"Rigsby and Van Pelt are canvassing the area around the abduction site. Cho's with Mrs Dublin, waiting for a ransom demand, and Tech Services are up and running," Lisbon told Hightower as they walked through the precinct.
Hightower sighed, burdened with the politics of the case and under pressure from her new boss, Bertram.
"This is a scary one. Lots of attention. Keep Molly in Public Affairs apprised of any good stuff we can feed the media. Keep them on our side. And don't make any mistakes," Hightower told Lisbon.
"No, ma'am."
They walked into Hightower's office. She had rearranged it since taking over from the previous CBI chief, Virgil Minelli, to mark it as hers and show that she deserved to be there. Everything was about politics if you rose through the ranks enough. And Hightower was playing to win.
"How's Jane?" Hightower asked.
"The same," Lisbon said, but her voice rose at the end.
"You think he's in danger of cracking up?"
"No."
Hightower looked at Lisbon for a moment, clearly showing that she didn't believe it.
"I mean, no, I don't think so. I think he'll be fine," Lisbon said.
"That's not very convincing, Lisbon. What he's been through would wreck anyone."
"He's not gonna crack up. I think some time off will do him good, though."
"Yeah, well, no can do. Bertram wants him on the Dublin case," Hightower said.
"After Jane was so rude to him?"
"Bertram's all bottom line. He won't let personal issues intrude. Jane's the best asset we have, and Bertram knows that."
"But Jane doesn't wanna be on the case," Lisbon said.
"Then change his mind," Hightower said, looking at Lisbon seriously. "I'm not gonna tell Bertram we can't control our own people."
...
"I have an idea as to how to persuade him, but it's kind of unethical."
"I don't wanna know."
At that moment, the door opened, and Bertram stormed in with an angry look on his face.
"Director Bertr--"
"I just had a very unpleasant talk with a disgusting piece of shit, so I'm not in the mood. What is this I hear about Harvey Dublin being dead?!"
Hightower looked at Lisbon for a moment. Clearly, she thought that this had to once again be the work of Jane. Ever since taking over as boss, Hightower had made it perfectly clear that she saw Jane as their ace, but knew that he was a wild card at the same time. Any shit he would pull, Hightower would make Lisbon pay. She did that to ensure that Jane didn't go overboard with his games. And now, she suspected that Jane had brought them trouble with their new boss. She quickly gathered her thoughts.
"I don't know what Jane told you, sir, but--"
"It wasn't Patrick Jane!" Bertram spat. "It was Adriano Mattei, that disgusting lawyer piece of shit. He was at the crime scene, and he told me to my face that he thought I had arranged all of this to get rid of Dublin. Then he told me how much of an idiot I was for thinking that this was a kidnapping!"
Bertram was fuming. His face was red, and one could see the veins pulsing on his temples.
"Who is Adriano Mattei?" Hightower asked.
"And how does he know that Dubin wasn't kidnapped? Does he have something to do with this?" Lisbon asked.
"He's a dirty lawyer who had it out for Dublin and me. I want you to find out everything you can about him. Get to the bottom of this and figure out if what he said has any merit. Where's Jane?"
"He's, uhm..."
"Get him to work for this, Hightower, or so help me god..."
"I will, of course, sir."
Bertram left the office in a rush, leaving the two women alone. Hightower hated this feeling of being spat on from above by male superiors. She knew that Bertram was a politician and that he wore masks, but she hadn't expected such an outburst. So naturally, she put the pressure on Lisbon.
"Get Jane to work on this. I don't care what you do, but get it done and do it fast."
"Yes, ma'am."
.
Jane was not feeling good, and he had a good reason for that. Several things happened right after the other. One was the disappearance of Kristina Frye, who was Jane's very close friend. Lisbon walked to the attic, where Jane had retreated for some time alone.
"Jane?"
"Come in."
"Hey. Nice place."
"Ahem, yeah. Well, I like hte view and the quiet," Jane said.
"And what do you do with all the quiet?" Lisbon asked.
"Just thinking."
