The Jason Gideon Detective Agency
Chap. 4-Undercover under Pressure
Summary: In this chapter, some inner secrets are revealed and a killer is discovered.
1700 Hours
The Watering Hole
Boston, MA
Caroline climbs out of Jillian's car. She was dressed in a very un-Caroline outfit of tight navy blue party dress borrowed from Jill, stiletto high heels, and not much else. Her brow curls had been brushed out and Jill and Jane Kirk, her colleague's wife, who was a hairdresser, had put it up in a half-up style with a "bump" at the crown, and various jeweled hairpins scattered throughout. Jill had done her makeup and loaned her a clutch bag, and Caroline was wearing contact lenses. Her wire had been snuck up under her dress, and her firearm was now relocated to her thigh. She stumbles on the heels, and Jill giggles.
"Careful, kid." Caroline grimaces; she'd been annoyed the entire evening. Her transformation had taken place at the office, and the males had been joshing her the entire evening. Only her boss had been serious, telling her to keep calm, and to put her trust in the FBI people, that they were skilled and would keep her safe. She inhaled and exhaled, concentrating so hard on not falling that she missed the FBI people gathering nearby until a familiar voice causes her to look up.
"Dr. Steinberg?" She grinned a half-smile and nodded. It was Agent Hotchner, looking both surprised and slightly taken aback at the young woman's appearance.
"Yes." Spencer was staring at her, openmouthed, and she smiled at him. Jill and Rossi broke the silence.
"I think we should go inside. Heather Johnson should be here soon." Caroline nods, and follows her colleague into the building. They approached the bar, where Caroline slipped the earpiece that Rossi handed her into her ear, and spoke quietly, making sure she could hear them and they could hear her. She spoke to the bartender.
"Bushmills, please, straight. Two fingers. Actually, make it three shots." From his table in the corner, Morgan laughs.
"Dang, girl. You don't take any prisoners, do you?" Caroline chuckled, and shook her head, knowing that the man could see her. Hotch and Jill, who were in a surveillance vehicle outside the bar, also laughed. Jill spoke.
"Ok, Caroline. We can hear you. Be careful, OK?"
"I always am." They chuckle, and she takes a seat at the bar, nursing her drink, and ignoring the stares from the male patrons of the bar.
A little while later, the team is on high alert. Back at the shipyard, JJ and Prentiss are relaying the information sent over the wires to Garcia, who is going to double-check the voice matches. In the bar, Rossi and Morgan sit, drinking beer and waiting for their signal from Caroline, who will head for the ladies room when it is time for Morgan to make his appearance. Hotch and Jill are still in the surveillance van, and Spencer is pacing the room at the Naval shipyard, driving the females crazy.
"Spence, what's wrong?" asked JJ. He grimaced at his friend, not ready to admit that the feelings that he felt for the girl were confusing him.
"Nothing. Sorry." He sat in a hard plastic chair, and arranged his face to appear nonchalant. JJ and Prentiss giggled, but turned their attention to Garcia's voice coming down the line.
"OK. I have tapped into Heather Johnson's GPS system. She is heading for the bar where the others are at; she should be there soon."
"Thanks, Garcia," came Spencer's reply.
A little while later, Petty Officer Johnson entered the bar, dressed in a tight white party dress and her hair done similar to Caroline's. From the bar, Caroline waves, and finishes her drink. She speaks as Heather approaches.
"Hey. How are you?"
"I'm OK. How are you?"
"I'm great, now that it's after work. Those FBI agents are tough." The Navy girl laughed.
"You're telling me. Did you know that they have me researching some stupid law about the term limits on murder one?" Caroline chuckles.
"Yeah. I'm doing DNA analysis." The PI giggles, playing the part of slightly brainless drunk girl as the agents help her to try to blend in.
"You look great, Dr. Steinberg." Caroline blushes slightly.
"Thank you. Please, call me Caroline. 'Doctor' makes me feel old." Heather giggles.
