho,” I answered, not bothering to look at the caller ID. The voice on the other end was slightly panicked, but hiding it well. Jane wasn’t the only one who could pick up on subtle ques. I kept my face passive as I listened and then hung up without saying goodbye at the end of the conversation.
“We’ve got a case.” I said, grabbing my suite coat off the back of my chair and putting it on.
“Where at?” Grace asked strapping on her gun.
“Lisbon’s neighbor.” I saw Jane’s head pop up out of the corner of my eye.
“And what has her neighbor done that has warranted the attention of the CBI’s serious crimes unit?” Jane asked as he got up and walked with the rest of us to the elevator.
“She got killed by Red John.”
I watched from a distance as the emergency vehicles first arrived. And then as Teresa, lovely lovely Teresa, spoke to the man, the boyfriend. I knew from the look on her face that she knew I had left this present for her. I didn’t have to wait much longer before the rest of my friends arrived. Patrick Jane. My dear old friend. He looked panicked. But that was to be expected. He always did when I’d left a surprise for him. I watched as they all went into the house and then walked away, my dog sniffing in front of me.
I don’t know how I made the phone call to Cho, or why I had picked him to call. Maybe because I knew of all the people on my team that he would remain the calmest. I knew I couldn’t call Jane. He would fly off the handle and not tell the team where he was going; just show up here alone and panicked. Van Pelt had too much history with Red John herself to make it all together safe for her to be the first to know that he’d stuck this close to home. And Rigsby was just too happy. His life was going too well to have to be the bearer of bad news.
I don’t know how long it took them to get to my place. I doubt it was the twenty minutes it usually takes me. I’ve no doubt that sirens may have been applied, even though the woman in the bed in front of me was dead.
The firefighters, and later the EMTs didn’t touch the body. When SACPD arrived they talked to the boyfriend quickly for me, asking if he had touched the body. And then I sent everyone away from the room. I stood there alone, just me and that face in a staring contest I was sure to loose, until Jane arrived by my side
“You’re not going to figure it out by staring at it.” He said quietly in my ear, causing me to jump even though I knew he had joined me in the room.
“I keep hoping it was a mistake.”
“It wasn’t.”
“I know.”
We look at the face, as it waiting for it to do a trick or change in some way, but it didn’t. It was steadfast and unmovable; a testament forever to the horror that had taken place in this room.
“He knows where I live.”
Jane side stepped towards me as if to offer comfort but he doesn’t reach out the last few inches and touch me.
“Did you ever doubt that?” His voice was almost amused and did nothing to calm the growing sense of fear and dread gathering in the pit of my stomach.
“I had hopped…” I trailed off. I knew intuitively that Red John knew more about us than we knew about him. He’d hacked into the secure federal database at least once that we knew of. He’d had several moles positioned within the CBI and in close proximity to not only me and my team but all the information we had on Red John as well. One of the moles had even been intimately connected to my team. We had trusted him completely and had almost died because of that trust.
“It’s a change from normal.” Jane said, breaking his gaze of the wall. His comment shook me and I looked over at him, I could still see the face out of the corner of my eye.
“How so?” I could hear people coming up the stairs but ignored the.
“It doesn’t look like he’s taunting me with this killing.” He paused and I turned my full attention to him. I knew the people were still coming up the stairs, I knew that we wouldn’t be alone with our thoughts and secrets much longer. “He’s taunting you.”
part 4 here
“Anyone seen the boss?” I asked, looking around the bull pen.
“Sorry, Cho, she’s not in her office. I don’t think she’s been in at all.” Rigsby answered, looking around.
“Her car’s not in the parking lot” Grace said, coming back to her desk from the break room. On my look she defended her statement “What? I noticed when I came in this morning. It’s a habit, looking for cars I recognize and that might be out of place.”
I didn’t question her paranoia. It made sense after all that she’d been through. Jane didn’t say anything; he just lay on his couch. I decided to ask him directly. I walked up to him and stood there, arms crossed hoping that he would open his eyes and stop pretending not to notice I was there.
