Through The Magenta Night

Through the Magenta Night

     It didn’t even seem like they were moving.  It appeared they were just suspended above the clouds.  Teresa Lisbon laughed to herself as she looked out at the plane window.  Everything seemed like a line of poetry waiting to be written since her marriage to Patrick Jane.  Fairy tales might be the stuff of books but to her it all seemed real now.  She was on an endless high of happiness and joy.  Her joy, though, was mixed with sadness right now.  Patrick and their six month old son were at home in Texas meanwhile she, her boss Kimball Cho and young agent Jason Wylie were on route to Seattle.  It was her first time away from her happy adobe and she already felt a void.  

    “They’re fine,” Cho said from beside her and she couldn’t suppress a grin.  He could read her mind like Jane sometimes.

     “I hope Jane hasn’t burned down the cabin yet,” Lisbon said in response.

     “Good thing you are so close to water,” Cho replied not looking up from his book.  Cho had become an even more important feature in their lives since her pregnancy.  He had become the mediator between them.  He didn’t want anything to happen to Lisbon but he also understood that she needed to be out in the field doing what she did best.  Seeing he was the boss when he said no or yes both Lisbon and Jane ended up listening.  It made home life easier.  Lisbon knew that Jane felt confident in Cho’s ability to bring his wife back to him.  Cho had also picked out their son’s name.  They hadn’t been able to decide and Cho, tired of it, simply had said “David.”  They both realized that the name worked and that it held significance for Kimball- it was the name of his friend who died in Oakland while they were the CBI team.  It was Lisbon who provided the middle name and their blonde, green eyed boy was baptized David Lisbon Jane. 

     The pilot came on telling them to put their devices away, put their tray tables in the upright position.  Lisbon leaned over Cho and nudged the sleeping Wylie who grunted, removed his ear buds and rubbed his eyes.   Lisbon felt anxious.  She wanted to testify in the Talbot case and get back home as quickly as possible.  It didn’t make any sense to her that due to publicity issues they had to move the case to such a far distance away.  There was only one positive with this trip- seeing again an old friend.

     She heard rather than saw her once they had disembarked the plane. “Hey you,” Lisbon turned, smiling brightly at her friend and giving her a hug.  Kim Fischer hugged her back tightly.  “So sorry I couldn’t make the wedding.”

     “Your mom was in intensive care, you couldn’t leave.”

     “She is doing much better so hopefully soon I can get back to Texas and see your little mini Jane,” Kim said with a grin.

      “Kim,” Cho said shaking her hand and giving her a nod.  “I am glad you are our liaison here.”

     “Thanks, Kimball,” she said looking over at Wylie.  “Jason, you look more mature!  You might even not get carded anymore.”

      Wylie laughed shyly and extended her a hug. “We sure missed you.”

      “I missed you guys, too.  Come on, my SUV is waiting to drop you guys at your hotel and then I am buying you dinner.”

       “Excellent,” Lisbon said, “Let me just call Jane and I will be right with you.”  

      The phone rang twice before she heard his voice.  “Teresa.”

     “Hi,” she said, “We landed safely.  Kim is here and we are heading out to dinner.”

      “Say hi for me.  David and I are munching on mom’s homemade milk right now.”

       She heard the humor in his voice but still asked: “Just David right?”

      “Yes, dear, I have a cup of tea actually.  Loosen up a bit you are a single lady on the prowl tonight.”

       “Right, you just say that because of whom I am with.”

       “Maybe,” he laughed.

       “Love you, got to go.”

       Jane said his goodbye and the pair disconnected.

       “Does she always have that sick smirk on her face now?” Lisbon heard Kim asking.

        “Yup,” Cho responded. 

