"It's not so important who starts the game, but who finishes it." Erich Fromm
A/N: I don't own any of the Criminal Minds characters, plot, etc. all belong to CBS
Jade POV
I get up from the table, take a deep breath, planning to go into Hotch's office to discuss the cases I just read and what I think about them. Or whatever he is planning for me. I pick up said files from my desk as I walk by, pausing to collect myself. Spence looks up, question in his eyes. I smile and softly shake my head, nothing he needs to worry about, not right now. Not when we need to work on discretion to avoid every profiler in the federal building from knowing we are together. Did Hotch really mean to offer me the job earlier? Even casually, as part of his warning? I mean, this is my life dream, but to have it so close is somewhat alarming. I am excited beyond belief at that prospect, especially if I get to work with this lovely, close knit team that is already like a family to me. Another time. I will think about all of that at another time when I am not procrastinating the biggest part of my internship, I take another steadying breath and continue up to Hotch's office.
Before I can open the office door, it swings inward, with an unsuspecting Rossi standing on the other side. I instinctively smile and he scowls, or was it a wink? Honestly, I can never tell with him. He almost looks as tense as yesterday on the elevator.
With a huff, he brushes past me and heads down the short hallway to his own office while I enter in Hotch's in his wake.
"Hey Hotch, what's the deal with him?" I ask, raising an eyebrow and gesturing toward Rossi's office with the hand not holding the case files.
"I think he has a lot on his mind right now. May is always a difficult month for him." Aaron replies carefully, straightening his tie and sitting straighter in his office chair,.
"I see. I am sorry if I am interrupting anything important." I reply, placing the case files on the edge of Hotch's desk while I take the seat nearest the desk.
"No, Jade, don't be sorry. He is just a bit cranky and I had to have a conversation with him I really didn't want to. Neither of us enjoyed it." He replies, not meeting my eyes for the first time since I've known him.
"Oh. Well, I read through the other 2 cases and sorta discussed with JJ over lunch. I mean, I just asked her if you guys normally have any sort of ranking system or prioritization for different factors. She is very helpful. I've come to the decision on my own, so you know, she just sort of clarified procedure for me." I explain, rambling, unable to control the nervous babble.
"Yes, JJ is a very good mentor and teacher, it is good that you reached out to her. She is a vital team member." Aaron agrees, finally looking me in the eye, expression his usual stern and serious one.
"I agree, she is very helpful. She told me that my impressions were good and she helped me with the typical BAU delegation system for when you have several cases to look at that are all "good" or worth assisting. In my opinion, all 3 cases you gave me have merit. If it were entirely up to me, I would look at the missing men, the baseball coaches first. Next, if the hikers are still missing I would pursue that case second. Finally, I would look into the homeless shelter fire cases." As I speak, my cadence increases until I barely take a breath and rush my words out. I take a deep breath, then two, as Aaron weighs over my words in his mind and decides what to say next.
His hands are folded on his desk, the ever patient and contemplating leader, "Very well, Jade. Again, I am impressed with you and your astute impressions and observations. Re-read the missing coaches case, prepare yourself, and then meet the team in the conference room in 10. I'll collect everyone."
"Re-read? Prepare myself?" I question, looking at Aaron, nervous, palms getting sweaty.
"Yes, you and Garcia are going to present the case to the team." Aaron simply answers, as if this were the obvious conclusion.
"I'm nervous." I blurt, smoothing my hair and top absentmindedly, fidgeting.
"Why? I think you are very capable, JJ obviously thinks so too if she only had a small bit of advice on ranking the cases. You are capable and have excelled in everything you've done with our team thus far. The team all trusts you, and I think you would be an exceptional Media and Communications Liaison if you want the job after graduation and getting through The Academy." Aaron states as he stands from his desk, straightens his tie with a little crook of his head, and heads for the door.
"Is this a real offer?" I squeak out, my heart rate increases, and yet I feel faint. No, not faint, but certainly not good. Is a panic attack coming? I take 3 deep breaths and realize Hotch is staring down at me, concern written on his face, ready to rush to my side if I do indeed faint again.
