Chapter 9

Confrontation

It's finally here, the longest chapter! Hope you'll enjoy it. Thanks to my Beta, Lizzabet, for her help!

It's finally here, the longest chapter! Hope you'll enjoy it. Thanks to my Beta, Lizzabet, for her help!

After what Jordan said, JJ asked Garcia to give them information about Gary's uncle, Clyde Murrow. What she found was ugly.

"He was arrested six years ago for abuse on kids. He had forced two kids to... To do dirty things and recorded it. The kids told their parents and the police found the video in his room as well as many pictures of kids. He had been arrested, then judged as mentally insane. He is an asylum now, in Augusta State Hospital. He actually confessed being dirty with his own nephew, but he didn't say much about it."

"He deserved far worse than this," Jordan said icily.

"Asylum aren't heaven, believe me," JJ told her to comfort her.

She could understand. She always hated when criminals would hide behind the pretext of mental illness, and if Jordan had been his victims, she was certainly disgusted with it. She wanted to talk to her but remembered how Reid had been angry at them because they were talking about their stories. If she tried to make Jordan talk and reveal more, she would feel intrusive again. This was stupid because she had to do this in every case but here, it was more personal. It concerned one of their own and his loved ones. She wondered how Reid and Emily would react when they'd learn about their new theory.

During the walk back to the city neither Spencer nor Emily said a word and the rest were actually worried at how it might have affected them to see this. They had seemed quite okay before they found it but now they kept their faces blank, to mask what they were feeling, Hotch was sure of it. He didn't ponder over this too much however, the night was falling and he wanted them to be back before the forest got invaded by darkness.

Once the team was back from the woods the sunset was ending. They went to the station, Emily and Spencer taking the car together. JJ and Gideon had already interrogated a part of Trisha's colleagues and friends, who knew absolutely nothing. She hadn't been threatened or aggressed before being murdered and she didn't seemed worried about anything. It was time to make a point.

"Okay, now what did you find?"

"We found his lair into the cave just like Emily suggested," Hotch said while showing them the notebooks they found.

Reid looked at Jordan who seemed completely entranced by this sight; he could understand this feeling very well. He went to her and put a hand on her shoulder. She squeezed his hand slightly, glad that he was around as well as Emily. While her sister had always been strong and supportive, she didn't show her feelings much, it was good to have someone more demonstrative. While Hotch resumed what they found and explained that police would watch the cave constantly, he showed them the pictures they made of the cave.

"Beside from the notebooks he took only necessary stuff. There is nothing that can help us to identify him. He is pragmatic," said Elle, "and can live without a lot of stuff."

"There are no clothes," Gideon pointed out, "either he wears the same stuff all the time, or he has another location."

"If he has another location why does he go to that cave?" Asked Emily

"To feel close to us," Reid answered, "it gives him the impression that he is sharing something with us."

"That's creepy."

Jordan nodded thoughtfully at that and silence settled for a short moment, the rest of the team watching the reaction from the three friends who were subjected to such a weird obsession. They kept blank faces; the old habit to hide their fear and weaknesses as much as possible was coming back. Hotch could see it clearly. The three were standing together, quite aside of the rest of the team. A good observant could have noticed that the group wasn't whole. He knew Reid didn't want to talk to Morgan, the man had told him because he was worried. He also knew how Reid surprised him, Elle and JJ reading the notebooks. Emily was cold and she obviously didn't want to share her feelings. She had spoken to him a little but she had opened up only in hope that he wouldn't bother her anymore. Jordan was more emotional. She needed to talk but she wouldn't. She felt the need to hide, maybe because she didn't want to be seen as weak.

"We also discovered something," JJ said tentatively, breaking the silence, "about Gary's mother. Jordan found it more precisely."

She nodded as everyone turned to her. Gideon and JJ let her explain what she noticed.

"When I read her statement I noticed she was describing the whole event with details but with the wound on the head she shouldn't have remembered so much. It seemed suspicious, and Agent Gideon also noticed something."

