Author's Note: Thank-you everyone so, so much for all the kind reviews. They really met a lot.
And wow, Gothic-Romantic99 the fact that you clearly spent time thinking it all through, means a whole lot! And mindspsychoaddict for reviewing each chapter and stefi! And everyone else! And I'm going to stop now :-)
Just thanks so, so much everyone, and hope the solutions don't dissapointtoo much.
Chapter Four
Reid wanted to laugh. It was absurd. He'd gone through so much with Tobias, and the days he'd spent over coming his addiction had felt endless, and growing up with his mother, or that night on the football field...but this, this was literally the worst night of his life. And he knew the full emotional impact of it was being largely dulled by the shock.
Hotch stood, his back to the door, surveying the room and his team. His team...it didn't feel like his team anymore. He cleared his throat.
"Alright," he said, "Does anyone else have anything to add?" Silence. "Alright. We all have the basic facts. Once the police get in here, we can find out more accurate time of death on Kevin. We can find out what Garcia died us...the tape."
"What?" asked Morgan.
"The video tape of the interrogation room. Someone took it."
"Yes?"
"What did they do with it?"
"Wouldn't they have just destroyed it?"
"Would they have had time? We're talking about a very narrow time frame here."
"Where would they have hidden it?"
"We could look for it," suggested JJ.
"I don't think we should split up again," said Prentiss.
"No, but we could look together as a group," suggested Reid.
"Hey man, anything would be better then just sitting here," said Morgan, "Wondering which person here is killing us."
Several eyes glanced down at Rossi's body.
"Alright," nodded Hotch. "But we stick very close together. And no one ever strays out of eye contact of at least two people." Everyone nodded. They rose to their feet.
"We might as well start in here," said Emily. She knelt to the floor and checked under the couch.
x-x-x-x-x
They searched Hotch's office, pulling open desk drawers, looking under the couch, behind the curtains. Morgan watched from the doorway, his gaze never leaving Garcia. They searched though Rossi's office and they searched the back storage area, though as Prentiss pointed out, it could easily have been back there and they'd miss it, they searched the interrogation room, though without much hope of finding it there, and then pulled open the all the desk drawers in the bullpen. The last place they checked were the bathrooms, first the ladies' and then the mens'. It was as Morgan pushed open the last stall door that he let out the exclamation. He reached down, picked something up, and then he turned towards the rest of the team, holding the cassette.
"What do you know, someone really thought of everything."
"What do you mean?" asked Hotch.
"The film's been pulled out of it. My guess is whoever let Malcolm, gave him this to destroy. They not only set up Malcolm to be a distraction, they used Malcolm to destroy the evidence that they'd done it. It's why Malcolm was hiding in the bathroom. My guess, he flushed the film down the toilet."
Hotch sighed and opened his mouth to comment, when his cell phone rang he pulled it out and answered.
"Hotch...alright. We'll go by the doors and wait." He hung up and looked at the others. "Strauss. She said security just called up to say the locksmith is here. He's coming up. The doors should be open soon."
With an air that was somewhere between relieved and weary, what remained of team slowly walked out into the bullpen to stand before the glass doors. They each stood a little apart from the others, JJ leaned against the wall, next to the doors, Morgan sat opposite her on top of a desk, a little behind him Reid sat in a chair staring at the floor. Hotch and Emily stood directly facing the glass doors, a desk between them.
On the opposite side of the doors Strauss stood, staring at them, the man who had come to pick up Richards, was talking to two of the policemen, Hotch thought he made out a gleam of curiosity in the man's face as he gestured towards the office. Hotch felt revolted.
Aaron sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He felt old. He felt tired. He felt done. Strauss would get her wish. After this, he couldn't lead the team. It was over.
"I need a drink," said Emily abruptly. "I could use some of Rossi's Scotch."
"Better not," said Hotch, "We'll be out soon, you can get something then."
"Yeah right, after the police finish interrogating us for hours."
"That Scotch is the last thing Garcia drank. It could have been poisoned."
"I almost feel ready to play the odds," she murmured. She glanced at him, and then frowned. "What is it?"
Hotch's mouth was frowning, his arms crossed. There was something there in the back of his mind, gnawing, trying to come to the surface. Something, some word had jostled, just enough to grab his attention. What was it? What was it? "The Scotch."
"What?"
"Wait here." He hurried over to Morgan. "Derek," he spoke softly, but urgently. Morgan looked up at him.
"Yes?"
"When we were all saying what we'd done during the time we found Kevin and the time we discovered the doors were locked, you said you went to get a drink from Dave's Scotch, and that no one saw you."
"That's right."
"So no one came in, while you were there?"
"No."
"How long do you think you were in the office?"
Morgan shrugged. "About five minutes."
"And after that?"
"I went back to the conference room, and waited there with Reid and Rossi, who had also just come back, until the police came."
"Thank-you." Hotch started to turn.