"Think about it Jade." He replies after a minute, after he is sure I am not about to collapse.
"Twice in one day..." I mutter, smiling up at him. "I'll think about it, boss" I salute him, pulling the relevant case file toward myself.
Hotch returns the smile, warm and kind, and opens the office door, heading to round up the team. My team. I let that idea sink in for a minute, feeling it over in my mind and it feels right.
In the conference room, I put on my most professional demeanor and stand at the head of the table, next to Garcia who mostly runs the tech while adding quips about baseball, how attractive the coaches are, how they are vanishing like bunnies in a magicians act and how she hopes she won't need cute bunny videos before the case is solved. But she and everyone present knows she undoubtedly will be sharing cute bunny videos because, Garcia. Of course she will do everything she can to make it more light and pleasant.
I present the facts and offer the timeline for disappearances. As I am talking, explaining, I look around the table and notice Reid and Rossi are sitting next to each other, and oddly enough, they both seem to be giving me bedroom eyes. Men. I roll my eyes briefly, hoping no one else notices. Everyone else seems to be respectably listening to me, even Aaron.
The team is in unanimous agreement, we need to help the Indianapolis police find these coaches before they end up dead, and before more coaches can be taken. A few quick insights from JJ and Morgan before Hotch interrupts with "wheels up in 30."
As I head over to my desk and grab my go bag, I notice Dave standing waiting for me a few steps away.
"I hear you have a new beau. Is he treating you like the princess you are? And is he better looking than that jock you took to the wedding?" He speaks softly, carefully.
"Number 1: my love life is none of your business. Number 2: do I look like someone who is expecting men to treat me like a princess?" I retort, not even bothering to face him.
After a minute of silence, I finally look up to notice Dave is giving me a very slow, thorough and borderline inappropriate once over, the elevator eyes even stopping on my modest curves and admiring the knee length pencil skirt I chose to wear today. His gaze instantly heats my core and I start to TINGLE. Dammit, I can't help it but my breath catches under his intent male gaze.
Another roving look up and down my body, to be sure I caught it, or because he is that brazen of a pig, before he replies, "Yes, Jade, you look like a very beautiful princess. I hope he realizes what he has and cherishes you." Finally Dave responds, his gaze intent and his words carefully formed.
"Thanks. We are happy. Lets hurry to catch the jet to Indianapolis." I reply, rushing to the elevator, ignoring the tingle and aching deep in my core.
I sit by JJ on the couch and talk with her and Blake about this case, the baseball coaches and those unusual voicemails. How the UNSUB must be using some ruse or must be extremely fit to be able to incapacitate and kidnap very fit baseball coaches. On his way back from the restroom, Morgan squeezes between JJ and I on the couch, smirking as his arms wrap around us, and adds his input, about how a very strong, upstanding man in the community would most likely be taken by a damsel in distress who tricks him, or a team of people working with a damsel as the ruse. He also adds to the conversation about what kinds of places a baseball coach, or anyone very interested in his health and fitness would be hanging out. Eventually the rest of the team gets in on the conversation, and you already have a general plan for what needs to be done when we land in Indianapolis.
Just before we reach Indianapolis, Garcia calls in with a quick update, for each of the five coaches. No activity on any cc, bank accounts, cell phones, social media. POOF. It is like they vanished off the planet over the last few weeks.
The BAU arrives at the police station and the chief of police quickly ushers us into their conference room set aside for this case. The chief quickly catches us up, there has been a new victim. A sixth coach has gone missing, identical to the others in this case. Wife and superintendent both received voicemails. He is a 34 year old with 2 children. A 5 year old and 18 month old. Very happy family man, loves his wife and kids. Hardly spends any time without them, aside from work at the school as a history teacher and coaching. He never made it home after Wednesday's practice. Wife received her voicemail at 10pm, while she was showering, waiting for him to show up so they could watch 'their shows' before bed. Sometimes he would get a drink with the assistant coach and get home around 10-10:30pm. Superintendents call was on the machine when he arrived at the school this morning at 7:30 am, and like always, the time stamp reveals 6:15am. It is now 2pm, critical time has been lost. Everyone gets to work, collaborating with the locals with utmost sense of urgency.
