Author's notes:

Thank you to two great writers and friends, Sue Shay and make-mine-a-kiaora, for their help and support with this story.

In Mentalist episode 6x09, "My Blue Heaven," Teresa Lisbon is the Police Chief of Cannon River, Washington. What if events took a different course from that episode?

I do not own the TV show The Mentalist and get no compensation from it. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes only.

Notes on the story title and the chapter title follow at the end of the chapter.

Chapter 1: Help!

Police Chief Teresa Lisbon of Cannon River, Washington stared in disbelief at the scene on the other side of the glass.

How did I ever end up with this mess?

Like a turtle turned upside down, Officer Henry Karson was flailing - and failing - in his attempt to coax something useful out of the suspect. The guy sitting across the table from her officer was tight-lipped, and apart from two things he said nothing. First, he knew nothing about the ATM robbery. Second, he wanted a lawyer. After another five fruitless minutes, Henry turned to the glass, shrugged his shoulders, and shook his head.

Way to go, Henry. You might as well have yelled your frustration out loud.

The officer got up and walked to the door of the interrogation room. With a warning for the suspect to sit tight, he exited. He hadn't got two steps down the hall before Teresa grabbed him by the shirt sleeve to haul him into the observation room.

"What the hell was that about, turning around to shrug your shoulders at me?"

"I was frustrated, ma'am," he said.

"Obviously. We all are, Henry. But you don't tip off your suspect to your frustration. And don't acknowledge that someone is watching on the other side of the glass."

"Yes, ma'am."

"How many more suspects do you have to interview?"

"Three more."

Teresa rubbed the bridge of her nose as she let out a sigh.

"Go ahead. Tell that guy that we'll be in touch, not to leave town, all the regular warnings."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Get going, Henry. You need to get through the rest of them today. And don't telegraph your thoughts to the suspects!"

"Yes, ma'am."

"I'll bet you have trouble playing poker, don't you?"

"No, ma'am. I don't have trouble playing poker. I know how to play it, and lots of people invite me their poker nights. It's just the winning I have trouble with."

Someday the light bulb will click on in your head, Henry. I hope I'm around to see it.

She motioned for him to go back to the suspect. Finished with the officer, she retreated to her office. Once there, she lowered her head to the desk amid the piles of open case reports she had been reviewing.

Getting help for her department was easier said than done. Her operating budget could only stretch so far. She desperately needed new officers, at least sharper ones, but there just wasn't enough money to go around. On top of that the talent pool for a small town like Cannon River was limited. If only her officers could work smarter.

Teresa had to admit that CBI had spoiled her in regard to talent. She'd had a good team, one that was smart, energetic, resourceful. The best at CBI. And she'd had Patrick Jane too.

A dull ache rose in her heart. She closed her eyes as the images of him played through her mind - the betrayals, the manipulations, the cons. Then another series of thoughts surfaced - the shared moments, the laughter, the caring for each other.

And he loved me as much as I loved him. But there was just too much baggage to break down that last barrier. And then what happened at the end. I guess he had to vanish. How I wish things were different.

She had looked forward to his letters, smuggled to her through his carny friends. If she couldn't be with him, at least she could hear from him. But then the letters had stopped coming, and the silence left the deep pain in her heart.

No use lingering on what couldn't be.

With a sigh she looked at the papers again. Surely there had to be some way to get ahead of the game here in Cannon River. Swiveling her chair around to the credenza behind her, she pulled up the budget spreadsheet on her computer for the hundredth time. If she could squeeze just a little money from three or four accounts, maybe she could bring in a profiler, someone who could get the whole department working better. A game-changer like Jane had been.

After playing with the numbers for a half-hour, she slammed her fist down on the credenza. There was some money, but by the time she factored in travel and living expenses there were just pennies left. What to do?

Glancing down, Teresa looked under her fist. Mixed in with the morning mail was a press release from Deverell College.

