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Every good story has a beginning, middle, and end. Here’s how this one begins.
A twenty-two year old girl, Daphne Numa, daughter of Leon Numa, a CEO, is kidnapped. No witnesses, no cries for help; she simply never comes home after class. There’s not even a suspected abduction site. The best guess is that it occurs on her college campus, but even combing through parking lots and buildings, there are no signs of a struggle.
“Jane, you and Cho will come with me to talk to the family,” Lisbon says. “Rigsby, you and Van Pelt will stay here and continue looking for the abduction site.”
“You got it, boss,” Rigsby answers. He and Van Pelt turn back to the local policemen.
The house, when they arrive, already has a police car in front of it.
“Cho,” Lisbon starts. “You work with the police to search for evidence, Jane and I will question the family.”
Cho nods and heads off inside while Jane looks at the house.
“Considering the father is a CEO of a tech company they’re living well within their means. This is almost quaint, if you ignore the 4,000 square footage.”
“We’ll have to see how that impacts a potential ransom demand.” Lisbon sighs. “Let’s go Inside.”
As they enter, Jane eyes the grieving family in the living room. Mother and Father are sitting close together on the couch, older sister sitting in the armchair next to it. Both women looking teary and red eyed, Father staring ahead stoically but with a tight grip on his wife’s hand. If they were blaming each other they wouldn’t be sitting so close together, even if to project a united front. And the sister sitting aside, that’s interesting. She’s clearly just as affected, but she’s not sitting with her parents for comfort.
The question is, why?
“Jane.”
He looks up and sees Lisbon and the family staring at him. “Ah, yes, terribly sorry about the kidnapping of your daughter. Two questions: have you received a ransom yet?”
“No,” Leon replies, “but we would pay anything to get her back.”
Jane hums. “Second question. Olivia, can you please show me to your sister's room?”
“Um, sure, I guess.”
She leads him up the stairs and down the hall to an innocuous looking wooden door. Inside, however, is a wealth of information. The room is typically messy for a college student, with some clothes on the floor and textbooks scattered on the desk. Jane peruses in a circle, starting by the door.
“So,” he starts while he looks around. “Who do you think took your sister?”
He hears the huff of air. Angry about being asked so much, indicating she probably doesn’t have an answer. “I don’t know.” There it is.
“What about an angry ex-boyfriend? Disgruntled classmates?”
Olivia crosses her arms. “No, none of that.”
Jane moves over to investigate Daphne’s desk. On the wall above it is a pinboard covered in photos. In most of them there’s another girl, dark hair and dark skin. They’re always close together in the photos, intimate. And a medical student, by the looks of it. There’s a photo of the mystery girl holding a certificate up for the camera.
“This girl here is Daphne’s girlfriend, isn’t she? It’s why you were keeping your distance downstairs, you think they won’t approve of your sister and you’ve taken a side.”
She starts. “How did you–yes. Yes, Pooja is her girlfriend. How does this help with the kidnapping? You’re supposed to be out there looking for my sister.”
“I’m just trying to figure out what your sister was like, her habits. It could lead us to an abduction site,” Jane says placatingly.
He continues perusing Daphne’s bedroom while Olivia watches from the door. After a final sweep, he and Olivia leave the room.
Cho is waiting for them when they get downstairs. “The kidnapper called. He wants 300,000 dollars in return for Daphne’s safety. The family has until 4:00 pm to gather the money. The kidnapper will call back with more details then.”
“300,000? That’s not much for a family worth millions,” Jane notes.
“I don’t care how much it is as long as it gets my sister back.” Olivia steps around them and into the living room with the rest of the family.
“Two things,” Cho states. “The parents called Pooja, the daughter’s best friend, to ask if she had seen her. She picked up and said that she’s been out of state and doesn’t know anything. Then there’s Michael Rivers, a gardener. He used to work here before being fired for harassing Daphne.”
Jane turns to look at Cho. “Now that’s interesting,”
“How so?” asks Cho.
