Morgan rubbed his face with his hands, trying to wake himself up. In reality, it had been a pretty good Monday morning so far, but the coffee was not doing its job this morning. First thing this morning, the team got a call from bookings that Cassie's attacker, Jacobs, was picked up for disorderly contact in a public place.
The cobs who nabbed him had no idea there was a warrant out for his arrest till the ran his prints in the system early this morning. Relieved that there was a break after brick wall they'd encountered this weekend, Morgan hoped that the perp would give them some more clues, on who was trying to kill Prentiss and the kid. Reid was munching on a muffin, looking over at Emily's empty desk.
"She's on her way over," Morgan said, knowing what Reid was thinking.
Reid nodded, "are you sure that's the best idea?"
Looking at Morgan's puzzled face he continued,
"She is apparently a target to whoever is after Cassie, not to mention the whole family ties thing."
Morgan shook his head, "you know that Emily would shoot us if we interviewed the bastard without her being there."
"Emily will not be shooting anyone," Hotch said, rounding the corner into the bull pen. Hotch couldn't of agreed more with Morgan about Emily.
He had just left the hospital an hour ago, where he had popped in to check on his agent. When the phone call came in, his was the lucky one to tell her that the perp was brought in. She immediately began swirling around obscenities, until Hotch had mentioned her sitting out for this one.
"Are you delusional Aaron," she answered, looking bewildered.
As he began to mention that she may be to close to the case, she stared him straight in the eyes, and said, "if this was Jack lying in the bed, you would have been there in a heartbeat."
Instantly, he shut up, and told her to meet the rest of the team back in the office at 11.
"Speak of the devil," Morgan said, as his eyes caught Prentiss.
From the moment the team saw her, they knew it wasn't the usual, put together Emily they worked with day in and day out. Her dark hair was thrown up in a pony tail, with stray pieces poking out. She had the same pair of black pants they had seen her in the previous day, with a now wrinkled red blouse. The bags under her eyes weer visible, due to the lack of sleep she'd gotten since Friday night.
"Where is he," she asked, not even wishing her co-workers good morning.
"Um, he's in conference room B, no one has gone in there yet, we were waiting for you. How's Cassie," Reid asked.
"She'll be better when we nail this son of a bitch," she muttered, looking around the bull pen. The remaining agents looked at each other, feeling the tension already. JJ joined the group, and instantly picked up on the worry written all over their face.
"Anytime you guys are ready, everything's set up. We have video tapping the interview, and guards out front," she said.
Subtly, she reached over and squeezed Emily's hand while the rest of the team moved down the hall way to the interview room.
"I'm okay Jae," the brunette said.
JJ nodded and walked silently till they reached the squad room. Emily looked through the window on the door to the conference room. He was sitting at the table, with his hands folded, muttering to himself. She could feel her blood begin to boil, as she took a deep breath. Keep it together Prentiss, she said to herself as she followed JJ into the room.
Morgan took the lead in the questioning, getting in Jacobs face, yelling at him to admit. The man was trembling, and mumbling oddities, which got louder every time Morgan spoke.
"How did you know the girl Jacobs? Did you follow her because you wanted to touch her, did she make you feel more like a man," Morgan screamed, pounding his fist on the table.
"I...I was paid to get her, and to write that message," Jacobs barked, looking frantically around the room. His eyes met Emily's, and she could tell the emotion he was feeling, trapped. She remained silent as she soaked up every little detail she could about him.
From his posture, to the diction in his voice, she was building a profile, to try to make sense of what he did to Cassie.
"Who sent you," Morgan said, leaning into Jacobs face.
"He paid me 10k, and told me that she needed to pay. I never saw the girl until a few nights ago," the perp said. Emily knew he was telling the truth based on the look in his eyes.
"What's his name," she said, startling the rest of the agents.
"He'll kill me," Jacobs said. She slowly approached Jacobs till she was smack in the middle of his face,
"So will the electric chair if you don't spit out his name, and location," she growled.
The man gulped, "Richard Montle, from Santa Barbara. He runs the family down there. The team looked at each other, knowing that the man had to be related from Cassie's life in California. And they all knew the family he was speaking of didn't involve the cleavers. He was referring to the mafia, which meant somehow Lisa and Cassie got them self mixed in with the wrong family.
"So wait, you came across country to do a job," Morgan asked. He nodded, "When Richard Montle asks you to do a job, you do a job," he said.
After a few more minutes, the team left the conference room, and headed back to the bull pin to regroup. "I'll get Garcia to pull up all of the information possible about Richard Montle. Reid and Morgan, go through the Santa Barbara police records to see if there were any recent cases against Montle. Rossi, see if you can get any more information about Jacobs. JJ, Emily and I are going to head over to the hospital to see if Cassie knows who this man is," Hotch said.
The team nodded in agreement, except Emily, who clearly wore a worried expression on her face. She knew that they had to question Cassie, but the girl was still a mess. Before she left to head over to office, Cassie was taken for different tests. Emily watched the orderly gingerly lift a reluctant victim, who had attempted to get in the chair herself. After almost going head off the bed, Cassie put her arm around the man, glaring at him. "I'm going into work for a little to get some more details on your case, but I gave the head nurse my cell phone if you need me," Emily said, hesitant to leave Cassie. "Did you find the guy who did this," she asked, shifting in the wheelchair. "Yes we did, and now we're going to try to figure out why," she said. Cassie nodded, not saying anything. Emily gave her a smile as the orderly pushed her out the door, and out of sight.
"Maybe Cassie isn't ready for all of this, I mean for Christ's sake her face is still swollen," she said, shaking her head.
"Em, you know this is the only way to get a hold on this situation is to go to the source, "JJ said, knowing that they had no other choice.
JJ had been in plenty of hospital rooms to interview victims, and knew all to well the pain their faces. Barely out of danger, and forced to wrack their brains of information, with the pressure that went along with it. JJ knew that Emily had the same experience, and wanted to shield Emily from that.
"I know that JJ, I know that," Emily said, annoyed at herself that she was even questioning going to the hospital to question.
"Alright, let's go," Hotch said, leading the way out of the building.
