Chapter Text
At the office I met the team and told them everything from that night. Cho – the pretty Korean guy – said that one CCTV caught my car on its way to south from the crime scene, so it was probably stolen by our killer. It wasn’t the best news I ever got but at least they knew I’m innocent and most importantly telling the truth. Van Pelt – a young pretty redheaded woman – was very kind to offer me a ride to the campus, so I could get some rest but I refused and asked them to tell me more about the case. I couldn’t help noticing a slight approval at their faces. I knew this team was very devoted to the job, even thought it had more complaints against it than all departments all together.
“We’ve been at the crime scene probably for an hour. So everything we have got is in this file. Although I really doubt that his family will tell us anything relevant. As far as I know they are not just elite, they are more like a cherry from the top of the priceless cake,” Lisbon handed a thin folder to Van Pelt. “The victim, as you know, is an ex-judge – Viktor Thomson – 68 years old, married, had a huge estate in the Hollywood Hills. We asked the relatives to let us ask them a few questions but they are “too devastated with everything that happened”, so we are on our own.”
“But as far as we don’t have the body and any particular evidence, it is not possible to know anything about what happened,” Red-headed woman opened the folder. “The file is also almost empty. Don’t we have any suspects? Judge’s family, enemies or the people he put behind the bars…”
“While examining the body, I’ve noticed that there was a stable smell of alcohol– “said Jane from his sofa. The guy had a personal sofa…
“Yeah, the forensic investigator said that it might’ve been an alcohol poisoning–” I interrupted him while looking in the folder over Van Pelt’s shoulder.
“Before I was rudely interrupted, I was about to say,” said Jane with a slight irritation. “That, apart from alcohol, I’ve noticed some cheap female perfume. I suppose Mrs. Thomson fancies something more elegant or at least expensive… ”
“This means there’s a woman involved. Hooker or something,” concluded Rigsby.
“We’ll never find her. We are in California, remember?” said Lisbon.
“It also could’ve been a man. We can’t narrow the list of suspects so easily,” I said looking at her. I thought that I should’ve stopped interrupting but I wanted to show them that I could be a part of their team and actually help in solving that case.
“What do you mean? Are you assuming the judge was into boys and there could be a man, who wears cheap female perfume?” asked Rigsby, and the whole team looked at me. There was complete silence; they waited for an answer. I looked at my new colleagues and saw a sign of doubt in their eyes. They probably thought I’m talking gibberish.
“Why do you think the perfume belonged to a man?” It was the salvatory voice when I didn’t have anything to say. It was Jane. His voice and his insightful but mocking eyes led me out of stupor.
“Well, in Soviet Russia there was a tendency among alcoholics to drink cheap perfumes when they didn’t have enough money to buy normal alcohol. So there is probably no need to search for a hooker. If you ask me, we need to look for a drunker, who was once put in jail by our judge or who is able to kill for money or booze.”
“Actually that makes sense,” said Cho. ”There were bruises and cuts on the victim’s neck, arms and body. He struggled but despite being quite tall and well-fed he was killed. So our perpetrator must be a big and strong guy. Also the forensic says he died from asphyxia – and we all know how strong one should be to murder such a tough guy.”
“Good thought, Tessa,” Lisbon said. Lisbon was lingering on the table, she got up and went to get her coat. “You, Jane and Cho will search the judge’s office. Van Pelt, you’ll make the list of suspects. Rigsby and I will go to the victim’s house and try to talk to his family.”
“But I’ll be more useful if I go with you to interrogate the judge’s relatives,” exclaimed Jane.
“No, Jane. It’s the boss’ order not to let you near them in case you’d say or do anything to provoke them to kick us out without helping the case.”
Jane rolled his eyes and got up from his sofa. He straightened his jacket and moved towards the door. While passing me by, he winked and gave me a smile.
On the way to the judge’s office I tried to process all I saw and heard that day. Lisbon’s words proved the things Mr. Jefferson told me before I got here – Jane breaks the rules and behaves as he wishes in order to show off and please himself. I thought it’d be a tough internship and I was so damn right.
+ + +
A few hours later we were in the judge’s office. The place definitely belonged to a pompous, ignorant and selfish man. The cabinet was huge. The walls were decorated with red velvet fabric; there were portraits of the judge all over them. The judge’s PA did not want to let us in. Still, we got our chance to look around.
Cho stayed in the hall to question the PA, while Jane and I were in the office. It was the first time we stayed together. I am not sure, if it was for real or just my imagination, but he changed. Somehow Jane looked different; I felt it and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
While wandering around the office he glanced at me now and then. Every time our eyes met he smiled casually, looked away and continued messing the judge’s stuff up. From the ever beginning he kept calling me ‘Newbie’; so I thought he was just curious about my ways of investigating, but no. There was something else; something that changed in him, when we stayed alone. And that Something was dark.
That time I remembered the sleepover I had with my friends at campus when Ellen – my best friend – told us about that feeling she had every time she saw her chemistry teacher. Gorgeous he was: well fit, tall, with dark curly hair, sharp cheekbones and a beautiful but indescribable eye color and also that confident and demanding gaze of his... Ellen said it felt like nothing else mattered, like the only thing her mind told her was to get on her knees right in front of him. She was so under his influence that tried to avoid meeting him, because his ‘dominant aura’ was too overwhelming for her to bear. Maybe she was exaggerating, I am not sure.
Myself, I do not believe in things like auras but that time I was an inch close to believing.
I was flicking through the files on the table; I looked up for a second to see what Jane was doing. I saw him sitting in a luxurious, leather, swivel chair and gazing in my direction. His arms were on the armrests, legs spread and his gaze was fixed on me. His expression was completely unreadable. Suddenly Cho entered the room. In the same second Jane got back to his normal self: legs crossed, laid-back and deep in his own thoughts. I was surprised by Cho’s appearance so I dropped the papers on the floor. Jane looked at me as if he just noticed me and raised an eyebrow, then turned to Cho.
“Cho, there is no sign that judge actually worked in here. Probably, this place was for showing off and flaunting and our guy had been doing all his business elsewhere. Ask his PA. And we will need an access to all his files and personal servers,” Jane said.
“Well, his PA refused to give us anything. The family also refused to cooperate. Lisbon said that we are done for today. I’m off to request an order. Jane could you give Tessa a lift?”
“Sure,” mumbled Jane. Cho said “Goodbye” and left the room. The room was silent for a moment.
“Hurry up, Newbie, I have things to do,” said Jane getting up and pointing at the door. He half-smiled and moved towards the exit. Something was back again. I felt awkward, so I intended to get out of there as soon as possible just to be far away from this new side of Patrick Jane that I had noticed that day.