"There's something you should have a look at," Aiko said as she entered Adriano's office.
"What is it?" he asked.
Several screens had been added to his desk, allowing him to do dozens of things at once. In his daily quest to stimulate his brain somewhat, Adriano had picked up several things that were very hard to do and that usually no one did. Such as memorising endless bonds for no good reason, but to be informed. He had several news channels going at the same time.
Apart from that, he played a lot of games—board and card games mostly, but also anything that he could enjoy. In general, he tried to calculate the probabilities and reduce RNG as much as possible, since that was the thing that most seemed to loathe, while he enjoyed calculating the seemingly impossible.
"Harvey Dublin has disappeared," Aiko said.
"What?"
"Aren't you watching the news?" She asked and took the remote for the TV on the wall, turning it on.
| Breaking News: Last night, the rich lawyer and state house lobbyist, Harvey Dublin, was supposedly kidnapped. As the Central Bureau of Investigation, Gale Bertram states, they are currently doing everything in their power to find and retrieve Dublin. But there is also talk—|
"Peculiar," Adriano said.
"I thought so too. I called Dublin's lawyer, and apparently, he has no idea what happened. But he seemed confident he could get him back. I can't say anything else. I already booked a flight for you. Two hours from now," Aiko said.
"You're the best, Aiko, thank you. You're right, it would be best for me to have a look around. Have you checked his finances? Last week, everything was still normal, and it didn't seem like he was attempting to flee."
"I have, and nothing happened. Nothing suspicious at all. Which in itself is suspicious."
"Alright. Keep at it and inform me when someone calls. I should be back in two days at the most."
"As you wish."
.
"You can't park there!" a police officer said to Jane as he moved past the yellow line.
"Sure, I can. Look," he said and pointed at his car, not bothering.
He approached CBI Senior Special Agent Teresa Lisbon, who was studying the corpse.
"There you are."
"Here I am. Morning. Why so glum?" Jane asked.
Lisbon showed Jane a picture.
"This is Harvey Dublin. That's his chauffeur, Peter Russo, with three bullets in him. That's his care, and Mister DUblin's gone. Abducted, looks like."
Jane looked at the picture, then at the dead chauffeur, for a moment. The Mercedes had blood stains on the front. The dead driver lay a short distance away from the car, with three bullet holes in his chest, lying on his back.
"Harvey Dublin?"
"Bigtime statehouse lobbyist. Lawyer, kingmaker? Famous and well-connected," Lisbon finally said.
"Ah, the evil twins."
"Brass and media are gonna be allover us like sucker fish."
"Why don't we give it to the FBI? They love that."
"Oh, I wish. It's too late," Lisbon sighed. "The new boss is here doing on-camera. It's our baby."
"New boss? I thought Hightower was boss."
Jane was talking about Madeleine Hightower, the current CBI Special Agent in Charge.
"The boss of Hightower. The director of the entire division. I told you about him last week. Your memory's going," Lisbon teased.
"my memoryis a mighty fortress, Lisbon... from which no fact ever escapes, once committed. Now, when you tell me boring things, I set them free immediately. Saves overcrowding."
A car arrived at the crime scene, and Adriano stepped out. He had already seen the news and gathered as much information as he could about the current situation around Harvey Dublin, and he had to agree with Aiko; he hadn't been planning to flee at all. So the kidnapping could have been real, only that he didn't believe that. He walked forward but stopped outside, not presuming to be allowed on the crime scene. As he looks to the side, he sees something interesting and amusing. The CBI director, Gale Bertram, was speaking to the press.
"Harvey Dublin is missing. It looks like a kidnapping... presumably for a ransom, but we can't be sure at present. We shall have to await further developments," Bertram said, letting the pause stretch slightly. " Harvey is a pillar of this city, one of the good guys... and we are all praying for his safety. Thank you."
Now that was interesting to Adriano. Gale Bertram was a politician and was on Adriano's hit list. Seeing him here was interesting and predictable. There were still things that Adriano didn't quite know yet. California seemed to be a cesspool of corruption that reached far into different organisations, and his current 'beef' with the FBI in New York would surely alert them if he were to mess with them here as well.
Adriano watched as Bertram approached Lisbon and Jane.
"Eh, idiot," Jane said after he heard Bertram's words.
"You and your snap judgements. What is he supposed to say?" Lisbon asked, trying to defend their new boss.
"Why does he have to say anything?"
...
"What's your take on this?" Lisbon asked.
"Hmm... I don't know."
Jane looked around again, at the car, the corpse and Gale Bertram and then turned to Lisbon.
"Eh. I think I'll give this one a miss," he said.
"What do you mean by a 'miss'?" Lisbon asked.
"I just feel this one is not for me. I'll catch the next one, uh, I promise."
"I don't understand. You're not--?"
"Agent Lisbon, I believe? And Mister Jane," they were interrupted.
"Yes. Hi."
"Director Bertram will speak to you now. We're on a super tight schedule. He appreciates facts and brevity, okay?" Drew Host, the secretary of Bertram, said.
"Agent Lisbon," Bertram said as he arrived.
"Yes, sir, Director Bertram," she said, shaking his hand.
Bertram smiled and then looked at Jane.
"And you must be our boy wonder, Patrick Jane. I've heard a lot of good things about you."
"Hi. Nice to meet you, sir," Jane said.
"Now, I want this resolved ASAP. Whatevr it takes. The heck with overtime restrictions. You do the hours, I'll find the funding. We are all in this together as one. That's what I'm all about," Bertram said.
"We are on it, sir," Lisbon said with a slightly stiff smile.
"Uh, yeah. I won't be working on this particular case, but I do like what you said. 'We're all in this together as one' Mao Tse-Tung, right?" Jane said and tried to leave.
