"How we gonna work this?" JT asked once they gathered in Gil's office. "Swanson has everything we've collected on Watkins." He grunted as he eyed the agent through the glass. "Don't think she gonna give anything up willingly."
"Least of all since I'm here." Sorcha carefully lifted Bright's suit coat from Gil's desk and investigated it. Looking for signs of any potential injuries that Bright's danger prone ass might have gotten before Watkins waltzed off with him. "She won't let me anywhere near any of the information you've gathered."
"Yeah, she don't like you much," JT agreed as he took a hit from his half-empty mug. "Or Bright."
"Inferiority complex along with internalized misogyny and sexism."
"You and Bright are dangerous at parties, aren't you?"
"He can't turn that profiler side of himself off." She reached into the pocket of the jacket and removed a small blue stress ball she set on Gil's desk. "He's hyper vigilant. It's part of..."
"His PTSD," JT said. "Yeah, got that."
Bright was the poster child for post traumatic stress in his mind. A walking trauma in Armani suits and polished Oxford's.
"Bright gave us the profile on Watkins." Gil sat back in his chair, appearing at ease but it was all an act. JT suspected the man was a volcano of emotions on the inside. Bright was his kid, after all and he was in trouble. Serious trouble. "We work from that."
"Profile isn't going to tell us where he took Bright, though." JT hated being that guy but it seemed obvious to him they needed more than a profile if they wanted to find Bright. "Don't think he's gonna take him to the junkyard."
"The junkyard is still being swept for bodies." Dani took a seat on the couch. "They brought in more bones this evening."
"Who knows how many bodies they might find." JT had lost count of how many there were at this point. The Junkyard Killer was closing in on the Surgeon's number. Rate it was going, he'd surpass that number. Easily. "This guy's been killing for twenty years."
"Don't forget he was also killing before he started working with the Surgeon." Gil rubbed at his face. Something he did when he was agitated or stressed. JT figured he was a combination of both. Watkins was killing during his years working a beat and nobody realized it. "Who knows what his actual body count might be."
"Could be talking Bundy numbers here."
"I don't think Watkins has killed as many as Bundy." Sorcha shifted in her seat. Nervous energy, JT mused. Like Bright but more subdued. Since his skinny ass don't do anything in moderation. "He's definitely killed more than the Surgeon."
"Given the Surgeon has been locked up for twenty years."
"Don't believe that because Martin Whitly is snug in his cushy cell at Claremont that he hasn't added to his body count."
"How, though?" One of Dani's brows quirked. "He's locked up. And under supervision."
"He has phone privileges," Sorcha pointed out. "He can email and send written letters. Has visitation rights."
"Why, though?"
"Malcolm." Sorcha's face went hard as stone. "His boy." The last came out a hiss. JT thought she saved the majority of her hate for Swanson. Bright's dad clearly held that spot. Not that he blamed her. Guy was a serial killer who messed up his son. Badly. "It's always about Malcolm."
"Martin Whitly will do anything to get Malcolm to visit him," Gil agreed with a nod.
"Include stage murders?"
"Yes," he and Sorcha said in unison.
"Could he have convinced Watkins to kidnap Bright?"
"I thought that after finding out he kidnapped him," Sorcha admitted with a small sigh. "Now, though?" She shook her head. "I think Watkins was waiting to kidnap Malcolm and the dumbass gave him the opportunity when he showed up at his grandmother's house."
"Guy tends to do that," JT muttered. "Sees danger and runs towards it."
"Believe me, I know." A faint smile curved her lips. "Been with the danger prone idiot a long time."
"And you ain't gone crazy yet?"
Sorcha hummed a laugh. "Oh, I'm batshit crazy," she joked. "It's just not because of Malcolm."
"If Watkins kidnapped Bright because of opportunity," Gil said before JT could reply, "where is he going to take him?"
"Somewhere that holds special meaning for him but especially for Malcolm."
"Wherever they went on that camping trip seems like a pretty significant place to them both."
"Yes, it is." Sorcha laid the jacket in her lap and reached for the scarf set atop them fancy ass dress shoes Bright wore. "Which makes it too obvious for a location he'd take Malcolm."
"You don't think he took him to wherever they went camping?"
JT watched as she ran a hand over the scarf. Her mouth trembled but her face remained otherwise cool and composed. Like Tally would be, he realized. Shit might be hitting the fan but she'd wait until the crisis was over to fall apart.
"It's possible he'd take Bright to wherever they camped." She folded the scarf and set it back atop the shoes. "But I don't think it's where he took him."
"Why not?" Dani frowned, her expression thoughtful. "It makes the most sense."
"Watkins has thought about this for a long time." Sorcha then laid the jacket over the scarf and shoes. "He's planned every detail. He's not going to leave anything to chance."
