Sorry for the long wait for this chapter, I will try to get the next one posted soon! I hope you are all still enjoying this story.
I do not own Criminal Minds
JJ was sitting at the kitchen counter watching Emily pace back and forth when her cell phone rang. Emily stopped walking and turned to look at her. When JJ didn't move Emily spoke, "you should answer it," she said, "remember, everything's normal."
JJ nodded and opened her phone, "Jareau."
Emily returned to pacing and waited for JJ to hang up.
"We've got a case. Tara is picking me up."
"Okay," Emily nodded.
"I should tell them I can't go, call Hotch back and tell him I'm sick or something."
"No," Emily said, "nothing can change, and that includes your work."
JJ stood up and took Emily's hand, stopping her from pacing, "you shouldn't have to deal with this alone."
"DeMarco's dead, remember. We've got time, a little bit at least."
JJ let out a deep breath, "I hate this."
"I know," Emily said, "but it's what we have to do."
"You call me," JJ said, "you call me if anything happens, or if you need anything."
"I will," Emily promised.
JJ let go of Emily's hand and brushed her fingers across her face.
"Thank you for helping me JJ," Emily said, "now you should go get ready before Tara gets here."
"Yeah," JJ sighed. She dropped her hand and walked to the bedroom. She emerged a few minutes later in a different outfit and with her hair pulled back. Her phone buzzed with a message from Tara.
"And JJ," Emily stopped her before she left through the front door, "you're about to be surrounding by profilers, try not to look like you just killed someone."
JJ smiled, "I'll do my best."
And when JJ was gone Emily returned to pacing. She was pacing because she needed to think. Because they had bought some time, but not a lot. And not enough.
Because Henry DeMarco was about as dead as Lauren Reynolds had been.
And eventually someone would find out. And then they would find him.
But Emily just needed enough time to figure out who had set him up. Because DeMarco was innocent. But he had evidence, evidence that Emily could use to find the real UNSUB. He had been the one to find proof that someone at Interpol had been behind the hack. And he had been working on tracing the hacker. And he was getting close, close to revealing who at Interpol was a traitor.
And that was when the threats came. And that was why he had fled.
He had given Emily all of the information he had and it was enough to make her believe him.
Enough for her to believe that someone at Interpol was ordering his execution to cover it up.
XXX
JJ and Tara were the last to walk into the bullpen and take their seats.
"Good, we can get started now," Hotch said, "an anonymous tip was called in last night leading the DC police to what appears to be a abduction." He clicked on the laptop and a photo of the outside of a home appeared on the screen.
JJ felt her stomach drop and her heart stop. She made sure to keep her face neutral as her heart then began to pound rapidly. Because she recognized that house. And she had been there last night.
"Appears?" Tara asked, breaking through JJ's fog.
"The lock on the front door was broken and there was blood found in the house, but no body has been found."
"Have there been any similar missing persons cases in the area?" Rossi asked.
"Garcia is running a search, but right now nothing sticks out."
"If it isn't serial, why is this a BAU case?" JJ asked.
"Our team was specifically requested to work the case," Hotch explained, "the DC police have agreed to let us help and I've been ordered to make this a top priority. Our job is to find the victim and the UNSUB, but in order to do that, we must first identify who is missing."
"Is there any reason to believe the victim isn't the homeowner?" Rossi asked.
"That's the problem the DC police have run into. The name on the lease appears to be fake and the house was bought in all cash a week ago. I want JJ and Rossi to go to the scene, Reid, I want you to work with Garcia, look for any cases with similar MOs and try to identify the victim. Tara and I will coordinate with the local law enforcement on the search."
XXX
JJ looked out the passenger side window as she held her cell phone up to her ear. Emily picked up after the first ring.
"Hey, Em," JJ said, "I'm with Rossi," she added quickly.
"Got it. How's the case?"
"It's actually in DC," JJ turned to glance at Rossi, "but I'm not sure I'll make it back tonight, it's a missing persons case."
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Emily asked.
