A/N: I don't own any of the Criminal Minds characters, plot, etc. all belong to CBS
"Oh, how miserable it is to have no one to share your sorrows and joys, and, when your heart is heavy, to have no soul to whom you can pour out your woes." Frederic Chopin
Jade POV
After enjoying the rest of the holiday weekend, spending hours on the phone with Em as I was lounging in the park and working on a tan, I was truly dreading returning to the BAU this Monday morning. I sip my iced vanilla latte in the elevator, willing the caffeine to do its job, and dreading what new cases Hotch will have me sort through this morning. As much as I love this job, really I do, as much of a thrill as I get from being on the news helping the team find new leads and catch the UNSUBS, I truly hate reading the potential case files, looking at the pictures and trying to judge what tragedy is worth our expertise.
Alternatively, I could look at it as what case isn't serious enough for our assistance. How good is this team that I have to decide a tragedy isn't drastic and sick enough for us? Often I wonder how the passed over families of those victims feel to know the FBI didn't think their tragedy and loss was bad enough to warrant our aid. They must think we are cold bureaucrats, only taking cases if it benefits us in some way. I wish there were a way we could help everyone, I wish we could do something to completely prevent the crimes in the first place. If the profiling works to find the criminals, isn't there something we can do before they act?
Stepping off the elevator, I shake those dark thoughts from my mind. Mondays are bleak enough as it is, I don't need to start the day on a negative note. It'll get there itself soon enough, I'm sure of that. I drop my bag and coffee at my desk in the bull pen and head up to Hotch's office to see what he had for me. Rounding the corner at the top of the steps and approaching the door, I am caught off guard to see it swing open and Hotch's broad frame already filling the doorway.
"Morning Hotch!" I greet him with a grin, caffeine finally kicking in and I feel more chipper, that is, until I notice his face is already drawn tight, the scowl that initially caused a hint of fear for me that I now know is his sign of stress and how he reigns in his anger toward a case. That can only mean one thing, there is a case so urgent he doesn't want any other input and we will be on the jet before I finish my latte. "What is it?" I ask, already extending my left hand for the thick case file in his right hand.
I flip open the case file and listen as Hotch narrates the case and takes long, fast strides toward the conference room. He doesn't pause for me and I struggle to keep up as he fills me in on the most important parts of this file. It seems like the local police kept a very good record and sent it all to us, which will be helpful but made sorting out the crucial bits as I practically jogged down the hall a bit difficult.
In Biloxi, Mississippi, new mothers, young women and a few young men have been kidnapped over the last 8 months. Last known location, for all the kidnapped adults; the local women's health center, aka "the devils abortion clinic".
Garcia was already sitting at her laptop in the conference room, getting the presentation ready. "Morning Jade. I wish I got to see you for more than 30 minutes in a week. Hotch, I already told the rest of the team to meet us in" she checks her watch, "2 minutes. Guess they are all going for the 'punctual but not early' route today."
"I don't blame them. Ugh, I hate Mondays." I say, wishing I hadn't set my drink on my desk and glancing out the door wistfully to where I can almost make it out in the bullpen below. If only I had telekinetic powers and could bring the delicious caffeinated concoction to me by sheer will alone. Looking back at the heavy case file, I listen as Hotch and Garcia tell me the key details I will need to pass on very shortly when the team arrives.
Reid walks into the conference room first, and by some minor miracle, he is carrying my half-finished iced vanilla latte. Unable to stop the big grin that stretches across my face at the sight, I accept the drink and take a big sip as everyone else fills in and takes their seats around the table. "Thanks Spence, you're a lifesaver."
"I saw it on the desk and realized you weren't coming back down before the round table..." Reid trails off, looking somewhat unsure of what to say. I just smile and nod as I take another sip and step to the podium next to Garcia and Hotch.
"Good morning everyone. I hope you enjoyed the rest of your holiday weekend. Jade and I have a new case for us, Jade," Hotch announces once the team assembled and I clear my throat before I begin to present the case.
"Good morning! I hope your go-bags are full of light, breathable clothes, we are off to Biloxi, Mississippi," I begin, pausing as Morgan groans and rolls his eyes. Heat and humidity always makes a case more difficult to solve, tempers of innocent people are easier set off and can lead us down incorrect paths or waste time on unnecessary details. Plus, the deep south along the Gulf Coast isn't exactly known for its state of the art police departments with modern high efficiency central air conditioning. "Yes, the Gulf Coast beckons. Over the last 8 months there have been 12 kidnappings, all linked to the same Coastal Women's Health Center. It provides all women's health services, fertility treatments, general gynecology, low-income services for pregnancy and newborn follow-ups, as well as birth control and abortion services, but it appears that this clinic has a reputation as an abortion clinic and, like many locations in the southern Bible Belt, it isn't well liked by the community." I explain and Garcia clicks her remote to show several pictures of the clinic.
