Chapter 25
The following day Michele dropped Emily and JJ off at the station. JJ unclipped the securing straps off her power chair to allow her to drive down the ramp.
Rose Duncan watched Emily drive out of the van and roll her eyes at her father while cleaning their ambulance.
"They are the two Feds staying with Michele. Not only does she need dispatching, but they are also a married couple." Lee tells his daughter.
"That's just not right." Rose dashed off to be sick.
Lee watched as JJ held her wife's hand as she drove herself into the station.
Derek was waiting by the door for the two girls to arrive, ready to eat a substantial piece of humble pie.
"Forget it, Derek. You overstepped and hurt Emily. Do not do it again!" JJ warned, "Red velvet cupcake."
"Already arranged." Smiled a relived Morgan. He was frightened of Mama bear JJ if he was honest.
Everyone settled around the table and watched Garcia appear on the laptop.
"Guys, I have weeded out the majority of people and narrowed it down to 4 possibilities. But a father and daughter who work as Paramedics, and here's the winner, the mother, is an M.E at the hospital with access to nitrous oxide. Their surname is Duncan. They had a daughter who suffered from motor neurone disease who died," Garcia reports to the team.
Hotch considers things for a moment.
"Rossi, JJ, go to the hospital and check the security of the nitrous cylinders and get access to the security cameras for Garcia. Morgan, you are with me. We will look around the fire station next door and talk with Rose and Lee Duncan
EJ
"This is our cylinder storage area. Used cylinders are over here and full cylinders here. Access is limited to approved personal. A camera covers the cylinder storage area. I have given access to your miss Garcia as requested." Ian Bishop, the head of security, told the agents
JJ walked across to the full nitrous oxide cylinders and looked at the safety seals on the cylinders. Noticing four seals looked different from the others. Pulling out the cylinder, she saw the plastic safety seal was just plain.
"Rossi, look at this; it's been replaced." JJ showed him the safety seal. He removed the seal and attached a regulator to the cylinder, and opened the valve. The contents gauge indicated the cylinder was empty. The process was completed on the other cylinders. All were found to be empty.
Garcia called back. "Garcia, you're on speaker with Rossi and Ian Bishop, head of hospital security. What have you goy for us?" Asked JJ
"I have on camera a doctor wheeling in a cylinder of nitrous oxide into the storeroom and two minutes later left with a cylinder again. The cylinder has the safety seal intact as she leaves. The cylinder she returns has a safety seal but not the correct seal. I have a clear picture of her face. Her name is Myra Duncan, the wife of Lee Duncan and mother of Rose Duncan. Bit of a coincidence, I think not. Myra Duncan is the town M.E." Quirked Garcia.
Both agents asked for the cylinders to be held safe until the crime scene technicians could examine them. They thanked the head of security for his help and walked off to question Myra Duncan.
EJ
Hotch and Morgan approached three paramedics in the station who "were looking for Lee and Rose Duncan." Asked Morgan
The older of the group identified himself to the two agents.
"Mr Duncan, we would like to ask you some questions about some recent murders," Hotch told him
The man standing before them looked concerned as he watched his wife escorted into the police station accompanied by one of the female FBI agents. Hotch turned around to see what had caught his attention.
Morgan handed his cell phone over so Hotch could read the text message he had received from Rossi.
"Please follow me across to the station Mr Duncan," Hotch asked politely, grabbing his arm to help guide the man across to the police stations entrance.
"Your wife's just been arrested for stealing nitrous oxide cylinders from the hospital," Morgan told him as they walked across the front of the building
Lee Duncan just looked devastated as he slowly walked towards the police station.
EJ
Rossi and JJ walked into the mortuary and noticed a man washing the mortuary table down while listening to music through his ear pods. JJ lightly tapped him on his shoulder to get his attention
"Jesus! You scared me." He jumped at her touch
She couldn't help herself, but she chuckled at his apparent fright "sorry, I am SSA Jareau, and this is SSA Rossi; we are looking for Dr Myra Duncan." She smiled
The morgue technician just pointed towards an office, still trying to calm down after his shock. Rossi thanked the man as they walked towards the indicated office.
Dr Duncan looked up as she heard the knock on her office door
"I am SSA Jareau, and this is SSA Rossi. We need you to accompany us to the police station to answer some questions about the theft of nitrous oxide from the hospital." JJ told her
The doctor looked shocked, opening and closing her mouth a few times as if she was trying to speak.
"Am I under arrest?" Dr Duncan managed to ask
"Not at the moment. You're just attending to answer some questions." Rossi gave her his best smile
Dr Duncan followed JJ and Rossi and allowed them to escort her to their SUV.
EJ
Emily and JJ sat opposite Lee Duncan in the interrogation room, looking through the case file as he impatiently waited for one of the agents to ask him a question. Garcia had found out about the death of his daughter just before the start of the suicides. The team agreed this was his stressor. His daughter had died from motor neurone disease. She had bravely fought the disease for five years before she died.
"Tell me…about…..[erm]….Rebeca?" Emily asked him
Lee Duncan's eyes darkened, and his hands formed into fists, his fingers turning white he pressed so hard. His body shaking slightly at the mention of his dead daughter,
"Mr Duncan?" JJ asked again
"She died four months ago from Motor Neurone disease. I watched her die slowly and painfully. We eventually held…." He stopped suddenly, realising he was about to say something he shouldn't
Emily and JJ turned to look at each other, knowing they had helped their daughter die.
"Did you….[erm]….kill your dau…..their….." Emily closed her eyes, struggling with her words
JJ continued, "Did you kill your daughter? I can understand why you did it. Watching your daughter deteriorate over the years couldn't have been easy? It would have been so easy. Help her die and alleviate all her suffering and get your wife to determine the cause of death as…..well whatever she wanted." JJ finished
Watching Lee Duncan burn through her brain fog Emily noticed signs of hatred on his face and fear. Thinking to herself, these were not emotions a killer would have.
"You….do do…it did you? Who …..[table punch]….did it?" Emily managed to ask
Looking at Emily in shock, he just smirked
"No agent! I helped her cross over. People like you need to die. You are such a drain on society. Look at you. You can't even talk to me properly." He smirked, then turned to JJ "why stay with the disabled person? You are a beautiful woman?" He smirked
Morgan walked into the room and indicated he wanted to speak to Emily and JJ outside.
They left the room with Lee Duncan laughing
EJ
Hotch looked at his two female agents as they entered the team room. Emily looked like her emotions were all over the place. JJ just looked like she wanted to hurt someone badly.
Miranda walked into the room, knocking on the door with a crutch and indicated for Emily and JJ to follow her.
She guided the two agents outside.
"Here we go, ladies. This will help heal things for you." She handed over two large cream cakes. "Homemade, now eat up."
The three ladies started laughing at each other as they began to get the fresh cream every was. After they had all destroyed the monster cream cake, JJ had calmed down, and Emily seemed a little more balanced
"Are you sure you are not related to Penelope Garcia? She always knows how to help." Smiled JJ