Hotch walked into the round table room, where his team already assembled and ready to go for their usual 10 a.m. briefing. The room smelled like coffee. It always smelled of coffee, which helped cover, but never quite succeeded in masking the claustrophobic staleness that always accompanied a lack of windows. JJ and Garcia were teasing Reid, who was babbling inanely about something (something that would no doubt aid them in a case one day), and Rossi was chatting pleasantly with Blake. The two occasionally spared an amused smirk toward the threesome on the other side of the table, but didn't falter in their conversation. If Morgan had been there he'd have been flirting with Garcia and tormenting Reid. But he wasn't and where he was left Hotch feeling all the more reluctant to bring this case to them.
He wondered if they'd finished up at the MPD yet, if they were already at court. Morgan hadn't given him too many details, but it was pretty clear that Prentiss was in serious trouble. Knowing he'd have to tell them sooner or later, he cleared his throat and brought them to instant silence and professionalism. Before he could speak, Garcia offered the remote to him. He waved it away with a hand. "I don't have any documentation on this case yet."
He watched his team members glance at each other, as if checking that that statement was just as usual to them. Dave offered him a patient smile. "Uh Aaron, I don't know how much we can do without any information."
"We should receive at least some information on the case in a few hours."
"It's local then?" JJ asked, her eyes lit with hope.
"At the moment, yes." He paused and took a breath. "It originated in London."
Garcia gasped. "Oh god, that's where Derek is. What happened to Emily?"
The technical analyst had a hand over her mouth and her eyes said it would take less than a poke to send tears running from her eyes. Hotch was quick to reassure her. "She's safe and physically fine. She and Morgan will be joining us later."
Okay, Morgan would be joining them later. He wasn't so sure that Prentiss wouldn't changed her mind about accepting the team's help, as doing so would pretty much strip her of any privacy. And Emily Prentiss was nothing if not private.
"What's going on?" JJ easy demeanor of only minutes ago had gone to rigid and guarded in seconds.
"I don't have any details...were any of you aware that Prentiss was seeing someone?"
"She mentioned someone months ago, but when she stopped mentioning him I figured it didn't work out," Rossi said. The others, save Blake, nodded in agreement.
"Well, she had been seeing someone and it seems that he's been abusing her." He held up a hand at the opened mouths. "I don't know the details or how long, just that he followed her to D.C., has been harassing her via text message and that he got physical with her last night."
"We don't know anything else, a name even?"
Hotch shook his head at Blake, who didn't seem to be bothered by the personal nature of case, and continued explaining, "Morgan and Emily went to file a report at the MPD and then to court to get a TRO. Afterward, they'll hopefully be coming here."
Dave eyed him "Hopefully?"
"Well, you know Prentiss, she values her privacy." He paused. "If Emily agrees to accept BAU help, we'll be working with SSA Trico on BAU III for the risk assessment."
Garcia's distraught gaze went to her laptop, while everyone else just seemed to trying to wrap their heads around the new information. JJ looked particularly troubled, but she didn't say anything. As Hotch's gaze drifted to Reid, who was frowning deeply into his coffee mug, he heard Garcia's computer keys clicking as she typed. He didn't dismiss them immediately, because he wanted to give them time to adjust to the distressing news. Having a bunch of distracted and upset profilers wandering about the BAU was just going to attract attention and distract everyone else.
"Um Sir?" Garcia grabbed his attention, pointing one rose-pink manicured fingernail at her computer. "Clyde Easter is waiting to teleconference with us."
"Put him through," he said, brow wrinkling as he pondered the surprise call. Garcia tapped a few more keys on her keyboard and then pressed a few on the remote and the wall screen suddenly lit up with a very large view of Clyde Easter's office. The wrinkles lining his brow and cradling his frown spoke to deep stresses in his life, and Hotch wondered how much of that was due to Emily's situation.
"Good Evening," Easter caught himself, "Though I suppose that's Good Morning to all of you." Hotch merely nodded his greeting, and noted the rest of the team doing the same. "Emily requested that I furnish your team with copies of the police and court documents."
"That would be helpful," Hotch said.
Dave leaned forward. "Do you know the guy?"
"I met him once or twice. I didn't know what was going on, not until she called me Monday. If I had known what he was doing..." Easters mouth grew impossibly tight and his one visible hand clenched into a fist. "I know some rather creative ways to deal with problematic people."
Hotch did not doubt that the ex-SIS officer knew plenty of ways to kill a person, and he probably knew which ones would hurt the most.
"How long has it been going on?" JJ's voice was quiet, almost gentle compared to their louder voices.
"They were together for almost eight months, and he was physically abusing her for a little over four of those months, though the emotional abuse started earlier."
"What's his name, this guy?" Rossi asked.
"Reece Edwin Walters." Easter hadn't even paused to look it up. He cleared his throat then. "You think you can remove him from and keep him out of her life?"
"Yes," Hotch answered without a thought. They'd find a way, of that much he was certain.
"I'm having my secretary scan the files as we speak, as soon as she's done I'll encrypt the file and send it over." His lips curved into a half-smile. "I was told that Ms. Garcia can crack an encrpyted file in her sleep?"