"Deverell College of Cannon River, Washington, is pleased to announce its Experts Program. Select faculty will be available to consult with businesses, non-profits, and governmental agencies on a variety of topics. For more information, call our Marketing and Advancement Department, 360-555-3167."

While she had never set foot on campus, she drove by the college often and met many alumni across the city. Three of her officers graduated from there - three of the better ones.

Teresa needed help, and she needed it in a hurry. Could Deverell deliver an answer?

How had things come to this? When she drove over to Deverell's rustic, tree-filled campus that morning for her appointment with the Director of Marketing and Advancement, Teresa thought she'd only be talking with him. She wanted to feel out the situation, not make any commitments. Over the years at CBI she'd heard about a few occasions when agents would reach out to the academic world for help. The number of failures dwarfed the successes, and the last thing Teresa needed was to end up babysitting some windbag professor who blathered on about some useless pet theory. But if she could just get even a little help for the department with this "Hail Mary pass," it would be worth it.

Herb, the Director of Marketing and Promotions at Deverell, impressed her as a master at his trade. It was all about making connections, building networks. She could tell he'd already added her to his mental rolodex. He told her that he'd see if he could turn up someone for her to talk to. But while they were talking she could see the wheels turning in his head, and he asked for a moment to make a call.

"U-huh, u-huh. Hey, that's great. I owe you one, Jill."

Hanging up, Herb directed his attention to her.

"Chief Lisbon, it's not often we get someone of your position to pay us a visit here on campus. That was Jill, the President's assistant. President Birnbaum has some free time right now, and I'd like for you to meet her."

No, no, no! I just wanted a simple meeting, not at state visit!

In her mind, Teresa let out a sigh big enough to vibrate the walls. Like it or not, public relations was part of the job.

Teresa plastered her official "Oh thank you for doing this for me" smile on her face as Herb escorted her down the hallway. What she needed was help, not another "how-do-you-do" with a member of the local elite.

Teresa was wrong. Completely wrong. When she got the chance, she needed to thank Herb for introducing her to Rholanda Birnbaum. The two women had an instant rapport; Teresa saw a kindred spirit, the kind of person she had hoped to meet ever since she arrived in Cannon River. Reminding her of an older, slightly graying version of Madeline Hightower in appearance, President Birnbaum exuded a no-nonsense yet positive command of her surroundings. Here was a real leader, the kind of person Teresa always liked being around.

Their meeting was only supposed to be a handshake greeting, yet here they were forty-five minutes later commiserating about each being the only girl growing up in a family of boys. The time was flying by but Teresa didn't want to leave this woman's presence. It felt so good to talk to someone like her. Even the twenty or so years that separated their ages melted away as they talked.

Suddenly President Birnbaum drew in a deep breath.

"Oh my goodness, Chief Lisbon. I got to talking so much about family that I forgot why you came here. Please accept my apologies; it's just that I've enjoyed our conversation so much. I haven't talked about my brothers - good and bad - in a long time."

Teresa laughed.

"I think we're very similar, President Birnbaum. And please, call me Teresa."

"I will if you call me, Rho."

Rho looked to the outer office and waved someone in.

As Professor Cobblethorpe Birnbaum sauntered across campus on his way to see his wife the President, his unbuttoned lab coat flapped in the breeze. His Physical Chemistry class had finished early so he had more time for lunch today. When he entered the Deverell administration building, he caught a glimpse of a familiar face in an unfamiliar setting - in the Dean of Students office. His interest piqued, Cobb slipped through the open door of the outer suite. Looking into the inner office, he saw Dean Windsor Chan leaning against the far wall, silent with his arms crossed. Sitting in Chan's chair was Cobb's friend, Professor Archibald Marbray. Across from Marbray a glazed-eyed student mumbled out a steady string of words.

"Yes-I-stole-the-money-from-the-cafeteria-register-and-those-other-places-but-you've-gotta-understand…"

So that's who dunnit!