        The old friends enjoyed a laugh and headed for the waiting SUV.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

     Dinner was fabulous.  Kim brought them to a seafood restaurant that specialized in lazy man lobster.  Lisbon let herself settle in enjoying the lobster, the wine, the conversation among friends.  They laughed about Kim meeting Jane in a sarong.  They grew somber when Wylie brought up Michelle Vega.  It was as if time hadn’t really passed and they were all just living in the present now.  Shortly after 8 Kim dropped them off at their hotel where they checked in.  It would be their home away from home for the next three days.  Lisbon couldn’t wait to call Jane again and see how everything was.  Cho, Wylie and her all had adjourning rooms on the sixth floor of Hotel Seattle at the Port.  They said their goodnights and each one used their cards and entered their rooms.  

     A chill went up Lisbon’s spine the minute she did.  Her sixth sense after years of being a cop told her something was amiss.  She reached instinctively for her gun, but no metal was on her hip.  She only had her smarts and deft hands.  Anyone else probably would have turned around and went to knock on Cho’s door for backup but Lisbon was too use to taking care of herself.  She proceeded slowly into the room, not turning on the lights, letting her eyes adjust to the dark.  There was slight movement next to the curtain.  She made a running dash and threw herself at the body.  She felt herself collide with another and hard the thump of a body hitting the ground.  

     Whoever this guy was, he was strong. He shoved Lisbon hard forcing her to fall off him.  He retreated out of the room but Lisbon was right behind him.  She yelled at Cho’s door as she ran past and followed the intruder down the hall to the stairwell.  The man who was in her room was tall with a black jacket and short dark hair.  He was of a slight build but muscular.  Lisbon ran into the stairwell thinking the pursuit would include some exercise running down the stairs.  Instead the second she went through the door strong hands grabbed her and pushed her already in motion body head first down the stairs.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

     One of the saving graces of living in an abuse household was that Teresa Lisbon’s body could take a lot of pain.  Her head hit the stairs but she automatically rolled herself up so the remaining fall was pretty unpainful.  Ignoring the head bruise she jumped back up on her feet to the shock of her assailant. He was young and she easily read him.  

     “You don’t know who I am.  You were just told to break into my room.  Stole the master card from the maid, right?  You are realizing now that your boss didn’t pay you well enough for this.”

     Cho burst through the door then grabbing the guy’s arm and pushing him to the ground.  “You okay?” he yelled to her.

      “I’m fine.  Nothing I can’t take.  I think we need to give Kim a call though.  The night isn’t over with yet.”

     Lisbon sipped coffee from behind the two way mirror at Seattle’s FBI office.  Cho was inside the interrogation room with Kim trying to gleam information from the assailant.  Her head throbbed a bit but she told no one that.  No need to worry even Wylie with such a matter.  She had called Jane and lied saying she was heading to bed.  He seemed to believe her.  Then again he hadn’t figured out she was withholding the pregnancy so sometimes she could actually fool him.  

     So far Cho had only discovered that the man did indeed swipe the master key card for the room and that he chose one room but didn’t know who was staying in it.  He didn’t explain why.  He wouldn’t admit that someone had hired him or that he was simply a thief.  He wouldn’t even reveal his name.  Lisbon could tell there was more to the story but perhaps fear was keeping him from saying anything.   Jane needed to be here, she thought, but pushed it from her mind.  

     They had agreed that Lisbon would continue to work for the FBI and Jane would stay home with David.  Once in a while via Skype Jane still consulted but pissing off people, setting up schemes, and nearly getting himself killed had ended.  Lisbon still loved her job but some of the fun was now missing from it.  Jane had made everything better even those moments she had wanted to throttle him.  

     What would Jane do right now, she mused, sipping the coffee.  It suddenly became so clear.  She hopped up, left the coffee on the desk and walked right into the closed interrogation room.  

     Kim jumped and Cho looked a bit startled.  Lisbon leaned over to her assailant.  “Hi, I’m Teresa Lisbon,” she said extending out her hand.  The man shook it and she felt his pulse racing.  “Do you like dogs?”

     The man looked at her strangely and then a small smile appeared.  “Yeah, I had a boxer mix growing up.”  His hand was still in her own and she felt his pulse slowing.  

