"We're sitting here doing nothing, Man," Morgan complained. "Why don't we just head over to this Hutchens Island and see what is going on over there?"
The BAU team had been left to wait at the local police station while Rossi and Cruz accompanied the owners of the Trans Caribbean Development Corporation on their visit to the H & J Ship's Chandlers terminal.
"Because, technically, it is private property," JJ explained patiently. "And, without cause, we need to be invited onto the island."
"And, as it is, we currently have no hard evidence that Hotch is being held there," Reid reminded him.
"Besides," he added. "Aren't you the one who not so long ago wanted to give up looking for Hotch?" He directed a Hotch-like glare at Morgan.
"Okay, so I was wrong," Morgan admitted shamefacedly. "I admit it. Now, how do we get to the island?"
"More likely, how do we get invited onto the island?" Lewis asked practically. "Or, even better, how do we get evidence of a wrongdoing that will justify our barging over there and storming the beaches?"
"What about the locals?" Morgan asked. "Maybe we can convince them that there is something unusual going on out there that they need to investigate." He glanced covertly around the station.
"Not a good idea," JJ replied sternly. "Our trying to trick them wouldn't go over too well. And we may need their cooperation for whatever happens."
"Besides," Lewis added. "How do we even know we have any jurisdiction on the island?"
"Technically," Reid had been studying a map of the area. "Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States and it could be argued that since the residents of Hutchens Island come and go via San Juan that makes it an outlying area of Puerto Rico. And, in addition, since the island is owned by a U.S. corporation, we should be one of the law enforcement entities who has jurisdiction over that area."
"But that is all supposition," he added quickly.
"Okay - Okay," Morgan still wasn't happy. "What can we do?"
"We can wait," JJ told him resignedly. "And hope that Rossi and Cruz are making some progress."
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
"I didn't really lie to you," Archie protested loudly to Rossi. "I do buy from that boat when it comes into port." The three owners of Trans-Caribbean Development Corporation, as well as Rossi and Cruz, were standing on the wharf outside the H & J terminal.
"You didn't tell me the whole truth either," Rossi reminded him. "You somehow neglected to mention the fact that the owner of this terminal operation is the same person who owns those shipments. You are just the middleman who shuffles money between two halves of the whole."
"Where is Freddy Jewell?" Ron Hartnell interrupted. "We need to talk to him!"
"I'm not lying when I tell you I don't know," Archie was sweating profusely. "He just calls or shows up unexpectedly, gives me my instructions, and checks the books. I have no way of getting in touch with him – Honest!"
"Well, he is missing," Cruz told the distressed man. "And, I suppose this means that these three gentlemen (he indicated Ron Hartnell, Wayne Hayward and George Hughes) are your new bosses. So, why don't you begin by telling us about when you were hired and what your instructions were?"
"Maybe we should go inside to your office first," Wayne Hayward suggested. "So you can show us the books."
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
"I never would have suspected Freddy was capable of all this," Ron Hartnell was saying as the group walked into the local police station.
It was early afternoon and the men were returning from their prolonged visit to the terminal.
"He always seemed so – innocuous," Wayne Hayward added.
"It was probably his grandfather who started this whole deception," George Hughes observed. "And then the following two generations just continued it. And no one ever suspected a thing!"
"Did you manage to figure out what is going on?" JJ questioned.
"When are we going out there?" Morgan demanded.
"The trip will have to be delayed until tomorrow," Cruz told the agents. "It's too late today to get started."
"But Hotch is out there, Man!" Morgan objected.
"If he has been out there this long, another day won't matter much," Lewis commented. "Besides, I suspect it is going to take some work to arrange this trip."
"That's right, Agent," Wayne Hayward told her. "That's why we are all going across the island to a resort our company owns over there."
"Once we get there, we can tell you the whole story as we have managed to piece it together," Rossi added, glancing around the police station. "And also formulate an action plan."
"Everything is all set," George Hughes held up his cell phone. "We have rooms for the night, a conference room has been set aside for our use, and our marina manager is making arrangements to rent two large boats for our trip tomorrow. Also, our head of security is arranging for several of our security people to accompany us."
"That's what I like!" Rossi declared with a smile. "People with clout. Now, let's get going. I believe our SUVs are parked right outside."
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
"So, the guilty party in all this is your minority partner, Freddy Jewell?" Lewis questioned later as they sat around the table in the resort's conference room.
"Unfortunately," Ron Hartnell groaned. "And that means that while technically we may not be responsible, morally is another question entirely."
"We have always tried to do what was right," George Hughes reminded him. "And this is not going to be an exception."
"Okay, my tropical island crime fighters," Garcia's voice came from over the laptop JJ had set up. "Why don't you tell me what you have managed to put together and then maybe I'll have an idea of where to start looking for this rat-faced lowlife."
"It appears," Rossi took over the recitation. "That Freddy Jewell has been running his own fiefdom out here in the Caribbean. He or, I suspect, his grandfather managed to continue running the farming operation on Hutchens Island after assuring the other partners that the island had been abandoned."
"He not only managed to continue running the original farm, but also managed to found three more farms on the island," Wayne Hayward continued. "And each of them has been raising a completely different group of very profitable crops."
"Plus the cotton crop which, by all accounts, is a group effort," Cruz spoke up.
"Over the years he has hired a series of freelance freight carriers to make stops at the various farms, pick up their produce and manufactured goods, and bring them back here to his terminal," Rossi resumed speaking. "Where he bought them from the farms at prices which appear to be very much below their current market value. And, in return, he only gave them credits at his 'Mercantile' so they were forced to buy supplies through him at his prices."
"It appears that the owners of the various boats that made that run over the years were just hired hands," Cruz added. "All they ever knew was that they were transporting goods from point A to point B at an agreed upon rate. And, as for the residents of the island, I suspect they have always thought they were employees of a company named H & J."
"What about the kidnappings?" Morgan demanded. "How did anyone explain those?"
"That's one of the many things we need to check into," Wayne Hayward said sadly. "And, we are going to have to find a way to make them right."
"Okay, just to get this straight, I am looking for Freddy Jewell and his kidnapping pirates, right?" Garcia asked.
"That's the long and short of it," Rossi told her. "But, as well as this operation was organized, I strongly suspect he had an escape plan in place and is long gone."
"You're probably right, My Favorite Italian," Garcia admitted. "But I'll look under every rock I can find anyway and I will get Monty involved too. It will keep us busy while we wait for word from you guys." She clicked off.
"That appears to be all we can do right now," George Hughes observed. "What about if we all get dinner and then a good night's sleep? The boats and their captains will be here and ready to go first thing tomorrow morning and by then our security people will also be ready to go with us."
"Will they be necessary?" JJ questioned concerned. "We have seen no indication that anyone out there is violent."
"It's just a precaution," Cruz assured her. "We don't know what we will be running into."
"We leave at first light?" Morgan stated.
"First light," George Hughes agreed.