"She said her son was kidnapped, however if she had woken up with her son missing, she shouldn't have known he was kidnapped, she could have assumed other things, but she immediately said he was kidnapped."

"So she had a part in that," Emily uttered with a twinge of fury in her voice.

"We will have to interrogate her," Hotch declared, "Jason, you'll do it with Reid. Seeing the boy who tried to denounce her so many years ago should trigger a reaction from her."

"I can do it if you can't," Emily proposed, "I would really like to see what became of her."

"No I'll do it. As Hotch said, she will be more affected with me."

His voice was strangely blank; he looked way to calm after learning all this. Hotch continued:

"Morgan and JJ, you'll go talk to the uncle. Maybe he was her accomplice."

"Okay."

"Can I come with you?" Jordan asked

Everyone was bewildered at her wish. She ignored the disapproving glances from them and went on:

"Maybe it will trigger a reaction from him, and I might be a civilian, but you said I was a consultant."

"You don't have to do this," Morgan told her, knowing to well what she had certainly felt.

"I have to, and I want to do it. If I don't feel well, I'll go, but I wish to try."

"I'm okay with it."

Both JJ and Morgan gave Hotch an astonished glance; they couldn't believe he accepted this. The leader gave them an authority look, to remind them he was in charge. The two turned away their gazes, knowing there was no point arguing. He went on:

"Elle and Emily you'll stay with me tomorrow. We will continue to investigate on Trisha."

The two nodded, Emily thinking that after all it was better if she investigated Trisha. She felt that she had to do it, she owed her that because she had been killed for her. She didn't like the idea of Jordan going to the asylum however. It was worse than Reid seeing Gary's mom again because she wasn't used to the job. When Hotch eventually called it a night, she wanted to talk with her sister but she saw Reid going to her and she decided to leave the two alone a little. Jordan would feel smothered otherwise. She would talk to her later.

Jordan and Reid went outside together and wandered in the streets. It was like a walk into the past. They said absolutely nothing for a few minutes. Jordan knew he wanted to talk to her when he went to her and she accepted it silently by following him. They didn't need words even if they hadn't seen each others in a long time.

"This town didn't change much," she said eventually.

"No indeed. Same atmosphere it seems even if some of our monsters aren't here anymore."

"Or repenting," Jordan pointed out, "it seems that this idiot of a Sheriff truly realised his mistake, even if it doesn't change much."

"No it doesn't... I guess you and I will confront two of our monsters tomorrow."

"I am ready for this, Spencer."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I've regretted many times the fact that I obeyed him. I felt dirty because of that. If I confront him, if he is obliged to obey and answer my questions, I'll feel better. This is also for Gary. I hoped for so many years to see him again that now I have to do everything to know."

"I understand that, this is also why I want to see Gary's mother again. But you're not used to the job, and it will be hard."

"I know it will, but that won't stop me... Spencer, the years in which we were separated because you were in foster care... I was desperate because me and Emily lost you two. It was maybe the worst years in my life even if I wasn't abused anymore. I had a slight crush on you at the time."

"Seriously?!"

"Yes! You never noticed?"
"Not at all."

"And you call yourself a profiler!"

"To my defence I wasn't a profiler at the time."

"Okay, granted!"

They continued to talk and walk until they arrived to the hotel. They went into their room and rested. They would need forces for what was about to come.

-

The next morning, the team was split in three just as Hotch said. Jordan went with JJ and Morgan in spite of the fact they weren't comfortable with this while Elle, Emily and Hotch were going together to the crime scene, and Gideon and Reid were heading to the prison. Aaron looked at the data they got thanks to Garcia's research and JJ's interview with her friends and family. She had a job which didn't pay much. She could have lived with it, but she wasn't the kind to save money. In addition to that, someone broke into her home and stole everything of value there. The culprit was never found and she didn't have any insurance against theft, so she had to leave her flat and go leave with her mother. According to her friends, she didn't like it one bit even if she tried to hide it. Some people disliked her but apparently no one seemed to have any wish to kill her. She was just very annoying.

