Bloodhounds - Recap

Agents Patrick Jane, Cho and Lisbon stood in a junkyard, the sun beating down upon them, as they rummaged round and through old cars when suddenly a yell of discovery from one of the policemen helping in the search brought the agents' attention to a certain old car. The lid of the trunk was lifted high to reveal a battered and bruised female corpse stuffed into its' interior. And not far off, in another old vehicle, a second female corpse was found. Both of the bodies had been in the junkyard for about a week, so they smelled very bad. Nevertheless, the bodies were taken in body bags to the lab for analysis and identification. The first victim found turned out to be one Valerie Beston who had been missing for a week. The other body was Latina but the name was not readily available. A computer match was run on fingerprints to try to identify her. Meanwhile, there were investigations to be made, questions to be asked.


Jane was introduced to one Doctor Montague, a decisions science case consultant, a formidable young female officer who was newly assigned to the FBI. She and Jane did not hit it off at first, coming to loggerheads over points in the case. Montague pointed out that this case had all the signs of a serial killer named the Caveman. The Caveman had in the past sent raw kidneys wrapped in letters he had written to the police, taunting them. She was certainly set in her ways while Jane was used to going off on an intuitive whim and solving cases that way. Jane told her that he was certain that this was not the work of the Caveman. Valerie Beston, accountant with a local firm, had been a frequent volunteer at the local homeless shelter. She had accidentally hit a homeless man a few months before and had felt guilty ever since, so serving at the shelter was her way of helping. She had also been known to take local needy children camping. The people at the shelter had loved her, especially one homeless man named Marty. Marty had taken ill with the flu two weeks before and had died of it. Another homeless person, a woman named Paula, had also adored Valerie and said so to the agents.


Agents Cho and Rigsby were in another junkyard one night, searching for any evidence or bodies of more victims when they ran across a van rocking wildly. Tearing open the back doors, they saw a couple copulating. They pulled the man off the young woman who was very angry. She wore a bracelet that had been missing from one of the previous victims and when asked where she had gotten it, she pointed to her would be lover. He confessed that he poked about the old wrecks and sometimes took items in them, but that he had not killed anyone and would certainly not do that anyway. They were let go.


A letter wrapped around a kidney appeared at the FBI headquarters and after being thoroughly examined, nothing conclusive was decided. Jane later admitted that he had sent it just to stir things up.


Tracing down the Latina victim, it was found that her name was Fernanda Talon and that she had worked at the Dos Hermanos bottling plant which put out natural soda pop. Jane talked with the women who owned and operated the plant and he found out that those women had been cousins to Fernanda. So who had killed her and Valerie? Jane and Montague walked outside the plant and stood talking, then Jane wandered off a bit and called to Montague. Together they boarded the bus that ran close to the plant. Jane made a point of asking the passengers on the bus if they knew either Fernanda or Valerie but no one piped up.
Jane sat down again and made a quick and furtive phone cal on his cell phone to Lisbon, asking her to find out who the bus drivers were for the busline. A woman sitting near the bus driver had indicated with facial movements that the bus driver was the killer. Jane sat tight and waited for Lisbon's phone call. When it came, he nodded and hung up. He walked over to the bus driver and asked him to stop the bus, which he did, opening the door and walking rapidly down the alley. Montague and Jane followed, Jane calling for back up. He stopped the bus driver with a yell and just then Lisbon and Cho drove up in a police car. They arrested the driver and threw him in the back of the car. Lisbon said that with the driver in the back that there was no room for Jane or Montague so they would have to walk. Jane protested that they had his driver and what were they going to do? Lisbon said you'll have to help yourself and drove off.


The cousins of the bottling plant had reported their cousin Fernanda missing for a week and when they were interrogated at headquarters, they admitted that they had killed their cousin. Why, though?


At the homeless shelter, Donovan Treadlow, shelter manager, was upset. Jane told the man that homeless guests had told him Treadlow had been seen comforting many female guests at night, one of them Valerie. Treadlow admitted doing so, excusing himself with the fact that even homeless people needed care and comfort, especially physical. He denied killing Valerie even when Valerie said that she would tell Treadlow's wife. Did Treadlow know why Marty had died? Did he know why so many shelter guests had sickened so suddenly after drinking the natural soda that had been donated to the shelter by Dos Hermanos? No, he said he did not.


Further questioning of the women operating the bottling plant revealed that their cousin, Fernanda, had said she was going to tell the authorities about the glycol that had been put into a batch of soda intended to enhance the fading flavor. It had only sickened its drinkers and killed Marty. The cousins killed her to keep her silent. The two women were taken into custody.


After the investigation and arrests, Montague ran into Jane in the lunch room at headquarters. She thanked him for being so patient with her on the case and handed him a box. It held many sheets of paper containing data on the Red John case. She told him to consider it a gift and left the room after he thanked her. He tossed the sheaf in the trash and turned round, pulling it out again and retired to his office to read it.

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