Danger from home
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Chapter 10: False alarm
Emily Prentiss looked around the living room and made a mental note to thank the Lieutenant who had agreed to let them use her apartment as bait. This was a real apartment, with books on the shelves, a functioning TV and a kitchen to cook in. The refrigerator had even been filled as a courtesy of the local police station, for the sake of the operation. At least, Emily would have a nice place to sleep in and some occupation. As the brunette looked into the living area, she smiled at the sight of her go-bag gently placed on the coffee table, along with some files. JJ had always known how to make Emily happy and content – and feeding her with some work was exactly what Emily needed to get her mind off the unsub for a few hours.
Slumping down into the comfortable sofa, the brunette let out a deep sigh when she felt the well-known vibration of her professional cell, and fished the device out of her jacket.
"Yeah, Hotch."
"Are you all settled?" Emily smiled at the question. She would feel very lonely tonight without the presence of any of her coworkers, she thought to herself.
"Very well. We were lucky to get this place instead of some empty and impersonal surveillance apartment." She said, closing her eyes to enjoy the tranquility of the place. Hotch let out a groan of contentment, before getting back to business:
"Remember you're supposed to be on your guard. So no long hot bath or whatever… Keep your gun at hand." The smile lingered a little longer on Emily's face, although she knew that the matter was serious.
"How do you know I'm a girl for hot baths?"
"You talk in your sleep, Prentiss." For a moment, she went dead silent as her mind raced back to all the weird dreams she had already had on the jet. A hot bath? God, she hoped she was alone in that dream, and didn't give away any more embarrassing information.
"Anyway…" She said, faking to be hurt, "I'm always on my guard, you know that."
"I know. We have two men watching the entrance to the building. They've been in position for over an hour, and watched you walk in just now. I'm pretty sure that, if the unsub plays along, he will have followed you to the building. And if he comes up, we'll be catching him on his way down."
Emily reflected a moment. She didn't want to seem unconfident, but this was a long shot.
"Do you really believe I may have attracted his attention? He would already have made a move."
"Granger and Morgan saw a few men who could fit in the profile, and who showed particular interest as you passed by. We'll just have to wait and see."
"Okay. Call if there's anything I can do."
"Samewise."
When she had ended the call, the brunette stretched on the couch. If a hot bath was not allowed, maybe she could take a little nap, with her gun in hand, that is. She hadn't slept well in days and, paradoxically, this place felt relaxing to her. It didn't remind her of anything personal. It was neutral.
Xxx
"Reid's got something." Rossi and Hotch had just arrived at the police station, to debrief the situation with the rest of the team. Hotch had made a pause in the corridor to talk to Emily first, and Rossi had calmly waited for him to finish before popping his head around the corner and bringing back to reality.
"I'll be right in." The dark-haired agent followed his colleague into the conference room, where the team was gathered, plus Eric Granger, who was wearing a face of expectation. He had been so disappointed in the apparent failure of their plan. Not that he had actually believed that the unsub would come and waltz with a knife under the vigilant eye of CCTV cameras and surveillance officers. But no one had drawn the attention to him, although the place was full of strange men. You could see it both ways: either they had too many suspects, or none at all. And either way, it did not help the case.
"Shoot, genius." Derek called out when he Hotch walked in to stand quietly in the back of the room. He still looked pissed at the latest developments of the case – or better, the unpleasant lack of developments – but a strange tranquility had washed over his features. The younger agent tore his eyes off the head agent, to concentrate on Reid.
"Alright, while you were out there, JJ and I worked on the profile with the magnificent help of Garcia. To be precise, we focused on men between 25 and 40 who had some business or official reason to frequent that area of the city."
As he was speaking, Reid was moving his hands in front of his chest, as if giving a rhythm to the declaration. After knowing him for several years, everyone on the team knew that Reid was by nature a nervous person. And being stuck in office while his coworkers were on the frontline obviously did not make him any more confident.
"Social workers, policemen, local storekeepers…" His voice trailed off as he turned around to pin a picture to the board, which looked more and more chaotic.
"Who is that?" Hotch asked, his arms crossed on his chest in a defensive position.
"Michael Jennings." Reid announced as though this simple name would solve the whole mystery. But his teammates were far from flabbergasted, and merely raised surprised eyes to him.
"He is 27 years old. No regular job. He has been changing employer every six months for a few years, taking over jobs like cleaning, helping out in a gas station… For the last three months, he has been working as security agent on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania."
Derek held his breath, trying to read his coworker's face. But, as usual, Reid was impenetrable. The strategic silence the young doctor let wash over his audience soon became unbearable, and Derek exhaled when Hotch finally intervened and cleared his throat. If anything could get Reid to talk, it was the disapproving glance of their superior.
