"Look, I get that you just got here. But we have 8 people dead and the only leads we have are the 3 people who did the killings. Something they ate or drank or touched or smoked somehow turned them from normal people into killing machines," Emily yells at the medical examiner. "We just need to see Dr. Mulgrew's personal notes, the tox screens, the stomach content analysis and the other reports that can help us figure out who to look for and what to do to prevent it from happening again. Now what's the damn hold up?"
Reid had stood by nervously as Emily and the Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Virginia enjoyed a stand-off in the middle of the hallway. Most people would be scared of the look on Emily's face. Dr. Samantha Marley, however, just looked angry.
"Look, Agent Prentiss, the only reason I'm not having your ass dragged out of here is I don't have time for it. Now you can get your ass out of my way and let us start at the beginning and- -"
"We don't have TIME for a restart, damn it!"
Marley gets right in Emily's face. "Get out of my morgue, Agent. And I don't want to see your ass around here again. If I do, I'll consider it trespassing and have your fucking ass thrown in jail."
Before Emily can snap back, Reid steps between the two women.
"Emily! Enough. Let Dr. Marley get started. The sooner she does the sooner we get the information we need." He looks at the doctor. "Would it be okay if I called you in, say, an hour?"
Marley nods. "You can. But she stays out of here. I don't even want to hear her voice in the background if you call me on the phone."
"Yes, ma'am."
The doctor turns and storms into the autopsy suite. Reid pulls Emily down the hall. She jerks away from him.
"What the hell, Reid? Is that how you have my back?"
"Yes, it is. She was serious about getting you kicked off the case, Emily. You know that. We won't get anywhere with her if we antagonize her." He pauses. "And I think before your head injury you might have recognized that."
Emily stops walking and turns to glare at Reid. He just stares back impassively. After a second she closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose.
"You're right," she says softly. "Where the hell did that anger and…and…complete asshole attitude come from, Reid?"
"Head injuries have lasting effects. I'm sure your doctor told you that. With the stress of the past couple of weeks and the lingering worry that something about that time could still come back to bite you in the ass I can imagine you're not sleeping very well. Exhaustion will only make those effects worse. Plus, I can tell your headache is at about a 7 right now. Headaches have always made you snippy."
Emily finally smiles a little. "Snippy? Is that a polite way of saying bitchy?"
Reid gives her a grin. "Yeah, it is."
Emily nods. "Then snippy it is." They start to walk towards the door. "And it's only a 5 right now."
Reid chuckles. "I know. Just said 7 for the shock value to get through to you."
Emily nudges his shoulder. "Thanks, Reid."
"Anytime, Emily."
Morgan and JJ are let into the office that had been the scene of a terrible bloodbath. They can see voids in blood spatter where files and computers had been removed but for the most part the scene is still intact.
"They were trapped," Morgan states sadly.
JJ nods. "Once Crowley walked in there was no way to get out past her without being attacked."
"Figure her boss tried to stop her, give the others a chance to run."
"But she cut him down and his body created another barricade," JJ finishes. "God, Morgan, why?"
He shakes his head. "Jayje, you know as well as I do you could ask that question forever and never get a decent answer."
JJ just nods. "Still. Shit."
They stand in silence a moment but Morgan finally shakes his head. "All this is showing us is the result. Let's go to the break room. That's where this really started."
JJ nods and checks her tablet to see where Crowley had come from. They walk down the hall to look over the small kitchenette. JJ frowns.
"Do we know if she bought something here or brought it from home?"
Morgan shrugs. "Good question." He pulls up the police report on his tablet. He shakes his head. "Doesn't say. We need to find out. For now, we need to shut this room off until we know if whatever drugged her came from here, her house or a local business."
JJ rolls her eyes. "Why do I feel like it will be harder to close a snack area than it is to close the office."
Morgan laughs as JJ pulls out her phone. She had dealt with this kind of issue when she was the press liaison so it just makes sense she deal with it now. Twenty minutes later she gets off the phone.
"They will let us close it for testing for 24 hours."
Morgan shakes his head. "That's it? And if they find something?"
"It will be closed until it's decontaminated."
"So murder closing their office to work is fine. But you better not let murder keep them away from their Twinkies."
JJ laughs and the two leave to go to Crowley's house to see what they can find there.
Hotch hangs up his phone as Rossi completes his notes on the scene where Shepherd had gone crazy.
"We have to go to the morgue," Hotch says with irritation.
Rossi frowns. "Something have the geeks confused?"
"Prentiss and Reid aren't there. Prentiss got into a screaming match with the Virginia Chief Medical Examiner. She's now banned from the morgue and the chief wants to talk to me about suspending Emily until the case is done."
"Oh, wonderful."
"Right. Hopefully she will understand the head injury Prentiss suffered and believe me when I say that attitude was very out of character."
"And if not?"
"Then Emily stays the hell away from the morgue and when this case is done she gets an unpaid day off."
Rossi nods. "Works for me."
When they walk into the morgue they are told the chief is still going over the bodies of the three people who had snapped and killed. The agents go in and see her standing over the body of Crowley taking a swab from the woman's mouth.
"Doctor Marley?"
The woman doesn't even glance at them. "Your agent is an asshole."
Hotch can't help but grin. "At times we all are. Dr. Marley, I apologize for her actions. Trust me when I say that was completely out of character for Agent Prentiss. It's a result of a serious head injury that actually put her in a coma for a month. She's just getting back to work and still has some lingering effects from the injury."
Marley finally looks at them. "Brain bruising?"
Hotch nods. "And swelling bad enough to require a shunt."