     “What was his name?”

      “Record.  Silly name.  My younger brother named him.”

      The pulse was at a normal rate.  “You didn’t get to choose the name?” 

Teresa Lisbon asked.

       “No, my father wanted Timmy to choose.”  The pulse quickened in a sharp accord.

      “That isn’t easy.  What would you have chosen as your dog’s name?”

     “Uncle Ben.”

      “Like the rice box?” Kim injected.

     The man shook his head, “No, like Peter Parker’s Uncle.”

     Lisbon released his hand.  She knew what to do now.  “You have a favorite superhero?  My husband is a Daredevil fan.”

     “Spiderman.  Always liked him best.”

      “Tobey fan or Andrew fan?”

      “Don’t tell anyone but I preferred Tobey’s movie.”

      “You’re secret is safe.  You have a lot of secrets don’t you.”

      He shook his head.

      “You didn’t know who I was but you knew you had to break into one of the hotel rooms that housed the FBI agents testifying in the Talbot case.”

       He shook his head again.  “No, I know nothing.”

       Lisbon walked behind him seeing his reflection in the glass.  His shoulder muscles were tight.  “You were supposed to stay in the room until an agent returned.  Scare us, nope not that.  But make it so we had a long night the day before we testified.  A feeble attempt by your boss to turn the case in Talbot’s favor.”

     “I don’t know anything.”

     “The defense attorney so wanted the case moved and he pushed for Seattle. Is that because you live here?”

      The man looked down at his hands.

     Lisbon continued.  “Ah, yes, you were the only one stupid enough to take that assignment.  But it wasn’t stupidity actually that led you to doing it.  Nope, you wanted daddy’s love finally.  Didn’t you, Jeffrey?”

     The man’s head shot up.  “What are you psychic?” 

     “No, Jeffrey, psychic’s don’t exist.  You told me all I need to know.  Your dad may have been hired by Talbot.  He may think he is a good defense lawyer but we have the evidence of Talbot’s fraud, enough to put him away for a long time.  Now, Jeffrey, you have the chance to do something smart.  A real father wouldn’t risk putting his kid in jail.  You tell us why you were in my hotel room and we can work out a plea agreement.”

     “I don’t know,” Jeffrey said, tears rolling down his cheeks.

     “With great power comes what did Uncle Ben say in the movie?” Lisbon asked him.

      “With great power comes great responsibility.”

      “You have that power now, what are you going to do?”

      “Okay, I’ll tell you what you need to know.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

     By 1 they had the warrants to search the hotel room of Dean Mongrove, father of Jeffrey.  He was staying at a Hilton two blocks down from their hotel.  At 2 he was calling for his own lawyer and pleading the fifth.  Then at 3:30 Lisbon, Cho and Wylie headed back to their hotel.

      “I’m beat and court is at 8.”

     “Wylie, you are young, suck it up,” Cho retorted to the man.

    “Try to get some sleep, guys,” Kim said as she pulled up to the front of  their hotel.  “Most likely it will be a mistrial now anyways so you probably can be back in bed by 10.”

     “Sounds good to me,” Wylie said with a pronounced yawn.

     “Close your mouth,” Cho told him as Lisbon stiffed a laugh.

     “You sure you are okay?” Kim asked her friend as Lisbon exited the SUV.  

      “Right as rain, as Jane would say.” 

       After their good nights sleep came quickly to Lisbon.  She hadn’t had a nightmare since marrying Jane but now one plagued her.  She was chasing Jeffrey in her dream but someone else grabbed her from behind.  He was strong and she couldn’t escape his grasp.  There was no Cho running behind her, no Wylie in the background.  Jeffrey wasn’t scared he was sneering at her.  He removed his jacket and then pushed down the top of his shirt.  On his shoulder were three dots.

