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“Hey Lisbon, check it out!”
She whipped around to find the source of the voice and immediately spotted her blonde-haired consultant standing at the top of the projection platform of the planetarium. He flipped a switch, and every single light in the room went out.
“Jane!” Lisbon yelled. “Turn those lights back on right now!”
“I’m trying,” came the response from up in the booth. “There are a lot of switches and buttons here!”
“Well, while you’re messing around with mood lighting, we’re probably trampling evidence because we can’t see! So you had best get that light back on!”
“Hold your horses, woman, no need to shout at me. I didn’t mean to turn them off in the first place!” Jane insisted.
Lisbon looked up as blue flashed across the ceiling. The streaks of blue were quickly replaced by red and purple and gold, and then constellations passed over the domed roof one at a time.
She tapped her foot impatiently. “As interesting as this is, Jane, I’d really like to be able to see!”
“Aha!” Jane said triumphantly, and the room returned to full brightness. He climbed out of the booth and came to join Lisbon and Rigsby on the floor.
“Why did you do that?” Lisbon demanded. “You could have easily just compromised a crime scene.”
“I did it as part of my investigation. It’s not my fault they leave the doors to the projector booth unlocked.”
Lisbon scowled. Rigsby cleared his throat.
“Uh, anyways. The victim is Robert Jackson, he’s an astronomy instructor at the local college. Volunteered at the museum planetarium on weekends. He was found dead this morning by the cleaning crew,” Rigsby read off of the file in his hands.
“Cause of death?”
“Three shots to the chest,” he replied. “Ballistics came back as being from a 9mm, so easily concealed.”
Jane scratched his forehead. “Did anything show up on the security cams?”
“There aren’t cameras inside this building, only in the main one,” Rigsby answered. “So we can’t place anyone entering or leaving the building.”
“Lisbon, what’s this?” Jane asked, crouching down next to the body. He nudged at a book poking out of the victim’s jacket pocket.
She snapped on a pair of gloves and flipped through the book. “Looks like an astronomer’s calendar. It’s got the dates marked with events inside; full moon, eclipse, stuff like that. Let’s bag it as evidence and we can look through it later.”
Lisbon slipped the book into a small evidence bag, then straightened up. “I’ve seen all I need to. Have forensics finish their investigation here. Jane, we need to go to the college and check out the victim’s office.”
_
Lisbon drove them to Sacramento City College, only about a fifteen-minute jaunt away from the planetarium. She kept one hand intertwined with his on the center console, Jane content to enjoy her company. They had only officially been together for a week, but to her, it felt as if they had been missing out on this the whole time they had known each other. There was always a bit of a firecracker relationship between them, but Lisbon had to admit that it was nice to be able to be affectionate with him instead of trying to squash down her feelings. It didn’t change the fact that he could be a real pain in the ass sometimes, but at the end of the day, he always made it up to her somehow.
Admittedly, they had been so busy with the recent influx of cases that they hadn’t been able to spend much time together outside of work. Much of Lisbon’s personal time as of late was spent catching up on sleep, so there hadn’t been a chance for her and Jane to go on any ‘real’ dates. Nevertheless, whatever time they did have together they made the most of, Jane chose more often than not to nap on the couch in her office instead of the one in the bullpen, and she chose to take coffee breaks whenever he got up to get a cup of tea.
Jane was a very tactile person, stemming from his ability to read people. It made it obvious to him whenever anyone needed physical contact, which both fascinated and annoyed Lisbon. She wasn’t usually as physically affectionate as him, but it was comforting to have someone always there to squeeze her hand reassuringly or offer a hug and a kiss whenever he felt she needed it. Lisbon never did understand how he always knew exactly what she needed.
Now, he chattered happily, filling the silence with theories about their case, all while keeping his hand clasped firmly in hers.
“Anyway, I think we need to talk to his students as well, what do you think?” Jane asked.
She sighed. “I’m sorry, Jane, I wasn’t really paying attention. Can you run that by me again?”
