A/N: Hello again, everyone!
A shout-out to ahowell1993, tannerose5, Susan, Betty, and Skylar for reviewing Chapter 11!
Get ready because I hope you're all in the ride, especially in the upcoming chapters!
Please, do enjoy my story and please review; new ideas and constructive criticism are always appreciated.
Prentiss, Rossi, Tara, Simmons, JJ, and Alvez all gathered outside the two-way interview room where they see Richard Griffin sitting still in the chair with a slightly bored and blank expression on his face. He hasn't even bothered to ask for anything, not even a lawyer. This could have meant that he was baiting the team and they just needed to throw him off.
Finally, Reid walked in.
"He's excepting me. Let me go in," Reid suggested.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Tara said with her arms crossed. "You'll just be giving him what he wants."
"I agree," Alvez seconded it. "You saw the look on his face when he called you Dr. Spencer Reid like he was delighted to see you. You're just giving him what he wants. Do you really want him to get into your head?"
"He'll want to let his guard down with me. I can get in his head as I cam damned determined not to let him get into mine or let him manipulate me. I know you think I have no right to ask, but you have to trust me on this. Let me go in there. Please."
The team looked at each other with silent looks.
"Fine."
Reid turned around when he felt someone's hand touching his arm, "Spence…"
"I'll be fine, Jennifer." Reid guaranteed her.
He took a deep breath before walking in. Griffin instantly started to grin like a Cheshire cat again.
"Dr. Spencer Reid."
"Richard Griffin," Reid was in full-on no-nonsense Supervisory Special Agent Spencer Reid ready mode. "But then…your name's not actually Richard Griffin, is it?"
"Oh?"
"No. It's not. Well, come to think of it…it's most certainly not Ricard Grifin. Or Griffith Rikard. Or even Griffin Ritchard or Grifin Riccards."
"Really?" Griffin sounded intrigued.
"No. I think it's best if I called you Griffin. Griffin Nicholas Richards."
"You know what I like about names? They can such meaning and connections to them. For example, Richards. Brave power. Then Nicholas, after my father's father. The victory of the people. According to my father, he had the power to do whatever he wanted to do."
"Guess you must have inherited that from him." Reid smirked at him.
Smugly smirked at him back, "Cute. Yet, I see another meaning and connection with Nicholas."
"Please delight me."
"The Devil. Nicholas Scratch to be more specific. It's one of the many nicknames of the devil, along with Old Scratch or Nick. Especially, like say…Mr. Scratch. Lucifer. Satan. Prince of Darkness. And yet, you get other nicknames for the devil, like…The Serpent. As of matter of fact, it was one of my nicknames growing up. I could ink. And slink. Like a little rattlesnake," He whispered the last few words. "And then, we get Griffin."
"Please intrigue me." Reid sarcastically said.
"Will do, Doc," Mother named me Griffin. Griffin: the legendary, mythical, and magnificent beasty monster-like creature with the head, wings and front feet-talons of an eagle; the body, tail and back legs of a lion. A bird of prey. But you know another connection to Griffin? The Invisible Man."
"The last time I read The Invisible Man, which was approximately 269 days ago, Griffin created a potion that made him invisible but lost his sanity. Not to mention, he's more prone to get easily angry. You don't seem to be someone who loses his temper at the drop of a hat."
"You're right…perhaps."
"And…perhaps…you're right, too."
"I am?"
"Yes. You are a beast. A monster. And like Griffin, you're someone who wants to commit as much chaos as possible." Reid opens the file and one-by-one, lays out his mugshots under his alias. Griffin took a quick peek at them before targeting back at Reid. "You want to know why you have so many aliases?"
Griffin loudly yawned, "As long as I don't fall asleep."
"Psychopaths get easily bored," Reid smirked before continuing. "You use either familiar or unusual aliases to confuse police records that would be mistaken for simple spelling errors. It's how you managed to evade the law for all those years, so no one would follow up on you. It's a simple truth."
"Sounds like such serious bad luck, indeed," Griffin said. "If you believe it to be a 'simple truth,' I wonder what you all so long to figure that out? What would you all propose by it? Also, if I did do those heinous crimes I was accused, I would have indeed kept proof of those crimes. That would be a confirmation."
