Thanks for the reviews! And I'm pretty sure I might get something wrong in this chapter so still feel free to tell me what's wrong to set the record straight ;)
Enjoy and review!
Trust Me
Chapter 3: The Interviews
The jet landed in Columbus and the team drove their way to the police station to meet the sheriff. When they entered the station he was already there to greet them. Reid stood behind the group like he normally did, he wasn't a fan of shaking hands.
"The Behavioral Analysis Unit?" he asked. Hotchner stood in front of his team and shook the man's hand.
"Yes, sir. You must be Sheriff Taylor," he assumed. After Hotch intoduced the team, the sheriff led them into a large room swarming with police officers walking all over the place. He led the team to a big bulletin board and different pictures of the dead bodies of Karen Bogsley and Tiffany Clark were scattered across the surface and beside them was Carter's school picture. Her black hair was completely straightened for picture day. Reid could just picture how she looked now, hair tangled, face pale, eyes wide open, the feeling of paranoia washed all over her. He would know that feeling. He hoped she they could sove the case before the unsub disposes of her like she's nothing.
"Anything from the unsub?" Hotch asked. The sheriff shook his head with a frown.
"It seems as if he's not trying to gain our attention. It's as if he's just doing this for his own purposes," Emily said.
"Sick purposes," Reid added under his breath.
"Did you get those addresses for me?" Hotch asked, not hearing Reid's comment. The sheriff nodded and handed a slip of paper. He nodded at him with a tiny smile.
"I appreciate it," he mumbled. He turned to his team. He handed Reid the slip of paper with multiple addresses on them.
"Morgan and Reid, I need you guys to interview Carter's neighbor, try to get them to remember if they heard anything," he said. The two friends nodded at him.
"Prentiss and JJ, I need you two to investigate the crime in Carter's house," The two nodded.
"Rossi and I will go investigate the victims' bodies for any signatures or patterns. We'll meet back here in about two hours," Hotchner said and dismissed everyone.
()()()()()()()
Carter paced the dirty basement with a frantic expression on her face. She looked down at her Converse high tops and cocked her head to the side. She must have been really tired last night, she didn't remember slipping her shoes off and hopping into bed. But she didn't care, they were her favorite shoes and she was glad she didn't take them off anyway.
She looked down at her bound wrist once more and didn't even try to rip them off, it was no use, it never was. She paced faster and rages started to build up inside of her. She turned around and kicked the wall with an irritated growl. Just then as if her captor heard thump, he opened the door and she whirled around. Cater quickly ran to the corner he found her last and tried to look as if she had been laying there the entire time before he finished walking down the stairwell. Her abductor looked at her with a smirk as if he already knew she was up and walking.
He sat down in front of her and set down a plate of microwave macaroni and cheese, it didn't even look like food. He watched her scan the food down as if he had poisoned it. Which he could have, but she remembered him saying she would see what he wanted from her in three weeks.
"I have one rule," the man finally spoke up, making her look at him.
"If you're good, I'll feed you once every two days," he said. He knew that wasn't enough food for one person, she knew he wanted her to starve, but yet she should feel slightly grateful, not all captors' feed their victims.
"Uh, thank you?" Carter said, not knowing whether to be grateful or not.
"Just eat it," the man hissed.
"How am I supposed to eat it like this?" Carter asked, holding up her bound hands. The man just slipped his hand up his head with a sigh and picked up the plate then stood up.
"Don't eat it then," he mumbled.
"Wait, I'm sorry. I was just asking a question," Carter apologized as the man walked up the stairs. "Come back!" she begged. Before her abductor disappeared up the stairs, she saw a smirk fly across his lips. That made her squint her eyes and just groan, he knew she would ask that question, he brought the plate down just to taunt her. She stood back up and kicked the wall again, her foot stung as she set it back down on the floor, but she didn't care, she kicked it again, and again, and again.
()()()()()()()
Reid walked up to the front door, before he knocked he looked behind him and saw Emily and JJ walking into Carter's house and Morgan getting out of their SUV. He turned back around and knocked on the door a couple of times. He could hear gentle footsteps approaching the door and a woman opened it. It was Mrs. Smith, one of Carter's neighbors. Her blonde hair was tangled and she looked like she had been through hell. Her makeup smudged and her eyes red from previous crying. She had on a light blue blouse that was halfway tucked in her blue jeans. She sniffled before talking.
"Can I help you men?" she asked as Morgan made his way up to the door. The men showed the woman their badges.