       Lisbon woke with a start.  Her hair was matted with sweat, her heart racing.  She hadn’t allowed herself to really think of Red John since the day Abbott had driven her, Cho, Rigsby and Van Pelt to his final dying spot.

      She remembered it so well.  They were still in the FBI custody.  No phones, no weapons, no careers.  Abbott though wanted them to know they hadn’t lost everything in vein.  She saw that hard exterior beginning to crumble then until he became the Dennis Abbott she grew to love.

      Tom McAllister was on the ground adjacent to a public park.  He was lying down, all the life gone out of him.  One bullet in his gut and red welts around his neck.  Lisbon had realized instantly that Jane had strangled him.  She had come to terms with the fact that Jane was going to kill Red John.  She didn’t agree with revenge but McAllister’s Blake Association had connections everywhere and it was very possible he could have escaped jail.  Hell, Lorelei Martins was made to disappear in the system and Jane hatched a plan to release her.  Not to mention he would have Lisbon escape from the greybar hotel and got himself out a time ago.  She understood Jane had to know the terror was over.  She wasn’t expecting that he would use his own hand to bring him down though.  Jane was always the scared one, the one needing her to save him, the one who didn’t throw a punch.  

     For a moment then she was angry at him.  He had ruined their lives and strangled a man.  He wasn’t who she hoped he was.  He hadn’t cared about her, she thought, just the revenge.  

     For three weeks the FBI had searched for Jane.  Each member of his CBI family was put in 24 hour watch with no access to any phone, tv etc.  There was trace of him and eventually the FBI moved on to new criminals to apprehend putting the capture of Patrick Jane on the back burner and finally letting Lisbon and company out of their confines.  It was still a few days until she got back her phone.  They had to go to court and face a judge, be told the CBI was no longer and turn in their badges for the organization.  Abbott, in the end, had made sure their careers weren’t forever tarnished- no charges set against them.

     Lisbon had returned back to her apartment feeling emotionally drained.  Everything she had loved was gone- the CBI, the friends, Jane.  This was why she had built up walls so she wouldn’t have to feel like this.  Wiping away the tears she finally let herself cry, she plugged in her phone, charging it up.  An unknown number appeared on the screen.  A voicemail.  Her heart had raced.  She knew it was him.  She listened to it about 50 times that night before she let herself sleep.  But sleep hadn’t come.  She heard the regret in his voice.  He had done what he needed to do but a part of him was sorry that he did.  A part of him was the person she always believed he was.  His last act before vanishing was to call her, to let her know he was ok and that he would miss her.  If a thank you from Patrick Jane was a big deal well this was an enormous deal.  She still had her phone.  Even after being married to him and the mother of his child she couldn’t upgrade phones and lose that message.  The phone had survived an explosion; years of her slamming it down…it had earned its long life.  

     For months she didn’t work, sitting at home waiting for Jane to show up out of the blue with some scheme for him to get off of murder charges.  After a while Lisbon realized he wasn’t returning.  He had a left a safety deposit key at her apartment.  He must have broken in at one time.  In it was a large sum of money and she used it to purchase a house in Canon River where she took the job of sheriff.  There had been other offers but the places would have reminded her too much of the CBI and of Jane.  Canon River was a dull town that would have never held Jane’s interest.  It was the perfect place to start life over and forget about him.

     That was easier said than done.  Her thoughts seemed to constantly surround him.  She was left with her own regret of never having slept with him.  She could have the night before he killed Red John.  She could have entered his attic hideway and got what they both needed.  It would have left her with a satisfying memory and had given him a reason maybe to stay around.  

      Lisbon was convincing herself best she could in her lie that she was liking her new life.  Then the first letter arrived.  It just showed up in her mailbox from a carnival in Idaho.  It was from him.  He told her where he was, what he was doing and hoped she was ok.  More letters arrived and she read and reread them over and over again imaging his lips speaking each line written.  No, Patrick Jane was still in her mind, her heart.  