Cobb's movement attracted his attention. Archie glanced over at him, nodded, and turned back to the student.

"…and-ever-since-I-got-here-it's-been-like-this-cause-my-parents-don't-understand-me-and-I-don't-see-why…"

Cobb had seen enough of that student the semester before in his Organic Chemistry class. He'd always suspected the student of cheating, and now Archie had obviously unmasked him as the "Money Drawer Bandit." The cafeteria theft was only the latest in a string that centered on petty cash drawers - the bookstore, the snack market, the library front desk. It was never much money, certainly not enough to risk one's future over. But the student - ah, yes, his name was Bob - probably didn't think that far ahead.

With a wink and a wave, Cobb went back into the hallway.

Well, Archie won't be joining me for lunch today. Maybe Rho got out of her meeting with the plant operations people. She's gotta eat sometime.

Walking to the end of the hall, Cobb entered the office suite of the President. When she saw him, Jill the administrative assistant smiled.

"So, I guess Rho is still meeting with the plant ops staff?"

Cobb snuck a look into his wife's office. From what he could see, it hardly seemed like a meeting to discuss air chillers and steam pipes. Sitting in the guest chair was a woman convulsed in laughter. Rho was laughing too. Cobb's heart warmed to see his wife laugh during the day; so often he would drop by the office to find Rho mentally exhausted only half-way through the morning. Whoever was with her he hoped would stay longer and come back - he could see the merriment in Rho's eyes.

"That meeting got canceled. She's in there with the city police chief." Jill said.

The police chief? And the two of them are laughing? Interesting.

Cobb looked back to Jill.

"Do you think Rho is planning to have me arrested as a public nuisance?"

"I don't think she'd ever do that, Professor Birnbaum, unless she was going to arrest Professor Marbray along with you. And since you didn't come in here trailing him along you're safe."

"Thank goodness for twists of fate and all that."

Cobb noticed that Rho had spied him. She motioned for him to enter. Being ever the dutiful husband, Cobb complied.

When Rho motioned for someone to come into the office, Teresa looked around to see a man with thinning blond hair the same age as Rho.

"Cobb, I want you to meet my new friend Police Chief Teresa Lisbon. Teresa, this is the man I told you stole my heart away thirty years ago - Professor Cobblethorpe Birnbaum. Everyone calls him Cobb including me. I only call him Cobblethorpe when he's in trouble."

Cobb shook Teresa's hand. Then he turned to his wife.

"I wish you wouldn't use my name and the word 'stole' together in front of someone in law enforcement, Rho. You might give her the wrong idea."

They all laughed, and Teresa noted with the obvious affection between the couple.

"I've really enjoyed talking with your wife, Cobb. I'm sorry it's taken this long for me to visit your school and meet her."

Rho walked around the desk and rubbed her husband's shoulder.

"Cobb and I fulfill the old adage, 'date biologists and marry chemists.' He's a chemist, and I at least used to be a biologist before getting into college administration. So we've got that old line covered between us."

"What brings you to Deverell, Teresa?" asked Cobb.

"Looking for some help with some of our police cases. I'm hoping someone can help us wade through the backlog, be smarter about our investigations."

"That certainly sounds like a worthy goal."

"Cobb, I'm glad you showed up. You know who I was thinking about introducing Teresa to?"

Cobb nodded.

"Arch?"

"Exactly. Don't you think he'd be just the solution Teresa's looking for?"

"Yep."

"And I think the two of them would get along well too."

Cobb turned to Teresa.

"Professor Archibald Marbray is one of our newer faculty members. The school uses Archie to sniff out all sorts of transgressions."

"Transgressions?" Teresa laughed at the term. It seemed so old-fashioned, so different from what she was used to.

"Petty theft, vandalism, and especially cheating. No one's better at pulling out a confession about cheating than Archie."

"Really?"