"Jane, you have to stop blaming yourself. If Red John took Kristina Frye--"
"There's no 'if.' He took her."
"IF he did, you can't blame yourself. Besides, what good is it to sit up here scribbling in your book? You're not gonna find her that way."
Jane started chuckling lightly and shook his head, amused at Lisbon.
"I'm not gonna chang emy mind. I don't wanna work the Dublin case," he told her.
"That's fine. It's a done deal. I understand. It'd be good for you to have a break," Lisbon said.
Jane nodded thankful that she understood.
"Listen, on a completely differnt subject, I need a personal favour. I'd like you to come and meet someone."
"Who?" Jane asked.
"I can't tell you."
"Why not?"
"I promise it has nothing to do with Harvey Dublin," Lisbon said, truthfully.
"You're trying to play me somehow, convince me to change my mind."
"No."
"Yes, you are."
"..."
"And I guess I owe you a shot. But it's not gonna work, whatever it is," Jane said and grabbed his jacket.
"That's alright. Besides, someone already solved the case, it seems," she said.
"What? Who?"
"Eh, some lawyer. Apparently, he approached Bertram at the crime scene and told him Dublin was dead."
Jane thought about this information for a moment and then looked at Lisbon to see whether she was messing with him. But as far as he could tell, she was not.
"Interesting. Tell me more."
"I thought you wanted to give this case a 'miss'?"
.
Lisbon and Jane arrived at their destination. The house was located in the suburbs witha nice small garden out back. As soon as they arrived, Jane understood.
"I get the picture," he said.
"Do you?"
"Yeah. Dublin's driver, the dead guy, Pete Russo, right? He has family, but he wasn't wearing a wedding ring, so, ahh... we're about to meet--"
The door opened, and a young girl greeted them at the entrance. She didn't look very good, which made sense considering what she had found out.
"...yes, exactly."
"Yes, who are you?" the girl asked.
"Nadine, I'm Agent Lisbon with the CBI. We spoke on the phone? This is Patrick Jane."
"Hi. You're, uh, Pete Russo's daughter?" Jane asked.
"Uh, yeah," Nadine said, absentmindedly.
An older woman, Nadine's mother, Patricia, appeared.
"Hello?"
"They're police," Nadine said.
"I see. Well, would you like to come in? Someone's already here," Patricia said.
"Someone is? Who?" Lisbon asked.
They moved to the living room, where two men sat. Both of them stood up. One of them had short hair, glasses and a green shirt. He looked slightly intimidated and uncomfortable. The second man was Adriano, who looked completely different from the man in front of him. When Lisbon and Jane arrived, the man approached and shook both of their hands.
"Hi. Keith Farrow," he introduced himself.
"That's my step-father," Nadine said and then moved to Adriano. "This is Mister Mattei. Mister Mattei, these are Lisbon and Jane from the CBI."
Adriano moved forward and shook Lisbon's hand.
"Adriano Mattei, greetings."
"Agent Lisbon with the CBI, and this is Patrick Jane. Might we ask what you are doing here, Mister Mattei?"
Mattei and Jane shook hands. Adriano smiled lazily, while Jane seemed to have lost his previous melancholy for some reason and was very interested. He put one and one together and realised that this must have been the lawyer that Lisbon had told him about. The one who had approached Bertram and asked him whether he had arranged everything to let Dublin disappear. This interested Jane tremendously, because not only was the thought brilliant, but he had a similar idea. And Adriano was here sooner than they were.
"I'm sorry for your loss, Mister Jane," Adriano said.
"Loss?"
"Yes."
Adriano didn't elaborate on that and turned to Lisbon.
"I'm a lawyer in New York," Adriano explained lazily.
"And... what are you doing here then?" Lisbon asked.
"Well, I had launched a lawsuit against Harvey Dublin and those affiliated with him. After I heard that he had dissappared I thought he had fled, but now I know that's not the case," Adriano explained.
"Hmm."