"JJ wrote here that the boyfriend seemed truly sad that he lost her. They had arguments but no more."

"From what I read she got a little better with time."

"How was she as a kid?"

"She was unbearable when we were kids, always saying mean things, pushing us when she could. Sometimes she would throw things at us. We would always give her the same of course, but in contrary to us she had parents to defend her. In fact every time someone would complain about her, her parents would stand up for her and defend her, even if she had done something wrong, so she was never punished. The only time they couldn't defend her was when she broke a girl's wrist by pushing her to the ground. The fall was bad and there were too many witnesses," explained Emily. "Every time we would defend ourselves against her she would tell her parents that we had been mean to her and they would yell at us, and we had no support against her. Her parents didn't scare us much. They would never hit, just yell, and that wasn't scary compared to what we were going through..."

She stopped for a short moment, as if she regretted saying so much.

"For some reasons she targeted me much more than the others," she concluded briefly.

"Maybe Gary told the killer or the killer witnessed that," Elle suggested, "did it happen at school often?"

"Most of the time, yes."

"Maybe the person was a teacher who knew you and Trisha."

"It could also be a parent who witnessed that," Hotch said, "it's a little vague. Let's do her profile, she was a spoiled girl, a bully as a kid who apparently got better. She was now taking care of her mother in exchange for shelter. She didn't like taking responsibility much but she was trying."

"She was not really prudent," Elle declared, "she didn't have insurance and it cost her a lot, she was spending too much money, and according to her friends she wasn't really wary of strangers."

"All in all she was still childish," Emily said, "she couldn't bear responsibility, wasn't wary, and because of her mother she had to come back home directly after work, which meant she had a regular schedule. She was an easy prey."

"Actually so did Marc Potter," Elle pointed out. "That's what his wife said during her interview. He also had a quite regular schedule. He disappeared a Friday night, and apparently they would always go out to a bar this Friday."

"They are both linked to your childhood because they were your persecutors, but they were also easy to follow and trap."

Emily nodded at Hotch's words. Then her eyes opened more as something hit her mind:

"You know, they inspired us for some villains in our stories. Maybe he chooses people who inspired us for the monsters. Marc inspired us a story about the bogeyman, and Trisha became an evil witch."

"How did those story end?"

"The bogeyman is locked away forever in an abandoned house, and the witch is burned."

"They didn't end up like that."

"No... Actually they end up like victims... Potter was beheaded, just like in a story in which a ghost would kill people by chopping off their heads, and Trisha died like the last victim of Jack the Ripper, I wrote a story about him."

"Maybe he doesn't know the stories well enough or maybe he doesn't take people who inspired you."

"Or maybe he makes victims out of the monsters," suggested Elle.

Hotch nodded at this, satisfied to see that Elle was actually getting better at profiling.

"That would be quit fitting. He wants to get close to you; he wants to makes your persecutors your victims by killing them in ways you imagined. It's his presents to you..."

Emily shuddered, it definitely disgusted her. She never asked for anything! They continued their investigation hoping to find more.

-

Meanwhile, JJ, Morgan and Jordan were heading to Clyde's room. The man was in a straight jacket because he tried many times to hurt himself and other patients. Jordan looked down at him with disgust. He looked pathetic. He was gaunt and dirty, his black hair was greasy and his teeth were yellow.

"Hi! It's nice to have some visitors," he said, "It doesn't happen often!"

"I don't see why people would like to visit you," Morgan told him with utter disgust.

"Sticks and stones..."

"We are here to talk to you about your nephew," JJ said harshly.

He ignored her and instead looked up at Jordan; he somehow seemed confused at her sight.

"Who are you? Sweet thing you remind me of someone."

"Jordan Todd, do you remember? I was one of Gary's friends."

His eyes lit up in delight and he smiled like a lunatic.