“Well, don’t tell anyone, but Pooja is Daphne’s girlfriend. Don’t you find it odd that she immediately claimed an alibi and didn’t ask about her girlfriend? Then there’s the gardener.” He looks into the living room where he can see Olivia talking with her parents. “Olivia couldn’t think of any suspects when I asked, despite this Rivers guy having a motive.”
“That is interesting,” Cho hums.
Just then, a police officer runs through the front door. “Detectives! Something was found in the mailbox!”
Lisbon examines the box. “It’s light, and on the top it says ‘so you know we’re serious’”. Carefully, she pulls open the lid of the box. The reaction is instant. The mother covers her eyes and starts crying, the sister follows, and the father can’t seem to tear his eyes away. Jane peeks inside and he sees why. An ear, still bloody, with a clean, straight cut on the edge.
Lisbon quickly closes the lid of the box and passes it to Cho. “Take this to the lab and have them verify blood type. Rivers is being brought in for questioning, so take Jane with you. I’m staying here.”
Once back at the office, the ear is passed off to forensics and Jane eyes Michael Rivers from behind the one way mirror. “Doesn’t look like much, does he?”
Cho doesn’t respond.
“I thought the same. Well, he’s not going to question himself, is he?”
Michael Rivers turns out to be useless. Not the sharpest tool in the shed, so to speak, Jane tells Lisbon later. One of his biggest complaints about Daphne was that she didn’t like the blue orchids he gave her even after overhearing her mention them on the phone. After the couple threatening calls he made when he was first fired, he’s had no contact with anyone from the family.
“A dead end,” Cho agrees back in the car.
“When the sister didn’t mention him, I was hoping for more, but sometimes the clues don’t mean anything,” Jane pronounces.
They make it back to the house with only minutes to spare until the kidnapper calls to set up the drop. Lisbon, Rigsby, and Van Pelt are doing their best to calm the family, but it doesn’t seem to be doing much.
“You can’t let my daughter die,” the mother, Melinda, is insisting as the techs set up the traceable line.
“She’s not going to die,” Olivia placates. “Right?” She turns to Lisbon, who’s trying to look reassuring.
“We’re doing our very best to get her back safe and sound.”
Jane and Cho sidle into the room right as the phone rings, and Leon races forward to grab it.
“Remember, try to keep him on the line as long as possible,” Lisbon says.
Leon takes a deep breath and answers the phone. “Hello?”
“Do you have the money?” A distorted, deep voice comes over the phone.
“Yes, yes we have all the money. Is Daphne okay? Is she hurt?”
“You’ll find out when you get her back. Leave the money in a backpack in the park, at the bench by the bathrooms. You have one hour. Any police, and you’ll never see Daphne again.” The line goes dead.
The tech shakes her head and Lisbon curses. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do.”
The plan is simple. There will be plainclothes policemen stationed at every entrance to the park. Rigsby and Lisbon will be positioned where they can see the backpack and make the grab, and Jane and Cho will be further back but close enough to offer assistance. Jane, however, has his own plan, and, from the way Cho is glancing at him, Cho knows this as well.
Ten minutes trickle down to five. A woman sits down on the bench the money is waiting by. Jane can see Rigsby tensing up to move in when the woman pulls a book out of her bag and settles in. More people continue to walk past the bench, go to the bathrooms, and a few curious dogs even sniff the backpack. They lay in wait for ten minutes, twenty minutes. Lisbon says over the ear piece that she’s about ready to call the whole thing.
Jane backs up from where he was crouched in the trees and holds a hand out to Cho. “I do believe my plan is about to be put into motion. Drive me somewhere?”
Cho takes the offered hand and Jane pulls him up. “Where are we going?”
Jane grins. “I’ll tell you in the car.”
Lisbon calls them on their way. “Jane, I know that firework display was so you could get the money out of the park. Rigsby and I are tracking you, and don’t argue about backup, this is still an active kidnapping investigation. Cho, keep him in line.”
Before Jane can protest Cho is holding up a hand. “You heard the boss. And a firework display, really?”
Jane shrugs. “It worked, didn’t it?”
Their destination turns out to be a motel only a ten minute drive away from the park, and Jane can see Rigsby and Lisbon pull in behind them.
