Chapter 37

Spencer pulled the big SUV in behind the line of local police cars that had blocked the access road closest to the falls. He grabbed his Kevlar vest from the passenger seat as he opened the door, trying to pull it on while he hurried towards where he spotted Hotch.

"Any sign of him yet?" he called out. Scarlett picked her head up from the map at the sound of his voice.

"Locals found the stolen car just up the line," she told him as she met him halfway. Reaching up, she readjusted the Velcro strap on his left shoulder as he struggled with it.

"Thanks," he said quietly, meeting her eyes for just a moment before turning his attention back to the case.

"Anytime, sweet boy," she grinned, speaking just as quietly.

"We're going to follow Agent Ryan in," Hotch was saying as they returned to the front of the car where the maps were spread out. "She has the side trails memorized and has a theory as to where he's heading. We go in quiet… he may have taken a hostage, so we won't risk that he would kill her…"

The officers geared up following the instructions. Scarlett saw the momentary hesitation in Spencer's face before he covered it up and fell in line behind her.

"I would have thought he'd be heading out of town," one of the officers spoke to Hotch.

"He's looking for something…"

"For what?" the man asked.

"Himself…"

Picking the trail that she knew would lead them directly into the base of the falls; Scarlett kept up her guard, searching for footprints or signs somebody had been through the area recently. She felt Hotch at her left shoulder and could see Reid out of the corner of the eye to her right. They both were covering her…

She wanted to sigh a bit at that, but considered herself lucky instead. A girl could do worse than have these men at her side.

They rounded a bend in the trailhead that opened into the lake at the bottom of the falls and she stopped short, giving a hand signal to those behind her to hold up. She stepped backwards between Hotch and Spencer.

"I saw him… he's sitting at the edge of the pool and he's holding someone. I saw dark hair…" she warned them. Hotch pulled back a bit more, under the cover of the trees.

"Glasses…" Hotch reached behind her and looked through the field binoculars over to where he could make out where Matloff sat.

"He's there- it's him," he agreed. "And whoever he has isn't moving…"

"Let's go," the officer in charge started to set his men towards the knoll.

"No! Wait!" Spencer stopped them. "If we rush him, he may kill her and himself…"

"How do you want to play this?" Scarlett asked, directing her question to Hotch.

"Send two of the snipers to higher ground. High and wide… I'm going to go in and try to reason with him…"

"You think he's going to try to shoot his way out?" Spencer asked, darting a quick look at Scarlett.

"No, but if he does, I don't want to be the only gun in there," Aaron met their concerned gazes.

"You won't be," Scarlett assured him, looking back at the officer behind her. She took his rifle and gauged the distance. "I'll be the wide, on the right," she informed Hotch, assuring him she would personally cover his back.

Hotch nodded, watching as she moved over to the copse of trees that gave her a clear shot. He knew Reid followed, moving to the lower ground as he approached Matloff.

Spencer looked beyond where Hotch had stopped to see Scarlett clearly between the trees. She held her position steady, the rifle trained on the back of Matloff's head. The only movement she made was to nod quickly at Reid as he mimicked her position from his angle below her, holding his service weapon steady.

"Brian! I want you to show me your hands," Hotch raised his voice towards Matloff. When the man didn't respond he tried once more.

"Hands now Brian!"

"Stop, please! Stop right there," Matloff cried out over his shoulder.

Spencer could see better now from the lower angle when Matloff moved that the woman he held in his arms was a corpse. The body was badly decomposed, enough that he could determine even from this distance she'd been buried for many years. A glance to Hotch's face told him that his supervisor had already deduced the same.

"Who was she?" Aaron asked Matloff.

The man's voice choked on his tears. "She was my first," he said, his voice carrying on the wind to reach Scarlett's ears also. Moving her position slightly, she travelled through the trees to get a better view of the woman while keeping the man in her sights. Once she saw the body, she raised her eyes to Spencer's and saw him nod. This changed the threat. Matloff hadn't taken a hostage. The only threat now was to Hotch or the possibility of suicide by cop.