"Plus, from what we gathered calling the local social services, he has been regularly volunteering all over town for the department as well as associations. Distributing food, assisting doctors for free medical examinations…"
"Any history with drugs?" Rossi could tell that Spencer Reid was not finished yet. Everything fit in the picture – the profession, the social interest, the regular presence in the northern districts. He had the opportunity to meet all the victims – what was still missing was a motive.
"He was himself never involved in drug dealing or using – but a certain Patricia Jennings – his sister, from what Garcia found – was admitted to Temple University Hospital for an overdose in June 2007. She died in the ambulance, on her way there."
A deep silence took over the whole team, as they all looked for answers on their coworkers' faces.
"I doubt we could find anyone who would fit the profile better. Socially unstable, he fits the age and gender, has a mobile and is torn between the two worlds – the so perfect university campus with innocent students, and the dark world of junkies." Rossi declared with a solemn voice.
"Does he have a criminal record?" Hotch asked, his eyes still set on some indefinite point on the tile floor. His mind was racing a hundred miles an hour as he thought of all the time they had wasted on the undercover operation, while a simple on-line research had given them the solution.
"Arrested three times – August 2007, December 2008 and February 2009 - for aggravated assault. It all began after the sister's death…" Reid noticed, trying not to sound like he was justifying any of the unsub's actions.
"Nothing since?"
"Nope." The young doctor made a face, apparently guessing what his superior was driving at.
"He has violent tendencies, which came out after the trauma of a familial loss. Maybe after he did time in prison, he began trying to control his pulsions…"
"And it all lashed out with these first murders." Rossi finished Hotch's sentence, looking for approval in his coworkers' eyes.
Eric Granger, who had stayed very silent for the whole exchange – part of him still didn't understand why these people put so much more energy in trying to understand the guy rather than catch him – took a step forward and asked softly:
"If you're finished, maybe we can get an address?"
Reid stood still for a moment, taken aback by the man's impatient tone, before snatching back into reality.
"Um… yeah. Garcia – our technical analyst – sent us all the details." He said and automatically grabbed his cell phone to reach for the precise information.
To prove Reid's point, the little device started to ring just at this moment, and he immediately took the call.
"Garcia, the whole team's there. What do you got?"
"Well, I continued to do my research on our suspect…" Penelope's voice echoed through the room as Reid stretched the phone in front of him for everybody to hear, "He withdrew some money not five minutes ago on the corner of 18th and Walnut Street."
"Looks like he is going back to his place." Reid said pensively, checking once again the nearby address.
Hotch immediately set into action, loosening the grasp he had on the edge of the table, and looking at each member of his team.
"Thank you, Garcia. Continue to track his every movements and call me if you have anything. Detective Granger, send some officers over to the address Reid will send you. Tell them we are on our way to join them. JJ, you come with us but stay behind to deal with the media. If we make the arrest in a public place, they will be there in no time. We have to make this clean."
Xxx
Emily was sat on the edge of the window, her eyes observing the tranquility of the night outside. She had had no news in almost an hour, which could either mean that her team was on a lead and didn't want to worry her, or that nothing had happened yet. Given the absolute silence of her surroundings and the lack of movements of the two surveillance cars downstairs, the brunette had necessarily gone for the second option. She stifled a yawn and stopped herself before she checked her wristwatch for the thirtieth time. If – very unlikely – the unsub was watching her, her attitude would seem suspicious. She was about to hop off the edge and go back to the couch when she caught movement in the corner of her eye. The two cars had driven away with full speed. Cross the previous thoughts, she said to herself, maybe they had a lead indeed. Either way, she would have to go through the night and stay on her guard. Deciding that another coffee would help her just do that, the brunette let her steps guide her to the tiny kitchen, where she had gladly found the coffee machine an hour ago. As she poured herself another cup, the vibration of her cell phone echoed from the living room.
"Yeah, Hotch?" She answered automatically, absolutely certain that it was her friend calling to keep her informed.
"How are you holding on?"
"I'm bored…" she teased, before becoming serious once again. "I just saw the cars speeding away. Tell me you have something."
Hotch hesitated a moment, visibly talking to somebody next to him. Emily could hear movements on the other end of the line, and realized that the team probably already was in action.
"We have our main suspect. Garcia was able to trace his latest credit card activity and we are heading to his place right now."
Emily quickly erased the smile of relief washing over her features, telling herself that the case wasn't quite over yet.
"Do you want me to come along?"
"No, we are already on our way and it's not exactly in our area of town. I just wanted to keep you informed – you can leave the apartment and join us at the police station if you want."
"Oh yeah…" She said, exaggerating each word. Hotch knew she had been going crazy, just pacing around in the apartment, on her own.
Suddenly, soft knocks echoed on the front door, and Emily turned a surprised gaze. She walked over, her hand already on the knob and pulling the door open, simultaneously asking.
"Did you send an officer to drive me back?"
Hotch's negative response did not have the time to register with her brain. She had not even opened the door completely when a massive form made his way through, and something hard collided with her jaw, sending her to the ground in less than two seconds.