Shadow Dancing: Chapter 9
By Helena Fallon
Aaron Hotchner looked up from his breakfast coffee and smiled at his son as he negotiated another pancake. Jack looked triumphant as he watched his Mom place a small pancake with runny honey onto his plate.
"You sure you can eat it all up?" Hayley asked sceptically.
"Yes!" the tiny Hotchner assured and set about to prove his mother wrong.
Hayley caught her husband's eye and shook her head as her face radiated the humour that she was trying not to show towards Jack. The two adults shared one of those simple but treasured moments that parents can experience over a child's behaviour.
Hotch gulped down the last of his coffee and pushed his chair away from the table.
"I've got to get going, I don't want to be late this morning," he said as he reached for his jacket.
"You're never late, Aaron Hotchner," Hayley chided and went with him towards the front door.
Hotch picked up his briefcase and Hayley met his serious eyes.
"Hope it goes well," she said softly so Jack wouldn't hear.
He gave a terse nod,
"I've gotta go, Jack. Be good and enjoy your trip to the park with Kerry and Luke."
"Bye Daddy!" the voice replied but it sounded as if he still had food in his mouth as he spoke.
Hayley rolled her eyes, "Jack and his food."
Hotch smiled and pecked her cheek as he opened the door of his happy family home and stepped out into the big wide world again.
The drive to Quantico went smoothly despite the heavy traffic and he reached his normal parking spot a few minutes early. He saw Reid manoeuvre his vintage Volvo into a space and smiled to himself as he thought how Reid had to be a good driver to handle that beast of a car. He stopped observing and got out ready for the walk to the building nearby.
Reid saw his boss and called over his greeting.
"Morning Hotch!"
"Let's hope it's a good one for all the Unit," Hotch replied and Reid's long strides soon caught up with him.
"You have my morning slot?" Reid asked.
"Yes, I bet the panel have prepared well for the meeting so it will be interesting how they will handle my questioning."
"With me it started quite gently but they like to jump around a bit with the questioner trying to catch you off your guard. I personally just let them have the truth and didn't let the tactics worry me although I think I added a few surprises of my own, including a question to Gulden at the end."
"You didn't tell me that last night," said Hotch who was intrigued by this titbit of information.
"Oh I just wanted them to know that they had not unsettled me and I was aware of the hidden agenda. Give Gulden his due he recovered enough to give me a diplomatic reply, but I think it amused Newton that I turned the tables on the Assistant Director in the room."
"Oh I see you were in your quiet alpha profiler mode not your chameleon, 'I'm just a quiet aw sucks happen to be a genius, Jimmy Stewart type' persona."
"Yeah, Hotch, that sums it up nicely," replied Reid as they entered the elevator together. They automatically ceased speaking so that others could not misconstrue their private chat.
As soon as they entered the BAU, Morgan's voice could be heard across the bullpen hailing his fellow agent,
"Hey Reid! How did your session go yesterday? It was longer than the rest of us!"
"It was fine. I didn't realise just how long I was in there until I came out... But I guess that having known Gideon the longest, I just had a lot more to say," the youngest agent said and Hotch saw Prentiss give Reid a searching look.
Hotch went up to his office and logged on to his computer; there was always admin to tackle at the start of the day.
At a couple of minutes to 9 o'clock, the Unit Chief arrived outside the appointed Conference Room. He sat down on the pale blue leather chair directly opposite the door and waited, it was not long before he heard the handle move and he automatically straightened his spine.
"Good morning, Agent Hotchner, please come in," invited Assistant Director Gulden.
Hotch settled himself in the interviewee chair and listened to the introductions and wondered how they would begin this session.
"We have spent the last few days gathering the opinions of the junior members of the BAU away team. I must say that you have a very loyal group of agents," Gulden said in an amiable tone. "However, we need to understand the relationship between yourself and Gideon from your standpoint because ultimately Gideon was very troubled about his decision to let Nathan Tubbs go. It had been his decision but you were the one to face the consequences of the censure for the outcome of the case."
"I can tell you very little more to what is already in my reports and also the subsequent appearance before the disciplinary panel following my suspension." Hotch calmly stated.
"I think that is for this Board to assess, Agent, so I hope that you will co-operate fully with us and answer our questions," Gulden asserted.
Hotch accepted the gentle rap across his knuckles but he was now more than grateful for the warning that Reid had given him.
"You knew Gideon from before your appointment as Unit Chief?" Gulden began.
"Yes, I had attended his lectures at Quantico while training and I had also attended more advanced lectures for serving agents. If Gideon was giving the lectures he tried to allow a good half an hour at the end for questions and these would often carry on afterwards in the cafeteria, just like today. I also worked at offices where Gideon was called in to help on cases and saw how he and the old team had worked."
"Did you meet Agent Reid at this time?" Larensen interjected.
"No, Reid was not working with the team then, I first met Reid when I came to Head the Unit," Hotch clarified.
"How well do you feel you knew Gideon from this period?" Gulden questioned again.
"I knew him as a working agent but there was not the time to meet on a deeper level. It was only when I really came back to Quantico that we talked on a more personal level as senior agents often do."
"So you lunched together…did you socialise outside work?" Newton asked.
"Yes, a little, once we had got a house sorted out. Actually Gideon was a good cook and invited Hayley and I to dinners at his home and lunches up at his cabin. He was very generous with his time before he came back on the team, and we would spend time talking about his assessment of the people he had appointed to the BAU."
"What did Gideon tell you about Reid?" Ruffini smoothly interjected.
Hotch smiled at the sudden memory, "That he was the youngest ever cadet, that he'd persuaded him to join the FBI after putting forward a convincing case to the Director and his Assistants. He was convinced that Reid was his natural successor and he hoped that he would have trained him into the post by the time he retired. Gideon also told me to read Reid's last PhD because it showed what a natural criminal profiler he was. Gideon told me to see beyond his boyish looks because Reid was strong with considerable empathetic abilities that could be harnessed to help question victims as well as perpetrators."
"Was he right?" asked Ruffini.
"Yes, Reid is a chameleon; he can be who you want him to be, but also he can just fade into the background to observe when he wants to. But if you're careful you begin to see glimpses of the real man, the gentle genius and committed agent, who can pull together what appear to be disorganised facts and make something of a coherent picture. We really missed him when he was on sick leave because we had just come to take his abilities for granted. Reid is also, as Gideon said, an empathetic person and someone who also observes quietly what is happening within the dynamics of the group, but he doesn't gossip so he's trusted by other agents."
"Do you trust Reid?" Newton asked.
"Yes, if you ask Reid for his opinion you will get a measured and truthful response. He can also be trusted to be at your back in a tight situation," replied Hotch.
"So you enjoy partnering him?" pressed Newton.
"Yes, I do."
"When did you first partner Reid?" the experienced agent continued.
Hotch paused to think, "I believe it was the Carol-Ann Elkins case, not one of our successes although we did arrest the perpetrators of the kidnapping."
"How did Reid cope with failing to find the child alive?"
"Like an experienced agent, he had been on other cases where the child victim had been found dead. I found him very mature about the case but that is not to say that he was not saddened by the death. A child's death always affects us more than an adults even if you're a seasoned agent in the field."
"How did you find Agent Morgan when you took over the BAU?" Larensen asked and Hotch remembered that Reid had said the previous evening that this panel member didn't like Morgan.
"He was still under going orientation for the BAU work and had been working alongside Kagan. Kagan thought he was all right but warned that he could be very cocky about the work with those outside the unit."
"What had Kagan said?" the woman probed for details.
"That Morgan had a tendency to boast about being a member of the elite BAU team, particularly to pretty women cadets or LEOs. It's a behaviour that he has persisted with. I know about certain things that have been observed by other agents, or reported back to other BAU workers, over the years. The Unit didn't like a lot of his reputation, particularly in the early months at the BAU before Gideon rejoined the team."
"These incidents have obviously been repeated to you, Agent, I would like you to be more specific," Larensen pressed home her point.
Hotch paused to draw breath and wondered how to soften the coming criticism, but he had been told by too many people of one particular incident and knew it had some truth to it.
