Welcome back everyone. I hope everyone had a nice couple of weeks. I did.
A little background first. When I get stuck or want to avoid a working on a scene for my current story, I will go play with another story I have going. I have about ten in different lengths of completion. This particular story was number eight on my list. But I gave two people a sneak preview of what I had done so far and both had said this needed to be my next story. I value both of their opinions so I agreed and here it is. This one is set in my season seven series and it takes place some time after 'Into Thin Air' (you don't have to read it first to follow this story. They pretty much stand on their own).
Now as always, I must say I do not own any of the Criminal Minds characters, I just borrow them to fuel my imagination. Also I don't write relationship fics so none of the characters will be getting together. Ever. Those who have been with me from my very first story know I how I work. Now enjoy.
"Agent Morgan, please step away from Agent Prentiss!" a voice commanded from behind.
Derek and Emily slowly turned around to find six guns pointing at them. They exchanged a worried look. "What the hell?" Derek exclaimed in disbelief.
Detective Morrissey took a step forward. "I repeat. Step away from Agent Prentiss." He tightened his grip on his weapon.
"Morgan, do it," Emily pleaded when she saw the stubborn look on her partner's face. "Do it for me. I'll be fine."
He stared at her and she nodded. Slowly he backed way, never taking his eyes from hers. Two cops grabbed him by the arms and shoved him behind them, instantly training their weapons back on Emily.
When he was sure Derek was out of harms way, Detective Morrissey spoke up. "Agent Prentiss, remove your sidearm with two fingers and set it on the ground."
Emily turned her attention back to the detective, confusion clearly written across her face. Slowly she unsnapped the strap and using her thumb and forefinger, pulled her gun from its holster. She bent at the knees and gently set the Glock on the ground and straightened up.
The detective nodded. "Good. Now back away from the weapon."
Emily took a couple steps back, holding her hands up and away from her body, showing them that she was unarmed. Morrissey gestured at the ground with his gun. "Assume the position," he ordered, knowing she knew what he meant.
Keeping her eyes locked on the detective, Emily intertwined her fingers behind her head and knelt on the ground, crossing her legs at the ankles. The six police officers, guns still trained on her, cautiously approached. Morrissey nodded and three officers holstered their weapons, rushed ahead and roughly wrestled Emily to the pavement.
"Hey!" Derek exclaimed, surging forward with anger burning in his eyes. "There's no need for that. She's not resisting."
Detective Morrissey whirled around and planted a hand against Derek's chest, stopping the agent in his tracks. "Agent Morgan, if you don't stay where you are, I will arrest you for interfering with an official police investigation. Either you can go back to the station under your own power or cuffed in the back of a cruiser like your partner. Your choice."
Derek locked eyes with Emily, who was pinned to the ground by two of the officers while being frisked by the third. She shook her head. "Morgan, don't."
He sighed and reluctantly took a step back, respecting Emily's wish even though he didn't like it one bit. "Fine," he muttered.
"Smart move," Morrissey said. He left Derek standing where he was and went to tower over Emily. He grinned, looking forward to all the praise that would be heaped on him for this collar. Arresting a rogue FBI agent. It couldn't get better than that. He casually rested one hand on his weapon. "Emily Prentiss, you are under arrest for the murder of James Hill," he informed her and proceeded to read Emily her rights.
Her arms were roughly jerked down and behind her back, grimacing when the handcuffs were ratcheted too tightly around her wrists. She knew it was intentional and that they were having too much pleasure in taking down a Fed. Morrissey paused in his recital while she was hauled unceremoniously to her feet. When both officers held her securely, he continued. "Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?" He cocked his head to one side, gazing expectantly at her.
Emily returned his gaze unwavering. "I do."
He nodded at the two officers. They tightened their grip on her upper arms and marched her over to the nearest police cruiser. Derek fumed as he watched them 'help' Emily into the back seat. One put his hand on her head to keep her from hitting it on the doorframe as he shoved her inside. Emily righted herself and sat staring through the grating and out the windshield.