"Bright said Watkins is a mission-oriented killer." Dani leaned forward and picked up a notepad that she handed to Sorcha. "Wouldn't that mean he'd take him somewhere he could keep Bright isolated? Force him to repent his sins?"
"This isn't a mission for Watkins."
One of Dani's eyebrows lifted. "It's not?" She frowned. "Why?"
"If Malcolm was a mission, Watkins could have easily taken him from in that service tunnel. He taunted him with information about that camping trip and the girl in the box instead. Let him go. No, this a mission for Watkins."
"If he didn't take Bright as part of his mission then why kidnap him?" JT set his empty mug on a filing cabinet. "Why not just kill him?"
"Because this is revenge."
"Revenge?" Gil shot forward in his chair, hands palm down on his desk. "On who? Bright?"
"Martin Whitly."
"Malcolm's dad?" Dani shook her head. "Why would he want revenge on his dad?"
"Now that is one thing I can't tell you because Malcolm doesn't remember enough about what happened on that camping trip to supply us with a clue."
"Just that Watkins was there."
"Insomuch as we can trust Malcolm's recollections of events, yes."
"You doubt his memories?"
"I believe he remembers these events," Sorcha said. "I just don't know if he is remembering them in the correct sequence."
"What do you mean by correct sequence?"
"Trauma affects memory," Sorcha explained as she sat back. "Compounding that is Martin Whitly using chloroform on Malcolm on a routine basis. How much of what he recalls is in order and how much of it his brain has simply pieced together is a mystery at this point." Sorcha stared down at the hands she folded in her lap. "What I do believe is something happened on that camping trip. Something that caused a rift between Martin Whitly and John Watkins."
"Like what, though?" JT leaned back against the wall and folded his arms across his chest. "And why wouldn't Bright remember something like that? Seems kinda important to me."
"I can only guess that the trauma of finding the girl in the box and Martin chloroforming Malcolm blocked out whatever happened."
"Why didn't Martin blame all of these murders on Watkins?" It was the one question Gil had asked himself since the connection between Watkins and Martin Whitly was revealed. "Why chose to be locked away for the rest of his life in Claremont?"
"I've asked myself that same question." Sorcha picked up her mug of coffee. "Wondered why a man like Martin Whitly didn't shift the blame to someone else. I could only come up with one conclusion." Her expression went grim. "He thought Watkins dead."
"You think he killed Watkins?"
"I think he definitely tried."
JT let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. "Guess even serial killers can be wrong."
"What does this mean for Bright?" Dani questioned. "Is Watkins going to kill him to get back at his dad?"
"Killing Malcolm would be too simple."
"Too simple?" Dani's brow creased. "How can killing him be too simple?"
"Because it'd be like tearing off a bandaid. One yank and it's over." Sorcha pushed to her feet and walked to the window. "No, he wants to twist the proverbial knife. And the only way to do that," she said with a sigh heavy with all the fear churning inside her, "is by taking away the one thing Martin Whitly wants most."
"Bright becoming his partner."
"Serial killers aren't born broken." Sorcha's eyes met theirs in the glass. "Someone has to break us."
"He won't break him." Gil's fury and fear blistered the air. "Bright's strong. He'll resist him."
"Malcolm already sees himself as broken." She folded her arms about herself before turning to face them. "Watkins will play on that. And without his medication..."
"Bright won't give in." Gil's hands curled around the arms of his chair. JT imagined he pictured them around Watkins throat. Or Martin Whitly's. "We'll find him before Watkins breaks him."
"Where do we start looking?" A fire burned in JT's belly. Bright's quirks annoyed the hell out of him most often. Most days he wasn't even sure he liked the guy. That didn't mean he didn't think of the danger prone dumbass as part of the team. "You say where and we'll get on it."
"We start with the photo albums we brought back from the Watkins home." Gil pushed to his feet. "Something in there will hopefully give us a clue about where he might have taken Bright."
"We need to tell Jessica." Sorcha blew out a heavy breath. "She doesn't know he's missing."
"I'll tell her." Gil wasn't looking forward to the conversation. Not that JT blamed him. The woman wasn't exactly easy to deal with. "You stay and help Dani and JT."
"Uh, Boss?" JT waited until Gil looked at him. "You think it a good idea to leave Sorcha in the same building as Swanson?"
Especially after their last showdown, he added silently. Not that he didn't think Swanson deserved it. The agent did. They just didn't need to go another round with the clock ticking down.
"Right." Gil looked at Sorcha. "You're with me." To JT and Dani he repeated his earlier order. "You two go through those photo albums and see what you can come up with."
"Sure thing." JT turned to amble from the room. He stopped to look at Sorcha. "Swanson says anything about Bright, I'll shut her up."
A small smile curved Sorcha's lips. "Thank you."
"Bright's one of us," was all he said before he exited Gil's office.
A/N: Hello, all! Hope this finds you well!
I just want to send a special thank you to Rookblonkorules and my guest for their lovely reviews