Marley takes the time to bag and mark the swab she had taken. Finally she peels off her gloves and leans against the sink. "I'll forget it this time. Tell her to load up on antioxidants, drink plenty of fluids and pick up some fish oil tablets. And warn her if she ever speaks to me like that again I'll kick her ass from here back to Richmond."
Hotch nods. "I'll tell her. Thank you for understanding." He gestures to the three killers. "So, what can you tell me about them?"
"I can tell you that nothing they ate or drank gave them the drug cocktail that drove them to murder."
"Drug cocktail?" Rossi asks.
Marley nods. "There is no way that mix was done by accident or by a dealer. Someone pulled the specific drugs together in a specific formula to drive the people to commit violence. This is one sick S.O.B."
Hotch nods. "Agreed. How soon until full tox screens are completed?"
"Maybe 3 hours. We've got to take all new samples as some were destroyed during the attack. I swear, I wish I could get it to you sooner but it's just not possible. And before you tell me time is of the essence, I know."
Hotch smiles. "Time is of the essence but so is accurate data. We appreciate anything you can do to speed it up without compromising the final analysis."
"There is one thing you could maybe tell us now, Doctor," Rossi interjects.
"Okay, shoot," she tells him.
"Did these three show signs of previous drug use in their systems?"
Marley shakes her head. "Not that I saw. Again, I am practically starting from scratch but there is nothing so far to show long-term or even short-term drug use by any of them."
Rossi sighs. "Okay."
Hotch hands her his card. "If you need us, call me. Once you have all your tests or if anything important jumps out at you, please give me a call."
Marley nods. "Will do. I'm taking this personally, Chief Hotchner. This man attacked my people and used one of them to kill. Find him and I'll have the science to help fry him."
Hotch nods and shakes her hand. "We will. Talk to you soon, Dr. Marley."
The two agents leave and make their way to the precinct to see what the others have learned and plan their afternoon.
When Emily and Reid arrive at the police station they start to set the murder boards the way the team likes them. When they finish the first two they step back and study them. Emily shakes her head as she stares at the killers.
"What the hell connects them?"
Reid raises any eyebrow. "You mean other than they went nuts and killed people?"
Emily grins at him. "Smart ass. Let's go through the preliminary autopsy information. Maybe something will jump out at us and we can go back to the M.E. with better questions."
Reid raises an eyebrow. "Uh, you mean then I and someone else can go back with better questions."
Emily blushes in embarrassment. "Uh, yeah, I guess that's what I meant. Hotch is going to kick my ass."
"No he won't. JJ, however…" he trails off with a wink.
Emily chuckles. "Right. Protect me?"
He chortles. "Not on your life. Or mine!"
That little bit of banter had helped to settle both of the agents. Now they stare at the two murder boards while they wait for Garcia to get them the information on the latest victims of this strange case.
"So, I hear you're making friends all over town, Prentiss," JJ teases as she walks in.
Emily groans. "You heard?"
"Oh, yeah. Nice. Maybe next time you can just kick her in the shins and get it over with," the blonde says with a wink.
Emily rolls her eyes and looks at Morgan. "And your shot would be?"
He smiles. "I think JJ said enough. For now at least, sweet talker."
Reid just laughs as Emily shakes her head. "Did you two find out anything useful or are you just wasting space?"
The two relate what little they found out at the scene itself. Sadly, it's nothing that offers them much help or hope.
By the time Hotch and Rossi arrive, Reid has ordered lunch in so they can start to pull their information and Garcia's information together into a plan of attack. Hotch had already warned Prentiss that she had to apologize and would be suspended a day for her actions. She had agreed and was very happy he was letting her serve it after the case ended.
JJ sits at the table eating a sub and going over financial reports on Crowley and her victims. As she looks up she sees her wife putting something up on the murder board. She starts to get warm. She grabs her bottle of water and takes a long drink, using the condensation to try to cool her neck.
Instead…she just gets hotter.
And hornier.
She sets the bottle down and walks up behind her wife. She presses Emily up against the wall.
"Mine," she growls.
"Jen! What the hell?" Emily says, spinning in her wife's arms.
"You're mine. I'll take you where I want to, when I want to."
JJ tries to kiss Emily. Emily shoves her away. She can see the blue eyes are hazy.
"Jennifer, listen to me: something is wrong."
By now the others are watching.
"The only thing wrong is I'm not fucking you," JJ states.
She again pushes Emily against the wall, her hand ripping the brunette's blouse open.
"Jayje! Stop!" Reid says and grabs her.
JJ spins around and punches him in the face. Reid falls to the ground. Hotch runs towards her but she spin kicks, sending him back into a chair that crashes to the ground with him. Rossi runs over and tries to grab her arms. JJ turns and shoves him, sending him onto the table. She grabs his legs and flips him off the other side. Emily grabs her wife from behind.
"JENNIFER! STOP! WHAT'S GOING ON?"
JJ throws her elbow into Emily's stomach. The taller woman grunts but doesn't let go. Morgan comes running into the room. He grabs JJ from the front just as the blonde pulls her gun.
"NO! SHIT!"
He wrestles with her gun hand, screaming in pain as she bites his bicep. He manages to eject the clip but knows there is still a bullet in the chamber. As he struggles to get the gun pointed away, Emily makes a decision. She wraps her arm around JJ's neck and starts to squeeze…harder…and harder…and harder…
JJ starts to weaken. Emily doesn't ease up. In fact, she squeezes harder. JJ's knees buckle. She claws at Morgan's face and then at Emily's, drawing blood on both. Morgan gets the gun away and tosses it to Hotch. Together he and Emily take JJ to the ground. Finally the blonde moves no more. Emily releases her wife and stares at her motionless body.
"What the hell have I done, Derek?"