“What are we doing here?” Cho asks as he parks the car.
“This is where Daphne is being held. Now be patient, the kidnapper will be here soon and we have to follow her.”
True to his word, a couple minutes later a car parks nearby and out climbs the woman from the park, backpack in hand. They watch as she walks up to room 107, unlocks the door, and steps inside.
“Stay behind me,” Cho orders as they get out of the car.
“Of course,” Jane agrees.
Once they’re at the door, Jane slips around Cho to knock. “Excuse me, I’m looking for my dog, have you seen it?”
The door opens, and none other than Pooja is standing there. The woman from the park. “No, I’m sorry, I haven’t seen any dog.”
“We’re not looking for a dog,” Cho says, and pushes his way inside.
“Hey! Wait! You can’t come in here.” Pooja tries to pull him back but Cho stares her down.
“You took the ransom money from the park. Daphne was never actually kidnapped, it was staged.”
“Daphne,” Jane calls. “You can come out of the bathroom now.”
It takes a moment, but the door does swing open.
“I knew you would have both ears. Your girlfriend wouldn’t hurt you like that.”
She stutters. “I don’t–how did you figure it out? Who are you?”
“This is Agent Cho from the CBI and I’m a consultant. Now, it wasn’t that difficult, mind you. Lots of pictures of Pooja here in your room, particularly one where she’s getting a medical certificate. 300,000 dollars isn’t much for a ransom, all things considered, but it is the perfect amount to cover all the debts associated with medical school. The ear cut off with medical precision, probably from some cadaver you observed in class. As for the motel, Michael Rivers heard you mentioning it on the phone and incorrectly assumed that you were talking about the flowers.”
Daphne backed away from them and grabbed Pooja’s hand. “So, what are you going to do? You can’t tell my parents, they’re going to kill me!”
“We’re taking you home, of course. Isn’t that right, Agent Cho?”
Cho sighed. “Gather your things.”
“What are you going to tell my parents!” Daphne asked again once they were in the car, Rigsby and Lisbon ahead of them.
“We’re going to tell them the truth.” Jane ignores her protests. “You staged being kidnapped so that the ransom could cover your girlfriend’s college expenses. It’s not illegal, and actually a pretty good scheme, but you should still tell your parents. What were you going to do, go back to them and pretend you had been kidnapped?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Teenagers,” Jane scoffed. “You are going to tell your family what happened, because you love them and will feel guilty about lying to them. And you.” He turns to look at Pooja.
“If Daphne was willing to do all of this for you just so you could cover your debt, then you can tell her parents that they’re dating. They’ll be so mad about the fake kidnapping they probably won’t even care that she likes girls.”
The girls whisper to each other in the backseat the entire ride to Daphne’s house, and Jane has to admit it’s sweet. Casually, or as casual as he’s capable of, he lays his hand on the console between his seat and the driver. He can feel the weight of Cho’s contemplation but he resolutely stares straight ahead. When Cho grabs his hand, he simply smiles out the window.
Dropping them off is an easy affair. Lisbon, Rigsby, and Van Pelt are already there at the house, with Lisbon out on the front porch. She watches them pull up and runs forward when she sees who’s getting out of the backseat.
“So what happened? Is she okay?”
Daphne looks uncomfortable, and Jane nudges her and Pooja towards the front door.
“Daphne staged the kidnapping in order to pay for Pooja’s schooling. Romantic, if you think about it. Now, if that’s all, Cho and I have somewhere to be.”
Lisbon stares at them before sighing. “Yes, yes, fine, go have your date. We’ll clean up the mess here. I expect your paperwork done on time, Jane. Cho, have a good night.” And with that, she turns on her heels and meets the girls at the door.
“I think we did quite a good job, actually. They all lived happily ever after. We make a good team, don’t you think, Cho?” He says it with a smile and a quirk of an eyebrow, an expression that means he knows exactly what you’re going to say.
Cho rolls his eyes. “You’re a troublemaker.”
“Don’t act like you don’t like it.”
“Come on. We still have time to make it to our reservation.”
“See, you really do love me.”
“Get in the car.”