“Something on your mind?”
“I guess.”
“Do you want to tell me about it?”
“It’s nothing too important, really. I was just thinking about how we haven’t gotten to spend much time together lately.”
“Oh, Lisbon,” Jane said softly. “Are you worried?”
“No!”
“Well, what’s this all about then?”
“It’s just,” she hesitated. “My job is the main reason that none of my past relationships have worked out, and I don’t want this to turn out the same way.”
He smiled. “So you admit you are a little worried?”
“Fine, I’m a little worried,” she conceded.
“I guarantee you, Lisbon, it’s okay. It’s very convenient that we work together, you know. I get to see you every day at work, what could be better than that?” He asked, pressing a kiss to the back of her hand.
Lisbon expertly pulled into a parking spot and turned off the car. She turned to face him.
“We’ll be okay, right?”
“Absolutely. It took us this long to get together, and I’m not about to let it go to waste over something as trivial as our work schedule,” Jane vowed.
Lisbon leaned over the arm of her seat and kissed him quickly.
“I love you,” he said longingly.
“I love you too, but unless we haul ass into that building right now and get to work, the rest of the team will be way ahead of us,” Lisbon said warningly.
“Testy today, I see,” he replied, quickly hopping out of the car and locking the door.
_
Several minutes later, Lisbon and Jane found themselves combing through Robert Jackson’s personal effects. One of his students from a research group, Megan Knowles, had accompanied them, to unlock the office and talk to them about what Professor Jackson had been involved in.
Jane made his way around the office as Lisbon talked with the student.
“Were you taught by Professor Jackson?” Lisbon asked.
“Yes. I’m a senior here now, majoring in astronomy. I took several classes with him in addition to working on focused research projects with him and a concentrated group of students,” Megan replied. “Is he in some kind of trouble?”
“Megan, I’m so sorry. Professor Jackson was found dead at the Central Museum Planetarium this morning. He was murdered.”
“Oh god.” The girl paled and sat down.
“What were you researching?” Jane asked from across the room.
Megan shook her head. “Umm, we focused mostly on studying pulsars and gamma-ray bursts. In space, I mean. We used the observatory.”
“Did you come close to any conclusions?”
“Yeah. That research was priceless, we got some of the clearest data on ray bursts that there’s been in years. We were going to be published.” She cleared her throat. “I can’t believe he’s gone.”
Lisbon patted the girl’s shoulder comfortingly. “You should go. Get some rest, okay? Thank you for your time.”
“Jane, what are you doing?” Lisbon asked exasperatedly after the girl had left.
“I’m comparing these calendar dates to the ones we found on the pocket calendar. They all match but one,” he explained.
“Really? What’s missing?”
“On the pocket calendar, the Hunter’s Moon was marked. But on this wall calendar, it’s not there.”
Lisbon scrunched her nose in confusion. “I don’t get it. Why would he put all but one event on both calendars?”
“I’m not sure. Instead of the event, it’s marked with the phrase ‘Salmon Falls Bridge-8:00’.”
“So all we know is that the victim was supposed to be at Salmon Falls Bridge today at eight. That’s practically nothing,” Lisbon complained.
“It’s something.” Jane opened all of the desk drawers one at a time. “Let’s talk to the rest of the research group, shall we?”
They made their way to the well-lit observatory, filled with tables with open textbooks and notebooks. The telescope platform took up the majority of the room. A lanky blonde boy with wide-rimmed glasses stood near the scope, recording something on a chart.
“Hi, I’m Agent Teresa Lisbon with the CBI. I’m here to talk about Professor Jackson,” Lisbon called to him.
The boy quickly descended the staircase and shook hands with Lisbon.
“I’m Max Williams, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said enthusiastically. “I’m one of Professor Jackson’s grad students. I was just finishing up recording emissions from the Vela pulsar, one of three that we’re studying here at the lab. Professor took the lead on Cygni, and Megan is our resident expert on Geminga.”
