Consultant for the CBI: a vocation for Patrick Jane

Chapter 2

They had been working for long hours now. "They", meaning the agent Kimball Cho, ex-soldier non influenceable, impassive, very good at questionings because he could make the suspects confessed quickly; the agent Wayne Rigsby, more comfortable on the field, the agent Grace Van Pelt, the new one, the genius in computer who made the sofwares work in a very effective way, and Teresa Lisbon their boss. This team was the most competent in California and it was often said that they were best than a lot of the F.B.I units. Virgil Minelli was the headmaster of the CBI, and, very influenceable, often accepted the improper plans of the 4 heroes. Yes, they could be considered as heroes: they had solved more cases than the all teams of the CBI together.

They had no lead to follow for the on-going investigation, which was very rare. Lisbon was desperate when she saw the man of the mall through the blind of her office. She smiled and went out of to greet him :

"Sir! It's a pleasure to meet you again. May I help you?

" Teresa Lisbon? Patrick Jane, nice to meet you. I came to give you that back. I don't know how it arrived in my pocket, I think it's when I ran into you.

"Come in my office. I wonder how my badge came in your posession Mr Jane" , she said, suspecting him of having stolen it.

He guessed what she was thinking and replied:

"You don't think I actually stole it, do you? Why would I have taken a badge? Why would I have given it back to you? No agent, I am not a thief. I admit that I know pretty well how to steal objects, and my hand may have been inconveniently mislead. I apologize."

"It's okay, thank you for having brought it me back", Lisbon said, blushing.

Jane went towards the door:

"You're welcome. It must be annoying to be stuck on a case, am I wrong?"

"Yes it is." She realized that there were no way he could know they were stuck. "How do you know?" She said, astonished.

"Meh, the mess of the papers on your desk show that you read them over and over again because you are sure there is a clue in them. The ones in the center are just some paper work that you fill in because you are bored and it's the only thing that makes you feel useful. Those photos are turned over, because you want people to believe that you have a lead but I bet those are pictures of the last murder. Am I right?"

She was staring at him, open-mouthed.

"Every detail is exact."

She found that deduction impressive. Maybe a little too easy for Sherlock Holmes, but enough extraordinary to amaze Agent Lisbon, which was not an easy thing. But that Patrick Jane had something special and she was determined to know him better. Before he left, he told her:

"Cancel your date tonight. This man isn't good enough for you."