The River With a Crimson Current-The Mentalist

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Patrick Jane

Grace and I walk along the corridor and she goes to the bullpen as I enter the kitchenette. I fill the kettle with water and put it on to boil. I get my cup and saucer out of the cupboard then dig around for a teabag.

"Hey, Jane! Where did you take Grace? You know she's not meant to be out in the field! What if she'd fallen?"

"Well there's chance of that anywhere,'' I point out to a rather aggravated Rigsby. He steps closer to me, from his posture and expression, I'm guessing a threatening action, although it really does not have that affect.

"But there's help here. What if she'd have fallen out there, you wouldn't have been able to do anything."

"Mmm... Well I'd have tried my best."

"Yeah well-"

"Come on Rigsby, she's a big girl, you obviously couldn't see her inner boredom."

"I need to make sure that she's safe, I know Grace and I know that she will try to please everyone and do everything people ask without putting herself first."

"Well I wasn't exactly asking her to free run across the whole of Sacramento. But I understand your point and I'll take it into consideration."

"... Good. Don't do it again."

"Okeydokey."

"Promise me."

"I promise."

"See you around."

And he leaves. I take the teabag I've been holding for the last few seconds and throw it over my shoulder into the cup.

"Hah haaaah," I say as I see it sitting in the bottom, my aim is perfect.

"You could be shooter for Sacramento's basketball team," Lisbon's cheery voice says. I turn around to see her and get ready to have another battering. "I'm not going to have a go at you."

"Oh-"

I look down at the floor and suck my lips together.

"Coffee?" I offer.

"Patrick Jane being a gentleman, I never thought I'd see the day. Please though."

After a minute or two of waiting in silence, I pour boiling water into a mug and my cup.

"You seem ever so happy today. What's happened?"

"I'm not allowed to be happy without a reason?" She asks smiling.

"No no... It's nice to see you smile... Here you go," I hand her the mug with coffee in.

"Thank you... It's nice."

I walk into the bullpen with my cup balanced on my saucer and my saucer in my hand. I sit on my worn, leather couch and lean back into the cushions. I then slowly take a sip of my tea and enjoy the feel as it slides easily down my throat and warms my stomach. Lisbon walks past, going towards the middle of the bullpen, as she does the piece of dust that I've been watching drifts across the surface of my desk. Somehow my mind meets Grace's concern over Milly again.

"Okay, so there's something odd about the Benito's. We need to find out what, but focus on the case. Perhaps with time the thing between them will reveal itself," Lisbon says to us all. "Has the coroner found anything else?"

"Not yet. But the time of death was between ten and midnight," Cho says.

Milly told me that Menna only wears suits to work... Meaning...

"She may have been killed around that time. But she was taken before..." I say. They all turn to look at me. "Milly said that Menna only wears suits to work... She washed up in a suit, meaning, she was either going to, or from work when she was taken."

Van Pelt looks up from the case file she's been studying.

"We could ask Carla Benito if she was in work the day of her murder?"

"Wouldn't she have told us before?" Rigsby asks.

Lisbon turns to face him.

"Not necessarily. She may not have realised that's the sort of information we need to know."

"I'll call her," Cho says picking up his phone.

"Jane, we need to find a diary or calendar, see where she was going and who she was meeting."

"Okay. It'll be a man of some kind... As she was going to wear a tight fitting dress, to flaunt her... sexual appeal."

"Okay... Do you know who?"

"I have a few in mind..."

"Who?"

"Blake Jenson, Peter Brinston or Adam O'Donnel."

"I'll run a check on them," Grace says already tapping away on her computer.

Lisbon nods then turns to face me.

"Her patients?"

"Yes... She found comfort out of the misfortune of other people's lives... I think she was more a shrink than a doctor who attends to owies."

Van Pelt looks at Lisbon.

"They're all located here in Sacramento. I'll forward the addresses on to you."

"Okay great," Lisbon says. "Van Pelt, you and Cho go and have a chat with Bonaventura. Rigsby, you come with us. We may need back up."

Cho nods and continues talking on the phone, Van Pelt picks up the file then leaves in the direction of the interrogation rooms and Rigsby pull his jacket on then follows Lisbon out of the bullpen. I too get up but go to the kitchenette where I place my tea on the side then walk out to join them.

Rigsby throws the bulletproof vests into the back then jumps in alongside them. Lisbon takes to the wheel and I sit in the passenger seat.

"Where we going first Boss?" Rigsby asks leaning forward so that his head just about appears between our seats.

"I was thinking Blake Jenson?"

"Sure."

We pull up outside a house that looks pretty abandoned to me. Rigsby and Lisbon both pull on their rather different sized vests and start walking toward the front door. Lisbon tries the handle but it won't turn so motions for Rigsby to do his business. He pulls out a wallet with different instruments inside then gets straight to work with picking the lock and within seconds the door swings open. They both enter in a slightly crouched position with one hand holding a torch whilst supporting the other with a gun. They head off in separate directions spinning around and aiming at various things. I decide to wait out this procedure by the front door, an easy escape if necessary.

"Clear!" They both keep calling out as they check each room.

When they've finished they meet me in my waiting spot where Lisbon has a face like thunder.

"Damn it. That's one suspect gone already. Possibly someone who could have made a statement."

"Well we still have the others to question. Who knows what we'll find there... What we need to do is get onto her computer and read Blake's details. It'll say on there where he lives won't it?" I ask.

"Yes, probably. But we can't. Not after what happened last time..."

"We could also see when his last appointment was."

"Why?"

"It might explain his disappearance."

"Nah, this house looks as though it's been abandoned for some time," Rigsby says. We start walking back to the car and they take off their bulletproof vests, then we all climb in and head to the next patient.