"The worst incident that annoyed a lot of agents in the Unit was just before Gideon joined us on the Seattle case. Morgan had been talking in a bar with cadets, they were attractive women as usual and he was trying to impress them. Gideon had been lecturing to the cadets that afternoon and Morgan was talking to a couple of them who had heard Gideon. There were other Bureau agents and BAU people in the same bar so they heard a lot of what was said. The most consistent being, one of the cadets asked Morgan if he had been with Gideon in Boston. Morgan replied that he should have been. There were a lot of Bureau people who were annoyed by Morgan's sheer arrogance by implying that he was even with the team at that time. The Unit particularly didn't like it because the only remaining member of that team, who had been on sick leave at the time of the Boston bombing, was Reid. Furthermore, these people who told me about the incident also stressed that Reid would never boast like this new team member did. I soon found that this was typical behaviour for Morgan."
"You sound as if you don't like Agent Morgan?" Gulden stated.
"No, I don't particularly. I think there are better agents who could fill his position but then I didn't appoint him, nor incidentally did Gideon, and Gideon couldn't understand Section Chief Webster's choice."
"What did Gideon say about Morgan's appointment?" asked Gulden to find out more details.
"There is always a waiting list for a placement to the BAU," explained Hotch carefully, " and Morgan had applied and kept re-applying when a vacancy came up. Gideon had looked at Morgan's file and had observed him within his unit. Gideon liked to see agents he didn't know very well working in their present posting because he felt he could assess their personalities for adjusting to the BAU better. Morgan was in 'bomb disposal' and Gideon told me that he didn't like what he saw. It was obvious that although Morgan could do the work, and had courage, his colleagues didn't like him. Basically, Gideon said that Morgan was too arrogant for the dynamics of the bomb squad and was therefore an irritant. His Unit Chief obviously wanted him moved on and Gideon said the praise for the agent was too fulsome and he didn't feel it was genuine. Gideon delved further and found that he'd done undercover 'drugs work' while with the police and that had led to his move into the Bureau. As you know, undercover work requires a strong individual who can think on their feet and act in difficult situations to maintain their cover. However, Gideon felt that doing undercover work had strengthened the man's belief in his own self reliance to the point that team work would not necessarily be his natural working element. Gideon had interviewed a lot of agents to fill vacancies but he always chose the people he believed would fit into the Unit and he was surprised to find Morgan in the BAU when he returned after Boston."
"But he never took this up with Webster or Kagan?" Gulden continued because this was something that had not been raised with him as the Assistant Director with special responsibility for career development.
"Not that I was aware, but it was no longer his position to do so. Gideon really took a back seat when he returned after Boston. He was no longer Head of the BAU and tried to keep a low profile to give the new Unit Chief space to establish themselves. Gideon said that the decision over Morgan was not his but that the Unit just had to accept a bad decision and try and work with it. I got the feeling that Kagan, being only temporarily in charge, felt that Webster had the right to appoint whom he thought fit to the Unit," explained Hotch.
"So you think Gideon's instincts were right over this agent?" Bayliss asked.
"Yes, I do. I don't know why Webster chose him over more suitable agents but he's retired now and it's irrelevant anyway because, like Gideon said, I had to pick up the pieces and just accept Morgan."
"Then you definitely wouldn't have chosen him for your team?" Ruffini pressed for a definite answer.
"No, I think he's far too arrogant and has strong maverick tendencies that need curtailing at times. Morgan likes to think of himself as a future leader but he doesn't trust his co-workers enough to delegate. Furthermore, he's not a very good leader because he's also a bully in the worse sense of the word; he likes to humiliate as well as intimidate. I also particularly didn't like his flirtatious manner with the female staff, particularly the civilian workers, in the Unit when I first arrived. I must say that he's never said anything that was sexually inappropriate with the female agents on the team because they see straight through him and slap him down. However, Morgan's behaviour with Penelope Garcia has been very crude at times and I have had to speak to the pair of them. Morgan did get on well with Elle Greenaway but then she also came from a city 'cop' background and liked to be seen as tough as the men working with her. She had a tendency to appear rather scary because of the desire to be seen as 'one of the boys', but then you often get that kind of behaviour with ex-policewomen."
"You have mentioned Morgan's bullying behaviour in your reports, and your attempts to get Reid to complain, but the younger Agent has always chosen to stay quiet. Why do you think Reid has chosen this path?" Ruffini suddenly asked.
"Reid told both Gideon and myself that he felt that Morgan's behaviour showed up Morgan for what he was. Reid said that the agent was too full of himself but that he didn't realise how much his macho image was frowned upon, and even laughed at, behind his back. Reid further pointed out that to make a formal complaint would only make matters worse for himself because Morgan would claim that Reid wasn't big enough to look after himself in the big world of the FBI. I'll say this for Reid; he has spoken out openly to Morgan when he has seen Morgan belittling LEOs when we are on cases because Reid considers such behaviour unworthy of a FBI agent. You see Reid isn't scared of Morgan but he's given the man enough rope to hang himself with and that is typical of Reid. Sometimes there appears to be a certain passiveness about Reid but it's all superficial because he's usually taken a particular path for a very good reason," explained Hotch.
"Do you trust Morgan?" Bayliss inquired and Hotch felt he was in a corner but he answered with his conscience.
"Trust has to be earned, occasionally Morgan's actions have put the team in a poor light and he didn't trust me when he was accused of murder. I always thought that there was something in his childhood that he was hiding from. Gideon and I had discussed this privately and suspected that he had been molested as a child because of his overt masculinity and the trust issues. This was proved to be the case when he was arrested while on a trip home for his mother's birthday. We did not believe that he had been involved in the murder he was arrested for but we also knew that he was hiding something from us. Gideon asked him, and I asked him, to trust us with whatever he was keeping to himself but he didn't. Eventually, we discovered the truth that confirmed our suspicions but Morgan never opened up to Gideon, or myself, even after the case.
Morgan also complicated matters in Chicago by escaping police custody and that put the team under a suspicious light. I must stress that, to my knowledge, none of the team was involved in that incident and I was furious with Morgan for exhibiting his maverick tendencies. Section Chief Strauss was correct in calling me to account for the incident but I could only say that Morgan had acted alone. I was left to handle a damage limitation situation back at the precinct as well as trying to find my missing agent. I did recommend in my report that Morgan should face disciplinary sanctions for his actions; Strauss did speak to him and he was given a week's suspension and loss of pay. I personally feel that was rather lenient considering his behaviour had jeopardised the BAU's reputation and the Bureau's. Strauss has never spoken to me about the conversation they had concerning the matter, but I suspect that Morgan stonewalled her like he had done to Gideon and myself.
Morgan was required to give evidence in court but when he returned to the Unit the incident was off limits in Morgan's mind. The team have always respected Morgan's silence over this time and never pressed him for details but I'm sure that the team had their own suspicions about Morgan's behaviour before the Buford case. We are profilers and do naturally profile each other although we don't openly discuss our observations, it's a kind of professional silence within the team!"
"Do you feel that the team felt Morgan should have spoken up about Buford long before the case came to a head?"
"Yes, I think that we, as a team, were all disappointed in Morgan's behaviour because he always portrays himself has this brave and decent man but he wasn't brave enough to speak out, even when he had left college. He knew, as a police officer, that he could have made a difference if he had informed the correct authorities. As a police officer he was aware that paedophiles will continue to prey upon victims until caught and it takes someone to stand up and point the finger. Morgan would have known the child protection agencies he could have approached but he didn't…He let other boys get ensnared by the sexual predator because he was so ashamed that he had used Buford, as much as Buford had used him. You see Morgan wanted the sports scholarship and that meant playing along with Buford's attentions.
