Chapter 7
December 7, 2008
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With no new leads from Lily Clark's husband, Dave and Hotch went out the next day to re-visit the other families with the hope that they could find a link between the previous victims and Lily Clark. If not, it was more likely that a copycat had held a grudge against the woman for whatever reason. The backtracked completely, going back to the first victim of the Tree Light Killer. Much to Hotch's surprise, he recognized the man that opened the door to Victoria Sadler. Unlike the few days before, in the basement of a church covered in bits of wrapping paper and gifts, Hotch's stomach jolted.
"Mr Sadler, we're Agents Rossi and Hotchner of the FBI."
Mason Sadler met Hotch's eyes as he shook his hand. "We've met."
"You have?" Dave asked arching an eyebrow.
"Emily and I wrapped gifts at the church a few days ago," Hotch answered. "Mr Sadler was there helping out. Unfortunately, we're not here about charity work."
"Oh?"
"May we come in?" Dave asked, making a big show of putting his hands in his pockets to keep his hands out of the bitter Montana cold. His cabin got cold in the winters so he was more than used to the weather, but he couldn't think of a small town neighbour that wouldn't let someone in to keep them out of the cold.
"Of course," Mason stepped aside, allowing the agents in. "Can I get you anything? Coffee?"
"Please," Dave accepted, while Hotch shook his head.
"What is this about?"
"Three years ago, your wife was killed," Dave said, keeping his voice soft. He watched the man's eyes dilate at the same time his nostrils flared. That hadn't been the reaction he'd been expecting.
"I try not to think about it," Mason answered. "It was... it was sudden."
"We're sorry for your loss, Mr Sadler, but we need to ask about the circumstances surrounding her death," Hotch said strongly.
"She was strangled, sir. I'm not sure what other information I can give you."
"Your wife worked, Mr Sadler?" Dave inquired, watching the man's head swing towards him.
"No sir, she didn't. She stayed home with Holly, my daughter."
"Where is she?"
"She's not due to be home from college until next week," Mason answered. "UC Berkley."
"Freshman?" Hotch inquired.
"Sophomore," Mason replied.
"We're going to need to talk to her," Hotch requested quietly. "As about her whereabouts when your wife died."
"Check the date, Agent Hotchner. My wife died during the week. Holly always stayed late at school. She didn't get into Berkley because she's a pretty face."
Dave raised an eyebrow. "What was your wife doing at the time she was killed?"
"Hanging Christmas decorations," Manson answered, something odd colouring his voice. "Lights, wreaths, the whole thing."
"Who found her?" Dave asked, taking over the interview.
"Holly. What is this about?"
"Did your wife know Lily Clark?"
"The Clark's moved here a year ago. My wife was killed three years ago." He took a deep breath. "Vicky lived here her whole life. She was a small town girl, proud of her small town roots. She didn't want anything more to stay at home, raise Holly... She loved Christmas."
Still, Hotch's gut churned. Something was off about this man, something that made Hotch uncomfortable. Very, very uncomfortable. The way Mason spoke about Victoria was affectionate, until he started talking about Christmas. He wished he had Emily there, simply for her linguistic ability. If his gut was uncomfortable, something was off and wished he could put his finger on it. Or get Emily to decipher the tone he could hear underneath Mason Sadler's words.
"I couldn't help but notice you haven't put up decorations of your own, Mr Sadler," Dave said. "Is it too difficult?"
"Holly and I are getting on a plane the day after she gets home. We celebrate with my parents in Boston. We celebrate New Years with Vicky's family, for Holly."
Dave nodded. "We're still going to need to talk to your daughter," he said quietly.
"This is harassment."
"Sir, we're just trying to figure out what happened to your wife," Dave tried to reassure the man.
"Holly gave a statement to the police when she found Vicky. What else do you need?"
"We're talking to all of the families of the victims," Hotch said calmly.
"Then talk to them, because I have no idea how I can help you."
Both men understood the dismissal.
"Thank you, Mr Sadler," Dave said, handing his mug back. Both men walked side-by-side down the pathway to their Bureau-issue SUV. He climbed into the passenger seat as Hotch took the driver's side. "That was helpful."
Hotch sighed. "I don't like him."
"Oh?"
"The way he talked about his wife's love of Christmas... We need to talk to the daughter."
"Why?"
"Because Mr Sadler had the same tone of voice when he talked about Alexis Howard."
"When?"
Hotch sighed. "He was volunteering at the gift wrap. I asked him a few questions about Alexis Howard while we were there. When he talked about Alexis Howard and her love of Christmas..."
Dave nodded. "Did you ask Emily?"
It was ironic that Dave's first thought was Emily's linguistic ability when it was all he'd been able to think about while his brain struggled to understand the subtle and underlying tones in Mason Sadler's voice. "No."
Dave's cell phone stopped them from continuing their conversation, putting the phone on speaker when he registered the caller ID. "Yeah Morgan."
"So we got nothing out of the family of victim two. They had no idea who Lily Clark was, though their daughter, Anne, was on the ski trip with the Clark boys."
Dave arched his eyebrow as he heard a commotion in the background. "Everything okay?"
"Fine. Emily ran out of M&M's and she's in the process of trying to convince one of us to go pick some up."
Dave rolled his eyes. Emily's chocoholic tendencies weren't new to any of the members of the BAU. In fact, Reid had been on the unfortunate end of Emily's overprotective tendencies and had learned quickly that touching Emily's chocolate threatened his life. The team knew how dangerous it was to come between Emily and her chocolate. "Brave of you to say no."
