"Mr. Hotchner, I-"
"Agent."
Officer Collins glared at the lawyer who sat beside Hotch and cracked his neck. "Agent Hotchner," he corrected. "I'm going to ask you again; why did you shoot Matthew Martinez?"
Hotch kept his eyes on the handcuffs that attached to the underside of the interrogation table. "He raped my wife."
Officer Collins sat himself back down. "Now was that so hard to say?"
The lawyer beside the FBI agent held up a hand, feeling the anger radiating off of his client. "Do not patronize him, officer. I can have you brought up on many different charges for mocking the rape of his wife and not treating him with the respect an agent of his caliber deserves."
"Who the hell said I was mocking?"
"How the man feels is how the feels. If Agent Hotchner believes you are joking about the rape of his wife I can easily bring it to the attention of your superior."
Collins hardened his gaze on the lawyer before turning his attention back to the suspect. "Agent Hotchner, tell me what happened." They knew he had shot Matthew Martinez and why, but they needed more than that to be able to convict him on the charge they were chasing.
Sitting with his shoulder strong and stiff, the father of two scratched his nails over the tips of his fingers. "My wife was kidnapped almost a year ago. It took us a while to find her," he almost croaked. He still couldn't picture the love of his life going through such torment without having his stomach toss and turn. "She was starved and tortured and raped, and when we finally found her we found out that she was pregnant. Martinez was going to jail but was still out on the streets until his court date."
"But there was no threat."
"There would have always been a threat," the angered FBI agent argued. "He raped my wife! He was going to be able to fight for custody of her child! How is that not looked at as a threat?" Feeling the hand of his lawyer on his shoulder, Hotch cracked his neck and told himself to keep quiet.
Officer Collins grunted, sitting back in his chair. "So you killed him."
Hotch kept himself still. "I was protecting my wife; my family."
"Did you go to Martinez's house with the intent of killing him?"
That was it: the one answer that could either convict him or have him be seen as innocent. If he were to be convicted of homicide in the first degree then Emily would be left to be a single mother of three for possibly as long as time could tick on, but if it was seen as self defense then he could be back at home with his family. His beautiful family.
"No," he lied, looking the officer dead in the eye. "No I did not."
