„Prentiss, can I talk to you?" Hotch asked and watched Emily as she walked towards him, curious why he would want to talk to her. They were in the bullpen, the team already left to prepare for the flight to Seattle. Now Emily and Hoth were the only once in the room. "We have a problem."
"What do you mean Hotch? What problem?" Emily asked totally confused.
"Strauss." This one simple word had the ability to spoil Emily's day. She slowly sat down on the chair and sighed deeply.
"What about her?" Hotch hesitated for a few seconds and he could see haw annoyed Emily was. "Just tell me ok!"
"She wants to be on this case with us. With you, more specifically." Emily just stared at him with her mouth open.
"What? Why? Is this about what happened in Colorado? " she stood up anger all over her face.
"Yes it is Agent Prentiss." Emily turned around to see Section Chief Erin Strauss standing right behind her.
"May I ask why ma'am? Because I don't see any reason why you should be concerned. As well as Bureau psychologist, who cleared me for active duty."
"Oh, don't worry Agent Prentiss. I just want to see for myself how you're doing. It should be just for this one case and then you'll get rid of me. Now, we should go don't you think? I am sure we have a killer to catch." She turned around and quickly left the room leaving speechless Emily Prentiss standing in the middle.
"So you know what to do. We'll meet back here at station at five?" Everybody nodded and headed out of the station. Emily went to her SUV and watched Strauss getting on the passenger seat. There was a silence for the first five minutes. Very awkward five minutes. Finally it was Strauss who spoke first. "So who is he?"
"What do you mean ma'am?" Emily asked while trying to stay calm. She still couldn't believe that Strauss was sitting next to her on their way to interview a witness.
"Who's the man that found the body?" Strauss asked again.
"Oh, well his name is Roland Davidson, 33 years old. He works as a cook. At the restaurant near the alley where our Unsub hid the body. Mr. Davidson said he went to smoke and saw a hand behind some boxes. He thought it was just a homeless person but when he realized she was dead he called the police. He said that he saw someone running out of the alley but he wasn't able to identify him. We should be at his house in twenty minutes." Strauss only nodded and they remained silent for the rest of the ride. Once they arrived they walked to the door and Emily rang a bell. After a few seconds the door opened and they stood face to face with Roland Davidson. Emily opened her mouth to introduce herself to him but Straus beat her to it.
"Mr. Davidson?" She asked and when the man nodded she continued. "I'm Agent Strauss and this is Agent Prentiss. We're with the FBI and we want to ask you some questions about what you saw." She said while showing him her badge and Emily did the same as she tried to control her anger.
"Of course, come on in." Davidson stepped aside to allow the two female agents to step inside. Emily already studied his behavior while Strauss started to ask the questions, but he said he didn't see anything but hooded figure. He looked tired, like he hasn't slept in days. And he was obviously nervous. He was sweating and his breathing was slightly quicker. And he was also looking on the clock on his left.
"Are you expecting someone Mr. Davidson?" Emily asked and Davidson looked at her again with a confused look on his face but there was something else in his eyes. It was fear. "No, of course not. Why would you ask?"
"Well, we're here like, what, fifteen minutes and you already looked at the clock like ten times. So I'm guessing you're either waiting for someone or…" her voice trailed off as she noticed that Davidson was looking somewhere behind her with pure terror in his eyes. "Oh, shit." She hissed and quickly turned around just in time to see the fist as it collided with her face. Emily fell on the ground and immediately tried to stand up but then a hard kick hit her side and the sound of breaking ribs filled the room. Emily moaned and gasped for air as a heavy boot hit her already hurt side. When she tried to get up a deep voice resonated in her ears. "Don't even think about it Agent Prentiss or you'll feel what else I can do." She looked up and saw this unknown man standing above her aiming the gun at her head.
"What do you want? She hissed through her clenched teeth. The man laughed and took a step towards Davidson, totally ignoring Strauss who was quietly standing in the corner of the room trying to disappear into the wall.
"I want this one to shut up. Like you, I saw how nervous he was. I know he didn't say anything but we both know he would eventually."
"No, I wouldn't say anything. I swear, please!"Davidson begged as the stranger pointed his gun on Davidson's head. In that moment Emily took her gun out of the holster. Thankfully the man didn't notice and continued talking to Davidson.
"How don't I believe you, Davidson?" and he smiled with evil grin. Emily was still lying on the floor and she looked around to see where Strauss was. She just stood there frozen in shock and stared directly at Emily. Emily pointed her gun weapon at the intruder's back and slowly stood up with her other hand pressed to her side as she tried to ease the pain the movement caused her. "Stop right there and put the gun down."
"Sorry Agent, but I can't do that. You know, it doesn't matter if you kill me. People like me are replaceable. There will always be someone else to finish my task." He said but he lowered the gun and slowly put it on the ground just like he was told. Then he turned to look at Emily with a small smile. "How are your ribs, Agent?"
Emily could see Davidson slowly walk out of the room he held his hand to his ear, signalizing he would call for help.
