Hello Everyone! Hope you are all well!
ILR: Thank you! I'm glad you are still enjoying it! That is a very good point and I completely blanked – this is why I like you reviewing, you point out things that I don't notice straight away. The death of Clara's parent's being hidden will become clear, which I hope makes sense now come to think of it. I agree with you there! The kids should be able to help her and like you said vice versa. Thanks again for reviewing!
Happy reading.
Chapter Eleven.
Hotch took out his phone as he left his new team member to compose herself in the bathroom, there was one thing he struggled to understand was why Chief Strauss neglected to put her parent's death in her file. He lifted the phone to his ear until a female voice rang through it,
"Agent Hotchner, what can I do for you?" Strauss asked, her voice sounding distracted.
"Why wasn't the death of Davis parent's in her file?" He questioned, his eyes watching the rest of his team organize the next steps to catch this killer.
"I did all the checks myself and got three different psychologists to give her an evaluation, I didn't feel it necessary. It was a long time ago and she seemed to be dealing with it fine."
Hotch turned away from the team, his voice becoming blunt. "You didn't feel it necessary? She just had a panic attack in front of three children."
Strauss went silent and some rummaging was heard over the end of the phone. "It wasn't my decision, I can't go into further detail right now. I'll arrange a meeting and we can discuss it then."
Strauss hung up and Hotch walked over to Rossi. "Strauss is hiding something."
Rossi turned to him and crossed his arms. "About what?"
"Agent Davis, her parent's death wasn't in the file and her answer was it wasn't her decision." They heard the door of the bathroom open and they watched Davis walk out, her eyes down as she avoided making eye contact with the team. "If I knew perhaps this wouldn't have happened. The children being in the exact same position as she was triggered the attack."
"Hotch this wasn't your fault, how were you supposed to know?" He paused, his eyes on the newbie. "Have you considered asking Garcia to do some digging for you?"
Hotch turned his attention back to the man next to him and he shook his head. "I'm not sure what I'm dealing with yet and until then, I can't risk Garcia or myself looking into this."
"Is Strauss arranging a meeting?" Rossi asked, checking his watch.
"For when we all return."
Rossi and Hotch looked up to see Reid and Morgan walking towards them, "Garcia located Noah Miller's address, we sent crews down but it doesn't look like it's been lived in for months."
"So where is he staying?" Hotch asked and they shook their heads.
"Garcia is trying to locate him by triangulating his cell phone but so far she's struggling to pin him down." Morgan replied.
"Okay let's go speak to Cooper Industries, see if they can give us an insight on this man." He paused, looking round the office, "Agent Davis?" He called and I looked up from the sketch of the Unsub.
"Sir?" I put the paper down and walked back over to the group, my eyes still slightly red.
"I want you to accompany us to Cooper industries, see what they can tell us about Mr Miller."
I looked at him and the rest of the guys in the team, "You don't want me to stay here with Prentiss and JJ?"
"They have their tasks, you'll be better suited with us." Hotch said as he looked down at me. "Unless you think you need to step back?"
He really had to say that in front of everyone? I shook my head, I can't let this beat me. Those kids need closure and I'll be damned if I can't give it to them.
"Let's go then."
The car journey was filled with conversation, something of which I decided not to include myself in. I just stared out the window the whole time until we arrived at the rather single-story office building.
"Not what I expected..." I muttered as I closed the door behind me, my hat still shading my face. Luckily for me the sun was almost setting now so it wasn't as hot as it was before.
"Rossi, Reid and Morgan I want you to go and speak to some of the staff – see what you can gather. I want to know everything we can about this guy."
They all nodded and walked ahead, leaving me back alone with Hotchner.
"Are we going to speak to the owner of the company Sir?" I looked at him beneath the shade of my hat and he nodded.
"We need to understand what kind of worker he is and if they have any other record on his background." He started walking into the office and I walked inside with him, I was expecting to be greeting by a blast of cold air but the place was warmer and stickier than it was outside.
"Jesus the air in here is awful..." I took off my hat and fanned myself with it, following Hotchner to the small office at the back.
"Mrs Cooper?" Hotchner knocked on the glass door, causing the middle-aged woman to look up from her pile of papers.
"Ah you two must be from the FBI."
We both nodded and she gestured to the two seats in front of her desk. Hotchner took it and I stood behind him, I felt if I sat down I'd probably melt into the bloody thing.
"Noah Miller, what can you tell us about him?" Hotchner asked, taking the lead. As soon as we mentioned his name she shuffled in her seat, her eyes leaving us and returning to the papers.
"Not much to say, he's a good worker."
I raised my eyebrow and crossed my arms. "You're lying." I said rather bluntly, causing her to look back up to us.
"I'm not... He's a brilliant worker, I've never had a complaint about him."
"That may be so but what about him as a person? Has anything happened to him in the past month that has changed how he deals with things?" Hotchner looked at her and I looked at him.
She sighed and looked up, tucking a strand of her wild curly hair behind her ear. "His wife committed suicide last month, she slit her wrists before cutting her own throat. He came home after doing his shift to find his youngest son crying at the bottom of the stairs covered in her blood."
Hotchner turned around and looked at me. "That's his stressor."
I nodded in agreement and turned my attention back to her. "Where's his son now?"
"Noah left with him a few hours ago? Why, what's going on?" Hotchner and I got up, leaving the room and meeting back up with the rest of the team.
"We need to find him now, his wife committed suicide and..."
"Yeah, we know – it seems everyone around here knows what happened." Rossi added.
"We need to find him, I think we all know what's going to happen next." I looked at the team and they nodded slowly.
"He's going to kill his son and then himself."