The chief ushers in the wife so our team can interview her ourselves. Wife states, through tears, "It is his voice but NOT his words. It doesn't sound like anything he would say. He sounds so dead inside. No emotion, you know". She pauses several times to dab tears from her eyes and wipe her nose. It is clear she hasn't gotten any sleep since she received her voicemail. Once the team has gathered the information from her, she heads to the waiting area, where JJ brings her a cup of coffee.
The team has a brief discussion and decided who will be doing what, with Aaron and Morgan speeding off to the baseball field, the last place the coach was seen. His truck was found parked next to the field. Reid and Blake go over all the voicemails again and again, to pick up on linguistics and any kind of cues, clues or anything at all useful. The rest of the team and I are in the conference room pouring over the evidence and try to work out the routines of each coach on the day they were abducted. Local news has been going crazy with speculations, which means the police department is going crazy with phone calls of wild tips that have all gone no where. The routines all seem to go no where as well.
The coaches have nothing in common aside from all being baseball coaches. Three were taken after practices or games, two were abducted after dropping their daughters off at her ballet lessons, separate locations, and one was taken from a pharmacy parking lot. The time of abductions varies, from 3pm to 10pm. The locations are spread throughout the city as well as a few of the suburbs, no one highway links each location, no bus route, no trains. No matter what way we look at it, dead ends. I feel frustrated and despondent, there are no good leads, nothing to point us in a helpful direction. Hopefully Hotch and Morgan will pick something useful up at the baseball field abduction site as Blake and Reid also are struggling with their task.
Hotch and Morgan return after about two hours at the site, reporting to us and then asking the local police for information about tire tracks and footprints found at the latest crime scene, if anyone has cataloged them and identified makes, models, brands and sizes. The dirt parking lot is tore up and looks to be signs of a struggle. With any luck, they will find some sort of match or lead from the tracks left behind.
Blake and Reid call Garcia and ask her to look into police reports for the surrounding area. They think something this specific and clean must have been done before, where did the inspiration come from?
While Garcia does her magic, JJ, Reid, Morgan and I interview the rest of the wives of the current victims who are all located within the department in various offices. The local police had the good sense to keep them separated until after we had a chance to speak with them first, get their statements separated before they had a chance to talk to each other and modify their stories. We are trying to look for leads, any connections, any possible clues. This case is so maddening, how not a single bit makes sense to me, to any of the BAU, to the local police.
One minor lead that ended up going no where was, Victim # 2 and Victim #4 knew each other, but not closely, only when they went to the same high school, played on the same baseball team. #2 was a senior when #4 was a sophomore, but they didn't really keep in touch aside from the few games their teams now played against each other. A healthy rivalry, but they didn't have each others phone numbers or follow each other on social media. The wives never met, until the 4th victim was abducted and they happened to be at the police station together.
All of the wives all seem to say the same things, their statements nearly identical despite not having met or spoke to one another. The victims, their husbands were very devoted, open and honest men. Never strayed. Never caused trouble. Never gave any indication they were unhappy and wanted out.
Reid and I sat down together on the couch and I lean my head against his shoulder for a moment of rest. The mental anguish and frustration was getting to both of us. JJ comes over "aw aren't you the cutest" she gushes, huge smile on her face.
"Shush. I think there are people in outer Mongolia who haven't heard you" Reid says, blushing deeply as he leans his head against mine.
Aaron POV
While waiting for Garcia to call back, Rossi, Blake and I head out and do a tour of all six of the abduction sites, the impound lots to look for trace DNA, hairs, anything. During the time we are inspecting yet another immaculate truck, Blake gives me a look, and I nod. She clearly has also noticed the obvious affections of the senior agent toward our intern and doesn't think its something we should let slide.