JJ paused. She wanted to tell Emily about the case, but she couldn't, not with Rossi sitting beside her.
"Are you okay, Jayje?" Emily asked when JJ didn't answer.
"No, not really."
"What's going on?" Emily waited a beat, "is it something you can't say in front of Dave?"
"Yeah."
"Does it have to do with what happened last night?"
"Yeah."
"Okay," Emily said, trying to work out her next question, "does someone know something?"
JJ looked up as the SUV came to a stop in front of the house, "I gotta go Em, I'll call you when I have a chance."
JJ hung up and opened the car door. She stepped out and walked around the SUV to where Rossi was standing. "How's Emily doing?"
"She's good," JJ smiled, lying through her teeth.
They walked up the driveway together and to the front door where a uniformed officer stood.
"I'm Agent Rossi," Rossi introduced himself, "this is Agent Jareau, we're with the FBI."
He nodded as if he had been expecting them, "Detective Lancaster is inside."
They walked in and JJ tried not to give any indication she had been there before. No recognition.
"Detective Lancaster?" Rossi asked.
The shorter woman turned to look at them, "that's me," she said, "you can call me Sharon. I take it you're the FBI agents who want my case?"
"We're only here to help," JJ said.
"I guess it's all besides the point," Sharon said, "I've been ordered to cooperate with you. I just don't understand why you want this case. If it were serial, sure. But a single missing persons in a DC neighborhood? Is there something you all want to tell me about my case?"
"We know just about as much as you do, probably less until we've seen the scene. Think of us as extra manpower for your case." Rossi said, "by the way, I'm Dave and this is JJ."
"This is Talia," Sharon introduced the detective beside her, "let's get to it then. We think the UNSUB got in through the front door." They walked back down the hall.
"This doesn't look like a normal lock," Rossi said.
"Good eye," Sharon replied, "the lock had recently been replaced. This is state of the art."
"So the victim was expecting someone?" JJ asked.
"All the locks have been replaced, on the windows as well."
"But the UNSUB still got in through the front door?" Rossi examined the door. There were no windows around it, nothing was obviously broken.
"It was locked," Sharon said, "whoever did it would have to be a hell of a lock picker."
"It's not much to go off of, but it's something," Rossi spoke, "who found the scene?"
"Anonymous tip called it in," Sharon said, "and if you'll follow me upstairs, I'll show you where we found the blood."
The four of them walked up the stairs and into the bedroom on the right. There was a large pool of blood on the floor to the right of the bed along with drops leading to the door, it matched the crime scene photos that Hotch had shown them.
"So, what, UNSUB enters the room, victim gets out of bed, and UNSUB shoots him? Stabs him?" Rossi offered.
"Then what?" JJ asked. "The UNSUB would have had to carry the victim out of the house."
"So maybe the UNSUB just injured the victim and then forced him out of the house." Rossi looked around the bedroom, "what have you found to help with IDing the victim?"
"We found five passports, different countries, different names, but the same man's photograph." Sharon informed them.
"It sure looks like this guy was running from someone. The passports, the locks on the doors and windows," Rossi said, "I doubt this was random, whoever this victim was, he was targeted. And if we can identify him then we might be able to determine who had motive to do this."
"The crime scene techs have dusted the house for prints, but we didn't get a match to any of them." Sharon explained.
Rossi nodded. He walked over to the closet and opened the door. Less than a half dozen shirts were hanging up. In the corner was a small suitcase, the size of a carry on. In the drawers were just a few pairs of pants.
"So we have multiple passports, a suitcase, and seemingly no personal belongings. On top of that, the victim purchased this house a week ago. What does that tell you, JJ?"
"He just got here," JJ said, "probably from somewhere abroad."
"Exactly," Rossi pointed at her, "and just because the victim's prints aren't in our database, doesn't mean they aren't in a different agency's."
"Interpol," JJ said, she could feel her stomach drop.
"It will take weeks to access their database," Sharon said.
"Let us give it a shot," Rossi said, "we have a contact there."