21. Liar

"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything." ― Mark Twain

Spencer POV

"I know you're not his biggest fan but that doesn't equate to him being a murderer." I snapped as I followed Morgan through the hospital corridor, all thoughts of sleep banished to the back of my mind.

"You really think I'm that petty?!" He whirled round and cornered me against the coffee machine. "As you're keen to remind me, it's your wife that's in danger and this is a lead. I'm not saying he did it, but it's looking a little suspicious right about now, don't you think? And we all know he can be violent. I mean you're his family and he was more than happy to smash your face in with a baseball bat! Maybe he met a dominant partner who decided to use him, or maybe this is one big fat explainable coincidence. Either way we need to find out exactly what's going on." Morgan bore down on me, his nostrils flaring in anger that I'd accused him of being petty. Of course he was right, we needed to speak to Jesse and this did look a little suspect, but I still didn't want to accept it. Didn't want to even consider the vaguest possibility that Jesse was capable of this. That my kid brother could commit murder, could threaten his own sister. It was a heart versus head scenario. And the heart would keep fighting for all its worth.

"I know he can be violent. I know what he's capable of and this isn't it. He's got a temper and if we were talking about a pub brawl that had got out of hand then yeah, I wouldn't have a problem believing he was involved because when he gets angry he can be irrational and violent. But this is the calculated cold blooded murder of innocent people. Of a girl he was dating. And he would never hurt Marley. That kid's loyalty to his family is the most important thing in his life."

"He hasn't hurt Marley though. She's miles away, she's safe. Maybe he got her and Aaron out of the way of his partner. A little insurance. I don't know kid, but the person who does know is on the other side of that door." He pointed further up the corridor before heading off, throwing over his shoulder that I needed to remember the plan. I bristled a little at his insinuation that I couldn't do my job properly but continued after him. At the station we'd taken a long time trying to decide how to play things. The one positive with dealing with a family member was that you knew more about them, how to play them, what their weaknesses were. In the end we'd decided for the age old good cop/ bad cop routine. Jesse would never admit to Morgan if he'd done something wrong but I also wasn't sure he'd take too kindly for the softly softly approach either; this seemed perfect. I was just praying it was an inordinate waste of time.

Morgan had already knocked on the door when I approached and was greeted by a tired Vince. Nick was sat by Jesse, who was propped up and looked semi- conscious. The sinking feeling in my gut alerted me to the fact I'd actually been silently praying that he would be out and too ill to speak too.

"Can we speak to Jesse?" Morgan asked, barrowing passed Vince's concerned questions about his daughter.

"He's just woken up. Could you maybe wait a few more hours?"

"No. This is important." And with that he brushed past Vince and headed into the room. I glowered at his back, his bad cop routine was meant to be for Jesse and not the entire family. I offered Vince an apologetic smile before following Morgan inside. I hoped it was my imagination that Jesse's crestfallen face when we walked in had guilty written all over it. Morgan waited while everyone else left before leaning on the bar beside Jesse's right arm and looming over him. "I think you know why we're here."

"Yeah, Derek. I got attacked and he threatened to murder my sister." He shrugged and hissed in pain but the atmosphere had changed, there was a nervous edge to Jesse. He knew why we'd come and he didn't want to talk about it.

"What's this Jesse?" Morgan practically shoved a photo of the Reaper's signature eye at Jesse who had to squint to get a glimpse at it.

"It's Foyet's signature."

"And how do you know that? No, let me answer that for you. You abused Rossi's trust to gain access to Foyet's file and then you used that knowledge to kill seven people. And I think I can convince any jury in the world that you're guilty." Morgan snarled, playing his part a little too well as Jesse went wide eyed and turned desperately to me.

"This is crap! Spencer, you can't believe him! I didn't do this! I mean come on I was attacked! I didn't do this to myself!" His eyes filled with tears and I had to look away, he was still so ill and we were toying with him like a plaything.

"No, we know you didn't do it to yourself. You have a partner. Now you're going to tell me all about him and your plan or I'm going to arrest you right now. Can you imagine the pain this is going to cause your Dad when he finds out what you…?"

"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! I TOLD DAVE I WAS DOING A PROJECT!" Jesse screamed with such force I was worried he was about to pull out his stitches, even Morgan façade cracked and he nearly broke out of character to help the kid but I stepped up to the bed and grasped his hand, willing him to calm down before a nurse came in and kicked us out. Or worse, Vince. I knew he wouldn't have wondered far and I doubted he'd take too kindly to us abusing his critically ill son. "I didn't, I wouldn't hurt anyone. You have to believe me Spence."

"I do. But you have to help us out. You have to tell us everything. Why did you access Foyet's folder?"

"I told you! For a project, I had to do a presentation about a murderer for one of my classes at the academy. When I told Dave I had to do research over the summer he said I could use the bureau records. I just wanted to do a good project," He'd started crying, silent tears falling down his cheeks, it was a pretty pathetic sight and I just wanted to hug him, make everything better but I had to stay on track. "I wanted to show everyone how good I could be. How I deserved my place. Once people found out I lived with one of the BAU's best section chiefs at the internship they all thought I only got in out of favouritism. I wanted to prove them wrong."

