And Carried Me Away

Chapter 8:

"Oh, god, this can't be happening." Catherine Joyce mumbled, her cheeks streaked with tears, her hands shaking. Around her were the oppressive sounds of the local precinct - the chattering, footsteps, phones ringing all rolled together. It was excruciating, sitting there thinking about Melissa, wondering what the monster was doing to her stepdaughter.

She'd helped raise Melissa since the girl was four, she was her mother in every way except biologically. It horrified her to sit there and think about what was happening. Her brain kept telling her she needed to go out and look for her stepdaughter, that the police didn't know anything when they insisted she stay to be questioned by the FBI. What the hell good would that do?! She wanted to scream. Melissa had been brutalize the first time by the son of a FBI agent, why the hell should she trust them?!

It made no difference to Catherine that the agent's son had been switched at birth or kidnapped or whatever according to an article she'd read. The bastard who had attacked Melissa nearly sixteen weeks ago was an FBI agent's son, and parents instinctively protected their children. No matter what. Even if it is against the consequence of their own actions.

Catherine had protected Melissa from responsibility so many times through the years, she knew it was true. And she imagined it would be more true if the bastard had been kidnapped as a child.

"...Mrs. Joyce?" Tara Lewis approached the woman, followed closely by Cam Fitzgerald. Both women took out their credentials and showed Catherine. "I'm agent Lewis and this is agent Fitzgerald. First, let me assure you we're doing everything we can to find Melissa. And it would help if you could answer some questions. Do you think you're up to it?"

"Do you work with that bastard's father?" Catherine snapped, her eyes narrowed. Her response surprised the two agents, though Tara quickly realized who the woman referred to and replied back calmly.

"Mrs. Joyce, the man who attacked your daughter in New York almost four months ago is still in prison, and he will remain there indefinitely. He is not behind this." Tara kept her tone calm, though she noticed Cam tense up out of the corner of her eye. She wondered if it wouldn't have been better to have a different agent join her. Though she barely knew Cam Fitzgerald, she had heard the young agent viewed Rossi highly, and it showed in her body language now.

"That doesn't answer my question." Catherine hissed, crossing her arms. The stubbornness that had always been part of her nature on full display in her face. "Do you work with that monster's father?"

"Mrs..."

Cam, glaring at the woman, cut through Tara's measured response. Her tone clipped and harsh. "Look, all right, we can sit here and waste time or we can help find your daughter. If you don't want to help, tell us now, that way we don't waste the time we could be using to find the current son of a bitch who has your daughter on trying to crack through your damn obstinacy."

Catherine returned the young agent's glare, but at the same time grew pale. Her stubbornness and distrust was dwarfed from her fear for Melissa. "I...all right. I'll answer whatever questions. I don't know if they'll be much help, but...Just find Melissa, please."

Tara nodded, her eyes widened slightly by Cam's outburst. It had been a foolhardy thing to do, since it could easily have caused Catherine to refuse to speak to them. She once again wondered if it'd been better if Cam had gone with one of the others.

"All right. We'd like to try something called a cognitive interview. Close your eyes, please." Tara waited a moment while Catherine did so. "Think back to the restaurant. What it smelled like and what sounds there were. Was there anything that stuck out? A person or a sound? Maybe someone paying too close attention to Melissa?"

"No. There wasn't anything...like that..." Catherine replied, her certainty trailing off as she remembered. "Wait, the server who brought us our food. There was something about him. Something...I'm not sure. He seemed to linger longer at our table, and he kept glancing at Mel." Catherine grimaced, her eyes still closed, and mumbled a comment about how the stares weren't so unusual since what happened to Melissa in New York. "This was different though. I'm not sure..."

The woman paused, her face scrunching up and her body tensing. Even though Tara prompted her to remember more, Catherine remained reluctant to continue.

0

With a clenched jaw and glowering face, Rossi stared at the file Cam had brought to Hotch. He barely registered a word he read, his thoughts split between the BAU's current case, and how James was back in solitary. Neither of which he could help with. Perhaps if he hadn't almost gone ballistic on the prison warden once he'd heard his son had been placed in solitary confinement, he...

The senior agent sighed, grumbling as he realized that even if he had kept his temper in check, he still wouldn't have been able to question James. They needed an unbiased, accurate interview, and it was highly probable that James would've done everything he could to rile Rossi up. Such an interview wouldn't have helped anyone.

