Ronnie Masters | the MENTALIST (COMPLETE)

THE THIN RED LINE : pt I

 The hotel room smelled of coppery blood. Ronnie shuffled in after Cho. Right after she noticed that there were far too many people in a $50 hotel room, she noticed the two bodies splayed out on the floor, flesh mangled and clothes splattered with blood. Her train of thought screeched to a halt and died as her eyes coasted over the man and the woman who'd lost their lives. She shot a glance at Cho, but he was already mentally filing away details as soon as he could see them.

It was Minelli who had been first called to the scene. He greeted Lisbon and Jane, looking a little flustered and overwhelmed as he did. "Glad you could make it. We have a young female, Patricia Matigan, and Joseph Purcell, who was gonna be the star witness in California vs. Carris, which was one of the attorney general's favorite upcoming narcotics cases." He pulled Lisbon a little closer to the crime scene, all but screaming at her to jump in and take over the investigation.

Ronnie nodded a greeting to him when he noticed her.

Lisbon looked skeptical. "State's witness, and no police protection?" Her gaze coasted to Ronnie for a split second, like she was hoping for some backup before she remembered that the topic had been resurfaced and could have been sensitive.

The younger agent had no such compunction. She shrugged and frowned, agreeing with the boss's sentiment. "Seems weird to me. That's not how I had it."

Minelli looked equally concerned with the situation. "Uh-huh; Davis P.D. had it covered; that is, until Purcell went AWOL a few weeks ago. Didn't want to testify I guess," His eyes fell to Joseph Purcell, doing his best to hide his annoyance at the actions of what had recently become a corpse. "With Purcell dead, the case against Carris dies, too. He walks. So obviously, guys, for all of our sakes, this is a must-close. Davis P.D. is still running the Carris case, by the way, so we have to work with them. Don't freeze 'em out."

Everything he said only served to make Lisbon more agitated. Shoulders growing more and more tense with each passing second, she glared around the room heatedly. "Who is Carris? And where is he or she right now?"

Jane's attention was already scouring the room, his blue eyes sharp and piercing.

Ronnie would hate to be on the other end of his deductive prowess.

"Rick Carris is the man to know in the Davis meth business. He was busted a month ago after a big, expensive operation. He's out and about on $2 million bond. Purcell here is one of his top street captains. Look at that. This fool is state's witness against the biggest cocaine dealer in the county, and he's dealing the same drug out of his own motel room. Like Carris wouldn't hear about that. He must have had a death wish." Minelli grumbled.

Ronnie couldn't help but agree. She'd heard Carris' name before, floating around Carla's operation. She'd used him a couple times as a front for her trafficking business. Ronnie herself had run some of Carris' cocaine for him, luring poor clueless women into the darker shadows of the streets, never to be heard from again. Needless to say, she wasn't much fan of Rick Carris or his bustling business. "Wouldn't surprise me if this was his handiwork."

That caught Lisbon's ears. "You know this guy?"