"Yes. And I'm convinced his reputation prevents a lot of cheating from occurring in the first place. The students have a nickname for him: 'Dr. Truth'."

Teresa couldn't help but laugh as the image of a caped superhero crossed her mind. Dr. Truth had a giant golden "T" etched across his chest.

"So the two of you think Dr. Truth could help me out?"

"He's surely made a difference since he's been with us. And he's coming up for tenure this term," Cobb said.

"We fast-tracked him." Rho spoke in a matter-of-fact way when she said that.

Academic tenure was one of those vague terms that Teresa had heard of but had little understanding of. Cobb noticed her blank stare.

"Rho, Teresa's not familiar with how we use that term." He looked back to Teresa. "Tenure in the academic sense means longer-term employment with the institution. Faculty covet and compete for that."

"So how does that figure in with me, with the police department's work?"

"Community service can be a positive factor, something looked upon with favor."

"So what you're saying is that this Professor Marbray might be interested in working with us? That would be good because I can't offer much in the way of a consulting fee."

"Oh, I suspect he'll be open to the idea of working with you. Especially if my husband goes with you to talk to him." Rho looked over at her husband. "You'll help Teresa, won't you?" Rho glanced over at Teresa then back to Cobb. "You'll help us, won't you?"

Wow! Putting pressure on her husband. I like this woman.

Cobb smiled.

"How can I ever say no to you? I mean, you're my boss and all."

Rho stroked her husband's hand.

"Archie and Cobb are good friends. The two of them get inseparable sometimes even though he's considerably younger than us. Archie's 'still a pup' as my husband would say."

"So he's just out of school?"

"Not really. He's about the same age as you." When Cobb said that, Teresa noticed that the two of them smiled at each other.

"Do you think Archie's available right now, Cobb?"

Her husband looked at his watch.

"He's gone to class by now, Rho. I came by your office to see if you'd eaten yet."

Rho looked at Teresa.

"See, Cobb and Archie are such good friends that I'm second choice for a lunch partner." Her husband mock-winced as Rho continued. "Well, you're in luck. I don't have a meeting again until 1:30. Why don't the three of us go over to the cafeteria, and then you can take Teresa to meet Archie?"

"Good plan, Rho."

"How about it, Teresa? Will you join Cobb and me for lunch?"

"I'd love to."

Teresa was having such a pleasant time with Rho that despite the mountain of work back at the office, she called the police station to cancel her afternoon schedule.

During lunch in the cafeteria, Teresa found out more about the couple. They loved the outdoors, especially hiking and photography. Unfortunately, Rho's job kept her from many outings.

"So you don't go on as many hiking trips as you used to?"

"Me, not so much. Fortunately Cobb got Archie interested in hiking so the two of them go frequently. They also take student groups with them so it works out well all around."

Cobb chuckled.

"When Archie first showed up here he really wasn't an outdoors person. Rho and I changed his mind though. Nowadays he goes out a lot on his own if I'm not available. He told me once he finds solace along the trail."

Rho's phone chimed. She looked at its screen and sighed.

"Well, duty calls. That donor we've been working on the last six months is due to stop by in fifteen minutes. You know, the one we're trying to get a seven figure gift from for the arena. Gotta go put on my game face. Gimme my good luck kiss, babe."

She wrapped her hand around the back of her husband's neck and drew their lips together.

They're a sweet couple.

"See ya tonight." Cobb gave Rho's hand a squeeze and he redirected his attention to Teresa. "Looks like it's about time for Archie's afternoon class to let out. Shall we go?"

"Let's." A sudden sense of anticipation filled Teresa, like maybe the answer to her problems might be in a lecture hall the next building over.

To be continued

Dolly Parton wrote and recorded "Light of a Clear Blue Morning" on her album New Harvest…First Gathering in 1976. In recent years the song has become a favorite choral music piece as well.

The Beatles recorded the John Lennon-Paul McCartney song "Help!" in 1965 for their movie soundtrack album of the same name.