It looks like a perfectly normal Women's Health Center in the first picture, then the next 3 pictures show the clinic defaced, egged and spray-painted in separate protest events the town had at various times. "Biloxi is a very traditional and conservative town and there is an extremely conservative Baptist church in town who are quite vocal and demonstrative in their disapproval of the clinic and have stated their belief it is doing the devils work. Actually, it appears the church is just the lead of this group and most of the town follows them and their belief. It would be easier for us to list the residents in this town who support the center rather than identify all of those who don't. That being said, there were a dozen people over the last 8 months who have disappeared and their last known locations are the Coastal Women's Health Center."
"What, is this the 1950's? Women have the right to medical care that they can afford! And not be kidnapped because of it!" JJ interrupts, clearly upset. It is very evident that every member of the team agrees with JJ, nodding agreement.
"Right, I agree." I acknowledge, tucking my hair behind my ear before I continue, "The local police have been very diligent in tracking the kidnappings, however have not been able to locate the missing persons, or even know if they are still alive. No bodies have been found, but that does not necessarily mean these 12 people are still alive."
"You keep saying people and persons, are there some men who have been kidnapped as well?" Blake asks, catching my choice of words, not letting her ire at the situation cloud her judgment or ability to listen.
"Yes, the first as well as most recent missing persons are male, however the other 10 are female. That made it harder for the police to connect it to the Coastal Women's Health Center, but as far as we can tell, everyone was last seen at this center." I answer her and step back to allow Garcia and Hotch to briefly go through each of the missing persons.
"Alright, lets go, wheels up in 30." Hotch concludes, dismissing the team and collecting the case file before swiftly striding to his office.
As we disembark the jet, the full Gulf Coast humidity hits us fully, even though it is barely 9am. I can feel my straightened hair puff out and regain its natural wave just in the short distance down the stairs of the jet and I roll my eyes. Hopefully we can solve this case quickly.
"The true crime is this damn heat and humidity" Rossi mutters to Hotch as we rush into the waiting black SUVs. Surely he only wanted the senior agent to hear, but we all caught the remark and chuckle along.
We arrive at the police station and are quickly brought up to date by the local police chief. There have been no new leads on the missing persons, the officers were basically sitting ducks, hoping our fresh eyes can catch something they missed as the case goes stagnant, much like they marshy and swampy waters surrounding this town.
Hotch dispatches the team and I get acquainted with the local police department, setting up our little office to suit our needs. I place the relevant photographs and maps on the corkboard as well as jot down the facts onto a small whiteboard and wait for something to happen.
I make a brief media plea for the Monday noon news broadcast, which they will replay at the start of every news broadcast until the UNSUB is found.
After 3 long days of suffering in a stuffy police department, on Wednesday afternoon, I answer a phone call from the tip line, something that sounds promising. "Biloxi regional police department tip line, Jade speaking. How may I assist you today?"
"Uh, Jade did you say?" the caller asks, sounding elderly, before he continues with the tip. "I think I know who is kidnapping those women. I think it is my former son-in-law."
"Oh? Your former son-in-law?" I ask, reaching for the notepad and pen on the small metal desk, "What is his name?"
"Benny. Erm. Benjamin Martin. He's 38 and I think he lost it after my daughter, his wife, died while pregnant. Benny never liked that abortion clinic she went to for the fertility treatments 5 years ago when she lost her first baby. Then this time around, I think it finally sent him crazy. He wasn't right at her funeral. He kept ranting about how that damn abortion clinic ruined her womb forever."
"Thank you, sir. I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your daughter. Can you give me his phone number and address so we can speak to him?" I ask, and I take down his information.
After hanging up the phone, I get JJ and Hotch's attention, they are the only team members in the department at the time, everyone else is investigating previous tips, and relay the conversation to them.
"Jade, good job. Thank you, I think this is the most credible tip we have had yet. JJ and I will head to the address. Have Garcia look up this Benjamin and his deceased wife." Hotch replies, tacking the details onto the corkboard while JJ grabs them both a coffee. They rush out the door and I slump back down to my seat by the tip-line phone. I text Garcia the details about Benjamin Martin and have her work her magic before I settle in and wait. Most of this job, it seems, is waiting.