“Nice to meet you, Max. Although I do wish we could have met under better circumstances. I’m sorry to tell you this, but Professor Jackson was found murdered at the planetarium this morning,” Lisbon explained.
“Oh my god,” Max breathed. “I’m so sorry to hear that. Professor Jackson was a good man.”
“So we’ve heard,” Jane said. “Question, do you know why your professor was at the planetarium?”
“Yes, of course. He volunteers there in his spare time. He was always talking about ‘educating the youth’ and ‘creating a foundation’,” Max said.
Lisbon hummed. “Max, do you know why your professor wanted to be at the Salmon Falls Bridge tonight?”
“Sure. Tonight’s the Hunter’s Moon, also known as the Blood Moon, Red October Moon, or Harvest Moon. It usually only happens once a year and is a great opportunity for photography and stargazing. Professor Jackson has been working on an independent research project involving the phenomenon for a couple of years now and has a lot of good notes on the direct correlation between increased levels of gamma radiation in outer orbit and increasing numbers of lunar eclipses annually. It’s his life’s work,” Max said sadly. “Unfortunately, he’ll never be able to finish it now.”
“Was he working with anyone on that project?” Lisbon asked.
“Not that I know of,” Max said, deep in thought. “He was working on this before I knew him, so it’s possible, but if he was, I never knew anything about it.”
“One more question,” Lisbon reassured him. “Do you know of anyone who might want to hurt Professor Jackson?”
“No! Everyone loved him. He was a good man. Except, you might want to talk to Sydney Rolf. She’s one of his grad students as well, but she was kicked out of the research program last year due to, uh, tampering with the research. She wanted more credit than she got for the discoveries, and tried to erase other students’ work just to copy it herself,” Max explained.
“Thanks for your time, Max. Good luck with your research, we’ll be in touch.”
Lisbon called Van Pelt when they returned to the car.
“Hey, boss,” Van Pelt said cheerily into the phone.
“Grace, can you do a search for a Sydney Rolf in the database? We’re going to need a home address,” Lisbon explained.
“Sure thing.”
“Great. Also, have Cho and Rigsby check out any potential rivals this guy might have had. From what we hear, the man’s a saint.”
“No problem. Okay, I got an address for Sydney Rolf. Check out 3938 Glenn Brooks Lane.”
“Thanks, Van Pelt.”
Lisbon hung up the phone. “So, we’re going to pay Sydney Rolf a visit. See if all this about the program is true.”
_
When they rang the doorbell, a woman in her early twenties opened the door. Her face was framed by jet-black bangs, and she wore what looked like a college hoodie.
“Hi, Sydney Rolf? I’m Agent Lisbon and this is Patrick Jane. We’re from the CBI, and we’d like to talk to you about Professor Jackson?”
“Yeah, sure. Come on in.”
Lisbon sat across the room from the girl on the couch while Jane walked around the small living room.
“I understand you were kicked out of Professor Jackson’s research program?” Lisbon began.
“Yes, I did. But it’s all crap, I didn’t do any of the things they accused me of. I was studying a dwarf pulsar, AR Scorpii. It’s the only known white dwarf pulsar in existence, and I was flattered that Professor Jackson trusted me enough to take the lead on it. A lot of students were jealous,” Sydney said.
“Jealous enough to get you kicked out of the research program?” Jane piped up from across the room.
“Sure. Anyone could have done it. Listen, what’s this about?”
Lisbon sighed. “Professor Jackson was found dead at the state planetarium this morning. Where were you last night?”
“Oh, I uh, I was here. Studying for exams. My roommate can vouch for me,” Sydney said, tears in her eyes.
“What’s this?” Jane called.
“Oh, that,” Sydney said shakily. “It’s an academic achievement award for my work on AR Scorpii. I was supposed to take a job at a NASA research facility after I got my degree, but I got kicked out of the research program.”