"Ok. I can do that. So anyway, you do, you look great."
"Thanks. You too." The young Navy woman was wearing a pink dress and super high heels. Her brown hair fell in loose ringlets, and she wore a copious amount of jewelry. Her makeup was heavier than Caroline's, and certainly against military regulations, but she did look pretty, so Caroline returned the compliment.
"You look nice, too." Heather smiled and finished the pink drink in her hand, signaling the bartender for another.
"So I am surprised you wanted to come along, Caroline. I thought you might have been invited to dinner with the FBI people." Caroline shrugged.
"Well, I don't think they like me that much. I think they are kind of tolerating me because my boss used to work with them. So, here I am."
She bit her lip and hoped that the FBI agents wouldn't hold the comment against her. She watched in interest as Petty Officer Johnson's eyes moved from her to a gorgeous, well-built man standing close by, clutching a beer. The girl smiles, and then turns back to Caroline.
"That's Chief Warrant Officer Mike Conway. I have been eyeing for weeks." Caroline raises her eyebrows. Jillian speaks through the wire to her.
"Caroline, now ask her if she sees anyone else. Ask her what her type is." Caroline smiles now, and speaks to the girl.
"Really? He seems really muscle-y. Is that what you like?" Heather Johnson shrugs, but nods.
"Yeah, I like 'em big. It's so much better when you're doing it to do with someone well-built, you know?" Caroline nods, and sips her drink again. Jill speaks to her again.
"Ask her specifically now about her interaction with the two dead men."
"Oh, man. I think I may need some water; it's hitting me fast. I just realized that the two Marines we found fit just that description. Did you know them well?" Heather narrows her eyes, but having had three drinks already, her senses weren't as sharp as Caroline's, who'd been very careful to sip her first drink slowly. Caroline sighed in quiet relief when the girl replied, though.
"Yeah. I had thing with both of them, actually." Caroline smiles.
"Oh, really? What were they like?"
"Oh, you mean-well, it was…so good." Caroline blushed lightly at the girl's frankness, but continued.
"No, I want details…come on."
"Well, Perez liked it rough, but Taylor was nice. A little boring. Why do you ask?"
"No reason. I just, uh, I always try to see how my love life stacks up to others. Make sure I'm normal, you know." Even to her, it sounded hollow, but thankfully, Heather was a little too tipsy to notice.
"You're just fine. Now, back to the FBI people. The dweeby one, he seems nice. And quite taken with you. You should've brought him along tonight." Caroline rolls her eyes and forces a smile as the girl continues. "But that Agent Morgan, oh, boy. He could rock my world all night long."
Caroline stifles a chuckle, and looks into her glass and tries not to laugh aloud. In her ear, she can hear the others roaring with laughter, and a slightly embarrassed Morgan was trying to shush Rossi and Hotch. Jill's voice came through.
"Ok, Caroline. That's good enough for now. Excuse yourself to the ladies room, and we'll regroup, OK?" Caroline speaks to the girl sitting next to her.
"Heather, can you excuse me, please? I need to use the ladies room."
"Of course. I have my eye on something a little tastier over there, anyway," she said, and Caroline followed her gaze to where a man that Caroline vaguely recognized was standing. She continued as Caroline gathered her bag.
"He's always checking me out. I don't know how he does it, but he always seems to be at the same bar as me and my girlfriends."
Caroline shrugs as the girl wanders off, and Caroline heads for the ladies room, nodding to Morgan and Rossi as she passed them by. She still had her wire in, and something suddenly clicked in her mind, and as she entered the bathroom, she pulled out her phone to cover her wire, and spoke quickly and surely.
"Agent Hotchner, Jill? That guy that she was talking about, the tasty one, he's that contractor." A startled silence met her declaration, and it was a moment before anyone spoke. Rossi and Prentiss replied in stereo.
"You mean the guy is Paul Richardson?"
"I suppose. Anyway, he was one of the people that Top and I were checking into." Prentiss replies.
