The Mentalist Episode 2.17 The Red Box

The CBI team investigates the murder of an SAT tutor. The new boss, Molly Hightower, arrives at CBI. Lisbon is on edge as she and Jane approach the crime scene of murder victim, James Smithson, British and the SAT tutor of choice for local rich kids, including the daughter of homeowners Hopper and Jolene Banks. The new head of the CBI, Molly Hightower was expected today and she's three hours late. Frank Bandino, ex-cop turned high-end residential security executive tells them that the body was discovered by a student who showed up for a tutoring appointment. Having worked with Rigsby at San Diego PD, Bandino tells Rigsby that it looks like one fatal headshot, a .38, no struggle, no robbery and no murder weapon. Jane looks around the tutor's room, clocks his books on ancient Egypt. In one book, he finds a well-worn photo of a little kid with his working class mother at a Liverpool football match. On the body, Jane sees a faded crude tattoo, "Kingswood". Bandino tells them that Smithson recently taught history at a tony East coast prep school and was educated at Eton and Oxford. Finding a small, empty red lacquer box with dirt on it, Jane tells Bandino that it's all a lie. Smithson's crooked teeth and the tattoo from Kingswood, a boy's reformatory, don't add up to posh. Bandino tells them the time of death but he's wrong again when Smithson opens his eyes. Smithson's brief revival is Lazarus Syndrome, his heart somehow caught an electrical charge and restarted. Alive, but most likely brain dead, Smithson is gurneyed away. As Lisbon and Jane head to the main house, a series of long lens photographs of the team are taken by someone we can't see. At the main house, footage from the security cameras support Jolene Banks alibi while implying that Hopper Banks could be a possible suspect. Bandino admits that Hopper, a photographer asked him to get him a gun, a .38, as a prop for a series of photographs. Van Pelt confirms that Smithson isn't Smithson, his I.D. is an expensive forgery. Meanwhile, interviews with a few of the mothers of the students Smithson tutored reveal that Smithson slept with them. At this point, either a jealous husband or a lover is the likely suspect. Which lead them to Hopper Banks. Jane confronts Hopper about the gun which he denies purchasing. But then Cho shows him the photographs Hopper took which featuring a .38 special. Jane posits that Hopper killed Smithson because Jolene was sleeping with him. Jolene admits the affair. Hopper denies that he killed Smithson. Enraged, he informs them that he's calling the AG office to complain about Jane's tactics. As Lisbon and Jane head back to CBI, Jane tells Lisbon they're being followed. They apprehend their tracker, who turns out to be Inspector Slocombe from Scotland Yard. Back at CBI, Slocombe says that the victim, "James Smithson", is really Oliver Stans. Showing them a museum copy of an ancient, jeweled ring worn by Cleopatra, Slocombe believes Stans stole the original from the British Museum nine months ago. He picked up chatter that Louis Anglet, a dealer who traffics in stolen antiquities was going to buy the ring here. Slocombe believes that Anglet killed Stans for the ring and needs to get back on his trail but a wary Lisbon tells Slocombe that he's staying at the CBI until she checks out his story. Lisbon returns to find that Slocombe has given the team the slip and new boss, Molly Hightower arrives at CBI. Jane tracks Slocombe to Oliver Stan's hospital room. He's figured out that Stans is Slocombe's son and understands that Slocombe came to get his son out of trouble and get the ring back. Jane lets Slocombe leave so he can find Anglet and the ring. Under questioning, Hopper Banks denies knowing that his computer contains a browsing history of the theft of the ring. He also denies ever contacting Louis Anglet. At a courtyard spa, CBI finds Slocombe all over Anglet demanding to know who killed his son. Back at CBI, Jane takes over the interrogation of Anglet, putting three identical Cleopatra rings on the table. Jane tells Anglet that whoever sold him the ring – say, Hopper Banks, sold him a fake. When Anglet is released, Hightower is furious at Jane. By convincing Anglet that Hopper cheated him, Jane just signed Hopper's death warrant. With CBI at his house, Hopper's scared of the threat from Anglet but still claims he knows nothing about the ring and didn't kill Stans. At the security shack, Bandino leaves and heads towards his van when he's attacked by Anglet, furious about the fake ring Bandino sold him. Bandino swears the ring was real, that he killed Stans and framed Hopper Banks for the murder. After capturing Bandino, Jane returns the real ring to Slocombe to take back to the museum. At CBI, Hightower, tells Lisbon that it's obvious that Rigsby and Van Pelt are having an intimate relationship which is against CBI rules. Since Lisbon hasn't done anything about it, she will.