"You know each other?" Rosslyn asked in total surprise.
"Quick Eddie and I went to law school together, but then we choose different ways to go."
Temple grinned, " He has not forgiven me that I joined Darth Vader on the dark side, instead of being a decent prosecutor. You look good, man. And you made quite a good catch, one of the Evans girls. Best requirements to become a Senator or Governor sometimes."
Temple thought about that possibility for a moment, then his eyes fell on Prentiss and a wolf whistle left his lips. "Well, hello my beauty," he said and Rose suddenly knew why Aaron had called him 'quick Eddie'.
"It´s Agent Prentiss", Emily corrected him stiffly.
"What about Ohio? Did you catch the guys?" Rose wanted to know. Hotch shook his head.
" O'Neill took the case over, he said it would be a pleasure to help the chief out."
"God bless O'Neill," Rose said and wrapped herself up in Aaron´s arms.
"I'm so glad you 're here," it wasn´t much left of the bossy chief, Rose was shaking and sobbing.
"Well" Rossi said, "Hotch, you´ll take care of the chief, drive her home. Prentiss, Temple, Morgan and I will take a look at the crime scene. If I´m right, there will be no further investigations by the Atlanta PD?" Rose nodded. "As I thought. Flo is the perfect culprit, she did a good job. Let´s see, what external eyes will make out of it.
"I owe you, Dave," Hotch said.
"Gosh, no Aaron. Not for this." He patted his friend´s shoulder, "make her rest and calm her down. She´ll need all her strength, when this leads to nothing."
Rose took a deep breath. "Let me tell you something. I really appreciate, what you are doing here. And I do know, this won´t be easy. But Florence didn´t kill my ex-husband. She´s special, sometimes, but she isn´t capable of murder." Rossi nodded. "Relax, chief. We´ll find, who´s responsible."
"We´ll find, who´s responsible? From your lips to God´s ears." Morgan said, after Hotch and Rose left.
Emily punched his arm. "Don´t be that negative, all the time. You really think, Flo killed Baines?"
Morgan remained silent.
XXX
"All right, Mr. Temple. What..."
"Oh Eddie, please," Prentiss was interrupted by Eddie.
"Mr. Temple, what exactly have you been told by Florence?"
"They entered the building by using the side entrance and took the elevator. Dr. Reid was waiting by the elevator, Flo wanted to talk to Baines alone. So she left Reid here and made her way to the outer office."
Morgan stood near the elevator, "Ok, I 'm Reid, Prentiss, you're Flo, Rossi, you are our supposed UnSub, you're already in the office."
Emily walked through the hallway with Temple. "Flo said, the lights were on, in the secretary´s office and also in Baines office. She entered the secretary´s room and she was looking for the complaint, she opened a few drawers, looked through some papers on the desk. Then she went into Baines office and found him dead. She bent down to check his pulse. She grabbed the knife, instinctively, that´s when Dr. Reid arrived at the scene." Prentiss and Temple entered Baines office.
"Anything, Rossi?", Prentiss asked.
"The view from this office is excellent. I can overlook the whole parking lot, by looking out of this window. I can clearly see, my scapegoat is on it´s way.
Baines and I have to be very familiar, otherwise I couldn´t move here easily and I couldn´t come close to him, without causing any suspicion. I must also know how long it takes from the parking lot to this office, I can´t stab him to early, every minute counts." Rossi rubbed his face. "The UnSub has to be an insider, there is no other possibility."
Temple nodded, "perhaps there is a second one? Did you think about that? He saw Reid and Florence, entering the elevator, he called the killer and after Baines dead, all they had to do was wait. They knew, Flo will step into the trap no matter what."
Eddie started to grin. "You can hear them?"
"Whom?" Morgan asked, standing in the office now, too.
"Reasonable doubts, dear FBI, reasonable doubts!"
XXX
"This is where you grew up? I had no idea." Hotch asked surprised as he drove up the driveway to the Evans property.
"You don´t like it?" Rose replied, smiling, "my family made their assets with black distillery during the Prohibition, the Evans family now owns the largest distillery here in the south. My youngest sister, Corinne, will take the company over, when my Dad retires. She's in Scotland, right now, to get an inside view into another distillery." Hotch stopped in front of the main entrance and a young man opened the car door.
"Welcome Sir. Miss Rose. I 'll take care of the car and the luggage, you may leave the key in the lock, Sir."
Hotch hesitated a little at the large front door.
"Come on, Rhett, Papa O'Hara does not bite," Rose quipped and dragged Aaron into the house.
Marie immediately stormed the hallway, "Ma chere, what about Florence? Your Papa said, she was brought to the 'ospital, I can visit 'er there?"
"No, Marie, I'm so sorry, no one is allowed to visit her. But our lawyer says she is in good hands. Everything is gonna be okay Marie, you know?"
Marie tried to calm down a bit and took a deep breath .
"And you? You must be Jacques father? 'e is tres jolie, such a sweet boy, Mr. 'otchner" "Thank you, Mrs. Evans," Hotch said, glad that Jack was so adaptable.
