Villainous con artist Helen Braddock
Helen Braddock (Rebecca McFarland) is a villainess from "Ruddy Cheeks," episode 4.18 of The Mentalist (airdate March 9, 2012). She is the wife of wealthy Archer Braddock, who was murdered in the episode, as well as the stepmother to Archer's daughter, Liesl.
Helen was introduced as being diagnosed with cancer, and being weak from chemotherapy, but it was later revealed as a lie. Months prior, Helen spotted Archer at a cancer support group, and knowing that he was rich and on borrowed time, she posed as a cancer patient and ended up marrying Archer. The villainess shaved her head and wore a wrap on her head to keep up the ruse, while also acting weak during her interview with Patrick Jane and Teresa Lisbon regarding Archer. In addition, the evil Helen (assumingly) convinced Archer to change his will and name herself as the main benefactor of her husband's $5 million insurance policy.
During Jane and Lisbon's second visit, the former had suspected that Helen was faking her cancer, and after he went to the kitchen under the guise of getting Helen a cup of tea, he decided to test out his belief by setting off the house's smoke alarm. Upon hearing the noise, Helen shouted for Liesl before getting out of bed and running out of the house, which exposed her deception. Helen was later interrogated by Lisbon at CBI, where she defended her actions by stating that women go to extremes to meet men. In response to Helen's question to Jane about how he knew she was faking, Jane stated that while Helen did shave her head, she left her eyebrows intact. She was later shown the insurance policy, which made her a suspect in her husband's murder, only for Helen to state that she wouldn't kill Archer if he was on borrowed time anyway. Jane confirmed that Helen was truthful and wasn't the killer, but Lisbon reminded the villainess that she was under arrest for fraud.