     He had found the box when he was helping her move back into her Austin home after they got together.  The smile that adorned his face when he realized what they were made her eyes well.  “You kept them,” he had said, “You kept them even though you were going with Pike.  You were bringing them with you.”  

     They were an odd pair: he was all revenge and sweet, loving gestures; she was all holding on to love letters and planning to marry other men.  They were an odd pair that worked.

     Lisbon looked at the clock in the hotel room in Seattle.  It was just past 5.  It would have to be enough sleep.  She didn’t feel like closing her eyes anymore.  

     Jane was an early riser so she called him still sitting in bed.  “Morning, sweetheart,” he said after the second ring.

     “How are my boys?”

     “Wonderful.  David is sleeping and I am drinking a cup of tea.  It rained here last night and this time the roof didn’t leak.”

      “Bravo,” Lisbon said with a laugh.

      “And you thought we needed to call real roofers.  There is nothing I can’t do with a hammer.”

      “Yes, I know.”

      “How did you sleep?”  Lisbon didn’t answer him.  “Teresa?”

      “I had a nightmare.”

     “We don’t have those anymore.”

     “No, usually we don’t but you aren’t lying beside me.”

     She heard Jane take a sip of his tea.  “You are a thousand miles away so don’t say anything in that sultry voice to make me too happy.  It would be unfair of you.”

      “I will try not to be sultry but it is hard you know to quell this fantastic body.”

      “Great, now I can picture you biting your lip.  Okay, back to the nightmare before I need a cold shower.  What was it about?”

       She didn’t want to tell him because they never brought the subject up anymore but a part of her needed to be at least partly honest with him.  “A guy I ran after had a three dot tattoo.”

       “Ah.”

      She waited for more but when he interjected nothing else she added, “He was going to hurt me.”

       “All the members of the Blake Association are in jail or dead.  No one can hurt you my love.”

      “Patrick, how do we know that?  We only have the names of the people on Betrum’s list that Grace and the guys found in his container.”  It was something she always wanted to ask him, to bring up, she needed his reassurance.

       Jane paused before answering.  “Can I say I know with 110 percent that we got them all?  I can’t.  But I don’t believe if any still exist that they are any threat to us.  They only were when they had Red John as their figure head leader.  Without a leader the cults fall apart.  Look at what happened with Bret Stiles’s death.  Visualize and its new leaders folded into themselves in mere months.  We don’t have anything to worry about.”

     “I’m sorry I am bringing this all up now.”

    “No, it is good.  We have to be honest always with each other now.”

    Lisbon sighed out loud.  “Okay, then I have more to tell you.”  She shared about Jeffrey Mongrove and how she broke him using some Jane skills during interrogation.

    “That’s my girl!  You might become as good as I am one day.  Just need a little bit more practice.”

    “You’re not upset I didn’t tell you, right?”  Lisbon asked her husband.

    “No, but you could have told me.  I do trust you can take care of yourself.”

    “You so want to get on the next plane out here.”

     Jane laughed slightly.  “You know me so well.  Yes, but I won’t.  With a mistrial you should be returning home possibly by the end of today.”

     “That sounds wonderful.”

     “If I make you a bubble bath does that sound even better?”

     “Like heaven.”

     “Aren’t you glad you married me and not Pike- he would have made you rabbit pancakes instead.”

     “Okay I better go shower, love you.”

      “I love you, Teresa Lisbon.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

     Wylie yawned as they exited Kim’s SUV at the courthouse.  “I wonder how long it will take to go through the steps of the mistrial.”

     “Not long,” Cho said holding the courthouse door for the younger agent and the ladies.

     They entered in going through the metal detachers.  Lisbon saw an older man with grey hair show a card and just walk past the metal detectors.  He was wearing a brown suit and a red tie and Lisbon thought he was probably a lawyer that frequently was at the courthouse.  But something nagged at the back of her mind.  She turned to the security guard that waved the man through.  “Is that Dennis Abbott?” she asked.

     “Who?” the guard replied.