I believe that we, as a team, would have had more respect for Morgan if he had spoken up to protect other boys... But he had to be backed into a corner and even then he didn't trust the two senior agents on the team with that knowledge. Basically, Morgan was a coward over that period of his life. He wanted to forget about it all but it surfaced and now people know. It leaves a bitter taste although none of us are perfect, and that includes the team. I like to think that if Morgan had been truthful and open then we, as a team, would have been understanding and supportive. Even if he'd only told Gideon, or I, the truth then we would have explained the position with the police and turned the investigation away from him. But we were just left with our suspicions and trying to prove him innocent of the murder charge without his co-operation and it wasted a lot of time," Hotch carefully explained and Newton was reminded that this man's analytical mind had at first been used as a prosecutor.
"So you don't really trust him?" Bayliss pressed.
"The honest answer is not really because of the Buford case. Morgan always wants his colleagues to trust him with their problems although he doesn't always keep a confidence. But Morgan doesn't trust his colleagues to know his insecurities. The Buford case blew his fragile macho image apart and the team found out how Morgan was just too scared to help other vulnerable boys. Like I said, I don't think Morgan is liked or respected particularly after it all surfaced," replied Hotch and he knew that his voice contained the censure he felt towards the agent.
"So with the revelations from the Buford case together with his boasting and bullying…Morgan is the agent you would prefer not to have," stated Bayliss.
"Yes, I suppose that sums it up. It's really about your personal integrity and the whole Buford episode has made me question Agent Morgan's moral character," replied Hotchner although he didn't like it said openly and the words seemed to bounce off the walls of the room.
"Has Morgan's general behaviour improved at all?" asked Gulden.
"I would like to say that it had but I then I had several complaints over his behaviour on the day of Gideon's funeral. I have warned him that I've had enough because these complaints came from people outside the Unit and in three cases outside of Quantico."
"What have you said to your agent?" Larensen enquired.
"That any more complaints about his immature and crass behaviour that is an insult to my Unit and the Bureau, then he's out of the BAU. I've also told him that there are several better agents than him waiting to try out the Unit."
"Who would you like instead of Morgan?" Gulden asked wandering who might have caught this Unit Chief's attention.
"Agent Amos Watts, I have seen him work under pressure when I was with the Counter Terrorism Unit and my initial observations of this agent have continued to be confirmed by his subsequent supervisory agents," explained Hotch and Gulden nodded sagely on hearing his choice confidently stated.
"You said that none of you were perfect…What do you consider from your past has affected your life?" Ruffini suddenly changed the direction of the questions.
Hotch took a deep breath; he understood why he had been asked such a question by the other psych and he wasn't going to shy away from answering it.
"My biological father was a drunk and a bully who he beat the hell out of mother and his rages scared me when I was small. When I got to school age, I tried to protect my Mom but then I'd get locked in my room, or the cellar, after a beating. My mother wouldn't leave him; for her it was a case of 'keeping up appearances' because things like drunken violent husbands happened in poorer families. But my mother wasn't perfect with her behaviour towards me either and she would verbally abuse me out of her own frustrations because I looked like my father. So she would lash out at me in the way that she couldn't towards my father...Simply, I was abused by both parents. I was relieved when my father died in a car accident.
My mother re-married, a couple of years later, a widowed and childless lawyer. Michael Hotchner also adopted me so I could escape the memories of that unhappy time and he provided us with a happy stable home. My life was then very different to those early years; I had a very kind and sensitive man as my new father who treated my mother with respect and love. Even when my younger brother was born, he continued to treat us fairly and as equals to the point that people didn't realise that I was not his natural son.
But I know I have my biological father's temper and I hope that I hold it in check, although I have a fear that getting drunk will unleash it like it did with him. So I drink moderately and I have never been violent towards my Hayley or our son. But like most agents, I despise those that are violent towards women and children," replied Hotch as calmly as he could but he felt his stomach churn with the memory of those early years although he had only touched the surface details.
The panel was silent for a few moments but it was Newton who spoke to fill the silence.
"I can identify with your feelings, Agent Hotchner, because I had a violent father and I never forgave my mother for staying with him and not taking us children to safety. We all left home as soon as we could and kept our distance from the parents. I know they say that children who have witnessed their fathers being violent towards their partners grow up to do the same in their relationships…Well none of us brothers have turned out that way. It's good to know that the psychs have to be careful about making such sweeping statements."
Hotch was grateful for this unexpected admission and he nodded his gratitude and added, "Yes such sweeping statements need care. We all ultimately have to be responsible for our own actions and we can break such a cycle of violence in a family by consciously rejecting the behaviour you know is wrong."
"Yes, I agree," said Larensen firmly, "I can understand even more now why you disliked Morgan's behaviour by not confiding in you, or Gideon, when given the chance."
Hotch nodded but felt that he had touched upon his own painful memories in an inquiry that was supposed to be about Gideon.
"So when you arrived at the BAU you had inherited both Reid and Morgan, but you appointed Agent Jareau?" Newton suddenly spoke up and Hotch was grateful for the change in direction of the questioning.
"Yes, I had seen her liaison work while working in New York and I was very impressed and her former supervising agents confirmed my initial impressions of her abilities. I asked for her when I took up my position here and she took up the challenge," replied Hotchner wondering if he was giving a good impression of his Unit.
"How do you think Jareau fitted into the Unit?" asked Larensen.
"Extremely well, so well that I even asked her if she would actually like to train as a profiler because she has the ability to do the work. However, she turned down the offer and said that she was happy in her present position but I know that she has to make difficult choices as to which cases she brings to my attention for the teams help. Some are obvious but sometimes there are several potential cases.I have never doubted Jareau's choices but she does have to sift through some horrendous details when making those decisions," explained Hotch.
"Who was the Section Chief when Jareau was appointed?" asked Newton.
"Webster."
"He made no objection to your preference?" continued Newton.
"None at all, he remarked that Agent Jareau was a very good choice for the Unit so there was no conflict over the choice," assured the Unit Chief.
"Who decided upon Agent Greenaway's appointment?" Ruffini suddenly stepped into the questioning and again Hotch was reminded of Reid's comments about how this panel behaved.
"Gideon and I were impressed with her work with us on the Seattle case, so when she applied for the BAU, we called her for an interview. Greenaway was the sort of experienced woman we needed and a specialist in sex crimes. Webster was coming up for retirement but it was one of his final decisions on our joint recommendation."
"She fitted in well?" Larensen probed.
"She did and she certainly could handle Morgan; they seemed to get on well together, probably because they came to the Bureau from a police background. Elle was a very strong, no- nonsense woman and was fearless with sex offenders. There was also a sensitive side to Elle though, that she tended to keep hidden, but she did believe in fairness and she spoke out to Morgan's face about his treatment of Reid over the 'whistle' incident. Elle had a certain respect for Reid; I found out long after her resignation, that Reid had been so concerned about her nervous behaviour, that he'd got her to open up about her stress. I didn't realise until Reid related that incident to me that he could drink alcohol because he apparently matched Elle's drinking from the room's mini bar."
"You didn't think Reid drank alcohol?" queried Bayliss surprised by this remark.
"Reid rarely drinks alcohol when out with the team, so I had just assumed that he was uncomfortable with drinking. I have always respected his choice of a coke or rather weak beer and I've seen him make a beer last for a good hour or so."
"So your genius can still surprise you?" probed Ruffini.
"Oh yes, but then he's a very complex man who's a chameleon and I'm not arrogant enough to think that I thoroughly know him. I trust him but I often feel that I've only touched the surface and he has a totally full life away from the Unit, which is very healthy as I'm sure that you will agree."
Ruffini nodded but it was Larensen who picked up the questioning.
"You considered Elle a good agent?" she asked to get the session back on track. Larensen also chose to use Greenaway's first name, like Hotchner had naturally slipped into using, hoping that the informality would help to reveal more details.
"Yes, she was a team player and quickly picked up the BAU's procedures and fitted in with the Unit while her gutsy attitude to life was generally respected."
"You said that Elle Greenaway had a respect for Reid yet she had been party to his 24th birthday?" queried Bayliss.