Derek got in Morrissey's face. "What do you think you're doing, detective?" he demanded.
"I'm arresting…sorry…I arrested your partner for murder," he said with an arrogant smile. "I just got a murderer off the streets and another one is dead. I'd say it's been a good day."
"You're making a big mistake," Derek said in a low voice, straightening to his full height. "Prentiss would never kill anyone."
"There you are wrong. Now, if you will excuse me, I have a suspect to break." As he walked past Derek, Morrissey, on purpose, bumped into the dark agent. The two men glared daggers at each other before the detective climbed into the front of the cruiser. Derek switched his attention to the back of the car. Emily was still staring out the windshield. Sensing his eyes on her, she turned her head to look at him. She gave him a small smile and mouthed 'I'm okay'. He nodded once and watched in frustration as his partner was driven away.
"WHAT?" Hotch's angry voice reverberated through the station. Everyone within hearing distance froze, staring at him with a variety of expressions: shock from those who didn't know him and concern from those who did.
His scowl deepened as he listened intently to what Derek was telling him. "Just get back here as quick as you can," he said and hung up. If it had been a landline in his hand, he would have slammed the receiver into its cradle.
"What is it, Hotch?" Dave asked, coming around the table to stand next to him.
Hotch crossed his arms, eyes smoldering with anger. "That idiot Morrissey has arrested Prentiss for murder."
"Murder?" JJ exclaimed, sinking into the nearest chair in shock. "Emily?"
He nodded. "Some guy by the name of James Hill." He turned to Reid. "His name sounds familiar."
Reid's eyes went blank as he mentally ran through all the names that were involved in their case. "James Hill was one of our early possible suspects so we had him in for an interview. If I remember correctly, he had been rude and obnoxious to Emily the entire time."
"That's right," JJ said. "And Emily didn't let him rattle her and throw her off her game plan."
"Reid," Hotch said. "Get Garcia on the line and pull up everything she can find on him."
"On it."
Dave shook his head in amazement. "When did they think Prentiss had the time to go out and kill someone? She worked this case nonstop. We all did."
"I don't know," Hotch said. "But they must think they have enough to get an arrest warrant issued. Reid!" The young man looked up, phone still at his ear. "See if Garcia can poke around the Fall River Police computer system for the so called evidence they have on Prentiss." Reid nodded and spoke into the phone.
"You think she was set up?" Dave asked.
"Yes, it's the only logical explanation. We all know that Prentiss is capable of many things but cold blooded murder is not one of them."
Emily stared out the side window of the cruiser as they drove back to the police station. She ignored the two men up front as they discussed their disgust for dirty cops, with an heavy emphasis on dirty agents, who thought they were above the law and could do anything they damn well pleased.
"Dirty cops give us good cops a bad name," Morrissey said, sneaking a peek over his shoulder to see if she was listening.
"Yeah. It makes our jobs a lot tougher when people don't trust us because of the likes of you," the younger cop added, eager to get his two cents in.
Emily knew what they were trying to do, having done the same thing with many a suspect over the years. They were baiting her and hoped she would bite. Well, Detective Morrissey was in for a long wait, she knew how to play the game and played it well. She smiled mentally when she heard him huff in frustration when she didn't respond.
With her head still facing the window, Emily turned her eyes inward and wracked her brain, trying to remember where she had heard the name James Hill before. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks. He was that disgusting, slimeball that she had interviewed at the very beginning of the case. Throughout the whole interview, he had tossed thinly veiled innuendos her way. By the time they were done, she had felt so filthy she had wanted to take a hot shower to get rid of his taint.
So someone had decided to off the creep; the world wouldn't miss him. But why were they trying to pin it on her? After they had determined that he was simply an idiot and not their suspect, Emily hadn't given him a second thought, or a third, fourth or fifth. And why was Morrissey after her? She had barely spoken two words to him since they had been called in; he had been too busy butting heads with Hotch over jurisdiction.
The detective's grating voice snapped her out of her ruminations. "Here we are. Don't forget, Agent Prentiss, to smile for the cameras."
