A/N: Hello again, everyone!
A shout-out to ahowell1993, Slytherin142, Kelly, Susan, MagicSqueak, Skylar, Martha, Betty, Amy, Love .Fiction. 2019, Cookie-Eat, and LunarisMalfoy for either reviewing Chapter 12, favoring and/or following the story.
Again, sorry for the delay! I have graduation NEXT WEEK-TOTALLY EXCITED, independent study-working on a book, final assignments, part-time job, etc.
Thank you all so much for the 100 REVIEWS! WOW!
My apologies if I had made any mistakes but do enjoy the chapter!
"I don't know about this, Spencer." Élise started to have doubts about Reid meeting her parents.
"It'll be good for us," Reid assured her. "And I want your parents' opinion about me."
"Okay, but just to let you know my mother can be pretty straightforward," Élise warned.
"Did you get that from her?" Reid joked before bursting into laughter. They died down the laughter when Reid's phone started to vibrate. Since Reid was driving, Élise answered his phone for him.
"Hello."
"Hey, Élise?"
"Hey, Aaron," Élise greeted Hotch. "I have the phone on the speaker; Reid's driving right now."
"Reid, I need you here in Cherry Hill. Turn on the radio." As Élise turned on,
"We're just getting word that an amber alert for the tri-state area has been issued. The Cherry Hill police department is about to hold a press conference."
"Oh, god." Élise started to get the chills.
"I'll be right there," Reid said over the speaker. After Hotch hangs up.
"I'm coming with you," Élise said. "New Jersey is my home state and it's not every day I get to see you in action. Plus, I have some associates who could help out on incarcerating the bastard who did this."
"Of course, my Queen." Reid takes the palm of her hand and kisses it.
As Reid, Hotch, and JJ were walking in with boxes filled with files, they—along with other members of the Cherry Hill Police Department—watched a televised conference,
"Kyle is shy and quiet. But ever since he joined the soccer team, he's really come out of his shell. He's more outgoing. He even scored his first goal."
"Let's not waste any more time," Hotch insisted.
"Hey, you guys," Élise said as she was walking in and watched some of the conference before getting rowed up. "I'm making damn sure my associates will be everything they possibly can to make sure that whoever did this will be living in a tiny box of a prison cell. He's lucky he's not going to be dealing with me. I would have sent him to death row like that. And even though I'm only just a five-foot woman, he's lucky I'm not one of his future inmates. I would have beaten his ass first before shanking him. I can be a gangster in these Manolo Blahnik heels."
One of the officers whispered to the team, "Do you know her?"
"She's my girlfriend," Reid said.
"Two things. One, she's pretty. And two, I would not want to get on her bad side."
Reid and JJ held their laugh; Hotch had a tiny smirk.
As Reid was putting up Kyle's picture on the board and Hotch was reviewing files, JJ walks in with information; Élise was standing to the side, watching the team work as she was calling up her associates,
"After the first two abductions, cherry hill compiled a list of registered sex offenders in Camden County. There are 439 within a 30-mile radius of where the boys were taken. They have been knocking on doors, conducting interviews. They haven't been able to come up with anything."
"They should have called us in earlier," Hotch said. "There are a lot of these men we can eliminate right away."
"Right."
Hotch continued, "No one new to the area. This unsub knows these neighborhoods. That takes time. Victims are 3 boys, so cross off anyone who targets females."
As Reid was writing on the board, "We can eliminate anyone whose preferential age is over 7 or under 11."
"These boys look nothing alike, so discount suspects who have a very specific type. If the victims have only brown or blond hair, they're off the list. Our unsub's taste of more broad." Hotch said.
"It looks like his preference is based more on age instead of physical characteristics," Reid notes.
"Let's make a special pile for more organized offenders, anyone who's been arrested for stalking, uh, breaking and entering, burglary." Hotch mentions.
"How are we doing so far?" Reid asked.
JJ answered, "With these parameters, I can probably cross off half the names."
"Good. Let's keep going."
"Okay," Élise walks back in the room where Reid has already filed up a list of sex offenders that he and Hotch see as potential suspects. "Wow. You two work fast." Élise comments before Prentiss, Morgan, Rossi, and Detective Lancaster enter the room.
"We've narrowed the list to 5 men," Hotch announced.
"Already?" Lancaster was surprised.
"Registered sex offender Hugh Rollins," Reid puts his picture on the board, "43, lived in Camden county his whole life, in an out of foster care since he was a toddler, and acquired quite the nice rap sheet."
