Emily found herself tucked away in the small room they had been granted with another steaming mug of coffee. This time however Morgan, JJ and Reid were sitting with her, each with their own beverage. After her drawn out conversation with the parents and watching in on their interview's JJ deemed it time for a break and they retired. Hotch and Rossi stayed behind to speak with Syd, who seemed the more likely candidate for revealing something of value.
"I don't think Syd is going to give us anything useful, he seemed cocky but he also seems completely sure of his innocence. I just think something is off here." JJ sighed, nursing her warm mug with slender hands. Her blue eyes became clouded by the gentle steam rising from her coffee and Emily found she was unable to stop herself from staring longingly from the far side of the table. Hearing the faintest hint of a chuckle from Derek, who sat beside her, Emily quickly retired her eyes to a more acceptable patch of table and waited for the conversation to progress.
"I don't know. I think that the geographical profile so far indicates that they wouldn't have taken her very far it's just anyone's guess where they did, in fact, take her. In this kind of situation it's highly likely that the more intelligent of the two is the one who directed the crime and in this case it appears to be Syd but I think JJ might be right. Something about that seems off." Reid ranted, his long fingers playing at the edge of his cuffed sleeve.
"So what are you saying pretty boy, have we been looking at this the wrong way?" Morgan asked, resting his elbows against the cheaply laminated surface of the table. His smile was gently teasing however his eyes showed his curiosity over the situation.
"It's always a possibility..." Reid began, though he was cut off by Rossi and Hotch entering the room. Hotch sported a mild expression and Rossi looked downright bewildered. Emily couldn't stop the smile that began to blossom on her face at seeing the older man's expression, however, she quickly wiped it from her expression seeing the seriousness in his aged eyes.
"Syd demanded a lie detector test and he is giving us access to his phone so we can print out some pictures he claims are evidence," Hotch said, dramatically flopping his file down onto the table. His face was almost entirely composed except for the small lines across his forehead, indicating his irritation. Additionally, Emily could have sworn his brow was slightly more furrowed than usual, however, it was hard to tell.
"What does this mean. I don't see what they could achieve from that unless they are actually innocent." Emily pointed out, her own brow furrowing in confusion. She downed her coffee afterward in an effort to combat her suddenly dry throat.
"There are ways to get around lie detectors it's just hard to tell if they would know how," Rossi replied, sitting down beside JJ in one of the remaining seats.
"Either way, there is a rush being put on it. We'll have the results within the hour." Hotch stated gravely.
"Okay, well I'm gonna call up Penelope and see if she can access internet history from the boys' laptops and search for anything related to lie detectors." Morgan offered, retrieving his slender black cell phone from his pocket. From where Emily was sitting she could watch as he unlocked the phone went into his contacts, scrolled and stopped on 'Soul' and hit the call button. He drummed his fingers on the desk humming a song Emily didn't recognise while he waited for Garcia to answer- which didn't take long. He pressed a button, switching the call to speaker so everyone could hear and greeted her with a wide smile playing about his lips. "Hey baby girl, we have a few things for you to look into if you're not too busy sweetcheeks."
"I-I'm not, I mean I was busy and will be busy but that's beside the point because obviously, this is my job so I am at your service my dark prince," Penelope responded, her speech tainted with evidence of how flustered she really was. Emily frowned and took her bottom lip between her teeth. It was highly likely Garcia was flustered with the task Emily had given her, which made Emily worry about how bad it may really be.
"Also check into the jet ski business as well, Syd mentioned that Kate rented a jet ski twice I want you to check that and get back to us." Hotch added with finality.
"I will get to work and attain your attention once again when I have information. Ta-ta!" Penelope retorted, before the line went dead with a click.
"So Syd believes fully that it was a completely normal interraction but we haven't heard Jim talk about it much at all. We were playing about with the possibility that Jim might be the dominant." Morgan said, essentially filling Rossi and Hotch in on their short brainstorming session.
"Jim disassociated himself from Kate as well, he didn't want to say her name and he got quite suspicious while I was interrogating him." Prentiss added, pieces of the puzzle becoming clearer in her mind but not quite forming the entire picture.
"We might be able to find something from the photos." JJ noted absently. She had been steadily becoming less focused throughout the conversation and Emily could see from the movements of her arm that her hand had been periodically moving to check her phone. In a private part of her mind she worried for the blonde. They were of a select few peole to whom the job mattered almost as much as a life partner. Sure it could be tiring and tedious, but also rewarding being able to rid the world of a few more serial killers, rapists or kidnappers. Their job mattered because few people did it and though they couldn't help with every case that came through their department they still solved a significant amount. Enough to make a difference. Which sometimes was all Emily had to hold onto and she was sure that JJ felt the same, much like the rest of their team.