"Oh I remember so well, you were so pretty... It's sad you have curves of a woman now, it takes away all the charms..."

"That's enough!" Morgan yelled out, utterly repulsed.

"We want to know what happened to him," Jordan said with a tight voice.

"He was kidnapped. Do you still think about him? And about me?"

"I stopped thinking about you years ago," replied Jordan convincingly.

"We are pretty sure that you know more than you want to tell," JJ affirmed, placing herself right at Jordan's side to give her some support.

"I don't, I swear. I liked him a lot and I was sad when he was captured. I wasn't around anyway."

"Your sister has something to do with it and I would bet she told you about it," Morgan said, still looking at him, "we don't know what she did yet, but our colleagues are interrogating her right now. If you refuse to answer our questions..."

"What? You'll put me in jail?! I already am! They call it an asylum, an institute, but for me it's nothing but a jail! I am not scared of you."

"You should be."

JJ threw Morgan a disapproved look. He wouldn't control himself anymore if he continued, and they didn't need that. Derek contained a sigh and went on:

"He was your nephew. He certainly loved you and trusted you. Yet you let something horrible happen to him."

"No! Never!" This sounded genuine. "I loved him; he was so beautiful and pure, I..."

He was interrupted by the sounds of footsteps and they all saw Jordan exiting the room hurriedly. JJ went after her, leaving Morgan alone with the guy. She saw the woman leaning against a wall, her hand against her mouth.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, it's just a little...Go back, it's not as if I'm risking anything here."

"Are you sure?"

"Sure."

JJ nodded and left her there. She went to Morgan who was listening to what the uncle was saying.

"Gary was precious to me, but she was jealous, she didn't want me to be with him too much. She was never one to share. And his friends... I liked them so. I wish they never grew up. Jordan is still pretty but not as much as a child..."

"What happened to him?"

"I don't know. But now that you say it, Mary was weird before he disappeared. I asked her to come around and she refused, she yelled at me like crazy. She..."

His face lit up with realisation and he seemed horrified and either he was one hell of an actor or he was actually sincere.

"That's why she didn't want me to come around? Because she was about to hurt him? She didn't want me to stop her... What a bitch... What a fucking whore!"

He began to yell like craey at his sister even if she wasn't there. Both Morgan and JJ tried to call him, make him snap out of it, but he wouldn't. A nurse came in and told them to get out. They exited the room. JJ looked at Morgan, wondering if they should stay.

"I think it's enough. He seemed genuine about it."

"What happened?"

"He snapped when he realised his sister has something to do with the kidnapping. He might be a despicable perverse, but I think he has nothing to do with it. Are you okay?"

"Yes, let's go back if we are done," Jordan suggested.

They both agreed and they went back to the station, talking to Hotch about how the interview went.

-

Meanwhile, Reid and his mentor were entering the prison. The older man looked at his protégé, hoping he would find the mental relief he hoped for. When Gideon and Reid went in the interrogation room, Mary looked at them warily. Spencer was somehow struck at how she looked: tired, afraid and somehow fragile. She was also thinner than she used to be: in his memories, Spencer would see her as a tall and threatening person, almost a monster or a fury who would hurt them... Now she was there with this orange suit on her and she seemed almost like a normal scared woman. Almost. They sat without saying a word to her. She hadn't recognized Spencer obviously. Gideon put a file on the table and opened it to reveal a picture of Gary.

"You came for my son?"

"Indeed."

"I didn't think people would still work on that."

"Maybe you hoped no one would," replied Spencer.

"What?!"

"We reopened the case," Gideon explained, "Someone is killing people and we have good reasons to think it's linked to your son's kidnapping."

"Oh... Really?"

"Yes, in fact we are pretty sure you know more than you're willing to say."

"I don't... I told everything I knew to the cops when it happened."

"And there are some things in your deposition that don't sound right."

"I described what happened; I don't see what couldn't sound right!"

"You described the events too precisely. Apparently you got hurt on the head... It should have altered your memory, but still you're able to remember everything clearly."