"Yes, she hadn't been with the Unit very long when that happened. Then Elle had been taken hostage on a train in Texas and it was Reid who went in unarmed to play a trick on the schizophrenic, Ted Bryer, who was travelling with his doctor. Elle told me after that Reid was utterly convincing in his role as the technician who had been sent in to take out the controlling microchip inserted into Byer's arm by the 'authorities'. Elle didn't know then that Reid had a schizophrenic mother…In fact, I think that only Gideon and I knew that detail until the Randall Garner case. Reid was so convincing playing into the delusions of the patient's paranoia that Elle felt that she didn't know the usual self-effacing agent she worked with. It was Reid's courage that Elle respected and I also think that she respected the fact that he wouldn't let her manipulate him either," Hotch noticed the surprised look on the panel's faces and smiled before continuing. "Elle came back a few days before her due date after her being shot by Garner. I partnered her with Reid and sent the pair of them on a routine assignment and on the periphery of a case.
Of course the case didn't go as we thought and in helping the CACU, Elle forced her way into the case thinking that Reid would support her blatant lie to me. But Reid instantly countered her and said fiercely, "No I didn't!" She was angry with him, but there was also a respect because he openly contradicted her to her face and in front of me. She never did that again but I think it also explains why she spoke to Reid on such a personal level about her insecurities."
"But you say at the time you didn't suspect Reid's attempt to support Greenaway?" Larensen suddenly spoke up.
"No, I knew that other agents had tried to help Elle but she didn't want to admit to feeling insecure in the work because she probably felt it would be viewed as a sign of weakness. I overheard Jareau say that she had tried to talk to Elle but she had shunned her so J.J. accepted the rebuff and kept her distance. Elle Greenaway was not the kind of woman who would be willing to talk about feelings of not coping on the job. However, when Reid did eventually tell me about that evening, I did understand because Reid is a person that you can trust with a confidence. People do talk to him because he isn't normally nasty towards people and usually has a good temperament but above all he's a natural listener. We all have our bad days but overall, Reid and Jareau are the kind of agents you like to have on the team because they are gentle and steady personalities who care about those around them."
"When did Reid tell you?" Bayliss asked.
"Actually, at the end of a case in New Orleans when I had expected Gideon to be supportive to Reid and he wasn't. Reid woke me up to basically say that he was considering resigning because he felt he'd not been supported properly on his return."
Hotch noted how the panel all seemed to nod in unison and suspected that these questions were in some way a check on whatever Reid and the other agents had said.
"You say that Elle Greenaway was trying hard to adjust back into the BAU after her injury, why do you think the Unit failed to help?" Ruffini asked quietly.
"I think the Unit did try to help her but the agent herself didn't want to admit that anything was wrong. I also thought that Gideon was keeping an eye on her, but Reid later said that Gideon was not supporting him when he returned after the Hankel episode, just like he'd not supported Elle. Perhaps I should have been more proactive but Gideon was the senior agent with the psych training and was the one naturally to help with an agent's return to fieldwork. I did the same over Reid and then found out that Gideon had not been actively helping at all. So, if you are asking, did the Unit fail Elle Greenaway, I think it could be argued that we did, and I must take some of that responsibility for not checking up on Gideon.
However, as I stated earlier, Elle was not the sort of personality to admit that something was wrong. The psychs said that she had not really opened up about what had happened and her lingering vulnerabilities arising from being shot in her home. Despite these concerns, the psychs allowed her back on duty in the field and didn't say to keep her desk bound. Like I said, I did let her return a few days before her due date because she turned up at the Unit saying that she was going 'stir crazy' at home. I even put her with Reid and well away from what I thought was the action, but she still manipulated herself into the thick of it. She was trying to prove to the team, and herself, that she could still do the work. I've been off work for weeks and know what it feels like to get to the point where you have to face your self doubt and prove that you're still as good as you were before the injury. I gave her the benefit of the doubt to be part of the investigation and she did seem to cope.
On her final case, Elle did keep telling us that she was OK playing the target for a serial rapist. Gideon said she'd be fine and to stop fussing because Elle was a professional and knew what she was doing. I heard Morgan re-assure her that we were all near by and she was not in danger. But Elle didn't follow the plan we had laid out, when the Unsub, William Lee, turned up and parked nearby she panicked and confronted him with her gun in hand. The Unsub claimed that he was lost and had maps out on the seat of his vehicle so it looked genuine. We had wanted to catch him inside the house because that was the usual way Lee worked but Elle blew it.
We tried to question the Unsub but we had nothing to really hold him on and had to let him go. Elle was furious…especially with me. I told her that she had not followed orders and we had nothing to hold the guy on. Elle then let rip about that the last time I'd sent her home she had got shot…It was then that I realised that Elle was on the edge and not coping with undercover work and that she blamed me personally for Garner shooting her in her home."
"Do you feel guilty about how she got shot?"
Hotch paused and thought through the mixed emotions that surfaced concerning the Randall Garner case.
"I had told Agent Anderson to take Elle home because she was exhausted and sleeping in the bullpen. I am guilty of not expressly stating to Anderson that he was to stay with Elle to keep her safe because the team appeared to be targeted by an unknown assailant who had personal details about each of us. He'd even paid a man to go to my home with an envelope for Hayley to give me…That rattled my belief that my family was secure and I had my wife and baby placed in a safe house until the case was over. When I discovered Anderson back at the Unit, I immediately sent him back to look after Elle but of course he found her shot. So yes part of me does blame myself for what happened to her, but equally any omission of care was not done maliciously."
"Do you think because of the lingering guilt for Elle getting shot that you bent a little more than you should by letting her back on a case a few days early?" Larensen gently asked.
"Perhaps unconsciously, but I was actually thinking of my own experience of being hurt as I explained earlier," Hotch replied.
"Did you believe that her shooting of the Unsub was a clean shoot?" Bayliss queried.
"No, I had my suspicions and her later behaviour I felt confirmed those," Hotch calmly stated.
"The follow up investigation supported Greenaway's statement of self defence, would you please explain why you were suspicious?" Bayliss asked for clarification.
"The whole scenario was suspicious to start with…She had no need to go and see William Lee and she was alone. It was all so unbelievable considering Elle's usual way of working and that's why I think she provoked the man and shot him. It was all to ease her own conscience because she had bungled her assignment and therefore had potentially put more women at risk from this predatory rapist. The police wanted to believe her story because we were sure that the man was guilty but we hadn't the legal reason to obtain his DNA. Subsequently, his DNA did match with the evidence from the victims.
I also felt that her colleagues were suspicious of the shooting. Reid has never said anything to me but Gideon told me that on the next case, which was being lead by Gideon, that he heard Reid question Elle's non-appearance with the team and if the shooting was clean. The reply, and I can't remember who on the team said this, was that the internal affairs investigation said it was. Now to both Gideon and I that was Reid not being convinced by the events but he held his tongue and has never said anything else about it, not even when the team heard that Elle had resigned."
"You wanted Elle re-assessed by the psych department again because you didn't think her fit for duty?" Ruffini took over the questioning.
"That's correct. Gideon and I had discussed Elle's behaviour and we didn't want someone on the team who had become 'trigger happy'. We face stressful situations, often with Unsubs who are very emotionally unstable and violent but we still try to bring them in alive to face the legal processes. When the next case came up, I stayed to try and pin Elle down over the shooting because we senior agents believed she was lying. The Unit couldn't have a rogue agent in our midst; the Bureau was lucky that William Lee's DNA matched the evidence previously gathered, but what if Lee had been innocent? Can you imagine the public outcry? The media would have had a field day and Elle Greenaway would have been hounded and the Bureau would have dropped her like a stone. Futhermore, my Unit would have been tarred with the same brush just because one agent had lost it in the field…
My responsibility, as the Unit Chief, was to the reputation of the other good agents in my Unit and the wider Bureau itself so I wanted her re-assessed. We had a very uncomfortable conversation in my office but I had already arranged a psych appointment for her. I was later told that Elle had failed to appear for that appointment so I changed my original plan, of joining the team on the Texas case, to go and track down Elle because she was refusing to answer her cell."
"So you expected the psych assessment to confirm your suspicions that Elle was not stable enough to be out in the field," interjected Newton.
"Yes, as an experienced senior agent, I thought that she had lost her nerve and shouldn't be carrying a gun and badge at that time."