"It's about time that they'll be setting up the lie detector. Reid, Rossi I want you with me looking in on each session. They'll be doing them one at a time, the exact same questions. Morgan, Prentiss and JJ I'll bring the prints of those pictures in so you can look over them. Syd was very clear in saying they went out and had a good time with Kate, took lots of pictures then dropped her off at home so look out for anything at all that doesn't line up with that story." Hotch ordered. He left the room abruptly afterwards, followed by Reid and Rossi, then reappeared a moment later to drop in a stack of photos. He gave them a tired smile, his eyes lingering on JJ for a moment before he left the room again leaving them in silence.
Emily allowed her eyes to fall on the pile of photos and let out a sigh. From the looks of it they took quite a lot of pictures to document their night, more than Prentiss felt she had probably ever taken. "There are a lot of pictures here, maybe it's a way of reliving the crime." She pondered aloud, taking a small pile off of the top to examine. Spreading them out in front of her she could tell that wasn't the case.
"No way these are just normal pictures." Derek frowned, analysing his own pictures with a furrowed brow.
"Maybe but look at this, Syd and Kate are close in all of the pictures but most of the time when you see Jim he's off to the side." Emily pointed out, showing a few examples of them around a campfire to her companions.
"Okay so that would solidify motive for Jim. Him and his boy roll up on a good looking girl and he thinks it's going to be fifty-fifty only she likes Syd more." Morgan took more pictures, nodding as if they backed up the theory even more.
"Guys, wasn't Kate's phone documented at her house and taken as evidence when the police got involved?" JJ asked, staring at the picture grasped in her hands with wide eyes that screamed 'Eureka!'.
"Yes it should be in evidence holding right now, why what did you find?" Emily responded, a smile gracing her lips as she observed the blonde.
"She left her phone in Syd's car. You can see it in this picture here, look." JJ replied excitedly, thrusting the photo down in front of them.
"So Jim could have seen Kate's phone being left in the car as an oppurtinity, after playing third wheel all night he might have found a way to ditch Syd, take the car and head over to Kate's. It sounds plausible but I still think they're both in on it." Morgan sighed. A moment later his phone began buzzing on the table where he left it. With a goofy smile he grabbed it up in his large hand, answered and swung it up to his ear. "Talk to me baby, what you got for me?" He paused for a moment to allow Garcia time to speak then nodded to himself. "Alright thanks sugar, I'll get back to you later." He cooed affectionately before hanging up.
Behind them the door handle turned with a short, high-pitched squeak and the door swung open. Hotch, Rossi and Reid enterred the room, Reid closing the door behind them. They each took a seat after, Spencer as usual began fidgeting with his cuffs and bag strap. Hotch and Rossi exchanged a look that Emily was sure was a covert exchange of silent words, though she couldn't make out the meaning of the two's shared glance.
"Garcia just got back to me. She couldn't find anything suspicious in the internet history. She also confirmed their story and told me Jim clocked in to work late the morning of her disappearance even though he's usually five or ten minutes early like it's a ritual."
"Right, so we're working on the assumption that Jim is the perpetrator and Syd is just a messed up young man. He mentioned the inlet is quiet around four AM when I was interviewing him, it was one of the only things he actually wanted to talk about." Rossi stated in an attempt to provoke a conclusion from the team. Emily could feel the buzzing tension growing between them, similar to other times they were nearing the end of a case. It was normally one of the more enjoyable parts of each case, however Emily could see the unrest weighing down on JJ. It left her feeling helpless, there wasn't anything she could do to ease the blonde-haired girl's situation at the moment and what she already had done might leave them on thin ice anyway. She hoped JJ's breakthrough in the case would provide her some kind of comfort amongst all of the worry, though she knew the blonde would breathe easier when they found Kate anyway.
"Kate rejected Jim, she was interested in Syd and it's clear in the pictures here. On top of that JJ noticed Kate's phone in the back seat of Syd's car in this picture yet it's in holding right now. It would have given him an opportunity to get close to her, her cell phone would be as good as a free ticket in. He had access to her and his boat would provide a method of disposal." Emily continued, her eyes sweeping over to Spencer whose hair sat dishevelled atop his head.