"Non, Marie, please. Charles and the children are in the library. 'ow many rooms do we need? You did not come alone, non? "
Aaron smiled, "No, Ma'am. I brought Agents Prentiss, Morgan and Rossi along."
"Oui, then I'll take care of everything.
"Daddy!" Jack rushed to his father when he and Rose entered the library and Hotch hugged his son tightly.
"Hello son, looks like you like it here?" Jack nodded, "A lot! There are horses and dogs and kitten, Daddy. Can I have one? Oh and Rosie's Mum said, I may call her grameer, Daddy."
Hotch laughed, "that's very nice of Marie. We´ll talk about the kitten later, I guess," he hugged Jack again and turned to Rosslyn's father, who had a very close look at him and his daughter.
"Mr. Evans? Aaron Hotchner, I'm glad to meet you." Hotch stretched out his hand.
"Glad to meet me? We´ll see. Rose, Billie, Jack, Marie is calling."
"I didn´t hear her," Jack said and looked blankly. Billie smirked, "Oh, yes, Jacko, she was pretty loud."
She patted Hotch´s back and whispered "good luck" in his ear, before she left with her mother and Jack.
Hotch had a very unusual feeling... he felt uncomfortable.
For minutes Charles didn´t say anything, he just looked at Hotch.
"My daughter is pregnant. You´re responsible for that, Hotchner?" Charles grumbled.
"Yes, Sir."
"How could this happen? Rose is an honorable woman, Hotchner." Charles sounded angry.
"Sir, I don´t have to tell you, how that happened, you have children of your own. Three of them, to be exact." Hotch replied with a smile. Hotch had the feeling, Charles wasn´t as angry as he appeared to be. He wanted, what all parents wanted, to see their children happy. And Billie and Jack must have told Charles how happy they are. Hotch was sure about that.
Charles began to laugh, "I guess I like you, Aaron."
He became serious again, "you did a pretty good job with your boy. I know how difficult it is to raise a child alone, my beloved Ella has left me very early. You honestly love my daughter?"
Wordlessly Hotch took the small box out of his pocket and handed it to Evans. He nodded as he looked at the ring. "Just perfect for my Rose."
Hotch was not sure if Charles had meant the ring or him.
"Welcome to the family, son," Charles said, hugged Hotch and poured him a bourbon. He probably meant both of us, Hotch thought.
XXX
A few minutes later, Hotch knocked at Billie´s room, he had noticed she wasn´t well, she smiled in the library, but he knew that smile, it was the same 'I´m not ok smile' that Rose sometimes showed.
"No one here," Billie informed from inside.
" It's me, Hotch, I would like to talk to you, Billie."
"Come in" Billie sat on the bed, looking all messy and sad. "It 's all my fault", Billie sobbed. "I told Flo about the lawsuit, Hotch. I made her freak out. She killed Richard because of me. You told me, to keep my mouth shut, but I knew better. I´m such a bad person." Billie sobbed again.
Hotch shook his head, " No, sweetheart. Listen to me. You´re not a bad person. And you´re not, listen carefully, not responsible for any ones actions."
"But.."
"No but´s, Billie. Florence is a grown up and it was her decision to pay your father a visit. And believe me, Billie. Her problems with him started a long time ago, she had to clarify other things with him, also. Besides, I am sure, Flo didn´t kill him. Your aunt is a bit crazy and impulsive, but I 've seen more than one murderer, Billie your aunt is none of them. We´ll prove that, somehow. All right?"
Billie nodded.
"Anything else, you worry about?"
Billie nodded again. "My father. I...I mean... It doesn't hurt. I cried, but it was because of Flo. I know, he´s dead, but it means nothing to me. That´s not right, Hotch."
He sat down on the bed and put his arm around her, "I 'll tell you something about my father. I was older than you, when he died. But I felt the same way you do. I cried, too. But it wasn´t grief, Billie it was relief. My father wasn´t a nice man, maybe from the outside, it looked like that, it was the perfect disguise. I remember the funeral, all that...expressions of sympathy. Too bad. What a great man and attorney. A sudden death took this loving husband and father away from his family. Every time I heard phrases like that, I felt the need to punch them in their faces and shout the truth at them. Nobody knew in what particular way he loved his family, he has beaten up my mother regularly and very, very often me, too. He showed his love with his belt, Billie. I was relieved that he died before he has even begun to beat up my little brother." Hotch had spoken very quietly, he didn´t like to talk about these things, because he wanted them where they belonged, into the past.
"That´s why you´re always so dominated and uptight? Because you're afraid you could be like him?" Billie asked, shocked. She never expected to hear such things from Hotch. "You'll never be like him, certainly not," Billie hugged Hotch tight, "I love you so much, I wish you were my father."
Rosslyn smiled and wiped a few tears away, when she heard this. She stood at door for some time, listening to that conversation. She knocked at the door frame, "Am I disturbing you?"
"No, we just finished, right Billie?"
"Yes, we did. Thank you, Hotch. For...everything." Hotch smiled and squeezed her hand.
"Morgan just called me, they might have something," Rose said with relief.