Thirty minutes later, bored and frustrated, I pull out my cellphone. It is mid-afternoon here, so I figure Em should be home and finished with her work in London.
"Em, how's it going?" I ask as she answers the phone.
"Wonderful, Princess, just a normal Wednesday night in London. A glass of wine for me and extra catnip for Sergio."
"I'm jealous. This case in Biloxi is killing me. Have you ever been so frustrated you want to pull out your hair and scream? A case where exactly none of the leads pan out? All of the suspects end up innocent? Its like these people just up and vanished after they left the health center."
"I'm sorry, Princess," Emily purrs to me over the phone and I can tell she is leaning back in her bed, head resting on the headboard as she swirls the wine in her glass with one hand and cradles the phone with the other. "There will always be frustrating cases, that's why you get called in. If it were easy to solve, the locals would take care of it."
"Very good point. Thanks, Em, I just hate when it seems like we will never solve this case."
"Can you tell me more about it? Maybe I can give you guys a new direction to look?" Emily says, her throaty voice soothing me as I sit in the stuffy office.
"Some, I guess. Over the last 8 months 12 people have been kidnapped. Their last known locations, the last place each one has been seen, is the local women's health clinic. We are in the deep south, so the general consensus is the clinic is "a devilish place where abortion happens" and little else, despite the women who go there mostly receive typical gynecological exams and even fertility treatments. They really only perform a handful of abortions each year, most of the care is not abortion or even birth control related. Which means everyone is a suspect. Two of the missing people are male, so it isn't some sort of abortion-specific punishment. There have been several protests against the center over the years, lead by an extremely conservative Baptist church in town. The pastor is not the UNSUB, he has some health issues which prevent him from capturing a woman, plus he lives above the church, which was searched. The church elders are innocent, or at least innocent of kidnapping. The elected officials are innocent, as far as we can tell. School teachers, while extremely conservative and not the most open minded or willing to teach about women's health, which I think should be a crime, aren't the kidnappers. All the leads from the tip-line have gone no where and are wasting the teams time. I'm sitting here, bored. Any time a call comes in I feel like its a waste to even pass it along to the team, they get so frustrated when it doesn't pan out and they did it for nothing."
"Oh my, take a breath, Jade. Please. I know it is frustrating, I get it. Believe me, I get it." Em interrupts my frustrated tirade, speaking in a soothing tone to calm me down. I do take a deep breath, stand up and stretch a moment, releasing some of the tension I feel in my shoulders and neck. After a few moments, Emily continues "Okay, so how often is someone kidnapped? Are there any ransom letters or demands being delivered to the police for the safe return of the missing people?"
I take 3 calming breaths before I reply, walking to the counter where the coffee is, and lean my hip against the counter. "It varies. Almost 6 weeks between the first kidnapping, a male, and the second, a pregnant woman. The rest vary between 10 days and 3 weeks. The most recent kidnapping happened, um, two weeks ago, tomorrow. It was also a male. Some of the police think that another male being kidnapped means they are done, the cycle is complete, however everyone else seems to think the victim choice, while all from the Coastal Women's Health Center, is random. There are no ransom letters or demands, as far as we can tell. Nothing delivered to the police station, nothing to the health center, nothing on social media."
"I would have to agree, it is some unknown trigger that causes the UNSUB to act, I don't think the second male indicates an end of the cycle. No demands means the UNSUB is either keeping the victims for his own purposes or is killing them almost immediately and disposing of the bodies. Have any bodies been found? Any unidentified remains?
"No bodies, no unidentified remains. The local police don't expect to find anything either, with the alligator, turkey vulture and coyote populations at the highest in three decades. The difficult to navigate swamps and marshland as well as the vast Gulf of Mexico as disposal grounds too. I think everyone believes the kidnapped people are dead, but we have absolutely zero evidence of that, so we are operating on the presumption, no the desperate hope, that they are all alive and well somewhere."
"Me too, Princess, I hope they are alive and well too." Emily purrs softly, knowing exactly what to say when a case gets to me, to realize the frustrating feelings are normal and natural. "I would look into all the complaints the center has received, any unhappy people who feel their care was not up to standards. Upset husbands or baby daddies too. Sometimes very conservative men do not like the idea of the women in their lives seeking medical care on their own."
"Thanks, Em. You always know what to say. I am so extremely glad you're in my life. I would never get through these long days at the police station without you to keep me sane."