Jane nodded lightly. He noted the way Adriano held himself. Everything about him seemed to express laziness to the extreme, and it was as if he needed all his strength not to fall asleep. But apart from that, he felt that there was so much more to Adriano than met the eye. He was intelligent, that much was certain. But to appear here unannounced, if he had already figured out that Dublin had been killed... that was strange.
"I understand that, Mister Mattei, but what are you doing here? Peter Russo had nothing to do with your lawsuit, or am I wrong?" Lisbon asked.
"Ohh no, you are correct. But I like to be thorough, and helping the authorities is something I enjoy doing."
"Aha, well, if that's all, then we would like to ask the family a few questions," she said, clearly uncomfortable.
"That's alright. I mean, it is alright if Adriano stays here, no?" Nadine asked, desperately.
Jane looked at the young girl and then at Adriano. He noticed that she already seemed to have some form of trust in Adriano. No matter when he arrived here, to have established a relationship of trust between them, that was serious. Only the greatest manipulators and the most socially brilliant people could do that. Adriano's threat level and Jane's interest in him rose immediately.
"Well... if you are alright with it... Sure," Lisbon said.
Both Jane and Lisbon were given tea, and then everyone settled in the living room. Adriano sat lazily on a chair, having made himself comfortable in the short time he was there.
"Miss Lisbon says you're the best detective in California," Nadine said, looking at Jane.
Hearing this, Jane smiled ironically, knowing what Lisbon had done. Adriano smiled lazily as well, also understanding what had happened.
"She says if anybody can find who killed my father, you can."
Jane moved to Lisbon.
"I just have to say, I didn't think you would stoop to such crude manipulation," he told her in a lowered voice.
"I don't understand," Nadine said.
"Inside joke. I'm sorry," Jane tried to put it off. "I will find who killed your father and abducted Mister Dublin."
"Inside joke?"
The girl seemed close to tears at that point.
"Her father's dead, murdered. You're making jokes?" Keith asked.
"Yes. Uh, it's a fault of mine. What is the joke? I have a lot on my mind right now. Ah, I didn't really wanna come to work today, but my good friend and colleague Agent Lisbon... tricked me into meeting you, knowing that I couldn't refuse you... Because you're the age my daughter would be if she were still alive, and hadn't been murdered. She was murdered by a man named Red John, whom I met with recently. He saved my life and abducted a friend of mine. Long story, but that's why I have a lot on my mind," Jane finished.
His words made everyone uncomfortable. Everyone except Adriano, who took a sip from his tea and a cookie. He already knew all this.
The friend Jane had talked about was Kristina Frye. Kristina Frye was a well-known psychic who claimed to communicate with the dead. While Jane openly rejected her abilities, he was drawn to her calm empathy and understanding of his grief, even though he didn't admit it out loud. She didn't challenge his pain or try to explain it away, which made her one of the few people Jane allowed close to him emotionally. Not willingly, but she seemed to know it anyway, since she had similar skills to Jane's.
The two grew closer, but after Red John released a new video, Kristina publicly addressed him on television, stating she felt a connection to him and urging him to seek help. Jane reacted with alarm, recognising that she was drawing Red John's attention and fearing that she was making the same mistake he had made. Despite his warnings and insistence on protection, Kristina refused, believing Red John would not harm her.
Soon after, Kristina disappeared. Although evidence suggests she may have left voluntarily, Jane believed Red John had taken her. Her disappearance deeply affected him, as she represented a rare emotional connection he allowed himself after the murder of his wife and daughter.
But as if that hadn't been enough, during their last investigation of related murders, Jane entered an abandoned building alone and was knocked unconscious. He woke up bound to a chair, moments away from being killed by Red John copycats, only for the real Red John to appear, kill the imitators, and then mock Jane by sparing his life.
Jane survived, saved by the same man who murdered his family, left with the knowledge that Red John could reach anyone he let close and would choose when Jane was allowed to die. So it made sense for Jane to be feeling rather bad at the moment. Not that Hightower or Bertram cared.
"My god..." Nadine said. "That's not a very funny joke."
"Hmm."
"What happened to your friend?" she asked.
"Still missing," Jane said, but then got back to the topic at hand. "Uh, please, tell us about your father."