Chapter 37-Interrogations

It had been decided that Rossi and Will would question Chris Hayes; Morgan and Prentiss would question Jared Shelton, and Reid would question Michael Cummings. JJ and Brandeis would watch through the one-way mirror. As Reid was the least threatening of the group, Rossi determined he'd be the best one to question Cummings.

JJ glanced at the lead detective. She smiled faintly. "Thank you for allowing Agents Rossi, Morgan, and Prentiss, and my husband Will, to question the suspects. It really means a lot."

Brandeis sighed. "No problem, Agent Jareau."

The blond gestured toward the detective's injured arm with her chin. "How's your arm?"

The detective glanced at the wrapping on his injured arm. "I'll live." He chuckled. "Besides, it's just a scratch." That said, JJ and Brandeis turned their attention to the suspect in the room as Brandeis flipped on the audio switch.

Chris Hayes jerked the restraints on his wrists when the door opened catching his attention. He smirked seeing and older and a younger man enter the room.

"Well. Well. Well," he chuckled looking at the duo. "Look who's here. An old man and his farm boy lackey."

The faces of both Will and Rossi remained impassive as they sat down on the opposite side of the table staring at their suspect.

"I'm SSA Rossi and this is Detective LaMontagne, and we want to ask you a few questions about the murder of FBI agent Aaron Hotchner."

"Who?" Chris asked with raised eyebrows feigning ignorance.

Rossi smirked and clasped his hands on top of the file folder he had placed in front of him. Will leaned back in his chair with arms crossed across his chest.

"Comfy?" asked Rossi with a chuckle. Hayes glared at him. Rossi read Chris his rights.

"I don't need no lawyer, old man," Chris hissed. "You ain't got nothin' on me."

"Now that's where you're wrong, Christopher," Rossi replied opening the file folder. "Can I call you, Chris?"

Hayes shrugged. "Call me whatever you want too, old man," he replied sarcastically.

Rossi removed a color 4x6 inch photo of Aaron Hotchner and slid it across the table to the prisoner. "Recognize this man?"

Hayes barely glanced at the photo. "Nope."

"You sure? You need to take a good look at the picture," said Rossi with arched eyebrows.

Hayes sighed. "Why? Who is he?"

Will gestured to the photo. "That is the late Aaron Hotchner. The man you and your two friends, Jared and Michael, murdered."

Hayes grinned realizing Haley hadn't disclosed anything. He leaned forward maintaining eye contact with Will. "I didn't kill no fed!"

Will smirked. "I never said he was a federal agent."

Hayes shrugged. "Musta heard it somewhere, I guess."

"Now I find that surprisin'," Rossi said. "Seeing as how you and his wife work out at the same gym three times a week."

"I work out with a lot of babes."

Rossi and Will both understood Hayes was playing games with them, and decided to play along and let him think he was getting over on them. "Her name's Haley Hotchner," Rossi said.

Hayes feigned confusion. "Haley Hotchner. Haley Hotchner." He finally shook his head negatively. "Sorry, don't know no Haley Hotchner."

"Now that I really find interesting," Rossi remarked as he removed another 4x6 inch photo and slid it across the table. "This is Mrs. Hotchner. The manager at the gym told us she's a regular. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, same as you. He also told us you and Mrs. Hotchner have become quite chummy. Apparently you not only work out together, but spend a lot of time together as well. And when two of our agents spoke to Mrs. Hotchner, she admitted knowing you. Do you recognize her now?" Rossi could see Hayes grind his lower jaw and realized he was becoming angry which is what he intended.

"Nope," Hayes hissed, annoyed that Haley dared to even admit she knew him. Why hadn't the bitch just keep her mouth shut? "And she's lying if she says otherwise! And that manager in the gym is an old man. He doesn't know what he saw."

Will chuckled. "Really? I'm not so sure. Her sister saw you two at the movies one day while she was at the mall. She told us the two of you looked very friendly. And her description of you, plus that of Mrs. Hotchner's child fit you to a tee."

Chris brought his face close to Will, his face now crimson. "I don't care what Jessica saw or thinks she saw! And neither what that little brat nephew of hers claims he saw! Besides, what does a five-year-old know anyway? Kids are known to lie."

Rossi chuckled loudly.

"What are you laughing at, old man?"

"If you don't know Haley at all as you say, how did you know her sister's name is Jessica, or that Haley has a five-year-old son?"

Chris leaned back in his chair realizing he had been played.

"Want to hear what we think, Chris?" asked Rossi with a smirk.

"Not really, old man."

"Well, I'm gonna tell you anyway. Detective LaMontagne and I believe you to be having had an affair with Mrs. Hotchner during her separation from her husband. And when she decided to end the affair and go back to her husband, you couldn't handle that. So you decided to teach her a lesson by convincing two of your friends to help you kill her husband."

Hayes snorted. "You're dreamin'."