"That's it! The GPS was removed in his boat. They didn't find any sign of Kate being in the boat because he cleaned it and removed the GPS, the possibility was pushed aside too quickly!" Reid exclaimed, sitting upright in his chair, his lips slightly upturned at the corners.
"So you think Jim dumped Kate then cleaned the boat out and removed the GPS. It makes sense. How did he do it though?" Hotch asked, his eyes locking with Emily's.
"It was easy for him. He probably had her unconscious in the boat after blitz attacking her. He'd have taken her out at about four AM when it was quiet. He said his boat gets around 25-30mph miles per hour." Emily replied, her eyes still connected with Hotch's. He nodded once then looked to Reid.
"He probably went out around seventy-five miles given his relative speed and how many miles he'd get on a full tank." Reid ellaborated, piecing the puzzly together to it's entirety.
"Her parents told me she was an excellent swimmer, she trained three days a week. We're going to find her alive but we really need to move it's getting dark Hotch." JJ stated standing up abruptly.
"Wait JJ. You Reid and Rossi will stay here and try to get a confession. Prentiss, Morgan and I will get search parties out."
The team exchanged murmers of agreeance for a short moment before they moved out of the room as a party. They split into their two groups after, Emily watching the sway of JJ's perfect hips as she walked away towards the interrogation rooms. It was quite a mesmorising sight. After watching the other half of their team leave Emily and her companions began to get themselves ready. They put on their vests and rounded up the available police force. With a quick text to Garcia from Hotch helicopters were dispatched as well.
With a visual prompt from Hotch, Derek and Emily headed outside. They climbed into their issued SUV, with Emily in the front passenger side, Morgan in the back and Hotch driving. He drove with less patience than usual, swerving around the few cars milling about the streets in an effort to get to the helicopter rendeszvous point faster. They could hear the choppers overtaking them from around the half way point, indicating they'd have a good head start in looking for Kate.
When they reached the small cliff-side some nearby police units were already there, their response time impecable. Hotch slowed the car to a stop and unplugged his belt before turning to see his team mates.
"I'm afraid there isn't much we can do just now until they find her. I'm going to go meet up with the EMT's and make sure they're ready. I want you two to stay here, Garcia is plugged into the chopper radio so she'll call as soon as they find her."
"No worries Hotch, go do your leader stuff." Derek joked, flashing the stoic man a small smile. Hotch responded with a small smile of his own. He opened the door immediately after and swung his body out before closing it once again with a loud thump.
"Well I guess it's just you and me Derek." Emily chuckled, leaning back against the seat.
"I guess it is, princess. You know I've been watching you watching JJ for a long time. Something changed recently, didn't it?" He asked, gently probing for a more personal side to her. Emily rolled her eyes but inwardly pondered over his words for a moment. Maybe he was right.
"Oh come on Derek, what could you possibly mean by that?" She scoffed, attempting to avoid where his questioning may lead.
"Don't avoid it come on Emily, I know you. You like JJ don't you." He stated, levelling his eyes on hers with a hint of a smile. It was as if the conversation they were having sparked a memory of something similar in his life.
"Of course I do, she's my friend. Are you thinking about Garcia? It seems like it." Emily raised her eyebrows but moved her eyes to stare past his shoulder out of the window. It was getting dark and the tall grass was whipping around wildly in the wind. In the distance, she could see the haunting yellow beams of light sweeping over the water. She wondered how long it would be before they found Kate and if she really would be alive when they found her. She hoped so.
"Oh come on Em, you can trust me. Your eyes have shown more emotion looking at her in the past few days than I've seen from you in the time that I've known you. I love you like a sister Em but please be honest with me." His features were soft and his voice didn't sound pressing but there was something in the way his dark eyes rested on hers that was as if he were staring into her soul. It made her incredibly uncomfortable on one hand, for her most of her life she had compartmentalised expertly and managed to avoid becoming too emotionally entangled with people but being around the team was like being around the family she'd always dreamed of having grown up. She felt as if she could trust Derek and the rest of her team implicitly, she just wasn't sure she wanted to deal with the repercussions of admitting her developing feelings for their blonde liaison agent.
"Derek you know I can't answer a question with that much weight in a work setting." She sighed, running a hand through her dark hair, it wasn't really something she had confronted herself about but it was something she clearly needed to step back and analyse herself when she had free time. The telltale signs of a blossoming headache formed behind Emily's eyes and she pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment in an effort to dissuade it from getting worse.
