Alex chuckled at Rossi. "You go ahead and draw any conclusion you want to."
"So, let me guess." Rossi started. "You quickly fell for Gino's charm. He was older than you and little by little he was taking care of you. And being an orphan, bouncing from one foster home after another, you never had someone take care of you before. You came to count on him. He had your loyalty." Rossi watched as her eyes were confirming everything he was saying. "Then something happened. You learned who he really was."
Alex wasn't even going to try and pretend that what he was saying wasn't true.
"So, when did you find out?" Rossi asked. "And why didn't you tell Spencer? Your partner, your best friend?"
Alex looked down in embarrassment. "It was at an operations meeting. Parker pulled the team in to discuss a new target, an up-and-comer in the drug cartels. He was eliminating his completion and rising to the top quickly. That's when I found out the truth." She let out a sigh. "Gino, the man I was in love with... was really Harris Knight." She looked to Rossi with tears in her eyes.
"And you didn't tell anyone." Rossi gathered.
"I couldn't. I didn't know what to do. I was sure it was a mistake. I had to confront him. And when I did he came clean and told me who he really was." Alex shook her head. "I was so upset. I ended it with him. But I decided not to tell anyone and continued my assignments."
"You knew you were able to trust Spencer. Why didn't you tell him?" Rossi was curious.
"I was too pig-headed to admit he was right."
Rossi knew he was in. She had opened up to him. But he also knew there was more she was still keeping from him. He decided not to push too hard and wait for another opportunity.
Hotch looked to Rossi and met his eyes then gave a nod. Hotch pulled out his phone and dialed.
"Oh Captain, my Captain." Garcia announced as she answered.
"We will be making a stop there soon. Get a go-bag together." Hotch started.
"Will do, Sir."
"Also, we are going someplace that might not have cell service or will possibly have communication scramblers. I will need your help keeping us active."
"I will get everything ready."
"Where are you at with Alex's communication inside the prison?" Hotch asked.
"Still searching, I think I might have found a connection, but I want to be certain first. I should hopefully have an answer when you land." She reported.
"Thank you, Garcia."
"Over and out." She hung up the call.
The team landed and made their way into the BAU. Alex was put into a holding area under guard while the team began to assemble at the round table.
Garcia left her office and walked into the bullpen. She headed directly to Reid. "Hi." She uttered, then wrapped her arms around her friend. "I know a lot is going on right now, but it will get better, I promise."
"Thank you. I will be fine" He gave a subtle smirk.
She grabbed onto his hand and gave a squeeze. "We all have a past and sometimes we just aren't those people anymore. If you ever want to talk, I am here."
The two went into the conference room together. As Reid took a seat, Garcia picked up the remote. "Okay, I think I connected some dots. In six years Alex never had any visitors, let alone phone calls, or letters. I was going through some records, she never shared a cell with anyone, however she was able to mingle with the population. There was a fellow prisoner, Janice Blair." Garcia clicked on the remote and Blair's mugshot appeared. "She received a biweekly visit from a Daniel Bryant."
"What?" Reid asked, surprised.
"Do you know who that is?" Hotch asked.
"Yes, that's Charles Sullivan's cousin." Reid informed.
"Points to Boy Wonder." Garcia began. "So, after some digging, I found no obvious connection between Blair and Bryant. But, after these meetings started, Blair's mother started to receive $2,500 a month. Her mother also has custody of Blair's ten-year-old daughter."
"Why would Charles be communicating with Alex?" Rossi asked.
"He could be dirty, too." Morgan suggested.
"That's not possible." Reid spoke up. He saw everyone looking at him with skeptical faces. "I understand how it looks. But we were all trained very well to keep secrets."
Morgan gruffed.
Reid ignored him and continued. "If he really was working for Knight, he would make sure nothing was ever tracked back to him. There has to be another reason."
Hotch turned to Reid. "Did you ever figure out anything with those letters that he left you?"
"No, not yet. I know I am missing something."
Hotch stood up. "Reid, come with me."
The two left the conference room and made their way to where Alex was being held. They entered the room and sat across from her.
Hotch stared into her eyes. "How long as Charles Sullivan been communicating with you?"
"He reached out to me a little over a year ago." Alex answered truthfully.
"To what end?" Reid asked.
"He was trying to help me."
Hotch tilted his head. "Help you, how?"
Alex interlocked her fingers and rested her hands on the table in front of her. "He said that he was onto something with my case and some big information regarding Knight. He was mostly asking questions. I gave him a lot of the same info that I gave you. It took a long time though, since I was only able to pass a sentence at a time."
Reid turned to Hotch. "Charles digging into that could have been what got him killed." He then looked back to Alex. "Is that how you knew about the letters?"
"Yes. He said that if ever anything happened to him that he would have four documents in an envelope to Spencer's attention. There would be a code to lead you to what he was able to find out."
Reid looked back to Hotch. "I will need to check out Charles' place. That's where I will find the code."