Ronnie Masters | the MENTALIST (COMPLETE)

LADIES IN RED : pt II

"Minelli will make sure Lisbon knows." Cho said, one hand on the steering wheel, eyes on the road. The sky had gone dark, only the other cars on the road and the city lights illuminating the drive.

Ronnie had told him as soon as they got in their car after van Pelt found a lead on the money. She shrugged one shoulder, frowning. "I mean, yeah, but he's not going to give her the case. He's going to want to keep me as far away from it as possible. I think he's worried about my mental state regressing. If you think Jane hypnotizes people to get mind control, you should meet my mother."

Carla Masters had never hypnotized her, strictly speaking, but her ability to manipulate and control fear as an incentive felt like brainwashing. There had been times that Ronnie truly believed her actions were morally justified, only to sit back hours later and realize what she'd done.

He glanced at her, thinking. "What is Chiles?"

A terrible dread filing her chest, like the time she'd checked her bank statements and realized she wouldn't have enough money to make the month's rent, Ronnie put her arm up on the sill and watched the city fly by in the dark.

Van Pelt had pointed them to Sausalito, an address that belonged to a Happy Landings paper company. Lisbon and Jane had taken the CBI van and followed close behind Cho.

"Simon Chiles was one of my mom's runners. Except he didn't just work for my mom, he was also an undercover cop. Once he had info on Carla, he filed his report with his supervisors and left the case. We saw it as a runner losing contact. My mom tracked him down, found out what happened, and showed up at his house one night. They found his body two days later." Ronnie pursed her lips, her mom's anger returning to mind as the memories unfolded once more.

The week that Chiles had been killed had been one of the worst that Ronnie could remember. Carla finding out that she'd been had by a cop put her in a furious mood, and everyone around her paid for it, starting with Ronnie. Being at the other end of that anger still haunted her nightmares, even after six years.

Cho held his silence for a long time. Even though he had his own rough background, the sheer difference between their pasts made it difficult for him to comprehend everything she'd suffered through. He could never claim to have been used and tortured by his own mother.

When at last he did speak, he sighed deeply and grimaced a little. "Make sure to lock your doors at night."

THE MENTALIST

The air smelled like sea water. A dock lay before them, made of old, rotted wood boards. A wrought-iron gate divided the concrete sidewalk from the dock. "Huh. Doesn't look like a copy paper business, does it?" Cho mused, the CBI agents approaching a boat dock.

Jane smirked, gazing around appreciatively. "Uh, no."

Lisbon pulled open the gate, exhausted. "This is it. You coming aboard?" She looked to Jane questioningly as Cho and Ronnie passed through the gate before her.

Jane shrugged. "Why not?"

Up ahead, the other two headed for the boat tied up at the moor. "If Sands lied about this, what else did he cover up?" Cho wondered, hand on the grip of his sidearm.

Ronnie peered over the side of the dock into the black water, shivering as she imagined being pushed in, struggling in the depths. "Maybe he's got a bank full of money in Switzerland. That's the new big thing, right?" She wondered if her mother planned on drowning her.

The three CBI agents and the consultant board the boat, observing the dark surroundings hesitantly.

"The place is trashed." Lisbon murmured, staring around the ransacked boat in the dim light. She nodded for Cho to go up to the deck and look around. At Ronnie's hesitation, she gestured for her to follow him.