"What is this about?"
"I'll explain in a minute."
"But-"
"Trust me." Hotch hurried back to Prentiss.
"What?" she asked, as he approached her.
"Someone's lying."
"Who?"
"I don't know. But it's one of two people. Someone wasn't where they said they were, which means that someone has to be the one that released Richards and locked the doors. Which means they're the killer."
"Who?"
"Be ready with your gun."
"Who is it?"
"I think you're going to need it."
Hotch stepped forward into the center of the room. "Derek, can I have your weapon please?"
Derek, stood up from the desk. "Why?"
"I want your weapon."
"What's going on Hotch?
Hotch hesitated. He glanced out the glass doors. This could wait, he could tell what he knew to the police in just a few minute. But what about Garcia? What about Kevin? What about Dave? He felt angry. He wanted the truth and he wanted it now. They both had their weapons at their sides. But so did he. And he was feeling furious enough to take the risk.
"Derek, you said, that after Kevin died, when we came back into the office, when you and Reid and Rossi were in the conference room, that you went to get a drink from Dave's Scotch."
"Yes, I already told you that."
"And you say no one else came into the office while you were there."
"Yes."
"But JJ went to get the Scotch bottle."
Hotch noticed out of the corner of his eye that JJ had straightened up. Derek looked between JJ and Hotch.
"I went and got a drink, I don't know, maybe she came after I was gone."
"You said you were there for five minutes, she went right after I called the police. Even if you went to get your drink first, she would have come into Rossi's office while you were there, if she went first there would have been no Scotch for you to drink. The bottle would have been in my office."
"I don't understand, look I was there! I went and got a drink!"
"How do we know that?"
"Look I'm telling you-"
"I'm not saying you're lying...but I am saying that one of you is."
"The bottle is in your office," said JJ calmly, "Clearly I got it."
Hotch looked to Prentiss. "How long was it before JJ came back?"
"I...don't know," said Prentiss quietly, shaking her head. "I'm sorry. It seemed a little while but I wasn't paying attention. I was just thinking, watching Penelope I-,...I don't know how long it was."
"Yes," admitted JJ, "I took a moment. You needed time Hotch, so did I, I took a minute or two in Rossi's office just to gather myself. That's all."
"Except one of you is lying," said Hotch, looking from Morgan to JJ.
There was a long silence.
"Where were you?" asked Reid, the question came abruptly, both shattering the ugly stillness of the room and confusing. Everyone looked at him. Reid explained, "When I was shot, Emily and Rossi were with me, Hotch and Morgan ran after Richards, I know you showed up to patch me up, but where were you between the shooting, and when you were there in the conference room with the first aid kit?"
"I watched from the conference room," said JJ, crossing her arms in annoyance.
"Why do you ask?" Hotch asked Reid.
"Well the next time we saw Garcia, she was dead. From that point onwards we were all together-"
"And Derek was alone with her, right before the shooting!" exclaimed JJ.
"I didn't kill her!" yelled Morgan.
"Calm down both of you right now!" ordered Hotch.
"You went to your office," said Emily slowly, looking at JJ. "After the police came, when Strauss was up here, when the janitors were looking for the key and right before we discovered Malcolm Richards had escaped, you were in your office. Morgan and Reid were both in the conference room. Derek even checked in on Garcia. Rossi and Hotch were here in front of the doors and I was with Penelope. But you were in your office. That would have given you plenty of time to put the bomb together. And then if you knew Malcolm Richards was escaped and Eastlake dead, you would have known that as soon as it was discovered we would all be called to the conference room and that we would all have been distracted and you could easily sneak the bomb and hide if somewhere...maybe by the window, behind a curtain."
Out of the corner of his eye, Hotch noticed the elevator doors open and a man, he assumed to be the locksmith stepping out and being approached by Strauss.
Emily was continuing. "The bomb wouldn't have had to be well-hidden since none of us suspected that. And you were by the window...after we finished searching the office for anyone else hiding here. You were standing by the window and the last to sit down...right before you sat down next to Rossi, which would have made it very easy to slip the bomb under his chair."
"Reid was sitting next to him too!" said JJ.
"Yes, but Reid didn't lie about what he did between finding Kevin and the police coming," said Hotch
"Neither am I!"
"Either you or Derek are."
"Then why not him!" she yelled.
"I'm considered it...but right now things aren't pointing that way."
"'Or maybe they thought they didn't need an ally?'" Again everyone looked at Reid, confused. "I'm sorry," said Reid, clearing his throat, "That's just what JJ said. When we were wondering why the killer had just murdered him and not used him. JJ said, 'Maybe they thought they didn't need an ally?'"
"Which isn't a normal thing for you to say," said Hotch looking at the woman in question.
"Reid agreed with me!"