"Two FBI agents also spoke to your girlfriend Shelley. I'm sure you remember her. Red hair. She told 'em all 'bout you and Haley, and that she believed you were having an affair with her. She even said how excited you got whenever you spoke about Mrs. Hotchner. How do you explain that?"

I should have gotten rid of both those bitches, Hayes thought. "She's not only a liar, but gets jealous anytime I mention any woman's name."

"So everybody's a liar except you, right?" asked Rossi.

"That's right."

Will nodded his head. "Then perhaps you can explain why your boss told us you admitted to killing Agent Hotchner. And that it was your idea to plant heroin in Agent Hotchner's home. So law enforcement would think drugs were the motive for his death."

"That's a lie! Beth wouldn't do that!"

"Well, I guess she became pissed that you tried to frame her for Agent Hotchner's murder. She can be very convincing. Especially as she explained your idea of opening a safe deposit box under Agent Hotchner's name, and with all that cash. And planting a ledger with names of dealers and cash amounts in it," Will added.

"Face it, Chris," Rossi continued with a grin. "Your boss has thrown you under the wheels of the bus."

"I changed my mind," Hayes hissed. "I'm done talkin' to you two bastards! I want a lawyer."

Rossi and Will exchanged looks before getting to their feet knowing the interrogation had ended. As Rossi gathered the photos and returned them to the folder, he studied Chris Hayes.

"That's the first sensible thing you've done," He replied before he and Will left the room.

A bored Jared Shelton looked up when the door of the interrogation room opened, and in walked Derek Morgan followed by Emily Prentiss. The agents plan of action was to play the suspects against each other and see who caved first. Ignoring Morgan, he grinned at the brunette, eyes full of lust. Emily was familiar with male suspects looking at her as a sex object, and ignored the man. She tossed the file folder on the table as she and Morgan sat on the opposite side. She shook her head tossing a few strands of raven-hair over her shoulder, then folded her hands on top of the folder. Morgan introduced himself and Emily, then read Shelton his rights.

"Do you understand your rights as I've explained them," he added.

"Yeah. And I don't need no lawyer," Shelton replied, eyes still on Prentiss. "I ain't done nothin'." He leaned close to Emily. "I bet you're a real tigress in the sack."

"Watch your mouth," Morgan warned, anger in his voice. He didn't like it when males disrespected Emily, JJ, or Garcia, whether they be suspects or law enforcement officers.

"Mr. Shelton," Emily began ignoring the crude remarks.

Jared smirked. "You can call me Jared, baby."

Emily's face remained impassive. "You can call me Agent Prentiss." She opened the folder and slid a duplicate size color photo of Hotch in front of Shelton. "Recognize this man?"

Jared glanced at the photo of Hotch. "Never seen 'im in my life. Who is he?" he asked pretending not to recognize him. But both Emily and Derek could tell by his eyes that he did recognize Hotch.

Morgan clasped his hands together on the table top and stared directly into Shelton's eyes. "Y'know, you're not helping yourself by lying to us, Jared. We can tell that you not only recognize the person in this photo, but that you took part in his murder."

Shelton smirked. "Prove it, boy." Morgan's face remained impassive, but inside, he wanted to punch Shelton in the mouth.

"We can," Emily explained. "Agent Hotchner was shot twice with a .38 caliber gun after being drugged to incapacitate him, and beaten viciously with a hammer. Both bullets struck him in the chest, but one of them ruptured the aorta leading to his heart causing him to bleed out. We have the gun by-the-way, and our ballistics department proved it to be the murder weapon. The same caliber weapon owned by your grandmother which was missing when one of our agents questioned her earlier. The same grandmother who was found badly beaten and died on the way to the hospital."

"A next-door neighbor heard the two of you arguing, and saw you leave her place," Morgan continued. "He went to check on her after you left and found her barely alive, and called the police and EMTs."

The smirk on Jared's face started to falter listening to the agents talk.

"And one last thing to prove you were involved…" Emily added. "…is your friend Chris Hayes told us it was your idea to kill Agent Hotchner. He also told us you were having an affair with Agent Hotchner's wife, and wanted him dead once she dumped you, and went back to her husband."

Shelton glared at the agents. "You're lying! I wasn't having no affair with no agent's wife. And I sure as hell didn't kill no fed! And my grandmother had an accident. She slipped and fell, that's all."

"He also told us it was your idea to plant drugs in Agent Hotchner's home so it would look like the reason he was killed. But one thing confuses us. Whose idea was it to open the safe deposit box under Agent Hotchner's name, and plant the ledger with all those names and dollar amounts?" Morgan suddenly snapped his fingers and looked at Prentiss. "I bet it was Jared." The two agents turned back to Shelton.

"I bet you're right, Morgan. He does resemble Hotch a bit just like Chris told us he did."

