The River With a Crimson Current-The Mentalist

Chapter Twenty Three

Chapter Twenty Three

Grace Van Pelt

We stand in the corridor while people swerve around us and I try to pull myself together.

"You need to tell someone," Jane begins, as if he knows it all. "Rigsby, Lisbon, I even heard Cho's a good listener too." At that we both give a shaky smile.

"She won't let me help her Jane..." I start with a quiver in my voice and my eyes becoming blurry. I glance up at the ceiling trying to blink away the tears. Unexpectedly, Jane hovers a hand on my back and walks me to the stairs. When we reach his attic he unbolts the door and then firmly closes it once we're inside.

"It's okay... No one can see you..." He murmurs, so I have the option to hear him or not. I stand at the window and don't care whether the tears in my eyes are obvious. I won't cry, but that doesn't stop me from feeling crap.

"I know what's wrong Jane..."

He doesn't reply, simply waits for me to continue. "She didn't want me to tell anyone or do anything about it..." I remember back to when I'd found her... Lying on her bed...

"And you listened to her?" Jane asks softly.

"Yes. No... I-I don't know... I wanted to tell someone and I wanted to do something. I didn't because..." Why didn't I?

"Because of what Grace?.."

I drop my last sentence and move on... "She's being... Sexually abused..." I mutter with disgust evident in my voice. "I don't know what to do..."

"You do."

I turn to face him. How would he know? "You know what to do Grace. You're just afraid of what might happen."

I hold my gaze on him and almost immediately he's looking me in the eye. "I'll help you," he offers, his tone not as serious as it was before, but genuine. "First thing we do is get Lisbon onboard. She probably has connections with people that can help with this sort of thing."

"And then we get Milly," I add.

"There we go, we have a plan already," he gives a reassuring smile. "You're doing a good thing here Grace."

I grin at him and he gives me a thumbs up in return.

"Let's get this show on the road," he says and leads the way back downstairs.

I keep forgetting that Jane once had a family, and because misfortune decided to choose him, it all got taken away in a sharp attempt of bringing him back to reality... But all it's really done is prevent him from leading a normal life. He lives in a fake red world surrounded by one man, and one man only, Red John... I keep having to remind myself that Milly won't be abandoned in such a place, instead she'll be allowed the freedom an innocent girl like her deserves... And as much as I'd prefer there not to be a situation like this, I'm glad that I'll be here to help her.