The Mentalist

Where is she? Over here.

You saw the suspect? Details, please. Where? When?

Uh, I was coming out of the elevator after lunch.

Where was the suspect headed? Uh, up the stairs, which I thought was strange,

'cause that leads to the roof, right? It's not just the roof. It's where Jane works.

Has anybody seen him? Not since this morning.

Cover the exits! All of them!

Use whoever you have to out here!

Hasten slowly.

The target will be armed.

It's locked.

Jane? You in there?

Yeah, I'm coming out.

You're gonna have to stand back. And if you're bearing firearms,

please lower them.

Please.

Agent high tower.

Stand back... Or he dies.

Security guard making rounds this morning

found the body. Multiple stab wounds. Anything missing from the display case?

Yeah, a Mayan figurine. Gold. Valued at 200 grand.

We get an I.D. on the victim?

Manuel montero. He was a professor at the university,

in ancient art. Security cameras show him

entering the museum alone at 10:25 P.M.,

then he turned off the cameras. (Patrick) Hey, Lisbon.

Look at this.

Meet Caroline...

one of the most well-preserved tyrannosaurus Rex

ever discovered. Isn't she awesome?

We've got a dead man over there.

Dead men I've seen. But this...

Could we get back to work, please?

Must I justify my every action?

Please observe the rib cage

of our smaller fossilized friend here.

There's a rib missing.

You think somebody climbed up there and stole it?

Well, two options... the first involves cloning.

The second and more likely...

it was used to break a very thick piece of glass.

Could we get somebody

to dust the stegosaurus for prints, please?

It's not a stegosaurus. It's a triceratops.

Triceratop... ps... Ps.

Ps... Ps.

Ps. Ugh.

My name is christo papadakis.

I am professor of anthropology.

Did you know the victim? Manuel montero. He was part-time faculty.

Too busy to teach full-time. (Chuckles)

Montero was on the run.

On the run from who?

Nobody. He... he traveled.

He was always running to South America.

His career was in ruins. Well, tough times for everybody.

Not for montero. He had a lot of money. Well, you just said he was in ruins.

Yes, toltec. Mayan.

Oh. Montero was an archaeologist?

Specializing in pre-columbian art.

Many of the pieces around you are, uh, on loan from him.

Can you think of anyone with a reason to kill montero?

Well, he was a traitor.

Oh, he was a traitor? Who did he betray? Betray? Nobody.

Well, you just said he was a... montero was an honest antiquities dealer.

One of the last. Most traders these days are looters

and no-good son-of-a-bitches.

So, montero was a trader... He traded antiquities,

excavated from south American ruins.

Are you really professional police officer?

So the missing pendant belonged to the victim.

Montero liked to visit the museum after hours

to show his pieces to private buyers.

He had a key to the building and the security code.

At the heart of any salesman is showmanship.

And you'd be hard-pressed

to find a more dramatic proscenium than this.

Yeah, smart strategy unless the buyer doesn't wanna pay.

Stabbed in the back, literally.

Montero probably didn't even see it coming. But he had time to think about it before he died.

Look at his watch.

Wow. That's an ugly watch.

It's a calculator watch. Indeed. Very useful accessory for the sales pro on the go.

Is there something typed in there?

It's uh, numbers.

"6-0-7-8."

Supposed to mean something?

Try looking at the numbers upside-down.

Huh.

It says "blog."

His cell phone was crushed by the killer,

so montero here improvised.

Call Van pelt and see if montero published a blog.

I'm ready to go. I've seen enough. I haven't.

You know they have mastodons here? Giant sloths.

And dire wolves. I-I'll catch up.

But, mommy, I want to go.

You can squawk all you like, Mimi.

There's no sleepovers on a school night.

I have to.

No.

Mommy, that's so unfair.

I'm sorry, baby. I gotta go.

All right. Love you.

Mm-hmm. Love you, too. Bye.

Forgive the intrusion.

What's this about, agent laroche?

The Todd Johnson case.

Hmm.

I would like to show you a photo

of one of the law enforcement officers that he murdered.

Did you know this man?

Rance Howard. C.H.P. Officer.

Very popular. A lot of our agents were close to him.

Some more than others.

There's a rumor that you and Howard

were intimately involved. Is that true?

Excuse me?

Simple question.

Simple answer... what the hell is that to you or anybody else?

Johnson was set on fire...

a crime of passion if there ever was one.

If you were having an affair with one of Johnson's victims,

you had passion and motive.

Your investigation seems to hinge

on what you may have read on a bathroom wall.

Good luck with that, agent laroche.

Background on montero. What do we know about him?

Single, self-employed, spent half his time abroad

importing ancient art.

Sold it from a warehouse in San Francisco. Family?

Parents retired in Florida.

They'll be on the next flight here. Hey, boss. I looked into the blog.

Montero did publish one... "I dig dead people."

Archaeology humor. Cute. Anything useful?

A lot of self-promotional entries

about his relic-hunting adventures. But three weeks ago,

he came back from a trip to Columbia with the gold pendant

that was stolen from the museum. After montero blogged about it,

a private buyer posted an anonymous e-mail

to arrange a viewing. Did you put a trace on the e-mail?

Not me. FBI's computer forensics lab. One of the perks of having a fiancé with the feds.

Preliminary forensic report. Pulled about a half dozen prints

off the stegosaurus skeleton.

It's gonna take a while to process them, though.

While we're waiting on forensics,

let's work on developing some leads.

Hey, you said that montero had a warehouse? Yeah, in the mission district.

But there's something else. I ran his financials.

The profits from his company have been going up at a time

when other art and antiquity dealers are closing shop. Closing shop? Why?

Repatriation laws. Countries are now suing for the return

of their cultural treasures. You and Rigsby go to the warehouse.

See if you can find anything.

Hi, Jane. Hey.

The boys are working on the parking lot today.

Need you to park underground.

Oh, no problem. That kid of yours, Jim...

is he into dinosaurs and prehistoric stuff? Sure loves his mother.

Here. Give him this.

It's a replica of a dire wolf's tooth.

Thanks. Look at that.

Have a good day.

What?

I didn't say anything.

You were thinking it.

Mentalizing me. You can tell?

I can read it on your face. So stop.

Well, if you can read it on my face,

then you're mentalizing me. So you stop.

Oh. No, on second thought, keep going. What am I thinking?

Please go away, Jane. Nope. That's wrong. Try again.

You're thinking I'm freaking out

because some fool spread a rumor

that I was having an affair with rance Howard.

The c.H.P. Officer? You're the one thinking it.

I feel naked.

There's only one person that has this singular effect on people.

You've been laroched, haven't you?

I suppose I have. Well, there's no shame in it.

We're all pots in his kitchen, and he's a sous chef,

just waiting for one of us to boil over.

I won't give him the satisfaction. Of course not. Did you?

Did I what? Did you have an affair with rance Howard?

My personal life is my personal life.

Nobody else has the right to it. Well you're wrong about that.

Laroche does. Whatever the truth is,

I wouldn't try to hide it from him.

He'll find out eventually.

Ho-ho-ho. It's our lucky day, buddy.

See that taco truck just as we got off the freeway?

That taco truck's always there. Oh, yeah. A little carne a sad a

after we check out the warehouse? Muy bien. No.

Why not? I don't wanna cross hobo alley to order lunch from a truck

that's near the sewage ditch under the freeway.

But there's tacos there.

This is the warehouse.

Let's check out the back.

Hey!

CBI. Who's in charge here?