"Yes, but you said it. It was surprising you knew it...so readily. You're good, and on many occasions you've proven that you would make an excellent profiler..." Hotch hesitated. If they were right...if JJ...then all he'd have to do was push. He decided. "But that's insight we'd come up with. No an amateur. Not a liaison."
JJ moved so quickly, as she pulled her weapon, Hotch barely kept up. He heard Emily's footstep as she came forward, saw her gun pointed at JJ too, he glanced over at Morgan, he too had his gun drawn.
Hotch gripped his weapon. JJ's was pointed right at him. He looked at her calmly, his own pointed dead center on her.
"A liaison? Well Aaron Hotchner a liaison killed the great and famous David Rossi!"
"You've actually always been very smart, you've always had deep insights into people and both in your capacity as a liaison, choosing our cases and the invaluable help you have always given us on our cases have always been a valued member of this team...until now. I needed to get a rise out of you to know the truth," he said simply, "If you were the killer, based on Reid's profile of the motivation it was going to make you angry and very likely cause you to boast about the murders."
Outside the glass doors, Strauss was standing over the poor locksmith, as he worked furiously to open the doors, the policemen stood, guns drawn, ready to into the office as soon the doors were unlocked. JJ smiled.
"You think you're smart don't you? Well you're not. Look how many people I've killed and you couldn't stop me."
"What do you call this? It darn well looks like stopping to me," said Morgan.
"I've destroyed this team. I didn't kill quite as many as I would have liked, but this will never be a team again. And destruction of spirit can be even more deadly then destruction of life."
"What did you do?" asked Hotch quietly. "You killed Kevin, when we was going up to meet Garcia?"
"Yes. I told him I needed to talk to him about her. I knew he was coming, I waited for him and then I took him to the stairwell and killed him and then came back up here and waited in my office for us to find him. I almost thought there, when we were leaving, that you'd be too stupid. But Derek found him."
"And then while we waited for the police you locked the doors."
"The moment I left your office I went to Eastlake and killed him. And then went and explained I few things to Malcolm, undid his handcuffs, and gave him the video tape to destroy. Rossi almost saw me leaving the interrogation room, after your call, but I just managed to see him coming back into the office, and I ducked back in. Lucky he came. He could have almost missed everything."
"You locked the doors then?'
"Yes. Keep you all in here so I could kill you."
"And what did you to do to Garcia?"
"Spence got it. When you and Derek were running after Malcolm and the others were down I the bullpen looking after Spencer's gunshot wound, I quickly went into your office, and gave Penelope an injection, a very high overdose of a sedative, she was probably dead in under five minutes. Then as you all passed the door, I slipped out and followed into the conference room. You didn't even notice."
"And then you took the bomb and slipped it under Rossi's seat when you sat next to him."
"Yes. Emily explained that. I've been sneaking the pieces into the office for several weeks now. I only just had to put them together tonight."
"And Malcolm was just a distraction...just like we said...just to confuse us, keep us from figuring out at first it was one of us, one of our own, that was doing all this?"
JJ smiled. "Oh I'm not one of you. I'm better. I'm smarter. And tonight proved it."
The glass doors swung open and the policemen burst in. JJ turned her gun on them and Hotch took the shot.
x-x-x-x-x
"They think she'll be fine," said Strauss, as she stood outside with the four agents, watching the ambulance pull away. "She'll stand trial for this."
Hotch blinked, and looked at Strauss but did not respond.
Erin sighed, "Alright. It's late. Go home. This is a mess, and I don't know what's going to happen and what this means. For any of us. But we can sort the whole tangled mess out tomorrow." She hesitated a minute more and then turned and walked away towards her car.
Hotch took a deep breath and looked at his three remaining team members. Morgan and Reid both looked as shell-shocked as he felt. But Prentiss smiled reassuringly.
"You know," she said, putting her arm through Morgan's and Hotch's and smiling at Reid. "I think she's going to be wrong."
"What?" asked Morgan.
"JJ. She said she'd destroyed this team. Somehow I think not."
"A lot's happened here tonight-" said Hotch.
"A lot's happened in the entire life of this team. And we've changed, and we've grown, and we've lost people. But we're still a team...and we're still more then that. We never turned on each other tonight. We knew one of us did this, but we never yelled, throwing accusations around. We were betrayed and we were hurt. But ultimately we were not defeated. We didn't turn on each other. I think we have a future yet."
Hotch smiled.
Reid did as well, but it halfway through it turned into a yaw.
"I think we should take Strauss's advice," said Hotch. "I think we should go home and get some sleep."
"Actually," said Morgan, "I could really use a drink."
"I am so with you on that," concurred Emily.
"Alright," said Hotch, "Let's go...as a team."
"As a team," she agreed.
Author's Note: And now that the story is over, Anonamus-A, you should know, you saved Reid's life :-). He was going to be a victim, probably instead of, or around the time of Rossi, but you gave the first review, and it was nice, and you gave a follow up review, and so I decided not kill Reid. :-)