Garcia straightened up and nodded. "Yes, sir. That's child's play."
He nodded. "I ordered background run on Mr. Walters and a basic report has been completed and will be sent over as well. The full report will take far longer."
Hotch nodded as Dave put a hand up. "You said you found out Tuesday, what spurred Emily into seeking help?"
Easter inhaled and his whole body seemed to tighten. "We had a holiday on Monday. Emily spent the entirety of the holiday weekend from Friday evening through Tuesday morning, trapped in her bedroom, and for large stretches of that time she was confined to a metal dog crate. He kept her naked, except for a choke collar, and when she was disobedient, he punished her. It's all in the report and the accompanying photos."
"Photos?" Hotch asked, already feeling sick at the thought.
"Yes, after she called me I took her too the hospital to document her injuries. Nothing major, though I would say more of her body was black and blue than wasn't. As you can imagine, she didn't get into the dog crate willingly; he had to tackle and manhandle her in. And one of his favorite means of discipline was a satin cat o' nine tails. I'll warn you, the police report is rather disturbing reading material."
"We're used to disturbing material."
"Yes, I imagine you would be, but it's another matter when it's someone you care about, isn't it." None of them commented. "Do you know what disturbs me more than the content of that file?" His eyes had gone unfocused and it was clear he wasn't quite speaking to them anymore. The matter had clearly shaken him, not easy for a seasoned spy, and he was seeing something upsetting in his head. "If Walters had waited six months, maybe even less, before doing this, she might have broken enough to let him get away with it."
Morgan found the entire process of the cops and courts to be totally exhausting and knew Emily felt it even more intensely than he did. It was her personal life put on display for all to see. And it wasn't over yet. Hotch had texted earlier that Clyde Easter had sent them all the paperwork on the case in London, and he'd made it clear that it was not pretty reading. Derek actually found himself wishing that he could step back and let the others handle the case. Two things stopped him, however. He was the obsessional crimes expert, so his input could be especially useful, and more importantly, he had to see this through. He had to make sure that the bastard would be dealt with and that Emily would be safe and free of him forever.
He still found himself walking into the round table round with considerable trepidation though. Beside him, Emily was as tense as a slingshot poised to fire. The team froze at seeing them, and Morgan noted the look on their faces that said they were hurting for Emily and all desperately wishing that she had reached out to them long before it got so far. He knew the feeling. Garcia was the first to move, pushing herself from her chair and walking over to Emily, her usually bounciness replaced with a redness in her eyes that said she'd spent the last few hours trying not to cry. She wrapped her arms around Emily, and held her for several seconds before pulling away with a sniffle.
"Derek mentioned that he was sending you lots of texts?"
Emily nodded. "Yeah, but it's a secured Interpol phone, so I can't let you hack it. Will forwarding the texts work?"
"Yep. Actually, you can email them to me. I'll show you how."
Emily walked with the tech back to the table. "I have a folder of emails that you should have too. That's in my personal account, so you're welcome to hack it and pull them out."
The two women sat down together and began to work on the technical necessities. Morgan looked over to Hotch, who waved him to follow him out of the room. Once in his office, Hotch closed the door. "How is she?"
"Exhausted, but okay I think. You know Emily though, she could have a gunshot wound and we wouldn't know it until the blood puddled on the floor."
Hotch nodded. "You got the TRO?"
"Yeah, if he comes near her or tries to contact her, we have the paper to lock him up. That's not good enough though. We need to get this bastard away from her and make sure that he stays away."
"The Brits have a pretty good case for assault, rape, even kidnapping, if we can get Emily to press charges."
Morgan physically backed up. "Whoa, kidnapping? Rape? What are you talking about?"
"She didn't tell you?"
"Didn't tell me what?"
Hotch purse his lips, like he was debating divulging the information. "Walters trapped her in her bedroom over a three day weekend, and forced her to spend large stretches of that time locked in a dog crate." Hotch continued to talk, but Morgan felt like he couldn't breathe. After a few minutes, Hotch seemed to realize that Morgan wasn't entirely with him and stopped talking. He sat behind his computer and typed on the keyboard and then gestured Morgan behind the desk. "That's the police report from London. It includes pictures. Read that in here and then hit the heavy bags in the gym."
"What? You want me to hit the gym when I should be here trying to figure a way to get rid of this guy?"
"You're upset and you'll be even more upset when you finish reading that. I can't have you sitting in the conference room like a grenade with a loose pin."
"I'm not going to hurt anyone, Hotch," he snapped, more than a little offended.
"I know that. I'm more concerned about you using the furniture and walls as gym equipment and injuring yourself."
"I'm an adult, I can control my temper."
"JJ and Dave both had to step out after reading through the case materials. Trust me." With that, Hotch disappeared, leaving Morgan to read about the long-term torment of his best friend, of a woman he was almost certainly loved.
So there wasn't much Emily in the chapter, but there will be lots of Emily in the following chapter. Thank you all for reading and thank you to those of you who review!
