Red Numbers(the mentalist)

Red Numbers 6

Chapter 6

He couldn't believe it, Lisbon never acted like this before! He turns to find Catherine sitting on the couch, jotting down numbers slowly as though she were sidetracked. She kept glancing at the clock and then tried to focus on her numbers, three seconds later she looks back up at the clock.

"If your anxious about your mother I'm sure she'll be fine."

He's rewarded with a quick glance.

This girl knows things. He thinks to himself. She spent THREE years with HIM, she must know who he is, maybe even more than that. He needs that information but she hasn't said a word for the past four years and he already knows from experience that she won't let him go relatively near her. But she knows what's going to happen next, and he needs to get something out of this girl.

For a while he's stumped, but then he gets an idea. A brilliant idea.

"Have you ever played with cards?"

No response but Jane isn't even fazed as he grabs a deck of cards and invites her over to the table.

"It's called the Math Card Trick."

That got her attention. She sets down her notebook and sits across from him at the table. Watching with fascination as he deals out 27 cards face up into a grid of 9 rows and 3 columns. He puts the remaining cards away.

"Pick a card and tell me which column it's in."

She shows three fingers and then points to the middle column.

"Alright so 3 of hearts in the middle column."

Jane shuffles the 27 cards again and then does them vertically, afterwards he picks up cards from the top of the column to the bottom; keeping them in the same order. Then to Catherine's surprise Jane deals the cards again just this time horizontally across the rows first.

"So Catherine tell me which column contains your card."

She points to the last column at the right, where Jane finds her card. She knew exactly where he had placed it. He deals again and starts over, they replay the game a few more times and she continuously gets it right.

The first game: 3

The second game: 5

The third game: 2

The fourth game: 6

"So the next numbers are 3526"

Her eyes widen.

"It's just a card trick a lot of people fall for it. I can gain information from people through cards. You don't talk you just write numbers so I played this one and you fell for it."

Without warning she shoots out of her seat, grabs the deck of cards and throws them at Jane. She bolts out of the house before he can even get to her.

"Catherine! Catherine wait!"

He can just make out her running down hill towards the beach. Racing towards her Jane gets to the beach and she's...gone? That's not right, he takes a guess and goes left on the shore. Eventually he reaches a WARNING sign that's all about staying clear from the rocky shore due to rip tides. At first he ignores it but a second look reveals the numbers 3526 in tiny word print.

It doesn't take long for him to reach the large black boulders and he searches extensively for her.

"Catherine?"

Waves pound against the rocks, splashing Jane and making the rocks slippery underneath his feet. He slides down one and onto another, only momentarily losing his footing. The waves are becoming relentless, he's going to have to speed up the progress. After a while he sees a red scarf flapping madly in the wind, a red gloved hand reaches out and pulls it back out of sight. It's Catherine, she has hidden herself in the darkness between two large boulders.