A/N: Same thank yous! :)
Disclaimer: Same as always.
Chapter 14 - Framed
"Why?" Emily asked frantically.
Agent Clark gave all of them a smug expression as he explained. "My guys went to ask him a few questions and they saw that the tire tracks from his truck were fresh. So they searched it and found a pair of female underwear." He walked out of the bullpen without another word and left the group of ten speechless.
"Just hang back," Hotch whispered loud enough for all of them to hear. "This is a St. Louis arrest and since none of us belong to this field office, it's not our place to go over their head."
"But this is a federal case!" Burke protested passionately.
"Which is why JJ is going to talk him over," Hotch replied as he made eye contact with their media liaison. JJ nodded and quickly walked the path that Agent Clark had taken.
"The rest of us," Gideon started as he turned to face the group, "are going to find our unsub."
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They were working at high speed, exploring every possible theory. But they all stopped what they were doing when the elevators doors 'dinged' open and Ryan Powell stepped out. He was escorted by one unfamiliar St. Louis agent, Agent Morris, and Agent Clark, and he was cuffed behind the back. Emily felt her heart sink a little and she wasn't ready to expand on why.
Hotch and Gideon got up from the table and gave the rest of the group a look that told them to keep working. But they made no objection when Emily followed them out of the bullpen. They saw Agent Clark and another male agent standing outside of a window to an interrogation room. "You know that this is a mistake," Hotch stated as they stepped up to the two men.
"We believe otherwise," the other agent stated sharply. "The crime lab downstairs is processing the underwear that we found in Powell's truck and a strand of long, brown hair."
Emily glanced through the window and saw Agent Morris leading the interrogation. He was obviously going for the aggressive approach. She could clearly tell that he was yelling and so was Ryan in response. Morris stood up straight and sighed heavily before leaving the room. It was a couple of minutes before he rounded the corner and joined his teammates. Emily now had an idea where the door to the interrogation room was.
"He just asked for a lawyer," Morris relayed the information.
"He's not the unsub," Gideon said. "You're wasting your time and resources."
Agent Clark ignored the advice from the BAU and spoke to his agents instead. "Let's leave him until his lawyer shows."
The three men walked away and Gideon sighed heavily. "Can I talk to him?" Emily asked tentatively.
Hotch and Gideon exchanged glances before Hotch nodded and spoke hurriedly, "Yeah, but make it quick and tell him to calm down and think."
She nodded in reply before turning her back and walking around the corner. She found the door easily but stopped when her hand landed on the doorknob and she looked through the small window in the door. He looked so…vulnerable. He was wearing sneakers, sweat pants, and a hooded sweater. His blonde hair was messy and looked to be freshly slept on. He looked like he had given up already; his head was lying on the table.
She snuck into the interrogation room and Ryan immediately sat up straight in his chair. "Em," he said with a small smile. She took the seat across from him. She felt a shiver run down her spine as she heard the clinking of his handcuffs. "Do they seriously think that I killed three women?" He asked panicked.
"We're trying to convince them that you didn't," she said soothingly. "But I know that they're going to try to hold you for 72 hours."
He sighed and let his head fall down until it hit the metal table. "How can they do that?"
"They can hold you for 72 hours without charging you," she explained calmly. He sighed again and she reached across and gently placed her hand on top of one of his. "Ryan, you have to help me figure out who did this."
"I don't know Em!" He exclaimed in frustration.
"Its someone that we've both, at the very least, come in contact with once and something that one of us did, three months ago, set him off." She explained evenly and patiently. She couldn't imagine what he was going through right now, so she didn't expect him to be able to think clearly, but she was trying to help.
"I don't know," he sighed again. "I don't think like you do, I'm a numbers guy."
"Just think about it, okay?" She smiled softly. "Even the smallest little detail will help."
She got up out of her chair and he stood up as well. "Where are you going?" He asked worriedly.
"I'm not supposed to be in here talking to you."
He sighed in disappointment. "Will you be back?" He asked with a boyish smile. He now realized how nice it was to have a friend in law enforcement.
"I'll try," she promised before quickly leaving the interrogation room.