We both harmlessly harass and ride Rossi for his clear, inappropriate behaviors with Jade since she joined our team. Dave predictably deflects, repeating "she's intriguing and I like to give Mike a hand watching out for the kid." As he focuses on the interior of the Ford F250 belonging to victim #2.
Blake takes a moment to mention how sweet and smitten Jade and Reid are, "Cool your jets, Hot Shot. Reid is showing affection willingly for the first time since I joined the BAU, and probably for the first time in his life. Don't mess this up for him, for the both of these sweet kids." She expands.
"Why don't you believe I'm not interested in her beyond a coworker and helping an old friend out?" Dave replies again, still very intent on the contents of the truck.
"Because, coworker, you have yet to whisper in my ear in a dark room while we watch an interrogation. Note, I am quite glad you haven't, but it is a very distinct difference between the way you act with her and with me, or even with the young and beautiful JJ." Blake observes, smiling. She clearly enjoys teasing Dave nearly as much as I do. I never got to know Blake too well, maybe I should change that soon.
"Dave, you know from the moment you laid eyes on her I have been watching you." I add, tone careful and even, to avoid the temper flare up from earlier.
"Is this an intervention or something? Ganging up on me?" Dave replies, finally straightening up from his position, looking me in the eye and squaring his shoulders before walking to the next vehicle.
"No, we just really like Jade and would rather not have her transferred away because you are thinking with your dick for the first time since before Strauss." I reply, earning a smile from Blake and a dirty look from Dave.
Two hours later, Garcia returns with a huge breakthrough, or in her words, a nugget of purest gold. Exactly 2 years before the first coach went missing a woman located about 45-50 minutes to the north filed a police report, her estranged husband left her, with the exact same message on her answering machine. It took the woman 4 days to report her husband missing. One week later, the superintendent was called. Again, exact same message is in the police report.
We inquire with local police, asking if they were aware of this earlier case. A few of the older officers responded, who believe they heard of that case. The Chief places a call to the small towns police department, those cops did minimal investigation, when their few leads went cold, wrote it off as a deadbeat dad who found a PYT and ran off, as the messages indicated. Closed the case. No body has ever been found. No further communication. No CC use. No social media accounts to have any activity on. No trace.
Rossi and JJ ask at the same time: "Is this our first victim?" "Have there been others in areas surrounding Indianapolis?"
Either way, it is the first solid lead for the team and we jump at the occasion, eager to do our jobs and hopefully save lives.
Our team contacts woman listed in the initial police report from 2 years ago, Marcia Thomas. We find out she now lives in Castleton, a wealthy neighborhood on the north side of Indianapolis with her 2 boys (ages 4 and 9 now, and they were 2 and 7 at time of police report) as well as her mentally challenged brother, Andy. The first current victim is from the same neighborhood. I politely ask her to come in to answer questions about her estranged husbands disappearance and the police report she filed on May 6, 2012. She arrives in a very shiny, fancy BMW SUV. Morgan and I exchange a brief look as we see this flashy car for a single mother also supporting another adult.
Seated in their conference room, she curtly and shortly answers all the questions Morgan and I ask her, not wanting her to feel like a suspect in the interrogation room. Yet. As the questions progress, Marcia gets more and more curt, almost aggressive in her answers. Frustrated. I guess I can see her frustration, the cops wait 2 years to take the report seriously, but at the same time, it almost looks like she is inconvenienced being here. I spare another very brief glance to Morgan and he also is getting the frustrated vibe.
We continue to ask her about the last few days before her husband disappeared and why it took her so very long to contact the police. Surely four days is too long for a devoted husband and coach to be missing. She becomes wary and we redirect the interview to questions about their life and why they were estranged. She states it is because her husband wasn't very supportive of Andy and didn't like him around all the time.
