When Malcolm arrived at the precinct the other detectives were already there pouring over case files. He nodded his greetings and started setting his stuff on his desk.
"Gil in his office?" Dani asked, nodding to where the door was closed and the blinds were shut. It was unusual for Gil to keep his office closed like that but understandable considering. "I think I might have something from Prescott's financials."
JT shrugged, "I assumed so, haven't seen him but the lights are on."
Intrigued to hear what Dani may have found Malcolm and JT moved to follow her into the office.
Dani frowned when she realized the door was locked. "Gil?" she knocked. Receiving no answer she tried to peek through the gap in the blinds to see if he was even inside. Both men behind her jumped when she dropped the files in her hands and began frantically smashing her shoulder into the door. "Get this door open. Get it open!"
JT, without question, pulled her out of the way and used his larger size to smash the door open. The three of them gaped at what they saw. The room was trashed, furniture and papers strewn about.
"He was here?" Dani muttered, "How could he have been here?"
Malcolm barely heard her with the way his ears were ringing, the edges of his vision greying out like he was in a tunnel. He moved like he was in a trance towards the back wall of the office. Nailed to the wall was Gil's id and badge, blood staining the gold shield.
"-colm" A warm hand grabbed his shoulder and turned him away from the wall. "Malcolm."
Malcolm looked up helplessly at JT's concerned face.
"CSIs are on their way. Are you getting anything from this?"
Malcolm shook his head trying to regain some focus. He pulled away from JT to attempt to look at the room with an objective eye. "No none of this makes sense. Prescott doesn't do- he doesn't do this." He examined the way the files had been strewn across the office. "His grabs were always quick and dirty, but this…"
"This wasn't a fight." Dani cut in, "look at how everything is tossed around. This was done deliberately."
"So Prescott grabbed Gil and stayed to toss the place? Was he looking for something?" JT asked.
"No, he was doing this to send a message. He's escalating. He's taunting us. This whole thing is supposed to show us how much smarter he is than us. That he can walk into the middle of the precinct and do whatever he wants and we can't stop him." Malcolm started pacing, all of this was a very bad sign for Gil, all of this escalation in grabbing his targets was likely to be matched in an escalation in his methods of torture.
JT cleared his throat and indicated the team of techies waiting by the door to start processing the scene. "There'll be video of the bullpen, we can review that while the CSIs go through things here."
Malcolm looked like he wanted to argue but Dani steered him out. He allowed her to lead but he kept twisting back to look at that badge.
By the time they were out of the office JT was on the phone with someone, nodding and agreeing with whatever the person on the other side was saying. "Thanks Rosa. Get her here now." He hung up. "Meredith Prescott just landed in JFK. Units are bringing her in."
"She's finally back in the US? Why is she back now? We've been trying to get a hold of her for months."
"Her visa will have expired. And she comes back here directly because she doesn't want to give the impression she was hiding or planning on running. No need to tarnish what's left of her personal reputation." Malcolm muttered.