He glared back at the file he held, his brain focusing on the info it contained to avoid thinking about being unable to help on the current case. Cruz had been on the fence about taking Rossi off the James-copycat case for the possible conflict-of-interest, since the older man was a seasoned agent. The moment the section chief learned about the unsub sending the gruesome package to Rossi directly however, he'd ordered the senior agent off investigating the case. It was either that or giving the case to another team.

Rossi, still reeling over learning James had been thrown back in solitary, had nearly gone off on Cruz for the decision. Something that Hotch noticed quickly, and had curtailed by suggesting Rossi help with the case Cam had brought.

-"Linnet claimed to Fitzgerald that one of his victims was her mother." Hotch spoke after grabbing the older agent's arm. It took only moments for the irritation on Rossi's countenance to shift to concern.

"Cam's mom? Linnet killed her...?" Rossi took the manila file Hotch held out, flipping open to the top page. His attention flitting between it and the unit chief.

"Fitzgerald asked the team to look into Linnet's claim, before we got called in. Perhaps you could do so?" Hotch suggested, knowing from Rossi's concern for the younger agent that he would agree to the suggestion.-

Rossi massaged his forehead, reading the file on Violet Brant - the woman Linnet claimed was Cam's mother. There wasn't a photo of her from before her body was discovered in an abandoned construction site, and her wounds had been extensive enough that any identifying facial features had been obscured. Though judging by hair color and skin pigmentation, as well as age, it was possible the woman was related to Cam.

That alone proved nothing, however. If the woman had heterochromia like Cam, it'd be more definitive, since the trait was rare and possibly genetic. At least Rossi presumed so from what he recalled years ago when Spencer had commented on Cam's heterochromia. Still, the woman not having it didn't disprove her being the young woman's mother.

"Hm." Rossi's dark-chestnut eyes shifted from the crime scene photos, to the notes written by the M.E. It all fit with what they knew Linnet did to his victims, and as such he nearly missed catching an odd detail noted in the autopsy report.

-Cause of death: asphyxiation. Bruising indicative of hesitance.-

"What?" Rossi mumbled, shaking his head. He thought about the man they caught nine weeks ago, and about the other victims. Not once did Linnet show any remorse. That the monster would've showed hesitance was baffling, it hadn't even been his first kill. "That's impossible. Unless he got someone else to..."

The senior agent drew in a sharp breath, his eyes widening. A moment or two of silence passed as he reread the sentence, then the date written on the report. His gut tightened.

This victim had been murdered around the same time Alsie had been in Linnet's custody. And while a seasoned serial killer like Linnet wouldn't have shown hesitance in the kill, a child would.

"The fucking bastard..." Rossi cursed, feeling sick as he realized what the hesitance suggested. Linnet hadn't killed this woman himself, but had forced someone else. And unless there'd been another person, thus far unknown, there at the time, it seemed likely Alsie had been that someone. "...she'd barely been around nine or ten..." He mumbled, followed by a few bilingual swears.

'No wonder she still balks at remembering her time at Linnet's. If he forced her to kill...' He paused, his eyes narrowing slightly as he thought about Alsie and what she'd told Hotch, about how the real Allison Schmidt had died. That it'd been an accident, the two girls had been playing by a well and Allison had fallen in.

Rossi rubbed his chin in thought, shifting his thought to the incident between Alsie and Shelly. The confrontation had resulted in the latter woman's death, though it had been in self-defense. At least they'd presumed it was. Alsie's alter Emmie had admitted to attacking Shelly after the woman threatened her, and it'd been likely Shelly had been ready to kill Alsie.

That had been self-defense. Or under mitigating circumstances.

Though what were the odds that Alsie would've been involved in someone's death on three separate occasions?

Rossi shook his head, chasing away the suspicion as being outrageous. Though Linnet may have forced Alsie to kill at least one of his victims, it didn't mean the petite woman would kill others. Forcing others to kill didn't turn them into murderers - just look at James, Somerfield had spent decades trying to turn Rossi's son into a cold-blooded killer and it hadn't worked! The only time James had deliberately tried to kill someone, it'd been trying to mercy-kill Alsie in the hospital. A twisted act, but one meant to be a sort of kindness to the grieving mother of his child.

Rossi sighed, placing down the folder. He rubbed his eyes, not enjoying how his brain kept attempting to profile not just his son but the mother of his grandchild. It was unnecessary. His son was in prison, without any chance at parole, and Alsie had been through enough shit in her life. She didn't need him profiling her. Besides, she was Spencer's twin and Jemma's mother, making her part of the BAU family. The no-profiling rule extended to her.

