Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds
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Garcia had been very busy. The team was talking to her on the computer at the Atlantic City PD. Although they had not called the team in, they had offered the FBI a conference room to work out of since there was no field office in the city. They gathered around the computer as the perky tech filled them in on her findings.
"I've been tracking the movements of your girls. They all were in the cities of the pageants the dead women last attended. Only one, however, moved to where two of your victims were killed. She traveled to the first two cities within a day of the murders but she never traveled to Brownsville or Harrisburg. She did, however, fly into Philadelphia two days before the Harrisburg murder. She also rented a car while she was there so she could easily have driven to Harrisburg." Garcia paused for breath.
"That's great work baby girl," Morgan said, "So, who's our winner?"
"Not so fast, I'm not done yet," the tech smiled coyly from the screen. "Okay, now most of the pageant's costumes are purchased from two places, Warwick Designs and Fantastic Fashions. Both of the mothers got costumes for their daughters from these places but no adult costumes, however, adult costumes were ordered from and paid for by money order. They were shipped to a PO Box in Buffalo. One of your girls lives in and works out of Buffalo."
"Which one, Garcia," JJ said, getting anxious.
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William Reid was in a wheelchair in the waiting room for the second time that day, talking to Damien Walcott. "Okay, I've managed to get three expert witnesses willing to testify that antidepressants can cause aggressive episodes and combining two, as in your case, is begging for trouble. I also have four cases decided in favor of the defendant involving violent episodes to use as precedent for my defense."
"Do you really think that this could work?" William was incredulous.
"I think we've got a really good shot and there's another weapon in our arsenal."
"What's that?"
"Your sons," Walcott said triumphantly.
"My sons, what do you mean by that? My sons would be testifying against me," William countered. "And Spencer wants me to plead guilty to avoid putting Evan through that. He's just gone through a battle with leukemia; he almost died. It was only a bone marrow transplant from Spencer that saved him. That's how they became involved in each other's lives; they'd never met before that."
Walcott's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and his face broke into a broad grin. "You're kidding me, right?" William shook his head. Walcott continued, "This just gets better and better!"
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"Lori Hanson lives in Buffalo and works for a PR firm headquartered there," Garcia informed the team. "She was on flights to two of the cities where murders took place and like I said, she did fly to Philadelphia and could easily have driven to Harrisburg. There's no record of her going to Brownsville unless she got there some way other than flying."
"Lori Hanson, I wouldn't have thought it was her," Emily said, "She certainly didn't seem like the type."
The team went in search of Lori Hanson, finding her in the convention hall finalizing details for the next day's competition. She was placed under arrest and taken down to the Atlantic City PD for questioning. The suspect denied ever being in those places and she said she could prove it. She had an airplane receipt and hotel receipt from Denver for the date of one of the murders.
"Check it out and confirm I was there," she pleaded. Morgan called Garcia.
They received a call a few minutes later from Garcia saying Hanson had indeed been in Denver on the date in question so she could not have been in Harrisburg killing Judy Delecroix. Garcia had video from the event and her facial recognition software proved it was Lori Hanson.
"I was so sure we had our girl," Garcia remarked to Morgan. "Could someone have stolen her identity and been going to these murder sites as Lori Hanson."
"Yeah mama, it looks like we're back to square one," Morgan responded.
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"What do you mean by that," William asked suspiciously?
"You've seen your sons on TV regarding this Amy Billingsly thing, right?"
William nodded, "Of course."
"Well, so has everybody in the free world. It's been on all the network news shows and CNN has it on all the time. Apparently the press has been trying to get interviews with your boys but Spencer will only say no comment and will not allow the press anywhere near Evan. I think your ex-wife is letting Spencer run the show."
"That's probably true. Janice thinks Spencer is the second coming. She'd go along with just about anything he suggested," William croaked, his throat still sore from when the endotracheal tube had been in place. "He's probably right though. He knows what he's doing, believe me. My son is a genius with three doctorates, he can read twenty thousand words a minute and he has an eidetic memory. That's not always easy to live with, believe me, I know. Don't try and get by Spencer using big words and legal jargon or try to flim flam him. It won't work. He'll have read all the books you have and more. He wouldn't need a paralegal to look up case law; he'll know it and quote it back to you verbatim."
"Getting back to the boys," Walcott said, "Evan had leukemia, really! And Spencer actually saved him?" William nodded again. "This is better than great," Walcott continued. "I can see it now. We get the right jury and your youngest, who really doesn't want to testify against Dad, takes the stand. He just looks so sweet. If I bring up all the things he's been through and the mitigating factor of the antidepressants, the jury is just not going to want to send you away. They'll want you and your boys to be a family."
"Isn't that a lot to put Evan through, I mean, if I plead guilty, what's the worst that can happen?"
"The worst," Walcott responded, "Would be life."
"Life," William erupted, dumbfounded. "For attempted murder and he wasn't even hurt badly."
"Ah, but don't forget, he's not Joe Shmo, he's a federal agent. The justice system does not appreciate criminals trying to kill our law enforcement officers, especially Feds. Now I don't think for one minute, you'll get life but the sentence could be hefty. It would not be less than ten years."
"Ten years, are you sure?" William was trying to imagine being locked away for ten years. Why hadn't they left him dead in surgery? Why bring him back for this?
"Minimum," Walcott repeated. "And it won't be in a minimum or probably even medium security prison. It's likely to be in maximum security because you are a violent offender, somewhere like Leavenworth or Lompoc. Also wardens and guards do not look kindly on those who try to take out federal agents."
William just stared at Damien Walcott as the gravity of the situation hit him. He would be old when he got out, if he made it out at all! Had Spencer realized this when he told him to plead guilty? Of course he had, William thought, of course he had.