"I suppose you're right, it's not the best place to have a personal conversation. You win this one, Prentiss, but I'm onto you and we will talk later. Okay?"
"Okay Derek, I promise." Emily refrained from arguing with the brotherly agent over the matter. She hoped she could buy herself enough time to organise her thoughts before having that particular conversation with him, after all, in her mind she knew he wouldn't give up, he was a stubborn man with a large heart.
Derek's phone ringing in the back made them both jump out of their skin. Emily's heart thumped hard as the cheerful tune rung out and Morgan scrambled to answer his phone.
"What's up baby girl, did they find her?" He asked a little breathlessly. He paused for a moment afterwards and Emily could hear the buzzing of Garcia's voice gently from her perch in the front. A moment later he hung up and leaned forward to tap Emily on the shoulder. "They found her, they're bringing her in now, she's alive... They found her clinging to a buoy."
"That's good news. Let's make sure Hotch knows." Emily responded. She trailed her fingers along the inside of the door in the dark, looking for the handle. Her fingers found the cool plastic amongst the tightly woven fabric quickly and she pulled on the lever, opening the door enough for her to hop out. She whirled around afterwards closing the door with a loud bang, closely followed by the thud of Derek's door closing. They walked over toward the EMT's slowly. They could see Hotch speaking with the local police beside the waiting ambulance in the distance, though the quickly falling small droplets of rain obscured Emily's vision more than she liked. "Despite what Spence said before about Quantico getting more rain, we still managed to see some while we were here."
"That's true, I wonder if he's thinking about that just now." Morgan chuckled, his large shoes squelching on the long grass is he squished it down around him.
"Probably, he does have an eidetic memory." Emily allowed a smile to pass over her face for a moment. She composed herself quickly as they stepped up towards Hotch, who appeared to be finished speaking with his companions. They relayed the information Garcia gave them quickly, sparing no time. A small amount of relief showed on the older man's face as he received the news and he turned to brief the paramedics immediately.
Overhead the sounds of the rescue helicopter began as it veered toward the coastline. They found a flat patch of ground to land on and Kate was unloaded from the chopper quickly. The paramedics took her into the ambulance ran some diagnostic tests. Hotch, Morgan and Emily stood outside waiting patiently in silence for the paramedics to give them some news. It was ten or fifteen minutes before a short woman with silky looking blonde hair tied atop her head in a tight bun emerged from the back of the van.
"We're going to take her to the Hospital straight away just to make sure she's at full health before being up and around properly again, we've come to the conclusion it's the safest option at this point in time." She smiled tightly at Hotch, her stern features seeming strained.
"Of course, we'll have her parents escorted. Thank you."
The ambulance left afterwards with the lights on and the three removed their vests as they made their way back to the SUV. Hotch allowed Morgan to take the wheel on the ride home which was amusing for Emily to witness. Derek had a bad habit of speeding but apparently driving with Hotch in the car made him considerably tamer. Not that Hotch seemed to mind the increased speed. Emily surmised that he probably wanted to get back so he could call Jack. The thought left a smile on Emily's face which lingered until they reached the police station once more.
The team congregated inside the main body of the station for a while to make sure Kate's parent's where escorted to their daughter and so that Spencer, JJ and David could fill them in on what progress they had made with Jim and Syd.
"We got a full confession from Jim, he confessed that Syd had nothing to do with it. The papers for his release are being signed as we speak. I don't imagine he'll be staying around here for too long. At least Jim will go to trial, then to jail." Rossi smiled at the thought, he swung his grey suit jacket around his shoulders and buttoned it promptly then looked to Hotch.
"I've decided for tonight we'll stay in a local hotel, I had it booked earlier. JJ I need you to ride with me. The rest of you can meet us there, I'll have Garcia text the address." Hotch said, his eyes focused on JJ. Emily's heart jumped at the alarming prospects of JJ and Hotch's private conversation. It was unusual, to say the least, and Emily worried that her meddling may have gotten her in more trouble than she had been in before. Emily's face fell as the blonde's surprised face changed to a determined one and she nodded. She departed with Hotch without another word leaving the remaining four members of the team quite confused.
"I guess I'll drive then." Rossi shrugged and set off after them.
"Shotgun!" Spencer called, striding after him.
Emily and Derek shared a look of confusion and followed after the two men. "I hope everything is okay," Emily whispered with a frown, her eyes pinned on the ground rushing past beneath her feet as she walked.
"If it isn't now, it will be, princess," Morgan replied.