"Oh I don't know if anyone can help your sanity, Princess." Emily laughs, voice velvety and low, I can almost see her eyes glinting as I hear her over the phone.
"Wow, low blow! I thought you liked me!" I return the laugh, tension evaporating from my body, arms lose as I lean over to pour myself another coffee.
"Princess, as much as I love talking to you and debating your sanity, I really must go to bed, Clyde and I are busy on our own case. Shit, I'll only have 3 hours of sleep at this rate!"
"I'm sorry, Em! Why didn't you say anything sooner? I didn't want to keep you up."
"Some things are worth losing sleep over, Princess. Talking to you on the phone will always be one of those things. Don't hesitate to call me when you need something or just want to chat."
"Goodnight, Em. Sweet dreams" I tell her as we hang up the phone. Replacing my phone in the back pocket of my white linen pants, I walk with my coffee back to the desk and resume my job of waiting until another call comes in, or Garcia calls with the details on Benjamin Martin. Settling into the seat, I remove the claw hair clip and re-twist my hair into a messy chignon before I place the claw back into my hair, I have completely given into the humidity, small curls twisting around my face and nape of my neck.
An hour later most of the team returns, Rossi and Blake from investigating the security camera footage at the Coastal Women's Health Center. Morgan and Reid from interviewing a tip about the local Catholic church "having people locked inside the old unused convent." Neither group had much success. Rossi reports they were able to identify each of the missing persons on the security footage but no one was approached as they left the area covered by the 3 cameras focused on the health center. Morgan and Reid are even more frustrated because the convent lead was an absolute dead end, not only was the convent unused, the property doesn't look like anyone has been there in years. The church itself is small and doesn't have a basement or social hall, so there is no place the people could be kept. I let them know where Hotch and JJ are, and we all seem to agree, it is tenuous, but the best lead of the case so far. We chat about unimportant things as we wait for Hotch and JJ to return.
Two hours after that, Hotch and JJ storm in the front of the police station, with a disgruntled, grubby looking man in cuffs walking between them. Just as they enter the interrogation room, my phone buzzes and I look down to see Garcia's name. The team looks to me to see if they should wait with me or go into the observation room to watch the interview.
"Garcia? Do you have anything on Benjamin Martin?" I ask and the team decides to wait with me. I press the button to switch the call to speakerphone and set it on the desk so we can all hear.
"Hello my pretty little friend! I found mountains and mountains of ick concerning Benjamin "Benny" Martin. His Facebook and Twitter are full of misogynistic and extreme conservative rhetoric, for starters. Like, I don't know how this guy got a wife in the first place. Women are literate down there, right? Anyway, legally he is icky too. He has been arrested 4 times for harassing and assaulting various nurses and doctors who work at the health center, but due to the police and judge sharing his views against the center, he barely did any time, even when the one nurse was left paralyzed from the waist down. He has written many op-eds about how the health center should be shut down due to doing the devils work. Do you need me to go on? I can, for like 30 more minutes on all the dirt you had me find."
"No, Garcia, that is plenty. Hotch and JJ just brought him in for questioning. I'll bring them up to speed and get back to you when we need more of your lightening fast tech assistance."
"Have a wonderful evening and keep that guy behind bars for the rest of his life. Wife was squeaky clean, b t dubs. Well, before she passed away."
"I'll be sure to let Hotch know your recommendations. We figured the wife wouldn't have had anything to do with it. Later, Garcia."
"Tootles!" Garcia quirks as she disconnects the phone and the team heads to the observation room. I pause at the interrogation room door, knocking, before I enter.
"Mr. Martin?" I ask, pausing only for a second before I continue, not giving him a chance to answer "Would you like anything to drink? A sandwich?"
He looks me up and down, eyes hungrily taking me in from the coral wrap blouse tucked into my white linen pants, down my legs to my white high heel sandals revealing my bright red manicure, back up to my chest and finally taking in my face, where I have a my best fake smile plastered, trying my hardest to look sincere.
"Nothing now, missy, but give me your number. I think I'll want something later tonight." He sneers, sounding just as vile as his gaze made me feel.
The only reaction I gave him was to roll my eyes as JJ and I excuse ourselves for a minute. I briefly fill her in on what Garcia told us about Benjamin before I forward her and Hotch the files Garcia just sent into my email. With a brief hug, I wish JJ luck as she re-enters the interrogation room and I head one door down to watch with the team.
