The Mentalist

I daresay you've inspected more modern facilities

in your travels, but, uh--

Griffin. Don't come in here.

Dr. Seberg, what's wrong?

Oh, my God.

Hey.

Hey.

Cheer up. Why?

Uh, 'cause it's better to be happy than sad.

I'm not sad. You're very sad.

You've been sad for months, ever since, uh--

what, is this some sort of therapy session?

Did you bring tissue in case you make me cry?

There we go. Zing of anger-- gets the blood up.

That's a good start. Is this what you came here for-- to zing me?

Because I've got paperwork to do.

Jane, call for you. They say it's extremely urgent. Line two.

Ooh.

this is Jane.

good morning, Mr. Jane.

My name is Dr. Alicia Seberg.

I gather from a brief search on the internet

that you're the best Detective in my immediate vicinity.

Oh. Well, um...

you flatter me, but, uh, I'm not actually a Detective.

I need your professional assistance.

Please come immediately.

I've been murdered.

Whoo!

That was fun!

Whoo!

Agent Lisbon! CBI!

Ma'am, sir, please follow me.

All right!

Agent Lisbon. And you are...

I'm this guy-- Patrick Jane. Consultant?

Okay, Teresa, Patrick, glad to meet you both.

I'm Dean Harken, California Disease Control Authority.

Nice to meet you. Yeah, we have

a potential code red virus outbreak situation here.

This facility is under C.D.C.A. control,

as per state emergency protocols.

Thousands of people might die if we don't get this right, okay?

We've been apprised of the basic-- Now she's denying it, of course, but this situation's

almost certainly resulted from an error by Dr. Seberg.

There's no criminality involved,

so you're not really needed here.

Probably but we're gonna have--

As a professional courtesy, I'm gonna let you into the facility.

I'm happy for you guys to observe and gather evidence,

as long as you remember that C.D.C.A. Is big dog here.

Our investigation has priority. Now are we cool with that?

Absolutely.

Can I see your I.D. also?

Sure.

Thank you... Dean.

No picture. That's a shame. You're a good-looking man.

Scott Price, I manage this facility

for Zitek Biosystems division.

Right off the bat, let me assure you

that we as a company are 110% committed to giving you

the best possible cooperation.

Thank you, Mr. Price. Shall we? There's a sense of urgency here.

Ah, yes, of course.

Lisbon, Jane, Dr. Edmunds, head of research here.

He'll take you to the release incident.

Price, come with me.

Thank you for coming so quickly.

What exactly is it that you do here?

Biowarfare. With modern technology,

Anthrax, botulism, bubonic plague,

even cobra venom all he strong weaponizing potential.

It's a growing field. A lot of exciting developments.

You develop ways of killing people in large numbers.

To the contrary. We develop antidotes, ways to combat

the things that kill large numbers of people.

Here we are.

Follow me.

120.

Darling. Is this Mr. Jane?

Yes. How are you feeling? The same.

Interesting improvement in cardiac rate, though.

My metabolism's trying to fight back with adrenaline.

Good morning, Mr. Jane.

Hi.

Agent Lisbon, CBI.

You mind running this down for us?

Someone opened this flask and left it under the tank.

It contains an airborne form of cryptohansa b strain.

It's an engineered supervirus.

If it escaped from this room, it would kill

every vertebrate creature within a quarter-mile radius.

It attacks the red blood cells, gradually stops them

from delivering oxygen.

The victim... dies from suffocation or a heart attack,

depending on their physical condition.

How long after exposure?

We estimate anywhere from two to six hours.

So you could die at any time? Yes.

Harken says you did this yourself--tragic error.

He's a bureaucrat. He's looking for the easy answer.

It takes four distinct steps to remove a cap

from one of these flasks, and we never open a flask

outside of the tank. That's just basic.

I can assure you both, I had nothing to do with this.

But this was no mistake. Whoever did this wanted me dead.

Everybody knows I take the first shift.

She called you "darling." you both have wedding bands.

You husband and wife?

Yes.

Well, she looks surprised

because you seem incredibly calm and cool

for a man whose wife is dying.

How would an absence of calm and cool be useful to her?

Good point. Correct me if I'm wrong,

but for the killer to open the flask,

they would have to expose themselves to the virus,

which case, they would be dying or possibly dead already.

No, there's an antidote.

It's an enzyme compound.

If taken before exposure, it prevents infection.

I assume whoever did this took a dose.

Couldn't you j-- no, I can't take it now.

The antidote only works if taken before exposure, as I said.

Why didn't you take it before, just as a precaution?

The side effects of regular use are far too severe.

Who else had access to the virus flask?

The only people allowed in the lab are Cliff and I,

Welks, Nash and Tripp, our colleagues.

We have a state-of-the-art biometric security system,

as you can see.

So your husband or one of the three colleagues

is the killer.

Sorry. Uh, will be the killer.

Jane.

I'm just... Mm.

That's all right. That is the unavoidable conclusion.

Yes.

Where are the other three now?

Harken is having them fill out an accident report.

We're gonna need to speak to them.

Ooh, this is a good one, eh?

Good?

Well, interesting. Unique.

If you're a jaded, ghoulish adventure seeker.

Ghoulish? Listen, if people are gonna kill each other

and we have to catch them, I would much rather

they go about it with some kind of originality.

boss? Hey, Van Pelt.

I need you to do background checks on Cliff Edmunds...

Lilith Nash, Griffin Latimer Welks,

Florian Eric Tripp.

I'm sending you their details now.

Anything to be looking out for in particular?

Oh, uh, one of them released a lethal supervirus.

that could kill half the state of California,

So I guess we're looking for

someone with a prior background as an evil supervillain.

Okay.

That last part was a joke. Yeah, we get it.

Later.

Hello.

Hi.

Hello. Hello.

What are you doin'? What does it look like I'm doing?

Trying to make us nervous? Correct. How am I doing?

Doing well. Excellent.

But why?

One of you three murdered Alicia Seberg,

or her husband did. It's our job to find out who. And we're in a hurry,

And nervous people are easy to read. And what do you gather from all this reading?

Well, you're an open book. You're exactly what

you seem to be-- a straight arrow, a boy scout.

Am I right? No.

I'm wrong. There's a hidden side to you. Yes, but--

What are you hiding? Nothing.

What is he hiding, Lilith? I don't know.

What are you hidi? I-I'm not--

It was you, wasn't it? Me what?

You were having an affair with Alicia Seberg.

What? No, not with me.

Not with you. With who, then?

I oversee equipment and inventory,

not my colleagues' private lives.

But she was having an affair, huh?

Why else would a husband have the motives to kill her?

And if it wasn't her husband, it was one of you.

Who was it?

My guess...

Kaseem.

Yes.

Does her husband know? Oh, he knows.

Dr. Edmunds

A kind, gentle man. He couldn't have done this.

Thank you, Lilith, Florian...

Griffin.

Why didn't you tell us you were having an affair

with Dr. Kaseem here? Because it isn't relevant.

Yeah, we have an honest and open marriage.

They do.