Chapter 12

Emily enters her office and closes the door securely behind her even though the dog and cats were contentedly laying around Dave and Penelope who sat on the couch.

"We have a lead," she announces triumphantly. She crosses the room and sinks into one of the chairs across from them. "Brian was able to find the vehicle you described to Tara, on a traffic camera. We got a good look at the license plates and tracked down the owner - a mechanic in Silver Springs. I've sent a team out to investigate and bring back anyone they find."

"You know this would be going faster if you'd let me help," Penelope points out.

"Patience, my love," Dave says lowly. He rubs her shoulder soothingly.

Emily chuckles. "You know I want to, but we are investigating you as well, remember?"

Penelope frowns and leans back in her seat. "You make it sound like I've done something wrong."

"I'm sorry," Emily says quickly. "You know this is procedure. Your car was tampered with. Your house was blown up first. We have to look at everything and all of this puts you in the spotlight."

"I know," Penelope sighs. "Why must I always frick things up?"

Dave shakes his head as he pulls her close. "There's no evidence that you fricked anything up," he reminds her. He places a kiss on her cheek.

"Well, if it wasn't me, then what did you do," she snarks.

"What haven't I done," he counters. "All my years in the Bureau, you know I've made a few enemies."

"Hmm," she hums in agreement.

"You've been out of the Bureau for a while," Emily reminds him.

"So?"

"Could this be something more of a personal nature," Emily questions.

Dave peers at her. "Personal?"

She shrugs and glances around avoiding his scrutiny.

"Use your words, Emily," Dave growls.

She huffs back at him.

"It's very suspicious that all of this started after you and Penelope started dating," she points out. "And the fact that both of your homes were destroyed, that's a very personal attack."

Dave's gaze turns thoughtful. "You think, what, that someone is jealous of mine and Penelope's relationship?"

"It's a possibility," Emily expounds.

"I can't think of a single person who would give a damn about our relationship outside of the two of us," he says with a shake of his head. He glances at Penelope and catches her biting her lip. "What?"

"I can think of someone," she says lowly. "Someone I may have pissed off."

"Who," Emily jumps in.

"Krystall."

Dave scoffs.

"Don't," Penelope growls.

He raises an eyebrow at her.

"Don't be dismissive," she continues. "I know you think Krystall is harmless, but I don't trust her."

"Krystall may be a lying, manipulative bitch, but she isn't a killer," Dave replies.

Penelope scoffs this time. "That we know of."

"Do you know where she is," Emily cuts in.

Dave shrugs. "Last time we spoke she was stuck in Mexico."

"When was that," Emily asks with a frown.

"A couple days after Penelope and I started seeing each other," Dave answers.

"That was long enough that she may have travelled. I wonder where she is now," Emily ponders.

"Get me a laptop and I can tell you," Penelope says.

Emily looks at her and sighs. A knock at the door wakes JJ the dog, she lets out a soft bark and a growl. The door opens, the human JJ pokes her head inside.

"Hey," JJ says softly. She steps inside and closes the door. "Matt called; they placed the mechanic into custody. There was another guy there as well they are bringing him in too."

"Good" Emily says.

"They found the car from the traffic cam," JJ continues. "And, interestingly, they found another sedan with recent major damage to the passenger side. Matt thinks it's the car that ran you off the road last night."

"That's being impounded, yes?" Emily asks.

JJ nods.

"Good," Emily nods in return.

Dave stares through the one-way glass at the man chewing his nails and bouncing a knee as he sits in the interrogation room. Short, dark hair that's receding quickly, unkempt and paunchy the man still wears his coveralls. Dave frowns as he realizes there are grease stains on the man's hands. 'That probably doesn't taste good,' he thinks.

"You recognize him," Emily asks as she steps up beside Dave and glances through the glass. "Is he one of the guys you saw in Pen's back yard?"

Dave shakes his head. "No."

"What about the guys who tried to knock you off the freeway?"

Dave frowns. "It was dark," he sighs. "But I don't think so."

"That's okay," Emily assures him. "He's not going anywhere. Matt found a fake FBI badge in his wallet and he matches the picture from the garage."

"This is the guy who tampered with Penelope's car?"