"Your report says that you tracked her to her father's grave…Was that profiling on your part?" Newton probed.
"Yes, as I said earlier, profilers never really switch off and if the team hasn't realised that I profile them then they shouldn't be in the team because I know they do the same with me."
Newton nodded and added, "I only had the usual agent lectures concerning your work but I do appreciate that BAU procedures involves very concentrated profiling, and that we ordinary agents only use the simpler version."
Hotch smiled, "Actually all good cops and agents have their instincts or intuitions as some call it. In the Unit we have systematically made a study of the criminal mind and behaviour. It is a tool but it's not perfect. I knew Elle's personal background and that she revered her father, who had also been a cop and died on the job. I felt that Elle's conscience would take her to her father's grave…I was correct. But Elle still wouldn't confess that she had lied and deliberately shot the man. I had backed her into a corner and she knew I would not have her work with my Unit because she had something to hide by refusing to attend the psych assessment. The resignation was inevitable but I can't say that I felt happy about it. The whole episode saddened me that a once capable agent's career had ended on such a suspicious note although, of course, it doesn't state that on her service record."
"Do you know what Elle Greenaway is doing these days?" Newton asked out of curiosity.
"The last I heard was that she was working in New York as a Private Investigator," replied Hotch and noted how Newton looked thoughtful on hearing the answer but he didn't pursue the matter any further.
"Do you think the Unit could have helped Elle deal with her re-adjustment problems…and if you had, do you think the outcome might have been different?" Larensen returned to the subject again.
"I think I stated earlier that the team did try to reach Elle but she pushed people away. She had not fully co-operated with the psychologist who assessed her for her return to the Unit and she stated in her report that Elle was determined to return and prove herself a capable agent again. However, Elle had seemed dismissive over the issues that the psych raised with her about her possible reactions on returning to fieldwork. It was a typical Elle response; she was a very brave woman and wanted to be seen as capable as any man in the job. To have acknowledged problems on her return would have been a sign of weakness and Elle's self esteem just couldn't contemplate that," Hotch patiently replied although he felt he had already been over this ground.
"You see Elle's return as different to Reid's," Newton stated inviting a comment.
"Yes and no. They were similar in the sense that both had been hurt and off work for some time. The team recognised that both returning agents were trying to adjust back. After Elle had pushed them away, I think they were a bit wary of Reid and also the team felt that they didn't really know him. They had found out, when he was hospitalised, that Reid had a partner. I knew but I'd kept that private as confidential information…I didn't even tell Gideon so he was both shocked and annoyed at himself for not realising. Reid returned married so to some extent he had totally thrown his work colleagues who thought they had profiled the genius. We never completely know one another…but I also know, as did Gideon, that Reid had fully co-operated with the team of psychs who were assigned to help him. He was afterall tortured and drugged…things that you don't expect are going to happen to you. By contrast, I think getting shot was a simpler case for sick leave but Reid's return had not gone smoothly...
I again left Gideon to handle the re-adjustment period for Reid. I thought this would be the most suitable thing to do because Reid had helped Gideon re-adjust back into the BAU after Boston and I genuinely thought that Gideon would help his protégé. I was an utter fool in that trust. I did ask Gideon why he wasn't partnering Reid on cases and he said that Reid was a good psych himself and working alongside his normal colleagues would help him get back into the swing of things quicker. Only I also thought that Gideon was making time to talk to Reid during cases and once back at Quantico…It didn't happen, but I knew nothing of this failure until the end of the New Orleans case when Reid came and told me personally what was happening."
"Then what did you do for Reid?" Newton pressed for details.
" First of all I listened to what he had to say…He's not the kind of agent who knocks on your hotel room door at nearly one in the morning. I apologised for his treatment but I thought that Gideon was handling his comeback and I told him that I would be speaking to Gideon about his lack of support. I also said that it would go in my report and that the psych services might want to re-assess him themselves but he seemed to take this all calmly. I finally said that I would personally keep an eye on things and if at any time he felt that he was not being supported properly then he was to come and tell me. I did keep my word and tried to speak with him every day after that conversation and I regretted previously keeping my distance… But as I said earlier, I was beginning to see Gideon in a different light and Reid was pointing to things that I'd assumed Gideon was doing but he was avoiding."
"What did you say to Gideon?" Newton continued and Hotch knew that his management of the team was being scrutinised by all these questions.
"I went to Gideon's room before breakfast and confronted him with what Reid had told me. I couldn't believe how he waffled, just like Reid had said he'd spoken to him the previous evening. I was very angry and bluntly told Gideon that he was failing in his duty as a senior agent and as an experienced psychologist. The whole situation was doubly appalling because he was doing this to his protégé, who had tried so hard to help the great Jason Gideon when he returned to the BAU after the Boston bombing. I also said that if he felt he couldn't do the work expected of him then it was time for him to retire and that I didn't expect to be lied to by my second in command. That really went home because Gideon had been telling me that Reid was adjusting well. We had quite an argument and neither of us made breakfast before the plane. The team obviously picked up on the strained atmosphere and they were rather subdued for the flight back. But at least I saw Gideon go and sit with Reid, who later told me he had apologised…but it marked the beginning of the end really…."
"Why do you say that?" asked Ruffini gently.
"I saw Gideon ageing before my eyes. I knew that he'd been relying on Reid as a sounding board before Hankel and it was obvious that we needed Reid's excellent profiling skills because Gideon seemed jaded without the genius around. But Reid felt hurt by Gideon's behaviour and although they seemed to patch up things between them, the relationship shifted and the balance of strength was changing. It was Reid who became the strongest profiler in the team and also less inclined to stand in Gideon's shadow. Gideon I think knew he was heading towards his retirement and his relationship with Sarah Jacobs blossomed at the right moment…just as his protégé was beginning to take over from the master.
What was also significant for me was the way that Reid once more went out of his way to help Gideon after Sarah's murder and showed again maturity beyond his years. Reid told me that he didn't think Gideon should be back at work and thought the psych services were mad in letting him return. But Reid made the effort to try and keep contact with the grieving older man; he wasn't going to distance himself from the senior profiler despite Gideon's earlier treatment of him. Reid's actions at this time reveal a lot about the youngest member of my team and his depth of compassion. I think the others felt uncomfortable with Gideon at this time. Quite simply, we still don't deal very well with the thought of older people having love lives and there is only Reid and myself who are married on the team.
I still believe that Gideon's final act was utterly cruel…He knew that Reid would go up to the cabin to look for him. It was all so pre-meditated; that cabin had been emptied of personal possessions and even the setting up of a chess date that he knew he'd not keep because he would be dead. I'm sure that you have read the letter to Reid, but it does finally acknowledge the friendship that Spencer Reid gave to the mercurial mentor and indicate the depth of the conversations that they obviously had in those final weeks."
"You have a great deal of respect for Agent Reid," stated Ruffini.
"Yes, its grown over the years I've known him. The way he handled Gideon when he knew that Gideon's skills were declining was one of sensitivity and support despite quietly overtaking his mentor. Before Sarah's death, Gideon was beginning to accept the situation and was standing back more so Reid could be seen as the fine profiler that he is. A lesser man could have been very cruel to his old mentor, particularly after how Gideon treated him during those first few cases after his sick leave. But no, Reid showed a depth of compassion following Sarah's death that Gideon may not have deserved and was very generous with his time despite having a young wife at home."
"Generally, how did you find Agent Gideon to work with?" Newton enquired softly.
"Gideon had a wonderful reputation for getting results but he had a mercurial temperament. He could be happy one minute and warm and friendly but then he could flip over to be cold and withdrawn if he wanted to be left with his own thoughts. People in the Unit learnt quickly to read him so there were no real problems but out in the field was another matter. Gideon gave his all to every case but he was so focused that he ignored general good manners when dealing with people; basically he could be utterly rude. As a team, we all stepped in to smooth over things before little incidents could escalate out of proportion. None of us are perfect, we all have our good and bad days on the job, but Gideon frequently behaved in this single-minded manner. I often spoke to him about it but he would look at me totally unfazed saying that the outcome of the case was the goal not some social pleasantry. He argued that those people who didn't like his manner would eventually appreciate the personal intensity that he brought to solving a case.