“Huh,” Jane said. “Okay, Lisbon let’s go. I know everything I need to.”
“Oh you do, do you?” she said, raising her voice and whipping around to face him. “I’m not done here.”
“Yes, you are. I’m sorry for your loss, Sydney,” Jane said, grabbing Lisbon’s arm and practically pulling her out the door.
When they got back to headquarters, Rigsby handed Lisbon a file on a supposed rival of Professor Jackson named Jeremy Pattinson. She plopped down in her chair and opened the file, sifting through photos and articles about their old partnership.
“Rigs, what’s the deal with this guy?”
“Supposedly, he used to work with Professor Jackson when he first started his research program. He’s done a lot of research on the same pulsars that Jackson and his crew were working on and has been recognized in academic journals for exemplary achievement. Maybe Jackson discovered something and Pattinson killed him to get the information?” Rigsby theorized.
“Jackson even took out a restraining order on him? This guy’s dedicated,” Jane commented upon looking at the file.
“You’re right. Rigsby, take Van Pelt and bring him in for questioning. We need to know if Jackson had any information that Pattinson didn’t,” Lisbon ordered.
After Rigsby left, Jane turned to look at Lisbon curiously.
“You realize you’re sending him on a wild goose chase, right?”
“What? We need to talk to Pattinson, he’s a viable suspect,” Lisbon protested.
“A viable suspect if you don’t have the information I have.”
“What information do you have that I don’t? We’ve been together all morning, you can’t have gone behind my back to get clues.”
“I don’t go behind your back, I just don’t necessarily get permission from you before doing things.”
“Which is the definition of going behind my back. Jane, you have to tell me what you know.”
He paused as if considering his options. "No, I think I'll let you figure it out for yourself. Bring in your suspect and interview him if you want, but you're on the wrong path."
Lisbon rolled her eyes. "Jane, I swear-"
But he was already gone. She put her head down on her desk and resigned herself to a long afternoon.
About an hour and a half into working on miscellaneous paperwork, Cho informed her that they had found the victim's rival and brought him in for questioning. Thankful for something to do, she took the file from Cho and went with Rigsby to ask him a couple of questions.
"Jeremy Pattinson? I'm here to talk to you about Robert Jackson," Lisbon said.
The man sat back in his chair and pushed up his glasses. He had the air of a professor about him, complete with wild curly hair and wire-rimmed glasses. He looked every bit like your stereotypical scientist.
"I, uh, did I do something wrong?" Pattinson asked nervously.
"That's what we'd like to find out. Where were you last night?"
"I was at the observatory," he said indignantly. "Not the one at the college, mind you, but the central state public observatory."
"Can anyone vouch for you?" Rigsby asked.
"My assistant, Andrew, was with me. Talk to him if you don't believe me."
Lisbon rolled her eyes. This was not going well.
"Professor Pattinson, we have reason to believe that Robert Jackson's murder may be connected to his work. What were you studying at the observatory last night?" Lisbon asked gently.
"We were working on the pulsar project, trying to figure out where the best place to set up and observe would be. You see, all our research is coming to a close point. We have conclusive evidence of the relations between pulsars and lunar eclipse, and since the hunter's moon happens to be tonight, we needed a good place to observe the pulsar emissions. We had decided on the Salmon Falls Bridge, but unfortunately for us, Jackson and his research team had already claimed it."
“Were you angry with him?”
“Of course I was,” Pattinson admitted. “We were both looking for a couple of determining points to make our work stand out for the academic journals. If he got the good spot, his work would be published first and everything I’ve worked on for years would officially be obsolete.”
Rigsby looked confused. “So what did you do?”
“My group claimed a spot at the Ice House Observation Plateau up at Pollock Pines. It’s a dark sky park, so we should be able to get everything we need from there.”
Lisbon frowned. Jane had been right.
“Thanks for your time, Mr. Pattinson. Good luck with your research,” she said, leaving with Rigsby.