"Oh, it's true alright. And you want to what else is the truth? If you wish to hear more, unless, I'm boring you?"
"Keep on intriguing me. I'm actually enjoying this."
Glaring at him, he just simply lays out the black-and-white photos of Élise; some of the photos had Reid, the team.
"Are these supposed to mean something to me?"
"Her name is Dr. Élise Bastien. She's been missing for months now. When I noticed something was wrong, I went to her apartment. Only, she wasn't there. Instead, her place was a mess and there was blood. Her blood, to be exact. And these were just on the floor like someone wanted me to find them. They could have hidden it in plain sight, but they weren't. It was like they wanted someone to find them. And now, there was a recent home invasion homicide: mother, father, two boys and two girls, and the grandfather all dead. The grandmother barely survived; she was repeatedly beaten and raped. Now the gun used on the family, including the grandfather, traces back to you."
"If I had done it, I would have wiped the gun clean, so my prints would not be on it. Also, if I had done it, I would file a police report saying my gun was stolen."
"You want to what else we've discovered?"
"What?"
"The grandmother said that a woman was there. Ready for the kicker? She's wasn't his accomplice. And she gave a description of her. Élise Bastien fits it. She had dark skin, petite, wears glasses and has short hair."
"And you got this from an old woman who lost her family to a sick bastard?"
"Yes. And I'm starting at him right now."
"You want to know why I think you took Élise?" Griffin smirked in silence as he let Reid profile him. "You're a shallow narcissist, but disciplined and focused. You attacked Élise when she would be at her most vulnerable. Her home. You stalked her, waiting for the right moment to make your move, just like you do with the rest of these victims and people. Including us. You feed off their fear because it pleasures you. You want them at their most vulnerable, where they're not scared or terrified before you do what you do with them. You kill for pleasure, without remorse, guilt, or pity; you hurt because you want to hurt, you kill because you want to kill as the thrill of it because it makes you feel alive, worthy. Violence is a sexual acting pleasure for you. It is possible that he is charming, manipulative, he can appear as non-threatening. Also, you want to know what else I'm thinking? You killed both your biological and adoptive parents."
"They all died in deadly car accidents."
"That must have been so hard for you since you couldn't take credit for it. You even have a history of a history of stalking and harassing random people. Under your aliases, you abducted, raped, tortured, murdered these people."
"Suspected."
"Like it makes a difference."
Smirking again, "Let's go back to… Élise…Bastien."
Just from saying Élise's name, just like how Cat Adams said her name, he felt like getting up from his seat and do bad things to him. "Oh?"
"I just love that name. É…lise…Bas…tien." Reid felt the chills from his skin; it was like he was toying with him. "Don't you?" Griffin chuckled before continuing it. "Has a nice ring to it. A nice feel. Also, if I had…done the things you said, I would have stalked her for much…much longer. If I had killed that family and repeatedly did those things to the grandmother, I would have done it one…by one; made everyone watch. And at a time, if I had done it, of course."
"But you want to know what I found interesting? The store owner called us just five minutes after we put your name and face to the media. And you just sat in the car parking. It was like you were waiting for us. You had twenty-two minutes and forty-seven seconds. And here we are now. Why wait?"
"Élise Bastien. I just can't get enough of that name. Can you? I think I'll say it again. Élise Bastien. Élise Bastien. Élise Gabrielle Bastien…"
"What?"
"What is what, doc?"
"Gabrielle is her middle name. I never said her full name. So how would you have known that unless….?"
Just that smirk alone was enough for Reid,
"What did you do to her?" He said in a whispered tone.
"Uh, Reid…" Prentiss opened the door,
"What did you do to her?"
"Reid?"
He tossed the folder aside as he rose from his seat, his voice was booming,
"What the hell did you do to her?!"
"Reid…" JJ attempted to calm him down.
Slamming his fists on the table, "TELL ME THE TRUTH!"