"It's all she's been doing. She's going to make herself... Woman cool it!"
"Morgan, did it ever occur to you that saying 'yes' might be more productive?" Dave asked, amusement in his voice. Emily's habits were of constant amusement to him. She was quirky to say the least. "Morgan, what did you get from Heather Dunham's family?"
"She was a whirlwind for the first week of December, didn't do much but decorate and sleep. Daughter, Anne, said she stayed away from her mother between the first and about the tenth by the time all of the decorations went up. Then everything was normal again."
Hotch altered their course slightly, turning onto the main road of Bozeman. "Go see about Alexis Howard."
"Take Reid?"
Dave smirked. "Unless you're willing to take Emily."
"I'll take Reid."
"Keep us posted," Hotch said, turning into the parking lot of a nearby convenience store.
Dave hung up the phone with a raised eyebrow. "Why are we stopping?"
"Pick something up," Hotch said vaguely. He strolled into the convenience store, mind keen on one thing and one thing only.
Dave's eyebrows raised again when Hotch climbed back into the SUV with chocolate in his hands. "Chocolate?"
"The alternative is more terrifying than just bringing it back," Hotch replied, starting up the car.
"Hotch, you realize you just picked up chocolate for none other than Emily Prentiss without thinking twice?"
Hotch glanced over at his mentor. "What's your point?"
"Something's up with you two. You're on the same wave length more often than not. You went gift wrapping together..."
"For charity," Hotch argued. He should have known Dave would pick up on the undertones between him and the agent on the team both men were probably the closest to. "We're friends, Dave."
"Sure you are," Dave agreed. "I'm not questioning that you're not."
"Then what is this about?"
"Nothing in particular," Dave shrugged. "I've just seem some interesting things passing between you two."
"I beg your pardon?" Hotch said, his heart rate speeding up.
"Looks, gestures... you stay close, she stays close... more so recently."
"We're friends, Dave," Hotch repeated.
"And that's why you're bringing Emily her favourite chocolate while sending Morgan and Reid out to interview the Howards."
Hotch shot his friend a glance. "Emily and I are friends."
"You and Emily?"
Hotch rolled his eyes as he pulled into the precinct and picked up the chocolate. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Dave followed him out of the car, but stopped when he'd closed the door. "Emily's a special woman, Aaron. You have to be sure you want her because she's better than one night, and she's better than a fling."
Hotch hid the distinct surprise at how overprotective Dave was acting. "There's nothing going on between Emily and I."
"Yet."
Hotch chose to ignore him as he pulled open the precinct door. He caught Emily's eye as they made their way into the conference room.
"Anything?" she asked.
"Mason Sadler is the same man who was volunteering at the gift wrap a few days ago," Hotch replied, tossing the M&M's at her. He tried to hide his reaction to the way her eyes lit up.
"Oh?" Emily asked, immediately ripping into the candy as if Hotch bringing her chocolate was a regular occurrence.
Hotch took a seat beside her. "Do you remember him? From the gift wrap?"
"The man you interviewed? I remember him," she nodded, popping a piece of candy in her mouth.
"Do you remember anything odd about him?"
Emily cocked her head to the side. "I feel a little bit like a suspect in interrogation," she admitted. "He a suspect?"
"Something is off about him," Hotch replied, daringly sneaking an M&M from the small pile she'd made beside her.
Emily hummed slightly. "He called Alexis Howard selfish," she said. "Which I found odd. Especially for a man that was volunteering at a gift wrap for charity."
"Do you remember hearing anything in his voice? Anything odd?"
She chuckled. "Now I really feel like a suspect. And if you take one more M&M I take no responsibility for what I may do to you."
He raised an eyebrow.
"I remember wondering why he would choose 'selfish'. Call it an odd intuition-"
"Or linguistic knowledge," Dave spoke up, slipping into one of the other chairs.
Emily rolled her eyes. "Selfish is an odd word to use at this time of year," she said, ignoring Dave. "Of all of the words in the English language to use during the holidays, selfish is one that... it's the ultimate insult."
"Mason Sadler didn't put up any decorations," Dave said. "Said he and his daughter didn't spend Christmas at home so there was really no point in putting them up."
"But...?"
"It was the same tone of voice he used when he was talking about Alexis Howard being selfish," Hotch picked up.
"Bitter? Angry?" Emily asked.
Hotch watched Emily suck thoughtfully on an M&M and started reciting the case file. Then discovered that thinking about the case file brought him back to Emily. It felt like everything these days brought him back to the dark-haired agent beside him. "Yes."
"You think he's our guy?" she inquired.
Dave cocked his head to the side. "His wife was the first victim."
"We still have no idea what set him off. Age fits, so does potential race, but this is a small town," Emily said.
"All the more reason," Dave replied. "He attacks when the husband's away."
"All of the families had kids."
Dave nodded. "And he attacked when the kids weren't home. Holly Sadler was at school. The Clark boys were on a ski trip."
"Both husbands were in Bozeman at the time of the deaths of their wives," Emily said. "The only husbands that were. Does that narrow our suspect pool?" She slapped at Hotch's hand as it reached for another candy.
Dave raised an amused eyebrow. Just friends, he thought wryly. He was starting to seriously doubt it.
This... got out of hand, to put it lightly. Trying to juggle the case with Christmas seems to be giving me some intense difficulties. And writing Hotch's POV is frustrated as heck. I hope you liked it?
