The Red Stars {Book One} The Mentalist

2: The New Team

I was in the elevator waiting for the floor to come up. Hopefully I would be welcomed in to this new job. I mean I think Jane and I hit it off pretty well. I helped the others point out what was at the crime scene, and I hoped that they would like me. I sound disparate, I know, but I have worked so hard to get here, I don't want it ruined by this team of strangers.

I stepped out of the elevator onto the floor Lisbon's team works on. I walked into the office to see VanPelt typing something on the computer. Jane was lying on a couch that looked very cozy. I wish I could take a nap, but duty calls. She looked up and smiled.

"Hi," she said taking my hand and shacking it.

"Hi," I said back, "you’re VanPelt."

"Yeah, I am."

"I wasn't asking. I knew. Where is Lisbon?"

"Um... Jane, do you know where Lisbon is?"

"Not here," he told us not opening his eyes. "I can take Missy if you want."

"That is a scary thought, Jane," she told him sitting down.

"So is that a yes?"

"Sure. Scare her away like you have everyone else."

"That's the plan."

Jane got up and offered me his arm. I smiled and took it. He led me to a break room and he got out two cups and filled them with warm water. He put tea bags in both of them and placed one in front of me. He told me the brand and I took a sip.

"Did you know this was my favorite kind of tea?" I asked him. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Just a guess. In all honesty I was just making it for myself. It's my favorite too," he told me. "Now, I would like to know a little more about you. Like for starters why those six red stars are important enough for someone to kill your mother and sister."

"The red stars."

"Yes. You told me that you would tell me what they mean."

"Well I kind of can't and I kind of can."

"What do you mean?"

"That's the problem Jane. You see, I know I have seen the stars, and I know why, but the memory is foggy. I was hypnotized so I wouldn't remember. I can tell you all about what I know, and maybe over time you can help me get that memory back."

"I can try. Now tell me all that you know."

I took a deep breath and thought about that night.

"I was sitting in my living room drinking hot chocolate with my best friend. I guess it was winter or cold outside. I was still a police officer with the hope of getting in the big leagues. I didn't hear the men outside with guns, but I heard my dog barking. I didn't think that was odd because he barked all the time. I did hear the gun shoot that killed my dog. The men came in and killed my friend and took me away. I don't remember what happened in between then, just waking cuffed to a bed that had walls covered in stars. Red stars just like the ones we saw in my mom's home. What does that have to do with anything?"

"You were kidnapped?"

"I guess. Like I said, it is all foggy. I don't remember what the reason was, why they wanted me, who it was, or how I got away. I remember one thing very clearly."

"That would be?"

"A man. I never saw his face, only heard his voice. He whispered something in my ear once. It was cold, and no matter what, that is the clearest thing I have. In fact, it made me look you up Jane."

"Me? Why me? What was it he told you?" 

"For it was sounded like someone from that association Red John was in. The Blake Association?" Jane nodded. "They said 'Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In a forest of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry?' The man laughed at me and said that he would have my family if I made one mistake. He would kill them the same way that other's had been killed. But this was a long time ago. Why would they end up dead now?"

"Killers are a type of people who show no mercy," Jane told me taking my hand in his. "They don't care when or where; who or what. All they care about is themselves. You didn't do anything wrong in my book or you wouldn't be alive. In that person's book you did, and your family paid the price because he wanted to hurt you. Thomas, you have to learn that you didn't do anything." 

"Alright. Is this Jane's training course?"

"You could say that," he laughed at my joke. "Now, do you know who these people are? Can you identify them by a group name, a-"

"The Red Stars."

Jane looked at me with shock. I know why, too. Any one that the Red Stars have ever taken has never been seen again alive.

 Hello my Stars. So I decide against having this one on hold. I just really want to do it, so this one will be the one I am doing. I have no idea how many chapters there will be. After this, I will do Survival, my Ghostbusters fanfic, than either the Dark Queen book Dreams or Gone. Gone will come back. I just want to get the stories that are fresh in my mind done. Thanks for understanding! Bye Stars!