Once she closed the door behind her she let out a deep breath and took a moment to compose herself. She thought about the best way that she could try to help Ryan. Trying to weasel into the interrogation was out of the question. She was not about to suck up to Agent Clark. She paused for a moment before she smiled to herself. The crime lab. Surely the underwear that they found in Ryan's truck couldn't belong to any of their victims. She didn't like the idea of him having a pair of female underwear in his truck at all, but that was beside the point. The scientists in the crime lab would disprove the St. Louis agents' belief and they wouldn't have any circumstantial evidence on which to hold Ryan.
She just hoped that some of her friends still worked in the lab. With her background in forensics, the "lab rats" had always respected her. She walked to the elevator, stepped inside, and pressed the number three. She stepped out of the elevator and walked until she reached the first section of the fairly large crime lab. She smiled as she saw Claire Burton. She was energetic and pleasant, reminding Emily of Garcia, and she had been fresh out of the University of Illinois when they had first met two years ago.
"Long time, no see," she spoke as she walked into the room.
Claire tore her eyes away from her microscope and looked up. "Oh my God!" She rushed towards Emily and hugged her. "Emily," she laughed and cleared her throat before she spoke in a deep voice. "Sorry…Agent Prentiss," she laughed again. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm working a case," she answered cautiously.
Claire eyed her curiously. "The federal one? You're down from Chicago?"
She nodded, "Yeah, and I was wondering if you could do me a huge favour."
"Sure! Anything," she replied excitedly.
"Can you tell me the results off of the pair of underwear that Agent Clark brought in?"
"We're waiting, you know how slow our equipment is," she laughed. "This isn't CSI."
Emily laughed along with her. "Okay, so when you get the results, can you give me a quick call before you tell Agent Clark?" Claire nodded quickly and Emily let out the breath that she was holding in. "Okay, here's my card, it has my new cell number on it."
"Sweet," Claire giggled.
"Thanks so much, Claire," she said gratefully.
"No problem. Talk to ya soon!"
Emily smiled again before she left the room and headed back to the elevator. When she reappeared in the Violent Crimes Unit bullpen, she received inquisitive looks.
"Where did you disappear to?" Morgan asked laughing lightly.
"I infiltrated the crime lab," she replied with a small grin as she took a seat at the table. "I have friends here."
"Are you doing what I think you're doing?" Morgan asked smirking.
She chuckled, "If anyone else asks…no."
"What is she doing?" Reid asked confused.
Morgan turned to Reid and smiled. "She's going to get her friends in the crime lab to tell us the results of the 'evidence' that they brought in before they tell Agent Clark."
"We should be prepared in case the lab confirms that the underwear does belong to one of our vics," Rossi stated slowly. "The unsub could be framing Ryan Powell."
"Which means that he holds some vendetta against him," Burke thought out loud.
"Yeah, for this unsub framing someone would be personal," Elle added as she twirled a pen between her fingers.
"So who are we looking for?" Gideon asked. He posed the question because he felt that their conversation was heading somewhere good.
"Someone who has attached himself to Ryan Powell and…Emily Prentiss," Reid added quietly.
"He's dumped two bodies in the same area," Morgan pointed out. "He's comfortable around that farmland."
"He broke into Ryan Powell's apartment," Garcia spoke up and everyone turned towards her. "He stole Em's t-shirt, the one that she said that she left in Ryan's apartment."
"And he left that note at the crime scene, too," JJ said.
"He's getting really cocky," Hotch sighed in frustration. "The phone call, the note, the t-shirt, either he's itching to get caught to claim his work or…"
"He's planning something else," Gideon finished his sentence.
Their conversation was interrupted by the ringing of a cell phone. Emily quickly pulled her phone out of her pocket and flipped it open. "Yeah Claire, you have the results?" She paused for a moment and everyone watched as her eyes widened in horror followed by her face falling in disappointment. "Okay, thanks Claire, I appreciate it." She closed her phone and placed it on the table in front of her.
Everyone sitting around the table with her already knew what she was about to say but they let her announce it anyway. "Leona Murphy's DNA was found in Ryan's truck."
A/N: To all CSI fans: I actually enjoy the show and I apologize for the little remark. LOL. Review! :)