The Red Stars {Book One} The Mentalist

4: The Case of What's His Name

*Thomas's pov*

We pulled up right behind Lisbon and we got out. The plain house had the yellow tape that told others to stay out. Jane and I walked over to Lisbon and she looked at me.

"He didn't mess with you too much, did he?" she asked.

"Hey, she messed with me!" Jane said pointing a finger at me like a kid would. I rolled my eyes.

"No, he didn't," I told her. "Is the body inside?"

"No, he is outside. We don't have a name, and we can't seem to find anything out about him. This isn't even his house."

"Um, let me look at the body. Thomas, come along. I need my sidekick," Jane told me and walked to the back of the building. I looked at Lisbon.

"Is being his sidekick a good or bad thing?" I asked.

"Yes," she answered. I sighed and caught up to him. He was knelling beside a man in his thirties. He had the same colored skin has Cho had, and his brown eyes were opened. He was looking at a tree, but it looked more like something in the tree.  He had messed up black hair, considering he was smacked by something heavy, more than likely the cause of death. When Rigsby opened his mouth I could see the missing tooth in it. It was to the side, and it was one of his molars. His black dress shirt and pants went well with his shoes that were shinned. He was about five feet ten inches by my guess, give or take a few. Why was he here?

"Jane, you see anything?" Cho asked him.

"I see a lot of things," Jane told him. 

"How about on the body?"

"Well he was beat to death, I can tell you that. Thomas, what do you see?"

I looked at the man, but something else caught my eye. Footprints. I followed them all the way to what looked like a hole that was freshly dug up. I called to the others.

"Hey, new girl found something," Rigsby said. "What is it?"

"It's a hole," Cho told him. "VanPelt, get me a shovel, would you?"

"Sure," she said walking off. While the others did that I was looking at the tree the man was looking at. There was something there I was missing, and I was going to find out what it was. I walked over to him and got down on my knees. I tried to get at the right angle, but I still could not see what he saw.

"Jane," I called to him. He looked up from the digging and looked at me. "Come here for a second."

*Jane's pov*

I walked over to Thomas and looked down at her. "Yes?" I asked.

"Can you help me?" she asked not moving from her spot.

"With what?"

"Seeing what this man is looking at. There is something in that tree, but I can't see it."

I bent down and looked at the tree the victim was looking at. I saw she was right, but I couldn't make out what it was. I pushed her over and laid down next to the body.

"What are you doing?" she asked. I patted the ground next to me, and she laid down with me.

"Can you see it now?" I asked.

"Kind of," she answered looking at the item. "It looks like a bag."

"What do you think is in it?"

"This man's ID, cell phone, anything. I think he was here to get them back, but was killed before he got to get them."

"Score one for Thomas!"

"Are you two comfortable?" Lisbon asked coming into view. She was standing over me and I smiled at her.

"I am, actually," I joked. "Something about laying next to the dead looking for clues makes me happy."

"Jane, that is gross."

"Well there is a bag in that tree that is what the man was looking at when he died."

"What bag?"

"That bag," Thomas said pointing at it. Lisbon looked and saw it. She told Cho to go get the bag and we were digging into a wallet, cell phone, name tag, and other things that was more than likely in his pockets. I picked up the wallet and found good o' what’s his name in it.

"Well would you look at that?" I asked showing Lisbon the driver's license. "I guess that is two for two for Thomas."

"You knew they were there, didn't you?" Lisbon asked me while Cho and Thomas were looking at the hole.

"Well, I saw the hole, but the bag? Not at all," I admitted. I was being truthful. I hadn't even thought about the man yet when Thomas looked over. I wanted to see what the hole brought up before anything else. Yet this girl, this girl who I couldn't bet with my mind games, who was somehow alive, so much like me, bet me to it.

"You didn't see something right off the bat?" Grace asked me. I nodded. "I think I just liked Thomas even more."

"Anyone who can bet Jane to anything has got my respect," Rigsby told us.

"Hey boss," Cho called, "we got something!"

"What is it?" Lisbon asked.

"It's the murder weapon," he said picking up a baseball bat. I knew it was the weapon by just looking at the mark on his head, and it was a very well sized mark. It also didn't hurt that the bat was covered in blood.

"Who would waste all this time just to hide this stuff?" VanPelt asked.

"Someone desperate to hide the truth," I said in a mysterious voice picking up the card and reading the name. "The truth of the murder of Benjamin Summer."  

Haha, I loved writing this one. I am having WAY too much fun playing around with this. I also would like to point out that there is a certain person on the side of this page. I hope you all enjoy, maybe tell me what you think? Tell your friends? Give me a cookie? Haha, bye Stars!