He raises an eyebrow at Emily. She looks at him pensively then nods.

"Any chance I can have a minute alone with him?"

She laughs. "No chance at all, buddy."

"I had to ask. What's next?"

The door to the interrogation room opens and Matt and Luke walk in. Matt tosses a folder on the table and pulls out a chair as Luke closes the door firmly and leans his back against it.

"Let's see what he has to say for himself," Emily murmurs.

"John Wilson," Matt starts as he opens the folder. "How long have you worked at the auto shop?"

"Pretty much my whole life," the man answers swiftly. "My Dad and Grandpa started the shop in the 40's. It was a gas station, full-service station, you know? When Grandpa died, Dad made me a partner. He's retired now so the shop is mine."

"Who's going to take care of it while you're in jail," Matt asks.

"Jail," John repeats nervously. His whole body stills. "I haven't done anything wrong."

"Impersonating a federal officer is a serious crime," Matt tells him. "We found an FBI badge with your picture on it in your wallet. We also have video of you in the garage of this very building on the day that the car of one of our analysts was tampered with."

He places a picture of the mechanic in the FBI garage on the table in front of the suspect.

The man leans forward, peers at the photo and begins to sweat. He sits back, eyes spinning around the room. Finally, he looks at Matt. "I had to," he whispers hoarsely. "I needed the money. I didn't wanna hurt nobody. Did I… did someone get hurt?!"

"Oh, are we supposed to believe that you care?" Luke spits out.

"I do, I do," the man cries. He's practically pleading for Luke to believe him. "I'm not… I don't hurt people!"

"How much money were you paid? And from whom," Matt asks.

His eyes snap to Matt. "Fifty-thousand. I don't know who the payer is, it's all electronic."

"For some reason, I don't believe you," Luke cuts in. He leans over the edge of the table and gets in the man's face. "I think you know exactly who's been paying you."

Matt opens the folder, pulls out another document and slides it across the table. "According to your bank records, you've received almost a half a million dollars in the last week. You needed that too, huh?"

"Was that for the arson?" Luke asks.

"Arson?" The man looks quickly back and forth at the two agents. "I don't know anything about any arson."

Meanwhile, in another room, Reid and Tara are having a similar conversation with the other suspect the team brought in. This time, Reid sits in the chair as Tara paces back and forth behind him.

"Thomas Randle," Reid murmurs as he stares at the man's identification. "How do you know mister Wilson?"

"He's my cousin," the man replies. He slouches in the chair, arms crossed, legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles.

"You work together?" Tara asks.

Thomas looks up at her and smiles. "Yes, ma'am."

"Is he in any kind of financial trouble?" Reid asks.

"Financial trouble?" Thomas frowns and looks at Tara, then back at Reid. "Is that what this is about?"

Neither agent says a word.

After a moment, Thomas speaks again. "Listen, Johnny and I are close. I know he's been having some trouble lately. I don't know if it's the wife or the business… but I do know that he's been spending a lot of time there. He sleeps there sometimes. Life ain't easy, you know?"

"Arson? I don't know anything about any arson," John says quickly.

Matt and Luke exchange looks.

"That extra money in my account – that's not mine," he continues nervously.

"So, when we go in with a search warrant and seize it, that will be okay?" Luke asks.

John shrugs. "It's not mine."

"Who does it belong to?" Matt asks.

"It belongs to my cousin, Thomas. He said he won it gambling. He didn't want his wife to know… you know how women can be. You get a little money, and they want to spend it all." The man chuckles nervously.

"You do understand that we can find out if you're lying, right?" Luke says.

The man swallows hard and bobs his head up and down. "I swear, I'm telling the truth. I admit, I messed with the car, but I got nothing to do with arson, I don't know who paid me and that money ain't mine!"

"So, random people just put money in your account all the time," Luke presses.

"I wish," the guy counters. "That would make my freaking day."

"Fine, you don't know anything about anything, let's talk about the FBI badge and I.D.," Matt says. "Where did that come from?"

The man hesitates.

"We're already charging you with attempted murder and impersonating a federal officer," Luke says as he leans on the edge of the table. "Both charges are Federal crimes, and you will be doing time. Do you want to add failure to cooperate as well?"