     “The man in the brown suit you just waved through?”

     “Oh. Maybe.  I don’t know.  Never seen him before.”

     Lisbon looked at him with her CBI boss glare, “Then why did you let him through?”  

     “He had a security pass.”  The guard shrugged his shoulders.

     “Cho,” she turned to him, “I think we have a major problem.”

      “What’s wrong,” Cho asked converging with Kim and Wylie now.  

     “That guard let a guy through who had a pass but he didn’t know him.”

      “Ok,” Cho said.

      “You understand what I mean, right?”

     “Not at all.”

      Wylie chuckled, “You got that Jane look in your eye, Lisbon. You know when he is putting all the pieces together.”

      Lisbon swallowed, she was doing that and it made all sense to her now.  “Come on he is probably already sitting in the courtroom.”  She led the troop of FBI agents up to the courthouse door.  Opening the doors she scanned quickly and saw him.  The man was sitting directly behind the defendant’s table.  He was in firing range of the man they were here to put away- Kenneth Talbot.   Whispering to the others she pointed him out.  

     “We can grab him now,” Cho said but Lisbon grabbed his arm.

     “No,” she said, understanding how Jane’s mind would race.  “It would only be a gun conviction charge.  We have to get him for attempted murder.”

      Cho sighed.  “Okay, one who sleeps with Jane, how do we do that?”

      Wylie smiled brightly; Kim nodded her head at her friend as she gave them her plan.  Now if it only worked.  She had confidence at first but as the moments passed they were beginning to wan.  She wondered if Jane ever felt that.

        As planned Kim strolled up to the front of the courtroom.  Looked back at the man in the brown suit and gave him a smile which he returned.  While that was happening Lisbon came and sat down beside him.  His gaze left Kim’s face and turned to the new woman who looked down at her hands in her lap.  Kim was touring the front of the courtroom, laughing with a guard, throwing glances back at the man.  Lisbon was coughing, the kind that made people want to turn away from you.  While he was staring at Kim and avoiding her germs she found where his gun was hidden.  Using an old Jane trick she slipped a pin in between the firing pin and pushed the gun back into place when Wylie came forth dropping a coffee all over the courtroom floor. The man was too distracted to see what was truly going on.  It was their own little magic act.  

      The courtroom started filling with people.  Kim and Wylie took their seats on the other side, Lisbon kept hers.  Soon the jury was in and so was Kenneth Talbot.  Lisbon could sense the man preparing for what was coming next when Talbot stood up with his new lawyer to ask for a mistrial the man pulled the gun out of his coat.  He squeezed the trigger but nothing happened.  

     Lisbon turned to him, “You are under arrest for the attempted murder of Kenneth Talbot.”  She grabbed his wrist and spun him to the bench face first.  Cho, who had been waiting in the back, grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and dragged him out of the courtroom.

      There was a huge amount of commotion now going on.  People’s voices thundering across the courthouse.  “No problem, we are the FBI,” Wylie said proudly.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    The man in the brown suit wasn’t talking.  Whomever had hired him to take out Talbot wasn’t related to Dean and Jeffrey Mongrove’s actions.  This was someone with murder on his mind, revenge most likely.  It meant that Lisbon wasn’t going to be going home to her boys as quickly as she had hoped.

    Jane answered on the third ring. “You aren’t at the airport.”

   “Nope, an attempt was made on Talbot’s life.”

     “And we care because…”

     “Because you can’t go shooting people in a courtroom, Jane.”

     “Talbot is a fraud that bilked millions out of people; I really could care less if he gets a lead lunch.”

     “And what if some innocent person gets a piece of that lead lunch?”

      She heard Jane’s sigh on the phone.  “Okay, you are right.  Fine.  So a few more days out there for you.”

     “Yes, I am afraid so.  Don’t get any ideas of bringing our son here.”

     Jane sighed again.  “I won’t.  But promise me you will be extra careful.”

     “Always.”