'...Linnet knew Jemma's name though.' Rossi mumbled, half in his thoughts and half aloud. 'Either Alsie or James had to have told him. And James...he thought that Somerfield...'

Rossi tensed, shaking his head against the suspicion. It was ludicrous! Just by watching Alsie's reaction when she was reunited with Jemma, he knew she was a loving mother. She would never have endangered Jemma or herself, and getting in touch with Linnet would've done just that.

Nor would Emmie had done so. Not when that alter had attacked Shelly in response to her disparaging comments about Jemma. And Ana wasn't a...

"Shit..." Rossi mumbled. He hadn't been present at the time, but had learned later about Ana having attacked a nurse. There was another alter Alsie had, who called herself Leigh. He had witnessed her himself during a visit over the last few weeks. It'd been brief, but the glare she'd given had been chilling. None of which meant any of Alsie's alters were murderous, but...at least one was violent.

Yet Alsie herself wasn't, of that much Rossi was sure. Further, she was getting help to control her D.I.D and to deal with what happened to her growing up.

'I should focus on Linnet's claim. Not on what Alsie or her alters may or may not have done.' Rossi mumbled to himself and focused once more on the file Cam had brought. His uncertainty continued to linger though, even as he focused on the file.

0

The door clanged shut loudly behind him, the guard leaving him alone to spent privately with the lawyer. A man with dark hair, and eyes that studied him closely, sat at the table already. Once he saw James he gestured to the chair across from his.

James gandered at the stranger. His brow furrowed, not sure what to make of the other man, though he wasted no time in sitting down. Despite not knowing who the stranger was nor why or how he suddenly had a lawyer visiting him, he wasn't going to jeopardize it. Not when it could mean being sent straight back to solitary.

"...you're James Rossi. David Rossi's son..."

James glowered at the stranger, trying to place him. As well as trying to figure out why the man was here. He certainly hadn't retained a lawyer, nor did he think his father would on his behalf either. There was no need to anyway - he'd plead guilty to all counts levied against him, and wasn't eligible for parole. So unless someone was trying to get him judged incompetent or whatever, for whatever reason...

"...and Jemma's father." William Reid muttered, studying James. He recognized and expected the confusion on the thirty-six year old's face - it wasn't like he'd informed the man of his visit. Hell, he hadn't even expected to visit the man ever, and had been content to avoid thinking about him. Despite being the father of his granddaughter, James had no connection to him.

"...you know about...who are you?" James hissed, feeling tense. Wary even, not recognizing the stranger despite the feeling he was familiar. "Why are you here?"

William hesitated, not sure how to answer. His brain focused on what his daughter had asked him in the hospital.

-"Could you visit James and ask...ask if he kept his promise?" Alsie asked in an unsure voice, holding out a small photo of Jemma. "If he knows..." She mumbled the last bit to low to hear, but simply bit her lip rather than repeat it. "He'll understand. I...and please let him see Jemma's photo. I asked Rossi to give it to James, but...something James said made him angry...and he ended up giving it back."-

"...who sent..." James started to ask, becoming angrier and tenser. His gaze flitting from the man's face, to the door, then to what was in the stranger's hands. It was small, a paper or something.

"Elsie wanted me to ask if you kept your promise." William blurted, caught between wanting to just do what Alsie requested and leave, and wanting to question James for his own ends.

"...Alsie sent you?" James sat up straight, less tense but more aware. Especially as William's words registered to him. He grimaced, immediately knowing what promise was meant. It'd been the only thing he'd ever promised her. "...are you the lawyer her grandmother used?"

"You mean Mary Schmidt? No." William shook his head. "I'm William Reid. Elsie's father."

James' eyes narrowed, anger scrunching up his face. "Are you...the bastard who molested..."

"No. Hell no." William growled, livid at the accusation. "That was the bastard that took her as a baby. Crawford."

"Oh...what?" James drew back, confused.

"...Tobias Connell sold her, like he did you, as a newborn." William replied, glowering as he thought.

James' eyes widened. It was evident that no one had informed him much about Alsie and that she too had been a victim of Connell and Somerfield's scheme. Before he could digest the information and formulate a reply, the older man repeated his earlier words as an inquiry.

"So did you? Keep your promise to my daughter? Did you keep your promise to Elsie?" William demanded, his eyes glaring at the man across from him.