"The minute my feet hit the ground, I knew right where to find her," Brian called out, grief clear in his tone.

"I did it," he raised his voice louder. "I killed them all!"

"You remember," Hotch stated.

Matloff nodded, tears streaming down his cheeks now.

"I remember, everything. Every tiny detail. But it's still not real- like the memories belong to someone else…"

"Maybe in some way they do," Hotch told him. "But you still need to pay for what you did…"

"If I'm going to be put to death, I might as well end it right here!" Matloff shouted, raising the gun to his own head.

Scarlett trained her sights to his hand, prepared to disarm him if necessary.

"Brian! The court may show you mercy, but you have to earn it," Hotch told him. "If you believe you are a different person, then do the right thing!"

Spencer watched Matloff consider what Hotch was saying. When Matloff nodded slowly, moving the gun away from his temple and tossing it away, he felt the adrenaline rush move out of his system. He looked up across the way to meet Scarlett's eyes and saw the relief that mirrored his own.

Moving quickly behind Hotch, he took the discarded weapon even as Scarlett came over towards them to help take Matloff into custody. Aaron nodded to both of them as they led Brian back up the trail.

Hotch ordered the one officer to call in the coroner to take in the body that Matloff had identified.

Once they had the prisoner secured in the back of the squad car, Scarlett stepped between Spencer and Hotch as they headed back to their vehicles.

"Well, boys, I wish I could say it's been fun," she told them as she headed towards her own SUV. "Good luck with the DA… I'll have my reports on your desk by the time you get back," she nodded towards Hotch.

"Tomorrow is early enough," Hotch responded, looking between her and Reid. "Go home…" he told her. "I'm hopeful that we'll be heading that way ourselves, tonight," he added with a half-smile.

"Sounds promising," Scarlett agreed, catching Reid's eye before she passed behind him. Spencer looked over at Hotch quickly and saw him nod. Moving quickly, he caught up with her as she opened the door.

"Hey, cutie," she grinned up into his face.

"Hey yourself," he smiled back, looking around before dropping a kiss to her lips.

Scarlett noted the worry lines between his brows. "What's bothering you, babe?" she asked, boosting herself up into the driver's seat.

"Nothing… I just hope we close this out now and get home tonight," the furrow in his brow deepened. "I don't sleep well without you…" he admitted.

Scarlett let her thumbs trace lightly over the dark circles under his eyes. "Me neither," she admitted softly. "So I'll be waiting up," she kissed him one more before settling in behind the wheel. Spencer closed the door, stepping back as she turned over the engine.

He watched her pull away before making a half jog over to where Hotch was waiting for him.

"You ready to close this up and head home?" Aaron gave Spencer a brief grin.

"Definitely," he breathed out, meeting Hotch's smile. "And maybe tomorrow we'll be sitting in the sidelines for a soccer game…" he added.

Hotch's grin grew wider. "That's the plan."

They headed back into town as evening began to fall. Spencer watched the sunset slip behind the buildings as he took the steps that led into the DA's office. He followed Hotch's lead and began packing up their files from the case into boxes.

Cece entered the room with a huge grin on her face.

"Well that's it!" she announced. "Matloff is pleading out. It's over," she gave a sigh of relief while she scanned the pictures along the board.

"Congratulations," Hotch told her.

"Well, I couldn't have done it without you," she stated. Her smile widened. "First round is on me…" she offered, picking up some of the files from her desk.

Hotch saw the tightened look move into Reid's eyes. Sparing the younger agent some grief he turned to Cece.

"No, we are going to have to take a rain check… We still have a long drive ahead of us," Hotch told her.

The DA smiled. "Another time then," she nodded, catching the look between the agents.

With another glance to Spencer, she noted the look of thanks that crossed his face, along with relief. It was obvious Reid was in as much of a hurry to get home as Hotch was- so the next statement came as somewhat of a surprise.

"If you don't mind… I'd like to take Darci's watch back to her father… I could drop it off on the way home…" he glanced at the DA then Hotch, apologizing for the delay.