"What's his connection to the victims?" Morgan asked.
JJ answered, "2 years ago, he got a steady job installing TVs."
"Have any of the families purchased a new tv?" Prentiss asked.
"The first two did," JJ answered again. "Garcia found something else. Rollins had no cell or bank activity on the days the boys were abducted."
"We haven't been able to connect Rollins to Kyle yet," Hotch said.
"So, what, we're gonna wait for more evidence?" Morgan asked, who didn't want that to happen.
"No, there isn't time. We have sufficient probable cause."
"Let's go pick him up," Rossi said.
As some of the team geared up, Élise stared intensely at Rollins' picture.
"Oh, I would love to do some serious damage to you, buddy." Élise wanted to spit at his picture.
"Don't worry, we'll get him," Reid assured.
"And you guys bring him in, let me have a few words with him." Élise winks.
Thinking she might help reel a confession from Rollins, Élise walks in,
"Ah, Élise." Rossi greets Élise, who has an instant smile on her face. "Rollins, may I introduce you to Ms. Élise Bastien? "
"I'd shake your hand, but uh…I don't want you touching me." Élise stands by Rossi. "Back in DC, I'm known as the Silent Eliminator and the Silent Enforcer. You're incredibly lucky I can't beat the crap out of you. You are nothing more than a smelling sack of scrap I would have loved to shove down a hole in hell."
One by one, Rossi pulls pictures from the file, "Andy Loeser. He was 11. Jimmy Seager. He was 9. But Kyle, he's—he's only 7. You keep going younger. Guys like you don't last very long in Trenton state. Did you know that the inmates there watch the news every night? I bet they're looking forward to getting you all alone."
"I know I would," Élise soon sat down next to Rossi. "Even evil has standards. They hate people who mess with children, if not more so, than snitches. Who knows what they might to do you. Hell, if it were me, I would have castrated, tortured, mutilated you with a rusty shiv and watch your balls eaten by Anthony Bourdain with a nice glass of red wine by the side."
"Life in Trenton might as well be a death sentence. Are you sure you don't want to tell me where Kyle is?" Rossi comments before asking.
"If I tell you about this kid, I'm not going to Trenton?" Rollins asked.
"Since you seem desperate to avoid state prison, yes."
"I want that written down." Rollins demanded.
After leaving with Rossi,
"I hate making deals with lumps of garbage like him." Élise said with dread. "I just hate the fact that there's no death penalty here."
"Same." Rossi agrees.
"I wish I'd made him cry as I did with Reid's dad."
"Tell me more about that," Rossi smirked.
Hotch and Élise walk back into the interrogation room and places a sheet of paper in front of him.
"Here's your deal. Club Fed."
"Where is that?" Rollins asked.
"Any federal prison of your choice in New Jersey."
"And you should be damn lucky NJ doesn't have the death penalty." Just looking at Rollins was making Élise sick to her stomach.
"Where's Kyle Murphy?" Hotch asked.
"I threw him in the river."
"You didn't take him back to the woods?" Hotch doubted as did Élise.
"No. I didn't have time." Rollins answered.
"You threw him in the Delaware River?"
"Yes."
"He could be anywhere." Hotch started getting more doubtful.
"Well, I suppose that's so."
"We may never find him." Hotch eyes Élise and she looked equally doubtful.
"Guess that's true."
"You didn't throw him in the river," Hotch concluded. "You need more control than that. You need to know exactly where the body is so you can go back and live it over and over again. Tell me the truth." Hotch got in his face.
Élise was having enough of this nonsense. She snatches Rollins' chair and backward and gets in her face. "Tell us…the truth. Now."
Rollins still wouldn't say anything; he only had his mouth open and closed. Disgusted, Élise lets out a frustrated growl before turning his sit around again and Hotch snatches the paper off the desk before walking out. Both Hotch and Élise saw through the seeing glass that Rollins started to cry.
"I love making criminals cry," Élise comments to enlighten the mood.
"Did you make Reid's dad cry when he wet himself?" Hotch smirks. "And by the way, I once witnessed Spencer making a suspect cry."
Élise's jaw dropped open, "Oh, tell me more."
"Aw, man," Rossi said as he walked into the house with Reid. "I can't believe I missed Rollins crying after Élise and Hotch dealt with him."
"That's what I love about her," Reid smirks as they walked up to the stairs, putting on some gloves,
"If he came in through the basement, this would have been his second flight of stairs," Rossi said.