Lisbon and Rigsby reconvened with the rest of the team out in the bullpen. Jane had returned from wherever he had gone, a smug look on his face. Van Pelt had been tracing the victim’s research and going through his email.
“So, what do we have?” Lisbon asked, perching on the arm of Jane’s couch.
“I was looking through the emails and learned that our victim was supposed to be published in a big astronomy journal, but only if he got the last evidence in his report. He was supposed to submit it by next week, or else his spot could be removed and given to someone else,” Van Pelt reported.
Cho sat up. “So maybe Pattinson killed Jackson so that his research could be published instead and he could take the credit.”
“No good,” Rigsby argued. “The timeline doesn’t add up. A witness can place Pattinson at the observatory the whole night last night, he wouldn’t have had a chance to get to the planetarium and kill him.”
It was then that Lisbon noticed Jane’s grin.
“Something you want to share?” she asked pointedly.
“Mmm, if you don’t mind me stealing the spotlight.”
Lisbon rolled her eyes, and Jane pulled a folded photograph out of his inside jacket pocket. Carefully, he handed it to Lisbon.
“What is this?” she asked, unfolding it.
“This is a contribution from our friend Max. I went to talk to him in the observatory today and he was able to offer some interesting insights as to the working relationships of his colleagues.”
In the photo, Sydney stood arm in arm with Professor Jackson, proudly holding up an award. A wide grin split her face, and several of the other students in the research program were standing next to them, smiling and congratulating Sydney.
“Max took this picture at the award ceremony that Sydney was telling us about. He wasn’t sure if it would help, but if you look at this,” he pointed at a background figure, “you might be able to get an idea of how well it was received.”
“Is that Megan Knowles?” Lisbon asked, surprised.
Van Pelt looked at the photo. “She doesn’t look very happy for Sydney.”
Sure enough, Megan was standing in the background of the photo, arms crossed in contempt. She was scowling and separated from the group.
“My friend Max was able to tell me that he wasn’t sure that Sydney actually did all the things she was accused of. He suspects that someone framed her for erasing the work because they were jealous of all the special consideration she was getting from Professor Jackson,” Jane explained. “He thinks Megan might have done it. She never did like the fact that Professor Jackson let Sydney work on the big important project.”
“That makes a lot of sense,” Rigsby said.
“Is that attention worth killing over?” Cho asked.
“I don’t know, but I think we need to talk to Megan again. Cho, Rigsby, see if you can bring her in, I need to talk to her,” Lisbon ordered.
Jane joined Lisbon in her office while they waited for Megan to arrive.
“Lisbon, do you need me for Megan’s interrogation?” he asked.
“I don’t think so. You’re welcome to watch if you want, but this seems pretty straightforward. You might get bored.”
“Excellent. I have to run some errands, but I’ll be back tonight.”
“What? Jane, it’s already almost six. How long are you expecting me to wait for you?”
“Woman, I know how late you usually stay here, getting caught up on work. Just go about your routine, I promise I’ll be back soon. You’ll hardly even notice I’m gone,” he said, kissing her forehead and ducking out the door.
She sighed, sinking back into the chair. Of course, she would notice. Even though Lisbon would never admit it, she really liked having Jane around. She worked on some forms until she got a text from Rigsby saying that Megan was waiting in interrogation room three.
_
“So, Megan. It seems that there were some things you forgot to mention when we talked the first time,” Lisbon said.
The girl scowled.
“Do you know Sydney Rolf?” Lisbon asked.
“Duh. Everyone knows Sydney. She got herself kicked out of the program, the dumb kid was erasing data.”
“Well, Max Williams says he thinks someone framed Sydney. Were you jealous of her?”
“Yes,” Megan admitted. “She comes waltzing in one year, all blonde hair and blue eyes, and Professor Jackson just gives her the most important celestial object in our study to focus on. It’s absolutely ridiculous, I was in line for that one. There’s no way she didn’t do something to convince him to let her have it.”