Hotch nodded in understanding. "Sign it out of evidence. It won't take us too far out of the way to drop it off," he stated.

Hildebrant picked up her purse and reached over to shake both of their hands. "Thanks again," she said as she left the room. "Lock up when you leave…" she called back.

"We will," Hotch watched her go, and then looked at Reid. Spencer added more files to the box as he spoke to Hotch.

"Darci Corbett's father brought a gun to the courthouse today," Reid told him. He dropped the files into the box and straightened, catching Hotch's eyes.

"You're kidding," Hotch's eyes narrowed in concern. "You think he was serious about using it?"

Spencer nodded as he spoke. "I think so, yeah…" he scowled slightly, thinking about the older man, wondering what he might be driven to do in a similar situation. Spencer tried to shake off the unsettling thought and sighed.

"He was looking for closure," he told Hotch as he started to take down the victim's pictures from the board. Each face, another life cut short, another family ripped apart… It weighed heavily on his heart.

Hotch saw the look in Reid's eyes.

"Do you think he'll find it now?" Aaron asked his friend.

"I don't really think so," Spencer said sadly. "I mean, uh… people's emotional lives aren't linear like that. To say that a killer's conviction, one single event- can just suddenly bring peace to a man? I don't…" he stopped a moment, thinking of how Scarlett still sometimes had nightmares, even though Ian Rowan was dead…

"I just don't think it's possible. It's not that easy…"

Hotch agreed. "Not easy. But he has to try. When it comes right down to it, what choice is there? We all have to try our best to move beyond, to find our peace…"

Spencer licked his lips nervously, his brow furrowing in thought. "I just hoped that maybe giving him back the watch would help him find that peace. I noticed it was engraved…" he shrugged slightly, unsure that it would help, but feeling like he had to try.

Hotch rested a hand to Reid's shoulder. "Then let's give it back," he told him, understanding what Spencer was trying to say.

About an hour into the drive home, Hotch pulled up in front of a small home in a quiet town. Spencer palmed the watch into his hand and went up the walkway to knock on the front door.

Mr. Corbett answered.

"Agent Reid…" he said, sounding slightly surprised.

"Sorry, I… uh- I know it's late," Spencer apologized. "But umm, I wanted to give you the news, before it hit the paper- Matloff is changing his plea to guilty…" he told the man. "Everyone agreed to life, without parole."

Spencer saw Corbett nod and look thoughtful for a moment. He met Reid's gaze.

"You didn't have to come here," Mr. Corbett told him.

"I also wanted to return this…" Spencer said, lifting his hand that contained the watch. Mr. Corbett reached out, a bit confused until he saw the piece.

"I had them release it from evidence," Reid told the father.

Corbett held the watch, turning it over in his hand. "It belonged to Darci's grandmother," he told Spencer softly. "They were very close…"

"I couldn't help but notice the inscription on the back," Reid stated. "Glory in the flower? I'm not familiar," he fibbed. He actually knew the passage well, having read it himself to Scarlett on more than one occasion. But seeing the engraving had been one of the main reasons he'd wanted to get the piece back to Mr. Corbett. Spencer had hoped the words would help him find the closure he'd been seeking.

Darci's father gave a soft smile. "Poetry was one of the things they shared," he said. "It's Wordsworth…"

"What though the radiance that was once so bright, be now forever taken from my sight… Though nothing can bring back…"

The words began to hit the man as he spoke them. The meaning took on new context as he now understood what the poet was saying. Spencer saw Mr. Corbett begin to choke up and felt his own throat constrict. He swallowed against it roughly.

"Uh, thanks," Darci's father met Spencer's gaze once more, and turned back into his home.

Reid turned back to the vehicle, sliding into the passenger's seat. Hotch had heard the conversation and looked at Spencer.

"I'm not that familiar with Wordsworth," he stated. "I'm certain you are…"

Spencer gave him a shrug as he continued the rest of the quote.

"Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower… we will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind."

Hotch nodded. "I'm sure that will bring him some peace," he told Reid.

"I hope so…" Spencer looked out over the neighborhood as they left, heading towards home, to his own peace…