9Chapter 4: Sometimes Bigger Is Simpler
Several days later, Jane was waiting in her office when Lisbon returned from a late-afternoon meeting.
"Something new on our case?"
"No. More thinking about Red John."
She looked closely at him and was relieved he appeared more at-ease than the last time they talked about Red John. "Talk here? Over dinner?"
"I am kinda hungry. Dinner?"
Lisbon and Jane settled into a booth at O'Malley's. The booth's high sides afforded enough privacy for them to talk despite O'Malley's popularity with the CBI crowd. Their conversation began in earnest after their meal was served.
"What's new?"
"Well," Jane said between bites, "My friend Occam's Razor is proving useful once again."
"You mean the simplest explanation that accommodates all the facts is likeliest to be correct?"
"Yeah. Perversely, making the puzzle bigger, makes it simpler. I've been looking at Red John as the center of the case because of my personal interest–"
"-And because Red John is the case assigned to our unit."
"What if Red John is just one node of a much larger criminal or terrorist network? The shocking m.o. of the Red John murders stands out, but it might be obscuring the big picture."
"What big picture?"
"Todd Johnson was connected to Red John, but he did a series of cop killings that weren't in the Red John style. Johnson said there was a big picture that–and I quote–'would blow your mind.'"
"He's still just a serial killer. What's qualitatively different?"
"Crime. Money. International connections. Johnson was connected to Montero, who did gun running in Central and South America–maybe connected to FARC. Rebecca murdered Bosco's team to give me back the case. But their murder also undermined the major, international drug case they were working on. Coincidence? The early Red John murders connect to Visualize, which has international reach and dabbles in a variety of criminal activities. Sean Barlow is connected to the IRA which has been linked to the PLO, Libya under Quadafi, the Basque ETA and FARC in Colombia. Those connections would attract the attention of the FBI and Homeland Security. So, they are justifiably interested in Red John, because Red John is more than a local serial killer."
"We pretty much talked about this on Monday," Lisbon said, puzzled.
"Homeland Security and the FBI are interested in Red John. If Red John is only a part of a far larger investigation, how would they handle it, how would they protect the larger investigation from leaks or co-opted agents?"
"Classic investigative strategy. You break it down into several smaller investigations. Each smaller part is kept separate so that a leak doesn't jeopardize the whole investigation."
"-The same approach used by terrorists or intelligence agencies. They use independent cells in which each cell knows only as much as it needs to do its part, yes?"
"Oh, I see where you're going. Homeland and the FBI might have undermined our Red John case to protect the larger investigation. You think that's why they took Lorelei?"
"Maybe. Perhaps Jason Lennon, too. I remain convinced Kirkland had something to do with him dying before he could say anything."
"Pretty cold if agents are killing people to protect their investigation."
"If there is an investigation into international criminal and terrorist networks, including the IRA network, that might be why the FBI tracked me after my family was murdered and recently suspected I was a friend of Red John."
"What?"
"I'm connected to Sean Barlow through my father years ago. If Sean is still in that game, I'm a 'person of interest.'"
"So where does all this lead?"
"It doesn't change my list of suspects or anything concrete. But it clarifies the possible motivations of some of the players. I need to be careful in how I interpret their actions, that's all."
"Oh. Simple.