"So Kyle's is the first room he comes to," Reid said as they came into the scattered room. "This wasn't a quiet struggle. He probably knocked Kyle unconscious. Then carried him back downstairs. What's through there?" Reid noticed a door.
"Danny's room," Rossi said as they entered Danny's room.
"It's interesting," Reid comments before continuing. "Another few feet and he would have found Danny. Danny's far more age appropriate for Rollins' preference. He's closer to the first two victims than Kyle is."
"If he'd been stalking these families, he would have known that," Rossi said.
"It's weird." Reid said.
"What, a neat 9-year-old?" Rossi said.
"Well, that, and most kids either pick a top or a bottom bunk. Both beds are slept in." Reid observes the bed. "The top bunk blocks the view of the stars, and there's nothing decorative down here."
"It's Danny's room," Rossi said. "He probably sleeps up top."
"Somebody wet the bed." Reid notices the wet stain. "You know, maybe Danny started in the bottom bunk, wet the bed, and then moved up top?"
"This is Kyle's." Rossi finds a blue stuffed toy and sees Kyle with the same stuffed toy in the picture.
Reid finds pajama pants on the floor and checks the size, "It's size 6. Kyle slept in here last night. If he didn't sleep in his room, why was it destroyed?"
"To make it look like the other crime scenes," Rossi concludes.
Reid was going through a file as Hotch joined them.
"I just talked to Rollins. He said he dumped Kyle's body in the river. He's clearly lying. He doesn't have any connection to that boy. "
"Obviously," Élise said.
"The disposal of Kyle's body is very different from the other two," Prentiss said, looking at the differences with the pictures. "He was gently placed on the ground, neatly laid to rest with his hands by his sides. Rollins discarded these two boys like trash."
"We think Kyle may not have slept in his room last night," Reid said.
Hotch asked, "Where do you think he was?"
"I think in his brother's room. Danny has bunk beds. Both bunks were slept in, and whoever slept in the bottom one wet the bed and left Kyle's bear." Reid said.
"So, do we think someone destroyed Kyle's room to make it look like he was abducted like the other two victims?" Morgan asked.
"Who else knows the details of all 3 cases?" Hotch asked.
"Lancaster." Rossi answers.
"Morgan, call Garcia and see what she can find out about Lancaster that we don't already know." Hotch orders. "Reid and Prentiss, watch the video of the press conference. See if you can find anything."
"Want me to talk to Rollins again?" Rossi asked.
"Yes. And I don't have to remind anybody where we are. Please be discreet."
"Well, if you're going to talk to him again, I'm coming." Élise offers.
Walking back into the interrogation room, placing a picture of Kyle, "We found Kyle murphy's body in the woods. Why did you lie?" Rossi said with Élise by his side. "You aren't the type to take credit for something you didn't do."
"And that's just low," Élise comments. "Even for a disgusting flick of filth like yourself."
"I can't go to Trenton." Rollins' tearfully admits.
"As long as you're straight with me, I'll tell the D.A. you cooperated," Rossi promises.
"Scout's honor," Élise said with deadpan.
"Is that what you needed to hear?"
"People don't understand. I can't explain why I do these things. All I know is that I can't help myself. I don't want to die in prison!"
"You're gonna be in one for the rest of your life, Hugh." Rossi reminded him.
"Where you will die in one," Élise said.
"No, I'm talking about what they do to people like me. I don't want to go like that." Rollins pleads.
"Then tell me the truth."
"He's too young. He's not my type." Rollins confesses.
As Rossi slides the photo away, Élise got in his face and pounds on the table, startling Rollins.
"You are a disgusting and pathetic excuse for a human being and you're going to rot in hell. But on the bright side, perhaps those inmates might send you there when you step foot in there. Because they are going to be...so excited for your arrival."
As Élise and Rossi left, they see through the looking glass Rollins crying with his hands over his face.
"Don't you just love it when they cry?" Élise asked.
"At times yes," Rossi answered. "This would have been more perfect if NJ had the death penalty."
"Ditto." Élise agrees.
JJ walked into the room where Morgan, Hotch, Reid, and Élise were listening to Rossi questioning Sarah, Dan, and Detective Lancaster about the true nature of Kyle's death.
"Kyle murphy's autopsy report." JJ hands each of them a copy of the report.
"Two postmortem hits to the head," Hotch noticed. "First one was shallow. Clearly, he hesitated."
"Lancaster had to hit Kyle to make the wounds consistent with Rollins' victims," Reid noted.