"You want the truth? I suggest you calm down before you end up having a meltdown episode, like your mother or child, or whoever…"
Reid refused to let him finish that sentence and just pushed the table out of the way, pulling him up from the seat, grabbing him by his shirt and physically slams him against the wall, was just seconds away from choking him, strangling him.
"Reid! Reid!" Alvez and Simmons quickly entered the room, grabbed him by his arms and tried to pull him back. "Reid!"
JJ stepped in and helped Alvez and Simmons with Reid, "Calm down, Reid!"
"Quite a temper you have there, doctor."
He was lucky Alvez and Simmons held him back from attacking him further. "No. Élise is alive. You would have made it eminently clear to me. And we will find her."
"Reid…"
"And when we find her, I will personally, and I mean personally, nail your ass to the wall and into the grave and then straight to hell! That's when I will kill you, bitch!"
"I believe that's enough, agents," A voice said as she came into the interview room. A woman of average height, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and dressed in a black skirt suit and kitten heels. "And I suggest you especially Dr. Reid, calm yourself down and control your temper before I filed a report against you for assaulting my client."
The team, especially Dr. Reid, all looked at her with perplexed expressions.
"He's your client?" Alvez asked.
"Yes, he is." She smiled. "I'm Tina Foster."
"Oh, did I forget to mention that she's my attorney?"
"You didn't even bother to say anything, jagoff; therefore, you didn't invoke."
"Watch it, Agent," She warned Rossi. "He called me hours ago before you brought him in for questions and now I say you're done talking to him."
"We have his gun linked to a recent home invasion homicide."
"A police report was filed by him saying that the gun was stolen," She presents them a file, which Reid snatched from her hand and scanned it.
"Well, if you ask me, it is nothing but nonsense."
"And we believe he was information about the disappearance of Dr. Élise Bastien," Tara added. "It's critically important that..."
Tina cut Tara off, "Well, what's critically important is that until there's evidence of his involvement, I say you're all done talking to him. Especially you, Agent Reid."
"First off, it's Dr. Reid. And secondly, if you honestly believe he's innocent, then you're more blind and stupider than the jury who acquitted O.J. Simpson. If you had not especially looked at his crimes and what he was accused off, then your IQ's lower than Homer Simpson's."
"Spencer…" JJ tried calming him.
"What? It's the truth."
"Come on, Richard."
"His actual name is Griffin Nicholas Richards. Counselor."
"Reid…"
"Richard…let's go."
As Griffin got up and left, "Let's do this again, doc. If we do. This is better than a game of chess."
If Reid could, he would strangle, beat, shot, kill Griffin in front of everyone. And honestly, he would not even care if he did. Instead, he just fumed, narrowing his eyes as he watches him walk with his attorney. Reid stormed out in a huff, leaving the rest of the team in shock and silence.
"Remind me again never to get on Reid's bad side. Ever."
Reid continued to fume. He just felt like punching a wall or knocking some things down, like Morgan would do at times whenever he felt angry. And that attorney of his. Who does she think she is? Defending someone like him. That pathetic excuse of a human being. Soon, all those feelings went away when he heard familiar crying, forcing himself to rush over. Once he got to the source of the crying,
"It's okay, pretty lady."
It was just Garcia rocking a bawling Anastasia in his arms.
"Oh. Hey, Reid."
"Let me hold her."
"Really, Reid. I got her. I…"
"God, Garcia!" Reid suddenly just snapped at her. "Just me feel as if I've something right today, okay?!"
This is not like Reid, maybe on a rare occasion, to be like this. But she figured she didn't want to make him even angrier and nodded at Reid before passing Anastasia to him, then quietly left the room.
Once he had Anastasia in his arms; rubbing her back, just as he always felt, it was like as if almost all the worries went away. It would make him feel like he's needed by her like he can do anything. Like he wasn't a failure. He never wants to let her go.
"Oh. It's okay. It's alright. Daddy's here. Daddy's got you. I love you."
Sorry if it took so long; life's keeping me busy, not to be writer's block. Like I said in the beginning, always open to new ideas. As I said in the beginning, get ready because I hope you're all in the ride, especially in the upcoming chapters! I'm always up for new ideas!