Emily frowned at him then looked back out the window. Her stomach dropped when she realized what he had planned. Instead of taking her in the back way, they were pulling up in front of the police station where a huge crowd of reporters milled around. She ground her teeth in anger but didn't let it show on her face. The bastard was going to parade her past the press on a perp walk. Within minutes the news of her arrest would be all over the airwaves. And to make matters worse, they hadn't removed her Kevlar vest so everyone was going to see the big white FBI letters emblazoned across her chest.
The cruiser came to a stop and the detective hopped out as the reporters pressed forward. He stopped next to her door and held up his hands. "Please step back and give us some room!" He had to shout to be heard over the questions being hurtled at him. "There will be a small press conference once I have escorted the prisoner inside."
When the other cop was next to him, Morrissey opened Emily's door and pulled her out, making no effort to shield her from the press. With hands wrapped tightly around her upper arms, they marched her toward the doors of the station. Emily straightened her back, held her head up and tried to walk with as much dignity as she could as they pushed her through the throng of microphones and cameras. She kept her eyes glue straight ahead and her face was an emotionless mask.
Emily maintained the appearance inside the station as she was paraded past the local officers and her teammates. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the shock on JJ and Reid's faces and the rage on Hotch and Dave's. When they turned the corner and were out of sight of the others, she let her shoulders slightly slump in relief. The hard part was over, she wouldn't have to face her friend's pitying looks until her arraignment, having no doubt that she would be brought up on charges of murder.
The two officers in charge of her, Morrissey had handed her over to another cop so that he could preen before the press, guided her to the nearest interrogation room. It was just her luck that it was the same room she had interviewed Hill in. One cop shoved her down on the steel chair that was bolted to the floor while the other unlocked one cuff, threaded it through a small ring and ratcheted it back around her wrist, securing her to the table.
The men nodded to each other before one left the room and the other stationed himself by the door with his arms crossed. He tried to look menacing but the paunch hanging over his gun belt spoiled it. Emily didn't bother to try to make eye contact with him. Instead, she tried to make herself as comfortable as she could on the hard chair with her hands cuffed to the table. She let her eyes drift to the ceiling while she thought of the best way to worm out of Morrissey what he supposedly had on her without her answering a single one of his questions.
Detective Morrissey stopped on the top step of the police station and surveyed the group of reporters. It was a respectable number so he should get some very good press coverage. How often does a detective have the opportunity to stop a serial killer and bring down a bad agent all in one day? Not very often. It was probably his one chance of a lifetime and he planned to milk it for all its worth. He cleared his throat and held up his arms to capture their attention.
"I have a short announcement to make. The people of Fall River can breathe again. The killer who has been plaguing our fair city for the past month has been taken down by a joint team of our finest police officers and the FBI." Now make it sound like they helped, he thought. "Without the FBI's unique insight, we wouldn't have been able to bring John Guthrie's reign of terror to its proper end today."
Inside the station, JJ rolled her eyes in disgust at his blatant downplay of their contribution. "If it wasn't for our help, you'll still be running around in circles trying to catch your own damn ass," she muttered to the television airing the press conference.
Morrissey continued basking in the limelight. "At the moment that is all I can say. Once we have everything put together, we will hold another press conference. Otherwise, thank you for your time," he said with a nod before turning to go back inside the station.
"Detective Morrissey!" a female voice called out. "What about the FBI agent you just arrested?" He heard pages being flipped. "An Emily Prentiss. What about her?"
He smiled to himself before wiping if off his face and turning back to answer her question. The face he put on before the cameras and mikes was all business. Only Hotch saw the self satisfied smile. "Agent Prentiss is a person of interest in an open case. Unfortunately, I cannot comment any further on an open investigation. Thank you, again," he repeated and left, ignoring the questions being lobbed at his back. He had planted the seed and was content to watch them run with it.
There you go, folks. The first chapter officially in the books. I hope you liked it and that you will let me know your thoughts. As before I shall be following my usual routine: posting once a week on Wednesday. Hope to see all of you back next week. Until then.