"Morgan, I'm on my way." Hotch continues.
"Thanks, Emily. Dr. Steinberg, can you help the agents? I need you to return to the bar, and meet with Morgan and Prentiss, OK?"
"Sure. Please excuse, I'm going to remove the earpiece for one minute. I really do need to use the restroom."
"I understand. Please let me know when you are finished."
"Sure."
Caroline slips the clear plastic receiver out of her inner ear, and proceeds to stand on line for an open stall. A few minutes later has her back at the bar, and from her vantage point, she sees the pretty brunette agent, Emily Prentiss enter the bar, flanked by Spencer. She smiles at the man, and his coworker, who nods at her, and makes eye contact with the others. It is high alert, although Caroline didn't realize the extent of the issue, that the contractor was in fact the main suspect in their investigation.
She watches, still quiet, as Spencer approaches her, and she smiles at him.
"Hi. I'm sorry about the things I said earlier." He shook his head, and settled into a chair next to her.
"It's OK. It's part of the whole undercover thing." She smiles at him, glad that he was understanding, and she watches as Morgan interrupts the young couple. The contractor seems annoyed by the man's presence, and Caroline shifts her weight to check that her holster is still indeed around her thigh, just in case.
Prentiss approaches the two young people, and speaks to Caroline.
"Ms. Steinberg? I need you to clear out, OK? We don't want anything to happen to you." Caroline shakes her head lightly, and responds.
"Actually, I'd like to stay. I have a firearm; it's in my thigh holster." Prentiss glances at Reid, who shrugs, and then back at the girl.
"Ok. I'll call Hotch." She turns sideways, pulling her phone out of her pocket as she does. As she is speaking to her boss, Spencer and Caroline talk.
"Can I get you another drink, Caroline?"
"That'd be nice, thanks." He nods, and turns to the bartender, indicating Caroline.
"Two of whatever she's having." Caroline chuckled.
"Careful, Bushmill's is not for the faint of heart." He smiled at her, and reached out, unconsciously touching her nose.
"I know. Are you going to be OK?"
"Yeah. Jill is going to take me home, but I might need some dinner soon. The whiskey is starting to go to my head." He grins as he hands her her drink.
"We can arrange that." She smiles as she takes the glass from him.
"Thanks, Spencer."
He nods, and turns his attention to his colleagues, who seem to be diffusing what appeared to be a tense situation. He carefully moved his firearm closer to his hand, making sure he was prepared if the others needed him. He didn't normally drink on the job, of course, but Hotch had said it was OK, in fact, the whole team seemed to be pushing him towards the young woman who now sat next him, her body turned into him slightly. He inhaled, and Caroline spoke.
"Your, uh, coworker Prentiss-she's good at this."
"Good at what?"
"This," she said, gesturing at the room, "Police work. I could take some lessons."
"You did well this evening. Don't sell yourself short, OK? You have a knack for this, too." Caroline smiled again, but shook her head.
"Well, she's impressive. I just put on a pretty dress and pretended to be fluffy." He chuckled.
"It looks well on you." He blushed, and noticed that Caroline did, too.
"Thanks." She was grateful in that moment that she hadn't yet reinserted the wire receiver; the others didn't hear that exchange. He nods, and stands.
"Excuse me a moment, please." She nods, and watches as he joins the two other agents with ease, marveling at his deftness at his job. She had been impressed earlier when they'd gone to the lab, and had relayed her marvel to both Jill and Gideon, who had just laughed, and patted and wished her luck. Caroline sat musing as Morgan quietly hauled Paul Richardson out of the bar. Spencer approached her again.
"Do you mind excusing me for a few minutes?"
"Of course." She sipped her drink again, and then saw Jill and Hotch pass by the door of the bar, and she stood quickly, grabbing her bag, and tossing a twenty on the bar. She headed out of the bar, and didn't notice that she was being followed.
End of Chap. 4