The man swallows hard and coughs a couple of times. "Attempted murder? So, someone did get hurt? How bad was it?"

"What did you think would happen when you tampered with the brakes on that car?" Matt asks harshly.

John begins shaking. Tears well in his eyes. "I didn't want to kill anyone. Oh my God! That's the last thing I want. I thought…"

"You thought what?" Matt presses.

John shakes his head and rubs his hands across his face. "I don't know what the hell I was thinking. I needed money to pay for my house. I had put a loan on it to cover some costs for the garage. My Dad wasn't a good businessman, and the garage was actually going under. My wife didn't know about the loan – I needed to pay it off before she found out. My cousin Thomas, he said he had a friend who needed a job done. Fuck! I should have known better."

The man puts his elbows on the table and buries his face in his hands.

"So, Thomas got you the badge and ID?" Luke asks.

John nods. "Thomas is a pain in my ass, but he's family. He's not much of a mechanic. He can do basic shit like change the oil and sparkplugs, but not much else. He doesn't like to work. He'd rather gamble and hang out with his drinking buddies."

"What do you think?" Emily asks as she looks over at Dave.

Dave frowns as he stares at the man in front of him. "I think he's telling the truth."

"Let's go see how Reid and Tara are doing," Emily suggests.

Dave follows Tara out of the viewing room, across the hallway and into the other viewing room. He closes the door, looks through the glass and freezes.

"Son-of-a-bitch," Dave growls.

Emily eyes him quickly. "Dave?"

"This guy? I've seen him a time or two," Dave tells her. "He was definitely in the back yard. And I'm pretty certain he was one of the guys last night too."

"Are you sure?" Emily questions.

"He was in the passenger seat of the car as it rammed into the side of the RV."

Emily nods. "Wait here. I'm going to update Reid and Tara."

Dave crosses his arms and nods once, his eyes never leaving the man on the other side of the glass. He barely recognizes when Emily opens the door, and the two agents step outside. The door closes and the man, Thomas Randle eyes the door as it closes. He stares for a moment then turns to the mirrored window, raises both hands and does a double bird flip.

After a few minutes, the door to the interrogation room opens and Matt and Tara step in. Both agents carry manila file folders. The door to the observation room opens a moment later. Emily steps in.

"Changing of the guard?" Dave asks.

"Something like that," she explains.

Dave raises an eyebrow. Emily turns to the window and refrains from answering.

"What happened to the skinny guy? He fall through a crack," Thomas jokes.

Matt and Tara stare at him silently.

The man chuckles again. "Well, ain't you two entertaining."

Tara tilts her head. "Is that what you want? To be entertained?"

"Nah, I'd like to go home," he shoots back.

"Mmm," Matt hums. He grabs a chair and pulls it out from under the table. "I don't think you're going to see home anytime soon. Dr. Lewis, would you like to sit?"

"Oh, thank you Agent Simmons." She settles into the seat as Matt pulls out the other chair and sits next to her.

Tara looks at her file for a moment then looks at Thomas and frowns. "So, how close are you and John?"

He shifts in his seat. "Well, we're cousins…"

"Yeah, but are you close?" She presses. "I have a cousin; we were really close growing up. We practically lived at each other's houses, shared each other's clothes, talked about boys – all that stuff. You and John like that? Except the talking about boys… unless, well who am I to judge?"

Thomas laughs nervously and shakes his head. "Nah, we ain't that close. We never really hung out together except at family stuff, you know, holidays and birthdays, and shit."

"He gave you a job," Matt points out.

Thomas shrugs. "His old man retired, and he needed an extra hand at the garage. I was happy to help out."

"How long you been working there?" Tara asks.

"Two – three months."

"What did you do before that?" she inquires.

"I've done this and that," he says nonchalantly. "You know, odd stuff here and there."

"So, who did you work for when you got paid almost a half a million dollars?" Matt presses.

"I ain't never been paid that much money," Thomas insists.

"That's not what your cousin tells us," Matt counters. "In fact, the way he puts it, you're responsible for everything."

"My cousin don't know everything," Thomas snarks.