“Did you frame Sydney for erasing the data?”
“I want a lawyer.”
“You’re not a kid anymore, Megan. You know that if you are accused, you’ll be tried as an adult. But if you confess not, I might be able to get a deal with the D.A.’s office to shorten your sentence,” Lisbon said.
Megan sat in silence for a few minutes. Lisbon was about to give up and leave, let the girl think about it, but before she could go, Megan decided to talk.
“Okay. Yes, I was jealous of Sydney. I erased her data and copied it to other people’s projects so she would get kicked out of the program. I was hoping that Professor Jackson would assign AR Scorpii to me, but he just struck it out of our studies completely. He had found out it was me, and he called me into the planetarium after hours that night so he could ask me if I had done it.”
Lisbon nodded and wrote this down. “Why did you kill Professor Jackson?”
“I killed the professor because he was going to kick me out of the research program and let Sydney back into my spot. That’s not fair!” she shouted. “He was going to ruin my whole career and any chance I had at completing my degree over a little bout of jealousy?”
“So you shot him.”
“Yes. He hadn’t taken up the issue with administration yet, no one knew except for the two of us. I shot him in the middle of the planetarium.” She laughed hollowly. “But it’s justified in my eyes. I saved my career, and I’ll go down in history for my work.”
“You’ll go down somewhere,” Cho muttered as he cuffed her hands.
“Megan Knowles, you’re under arrest for the murder of Robert Jackson. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…”
_
Lisbon found herself sitting in her office, filling out the arrest paperwork, and waiting for Jane to get back. She was tired, this hadn’t been a long case, but days and days of long work hours would do that to you. She was just about to lay her head down on the desk when Jane knocked on the door.
“Are you ready to go?” he asked.
“Go where? You never told me what this was all about,” Lisbon said indignantly.
“I’m taking you out somewhere. Just the two of us. You need a break, Lisbon, and you won’t be able to do this any other night of the year.”
She looked skeptical. “This is my only chance to do whatever we’re doing? Why?”
“You’re just going to have to trust me.”
“Fine.”
She turned off her laptop, grabbed her bag and coat, and locked the office behind them. He opened the car door for her and she gratefully sat down.
“Not going to complain about me driving this time?” he quipped.
“To be honest, I’m too tired.”
“It’s a good thing I brought coffee!”
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going, Jane?”
“It’s a surprise. You said you were upset that we didn’t get to spend as much time together, and well, let’s just say the stars aligned, and I thought of the perfect thing to do tonight.”
He pulled off the main road to a wooded area and parked near the bank of the river. Jane grabbed a blanket and a bag out of the backseat of the Citroen and led Lisbon to the water’s edge.
“Jane, what’s all this?” she asked, laughing.
“Look up.”
She gasped. The moon looked huge from where they were standing. Not a cloud was in sight, and the moon and stars cast an orange glow across the water. Her eyes lit up in surprise at the kind gesture on Jane’s part.
True to his word, he pulled a thermos of coffee for Lisbon and a thermos of tea for himself out of the bag. They laid down together on the blanket by the riverfront, and Jane turned to kiss Lisbon on the nose.
“You’re sweet, Patrick Jane, you know that?”
“When I want to be.”
He pointed out certain constellations and explained the phases of the moon to her, while she sat enthralled by his words. This was by far the most romantic gesture anyone had ever done for her, and she was content to rest her head on his chest and listen to him talk about the sky. Jane couldn’t help but notice the way her green eyes sparkled in the dim moonlight, and he kissed her deeply.
“I love you, Lisbon.”
“I love you too.”
“I’m glad you’re here with me. I want to see this side of you more often,” he said.
“Thank you for bringing me here.”
“By the way, Lisbon, are we ever going to tell the team that we’re together now?”
“They’ll find out eventually.”
They stayed there for a while longer, alternating between kissing gently and Jane pointing something out in the sky.
It really was a marvelous night for a moondance, Jane thought to himself.