“Jane, have you heard form Lisbon this morning?”
The man opened his eyes and looked at me as if surprised that I was there. “Cho! I didn’t see you there.”
“Yeah, right.” I huffed. “Have you heard form Lisbon?”
“No, I haven’t. I’m sure she has a perfectly good reason for being late.”
“Maybe.” I shrugged and went back to my desk. It wasn’t like her to be late, and I was a bit worried, though I did my best to hide it. It wasn’t hard. I sat there for a few more minutes and was about to pick up my phone and call her when the phone rang.
“Cho,” I answered, not bothering to look at the caller ID. The voice on the other end was slightly panicked, but hiding it well. Jane wasn’t the only one who could pick up on subtle ques. I kept my face passive as I listened and then hung up without saying goodbye at the end of the conversation.
“We’ve got a case.” I said, grabbing my suite coat off the back of my chair and putting it on.
“Where at?” Grace asked strapping on her gun.
“Lisbon’s neighbor.” I saw Jane’s head pop up out of the corner of my eye.
“And what has her neighbor done that has warranted the attention of the CBI’s serious crimes unit?” Jane asked as he got up and walked with the rest of us to the elevator.
“She got killed by Red John.”
I watched from a distance as the emergency vehicles first arrived. And then as Teresa, lovely lovely Teresa, spoke to the man, the boyfriend. I knew from the look on her face that she knew I had left this present for her. I didn’t have to wait much longer before the rest of my friends arrived. Patrick Jane. My dear old friend. He looked panicked. But that was to be expected. He always did when I’d left a surprise for him. I watched as they all went into the house and then walked away, my dog sniffing in front of me.
I don’t know how I made the phone call to Cho, or why I had picked him to call. Maybe because I knew of all the people on my team that he would remain the calmest. I knew I couldn’t call Jane. He would fly off the handle and not tell the team where he was going; just show up here alone and panicked. Van Pelt had too much history with Red John herself to make it all together safe for her to be the first to know that he’d stuck this close to home. And Rigsby was just too happy. His life was going too well to have to be the bearer of bad news.
I don’t know how long it took them to get to my place. I doubt it was the twenty minutes it usually takes me. I’ve no doubt that sirens may have been applied, even though the woman in the bed in front of me was dead.
The firefighters, and later the EMTs didn’t touch the body. When SACPD arrived they talked to the boyfriend quickly for me, asking if he had touched the body. And then I sent everyone away from the room. I stood there alone, just me and that face in a staring contest I was sure to loose, until Jane arrived by my side
“You’re not going to figure it out by staring at it.” He said quietly in my ear, causing me to jump even though I knew he had joined me in the room.
“I keep hoping it was a mistake.”
“It wasn’t.”
“I know.”
We look at the face, as it waiting for it to do a trick or change in some way, but it didn’t. It was steadfast and unmovable; a testament forever to the horror that had taken place in this room.
“He knows where I live.”
Jane side stepped towards me as if to offer comfort but he doesn’t reach out the last few inches and touch me.
“Did you ever doubt that?” His voice was almost amused and did nothing to calm the growing sense of fear and dread gathering in the pit of my stomach.
“I had hopped…” I trailed off. I knew intuitively that Red John knew more about us than we knew about him. He’d hacked into the secure federal database at least once that we knew of. He’d had several moles positioned within the CBI and in close proximity to not only me and my team but all the information we had on Red John as well. One of the moles had even been intimately connected to my team. We had trusted him completely and had almost died because of that trust.
“It’s a change from normal.” Jane said, breaking his gaze of the wall. His comment shook me and I looked over at him, I could still see the face out of the corner of my eye.
“How so?” I could hear people coming up the stairs but ignored the.
“It doesn’t look like he’s taunting me with this killing.” He paused and I turned my full attention to him. I knew the people were still coming up the stairs, I knew that we wouldn’t be alone with our thoughts and secrets much longer. “He’s taunting you.”
part 4 here