In the other room Dave speaks to Emily. "We need to dig more into this guy's past. He's not just going to spill his guts like his cousin did. I have a feeling Thomas Randle has been involved in some things he doesn't want to talk about."

"I've got Brian and the team working on that right now," she tells him. "Do you have a better suggestion?"

He cocks his head to the side and smirks. "Time to pull out the big guns," he says in his best Fat Tony impression which is spot on.

Dave and Emily followed by the other members of the team join Penelope and JJ in the conference room.

"What's happened?" Penelope asks nervously.

"Time to switch gears," Emily announces. She hands her laptop to Penelope. "The login is "Sergio was the best". We need you to do your thing."

She takes the proffered device and quickly logs in. "All right, I'm ready to dig. Give me something."

"Start with John Wilson," Dave suggests. "Get into his bank accounts. Let's see where the money came from."

Penelope types quickly on the computer. She pulls up Wilson's bank account. "Looks like he's had two major deposits in the past month. Most recently was four-hundred-thousand dollars from Thomas Randle."

"That's the second guy we brought in," Reid explains. "What was the other deposit?"

She goes back a page and clicks on the computer. "Fifty-thousand, also from Thomas Randle."

"Where did Randle get that kind of money," Tara asks. "The guy doesn't even have a regular job."

"The gambling?" Matt opines.

"Let's find out," Penelope tells her. She types again, flipping through different pages. "Huh. Interesting. He has a rap sheet a mile long; mostly petty crimes. But… hold on, Crime Fighters, have I got news for you."

"What'd you find?" JJ asks.

Penelope scrolls a little more. "So, Thomas Randle got the money from a dummy corporation in Sri Lanka of all places. I traced the ownership through a couple of different names and found that the actual owner is someone named H.J. Rollins."

"H.J. Rollins?" Reid frowns.

"Rollins," JJ repeats. "Why does that name sound familiar?"

"Hank Rollins?" Dave adds.

Everybody stares at him.

"As in, former FBI Agent and bomb squad leader Hank Rollins," Luke says, his voice squeaks.

"Wait, didn't he retire recently," Emily muses. "How would he get money like that?"

Dave groans and rubs his temple. "I gave it to him."

"What?!"

Dave chuckles at the looks his companions are giving him. "Not directly."

"I don't understand," Emily says firmly. "Use your words, Dave."

Dave sighs and looks at Penelope. "It's time for me to admit that you were right," he tells her.

"Right about what?" she asks.

"Krystall," he says shortly. He sighs and rubs a hand over his face. "Just before she and I divorced the last time, she started seeing someone. I didn't pay it a lot of attention. By then, I just wanted out. That's why I didn't object to her demands for the house and the amount of money she wanted."

He glances around the room. "It wasn't until the divorce was final that I figured out she was dating Hank Rollins. Hell, I had introduced them. Rollins had quite a bit of a nest egg built up. He and I used to talk about investment opportunities."

"Do you think Krystall paid him to try to kill you?" Matt asks.

"I don't think the intention was to kill anyone," he points out. "She's not that type."

Emily scoffs. "No offense, Dave, but at this point I don't trust your feelings where Krystall is concerned."

Dave blinks at her. "I have no feelings for her anymore."

"Intuition?" Emily responds.

Dave sighs. "Fine. I can't say what Krystall is capable of thinking or doing. Are you happy now?"

Emily looks at Penelope. "PG, can you find out where she is now?"

"Is that rhetorical?" Penelope asks. Her fingers already flying over the keyboard.

"She's in Vegas," Penelope announces.

"Convenient," Emily grouses. "Before we can bring her in, we need proof that she was involved."

"How are we going to do that?" Reid asks.

Emily looks at Dave for a second. "Matt, take the team and pick-up Rollins. Dave and I are going to have a little talk with our friend Thomas Randle."

"Can I watch? Please, please, please," Penelope begs.

"Yes," Emily smiles. "However, you have to do your thing and see what Rollins and Krystall's bank accounts look like as well."

Penelope scoffs. "Consider it done."

They head for the door. Dave opens it and stops to look back at Penelope.

"Kitten," he says getting her attention. "See what else you can dig up on Thomas Randle."

End Chapter 12