    She could hear David cry in the background, “I better go tend to him.  Love you.”

     “Love you, too”.

     Lisbon put her blackberry in her blazer pocket and looked up at the board- they had over 100 suspects to comb through.  There had to be a way to quickly cut them down.  She thought back to the time Jane had her choose whom she thought could have killed a young girl.  She hadn’t chosen the murderer but Richard Haibach not only proved to be a pervert but also killed former CBI members.  He nearly took Grace and Wayne Rigsby’s lives.  Her instincts had been right.

      After twenty minutes only one picture remained on the board- Carl LeSage.  LeSage was a billionaire with a health food line and talk show.  He lost both when he was exposed as an investor in Talbot’s fraud schemes.  Talbot had been a friend so there was some speculation that LeSage’s empire was teetering tottering and he helped lead people to their slaughter by Talbot.  The FBI hadn’t found any evidence that any allegations were true but the hint of scandal was still in the air.  LeSage’s primary residence was Austin but he had homes in five other states- including one not far from Seattle.  It was him, Lisbon was sure of it.  Jane would be proud, she thought.  But now she had to figure out a way to get him to confess to the crime at hand.  It would be the only way to put him behind bars.

     Her cell rang at 5 PM.  Lisbon was back at the hotel still mulling over her plan.  She wanted to ask for Jane’s help but she also wanted to show how capable she was.  

     “Hi Jane,” she said as she answered.

     “I know I promised not to fly up there-”

     “Jane!  We agreed you would stay with David!”

     “Calm down, woman, I am.  I did hire someone to help you though.  He should be knocking on your door just about now.”

      There was a sudden knock.  Lisbon jumped to her feet, phone still in hand and looked through the peep hole.  A bright smile overtook her face.  She unlocked the door and opened it to a handsome 6 ft plus, brown haired man.

     “Hi, boss!” Wayne Rigsby said with a smile.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

     Lisbon let herself relax for a bit and listened over plates of lasagna the tale of Maddie and the missing penny.  Suffice it to say the penny ended up nowhere good and Maddie had to go to the ER.  When the food was eaten (and Rigsby had finished off two plates of apple pie), Lisbon started telling her own tale of Kenneth Talbot and Carl LeSage.  Rigsby listened and when she was done she realized she knew how to get LeSage to admit he ordered the hit.

     “Rigs, did you pack any hit man like clothes?”

     He smiled, “I think I can put together an outfit that will work.  What’s the plan, boss?”

     “Carl LeSage doesn’t know you, you don’t work anymore for any government agency so it isn’t conspiracy if you say go to his house and pretend to be a hit man hired by Talbot.”

     “So I have to convince LeSage to spill that he did hire the hitman.  But how?”

      “Wayne, everyone has a price or at least that is what rich men sometimes think.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

      Cho was concerned about sending his friend in undercover.  “Wayne is a father of two children.  He nearly died from bullet wounds just two years ago.  No, he can’t take part.”

      “Cho, I will be fine,” Rigsby protested.

      “What did I say? No.”

      Wylie laughed.  “You two argue like Jane and Lisbon.  Can always see the love even when you aren’t getting along.”  The two men shot him a look.  

 “Shutting up now.”

     Lisbon interjected.  “Cho, we will be there to back Rigs up.  You know he can pull this off.”

    “See Boss says yes.”

    “She is not the boss anymore!” 

    “No, you are, Cho and as boss you sometimes have to make hard decisions,” Lisbon said.

    “I made the decision to bring Vega with me and it got her killed.  Sometimes decisions have high prices.”

     The room was suddenly silent.  Then Wylie piped up.  “Didn’t you tell me to not leave Austin that Michelle wouldn’t want me to give up?  Don’t you give up either.  Don’t let fear of losing your best friend lead you to not complete the job at hand.”

     Cho paced back and forth for a moment.  “I could smack you,” he addressed to Wylie, “but you are right.”  Turning to Rigsby he sighed.  “Don’t get hurt.”