"I'm glad he spared them that part of his story," Hotch said.
"Like that makes a difference, Hotch," Élise said.
"Look on the second page." JJ quietly said.
When they all flipped to the second page, they had chills running down; Élise's jaw dropped.
"Prentiss needs to see this," Hotch said.
Minutes later, JJ, Hotch, Morgan, Élise, and Reid listened to Prentiss tell Sarah, Dan, and Lancaster how Danny killed Kyle before telling them that their son is a sociopath.
"I still can't get the fact that Danny stuffed plane parts down Kyle' throat and the fact that they were willing to sacrifice someone else for his crimes, even if that someone else was no better." Élise still had the chills just talking about the case as Reid parks the car.
"Yeah," Reid agreed. "Have you ever done that? Prosecute a child?"
"It depends on the nature of the crime and if the child understands the seriousness, regardless of age." Élise answers. "Would you sacrifice someone else for your child?"
"I don't think I would," Reid answered as he and Élise were walking to a small white ranch house.
"Same here."
Once they reached to the door, Élise knocked and after thirteen seconds—Reid counted, a big-boned man with dark skin, shaved head, glasses, dressed simply in a shirt and sweats, answered.
"Hey, dad." Élise smiled.
"Ellie!" Her father hugs her. "It's been so long." Reid awkwardly waves at her father. "And you must be Dr. Spencer Reid."
"Yes, I am, sir." Reid soon nervously shook Élise's father's hand.
"Pleasure to meet you and please, call me Mr. Micha."
Stepping inside, they soon came across a woman with dark skin and hair, glasses, simply dressed in a white top, multicolor skirt and flats. "Spencer, this is my mother."
"Pleasure to meet you, ma'am." Reid shook Élise's mother's hand.
"Pleasure to meet you, too. And please call me Ms. Geneva." She spoke with a slight dialect.
An average-height guy with dark skin, clean shaved head dressed in a blue shirt, dark jeans and sneakers walked out of a room, holding a woman's hand and she had medium-skin tone, dark curly hair, and was dressed in a light blue shirt, denim knee-length skirt, and flats.
"And this is my older brother, Arthur and his wife Brenda."
"Pleasure to meet you." Reid shook both of their hands.
Soon came a moment of silence before,
"Okay," Élise said. "Let's have some dinner, shall we?"
"So, Dr. Reid…" Micha said as he took a bite of saltfish.
"You can call me 'Spencer' or even 'Reid' if you want to." Reid insisted before sipping some coffee.
"Okay…Reid. How long have you been dating my princess?"
"Actually, we met on a blind date set up by my boss and we instantly clicked. We met on October 1st of last year, so about 203 days; which is six months and seven days."
"Wow," Arthur said, impressed. "Are you some kind of genius or something?"
"I don't believe that intelligence can be accurately quantified, but I do have an IQ of 187 and eidetic memory and can read 20,000 words per minute. Yes, I'm a genius." Reid rambled before finishing that sentence.
"So, what kind of doctor are you?" Geneva asked.
"I'm an academic doctor," Reid answered. "I graduated from high school at 12 years old and now I have three PhDs in Mathematics, Engineering, and Chemistry. I also hold BAs in Psychology and Sociology and I'm even going for a BA in Philosophy."
"Impressive," Brenda said as she dabbed her mouth; Élise smirked.
"So, Reid, what is your line of work?" Arthur asked.
"I was recruited by the FBI at 21, graduated from the Academy at 22 the next year and now I'm a Supervisory Special Agent and profiler for the Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico, Virginia."
"Wow." Micha was speechless.
Élise and Reid gave each other a smile before continuing to eat dinner.
….
45 minutes later, Élise and Reid had to leave since they had to get back to Virginia for work. While Élise and Brenda were talking outside,
"Really, it was a pleasure meeting you all," Reid said. "Dinner was delicious."
"Thank you and the feeling is mutual," Micha smiled. "And I approve of you dating my daughter. You even have my blessing if you ever do plan on marrying her someday." Polite laughter ensured.
"And mine's as well. But just don't hurt her," Geneva warned him.
"Same here or you'll be dealing with us. Mostly me." Arthur alerted Reid.
Reid gulped, "Yes."
"Good night!"
"Good night!" Reid and Élise waved as they were walking towards the car and drove off.
"They loved you, huh?" Élise said
"They did." Reid kisses the palm of her hand.
Until the next chapter, everyone!