"FBI, we're here for the interview about your neighbors," Morgan said. Mrs. Smith's eyes widened and she opened the door wider.
"Oh yes, yes, come in," she said with a chocked up voice. Reid and Morgan made their way into the little house. The woman led them to the living room and asked them to sit down.
()()()()()()()
JJ walked around Carter's bedroom, nothing was suspicious at all except her sheets were ripped off the bed and her phone and ear buds were in the center. The speakers from the ear buds were blasting out some type of rock music. It all makes sense. She thought.
"Hey Prentiss come in here," she called. Emily walked in while slipping a pair of blue gloves on and looked at her puzzled expression. JJ picked up Carter's phone with her own gloves and showed her the ear buds.
"You hear how loud these are?" she asked her. Emily nodded. "You think she could have heard her kidnapper coming in if she didn't have these in?" she asked again.
"Exactly," Emily said and walked to one side of the bed. "Poor girl must have been lying on this side with her music playing."
"Not even knowing someone was in her room," JJ finished, crossing her arms.
"Hear, I'll put these in and you walk into the room, let's see if I can hear you," she said. JJ nodded and walked into the room as Emily stuck the music in her ears. The rock music beginning to shake her ear drums.
"Okay, come on in," she said. At least she thought, she could barely hear her own voice. JJ walked into the entrance. The blonde put her hands on her hips and opened her mouth to speak but Emily didn't hear her. She plucked the hear buds out and gave her ears time to readjust.
"What?" she asked.
"I said, 'did you hear me walking in'?" Prentiss shook her head.
"No," she said.
()()()()()()()
"They were such good neighbors, you know?" Mrs. Smith asked Reid and Morgan with a wrinkled tissue in her clenched fist.
"So you and the Stevenson's' were close, huh?" Reid asked. The woman nodded and wiped a few upcoming tears away.
"And Carter…" she said beginning to trail off.
"It's okay, take your time," Morgan said in a comforting voice. The woman nodded and buried her face in her hands. Reid looked at the older agent with a frown, both thinking the same thing. Mrs. Smith raised her head and sniffed back more tears.
"…I used to babysit Carter when she was just a toddler, I'm practically her second mom," she continued as strong as she could. "I can't believe her life is in the hands of some murderer."
"That's why we're here. We need you to think back to that night when Samuel and Carly Stevenson died, did you hear anything?" Morgan asked. The woman nodded meekly.
"My husband and I were asleep in our bed until I heard screaming and then a loud bang. My husband told me to lay still and he walked down stairs. I got to noisy and looked out the window behind me. I started to scan the streets for any gang members or robbers or anything.
"Then I saw a flash of white the instant I heard the second bang…the light was in their house and I knew instantly someone was shot. I covered my mouth and waited for my husband to come upstairs. He grabbed the phone and called 911 when my eyes never left the house.
"Then I saw the most tear jerking scene. Someone was carrying Carter, she struggled for her life and then she was stuffed into a large black van with no windows. I didn't know what to think after that." Mrs. Smith quietly sobbed again.
"Did you see this kidnapper's face by any chance?" Morgan asked.
"He was a creepy looking guy twice her height. I might have seen some gray hair around his chin but I'm not so sure. My eyes were just full of tears at the moment," Mrs. Smith described.
"I should've helped her," she mumbled.
"You did the right thing actually," Reid said. She looked back up at him.
"How?"
"You stayed low, you and your husband could've been hurt. The best thing to do is to call 911 and don't get involved," the youngest explained.
"I don't feel as if I helped much," Mrs. Smith sobbed.
"You just did. Telling us what you saw just helped us so much and we thank you for your time," Morgan said. He and Reid stood up and said goodbye. Both hopped into their SUV and Morgan pulled out his phone to call Garcia. The second she answered he put it on speaker.
"What's up, Baby Girl?" Morgan asked with a smile.
"Oh nothing much, you got something for me?" she asked.
"Yeah, we need you to look up anybody in the Columbus area who owns a large black van with no windows," Reid said, getting closer to the phone.
"Do you have any idea what the owner looks like?"
"Our whiteness said a creepy guy with some gray hair," Morgan chimed.
"I am on it, my doves," Garcia said. Reid could hear her finger flying across her keyboard, typing fast as lightning.
"Wow, there's a lot of creepy guys with black vans. Give a couple minutes?" she requested.
"You got it, baby," Morgan said and hung up the phone. Reid looked at his watch.
"Two hours is almost up. We should probably go back to the station."