     “I won’t.  Promise.”  The men exchanged a glance and then Cho let Rigsby give him a quick hug.

     Lisbon gave Wylie a wink.  In some ways he reminded her of a calmer Jane- he tried to think outside of the box, loved cons but was much more quiet.  

 “Okay, Wylie hook up Rigs with the microphone so we can get a confession.”  As Wylie was doing that, Lisbon’s phone rang.  It was Kim- she had acquisitioned a hot red corvette for Rigsby’s hitman to drive to the LeSage residence.  The plan it was in motion, now it just had to go as smoothly as she hoped.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

     Carl LeSage’s Pootman house was near a large section of trees which provided perfect cover for the van and SUV Lisbon and crew had come in.  Rigsby drove the beautiful red machine right up to his door and LeSage came running out wielding a golf club.

     “Get out of here, this is private property!”  The man yelled.

     Rigsby calmly exited the vehicle and walked up to the man with graying hair.  “Nice Nine iron.  It is wonderful that you chose a house in the woods- no neighbors to hear you.”

    The man backed up.  “I am calling the police.”

    Rigsby laughed.  “Call if you want.  Sure they would love to know how you were the one who ordered the hit on Kenneth Talbot.”

    LeSage’s face was red.  “I don’t know who you are but I want you gone, now.”

     “Me?  I am the man Kenneth Talbot hired to kill you.”

     The color drained from LeSage’s face.  From inside the van Wylie let out a woo hoo.  Kim and Lisbon shared a smirk at the younger agent’s excitement.

     “I….I…”

     “Would you like me to use that club you are holding?  I mean I was going to make it look like suicide but I am willing to have you choose the method of your death.”

      LeSage sat down on his front steps.  He wiped his face.

     “Whatever you decide,” Rigsby said, “think of it as a business decision.”

      LeSage’s face shot up.  “What if I pay you not to kill me?”

     Rigsby thought for a second.  “How much?”

     “I squired away 20 grand.  All yours.”

     “Okay but only problem Talbot will hire someone else to kill you.”

     LeSage thought for a moment.  “My first hitman got dwarfed by some girl agent.  Maybe you could do better?”

     “What are you saying?”

      “I am asking you to kill Talbot for me.  I will pay you 20 grand for his dead body and for my life.”

      “That’s a go!” Cho yelled and he left his position in the woods with Kim and Lisbon exiting the van.  “Put your hands up, LeSage!  Drop the golf club!”  LeSage did as requested his face now an ashen white.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

     Rigsby was still yammering about his stunning display of acting the next day.  Lisbon looked at him with amusement.  How she missed him and Van Pelt.  They had already said their goodbyes to Kim Fischer who would handle the LeSage case.  Lisbon had seen tears in her eyes as they departed from a hug.  Lisbon reminded her though that they would have to come back when Talbot’s case finally went to trial. 

      Rigsby had a flight back home and they had their flight back to Austin just an hour apart.  So there they were at the airport, Rigsby and Cho slurping big Diet Coke slushes and Wylie listening to Rigs tell CBI tales.  Lisbon loved these moments.  She was watching them as she was texting Jane telling him in order what clothes she would be taking off the minute she got into their precious cabin.  Jane had been so proud when she had gone in detail the night before about her plan and how it had worked.  He hadn’t been jealous as some people might have been that she was using his techniques and he wasn’t needed.  He was happy for her.  Anything that was good for her made Jane three shades happier.  

     That first day she had met him she only wanted to help him.  To save him.  She did do that but he had ended up saving her, too.  Teresa Lisbon didn’t know that life could be so complicated or fun.  On their first Valentine’s together she wrote her own card, her only way to express her true feelings to him.  It read:

                             What started as darkness, as gloom

                             Became love in bloom.

                             It was a tough battle to be won

                             Through the Magenta Night

                             But we became each other’s light

                             Forever yours,

                             Teresa

The End