"Why Foyet though?" I asked, trying to stay on topic despite the fact I felt his pain acutely as I remembered way back when I was being sneered at for having a relationship with Gideon.

"I know you're not going to believe me," he said, turning to address Morgan in particular. "But it was completely innocent. I came about this career path by a different route to most. After Marley nearly died I wanted to help others. I suppose I needed to know how we ended up here. I was going to do Carmichael, but I couldn't bring myself to try and understand what he'd done or to think about how close my sister came to dying. But then I thought of Foyet, I mean he was the reason Marley came to live with Aaron in the first place. Foyet started all this. That was the only reason I researched him. I swear it's all a coincidence."

"Ok, let's say I believe you. We know you were only with Melissa for the last thirty minutes before the attack. Where were you?" Morgan continued, sounding much calmer than before.

"I…I just wandered round. Just needed to get out the house, then eventually I went round to Melissa's."

"Anyone confirm that." Morgan asked, his face becoming pinched again at Jesse's suspect story.

"No." He whispered quietly and I felt something inside me snap. He was so obviously lying, but about what?

"Jesse, I'm a profiler and your brother-in-law that means I can tell better than anyone when you're lying. It's written all over your face and I don't have time to play games. Seven people are dead already, Jesse! And whether you mean to or not you're protecting their murderers. Did you know they left a note for Marley, that's why we moved her, they said they were going to kill her on Haley's anniversary. Do you want that to happen to your sister? Because if you don't tell us where you were then the police might decide to go for an easy arrest. Morgan's right, there's enough here to get a jury to convict you. Now I believe you're innocent but if you get convicted then Marley will be brought back. Back to this danger. Then they'll kill her. Do you want that to happen? Do you want her to die?" It was harsh, but as the colour drained from his face until he was competed with the pillowcase, I knew it was working.

"I… I was with a friend. His name is Daniel Edgecrest. He picked me up in his car at the bottom of your road and we went to the park. We exchanged gifts and just spent some time together. Spencer, Melissa, she, well she wasn't my girlfriend." He glanced at me nervously, tears clinging to his lashes, and I understood what he was trying to say.

"Jesse, you could have told us. No one would have cared." My gut twisted as I realised the open family I thought we had might just have been an illusion. Just as I was re-evaluating our whole family, and how Jesse could honestly believe he couldn't tell us he had a boyfriend, when to my surprise he actually started laughing.

"I know, Spencer. I know Dad wouldn't care but Dan comes from a really strict family. He didn't want to tell them and I knew it would hurt him even more when you guys were so accepting. I mean can you imagine? Dad would invite him round for dinner the next day! But his Dad would disown him. So I said we could keep it quiet for a little bit. Mel was the only one who knew." The tears began falling and I grasped his hand tightly as he cried. "I tried to help her, I really did but he was so strong."

"I'm so sorry Jesse." Morgan whispered as he stared down at the boy, compassion clouding his face as he moved forwards. It was a long time before he calmed down enough to continue the interview. Morgan took over the cognitive part of the interview, trying to find out everything from the attack. Sadly there wasn't much to gain from Jesse, he didn't think he'd been followed, his attacker had worn a mask but he thought he'd had blue eyes. And that was it. Eventually an annoyed nurse came in and told us to leave. From the glower Vince gave me from behind the nurse I was pretty sure he had sent her.

"Jesse, tell your Dad. It'll be alright." I whispered as a farewell before releasing my grip on his hand and following Morgan from the room.

"I could hear him shouting." Vince hissed in my ear as we passed. He reached out and snared my arm in a vice like grip. "He nearly died a few hours ago."

"I know, we just had to find out…"

"Not like that." I felt about an inch tall under his disappointed gaze but Jesse saved me from responding by calling out for his Dad. Vince let go of me and headed off without a backward glance at me.

"I believe him." Morgan offered as if I hadn't worked that out from his body language during the interview. I knew he was trying to take my mind off Vince's snide remarks. "We need to go speak to Daniel, then work out how they knew about Foyet."

"Do you reckon that course has changed much since I was there? Only I remember giving that presentation and we had to do it to our whole class. If Jesse had to then his whole class would know everything he knew about Foyet."

"I'll get Garcia to do some research on Jesse's classmates." I nodded at Morgan's suggestion, trying not to get my hopes up but secretly praying that we'd found an easy lead.

Of course it was never going to be that easy. Garcia called us en route to tell us that Jesse had actually been chosen out of his class to give his presentation again along with one person from each of the other classes in an open lecture theatre. The entire first year of the academy as well as anyone who wanted to see it from the bureau had had open access to Foyet's file courtesy of Jesse.

Garcia's list had suddenly got a whole lot longer.