I can't deny his commitment to the work but he was not always the easiest of men to work with. Yet, at other times he could show his compassion towards victims and their families; even towards the Unsubs, if he felt that circumstances had affected their view of the world. Prentiss and Morgan particularly remember the compassion he showed towards a dying teenage Unsub, Johnny Mulford, who had been hunting down human victims with a compound bow in the Boise National Forest. I was particularly impressed by Gideon's compassionate treatment of Sarah Jean Dawes and he was convinced that she didn't murder her son, Riley. Gideon even attended her execution because he respected her decision to keep silent about the whereabouts of Riley. She had arranged for him to be brought up by a loving couple and didn't want the child to know about his biological parents. Sarah Jean accepted her execution calmly because she felt she had made the best decision for her child.
Then there were also times when Gideon could be the listening and wise older agent who was sharing his acquired wisdom, however, he also failed two agents when they needed his help the most in the Unit. Like I previously said, Gideon in a good mood was superb company but sometimes you felt like diving for cover," admitted Hotchner.
The Unit Chief noticed how the panel gave little nods of understanding as he had spoke and he wondered how well any of them had known Gideon.
Larensen spoke next, "Agent Gideon's behaviour was often the cause for severe criticism of the your leadership by Section Chief Strauss. Can you understand at least some of her dislike over actions taken by your Unit?"
Hotch had been thinking over the past few days just how he would defend himself over Strauss but he'd not expected the first question to come from the only woman on the panel. However, she had phrased it in such a manner as to give him room for a thorough explanation. He took a deep breath and began,
"I think it's very easy for someone who is sitting in an office, and has been well away from the every day problems of working in the field, to think that the BAU is in some way a law unto itself. The Unit is not a law unto itself, nor is it out of control. Unfortunately, the very crimes we are asked to assist with are themselves out of the ordinary. We are often dealing with the most violent and psychologically disturbed individuals in this country, who are thankfully a minority in the annuals of crime, but because their crimes are so horrendous they capture the ghoulish interest of the public. In cities most cops deal with some violence, often associated with drugs or alcohol, but nothing like the cases we see where a psychopath can kill for years until we begin to uncover their crimes. In more rural communities, they are totally out of their depth over such killings although they are not immune to those who use drugs but mostly they see the consequence of the excessive consumption of alcohol. There is domestic violence in more rural communities and some teenage excesses but they don't expect to have serial killers or rapists in their areas.
Sometimes agents in the field have to make difficult decisions to bring a case to a satisfactory conclusion. That doesn't mean to say that we have ignored the law but we have had to make a decision to reach the best outcome for the victim or victims. I remember Gideon was sure we had the right Unsub over a kidnapped girl but we didn't have the evidence to search the Unsub's house. Then the next minute Gideon was charging forth to force an entry…It put me, as a former federal prosecutor in a very difficult position, I knew we were on very shaky ground especially if we didn't find evidence to link him to the missing girl. We found tapes of paedophilia but not of the missing girl…Then just as we thought the man would escape the abduction charge…we found the girl in the attic area alive. The relief for the whole investigation was immense but I had to support the actions of the senior profiler, especially after they were proven correct.
The Randall Garner case was very unusual because as a team we felt very vulnerable with an Unsub who was playing a complicated macabre game with us. We were all on vacation but our hoped for carefree time was rudely shattered and each member of the team felt their personal space violated because Garner knew about our off duty lives, even things we don't usually mention. Gideon had a severed head delivered to his cabin, Elle was arrested for murder on holiday and I travelled to get her out of custody. Meanwhile, little tokens relevant to our past arrived. Garcia admitted to playing on a fantasy site from her office and was later disciplined for her behaviour because that was how Garner got into the personnel system for our addresses.
It was Reid who put a lot of it together and realised that it had to be someone his mother knew because he had mentioned little details about the team in letters to her. He had his mother brought to Quantico and she did prove to be the invaluable link in the case and her information ultimately saved a victim's life. Reid felt extremely guilty about the rather harmless things he had written to his hospitalised mother but it was Garcia who had acted foolishly playing her silly game in her office, even if it had been during her off duty time. Garner shot Elle in her home because he was angry over the team's actions to find him, which he considered were not part of the game plan he had set out. Garner was himself intent on suicide but we did save Rebecca Bryant even if she was later to become on of Frank Breitkopf's victims. But the case broke Elle's nerve and she was a shadow of her former self when she returned to duty.
I often think that it was the Garner case that really affected Strauss's attitude towards the BAU. It must have been very uncomfortable for her to admit that a major breach of security had occurred in a Unit under her supervision. Upper management and Computer Forensics probably gave her a very hard time; I understand that Computer Forensics had to overhaul the whole of the Bureau's computer security systems. Consequently, Strauss began to watch us more closely because she didn't want any more severe criticism coming her way, and we may have been seen as the 'problem Unit' in her remit. However, I still stand by the actions of my Unit since Section Chief Strauss took up her position.
I'm sure that Strauss was suspicious of Greenaway's departure after the suspect shooting. I tried my best to get to the truth, followed the book as the supervising agent, but in the end Elle resigned rather than face a psych assessment and more questions over the incident. I was suspicious so the Section Chief was correct to be but…I had tried to not let the incident taint the whole of the Unit. Those agents worked hard on that case and it wouldn't have been fair if they were all considered 'out of control' as Strauss accused my Unit as being.
There was the Breitkopf case, that came back to haunt us all…But we couldn't let a bus of school children die. We were in a very difficult position, we took a risk as senior agents and Gideon felt it was the only option we had in getting those children back alive. I backed him because I'm the Unit Chief and ultimately, the buck stops with me.
Section Chief Strauss questioned me over my handling of the Hankel case; when I sent Jareau and Reid to talk to Tobias Hankel it was just a routine assignment of follow up questioning about an incident. They had followed correct operational procedures despite being out of cell contact because of the location, but I did know where they were. If they had arrested Hankel they would have been highly praised for their initiative in the field but Jareau was traumatised by what she found in the barn…and yet she had shot the dogs and saved her own life. Reid got kidnapped and tortured over several days and yet still had the presence of mind to try and give us clues to where he was. He had to shoot Hankel to save his own life, it was not an act he revelled in afterwards, but he knew it was his only chance. The hospital medics were amazed that he had managed to with stand the beatings and drugs but our youngest agent did just that and still felt compassion for the man he had killed. Those are not the actions of agents in a Unit that is out of control. Jareau had a course of counselling after the incident while Reid is still required to have extra drug tests because of that case… But if you read the reports by the psych department, they are convinced that Reid is the last person who would deliberately take drugs because of his mother's illness. Reid respects his mental abilities and a clear mind is central to his life as a profiler.
Then Frank Breitkopf turned up in Washington and caused such havoc. I knew we had to keep Gideon out of the Police interview room because he was the one who knew Breitkopf's mind and we were more likely to catch him quickly with Gideon on the case. Gideon had wanted to turn himself over to the police and I argued against that. I sent Garcia to be with him and help him on his quest to find out about the real Frank and hence how to catch him. It was a difficult decision, but I still stand by it. I knew that Strauss did not like how the Unit appeared to be run and ironically, I had been talking to Gideon on the phone about my concerns when Gideon saw Frank's Jane and broke contact. However, I had not anticipated that Gideon would just take off like he did but I don't think he would have shot Frank at the station, I believed that his respect for justice was still there…Neither of us had anticipated the joint suicide. After this case, I felt that I was continually on the defensive with my Section Chief because whenever she saw me it was to question my decisions.
Finally there was the Flagstaff case. Again we had to make decisions on the ground, I backed Gideon's decision but none of us anticipated Begley's intent on meeting Tubbs and her reaction when he refused to do her bidding. We found out after, before we left the campus, that the college had failed to help Begley as a distressed student. The college's internal inquiry showed up their failings but Section Chief Strauss put the blame of Begley and Tubbs deaths on my leadership of the team.
