All familiar characters are Janet's.
"What do you have for me?" I asked the employee who remained one, just changed cities.
"I made a few calls to the people I know in law enforcement."
"You called your brother-in-law and his two brothers you mean?"
"I didn't say that, but I did just happen to get word that someone matching Tipple's description ..."
"Husband or wife?" I asked Silvio.
"Wife ... and she's not alive."
"Where?"
"Key West. The body was found in a park by a couple of hikers. How she was found suggests suicide. There's no sign of the husband."
No matter how much I didn't want to, having worked with every kind of law enforcement, from local police to the CIA, and everyone in-between and above them, if I look at this from a FBI BAU standpoint, I can see how these murders played out. George forces his wife to help him off her lover by threatening to kill her or other people she loves if she doesn't do whatever he says. He plans all along to murder her despite what she does or doesn't do, but he enjoys the prospect of torturing her for a little while longer. He reasserts his dominance over her and then kills her, or has her do the honors as punishment for Leo, and then leaves the Keys and heads to the Bahamas alone, already on the hunt for a new victim. Unfortunately, there's no shortage of sexual psychopaths in the world.
"Do 'the police' know to look for the husband and not waste time on something self-inflicted?" I said to Silvio.
"I might've mentioned there had been a love triangle and there's only one man left standing from it."
"Keep me updated."
All eyes were on me when I disconnected. "What now?" Steph asked.
"A body matching Suzy Tipple's was found in Key West."
"Sonovabitch," Kane muttered. "They made a pit stop?"
"Appears so. There's no George around, acting like the grieving husband."
"This has been a nightmare from the day Aubrey found about the affair," Harper said, "and it just keeps getting worse."
"Welcome to our life," Steph told her. "If I've learned anything ... it's that things can always get worse."
"That's not very optimistic, Babe."
"Maybe not, but it's true."
I hugged my women to me. "Unfortunately it is."
"Looks like we'll be taking a detour as well," Kane said, looking at me for corroboration.
"Yes. We'll head to The Keys first and deal with the authorities there and see if Tipple makes an appearance again somewhere before The Bahamas."
"I've always wanted to be able to travel more, but not like this," Steph said, talking into the fuzzy pink jacket Olivia has on.
Leaving a Jersey winter for a tropical climate meant Olivia's outerwear will be removed on the plane. It was covering up a pink and white striped shirt and dark blue 'jeggings', with gray and pink lace-up, high-top crib shoes that look like heart-accessorized sneakers. They appeared like simple travel clothes, but Steph had wanted Olive's input on them. From the moment my mother took the pink monstrosity out of her shopping bag, my daughter as she sat with her arms and legs outstretched on her grandmother's lap, flashed us all a gummy grin, and leaned forward ... enthusiastically running the palms of her chubby little hands repeatedly over what I call the skinned-muppet jacket, so a cohesive outfit had to be created around it.
"It'll be okay," I tried to assure her.
"For us, yes, but not for these four families. They've all lost someone here."
I can't make this situation better, but I could make her feel better. "Death is everywhere, Steph, but so is life ... just look at Olivia and remember that."
A/N: BAU stands for Behavioral Analysis Unit.