Jade POV
JJ and I share a look, raise our eyebrows, as we surreptitiously watch and listen from the office diagonally across the hall from the conference room. This lady does not seem like a grieving widow or even a woman missing her husband and wanting answers. She certainly acts like she has the answers already and doesn't plan to give them up or help us in any way. JJ rolls her shoulders, puts on her best "good cop" smile and walks out the door. She grabs a Styrofoam cup of coffee and offers it to Marcia giving her a break. She says she knows it must be so hard to bring up the memories and how hopeless it had to feel to be abandoned by the man Marcia loved and was absolutely devoted to.
JJ offers her a soft shoulder and Marcia replies, she has been very frustrated and stressed lately. It has been a hard two years, having to support herself, her two boys as well as her mentally challenged, autistic brother. Her parents can't help very much due to advanced age and limited funds since they both retired in the last two years as well.
Morgan enters the office in order to take a turn eavesdropping. I chat with him a bit so its not obvious if Marcia were to look out the door and see us sitting here. I ask if Morgans offer to train me in boxing and sparring is still on the table.
He laughs, the infectious and carefree laugh he is known for, "of course the offer stands, little lady. You and I should make plans to hit the gym when the team returns and get you into good shape before you leave for the Academy in August". He smiles, eyes crinkling. Hopefully I am accepted into the August class, I can't wait to get started. It already seems like the team has accepted me and fully expects me to return after I complete the Academy training. My dreams are coming true one by one.
Marcia leaves a short time later, with very strict instructions not to go far from both Aaron and the chief. As soon as she is out the door, the team meets in the office Morgan and I were chatting in. Unanimously, the team agrees she is an angry lady and is hiding something. Morgan places a quick call to his leading lady, and Garcia digs up all the dirt she can on Marcia Thomas and fills us in a surprisingly short time later. Marcia Thomas has had long standing anger issues, juvenile detention and arrest for battery of a girl on prom night. Noted bully throughout high school. Frequent fights with coworkers, which has lead to her having 4 jobs in the 2 years since her husband, Jeff, 'went missing.'
Also, she did a stint as an amateur MMA fighter for several years. That last fact is a unanimous eyebrow raiser, we all look around absolute disbelief written on every face of the BAU, she was slight and petite, barely the size of JJ and myself. In fact, Garcia goes on, her anger issues cost her job most recently: the day Victim 1 was abducted, Marcia Thomas was fired. Most likely her trigger. Finally a break in this case and we just let her walk out the door.
Day 2 in Indianapolis is mostly desk work, waiting for tire track and shoe print analysis to be complete. We all take time reviewing the photographs, crime scene data and voice mails for the hundredth time each. Garcia indeed sent us a very cute and amusing video of bunnies hopping in time to "Don't Worry, Be Happy". Around 1 pm, Hotch calls us to the conference room. He feels the team has a profile ready and he has me go on the television, making a plea to the public, any information about the missing baseball coaches should be immediately brought forward. Surprisingly or maybe not, none of the calls panned out into a real lead. We are basically biding our time until some concrete evidence can be found to link Marcia Thomas to the new disappearances, or find out what she is doing to these men.
The next morning, Day 3, the team reconvenes early in the office we have been loaned. Just before 9 am, four Local Indianapolis cops rush into the room, flushed and breathing heavy. One officer tells us, there was a discovery along the White River. A disembodied human head was found along the river by a fisherman just after sunrise. They have a probable identification as Victim #3. Local cops as well as the BAU head out to the White River, speeding in Black SUVs and patrol cars, sirens blaring. Upon arriving everyone joins the search, with me tagging along in case the news shows up and it will be my duty to keep them at bay.
The team finds all six heads in various stages of decomposition and animals have nibbled at the flesh. Some of the remains of, most likely, Victim #6 are also located not far from his head, just below the boat launch site. It appears the body has been put through a grinder of some sort, or dismembered in some grotesque way, the soft tissue is shredded and bones are pulverized. If I didn't know it was human remains I would have never guessed. I would have thought it was a disturbed animal kill site.
I am nauseated by the sight of the mangled remains, the smells assaulting my nose, and Blake puts a gentle hand on my back as she cautiously leads me away from them and instructs me to breathe the fresh air.