I would like to know how the experienced agents on this panel would have behaved? I know that you will have studied all the reports, and hindsight is wonderful, but I do not believe that I deserved my suspension that my Section Chief inflicted upon me. Gideon was very upset, he repeats this fact in his suicide letter to Reid. Reid has since told me that Gideon kept raising the matter when they talked together after his compassionate leave. I have not received a satisfactory explanation from my Section Chief for her behaviour towards me other than she wants me removed from the BAU. Furthermore, her behaviour has undermined her own credibility with my Unit," stated Hotch firmly and Gulden found that he had difficulty meeting Hotchner's eyes and he certainly was not sure how to reply, but it was the experienced Philip Newton who took up that challenge.
"Agent Hotchner, every time that you have been suspended by Section Chief Strauss, the subsequent disciplinary board has exonerated your actions. The senior agents who sat on those disciplinary boards have been unanimous in their decision in each case. The Bureau acknowledges that your department has a difficult caseload. There are a few other departments that have to make difficult decisions, the most obvious being 'Counter Terrorism'. This panel will be questioning Section Chief Strauss and she will be asked to justify her actions towards the BAU. The Bureau is well aware that your Section Chief's actions troubled Gideon so much that they may have been the tipping point in his depression. However, there is also the wider consideration of the psych department and their recommendations in allowing Gideon to return so soon…Something, I might add, that your agents have all highlighted during their appearances before this board. I can understand your anger towards your Section Chief. I have had to justify difficult decisions that I have personally made, and supported the actions that my various Units have taken over the years. However, I have always found that the wider wisdom of the disciplinary board, usually makes all parties see the other point of view."
"It is not just my suspensions, Sir, but Agent Prentiss admitted to me that Section Chief Strauss pressured her to report back to her personally about the team. I suspected the initial appearance of Prentiss was a deliberate move by Strauss to plant her own 'agent' amongst the Unit because neither Gideon, nor I, had been consulted about her placement. That sort of underhand behaviour is not worthy of a senior agent in this organisation. It could have been a very disruptive event but Prentiss assured me that she didn't like that sort of manipulation and she had thought she had gained the placement in the BAU on her own merit. Prentiss certainly worked very hard to be accepted within the team quickly and is a very able agent with strong leadership qualities. However, when she was later ordered to spy on the team she was very uncomfortable because she doesn't like getting caught in the middle of politics. I can understand that attitude because I had briefly observed Prentiss at home with her ambassadorial parents when I was assigned as part of the embassy security," Hotchner stated firmly. He was determined that this panel should know something of the pressures that an agent had been put under in his Unit, besides the personal pressure of having his decisions questioned, with an attempt to spy upon his leadership of the Unit.
Ruffini suddenly interjected, "You observed a difficult family relationship in the Prentiss household?"
"Yes, both parents are ambassadors who liked being in the limelight and playing in the world of politics. I got the feeling that Prentiss was the problem child; she is an only child and not a son so nothing she ever did was considered good enough by either parent. She was 18 when I met her and was highly intelligent and very strong willed, like both of her parents. Prentiss exasperated them because she liked to appear rebellious just to annoy the parents who had no time for her. They were relieved when she went back to college at the end of the summer."
"You didn't think it was just the usual teenage rebellion?" Larensen asked.
"No, you could tell that both parents were totally wrapped up in their busy world and I suspect that her mother had not really wanted a child in case it damaged her career prospects. Things might have been a little easier if the child had been a son that the father could take under his wing. Ambassador Prentiss is not a maternal woman and showed no real interest in her daughter, or her friends, from my observations at that time. Also the long-term embassy staff remarked that Emily had been sent off to boarding school at 7 and often spent the summer vacations with her grandparents because her parents claimed that they were too busy to have her with them.
I personally think that Erin Strauss miscalculated when she placed Prentiss with us because she didn't understand Prentiss's background. Emily Prentiss is the last person to be easily manipulated and has certainly shown by her actions to have a strong sense of personal integrity, which is why she was considering leaving the Bureau to get away from Strauss. Again that is wrong, we are an organisation that depends on the personal integrity and commitment of both its agents and civilian personnel and we should not have people in managerial positions who can manipulate and threaten those under them. It is a form of bullying and shows the weakness of the person in power because they have to resort to a management style that is an insult to the integrity of the FBI. I may not like Morgan but, like Gideon said, I inherited him and therefore have had to work with the hand I was given. I have not resorted to bullying tactics to get rid of him but I can't ignore the complaints when I do receive them about his behaviour."
"Agent Hotchner!" Gulden spoke up. "I can assure you that this Board of Inquiry is aware of the undue pressure that was placed upon Agent Prentiss. We have taken note of her testimony and I can say that we are under orders to investigate all facets leading up to Dr Gideon's death. The Director is taking a personal daily interest in our proceedings but we also have not heard all the people we have to call before us. I must ask you to be patient but your statements into this matter are noted and will be raised at the appropriate time."
Hotchner held the chairmen's eyes for a long minute; he sensed the man's commitment to seeking the truth and respected that. Hotchner solemnly nodded his acceptance of the assurance.
"Agent Hotchner," began Bayliss, "You said earlier that you had been speaking to Gideon on the phone when Gideon saw Jane. Can you clarify what your particular concerns were at that time?"
Hotch's mind slipped into gear and recalled the memory.
"Yes, I rang Gideon as he was buying flowers for Sarah on his way home. I had just been made aware of 'Operation Safeguard' and meant the Unit was being assessed 6 months early. I felt that we had experienced some difficult times with the Garner case, then Elle's suspicious shooting, Reid's kidnap, Frank and letting him go for the whereabouts of the children. In effect I was feeling that Strauss was questioning my management of the BAU and it would be a fine excuse for the Unit to be targeted in the cost cutting measures being considered."
"What did Gideon say?"
"He said basically I was worrying over nothing. He said that I was the best Unit Chief the BAU had and if they were going to make cuts well they could take the jet because he preferred trains anyway. Gideon was in one of his happy off duty moods then suddenly it was turned off because he saw Jane and you know the rest," Hotch finished sadly.
"So his words didn't allay your suspicions?" Bayliss continued to press.
"No, after the conclusion of the case, as I've already indicated, I was once more in Strauss's office trying to justify the actions of my team. My Section Chief later revealed that she wanted me gone from the BAU but I've no idea who she had in mind to succeed me."
"You, of course, stood by the actions you had taken," Gulden interjected.
"Yes, but I knew that Agent Strauss did not want me at the BAU. My relationship with the Section Chief, which had never been very good, certainly had become one of open suspicion and it bordered on hostility because she was relentless in her belief that the BAU was badly run," confessed Hotchner.
"You were actually on suspension when the Milwaukee case came up, how did you feel about that suspension," continued Bayliss
"The Flagstaff case, that we talked about earlier, was not the outcome any of us would have wanted but I stand by my team and their actions. As I stated earlier, the college authorities were themselves not showing due care for a very disturbed student and none of us could have predicted the dreadful ending of the case. The facts were put before the Section Chief but she still suspended me. I went home and while there I had a phone call from Prentiss to say that she had been put under pressure from Strauss to spy on the team. Prentiss had been told that her future career depended on Strauss because, no matter what she intended to do, Prentiss would need her reference as her Section Chief."
"Were you surprised by Prentiss's call?" Larensen asked gently.
"No, as I said earlier, I'd always had my suspicions about her sudden appearance because it just wasn't the normal way of appointing agents to an elite team. I told Prentiss to be true to herself but I know that she was considering moving into work away from the Bureau."
"But later you received a direct call from the Director?" Gulden suddenly said.
"Yes, I was told that I would be going to Milwaukee to take over from Strauss who had gone out with the team. Assistant Director Shapiro would meet me at the airport with my badge and gun along with a briefing file. I was hitching a lift on another jet en route to Madison and a car would meet me once the jet landed. I was also told that Gideon had not turned up for the briefing."