"You're lying! Chris wouldn't say that." Shelton was becoming agitated.

"You want to take that chance?" Morgan asked. "Seems to me your pal Chris Hayes is making sure you take the blame for everything. And if I was you, I'd be pretty damn pissed right now."

"And in case you aren't aware, Jared," Emily added. "The murder of a federal agent carries the death penalty alone. You combine that with the murder of your grandmother, and dealing drugs, you don't stand a chance."

Both agents noticed Jared swallow the lump building in his throat as his brain tried to figure a way out of this mess.

Spencer Reid stood outside the interrogation room staring at Michael Cummings through the mirror, seated at the table. He was restrained with his head bowed. To Reid, he now resembled a frightened child awaiting punishment from an angry parent. The young genius's head tilted slightly to the side as his eyes narrowed while he studied the suspect. When the agents formulated their plan to play the trio against each other, they already figured out Cummings would be the one to break first and roll on the others. It was also Rossi's decision to have Reid interrogate Cummings as the youngest agent would not be conceived as a threat. After a few more minutes, Reid opened the door and walked into the room. Cummings looked up, surprised seeing someone so young walk into the room to interrogate him. This person was practically a baby, and in no way could be a threat. But Michael was scared anyway. He lowered his head again and stared at his trembling hands.

Reid approached with hands stuffed in the pockets of his trousers. He stood beside the chair on his side of the table. "I'm Doctor Spencer Reid of the BAU, and I'd like to ask you a few questions about your participation in the murder of Agent Aaron Hotchner."

"You're not FBI?" Reid noticed Cummings voice was soft, not arrogant or cocky. The man's lower lip quivered.

"I am." Reid pulled out the empty chair and sat across from Cummings. "The Behavioral Analysis Unit is part of the FBI. We study human behavior. For example, I watched you for a few minutes before I walked in here. You looked distressed. Also, your lower lip quivered, which tells me you feel remorse about your participation in Agent Hotchner's death. You look that way right now."

Cummings looked up this time. His eyes were moist. He bit his lower lip. He wanted to tell; he really did. But he was afraid of what Chris would do to him if he found out. He slowly shook his head.

"I…I can't."

Reid shifted his body in his chair and clasped his hands together on the table. He stared into Michael's eyes as he spoke.

"Michael, the murder of a federal agent guarantees a death sentence. I suspect you did not want to murder Agent Hotchner, but did so out of fear of Chris and Jared. Chris is what we label as a narcissist and a psychopath. While you on the other hand, are submissive, and will do whatever Chris wants you to do because if anybody is aware of what he's capable of, it's you. Am I right?"

Michael swallowed the lump in his throat. "Chris can be scary, especially when he gets mad."

"Which I believe he's counting on when he and Jared told my colleagues it was your idea to kill Agent Hotchner. And that it was also your idea to plant drugs in his home, and open a safe deposit box in his name with all that cash. He's expecting you to take the fall in his place like a good little follower."

"What?" Cummings asked, eyebrows knitted together. Chris wouldn't try and have me take the blame for everything, would he? Yeah, he would. "I didn't. That is…what I mean is I…."

"Chris also told us you were having an affair with Agent Hotchner's wife while she was separated from her husband. And that you were angry when she dumped you and went back to her husband."

"That's not true!"

"Jared told us you came to him and Chris, and asked them to help you kill a federal agent. Your reason being if you couldn't have Mrs. Hotchner, you were going to make her pay for dumping you by killing her husband. But my question is, if you were angry at her, why didn't you kill her instead of her husband?"

"Chris and Jared are lying!" Michael raised his voice as tears ran down his cheeks. "It wasn't my idea to kill that agent! It wasn't! And I wasn't having sex with his wife either."

Reid's hazel eyes narrowed and he appeared puzzled. "That's strange. Chris and Jared were adamant and very convincing. Also, two of our agents spoke with Mrs. Hotchner, and even she said the two of you were involved while she was separated from her husband. And that when she told you she was returning to her husband, you didn't seem to take the news well at all."

"That's not true! There was nothing between her and me. Nothing! She was sleeping with Chris!"

"Doesn't really matter anyway. Based on what my colleagues said Chris and Jared told them, it looks like you're going down for everything all by yourself."

Michael couldn't believe what he was hearing. Chris and Jared were blaming everything on him. He'd get the death penalty for certain. But was this agent telling him the truth? He looked into Reid's eyes, and saw no sign of deception.

"Oh God. I swear to you, Doctor Reid, I was not responsible for planning Agent Hotchner's murder. I won't deny being there. But so were Chris and Jared."

Reid sighed. "Michael, I want to believe you and I want to help you. I really do. But you have to give me something. If you do, I can tell the District Attorney you cooperated with us."

Cummings sniffled and nodded. He wasn't going to take the blame by himself. "What do you want to know?"

"Why don't you start at the beginning, and tell me everything."