"Don't feel bad, Jade, it is not something easy to handle. We all get squeamish, especially the first few times in the field. Just breathe deep and clear it from your mind." She soothes, rubbing soft circles in the center of my back. After a few minutes of fresh air and careful clearing of my mind, we head to where the team had gathered a short distance from what remained of Victim #5.
Reid and Rossi posit, the bodies have been put through a wood chipper before they are disposed of, based on the type of serrations and the sizes of the chunks of his remains.
Derek calls Garcia for information about wood chipper purchases.
About fifteen minutes later, she calls back. Garcia the miracle worker found a wood chipper purchase the day after Victim #1 was taken. Hotch declares this is enough evidence, calls for a warrant, and the team heads to Marcia Thomas' residence in Castleton to find Marcia and her brother Andy elbow deep in cleaning the shiny BMW SUV.
The BAU takes both adults in, as well as the youngest child who is still sleeping in his room. The eldest boy was in school, local cops call the school and family members to coordinate custody arrangements.
Back in the station, the team interrogates Marcia and Andy separately. Andy confesses, tells the team everything he knows. Andy is very strong, large, about 6'5". While he is definitely autistic and developmentally challenged, he knows what he is talking about and can describe the last few weeks perfectly clearly. Marcia lost her job, has been very stressed, acting erratically and defensively. She is used to having all the finer things, the luxuries of an upper middle class life in the Midwest.
Desperate after losing the 4th job in 2 years, she snapped. While driving home from her job she no longer had, she was driving past a baseball diamond just at the end of practice. She stopped her car, popped the hood and emptied her water bottle onto the hot engine compartment, creating steam. Victim #1, good natured guy that he is, saw her 'struggling' and went to investigate. She used some of her old MMA moves to disable the coach and toss him into the BMW SUV without notice. Panic set in a short time later, and she called Andy, begging for his assistance. He was scared, terrified, but he loves his sister and wanted to do anything to hopefully get her to love him back, to accept him, after all these years.
When he arrived to help, she has the coach tied up in the garage, face bloody and clearly being used as a punching bag. They hurriedly plan what to do with him. She convinces the coach to call his wife and read the message. Then the next morning, call the superintendent. She tries to seduce the coach, get him to cheat on his wife. When he resists, refuses to even touch her, she loses it and murders the coach, bashing his head into the garage floor. Marcia convinces Andy to remove the body.
How? Wood chipper. But, the head just jams the chipper, so they hack it off the body and dump it into the large plastic totes they used to transport the body into the river. Then she had him chuck it into the center of the river. Basically the same thing with all the other coaches. He doesn't know why she felt the need to do this, but he loves her and was willing to help her "make it right" as she put it. He apologizes but realizes it was wrong, what he was doing in covering up her crime, and will willingly go to jail for his part. By the end of his confession, he was crying profusely.
Marcia, on the other hand, tries to pin it all on Andy and she 'just found out' when the BMW was covered in mud and blood this morning. She claimed Andy blames all baseball coaches for the abandonment her ex caused. Her story doesn't add up and just seems stranger the further she goes with it. Clearly lying is not one of her strengths. We all see through this, she clearly is the Alpha in the duo and Andy is the submissive member.
The Indianapolis police arrest the siblings as we pack our bags and head for the jet. I have never felt so bad for seeing someone arrested.
"Will Andy get much time for his part in these crimes? Will he be held responsible due to his intellect and disabilities?" I ask the team as we all sit quietly on the jet. Everyone seems as uneasy as I feel, not every case is easy to walk away from.
"He will likely receive a lesser sentence, but he will need to be with someone more stable once he is released, or perhaps living in a group home." Blake answers, looking softly to Reid, knowing the subject of group homes is a sensitive one. The rest of the jet ride home was in companionable silence with no one else feeling much like talking.
"So much of what is best in us is bound up in our love of family, that it remains the measure of our stability because it measures our sense of loyalty." Haniel Long