"You were happy to be back on a case, but how did you find Agent Strauss?" Larensen pressed on quietly and Hotch felt that perhaps this woman was collecting ammunition to wound Strauss with at her appearance before this Inquiry.
"She looked strained. The junior agents with her looked busy with their tasks but they were definitely subdued. I found out later that Strauss had told Jareau firmly not to interfere with her decisions after my agent had tried quietly to explain a normal procedure. I got the impression that the agents were going to give Strauss enough rope to hang herself with because J.J. didn't deserve to be chided when she was trying to help. It takes a lot for the team to unite against someone like that, infact it's very rare, although it did happen with the Buford case when they took a dislike to the LEO in charge. The Section Chief obviously didn't like my appearance but then she had been over-ruled by the Director so she couldn't do anything about that. She had been recalled but was ordered to take a normal flight and had a few hours before a seat was available. Consequently, she accompanied us to view the latest victim in situ and that only confirmed my suspicions, when we got there, that Section Chief Strauss had been out of the field too long. She was openly shocked by the crime scene and certainly was not used to seeing gruesome sights, particularly young mothers with their hearts removed from their bodies. We were all relieved when she took the car to the air port because we could just get on with the investigation without feeling we were being watched by someone looking for faults."
"Why do you say that she couldn't cope with the crime scene, can you be more specific?" Newton delved.
"Strauss accidentally stepped on the victim's hair and almost lost it…I quickly shielded her from the media who were gathering but being kept behind tape. You know it wouldn't have looked very professional if one of them had got a shot of a senior FBI agent looking shocked and tearful. I told her to take her time but to go back and leave the case to us because we were used to seeing such horrors. I think it finally came home to her just what our world can mean but by that time Gideon was already dead."
"Your Section Chief's attitude had changed by the time you got back to Quantico?" Larensen asked.
"Yes, she seemed quite subdued considering her previous encounters with me, but then I have no idea what had happened on her return."
"Of course," Larensen replied and then fell silent.
Ruffini filled the silence. "Agent Hotchner, you had not expected Gideon to take his own life?"
"No…I knew Reid was worried about him and he came and spoke to me on the plane going home. He said that he'd tried several times to contact Gideon but his cell was not responding. I had said that he was probably bird watching with Samuel, or other friends, up at his cabin but Reid went quiet and said no more because Prentiss came along to talk to me."
"What did Prentiss have to say?" asked Larensen.
"She wanted to know if it was significant that the Director had personally sent me to take over the case. Prentiss didn't really want to leave but she couldn't see a future with the Bureau if Strauss was going to be threatening her without warning."
"What did you reply?" Larensen continued to probe.
"That I hoped she wouldn't do anything rash but to stay around for a bit to see how the dust settled. I told her that she was a very capable agent and I believed others would see that too. I then asked her what she had been thinking of as an alternative career…"
"So you were very surprised to get Reid's call? Ruffini delved again.
"Yes, although I knew he'd go and check up on Gideon at the cabin…It's just the sort of thing that Reid would do if he was worried because he wouldn't be able to rest himself without checking. I was surprised that he found his body but most of all I felt angry," Hotch said and paused as he watched the panel show their shock at his words before he smoothly continued.
"I was angry at Gideon, he must have known that it would be Reid who would go and find him. Gideon was being manipulative right up to the end…I went to join Reid as soon as I had informed the senior agent on duty. I found Reid upset but functioning OK because deep down he had expected to find Gideon dead, although I don't think he had wanted to say that to me on the plane. I made sure Reid was all right before going to view the cabin and body myself. It was so bare and cold compared to the once warm retreat in the woods that it had been. Typical of Gideon to clear everything and leave such a bloody mess for his protégé to find…Reid has since told me that he views it all as his final test set by his mentor and he hopes that he has passed it. I think Agent Reid has shown himself to be a compassionate and loyal agent who has surpassed any test that Gideon has set him. I further believe that whoever succeeds Gideon will find a very able and hardworking member of the team ready assist the new senior agent."
"Yes, I am sure that Agent Reid will act supportively to any new member of the team," replied Ruffini and Hotch thought that during this morning he had picked up a genuine respect from this psychologist for the genius of the Unit.
There was a distinct pause and Hotch observed Gulden looked to his right and then his left as he said softly to his fellow panel members, "Any more questions for this Agent?"
Hotch was gratified to see the various negative reactions to the question. Gulden then turned his full attention onto Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner.
"Agent Hotchner, we have touched upon sensitive matters this morning and I now request that you do not discuss your time before this Board with anyone. I am sure that you are very aware that there are personnel matters that have to be addressed arising out of the information we have gathered so far and it is not fair upon those, who have yet to appear here, to pre-judge the outcome of this Inquiry. I would however, like to re-assure you that our new Director is taking a personal interest in the proceedings of this Inquiry. The Director also believes that the Unit Chief should be involved in the final selection process for Gideon's successor and that he has already narrowed down the names to a short list of four. You will be informed when the selection from that list is taking place.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your testimony this morning and I would also like you to know that we, on this panel, have been impressed with the way your agents have answered our questions and we have all noted their personal loyalty to you. The BAU has a strong team, despite the individual failings of its weakest member. Like you said, you have had to work with the people you inherited but you have won their support and each spoke of your leadership skills. I hope that despite the difficult past year that you feel that you still have a place within the FBI here at Quantico. You may go now."
"Thank you," Hotch said still surprised by Gulden's words. He rose and left with his usual dignified pace but his mind was analysing what the Assistant Director had just said.
Hotch had not been expecting such words of praise and re-assurance. He felt relieved to hear them and embarrassed by the content, particularly concerning the team's loyalty to him. Hotch knew that he was a man who demanded the best from his agents but he also demanded the same from himself. As Hotch walked towards the elevator, he realised that Gulden had indicated that the Director was going to make some changes following Gideon's death. He hoped that the psych department were going to be censored for sending Gideon back too quickly and also for allowing Elle back into the field, despite her reluctance to deal with issues of confidence arising from being shot in her home. However, as he firmly paced the route back to his department, he felt as if an enormous pressure had been lifted from him. Hotch had forgotten just how weighed down he had been by the constant 'nit picking' from Strauss, but Gulden's words implied that her actions were now going to be scrutinised by senior management.
Agent Hotchner knew that things looked to be going more in his favour when the Director had personally sent him out to the Milwaukee case and ordered the Section Chief to return by a civilian flight. That was a definite move of censure and Strauss had kept her distance since, not even coming to the Unit to personally address them over Gideon's death. Hotch thought that if he had been a Section Chief then he would have addressed the Unit and shown support and sympathy for the agents.
Hotch approached the BAU's doors and smiled to himself as he could see that all his people were hard at work on their tasks. He slipped through the doors unnoticed and felt that he had a unique collection of individuals who all came together, along with their individual strengths and weaknesses, to be an excellent Unit.
Meanwhile, the five members of the Inquiry felt very subdued at that moment.
"We must call Strauss this afternoon while we still have the statements of the BAU personnel fresh in our minds," stated Gulden who was still a little shocked at the forceful nature of Hotchner's testimony.
"Hotchner is a very strong man," said Ruffini, "It's obvious why he commands such respect from his Unit."
"Yes, but no Unit Chief should be put under such intolerable scrutiny in the way that Hotchner has endured. He was correct in saying that it is unworthy of this organisation to have Section Chiefs behaving in such a manner," Larensen stated firmly.
"But Strauss was wrong footed when the Director sent Hotchner to Milwaukee and is probably aware of her weakened position. It would be best to call her as soon as possible so we can hear her version of events," Ruffini said.
"Yes, I agree," added Newton, "It doesn't do any of us senior managers any good to have one of our people behaving in such a dictatorial way."
Gulden had his own orders direct from the Director, who had already decided that Section Chief Strauss needed to be called to explain herself that afternoon.
"We will have a light lunch and convene at one o'clock to prepare a strategy. I'll contact Erin Strauss now and order her to be here for 1.30," Gulden stated firmly but he felt that he had totally misjudged the character of Erin Strauss and he needed his fellow panel members to take the lead in questioning her.
End of Chapter 9.