"Now, hold your horses. What do you mean you won't be on this one?" Bertram asked.
"Well, statehouse lobbyist abductions. It's, uh, not really my cup of tea," Jane said.
"Well, that's kind of unprofessional, don't you think?"
"I guess. But I'm not actually a professional."
Lisbon closed her eyes and shook her head in exasperation, already all too familiar with Jane's moods and eccentric personality.
"Question for you. Why are you here? Aside from the cameras," Jane asked Bertram.
"What do you mean, 'aside from the cameras'? Public perception is an important tool."
"Hmm. Tool," Jane said and turned around, wanting to walk away.
Before he could, though, Bertram's secretary stopped Jane from moving away. This action seemed to surprise Jane and he looked at his shoulder, where Drew Host just touched him and then at the man himself.
"You just put your hand on me," Jane stated.
"No. I mean, yes."
"Yes, you did. Don't ever do that again," Jane told him.
"Heh. Or else what?" Host chuckled for a brief moment.
Seeing that the bootlicker secretary didn't take him seriously, Jane moved forward, whispering in his ear.
"You ever smell a dead moust? You remember that smell?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Well, I just now put a dead mouse in your jacket pocket. And no matter how many times you clean that jacket... you will always smell that dead mouse. And you will remember that you should never have put your hand on me."
After he said that, Jane moved back again. Drew Host smiled condescendingly, not believing a word Jane had said. His hand moved to his jacket pocket, though, and when it did, he noticed a slight bump of something truly in there. He grew erratic and quickly took off the jacket with a disgusted yelp.
"You son of a bitch."
"It's actually just a wadded-up napkin, but it has the same psychological effect. The human mind is funny that way," Jane said.
He turned back to Bertram and Lisbon.
"Good to meet you, sir. Sorry, Lisbon."
And then he walked away. Bertram had a strained smile on his face as he watched him leave. Lisbon looked guilty for some reason, as though she was responsible for Jane's actions, which to a degree she was.
"He had a rough summer," she told the weak excuse.
Behind all of this, Adriano smiled as he saw it play out. He had moved a bit closer to hear them talk, and it proved to be entertaining. On his flight here, he naturally gathered all the information he could on everything that might be of interest and then some. Taking in information was what Adriano did best, and he had a limitless potential for it. He consumed information and any data faster than he breathed air. Naturally, he knew about the CBI and its current hierarchy.
Patrick Jane previously worked as a psychic and became a celebrity. In a TV interview, Jane taunted Red John, a serial killer, saying: "He's an ugly, tormented little man, a lonely soul, sad, very sad." Adriano had watched the interview and thought it was amusing to see the 'charlatan' at work. That was until he found out what came later. Jane's words prompted Red John to murder his wife, Angela Ruskin Jane, and daughter, Charlotte Anne Jane.
Ever since, Jane's life purpose had been to avenge his family by 'catching' Red John. That was what everyone thought, but Adriano knew the truth. He knew a tormented and deeply scarred man when he saw one. Patrick Jane was in no way interested in capturing Red John; he was going to kill him.
Seeing Jane right now finalised the picture Adriano had of him in his mind. Jane might have been a 'charlatan', tricking women and the easily fooled into believing he could talk to deceased relatives and then take their money, but there was more to it. Adriano recognised an incredible talent for what some might call mentalism. He could read people very well, had stage magic and sleight-of-hand training, most likely from a life in a circus or as a performer, and was a skilled manipulator of thoughts.
Adriano's gaze moved over the crime scene briefly, taking in everything there was to see right away. From what he saw and what he had researched, he was certain that things weren't as they seemed. The shots were fired at close range and on the open street. Peter Russo was the chauffeur. Seeing as there weren't any marks of a fight or dragging the corpse, he was shot where he stood, and that was strange. The chauffeur would have had to get out of the car and then walk away from the car for a few steps before he got shot. And who would do that, when you saw someone with a gun?
The only logical conclusion was that he either didn't know the person had a gun or knew the person. The chauffeur getting out of the car was very unlikely in this neighbourhood. It was more likely that Harvey Dublin wanted to pick up a hooker here, but the chauffeur would never get out of the car then. Dublin would want this to be a quick affair. In and out very quickly.
Adriano looked at Director Bertram again. The man turned and saw him standing there. He approached him after recognising who he was.
"Mister Mattei, to what do we owe the pleasure?" the man asked through his teeth.
"You are a very bad liar, director."
"I'm sorry?"
"You are excused. You must be quite pleased, don't you?" Adriano said.
"Why would I be pleased? A good friend of mine has been kid--"
"Please don't waste my air. Bank of Claremont v. Brixham Lake Development Corporation... Now that the lawsuit against your good pal has gone down the drain, you must think yourself lucky."
"Why would the lawsuit go down the drain? Are you finally seeing the error of your baseless crusade and dropping it?" Bertram asked with a slight smile.
"Don't sass me. With Harvey Dublin's death, things have taken a new turn for you 'Mister co-defendant'," Adriano dropped the bomb.
"What?! Harvey Dublin is... dead? What are you talking about? He was kidnapped."
"I am interested to know whether you had something to do with this, though..." Adriano asked, looking Bertram in the eyes.
"Wha-!! You are a piece of--"
"Hmm, I guess not. But it sure was convenient. Well, we'll see each other another time, director."
After that, Adriano walked away. He had been interested to know whether Bertram arranged for the lawsuit in which he was a co-defendant to be dropped. But he could tell that Bertram hadn't known about this, and in hindsight, it wouldn't have been smart for him to do so anyway. Bertram was in bed with Dublin, so both had dirt on the other. And they would have made sure it was arranged so that both of them could protect one another, lest that information be made public.
Now the solution was a simple search into Peter Russo's private life, and the case was done in Adriano's mind.