"Well I do. I remember that's all."

She was nervous and pale with fear. They were right, something was wrong.

"And you immediately assumed that your son got kidnapped. You didn't say that he disappeared, but that he was kidnapped."

"It was obvious he had been!"

"Not necessarily," said Reid, "he could have been somewhere hiding."

"He wasn't! I have already been destroyed by the disappearance of my son, do you really need to torment me about it."

"I am sure you were sad to lose your precious toy."

She looked at him furiously. She couldn't deny that she liked little boys and this was obviously putting her in a rage.

"I never touched my son! They don't have any proof. Yes, I touched other boys..."

"Don't lie! I know what you did. Gary told me!"

When she heard that, she was just astonished. It was impossible after all. Gideon was looking at the scene without a word, revealing Reid's identity could be a big shock for her which would destabilize her and make her confess.

"Who are you?"

"Spencer Reid, Gary's childhood friend. I told the police what you had done to your son but they didn't believe me at first. No need to say they regretted it."

"You... The little scum who caused so many problems!"

"Yes, me. I am still wondering what happened to Gary you see, and you can be sure I won't stop searching until I find. It has been ten years now."

She was completely frozen. She was certainly expecting anything but this and Reid saw something he never thought he would see in her eyes when she would watch him: fear. She had been frightened since they came there, but she wasn't scared by him especially, now she was. She had been the one scaring him when he was a kid, now it was the contrary. He went on, seeing she was more and more scared and nervous:
"What you did to your son was absolutely disgusting. You said I was the one causing problems? But you brought it upon yourself by doing those things. No adult, no parents, should do that to a child, to their child! When he told me, I swore that you would go down, and it eventually happened. Granted it wasn't because of me, I failed, but this time I am not a kid who everyone believes is mad. I am a federal agent and if I want to know the truth, I will find out, trust me."

Gideon couldn't believe it. He had known Reid since he started at the academy and he had never seen him so bold. Rage had invaded his eyes, his skin was pale with fury, and he was leaning towards her as if he was ready to jump on her and kill her.

"You are an agent, so what? You think that scares me?" She sounded scared even if she tried to hide it.

"You should be," Gideon said to put weight in Reid's words, "now that the case is reopened we will do everything to find the truth, some agents are already talking to your brother you know."

She paled like crazy at this.

"You told him what really happened didn't you? There are murders at stake, and if you don't tell us who might be committing those, this will add even more charges on you and you can abandon the idea to be free one day."

"Your brother could have this chance however if he talks first," Spencer stated even though the idea wasn't appealing to him.

She looked away in distress, as if she hoped for some kind of help. Reid was reminded at the times he was the one hoping for help that never came.

"You won't have any help. Now it's your turn to feel helpless.

She looked at Spencer with despair and hatred. He knew then that she would talk, maybe because she hoped to make her situation better, maybe to hurt him with a horrible truth.

"I didn't have any money anymore, I was absolutely desperate. None of you can understand that. It's expensive to raise a child so I... I sold him."

Spencer cringed when he heard this. She sold him?! She sold him like some kind of object?!

"I sold him to a man who liked little boys; I contacted it on the net when I was going to the library."

"Did you get as much as you wanted?" Asked Gideon who looked disgusted by this

"He gave me five thousands dollar. We... We made a plan; we faked the attack. He really hurt me on the head to make it more realistic. I thought it would be better if I described the scene precisely... Obviously I was wrong. He took Gary and left the money. He came a few days later to take some stuff away. I also pretended that someone broke into my home. He took the notebooks with those stupid stories because apparently Gary kept asking for this, as well as clothes."

"Why did he want it?" Reid asked, suddenly feeling weird after hearing about something Gary said and did after disappearing.

"I don't know! I don't care!"

"What was the man's name?"

"William Curly. I don't know what became of him and Gary."

Reid and Gideon left immediately after that. They finally had a name. They would find this man.

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