As we listen to the interrogation, we learn all about Benjamin "Benny" Martin and how hard his life is. How much he struggled with his wife and her infertility (his emphasis) for years. The difficulty he had to suffer through when she lost her first baby after going through fertility treatments at the Coastal Women's Health Center five years ago, how upset and depressed his wife was following her miscarriage and how he couldn't do what he wanted, which was to basically go to work, come home, eat dinner and then screw his wife until dawn. Their struggles getting pregnant a second time with the help of the doctors at the state hospital. The momentary joy of becoming pregnant, but then she died a little over 8 months ago, and during the autopsy they found out it was an ectopic pregnancy and her Fallopian tube ruptured, causing her to bleed internally, causing her death. He blames the treatments she received at the Coastal Women's Health Center, he believes she would have been able to bear his children if she would have never gone to the center and "the devil wouldn't have rotted her womb from the inside out."
It took a while for Benny to admit he was the one responsible for kidnapping those people, and even then, he would not reveal what he did to them, if they are alive. Morgan and I took turns bringing coffee in for Hotch and JJ, committed to getting his full confession before we leave the police department. Every time I entered the interrogation room, I asked Benny if he wanted anything, every time he had the same sneering request for my phone number. It was after midnight when Hotch finally called it, and we plodded along, exhausted mentally and physically, to the hotel. For once I was asleep nearly as soon as my head hit the lumpy hotel pillows, in defiance of the muggy, hot air in the hotel. The window AC units were buzzing and whirring as if they were manufacturing cold air, but I couldn't tell the difference as I slept.
Despite falling asleep quickly and soundly, it felt like I hadn't slept a wink when my alarm was blaring at 5am. We return to the observation room with convenience store breakfast sandwiches and giant mugs of coffee, but it appears as the entire team is as poorly rested as I. Hotch and JJ put on brave faces and return to interrogating Benny, certain they will find out what he did with the people he kidnapped. I slump into a hard office chair and rest my elbows on my knees and struggle to wake up, shake the heavy, muggy and humid air. I feel rather than see an agent step up beside me. Curious, I look up and notice Spencer, bleary eyed as well, looking down to me.
"Rossi was right, the true crime down here is this damn heat and humidity" I murmur darkly, chuckling and Spencer joins in.
"Very true, its like each night I sleep but don't feel any more rested than the day before. If we spend another night here I might just read all night instead, that will probably be more restful than actually attempting to sleep."
"I couldn't agree more. I'm getting another coffee, do you want anything?" I ask, rising and heading for the door.
"No, but I'll walk with you. I find the movement helps wake me up better than coffee or tea, without the jittery or diuretic side effects."
"I've missed chatting with you. Lets fix that." I say with a grin as we walk to the small office with the pour-over coffee machine, chatting happily. We decide to bring coffee for everyone, and due to Spencer's impeccable memory, we were able to get the coffee precisely as they like it.
It was nearly noon before JJ had a breakthrough and got Benny to admit they are all dead, dumped deep into the swamp about 25-30 miles north of the town, likely devoured by the alligators and scavengers by now. He admits to luring them to his car as he attempted to fix a flat or add oil to the engine, then taking them far out of town, stabbing them and removing their abdominal organs. Again, it was nearly sunset before we found out why. Hotch refused to leave without Benny telling him why he did it.
Without a hint of emotion or remorse, Benny said "I just wanted people to feel the way I felt when my wife had the devil messing with her womb in there, messed with her womb so bad she bled to death carrying my baby. I wanted to be the devil."
Stunned, JJ walked out of the interrogation room without a word, pale. Hotch stared at him, his dark brown eyes narrowing as he assessed the man sitting in the chair before him, calculating what he said, deciding if it was the truth or at least enough of it to satisfy him, before he too left without a word. I found JJ in the ladies room, sobbing and gripping the edges of the sink. I comfort her for a few minutes, my hand rubbing soothing circles on her upper back, before we gather our belongings and head back to the jet and head to DC.
No one bothers to chat and converse on the jet, I don't even open my phone to text Emily. The heat and humidity, as well as Benny's lack of remorse, has gotten to us all. Rossi pours himself a rather tall glass of Scotch, more than 3 fingers from the look of it, and instead of taking his usual seat, settles beside me and hands me the glass after he takes a long, full sip.
Silently I nod appreciation and take a sip of the burny liquor and hand it back, closing my eyes and leaning into the headrest of my seat. Words do not need to be shared when a man like Benjamin "Benny" Martin can say something so vile and evil we are all working to process it hours later.
"To the living, we owe respect. But to the dead, we owe only the truth." -Voltaire
